Iran’s president says Israel is dragging region into ‘irreversible’ war
Masoud Pezeshkian told journalists in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly, that Israel is provoking Iran to join the conflict in support of Hezbollah.
When asked whether Iran would come to the Lebanese group’s defence, he said Tehran would “defend any group that is defending its rights and itself”. But he added that Iran wants “to live in peace”.
“We do not wish to be the cause of instability in the Middle East as its consequences would be irreversible,” said Pezeshkian, a more moderate politician who was elected in July on promises of a pragmatic foreign policy.
“We don’t want war… It is Israel that seeks to create this all-out conflict,” he added.
Fears grow of an Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon
Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that nothing is off the table, that Israel has a wide variety of capabilities and, in fact, the army chief of staff said Hezbollah is only getting a taste of some of those capabilities.
So you have now this looming fear of a ground offensive in Lebanon. The US has said they would not support such a move, but we have heard that before when it came to Gaza.
Israel’s statement that nothing is off the table is incredibly worrisome for people on both sides of that border. But especially in Lebanon now, where Israel has said they are going to continue striking targets, they are going to continue intensifying their attacks and they don’t care how long it takes.
Netanyahu says he’s trying to restore “the balance of power” at the border and that they are not going to stop until those objectives are reached.
G7 ministers say no one benefits from Middle East escalation
After meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) countries warned that the Middle East risks being dragged into a broader conflict.
“Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences,” it said in a Monday statement.
The G7 countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – also “called for a stop to the current destructive cycle, while emphasising that no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East”.
NRC urges world to help end ‘relentless bloodshed’ in Middle East
The secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council has called for an “immediate de-escalation” and an end to indiscriminate attacks after Israel’s latest wave of bombardment across southern Lebanon.
“Israel’s airstrikes across Lebanese villages and cities on Monday are the most violent in 11 months. Residential areas and densely populated neighbourhoods were bombed, which means the human toll will be immense,” Jan Egeland said in a statement.
“The targeting of civilian areas in southern and eastern Lebanon and northern Israel escalates hostilities to a new and incredibly dangerous level,” he said, while any “further escalation will drive violence and destruction at an immense scale and risk a full-scale regional conflict”.
Egeland said the need for a ceasefire in Gaza has never been more critical. “Key powers in the region and around the globe must exert every effort to get all sides to stop this relentless bloodshed,” he added.
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli air strike in Marjayoun, near the Lebanon-Israel border, on September 23
