https://arab.news/rcd9v
- Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah’s underground headquarters in Beirut this week
- Pakistan urges UN Security Council to “restrain” Israel from adventurism in volatile Middle East
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office on Sunday strongly condemned Israel’s “aggression” against Lebanon and the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, with the leaders of the country’s various political parties calling for an end to the Jewish state’s military campaigns in the region.
Israel’s military said it had killed Nasrallah on Friday in an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh. Hezbollah confirmed its chief had been killed on Saturday, vowing to continue its fight against Israel to defend Lebanon and the people of Gaza.
The killing triggered condemnation from several countries as fears of a wider war in the Middle East loom large, where Israel’s military campaigns have caused the deaths of over 41,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7 last year.
“For the last several days, Israeli forces have engaged in unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of Lebanon, relentlessly targeting civilian population centers, and undermining its stability and security,” the foreign office spokesperson said in a statement.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of Israeli aggression and the people of Lebanon.”
The spokesperson said Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah constitutes “a major escalation” in an already volatile region.
She said Pakistan continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Lebanon, urging the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to “restrain” Israel from its adventurism in the Middle East.
“For the last several days, Israeli forces have engaged in unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of Lebanon, relentlessly targeting civilian population centers, and undermining its stability and security,” the spokesperson added.
’ACT OF COWARDLY TERRORISM’
Leaders of various Pakistani political parties condemned Nasrallah’s killing and Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Pakistan (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman said Nasrallah’s killing will bolster resistance against Israel and expose the “disgraced face of Zionism to the world.”
“We strongly condemn the martyrdom of Nasrallah; the killing of the Hezbollah leader is an act of cowardly terrorism by Israel,” he said in a statement.
Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Sherry Rehman said Israel was seeking to destroy Lebanon the same way it had destroyed Gaza.
“The impunity given to Israel is so monstrous that it has left no shred of international order intact,” she told Arab News.
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman paid tribute to Nasrallah and offered his condolences to the people of Lebanon and Palestine.
“Nasrallah resisted the illegitimate Israeli state throughout his life and sacrificed his life for a great cause,” he said.
He said the JI would announce a week of solidarity with the people of Palestine and Lebanon from Oct. 7 through nationwide rallies and demonstrations.
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, called on world powers to intervene or “risk allowing this conflict to spill beyond the region, posing a grave threat to global peace and security.”
“Israel’s unchecked aggression and the indiscriminate killing of civilians, including women, the elderly, and children, have reached alarming levels, verging on genocide and mass atrocities unprecedented in modern history,” he told Arab News.