Israel-Hezbollah conflict: Escalating violence threatens Middle East stability
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Iraq, Egypt, and Jordan condemned the Israeli "aggression" toward Lebanon and warned of a potential escalation of conflict in the Middle East. The document was issued following a meeting of diplomats on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The ministers expressed concerns about the "dangerous escalation underway in the region". In their statement, they emphasised that ending this escalation "begins by halting Israel's aggression in Gaza".
Criticism of Israel arose in reaction to the intensification of military actions. Last week, Israel carried out the strongest strikes of this conflict, targeting leaders of the Shiite militant organisation Hezbollah and hundreds of sites in Lebanon.
Escalation in the region
As a result of these airstrikes, over 500 people were killed and over 1,800 were wounded. Among the casualties was a high-ranking Hezbollah commander, Ibrahim Kubaisi, who was killed on Tuesday in an Israeli attack on a suburb of Beirut.
Hezbollah is not remaining idle. The organisation has been conducting attacks from Lebanon on Israel for three days. On Wednesday, Hezbollah announced that it had fired a rocket at the Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv. According to the Israeli army, the missile was intercepted, marking the first time Hezbollah launched a rocket attack on Tel Aviv.
Israel is "pushing the region towards a comprehensive war," warned the foreign ministers of Iraq, Egypt, and Jordan in their statement.
