Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over Israeli air strikes launched across the country on April 8.
The strikes targeted densely populated residential areas of the capital Beirut during peak hours and without prior warning.
The ministry said that these attacks constitute a “blatant violation of the principles of international law.”
Also, the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon disclosed that one of its routine convoys transporting military and civilian peacekeepers from Beirut was stopped by Israeli forces a few kilometres from its headquarters in Naqoura. UN-marked vehicles were allowed to proceed while local contractors were turned back, despite their route and timing having been previously cleared with the Israeli army. UNIFIL said that this was not an isolated incident.
“Similar restrictions, through physical roadblocks or the reversal of prior clearances, have affected both peacekeepers and the essential personnel who support them. These actions raise concerns regarding the timely delivery of critical supplies, including food, fuel, and water, to UNIFIL positions, particularly along the Blue Line.”
UNIFIL
A group of United Nations experts denounced Israel’s attack on Lebanon a day after the United States and Iran agreed a ceasefire as illegal and urged UN member states to halt all arms transfers to Israel.
The 19 experts, including special rapporteurs and independent experts across a range of human rights mandates, issued the condemnation as Israel continued to pound areas of southern Lebanon, killing at least 16 people, including four paramedics.
The experts asserted that the devastating wave of Israeli attacks across Lebanon on April 8, which Lebanese authorities said killed more than 350 people, including 30 children, “is not self-defence” but rather “a blatant violation of the UN Charter, a deliberate destruction of prospects for peace, and an affront to multilateralism and the UN-based international order.”
According to the UN Human Rights Council, they called for Israel to “cease all military operations in Lebanon” and urged UN member states to halt arms transfers to Israel while “there is credible evidence of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
Israel escalated its attacks on Lebanon on March 2 after the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in response to the US-Israel killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei two days earlier, the first day of their war on Iran. Israel has carried out a devastating bombardment across Lebanon and a ground invasion in the south, killing more than 2,000 people and forcibly displacing more than 1.2 million.
The UN experts said that such forced displacement “of a civilian population constitutes crimes against humanity.” They also condemned Israel’s targeted “destruction of homes” particularly in predominantly Shia areas of the south, as “a form of collective punishment” that “points to ethnic cleansing.”
Israel’s continuing bombardment of Lebanon has been a point of tension in US-Iran negotiations. Tehran said that Lebanon should be covered in the ongoing ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire with Iran and Israel will continue to target Hezbollah “wherever required.”
On Saturday, days before Israel and Lebanon held rare, high-level diplomatic talks in the US, Netanyahu said Israel wanted long-term peace with Lebanon but on the condition that Hezbollah is disarmed.
Israel Announces Plans To Continue Attacks In Lebanon, Iran
However, Israeli military Chief Eyal Zamir said that plans have been approved for the continuation of attacks both in Lebanon and in Iran. He says the military has struck Iran with the US “hard, stripped them of their defensive capabilities and weakened them.”
“Now we must not allow them any achievements on the nuclear issue, in Hormuz and in the other matters on the table. We know how to scramble them for an immediate powerful strike.”
Eyal Zamir
Regarding Lebanon, Zamir said that Israel’s attacks in the south of the country continue. “We are capturing and clearing key areas and removing threats from the northern settlements,” he said.
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