BEIRUT: On Tuesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the ambassadors of countries participating in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon to “help calm the situation on the southern border of Lebanon and for Israel to stop the bombing.”
During his meeting with the ambassadors, Abdallah Bou Habib, minister of foreign affairs, said that “the response from the Lebanese side is taking place in the Shebaa Farms area,” referring to Hezbollah’s attack on Israeli outposts there.
The disputed area of Shebaa Farms falls at the intersection between Lebanon, Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The meeting and the minister’s statement came against a backdrop of military operations on Lebanon’s southern border with Israel, along the Blue Line — established by the UN in 2000 to demarcate Lebanon, Israel and the Golan Heights — and not limited to Shebaa Farms.
Residents of the areas parallel to the Blue Line, which is 85 km long, were forced to leave their homes and move to safer areas. Amid escalating violence, the rules of engagement would seem to be wavering, with civilian casualties reported in the Lebanese villages of Maroun El-Ras and Al-Dhahira as a result of Israeli bombing.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti presented on Tuesday developments in the situation, reminding “all parties concerned that attacks against civilians or United Nations personnel are violations of international law that may amount to war crimes.
“Our main goal is to stop the escalation of the situation to avoid more large-scale conflicts that would put more people at risk.
“During recent days, we opened our doors several times to civilians under imminent threat of violence, especially on Monday. In previous days, shelter was provided to civilians at one of the Ghanaian battalion sites near Al-Dhahira. However, people may not be allowed to enter UN sites if there is no imminent threat of violence.”
A missile also fell at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura. UNIFIL said it was “working to verify its source.”
On Tuesday, Hezbollah targeted an Israeli tent with soldiers inside in the Ramim settlement opposite the town of Markaba in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces responded by bombing the towns of Rmeish and Yaron.
Israeli forces killed “four gunmen who tried to infiltrate from Lebanon and plant an explosive device,” according to an Israeli army statement. The Red Cross removed the bodies in the Alma Al-Shaab area.
The Israeli army asked residents of the Kiryat Shmona settlement to stay near safe places and shelters for fear of missiles falling from Lebanon and sent a message to Lebanon, which Israel Defense Forces spokesman Avichay Adraee described as “urgent.”
He said on X: “We remain on high alert and readiness in the northern region. If Hezbollah makes a mistake, we will respond with very strong force. The state of Lebanon must ask itself if it wants to risk Lebanon for the sake of Daesh terrorists in Gaza.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced from Beirut on Tuesday: “Turkey is working to prevent the war from extending to Lebanon and other countries.”
Inside Lebanon, members of parliament voiced their opposition to Lebanon’s involvement in the war with Israel. MPs of the blocs Tajaddud (Renewal), the Kataeb Party, Strong Republic, Taqaddom (Progress), Red Line, and North Gathering 3, in addition to independent MP Bilal Hashimi, accused Iran of “wanting to turn Lebanon into an arena of conflict and negotiation at its expense and the expense of its people to expand its influence in the region and push us into a war whose consequences we cannot bear. We refuse to let Lebanon be fuel in the fire of another country’s (Iran’s) interests at the expense of the blood of our children and the destruction of our country, and it (Iran) and its allies in Lebanon were the cause of the complete collapse that befell us.”
MP Marwan Hamadeh from the Democratic Gathering Bloc fears “an imminent violation of the rules of engagement in terms of the pace of combat and escalating rhetoric about pre-emptive operations or escalation and preparation for a major operation against Lebanon.”
Hamadeh believes that “the only thing that might curb the escalation of the situation is the summit that will be held in Egypt and bring together regional powers capable of influencing Israel and the Palestinian side.”
