Guterres condemns increasing loss of life in clashes between Israel and Hezbollah

MADRID 5 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, condemned this Monday the increasing loss of human life in the fighting between the Israeli Army and the Lebanese Shiite militia party Hezbollah, showing his “serious concern” at the escalation of hostilities between the parties. since October 8, 2023, when Israel began a military offensive in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the attacks the day before by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

“The growing impact of the fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah militants on the Lebanese civilian population is a cause for serious concern,” said its spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, calling on “all” actors in conflict to “protect civilians and civilian infrastructure”, in line with the provisions of International Law.

Likewise, Dujarric has demanded that both parties end the violence “immediately” and recalled that the UN “continues to support efforts towards a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution.”

These words come after knowing that the destruction in Lebanon due to the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel and the subsequent Israeli military campaign against the country already exceeds that recorded in the very violent armed conflict fought by both parties in 2006.

In mid-July of that year, an ambush by the Shiite militia on a group of Israeli soldiers triggered four weeks of fighting that left some 2,000 Lebanese dead, more than half of them civilians. More than 150 Israeli military personnel and 40 civilians died in this conflict.

“In southern Lebanon, peacekeepers report that IDF operations have continued, with clashes with Hezbollah. Meanwhile, they also report that Hezbollah has continued to launch drones and dozens of rockets into the south, towards Israel,” said Dujarric.

More than 3,000 people have been killed and more than 13,492 have been injured in attacks carried out by the Israeli Army in the last year, especially since mid-September, when they redoubled their offensive against Hezbollah.