Security Council reiterates support for UNIFIL, underscoring its role in ‘supporting regional stability’

The United Nations Security Council has urged all parties to respect the safety and security of its personnel and emphasized the need for diplomatic endeavors to end the conflict in Lebanon.

In a Security Council media statement read by Pascale Baeriswyl, permanent representative of Switzerland to the UN and president of the Security Council for October, she said the members of the UNSC expressed “strong concerns” after several positions of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) “came under the fire in the past days”.

“They urged all parties to respect the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel and premises. They recalled that UN peacekeepers and UN premises must never be the target of an attack,” said Baeriswyl, adding that the Security Council reiterated its support for UNIFIL, underscoring its role in “supporting regional stability”.

She said the council also expressed its deep concern for civilian casualties and suffering, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the increasing number of internally displaced people, and called on all parties to abide by international humanitarian law, including the full implementation of UNSC Resolution 1701.

“They also emphasized the need for diplomatic endeavors that would bring a durable end to the conflict and allow civilians on both sides of the Blue Line to return safely to their homes,” said Baeriswyl.

The UNSC statement comes as the Lebanese Mission to the UN filed two complaints against the Israeli military’s orders for the peacekeeping forces to leave their positions, which they deemed “illegitimate”. They also complained about the Israeli attacks’ impact on the education sector in Lebanon.

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Lebanon’s Mission to the UN stressed that the Israeli attacks against UNIFIL set a dangerous precedent and were a flagrant violation of international law and Security Council Resolution 1701, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also reiterated on his X account early this week.

But in a video message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “completely false” accusations that the Israeli military deliberately attacked UNIFIL personnel.

“It’s exactly the opposite. Israel repeatedly asked UNIFIL to get out of harm’s way. It repeatedly asked them to temporarily leave the combat zone, which is right next to Israel’s border with Lebanon,” said Netanyahu, adding that Israel was not fighting UNIFIL nor the people of Lebanon, but “Iran’s proxy Hezbollah”.

He also alleged that Hezbollah uses UNIFIL facilities and positions as cover while attacking Israeli cities and communities.

READ MORE: No EU member backs UN peacekeeping force withdrawal in Lebanon, says official

Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, said Israel “has repeatedly stretched the limits of what it calls its right to self-defense”.

“Burning alive patients still connected to IV drips – how can that be justified under the banner of defense? Yet these atrocities barely make waves in the mainstream media, which remains under the influence of the US and its allies,” said Siddiqa.

At least four people were killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli air attack at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital complex in  Deir el-Balah of Gaza where burned and charred bodies were seen, Al Jazeera reported on Oct 14.

Meanwhile, she added, “Article 51 of the UN Charter, which is often cited to justify such actions, clearly states that the right to self-defense only applies in response to an armed attack and remains valid only until the Security Council intervenes to restore peace and security. The reality we witness, however, tells a much darker story.”

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In his press remarks, European Union foreign policy head Josep Borrell said the bloc’s 27 member states “agreed” on asking Israel to stop attacking UNIFIL. He also raised the issue of attacks against civilians and destruction of infrastructure and the increasing violence of settlers in the West Bank and Gaza.

“The member states will have to discuss again about what to do. There are proposals on the table: sanctioning violent (Israeli) settlers – even two ministers of the Israeli government,” said Borrell.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health update on Oct 14, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 2,229 people and caused 10,380 injuries across Lebanon, with 57 percent of the deaths and 73 percent of the injuries occurring between Sept 17 and Oct 10.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has triggered massive displacement, with over 1 million displaced individuals within Lebanon, and more than 276,000 people (30 percent Lebanese and 70 percent Syrian) have fled the violence to Syria.

READ MORE: UN says Israeli tanks burst into peacekeeper base in Lebanon

In his opening statement to the 75th plenary session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, warned that there were 123 million refugees and displaced people today, that their plight “demands solutions”, and the only way to achieve that was by “working together”.

He said nowhere was “the uncertainty, the anxiety more palpable” at the moment than in Lebanon as well as Gaza, as he called for a cease-fire that would “stem the tide to a major regional war with global implications”.

Contact the writers at jan@chinadailyapac.com