MRG condemns Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, demands accountability
On 23 September, Israel launched a large-scale airstrike campaign over Lebanon, claiming it was targeting Hezbollah and supporting the return of displaced Israeli citizens to the North. Since then, Israel’s attacks have killed over 560 people, including more than 50 children, making it one of Lebanon’s deadliest weeks in recent history.
The offensive has also wounded more than 1,800 people and displaced half a million people, including Syrian and Palestinian refugees. Among those killed are two members of the United Nations’ refugee agency, UNHCR, in Lebanon and several journalists. This rampage has also led to widespread destruction of houses and buildings in South Lebanon, Bekaa and Beirut, burying people under the rubble. Aside from the considerable material damage, tactics such as the use of sonic booms and the detonation of communication devices can be described as psychological warfare.
MRG strongly condemns these actions and the flagrant disregard for even the most basic principles of international humanitarian law that they betray. Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate targeting of civilians may amount to war crimes. MRG is particularly concerned about the situation of Syrian and Palestinian refugees within the country, many of whom are already living in poverty and statelessness. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that 45 Syrian refugees have been killed in Lebanon in the past 24 hours alone.
The impunity that Israel enjoys in its attacks on Lebanon is the same impunity that has allowed it to enact a ferocious campaign of mass violence that risks amounting to genocide against the Palestinian people since 7 October 2023. MRG notes that the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese, has stated, ‘[T]here are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the following acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has been met.’ MRG reiterates its call that the international community must apply pressure on Israel for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, to hold it fully accountable for atrocities committed in Palestine and Lebanon, and to support mechanisms ensuring long-term justice and peace.
While death and destruction continue in Gaza, the shadow of a broader regional war that has hung over the conflict in Palestine for the past year has come even more acutely into focus. This war is directly facilitated by the military, financial and diplomatic support of Western states. Withdrawing this support is essential to end the slaughter of innocent civilians and prevent further atrocities.
As anywhere in the world, all people in the Middle East have the right to live in peace. It is the international community’s obligation to ensure this right is upheld rather than allowed to be violated.
Featured image: Smoke from heavy Israeli air raids billows from the southern Lebanese Marjayoun Terrain. Qlyiaa, Lebanon. 23 September 2024. Credit: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/Alamy Stock Photo.
