ISLAMABAD: While intense clashes, airstrikes, and evacuation warnings persist in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs (Dahieh), Pakistan on Tuesday expressed concern over the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Lebanon, warning that ongoing Israeli military operations were causing mass civilian suffering and undermining peace efforts, according to a statement delivered at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the recent situation in Lebanon.
In the statement, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, at the UN Security Council Emergency Meeting on the recent situation in Lebanon, said that despite ceasefire arrangement and direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, the security and humanitarian situation in Lebanon continues to deteriorate drastically, with an expansion of Israeli military operations and ground incursions into Lebanese territory.
“Two thousand square kilometers, nearly 20 per cent of Lebanon, now lies under illegal Israeli occupation. Unlawful evacuation orders are further inflicting immense suffering on civilians. It seems it is the same strategy, the same playbook that we have seen elsewhere: indiscriminate killing, forced displacement and occupation,” he said.
Pakistan pointed out that all these reckless Israeli actions, condemnable as they are, and which violate Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, constitute a flagrant breach of international law. “Pakistan has full respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity and calls for immediate cessation of hostilities and strict adherence to the ceasefire arrangements by all sides, by full implementation of Resolution 1701, with complete Israeli withdrawal to the Blue Line,” Ambassador Ahmad added.
Separately, during a telephone call with Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday, Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah appreciated Pakistan’s continued mediatory role and its efforts to facilitate engagement between the United States and Iran, commending its constructive contribution to regional peace and security. Both the sides expressed hope that ongoing diplomatic initiatives would yield a positive outcome and durable peace in the near future.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of the Group of Eight Arab-Islamic States -- Pakistan, Egypt, Türkiye, Indonesia, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- condemned in the strongest terms the continued incursions by extremist Israeli settlers, into Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif under the protection of the Israeli forces, as well as the raising of Israeli flag within its courtyards. They stressed that these provocative and unacceptable actions constitute a flagrant violation of international law, the relevant United Nations resolutions, and the historical and legal status quo at the holy sites in occupied east Jerusalem.
According to a joint statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the ministers further condemned the continued and systematic violations and measures carried out by Israel, the occupying power, aimed at altering the historical, legal and demographic character of occupied east Jerusalem and undermining the sanctity and status of its Islamic and Christian holy sites.
The foreign ministers held Israeli authorities responsible for halting these escalatory actions and warned that repeated Israeli violations exacerbate tensions, fuel instability and extremism, undermine international efforts to achieve peace, and constitute a clear breach of Israel’s obligations under international law. They called for an immediate cessation of all such Israeli illegal and provocative practices and reaffirmed the need to respect the historical and legal status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif in its entirety.
