UN Chief: High Anxiety of Renewed ‘Hezbollah’-Israeli Conflict

UN peacekeepers stand near the Lebanese village of Labbouneh near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon April 20, 2017. (Reuters)
UN peacekeepers stand near the Lebanese village of Labbouneh near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon April 20, 2017. (Reuters)
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UN Chief: High Anxiety of Renewed ‘Hezbollah’-Israeli Conflict

UN peacekeepers stand near the Lebanese village of Labbouneh near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon April 20, 2017. (Reuters)
UN peacekeepers stand near the Lebanese village of Labbouneh near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon April 20, 2017. (Reuters)

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that Lebanese group “Hezbollah’s” ongoing possession of illegitimate arms, as well as threatening rhetoric from Israeli officials, could lead to the eruption of a new conflict between the two enemies.

In his annual report on the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, he said that the threatening rhetoric from both sides "heightens risk of miscalculation and escalation into conflict."

The rhetoric, he added, has "resulted in increased anxiety, including among the local population."

The two sides last fought a war in 2006. Resolution 1701 helped broker a ceasefire between them.

Guterres urged “Hezbollah” and Israel "to exercise restraint at all times" and "refrain from potentially inflammatory comments."

The report was circulated on Friday at the Security Council.

In addition, Guterres highlighted allegations of arms transfers to “Hezbollah”, saying that they continue "on a regular basis," which the UN takes seriously. But it "is not in a position to substantiate them independently, he said.

He noted, however, that “Hezbollah” has displayed the weapons and acknowledged using them.

Resolution 1701 calls for “Hezbollah” and all other armed groups operating in Lebanon to be disarmed and demobilized. It also calls for the 10,700-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to monitor a zone south of the Litani River near Israel's border where “Hezbollah” is banned from keeping weapons.

Guterres stated that Israel informed UNIFIL of the presence of “Hezbollah” weapons and infrastructure in three specific locations in that zone, which the UN force closely monitored, including by aerial reconnaissance, satellite imagery and patrols.

But he remarked "no evidence to confirm the allegations was established."

Despite "relative calm" along the UN-drawn Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon the level of tensions between the two countries remains high, he said, while citing the heated rhetoric between “Hezbollah's” leaders and senior Israeli officials.

Guterres said he was equally concerned about continued Israeli overflights of Lebanese territory.

From July 1 to October 30, he said UNIFIL recorded 758 air violations totaling 3,188 overflight hours, "an increase of 80 percent compared with the same period in 2016." He added drones were involved in over 93 percent or 707 of the violations.

“Hezbollah’s” ongoing possession of arms and the meddling of its backer, Iran, in Lebanese internal affairs prompted Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to announce his resignation from Riyadh on November 4.

He has since suspended it, pending consultations with Lebanese officials to ease tensions in the country that erupted in wake of his surprise resignation. Guterres' report was written before Hariri returned to Beirut on Tuesday.

The UN chief stressed the importance of parliamentary elections taking place as scheduled in May 2018.

On Tuesday and on the eve of Lebanon’s Independence Day, Army Commander General Joseph Aoun called on the military to be completely prepared on the country’s southern border to “confront Israeli threats and violations.”

He urged soldiers to remain vigilant in the implementation of resolution 1701 in cooperation with UNIFIL.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, deemed the Lebanese warning as “nonsense.”

Aoun added: “The extraordinary political circumstances that Lebanon is passing through demands that you display the greatest levels of diligence and awareness.”

“You must exert efforts to take the necessary measures to preserve security stability,” he continued.



UN: Lifelines Keeping People Alive in Gaza Are Collapsing

21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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UN: Lifelines Keeping People Alive in Gaza Are Collapsing

21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is appalled by an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza "where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," his spokesperson said on Monday.

"He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

"Israel has the obligation to allow and facilitate by all the means at its disposal the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations and by other humanitarian organizations."

Israeli ground troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors.

Deir al-Balah is the only Gaza city that has not seen major ground operations or suffered widespread devastation in 21 months of war, leading to speculation that the Hamas militant group holds large numbers of hostages there. The main group representing hostages’ families said it was “shocked and alarmed” by the incursion, which was confirmed by an Israeli military official, and demanded answers from Israeli leaders.

Israel says the seizure of territory in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages, but it is a major point of contention in ongoing ceasefire talks.

The UN food agency, meanwhile, accused Israeli forces of firing on a crowd of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid over the weekend. Gaza's Health Ministry called it one of the deadliest attacks on aid-seekers in the war that has driven the territory to the brink of famine.