UN chief calls for ‘urgent de-escalation’ in Middle East
United Nations SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres has called for an “urgent deescalation” of hostilities in the Middle East.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres made the comments during a phone conversation with Iran’s foreign minister following Tehran’s weekend attack on Israel. Dujarric said Guterres spoke to Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Monday.
World leaders have urged Israel not to retaliate after Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles over the weekend in an unprecedented mission that pushed the Middle East closer to a region-wide war.
The attack happened less than two weeks after a suspected Israeli strike in Syria killed two Iranian generals in an Iranian consular building.
Tensions in the region have increased since the start of the latest Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, when Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two militant groups backed by Iran, carried out a cross-border attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others. Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza that has caused widespread devastation and killed more than 33,800 people, according to local health officials.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said Tuesday he had pressed U.S. President Joe Biden on the need “for all parties to calm down.”
Al-Sudani spoke to reporters during a Washington visit that included talks with Biden at the White House on Monday.
Saturday’s drone and missile launches by Iran targeting Israel, including some that overflew through Iraqi airspace and others that were launched from Iraq by Iranian-backed groups, have underscored the delicate relationship between Washington and Baghdad.
Al-Sudani said Iraq, like some other Arab nations, had tried unsuccessfully to talk Iran out of the strikes on Israel.
Al-Sudani said the decision on allowing Iraqi airspace or soil to be used in any future attacks between Israel and Iran was Iraq’s to make. Iraqis “reaffirmed Iraq is an independent and sovereign nation,” he said. “We do not want to be a part in this conflict. We discussed this with Iran and with Biden.”
Meanwhile, the UN human rights office called on Israeli security forces to immediately end their active participation in and support for attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Tuesday’s statement followed a wave of settler attacks on Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank triggered by the killing of a 14-year-old Israeli boy in what authorities say was a militant attack.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said seven Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the attacks began on Friday, and another 75 wounded. Israeli authorities have urged people not to resort to vigilante attacks as tensions soar. But rights groups have long accused Israeli forces of routinely ignoring settler attacks or even taking part in them.
The UN appealed on Tuesday for $2.8 billion US to provide desperately needed aid to three million Palestinians, stressing that tackling looming famine in war-torn Gaza doesn’t only require food but sanitation, water and health facilities.