Lebanon Files UN Complaint against Israel over Pager Attacks

Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram - AFP
Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram - AFP
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Lebanon Files UN Complaint against Israel over Pager Attacks

Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram - AFP
Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram - AFP

Lebanon said Wednesday that it had filed a complaint with the United Nations' labor agency over deadly attacks on communication devices across the country in September, which it blames on Israel.

Lebanese Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram called the attack an "egregious war against humanity, against technology, against work", saying his country had filed the complaint with the International Labor Organization in Geneva.

"It's a very dangerous precedent," he told journalists in the Swiss city at an event organized by the UN correspondents' association ACANU.

The move comes after Israel escalated its air raids on Hezbollah strongholds in south Lebanon, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley on September 23, after nearly a year of cross-border fire, and a week later sent ground troops into southern Lebanon, according to AFP.

The escalation kicked off with sabotage attacks on pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah, which killed dozens of people and injured thousands more across Lebanon.

Israel has not officially taken responsibility for those attacks, but Bayram said it was "widely accepted internationally... that Israel was behind this heinous act".

"In a few minutes, more than 4,000 civilians fell, between martyrs and injured and maimed," he said, speaking through a translator.

Among the victims not killed, he said many people had "lost their fingers; some have totally lost their eyesight".

"We are in a situation where ordinary objects, objects you use in daily life, become dangerous and lethal," he said.

"If left unchecked, this crime could become normalized," he said, adding that filing the complaint was meant "to prevent such crimes from happening in the future".

"I consider it a moral obligation to my country and to the world."

 

- 'Myriad of complaints' -

 

Asked why Lebanon had chose to file the complaint with the ILO, Bayram pointed to all the workers who were on the job when pagers and walkie-talkies -- tools they used to do their work -- suddenly exploded.

"We deemed it necessary to point out that this runs contrary to work environment, security and safety, contrary to decent work principles... defended by the ILO," he said.

He added that Lebanese authorities could still file complaints over the pager attacks in other international forums, including the World Trade Organization.

"In more general terms, the Lebanese government wants to... present a myriad of complaints" against Israel over its operations in the country, he said, since "the amount of crimes is huge".

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since clashes between Hezbollah and Israel began in October 2023, according to the health ministry, including at least 1,964 since September 23, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

The war has also pushed more than a million people to flee their homes.



Hezbollah Chief Says Indirect Talks on Ceasefire Possible Only if Israel Stops Attacks

Image grab from the pre-recorded televised address of Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem
Image grab from the pre-recorded televised address of Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem
TT

Hezbollah Chief Says Indirect Talks on Ceasefire Possible Only if Israel Stops Attacks

Image grab from the pre-recorded televised address of Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem
Image grab from the pre-recorded televised address of Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Wednesday that only developments on the battlefield, not political moves, would bring an end to the hostilities between the Lebanese armed group and the Israeli military.
"I will tell you very clearly, our conviction is that only one thing can stop this war of aggression, and that is the battlefield," said Qassem, who was elected as Hezbollah's secretary general following the killing of his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah in Israeli strikes in September.
He said that he did not believe that "political action" would bring about an end to the more than year-long conflict, playing out in parallel with Israel's war in Gaza.
In a pre-recorded televised address, Qassem said there would be a road to indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state only if Israel decided to stop its attacks on Lebanon, Reuters reported.
"When the enemy decides to stop the aggression, there is a path for negotiations that we have clearly defined - indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state and Speaker (of parliament Nabih) Berri," said Qassem.
He said those talks could only proceed if they guaranteed "the protection of Lebanese sovereignty in full, without anything missing," but did not provide further details.
Israel says it aims to return residents displaced from northern Israel to their homes and ensure that Iran-backed Hezbollah will no longer pose a threat to Israel's security.
Last week, Israeli public broadcaster Kan published a draft US proposal on a 60-day truce that included a "side letter" between the US and Israel, granting Israel the right to take action against imminent threats to its security in Lebanon.
Lebanese officials told Reuters that Israel's insistence on "direct enforcement" of a deal would breach state sovereignty.