UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has warned that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah must not turn Lebanon into “another Gaza.”
Speaking to reporters at UN headquarters, Guterres said that “immediate de-escalation” between Hezbollah and the Israeli army “is essential.”
He warned that the risk for the conflict in the Middle East to widen is real and must be avoided “when a rash move, when miscalculation, could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border and, frankly, beyond imagination.”
“Many lives have already been lost. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced, and livelihoods have been destroyed.”
“Bushfires sparked by explosions are further devastating communities and the environment. Unexploded ordnance and remnants of war litter the landscape, and this poses additional threats to people in both Israel and Lebanon, and to UN and humanitarian personnel.”
Antonio Guterres
Separately, Israel Ziv, a Retired Israeli general stated that ending the war in Gaza is key to reaching a settlement with Hezbollah.
“The pressure on reserve forces has become unbearable and the political situation is dangerous and deteriorating,” he noted.
According to Ziv, there’s a growing confidence crisis among the public and difficulty in dealing with the problem of those who fled their homes nine months ago.
He noted that Israel does not have the ability to withstand more months in light of the bad situation, economic deterioration and political collapse.
“Great pressure must be exerted on Hamas, the captives must return, the war in Gaza must end and a settlement in the north must be made, the Retired Israeli General urged.
Meanwhile, Hassan Barari, a Professor of international affairs at Qatar University, says conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, although preventable, could easily slide into an all-out war.
“Both parties, until this moment, are sticking to the rules of engagement with a little bit of differences here and there. And, at least in case of Hezbollah, there is no interest in an all-out war because of the consequences,” he said.
According to Barari, there was enormous pressure on Netanyahu to open a war front with Lebanon.
“This is ironically coming from the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, who’s saying that there should be a military plan to deal with the situation in the north,” he said.
Barari, however, noted that Israel, with more than 90,000 internally evacuated from the northern part of the country since the war in Gaza began, cannot afford to offer those people yet another military solution.
“Gaza is not like Hezbollah, Hezbollah is more trained, more organised, with more even lethal weapons compared to al-Qassam and Hamas. And for this reason, I think the Israelis will pay a huge price for something that they can avoid.”
Hassan Barari
Military Analyst Says Israeli Army Wants To Leave Gaza
Israeli military Analyst, Amos Harel asserted that the Israeli army wants to withdraw from Gaza but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has other ideas.”
Harel said that Netanyahu “continues to declare that the all-out war against Hamas will continue for as long as it takes.”
“He’s again scattering promises of total victory to his supporters. In reality, what we have is a war that looks more eternal than a victory,” he wrote.
He added that “Netanyahu’s supreme goal remains survival: to get through the Knesset’s summer session and wait in the hope that Trump will be elected president in November.”
“That’s preferable for him compared to the alternative of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an effective admission of failure to achieve the goals of the combat, and the almost certain resignation of the extreme right parties from the coalition and the collapse of the government.”
Amos Harel
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