In a statement that was released on Friday, Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations warned Israel against any folly that could lead to a new warfare in the region, repercussions of which include the devastation of Lebanon’s infrastructure and that of the 1948 occupied territories.
Interacting with journalists on the sidelines of an INGO conference in Geneva on Wednesday, the statement was made at a time when speculations on an imminent big-scale operation by Israel in Lebanon persisted. Lebanon, Iran said,
“Recent arrogant statements by the illegitimate regime indicate that the Lebanese Resistance Movement, Hezbollah can defend Lebanon against the wicked.”
The same day, the opposite was in Israel, which issued a threat to Hezbollah aligned to Iran on Friday. Foreign Minister Israel Katz made this comment, saying,
“soon we will make the necessary decisions” to counter the Lebanese group, as “the free world must stand unequivocally with Israel in the war against Iran and their proxies of Extremist Islam.”
The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, also threatened to respond forcefully, declaring that if the IDF wages war in Lebanon, the group will target every point in the territory of Israel using land-to-land missiles, drones, and aerial vehicles. He also threatened to engage in a war that has no limit and no regulation or limit to the destruction or damage that can be caused.
Because of the current tensions, people are worried that a wider war in the region could expand beyond Lebanon’s borders and go more deeply than the Iran-aligned factions of Tehran itself or the United States.
The UN Secretary-General has also requested both Israel and Hezbollah disarm and maintain cool heads and seek a peaceful settlement to the conflict.
Although the situation remains tense, the global society is keenly observing the events to avoid the escalation to a large level of conflict that may otherwise lead to the destruction of the region.
