World leaders warn vs ‘full-scale war’ over Lebanon
UNITED NATIONS, United States—World leaders lined up at the United Nations on Tuesday to call on Israel to refrain from a full-scale war in Lebanon, with the organization’s chief warning the situation was on the “brink.”
The UN General Assembly, the high point of the international diplomatic calendar, comes after Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes had killed 558 people—50 of them children.
“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest. Even though the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible,” US President Joe Biden said in his farewell address to the global body.
Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdullah Bou Habib estimated that the number of people displaced by Israel’s strikes has likely soared to reach half a million. “We should all be alarmed by the escalation. Lebanon is at the brink,”
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said when he opened the gathering. Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said his country was “not eager” for a ground invasion of Lebanon. “We don’t want to send our boys to fight in a foreign country,” he said. —AFP
