The Middle East crisis has lurched into its second month. Every day this war continues, human suffering grows. The scale of devastation grows. Indiscriminate attacks grow. The targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure grows. And the perils to our world grow. We are on the edge of a wider war that would engulf the whole Middle East with dramatic impacts around the globe. The conflict is already being felt everywhere. Look no further than…

The members of the Security Council expressed their condemnation over the incidents that led to the deaths of three Indonesian peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), following an explosion inside a UNIFIL position on 29 March, and another explosion that struck a logistics convoy the following day. Five other peacekeepers were injured. In the past weeks, several other incidents have impacted UNIFIL positions and…

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the incident that led to the killing of two Indonesian peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on 30 March, when an explosion of unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan, south Lebanon. A third peacekeeper was severely injured, and a fourth was also hurt. The Secretary-General expresses his deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the…

Three United Nations peacekeepers lost their lives while serving in southern Lebanon in the past 24 hours. Nine Lebanese paramedics were killed in just one day this weekend. The death toll from the escalation in hostilities between Hizbullah and Israel since 2 March now stands at 1,247. It includes healthcare workers, journalists and civilians going about their daily lives, as well as Lebanese soldiers not engaged in hostilities. Lebanon is a…

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert continued to leverage the good offices of the Secretary-General to push for the de-escalation of hostilities and a pivot to diplomatic solutions, as the exchange of fire between Israel and Hizbullah continued unabated. The Special Coordinator held a round of meetings with Lebanese officials this week, including with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on the efforts of the…

Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, Just hours into the outbreak of the war in the Middle East, I warned that the fighting risked triggering a chain reaction that no one could control. More than three weeks on, the war is out of control. The conflict has broken past the limits even leaders thought unimaginable. The world is staring down the barrel of a wider war, a rising tide of human suffering, and a deeper global economic shock. This has gone…