The UN chief warned world leaders on Tuesday that Lebanon was on “the brink” as clashes escalated between Israel and Hezbollah ahead of US President Joe Biden’s final appearance at the global body’s signature annual event.
“We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
As the toll in Lebanon climbed, focus shifted away from the situation in Gaza, and the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell warned “we are almost in a full-fledged war.”
It is unclear what progress can be made to defuse the situation in Lebanon as efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, which Israel has relentlessly pounded since October 2023, have come to nothing.
Guterres cautioned against “the possibility of transforming Lebanon (into) another Gaza.”
Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group think tank said he expected many leaders to “warn that the UN will become irrelevant globally if it cannot help make peace.”
As world leaders gathered in Manhattan for the annual flurry of speeches and face-to-face diplomacy, UN Security Council member France called on Monday for an emergency meeting on the crisis engulfing the Middle East. More than 100 heads of state and government are scheduled to speak during the UN’s centerpiece event, which will run until Monday.
With Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas expected to address the General Assembly this week, there could be combustible moments. On Tuesday, representatives of Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, Iran and Algeria are slated to take the podium to press for a Gaza ceasefire after nearly one year of war.
