BEIRUT: Leaders of the United Nations, Lebanon and Egypt urged de-escalation on Sunday (Aug 25) after Israel struck Lebanon and Hezbollah said it launched attacks on Israeli positions, in a major escalation of cross-border hostilities.
The office of the UN special coordinator for Lebanon and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) “call on all to cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action”, a joint statement said, describing the latest developments as “worrying”.
“A return to the cessation of hostilities, followed by the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, is the only sustainable way forward,” the statement added.
The resolution ended a 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and called for the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in south Lebanon.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Sunday told ministers at an emergency meeting that he had been holding “a series of contacts with Lebanon’s friends to stop the escalation”.
“What is required is to stop the Israeli aggression first of all, and to apply Resolution 1701,” a statement from his office said.
Mikati also emphasised Lebanon’s “support for international efforts that could lead to a ceasefire in Gaza”, according to the statement.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has exchanged regular fire with Israel in support of its ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s Oct 7 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war.
Calls have mounted for the full implementation of UN Resolution 1701 as a way of ending the current violence.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned against further regional escalation in a meeting with the United States’ highest-ranking general.
Sisi “warned of the dangers of a new front opening in Lebanon and stressed the necessity of preserving Lebanon’s stability and sovereignty”, according to a statement from the president’s office.
His meeting in Egypt with US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles “CQ” Brown, the United States’s highest-ranking military officer, came hours after Israel launched air strikes on Lebanon.
Key mediator Egypt has again urged restraint and de-escalation, while the United States – Israel’s top arms provider – said its military was “postured” to support its ally.
The visit comes amid planned talks in Cairo, to be attended by CIA chief William Burns, aimed at a truce in the Gaza Strip that has seemed increasingly unlikely.
Sisi on Sunday called for a “decisive stance from the international community” and a stronger response “to joint Egyptian-American-Qatari efforts” for a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange, which would enable a “path to calm and stability in the region”, his office said.
