'Miscalculation' could lead to wider Hezbollah-Israel conflict, say UN officials

Reuters
·1 min read
FILE PHOTO: Conference about al-Hol camp, in Baghdad

BEIRUT (Reuters) - There is a "very real" risk that a miscalculation along Lebanon's southern border could trigger a wider conflict between Hezbollah and the Israeli military, two U.N. officials in Lebanon warned on Saturday.

The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the head of U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, Aroldo Lazaro, said they were "deeply concerned" about the recent escalation along Lebanon's border.

Iran-backed Hezbollah last week launched the largest volleys of rockets and drones yet in the eight months it has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military, in parallel with the Gaza war.

"The danger of miscalculation leading to a sudden and wider conflict is very real," the two officials said in a written statement on Saturday.

The United States and France are working on a negotiated settlement to the hostilities along Lebanon's southern border. Hezbollah says it will not halt fire unless Israel's military offensive on Gaza stops.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Mark Potter)

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • White House cancels high-level meeting with Israeli officials

    Foreign correspondent Marcus Moore joins from Beirut, Lebanon, for more on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the cancelled meeting between the White House and Israeli officials.

  • Why Russia’s Bond With North Korea Is a Danger to the World

    (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first trip to North Korea in 24 years to warm up a newfound bond with its leader, Kim Jong Un, that has helped boost Russia’s firepower in its grinding war on Ukraine. As the US and its partners have tried to put Russia and North Korea deeper into isolation, the two countries have stepped up their trade in commodities and arms. Russia’s forces have been able to blast thousands of artillery shells a day at Ukraine thanks to supplies sent by

  • US wants to avoid 'greater war' at Lebanon-Israel border

    STORY: A top American diplomat on Tuesday said the United States is trying to avert a greater war along the border between Israel and Lebanon."What (U.S.) President (Joe) Biden wants to do is to avoid a further escalation to a greater war. That is the effort here."U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was in Beirut following an escalation in cross-border fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.Hochstein said he had been dispatched to Lebanon immediately following a brief trip to Israel because the situation was "serious."Iran-backed Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel, in parallel with the Gaza war that broke out on Oct. 7.Last week, the group fired the largest volleys of rockets and drones in the last eight months after an Israeli strike killed a high-ranking militant commander.Hochstein has something of a track record in the region. In 2022 he helped negotiate the first ever Israel-Lebanese accord on a maritime boundary between the two countries.But Hezbollah says it will not halt its attacks on Israel unless there is a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.Hochstein on Tuesday urged the Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept a U.S.-backed proposal for a truce."A ceasefire in Gaza and/or an alternative diplomatic solution could also bring the conflict across the blue line to an end, creating conditions for displaced Lebanese civilians to go home in the south and for Israeli civilians to go home in their north."But a ceasefire in Gaza appears remote. The Israeli military on Tuesday released video showing what it said were its forces in Rafah, where it claimed it is trying to root out remaining Hamas brigades and recover hostages.The conflict erupted after Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies.Israel's devastating retaliation has killed more than 37,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian health ministry figures. Earlier this month, Israeli special forces staged a daring rescue that freed four hostages, who were taken by helicopter back to Israel.Israel's military on Tuesday released this video of one of the pilots in the operation describing his conversation with the newly freed Shlomi Ziv."During the flight to the hospital I looked back and I saw Shlomi looking out of the window so I asked the crew chief that was beside him, if Shlomi wants to get in the cockpit and talk with us. So we let him in, we gave him earphones and we had a 10 minute conversation with an hostage that was just released from captivity.""Well yes, June 8, the day of the operation was my birthday, and I'm positive that it's the best present that I could get."But for Palestinians in Gaza, no such happy moments.At a hospital in Khan Younis, residents mourned those killed in an Israeli airstrike on a commercial street.Umm Mohammed Daloul is the aunt of one of the dead."They are merchants, they have nothing to do with anything. They hit them with missiles. There is no safety, there is no safety…They are innocent people. They are honest people. They have nothing to do with anything. They are merchants. They killed the merchants, they killed people. They killed children. They killed women. They have mistreated us. God is our suffice and the best disposer of our affairs. I can’t say anything more than that.”Funerals were held in the Nuseirat refugee camp on Tuesday after airstrikes killed 17 people.

  • Confused Trump Forgets Names Again And Again And Again In Brutal Supercut Video

    The former president's cognition is under the microscope after a series of alarming reports.

  • Hezbollah leader threatens Cyprus as tensions with Israel ramp up

    Threat comes just a day after Israel warned the powerful Lebanese militant group that the prospect of “all-out war” was “getting very close.”

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci Recalls Surprising Aftermath Of Correcting Donald Trump On Live TV

    The infectious disease expert said the then-president was fixated on one thing during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Trump left red-faced in Virginia after MAGA candidate fails to grab decisive win

    Bob Good shows some Republicans can still take on Donald Trump and have a fighting chance

  • Trump Bungles His Mockery of Biden Over ‘Clean Fake’ Videos

    Donald Trump once again shot himself in the foot while trying to mock President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities, this time making up a term for the selectively edited videos that conservatives have peddled to portray Biden as feeble.During a campaign rally in Wisconsin on Tuesday, the former president brought up viral clips of Biden that have flooded right-wing media and Trump’s social media feed in recent weeks. The videos, which supposedly show the president “freezing up” or wandering off, hav

  • Roger Stone Caught on Tape Discussing Trump’s Plan to Challenge 2024 Election

    Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative who served as an adviser to Donald Trump, was secretly recorded at Mar-a-Lago spilling the beans on the former president’s strategy to challenge the results of the 2024 election should he lose again. The self-described “dirty trickster” of right-wing politics unknowingly divulged the plan to liberal reporters Lauren Windsor and Ally Sammarco, who posed as Trump fans and covertly videotaped him at a “Catholics Prayer for Trump” event on March 19. The r

  • Jimmy Kimmel Mocks Trump’s Demented Claim About Joan Rivers

    Ramin Setoodeh, the author of a new Donald Trump book about the behind-the-scenes environment of The Apprentice, made headlines this week with his claims that the former president showed symptoms of cognitive decline during their interviews.Covering Setoodeh’s reports in his Wednesday monologue, Jimmy Kimmel zeroed in on Trump’s claim that Joan Rivers, a renowned comedian and actress, voted for him in the 2016 election. The only problem with his story is that Rivers died two years earlier.“So he

  • Trump Admits He Made A Mistake During First Biden Debate, Maggie Haberman Says

    The former president has told people “multiple times” what he’s learned from the September 2020 debate, The New York Times reporter said.

  • Jim Jordan threatens New York AG with subpoena over hush money prosecutor

    House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is threatening to subpoena New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) in his quest to gain information about a top prosecutor on the Manhattan hush money trial of former President Trump. In a letter to James last month, Jordan demanded information about Matthew Colangelo, a former employee of hers…

  • Donald Trump's 'Obsession' With NBC Colleague Crush Revealed In New Book

    The former president thought the "quite attractive" network star would "do anything" for him, according to the book.

  • Trump’s bid to oust Good ends in nail-biter: 5 takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries

    A stunningly tight race in Virginia was among the highlights of Tuesday night’s elections, which also included contests in Georgia and Oklahoma. Observers had been closely monitoring the GOP primary for Rep. Bob Good’s seat in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. The contest had boiled over into one of the most tumultuous primaries of the cycle…

  • Fact check: Trump rewrites Wisconsin history in rally filled with false claims

    Former President Donald Trump made more than two dozen false claims at his Tuesday campaign rally in Racine, Wisconsin, including two significant attempts to rewrite Wisconsin history.

  • Ukraine pouring troops into contested Kharkiv region

    Moscow’s military launched a surprise offensive targeting the North East of Ukraine earlier this year, destroying a key town and gaining a foothold not far from the second largest city, Kharkiv. But CNN’s Fred Pleitgen reports, the Ukrainians now say they are back on the offensive.

  • Ukraine got the go-ahead to hit Russia with F-16s, but doing so could be a waste of a good jet

    Denmark said Ukraine can use its F-16s to hit military targets in Russia — something experts said would likely make the few jets too vulnerable.

  • How the NFL’s ‘Worst-Ever’ Owner is Blocking Movie Showing ‘Rapist’ Trump

    The billionaire former owner of the Washington Commanders is blocking the release of a biopic of Donald Trump which portrays the former president as a rapist.Dan Snyder, once described as the NFL’s worst franchise owner, might be able to stop The Apprentice hitting screens thanks to a bizarre twist: He helped finance the movie.The Apprentice portrays a young Trump and his relentless rise in New York where he is tutored and advised by the amoral attorney Roy Cohn. In the film Trump, played by Seb

  • ‘A complete fabrication’: Milwaukee Mayor on Trump claiming to select city for RNC convention

    CNN’s Abby Phillip speaks with Milwaukee, WI, Mayor Cavalier Johnson about former President Donald Trump recently stating he loves the Republican National Convention host city after previously calling it “horrible.”

  • Judge in Trump classified documents case to hear validity of special counsel's appointment, gag order request

    The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case will kick off a series of hearings this week on motions to dismiss the case. One of the hearings is expected to focus on a legal theory pushed by conservative legal critics of special counsel Jack Smith that seeks to invalidate his appointment. Judge Aileen Cannon’s court calendar related to this case has become increasingly logjammed in recent months – as she has scheduled hearings on legal maneuvers by Trump and his co-defendants that other judges would not typically entertain.