UN officials in Lebanon urge Israel border de-escalation

BEIRUT

United Nations officials said on Monday that six months of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border "must stop", urging de-escalation "while there is still space for diplomacy".

Israeli forces and Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian armed group Hamas, have exchanged regular cross-border fire since the day after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that triggered war in the Gaza Strip.

Other armed groups in Lebanon including Palestinian militants have also occasionally claimed launches into Israel.

"It is six months since the exchanges of fire across the Blue Line began, and continue unabated, taking a heavy toll on both sides," said a joint statement from U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, and Aroldo Lazaro, head of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

UNIFIL peacekeepers patrol the so-called Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, demarcated by the U.N. in 2000 after Israeli troops pulled out of southern Lebanon.

"The violence and suffering has gone on too long. It must stop," the officials said.

They urged all sides to "avail of all avenues to avoid further escalation while there is still space for diplomacy".

Hezbollah, which has a powerful arsenal of rockets and missiles and says it acts in support of Hamas, has upped its attacks though they are generally limited to the border area.

Israel meanwhile has struck increasingly deeper into Lebanese territory, also targeting Hezbollah commanders.

"The gradual expansion in the scope and scale of the confrontations... significantly raises the risk of miscalculation and further deterioration of an already alarming situation," the U.N. officials warned.

The Israeli army said on Sunday it had completed "another phase of... readiness for war" on the Lebanon front.

The violence has so far killed at least 363 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.

According to the U.N. officials, "a political process, anchored in the full implementation of Resolution 1701, is now more crucial than ever to address the root causes of the conflict and ensure long-term stability."

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and called for the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in the country's south.

While Hezbollah has not had a visible military presence in the border area since 2006, it holds sway over large swathes of the south, where it has built tunnels, hideouts and launches attacks.