The situation in the Middle East: Emergency Meeting on Lebanon
This evening (25 September) at 6 pm EST, the Security Council is expected to hold a briefing under the agenda item “The situation in the Middle East” focused on the rapidly intensifying conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called for the emergency meeting during his 23 September address at the Summit of the Future. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is expected to brief.
This will be the second Security Council meeting on the deteriorating situation in Lebanon in less than a week. It follows an urgent briefing last Friday (20 September) called by Algeria in the aftermath of a wave of attacks on 17 and 18 September which detonated thousands of Hezbollah’s electronic communication devices across Lebanon. Similar explosions were also reported in Syria on 17 September. The attacks have been widely attributed to Israel, although it has not taken responsibility for the explosions.
It seems that, during the closed consultations that followed Friday’s open briefing, Council members discussed issuing press elements that would have condemned the 17-18 September communication devices explosions, called for a de-escalation and a cessation of hostilities, and emphasised the need to protect civilians. It appears, however, that members were eventually unable to agree on press elements due to opposition by the US, Israel’s key ally on the Security Council.
The 17-18 September attacks came against the backdrop of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas and near-daily exchanges of fire across the Blue Line between Israel and Hezbollah following the outbreak of the war on 7 October 2023. (The Blue Line is a withdrawal line set by the UN in 2000 to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. While not representing an international border, the Blue Line acts in practice as a boundary between Israel and Lebanon in the absence of an agreed-upon border between the two states.) Hezbollah has been firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas, while Israel has responded with airstrikes and the assassination of Hezbollah commanders in Lebanon, with the exchanges of fire intensifying progressively in recent months. Even before the current escalation, the exchanges of fire had displaced tens of thousands of people both in Israel and Lebanon and resulted in casualties among combatants and civilians on both sides of the Blue Line, with the Associated Press reporting on 19 September that over 500 people had been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since the start of the escalation, most of them combatants but also more than 100 civilians, while at least 23 soldiers and 26 civilians had been killed in northern Israel by strikes from Lebanese territory.
Following the 17-18 September attacks, Israel carried out large-scale airstrikes on 23 and 24 September, mainly in areas in southern and eastern Lebanon but also targeting some areas of Beirut, on what it said were some 1,600 Hezbollah targets. For its part, Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets into Israel. According to figures cited by Lebanese Minister of Public Health Firass Abiad on 24 September, 569 people were killed in Lebanon on 23 and 24 September, including “[a]t least 50 children, 94 women and four paramedics”. In a 24 September statement, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that one of its staff members and her son were killed in an Israeli airstrike, while a UNHCR contractor was also confirmed dead.
Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon continued today, while Hezbollah launched a ballistic missile directed at the headquarters of the Mossad Israeli intelligence service near Tel Aviv. The missile was intercepted by Israel.
At today’s meeting, members are likely to seek an update from Guterres on the situation in Lebanon following the latest developments, particularly regarding the humanitarian situation. In a 23 September statement, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expressed “grave concern for the safety of civilians in southern Lebanon amidst the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October”, while emphasising that “[d]eliberate attacks on civilians are clear violations of international law”. Speaking at a 24 September press briefing at the UN Office in Geneva, spokesperson for UNHCR Matthew Saltmarsh said that tens of thousands of people had been forced from their homes in Lebanon and that these numbers “continued to grow”. He also noted that Syrian refugees, over 1.5 million of whom are estimated to be in Lebanon, were “now facing displacement once again”. According to an update provided today by Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, 30,000 people in areas in eastern and southern Lebanon have lost access to clean water following the airstrikes.
Members may seek Guterres’ assessment of the prospects for de-escalation. According to media reports, France and the US are discussing plans to promote de-escalation in talks on the margins of the high-level segment of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. All indicators from the ground point to a different direction, however. Israel recently added to the goals of the war in Gaza the return of its citizens displaced from the north to their homes and moved troops from Gaza to the north of Israel. In a statement during a visit to a military exercise in the north of Israel on 24 September, the head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) northern command, Major General Ori Gordin, reportedly said that Israel had entered a new phase of its campaign and must be prepared for “manoeuvring and action”. This and other similar recent statements have been interpreted as signalling the increasing likelihood of an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. Hezbollah’s leadership has stated several times that it would continue to fire at Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues.
Participants in today’s meeting are expected to express alarm at the intensification of hostilities and call for restraint and a full de-escalation. Council members are likely to stress the need to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law, including its principles of distinction and proportionality.
Several Council members are likely to express concern at Israel’s bombing campaign in Lebanon, which some members may condemn. Some members may also accuse Israel of pulling the region towards war. Several members are also likely to condemn Hezbollah’s rocket launches towards northern Israel and the firing of a ballistic missile towards Tel Aviv. Some members may accuse Hezbollah and Iran of having a destabilising effect on the region.
At today’s meeting, Guterres is likely to reiterate his recent messages on the conflict, expressing concern that any further escalation could have devastating consequences. He might stress, like he did in his 24 September remarks at the opening of the 79th session of the General Assembly, that the “[t]he people of Lebanon–the people of Israel–and the people of the world–cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza”.
Guterres and Council members are likely to stress the importance of pursuing diplomatic solutions to the conflict in the region. Several members may also express support for UNIFIL’s efforts to reduce tensions and halt the escalation. Participants are also likely to call on the relevant parties to recommit to, and fully implement, resolution 1701, which in 2006 called for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
While the situation in the Gaza Strip is not expected to be the main focus of today’s meeting, several members are likely to refer to the war in Gaza and might note, like UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk did in his briefing at the 20 September meeting, that the situation in Lebanon “cannot be seen in isolation” and that it is bound up with the war in Gaza, violence in the West Bank, and Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territory. Members may also reiterate their long-standing calls for a ceasefire, for the release of all hostages, and for safe and unhindered humanitarian access.
The situation in Gaza is the expected focus of a briefing scheduled for Friday (27 September) under the “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” agenda item. Algeria requested that meeting, at which Guterres is expected to brief.
