The Security Council demands a halt to the escalating attacks between Hezbollah and Israel

In a resolution adopted by all Security Council member states, the actors are encouraged to re-establish “calm, restraint and stability”. The resolutions are binding, but they are often ignored.

– The risk of open war is still real, and we are mobilized together with our regional and international partners to avoid a regional conflagration, said France’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Nathalie Broadhurst, before the vote.

The spiral of violence between the two continued over the weekend. The attacks across the border between Israel and Lebanon on Sunday are said to have been the most extensive in ten months, but the parties have reportedly agreed to avoid an escalation of the conflict.

Nevertheless, their long-standing conflict is not over, and regional tensions linked to the Gaza war remain high.

The resolution also extends the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by one year. It was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon after the 1978 invasion and has been there ever since.

The Security Council expanded the mission after the war between the parties in 2006, so that the peacekeeping forces could be deployed along the border to help Lebanese forces maintain control in the south of the country. In addition, the resolution called for a halt to the fighting, which has not happened.

Hezbollah’s supporters in Lebanon often accuse Unifil of conspiring with Israel, while Israel accuses them of overlooking Hezbollah’s military activities in southern Lebanon.

In the clashes between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, cars and installations belonging to Unifil have been hit by artillery fire or shooting several times. Earlier this month, three soldiers on patrol were slightly injured by an explosion near their car.