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UN Security Council Countries Express Alarm Over Risk of All-Out Middle East War 

Members of the UN Security Council listen as Saied Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the UN speaks during a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations Headquarters on July 31, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
Members of the UN Security Council listen as Saied Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the UN speaks during a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations Headquarters on July 31, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
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UN Security Council Countries Express Alarm Over Risk of All-Out Middle East War 

Members of the UN Security Council listen as Saied Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the UN speaks during a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations Headquarters on July 31, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)
Members of the UN Security Council listen as Saied Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the UN speaks during a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at the United Nations Headquarters on July 31, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)

United Nations Security Council countries on Wednesday called for stepped-up diplomatic efforts to avert a wider Middle East conflict after the killings of two militant leaders raised tensions.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran early on Wednesday, sparking threats of revenge against Israel and fueling concern the Gaza conflict was turning into a wider Middle East war.

The assassination occurred less than 24 hours after Hezbollah's most senior military commander was killed in an Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut in retaliation for a deadly rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

"We fear the region is at the brink of all-out war," Japan's deputy UN representative, Shino Mitsuko, said on Wednesday, urging international efforts to prevent such a conflict.

China, Russia, Algeria and others condemned Haniyeh's assassination, which Iran's UN ambassador called an act of terrorism, while the US, UK and France raised what they said was Iranian support for destabilizing actors in the region.

Fu Cong, China's ambassador to the UN, said failure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza was responsible for worsening tensions.

"Countries with major influence must put more pressure and work more vigorously ... to put out the flames of war in Gaza," he said.

Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward urged calm and restraint, reiterating a call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. She said Israel and Hamas needed to recommit to a peace process that would result in a two-state solution with a secure Israel and a sovereign Palestinian State.

"The path to peace must be through diplomatic negotiations. Long-term peace will not be secured by bombs and bullets."

Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the UN, called for members of the Security Council with influence over Iran "to increase pressure on it to stop escalating its proxy conflict against Israel and other actors."

Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said Tehran has consistently exercised maximum restraint but reserved its right to respond decisively. He called on the Security Council to condemn Israel and punish it with sanctions.

Israel's deputy representative to the UN, Jonathan Miller, called on the Security Council to condemn Iran for support of regional terrorism and increase sanctions on Tehran.

"We will defend ourselves and respond with great force against those who harm us," Miller said, calling on the world to support Israel.

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Arab World

Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

At least two people were killed and four rescued from the rubble of a multistory apartment building that collapsed Sunday in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, state media reported.

Rescue teams were continuing to dig through the rubble. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the building when it fell.

The bodies pulled out were of a child and a woman, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Dozens of people crowded around the site of the crater left by the collapsed building, with some shooting in the air.

The building was in the neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, one of the poorest areas in Lebanon’s second largest city, where residents have long complained of government neglect and shoddy infrastructure. Building collapses are not uncommon in Tripoli due to poor building standards, according to The AP news.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry announced that those injured in the collapse would receive treatment at the state’s expense.

The national syndicate for property owners in a statement called the collapse the result of “blatant negligence and shortcomings of the Lebanese state toward the safety of citizens and their housing security,” and said it is “not an isolated incident.”

The syndicate called for the government to launch a comprehensive national survey of buildings at risk of collapse.

Arab World

Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank, The AP news reported.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

The United Nations' highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.

Arab World

Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on humanitarian aid convoys and relief workers in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

In a statement reported by SPA, secretary-general's spokesperson Jamal Rushdi quoted Aboul Gheit as saying the attack constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of their means of survival.

Aboul Gheit stressed the need to hold those responsible accountable, end impunity, and ensure the full protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities in Sudan.