Iran unveils new drone, missile amid rising tensions
Iran unveils new drone, missile amid rising tensions/node/2572224/middle-east
Iran unveils new drone, missile amid rising tensions
An Iranian military truck carries parts of the S-300 air defence missile system during the annual military parade marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, in Tehran. (AFP)
Iran unveils new drone, missile amid rising tensions
Iran stands accused by Western governments of supplying both drones and missiles to Russia for use in its war with Ukraine
The solid-fuel Jihad missile was designed and manufactured by the aerospace arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
Updated 4 sec ago
AFP
TEHRAN: Iran unveiled a new ballistic missile and an upgraded one-way attack drone at a military parade on Saturday, state media said, amid soaring regional tensions and allegations of arming Russia.
Iran stands accused by Western governments of supplying both drones and missiles to Russia for use in its war with Ukraine, a charge it has repeatedly denied.
The solid-fuel Jihad missile was designed and manufactured by the aerospace arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and has an operational range of 1,000 kilometers (more than 600 miles), state news agency IRNA said.
The Shahed-136B drone is an upgraded version of the Shahed-136, with new features and an operational range of more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles), it added.
New President Masoud Pezeshkian attended the annual parade in Tehran, commemorating the 1980-88 war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
“Today, our defensive and deterrent capabilities have grown so much that no demon even thinks about any aggression toward our dear Iran,” he said.
“With unity and cohesion among Islamic countries... we can put in its place the bloodthirsty, genocidal usurper Israel, which shows no mercy to anyone, women or children, old or young.”
The Middle East has been in turmoil since Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 sparking war in Gaza and drawing in Iranian allies around the region.
The tensions have intensified in recent days as the focus of Israel’s firepower has shifted north to the Lebanon border where its troops have been battling Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
An Israeli air strike on Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold killed 16 members of its elite Radwan Force on Friday, a source close to the group said, hot on the heels of deadly sabotage attacks on the group’s communications earlier this week.
Britain, France, Germany and the United States slapped new sanctions on Iran earlier this month, alleging that it had been providing ballistic missiles for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli air strike kills top commanders
Hezbollah named the second commander as Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi, saying he had headed the group’s operations against Israel
Updated 20 min 5 sec ago
AFP
BEIRUT: Hezbollah said Saturday that a second senior commander was among 16 fighters killed in an Israeli air strike on its Beirut stronghold the previous day, highlighting the scale of the blow to its military leadership.
Israel said Friday’s strike on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital killed the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil, and several other commanders.
Coming hot on the heels of sabotage attacks on communications devices this week that killed 37 people in Hezbollah strongholds, the strike raised new questions about the Iran-backed group’s security arrangements and dealt a heavy blow to its fighters’ morale.
Hezbollah named the second commander as Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi, saying he had headed the group’s operations against Israel from the onset of the Gaza war in October until the start of this year.
Confirming the death of Aqil, who was wanted by the United States for involvement in the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut, Hezbollah hailed him as “one of its great leaders.”
AFP journalists said Friday’s strike left a massive crater and gutted the lower floors of a high-rise building.
It was the second Israeli strike on the Hezbollah military leadership since the start of the Gaza war. An Israeli strike on Beirut in July killed Fuad Shukr, a top operations chief for the movement.
It also followed sabotage attacks on pagers and two-way radios used by Hezbollah on Tuesday and Wednesday, which killed 37 people and raised fears of a wider war.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the world body was “very concerned about the heightened escalation” and called for “maximum restraint” from all sides.
The Israeli military said it conducted a “targeted strike” against Aqil, which a source close to Hezbollah said killed a total of 16 Radwan Force members.
The source said Aqil was “at a meeting with commanders” when he was killed.
The United States had offered a $7 million reward for information on Aqil, describing him as a “principal member” of an organization that claimed the 1983 embassy bombing, which killed 63 people.
Regional escalations
Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters have battled each other along the Israel-Lebanon border since Hamas militants triggered the war in Gaza with their October 7 attack.
The focus of Israel’s firepower for nearly a year has been on Gaza, but with Hamas much weakened, that focus has now moved to Israel’s northern border.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel’s “enemies” would find no refuge, not even in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said after the strike that Israel was “not aiming for a broad escalation in the region.”
But Hamas called it a “brutal and terrorist aggression” and an “escalation.”
Iran’s foreign ministry accused Israel of seeking to “broaden the geography of the war.”
Months of near-daily cross-border exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon, most of them fighters, and dozens in Israel, forcing tens of thousands on both sides to flee their homes.
The latest blow to Hezbollah came after thousands of Hezbollah operatives’ pagers and walkie-talkies exploded over two days, killing 37 people and wounding thousands.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Thursday that Israel would face retribution for those blasts.
Before Friday’s Beirut strike, Israel said Hezbollah had fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon following air attacks that destroyed dozens of the militant group’s launchers.
Speaking to troops on Wednesday, Gallant said “Hezbollah will pay an increasing price” as Israel tries to “ensure the safe return” of its citizens to border areas.
“We are at the start of a new phase in the war,” he said.
Aqil’s Radwan Force spearheaded Hezbollah’s ground operations, and Israel has repeatedly demanded through international mediators that its fighters be pushed back from the border.
Delayed visit
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed by a day his scheduled departure to the United States, where he is due to address the UN General Assembly.
On Friday the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, told the Security Council the attack on Hezbollah communications devices violated international law and could constitute a war crime.
The pagers and walkie-talkies exploded as their users were shopping in supermarkets, walking on streets and attending funerals, plunging Lebanon into panic.
“I am appalled by the breadth and impact of the attacks,” said Turk, adding that it “is a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians.”
International mediators, including the United States, have been scrambling to stop the Gaza war from becoming an all-out regional conflict.
Hamas’s October 7 attacks that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Out of 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,272 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged the figures as reliable.
A modern ‘Trojan Horse’: two days of mayhem in Lebanon
Hundreds of pagers across Lebanon, and even outside its borders, exploded this week, wounding and killing their owners and also bystanders
The communications devices were used by members of Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which swiftly blamed Israel for the operation
Updated 21 September 2024
AFP
PARIS: It’s around 3:30 in the afternoon on September 17. People in Lebanon are going about their daily business, doing the shopping, having a haircut, conducting meetings.
Hundreds of pagers across the country, and even outside its borders, then simultaneously bleep with a message and explode, wounding and killing their owners and also bystanders.
The communications devices were used by members of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which swiftly blamed Israel for the operation, as did several international media organizations.
Israel, according to its convention for operations outside its borders, neither confirmed nor denied the charge.
But observers say that the simultaneous explosions bear all the hallmarks of an operation by Israel, which appears to have infiltrated the supply chain of the pager production and inserted tiny but potent explosives inside.
Israel may have even set up a shell company to supply the devices to Hezbollah in a years-long project that would seem fantastical even in an espionage thriller, according to analysts.
But that was not the end. A day later, on September 18, around the same time in the afternoon, another low-fi gadget, the walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah cadres, exploded, even amid the funerals for those killed in the pager attacks.
The subsequent day, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who himself had told group members to use low-fi devices so as not to be targeted by Israel through the positioning of their smartphones, made his first public comments, admitting an “unprecedented blow” but also vowing “tough retribution and just punishment” for Israel.
Even though there is next to no doubt Israel was behind the operation, questions abounded. Why now? Is this the start of the widely-feared Israeli offensive into southern Lebanon? Or has Israel simply activated the explosives now simply because it feared the whole operation risked being compromised?
The explosions were felt Hezbollah’s strongholds throughout Lebanon: the southern Beirut suburbs, the south of the country and the Bekaa Valley in the east, as well as in Syria.
At least 37 people were killed in the two attacks and thousands injured.
The wounded included Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. But those killed also included a 10-year-old girl and another child. As the hospitals filled up the most common wounds were mutilated hands and eyes.
“Hezbollah suffered a very serious blow on a tactical level, a very impressive and comprehensive one that affects the operational side, the cognitive side,” said Yoram Schweitzer, a former intelligence officer now at the The Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.
Peter Harling, founder of the Synaps Lab think tank added: “The targets may have been Hezbollah members, but many were caught in the midst of their ordinary lives, and in the heart of their communities.”
“This is also a breach that is extraordinarily hard to explain.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk warned that the simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals “whether civilians or members of armed groups” without knowledge as to who was around them at the time “violates international human rights law.”
International humanitarian law prohibits the use of “booby traps” precisely to avoid putting civilians at grave risk and “produce the devastating scenes that continue to unfold across Lebanon,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa Director at Human Rights Watch.
Espionage professionals have meanwhile expressed their admiration for how the operation was put together.
“It’s not a technological feat,” said a person working for a European intelligence service, asking not to be named. But “it’s the result of human intelligence and heavy logistics.”
The small devices, bearing the name of the firm Gold Apollo in Taiwan, were intercepted by Israeli services before their arrival in Lebanon, according to multiple security sources who spoke to AFP, asking not to be named.
But the Taiwanese company denied having manufactured them and pointed to its Hungarian partner BAC.
Founded in 2022, the company is registered in Budapest. Its CEO, Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, appears there as the only employee.
The devices in question have never been on Hungarian soil, according to the Hungarian authorities.
The New York Times, citing three intelligence sources, said BAC was “part of an Israeli front” with at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers who were Israeli intelligence officers.
It described the pagers as a “modern day Trojan Horse” after the wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks to enter the city of Troy in the Trojan War.
The attack comes nearly a year after Hezbollah ally Hamas carried out its October 7 attack on Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.
The focus of Israel’s firepower has since been on the Palestinian territory, but Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops have exchanged fire almost daily across the border region since October, forcing thousands on both sides to flee their homes.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the focus of the war was shifting toward Lebanon, while the government said securing the northern front was a key objective, in order to allow Israelis evacuated from the area to return home.
Schweitzer said that despite the spectacular nature of the device operation it did not represent the end of Israel’s work to degrade Hezbollah.
“I don’t think this impressive operation that has its tactical gains... is getting into the strategic layers yet.
“It does not change the equation, it is not a decisive victory. But it sends another signal to Hezbollah, Iran and others,” he said.
A modern ‘Trojan Horse’: two days of mayhem in Lebanon
The explosions were felt Hezbollah’s strongholds throughout Lebanon: the southern Beirut suburbs, the south of the country and the Bekaa Valley in the east, as well as in Syria
Updated 21 September 2024
AFP
PARIS: It’s around 3:30 in the afternoon on September 17. People in Lebanon are going about their daily business, doing the shopping, having a haircut, conducting meetings.
Hundreds of pagers across the country, and even outside its borders, then simultaneously bleep with a message and explode, wounding and killing their owners and also bystanders.
The communications devices were used by members of the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which swiftly blamed Israel for the operation, as did several international media organizations.
Israel, according to its convention for operations outside its borders, neither confirmed nor denied the charge.
But observers say that the simultaneous explosions bear all the hallmarks of an operation by Israel, which appears to have infiltrated the supply chain of the pager production and inserted tiny but potent explosives inside.
Israel may have even set up a shell company to supply the devices to Hezbollah in a years-long project that would seem fantastical even in an espionage thriller, according to analysts.
But that was not the end. A day later, on September 18, around the same time in the afternoon, another low-fi gadget, the walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah cadres, exploded, even amid the funerals for those killed in the pager attacks.
The subsequent day, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who himself had told group members to use low-fi devices so as not to be targeted by Israel through the positioning of their smartphones, made his first public comments, admitting an “unprecedented blow” but also vowing “tough retribution and just punishment” for Israel.
Even though there is next to no doubt Israel was behind the operation, questions abounded. Why now? Is this the start of the widely-feared Israeli offensive into southern Lebanon? Or has Israel simply activated the explosives now simply because it feared the whole operation risked being compromised?
The explosions were felt Hezbollah’s strongholds throughout Lebanon: the southern Beirut suburbs, the south of the country and the Bekaa Valley in the east, as well as in Syria.
At least 37 people were killed in the two attacks and thousands injured.
The wounded included Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. But those killed also included a 10-year-old girl and another child. As the hospitals filled up the most common wounds were mutilated hands and eyes.
“Hezbollah suffered a very serious blow on a tactical level, a very impressive and comprehensive one that affects the operational side, the cognitive side,” said Yoram Schweitzer, a former intelligence officer now at the The Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.
Peter Harling, founder of the Synaps Lab think tank added: “The targets may have been Hezbollah members, but many were caught in the midst of their ordinary lives, and in the heart of their communities.”
“This is also a breach that is extraordinarily hard to explain.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk warned that the simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals “whether civilians or members of armed groups” without knowledge as to who was around them at the time “violates international human rights law.”
International humanitarian law prohibits the use of “booby traps” precisely to avoid putting civilians at grave risk and “produce the devastating scenes that continue to unfold across Lebanon,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa Director at Human Rights Watch.
Espionage professionals have meanwhile expressed their admiration for how the operation was put together.
“It’s not a technological feat,” said a person working for a European intelligence service, asking not to be named. But “it’s the result of human intelligence and heavy logistics.”
The small devices, bearing the name of the firm Gold Apollo in Taiwan, were intercepted by Israeli services before their arrival in Lebanon, according to multiple security sources who spoke to AFP, asking not to be named.
But the Taiwanese company denied having manufactured them and pointed to its Hungarian partner BAC.
Founded in 2022, the company is registered in Budapest. Its CEO, Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, appears there as the only employee.
The devices in question have never been on Hungarian soil, according to the Hungarian authorities.
The New York Times, citing three intelligence sources, said BAC was “part of an Israeli front” with at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers who were Israeli intelligence officers.
It described the pagers as a “modern day Trojan Horse” after the wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks to enter the city of Troy in the Trojan War.
The attack comes nearly a year after Hezbollah ally Hamas carried out its October 7 attack on Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.
The focus of Israel’s firepower has since been on the Palestinian territory, but Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops have exchanged fire almost daily across the border region since October, forcing thousands on both sides to flee their homes.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the focus of the war was shifting toward Lebanon, while the government said securing the northern front was a key objective, in order to allow Israelis evacuated from the area to return home.
Schweitzer said that despite the spectacular nature of the device operation it did not represent the end of Israel’s work to degrade Hezbollah.
“I don’t think this impressive operation that has its tactical gains... is getting into the strategic layers yet.
“It does not change the equation, it is not a decisive victory. But it sends another signal to Hezbollah, Iran and others,” he said.
NEW YORK CITY: With hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia on the brink of all-out war, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Friday that the world cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza.
The pager and walkie-talkie attacks across Lebanon last week, which left 37 dead and more than 3,000 injured, and which were followed by further exchanges of fire across the Lebanese border, have raised regional tensions to breaking point.
A doctor performs an eye surgery at a hospital in Beirut on a man who was injured by a communication device blast, on September 18, 2024. (AFP)
Guterres said an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah “is something we need to avoid at all costs.” Yet, against this backdrop, he says there is “a growing conscience that we must stop. We must stop this war in general. We must stop the war in Gaza.”
Speaking to Arab News ahead of the high-level week of the UN’s 79th General Assembly, which takes place as the war in Gaza nears its grim one-year anniversary, Guterres acknowledged the conflict has exceeded his expectations in terms of its duration and the “unprecedented level of destruction and suffering.”
As he reiterated his “vigorous” condemnation of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, he again stressed “that can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to Ephrem Kossaify of Arab News. (AN photo)
When asked about the UN’s responsibility for the failure to end the war, Guterres made it clear that the responsibility lies with those who initiated the conflict.
He said the UN has consistently called for ceasefires and humanitarian assistance from the beginning of the hostilities, but added “it’s impossible to convince those who do not want to be convinced.”
Guterres said he was saddened at not being able to do more for the people of Gaza, and attributed this to security concerns and restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities in the war ravaged enclave.
Calling for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said: “There is no humanitarian solution for humanitarian problems. The solution is always political. That is why we need to stop the war.”
Guterres also addressed the limitations of the UN’s power, noting that while it is a strong voice for peace and adherence to international law, its effectiveness is often hindered by geopolitical dynamics, particularly within the Security Council.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a political solution is the only viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (AN photo)
Calling on the US to stop supplying weapons to Israel, meanwhile, is an exercise in futility, he said. “I simply know that that would not happen. It’s not worth concentrating efforts where the results are impossible.”
He was unequivocal, however, on the need to implement all the deliberation of the International Court of Justice, which in January ruled there was a risk that genocide is being committed in Gaza.
Asked whether he is in favor of issuing arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Guterres said he supports “all the decisions of the ICC.”
Q. Mr. Secretary General, let’s start with Lebanon. The latest pager attacks in Lebanon have left so far 37 killed and over 3,000 injured. Is this another example of total disregard for the civilian toll? And is this the new norm now in the Middle East conflicts?
A. It is a very serious escalation. But I think that even more important than the fact that you mentioned is the idea which we now know, that this was triggered now because there was a suspicion that they were being discovered. And so, as they were being discovered, they were made to explode, which means that the objective was not to explode them now. And this kind of devices, this kind of operation, makes sense as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation. So, even more worrying than the events themselves is the fact that they show that there is a serious risk of an all-out war in Lebanon, and that is something we need to avoid at all costs. We cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza.
Hezbollah members carry the coffin of a comrade — a victim of Israel's pager attack — during a funeral in Adloun south of Tyre in southern Lebanon on September 19, 2024. (AFP)
Q. Are you in touch with Israel and Hezbollah? What are you hearing? Is an all-out escalation non-avoidable at this stage? And is there anything the UN can do?
A. At the present moment, we are witnessing an escalation, both a physical and a verbal escalation, but there is also a growing conscience that we must stop. We must stop this war in general. We must stop the war in Gaza. We must stop. And that it is absolutely essential to first start de-escalating, and second, to have a serious negotiation to solve once and for all the problems of demarcation on the Blue Line and to stabilize the relationship there without more casualties, especially without more civilian casualties.
Q. For almost a year now, the world has been watching some of the most traumatizing images of death and blood in Gaza. The longest and most atrocious war between Israelis and Palestinians. Did you expect this to take this long? And do you see an end in sight?
A. Sincerely, I didn’t expect it to last. And since the beginning, I’ve been asking for a ceasefire, humanitarian ceasefire, since the very beginning. I condemned vigorously the horrible terror attacks that were made on October 7 (last year) by Hamas, but that can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. And what we have seen in the last almost one year, was a level of death and destruction that is unprecedented in my period as secretary-general. And as you know, on top of all civilian death, we have had almost 200 of our own staff, humanitarian staff, killed. And this is something that obviously, in any circumstance, would need a serious investigation.
Almost a year after Israel launched its war of revenge against the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants, Gaza has been almost totally destroyed and more than 41,000 people killed. (AFP photos)
Q. Do you or the UN take a personal responsibility for the failure to end the war?
A. Let’s be clear: The responsibility for the war is of those that make the war. Normally, this kind of question is asked to divert the attention from who is causing the problem. Could the UN have done more? I sincerely never felt that we had an opportunity to really do more than what we have done from the very beginning. And from the very beginning, we have asked for ceasefire, for release of hostages, for effective humanitarian aid. Since the very beginning, our voice has been loud and clear. From the very beginning, we have put pressure on all, namely, on countries that could have a direct influence on Israel. But let’s be clear: It’s impossible to convince those that do not want to be convinced.
Q. I was reading that during the Cambodian genocide, critics of the UN used to say, “Oh, look at the UN. They are distributing sandwiches at the gates of Auschwitz. And it got me thinking about Gaza today, where the UN is not even able to do that: distribute sandwiches in Gaza. Now, everyone who knows you describes you above everything else as a humanitarian. As a humanitarian, how do you feel about the fact that you haven’t been able to get food and medicine into Gaza?
A. Well, there has been consistently a series of obstacles, obstacles caused in many aspects, directly by the Israeli authorities, obstacles caused by the insecurity in the area, by the fact that law and order has completely broken in this dramatic situation. And you can imagine how deeply saddened I am not to be able to do much more. And the proof that we are not doing more because of the obstacles created to us is the vaccination of polio. When those obstacles disappear, humanitarian action becomes possible.
Members of the United Nations Security Council listen as Riyad Mansour, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN, speaks during a meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question at UN headquarters on September 19, 2024 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
So, it’s not that UN is not able to do more. It’s not that the other agencies are not able to do more. It is that until now, we have not been allowed to do more. When we are allowed, we do and we deliver, as it was demonstrated. But once again, I was for 10 years the High Commissioner for Refugees, and I always said there is no humanitarian solution for humanitarian problems. The solution is always political.
That is why we need to stop the war. That is why we need to create a clear road map for a two-state solution, a two-state solution in line with all the deliberations that the international community has already taken allowing Israelis and Palestinians to live together in peace and security.
Q. I can’t help but notice that you have avoided calling directly on the US to stop supplying arms to Israel, and you said many times that you prefer to focus on things that are more achievable.
A. No, I simply know that that would not happen. I was very clear: I think I should concentrate my efforts on what can produce results. It’s not worth concentrating efforts where the results are impossible.
Q. But given that 50,000 bombs have already been dropped on Gaza, and the ICJ has ruled that there’s a risk of genocide in Gaza, has your view on conditioning aid to Israel changed at all?
A. My view is that all the deliberations of the ICJ should be fully taken into account and fully implemented.
Magistrates are seen at the International Court of Justice (as part of South Africa's request on a Gaza ceasefire in The Hague, on May 24, 2024.(AFP)
Q. Many across the region and the world have a sense today that the UN has failed the Gaza test, and that fear has pushed this organization to retreat from international law itself, to self-undermine its own credibility as this war goes on unchecked. What is your answer to those, and do you agree that there is fear in this building to confront the US, to confront Israel?
A. There is no fear in this building to confront anybody. If I can be proud of anything, it is that my voice has been loud and clear in defense of the (UN) Charter, in defense of international law, in defense of international humanitarian law, and in defense of the right of self-determination of peoples, and in particular of the Palestinian people.
So, I don’t think the UN can be accused of not being very clear in all these aspects, as we have been clear in Ukraine and as we have been clear in many other situations around the world. We have no real power, let’s be honest. The body of the UN that has some power is the Security Council, and you know Security Council is paralyzed.
We have limited resources, but even without power and money, there are two things we have. One is a voice that nobody will shut up, and the second is the capacity to do our best to convene those with goodwill to put pressure on those that are responsible for the dramatic wars that we are witnessing, to make sure that those wars find their end as soon as possible.
Q. Do you support arrest warrants for Hamas political chief Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
A. I support all the decisions of the ICC.
In this combo image, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is shown in a placard by Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan during a special session of the UN General Assembly (left frame) while Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is depicted during as Hitler during a demonstration in Sydney, Australia. (AFP photos)
Q. You are the UN chief, so obviously you don’t use the word “genocide” lightly. And I am well aware that the concept of genocide has often been subject to political abuse. But for months now, we have been hearing every genocide scholar, international human rights lawyer, warning against the genocidal nature of this war. In Gaza, homes, schools. churches, mosques, universities, water and electricity infrastructure, food systems, medical institutions have been all but wiped out. Disease, poisoning of the earth, sexual assault, torture and advanced weapons. Do you believe, months later, that Israeli actions leave any room for doubt that what is happening is genocide?
A. Our position has always been very clear: It’s not for the Secretariat of the UN to classify acts like these. We rely on the International Court of Justice, and we will abide by the decisions of the International Court of Justice in the moment in which the International Court of Justice is dealing with it. So, as the UN, we have our court, and as the UN, we need to support in all circumstances the decisions of our court and not to replace it.
Q. Through the genocides of the past century, the Tutsis, the Bosnians, the Yazidi and the Rohingya, it was always afterwards that it became clear that the international community had failed in its duty to prevent mass atrocities, and ensure accountability for the perpetrators. Today, many are saying that the mandate of the UN genocide prevention office is more needed than ever. Why has your undersecretary, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, who was very vocal on Sudan and Armenia, to name two, been silent on Gaza?
A. She has not been silent. She has been active on Gaza and many other situations. It’s not for her to declare what is a genocide or not. She is our envoy on the prevention of genocide, and I am very proud of the work that she has been doing.
* * * * *
WHO IS ANTONIO GUTERRES?
Antonio Guterres, born on April 30, 1949, in Lisbon, Portugal, is the current secretary-general of the United Nations, a role he has held since January 1, 2017. His career spans decades in politics, diplomacy, and international humanitarian work.
Guterres graduated from the Instituto Superior Tecnico at the University of Lisbon in 1971, where he studied physics and engineering. He began his career as an assistant professor, specializing in systems theory and telecommunication signals before entering politics during Portugal’s post-revolution period in the mid-1970s.
Guterres’ early political career included being the head of the Secretary of State of Industry’s office and serving in the Portuguese parliament, where he chaired key committees on the economy, finance, territorial administration, and the environment.
His international political involvement began in 1981 when he joined the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, focusing on migration, demography, and refugee issues.
This photo taken on July 28, 1998, shows then Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Guterres (left) meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the UN General Assembly building in New York City. (AFP)
From 1995 to 2002, Guterres served as the prime minister of Portugal, leading efforts to ensure minimum income guarantees and universal nursery schooling. His administration is also remembered for finalizing the transfer of Portuguese sovereignty over Macau to China in 1999.
During this time, he championed UN intervention in East Timor, advocating for peace and independence in the region following years of conflict.
Internationally, Guterres became increasingly involved in refugee and humanitarian issues. In 2005, he was appointed as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, where he expanded the organization’s emergency response capacity.
His tenure was marked by his vocal advocacy for a humane approach to refugee crises, particularly in Iraq and Syria. He also strengthened UNHCR’s presence in refugee host countries like Jordan and Lebanon.
A notable achievement during this period was appointing US actress Angelina Jolie as a special envoy, a strategic move that raised global awareness about refugee issues.
Throughout his career, Guterres has been an advocate for diplomacy, sustainable development, and human rights. He remains a member of the Club of Madrid, an organization of former democratic leaders, and continues to push for global cooperation on pressing challenges such as climate change, conflict resolution, and migration.
He is married to Catarina Vaz Pinto, a former Portuguese deputy minister of culture, and has two children, a stepson, and three grandchildren.
Attack on communication devices in Lebanon violates international law, could be war crime: UN human rights chief
The explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies on Tuesday and Wednesday killed at least 37 people
Updated 21 September 2024
Arab News
NEW YORK CITY: The UN on Friday said the detonation of hand-held communication devices reportedly used by Hezbollah in Lebanon this week violated international law and could constitute a war crime.
A senior UN official separately warned on Friday that escalation between Israel and Iran-backed groups in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon could lead to an inevitable spiral into a wider regional conflict.
The explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies on Tuesday and Wednesday killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000 others after they detonated in public areas filled with civilians across Lebanon.
Hezbollah quickly blamed Israel for the violence, but the Israeli government has not commented directly on the attacks.
“It is a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians,” said the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
Speaking to a UN Security Council briefing on the attacks called for by Algeria, Turk said he was “appalled by the breadth and impact of the attacks.”
UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk speaking during the Security Council session. (Screenshot/UNTV)
He continued: “These attacks represent a new development in warfare, where communication tools become weapons simultaneously exploding across marketplaces, on street corners, and in homes as daily life unfolds.”
He told the council that this type of action “cannot be the new normal,” adding there was a need for an “independent, thorough, and transparent investigation” into the explosions.
“Those who ordered and carried out these attacks must be held to account. Let me be clear — this method of warfare may be new and unfamiliar. But international humanitarian and human rights law apply regardless and must be upheld,” he said.
The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo told the council that the recent escalation risked “seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far” in the nearly year-long conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“As we approach a full year of near-daily exchanges of fire across the Blue Line and bloodshed in Gaza, too many lives have been lost, too many people have been displaced, and too many livelihoods have been destroyed,” DiCarlo said.
“It is not too late to avoid such folly. There is still room for diplomacy, which must be used without delay.
“The secretary-general continues to urgently call on the parties to recommit to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities,” she added.
The Slovenian representative to the UN, Samuel Zbogar, who currently holds the presidency of the Security Council, expressed his “profound concern” over rising violence in the Middle East.
“We are stepping in a dangerous new territory and as new technology is being used and developed, we underline the need to respect the existing legal obligations,” he said.
“Civilian objects should not be weaponized. The international law is clear: use of booby traps is prohibited.
“We call for maximum restraint by all actors in the region. The circle of violence risks escalating into a wider conflict. We call on all parties, both state and non-state actors, to deescalate and refrain from any further retaliatory actions,” he added.
Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood echoed this and told the council that it was “imperative that even as facts emerge about the latest incidents — in which I reiterate, the US played no role — all parties refrain from any actions which could plunge the region into a devastating war.”
He added that Washington expected all parties to the conflict to “comply with international humanitarian law and take all reason steps to minimise harm to civilians.”
