UN officials urge negotiations to restore stability along Lebanon-Israel border

Beirut, Oct 8: The escalation of violence and destruction along the Lebanon-Israel border will neither solve the core issues nor bring security to any relevant parties in the long run, United Nations officials said on Tuesday. It has been one year “since near-daily exchanges of fire commenced across the Blue Line,” in which “far too many lives have been lost, uprooted, and devastated, while civilians on both sides of the Blue Line are left wanting for security and stability,” Chief of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Aroldo Lazaro Saenz and UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a joint statement. “Every missile or rocket launched, bomb dropped, and ground raid conducted pulls the parties further away from the vision outlined in UN Resolution 1701 (2006), as well as from the conditions necessary for the enduring security of civilians on both sides of the Blue Line,” they said. “A negotiated solution is the only pathway to restore the security and stability that civilians on both sides so desperately want and deserve. The time to act accordingly is now,” they added. UNIFIL was originally created by the UN Security Council in March 1978 to confirm the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese government in restoring its effective authority in the area, Xinhua news agency reported. After the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, UNIFIL’s mandate was expanded to monitor the cessation of hostilities and to accompany the deployment of Lebanese armed forces throughout southern Lebanon as Israel withdraws its troops. According to UNIFIL, the force has around 10,147 peacekeepers coming from 49 troop-contributing countries. Since September 23, Israel has launched an intensive air campaign on Lebanon, dubbed “Arrows of the North,” marking a significant escalation with Hezbollah. The cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel, which began on October 8, 2023, have raised concerns of a wider conflict amid the ongoing Hamas-Israel war in Gaza. IANS