‘We cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza,’ UN chief Antonio Guterres tells Arab News
NEW YORK CITY: With hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia on the brink of all-out war, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Friday that the world cannot allow Lebanon to become another Gaza.
The pager and walkie-talkie attacks across Lebanon last week, which left 37 dead and more than 3,000 injured, and which were followed by further exchanges of fire across the Lebanese border, have raised regional tensions to breaking point.
Guterres said an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah “is something we need to avoid at all costs.” Yet, against this backdrop, he says there is “a growing conscience that we must stop. We must stop this war in general. We must stop the war in Gaza.”
Speaking to Arab News ahead of the high-level week of the UN’s 79th General Assembly, which takes place as the war in Gaza nears its grim one-year anniversary, Guterres acknowledged the conflict has exceeded his expectations in terms of its duration and the “unprecedented level of destruction and suffering.”
As he reiterated his “vigorous” condemnation of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, he again stressed “that can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
When asked about the UN’s responsibility for the failure to end the war, Guterres made it clear that the responsibility lies with those who initiated the conflict.
He said the UN has consistently called for ceasefires and humanitarian assistance from the beginning of the hostilities, but added “it’s impossible to convince those who do not want to be convinced.”
Guterres said he was saddened at not being able to do more for the people of Gaza, and attributed this to security concerns and restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities in the war ravaged enclave.
Calling for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said: “There is no humanitarian solution for humanitarian problems. The solution is always political. That is why we need to stop the war.”
Guterres also addressed the limitations of the UN’s power, noting that while it is a strong voice for peace and adherence to international law, its effectiveness is often hindered by geopolitical dynamics, particularly within the Security Council.
Calling on the US to stop supplying weapons to Israel, meanwhile, is an exercise in futility, he said. “I simply know that that would not happen. It’s not worth concentrating efforts where the results are impossible.”
He was unequivocal, however, on the need to implement all the deliberation of the International Court of Justice, which in January ruled there was a risk that genocide is being committed in Gaza.
Asked whether he is in favor of issuing arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Guterres said he supports “all the decisions of the ICC.”
