September 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –
UN Secretary-General’s spokesman Stéphane Dujarric has urged parties in the Middle East to reduce tensions and exercise maximum restraint following an Israeli military attack south of the Lebanese capital Beirut that left 12 dead.
“We also urge the parties to immediately return to a ceasefire and to fully implement Security Council resolution 1701. The region is on the brink of a catastrophe,” he said at a press conference.
He also urged “every effort to be made” to return to diplomatic channels. Dujarric said that the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, has repeatedly conveyed these messages to her interlocutors in Lebanon and Israel.
The UN Secretary-General’s spokesman said the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continues to “implement its mandate under extremely difficult conditions” to “help prevent further escalation.”
“The head of the UN mission, Commander Aroldo Lazaro, has been in constant communication with the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israel Defense Forces to help prevent any miscalculation along the ‘blue line’ and to support peacekeeping efforts,” he added.
According to information collected by the Lebanese state news agency, NNA, the bombing in Beirut hit an apartment building in the Dahieh area – located in the south of Beirut and with a large Shiite population, where Hezbollah influence is strong. Israeli forces reportedly fired four missiles.
Hours after the attack, the Israeli army has finally announced who the target of its attack was. It is Ibrahim Akil, who was carrying a seven million dollar (about 6.3 million euros) bounty from the United States.
Akil, alias ‘Tahsin’, was a member of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, the group’s main military body. He was part of the Islamic Jihad Organization, which claimed responsibility for the 1983 US Embassy bombings in Beirut and a hostage-taking in the same decade.
The bombing comes amid a sharp rise in tensions following two days of coordinated explosions of the group’s communications devices — on September 17 and 18 — attacks blamed on Israel and which have left nearly 40 dead and some 3,000 wounded, according to the latest assessment provided by the Lebanese authorities.
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