UN chief Guterres says ‘no military solution, only diplomacy’ for Lebanon | Israel attacks Lebanon News

The UN Secretary General says the Lebanese people have been “dragged into war” and called for an end to the fighting as Israel continues its offensive on several areas of the country.

“The south (of Lebanon) is at risk of becoming a wasteland. South Beirut, which is under a massive evacuation order from Israel, is at risk of being bombed into oblivion,” Antonio Guterres told a news conference in Beirut on Saturday. “There is no military solution, only diplomacy.”

Guterres is visiting the country to launch a flash appeal for $325 million to support more than 800,000 people who have been internally displaced since Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the US-Israeli assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Alimen.

Asked by Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith whether Israel’s forced evacuation orders, which now cover 14 percent of the country, are “in line with international humanitarian law”, Guterres said: “It inevitably violates international humanitarian law even if it does not create adequate security for civilians.”

The Israeli army issued widespread evacuation orders for residents of southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs as it pounded the areas, killing a family of four in the southern city of Sidon and a man on Saturday in an attack on a residential building in Bourj Hammoud, east of Beirut.

Guterres said the UN special coordinator was engaged “with all actors around the clock to bring the parties to the table” and that peacekeepers with the UN Interim Force “remain in place”, warning that further attacks were “totally unacceptable”.

Negotiations with Israel

The UN chief’s visit came as high-level Lebanese talks were held to create a negotiating delegation for talks with Israel.

Although Lebanon is said to be open to any European capital, an official source told Al Jazeera Arabic that a delegation is expected to be formed at ambassadorial level to prepare for any talks, with the likely venue being Cyprus.

The Lebanese presidency is working to ensure representation of all Lebanese factions in the delegation, while parliament speaker Nabih Berri is pushing for a ceasefire ahead of the talks, which have been welcomed by Europe, with no response yet from Washington.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner will participate in the talks to be held in Paris or Cyprus, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s confidant Ron Dermer will lead the Israeli delegation.

Haaretz said the talks are expected to focus on ending fighting in Lebanon and disarming the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron said the Lebanese government was ready to engage in “direct talks” with Israel and offered to host talks in Paris, warning that “everything must be done to prevent Lebanon from descending into chaos”.

Speaking from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Noor Odeh said Israel was not concerned it would “face pressure on its operations or its plans for Lebanon”.

Incidentally, he said, the Israeli cabinet plans to meet on Saturday night to discuss a “possible ground invasion” and “an invasion of southern Lebanon – 10 percent of it, up to the Litani River.”

Odeh noted that Israel launched a similar campaign in 1978, dubbed “Operation Litany.” When it withdrew from its positions in June 1978, it handed self-imposed power to the South Lebanon Army, a Christian client militia.

Separately on Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam hosted several former prime ministers at his residence in downtown Beirut, including Najib Mikati, Fouad Siniora and Tammam Salam, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

After the meeting, Siniora condemned the “escalating, unprecedented Israeli attacks on Lebanon” on behalf of the group. “Israel has committed humanitarian war crimes, including the killing of civilians, mass displacement, and destruction of homes and livelihoods, particularly in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut,” he said.

‘The New Genocide’

Israel continued strikes in Lebanon on Saturday as the public health ministry reported that the death toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 had reached 826, with more than 2,000 people injured.

At least 65 women and 106 children were killed in the Israeli attack, the ministry said.

The death toll includes 31 medical personnel.

Lebanese health officials said an overnight Israeli strike killed 12 doctors, paramedics and nurses working at a health center in the southern town of Burj Qalawiya.

The Israeli military said Saturday it had hit Hezbollah operatives “bringing rockets to a weapons depot” in Majdal, about seven kilometers (four miles) from Burj Qalawiya.

Israeli military spokesman Avichai Adray warned that Israel would act “in accordance with international law against any military activity” by any Hezbollah use of medical facilities or ambulances.

A Hezbollah official said the group was not using ambulances and medical facilities for military purposes.

So far, Israel has provided no evidence that it is doing so.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a news conference Saturday that Israel could commit a “new genocide,” citing the killing of at least 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza and fears of an Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon.