Andy Gregory
The Independent / July 31, 2024
Britain’s foreign secretary has urged UK citizens to leave Lebanon as Israel’s allies urge restraint.
Israel has been warned against falling into the “trap” of retaliating against Hezbollah amid fears of an all-out war on its northern border with Lebanon.
Rocket fire from Lebanon killed an Israeli civilian on Tuesday, medics said, adding to tensions after a deadly missile strike in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Fear over a fresh war has spiked since Saturday when the rocket killed 12 children and teenagers at a football pitch in a Druze village. Israel accused the Iran-backed Hezbollah and vowed a harsh response. Hezbollah has denied involvement.
With Israel’s allies lining up to counsel restraint and urge a diplomatic solution, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said: “While we’ve seen a lot of activity on Israel‘s northern border, we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight. And I don’t believe that a fight is inevitable.”
Echoing this warning, Italy’s hard-right premier Giorgia Meloni said she was “very, very worried” by the risk of a regional escalation and urged Israel to avoid the “trap” of retaliation.
The international community should continue sending messages of moderation, and China could help in these efforts, having “solid ties” with Iran and Saudi Arabia, Meloni said during a visit to China.
The UK’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, warned of a “fast-moving” situation as he urged British citizens to leave Lebanon on Monday night, and said Foreign Office staff were “working round the clock to help ensure the safety” of UK nationals.
Some flights have been cancelled from Beirut airport, as Israel continued to strike targets in Lebanon on Tuesday. Hezbollah claimed to have intercepted and fired at Israeli warplanes that broke the sound barrier in Lebanese airspace, forcing them to turn back.
Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire across the Lebanese border since the war in Gaza was sparked by the attack inside Israel by Hezbollah-ally Hamas on 7 October, but until the deadly football pitch strike, both Israel and Hezbollah have appeared reticent to risk a more intensified conflict.
The UN peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon also said it had increased contact with Israel and Lebanese authorities to dial down tensions, with a spokesperson warning: “Nobody wants to start a wider conflict, but a miscalculation could trigger one. There is still space for a diplomatic solution.”
The strike on Saturday killed a dozen children and young people in Majdal Shams – a Syrian village seized by Israel in 1967, occupied mainly by the Druze, an Arab minority who practice a form of Islam. While Hezbollah denied being behind the attack, it claimed earlier to have struck military sites nearby.
Israel’s security cabinet has authorized Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant to decide on the manner and timing of a response to Saturday’s strike.
The US-led diplomatic efforts are seeking to deter Israel from striking Lebanon’s capital Beirut or major civil infrastructure such as bridges or airports, five people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The Israeli military claimed to have struck around 10 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon overnight and killed one of the group’s fighters. Hezbollah confirmed the casualty.
Two Israeli officials were quoted as saying by Reuters that Israel wanted to hurt Hezbollah but not drag the Middle East into all-out war, while two others said Israel was preparing for the possibility of a few days of fighting.
“The estimation is that the response will not lead to an all-out war,” said one diplomatic source. “That would not be in our interest at this point.”
In a sign of the fragility of the region more widely, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian told France’s Emmanuel Macron on Monday that any Israeli attack on Lebanon would have “serious consequences” for Israel, after Syria’s foreign ministry said it held Israel “fully responsible for this dangerous escalation”.
But in a statement issued by his office on Monday after he visited Majdal Shams, Mr Netanyahu said: “The state of Israel will not and cannot let this pass. Our response will come and it will be harsh.”
The brutal cross-border attack by Hamas left some 1,200 Israelis dead and triggered retaliation by Israel which has claimed nearly 40,000 Palestinian lives, according to health officials in Gaza. Reuters reports that Israeli strikes have killed some 350 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and more than 100 civilians.
Israel says the death toll among its civilians killed in Hezbollah attacks has risen to 23 since October, along with at least 17 soldiers.
Andy Gregory is a news reporter who has worked at The Independent
