Regarding the rising tensions between Israel and Iran, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and his French colleague have written an article in the Observer.
In the midst of frantic international efforts to calm tensions with Iran and secure a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has issued a warning that there is a growing possibility of a “full-scale regional war” in the Middle East.
Lammy has joined forces with his French counterpart, Stéphane Séjourné, to warn that now is a “perilous moment” for the region. This comes in the midst of widespread fears of escalation involving Tehran and allied militias in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Blinken, the secretary of state for the United States, is flying into Israel this weekend to push for a deal. Lammy has joined forces with Séjourné.
Both Britain and France have written an essay together for the Observer that highlights the growing cooperation between the two countries. In the piece, they state that the globe is currently experiencing a “destructive cycle of violence” that needs to be avoided. They state in their writing that the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has become more intense. Because Iran is making threats to escalate the conflict even more, the likelihood of a full-scale regional war is increasing.
“With just one mistake in judgement, the issue runs the risk of escalating into a disagreement that is far more profound and difficult to resolve. This cycle, which has a propensity to escalate, is making it more difficult to make headway towards a political solution.
After an Israeli military airstrike in the south of the country resulted in the deaths of at least ten Syrian nationals, tensions between Israel and the powerful Lebanese militia continued to rise on Saturday. Israel has stated that it has attacked a weapons stockpile belonging to Hezbollah.
The bombing in the province of Nabatieh was one of the bloodiest single Israeli attacks on Lebanon since Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging cross-border fire the day after the Hamas invasion on October 7th, which was the first event that sparked the conflict in Gaza. When the conflict in Gaza is resolved, Hezbollah and Iran’s other regional partners have stated that they will cease their attacks against Israel.
The involvement of the two foreign ministers is the most recent indication of Lammy’s growing willingness to collaborate with European allies. It comes after the first joint visit between the United Kingdom and France in over ten years, which took place last week when the pair travelled to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
According to them, their tour demonstrates “a new spirit of cooperation, in the interests of our national security, the security of Europe, and the security of the Middle East.”
Their concerns on the escalation come in the midst of anxieties regarding Iranian retaliation against Israel following the assassination of Hamas’s senior head, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran last month, as well as the killing of a prominent Hezbollah commander in Beirut.
Israel has not made any statements regarding the circumstances surrounding Haniyeh’s passing; however, the Mossad, the country’s intelligence service, is well-known for carrying out targeted killing operations in other countries.
Lammy and Séjourné make the following statement in their writing: “An all-out conflict across the region is in nobody’s interests.” “It is imperative that all parties demonstrate self-control and make an investment in diplomatic efforts. Iran would be responsible for any attack that would have disastrous effects, not the least of which would be to sabotage the ongoing ceasefire talks in Gaza.
As a result of our participation, we are even more convinced than before that it is in the best interests of Israelis, Palestinians, and the region as a whole to secure such an agreement as quickly as possible. Only a compromise can alleviate the suffering of civilians. It is only through a bargain that communities may regain their sense of safety. An agreement is the only way to open up the space for progress towards a two-state solution, which is the only long-term route to safety, security, and dignity for both Israelis and Palestinians equally.
Blinken arrived in Israel on Saturday to advocate for an agreement that would secure a truce and approve the release of hostages from Gaza. Their comments coincide with Blinken’s arrival in Israel. On Friday, the most recent round of ceasefire discussions in Doha came to a close without any significant progress being made; nevertheless, additional negotiations are set to take place in Cairo this week.
As of Saturday, however, Hamas discounted the hope expressed by international mediators Qatar and Egypt, as well as by Vice President Joe Biden of the United States, that the discussions are proceeding in a positive manner.
Since December, there have been failures in a number of rounds of negotiations. In an interview with AFP, Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri stated that it is a deception to believe that we are moving closer and closer to an agreement. “We are not confronted with a deal or genuine negotiations; rather, we are confronted with the imposition of American diktats.”
Despite the fact that Israel and Hamas came to a preliminary agreement last month to implement a three-phase plan that Biden publicly suggested in May, both parties have since asked for “amendments” and “clarifications,” which has led to a halt in the negotiations.
The continued presence of Israeli troops on the border between Gaza and Egypt, the sequencing of a captive release, and the return of residents from southern Gaza to northern Gaza are all examples of gaps in the situation. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has been accused of stalling for his own political gain by detractors both in Israel and around the world.
At the same time that local health authorities revealed that the number of Palestinian deaths in Gaza had topped 40,000, there was a frenzy of effort on the international stage to secure some type of de-escalation. Moreover, the strip has documented its first instance of polio in the past quarter of a century.
An additional fifteen members of a single family were murdered in an Israeli military airstrike that occurred on Az-Zawayda in central Gaza, according to rescuers from the civil defence organisation in the besieged enclave on Saturday.
There are around 170,000 individuals who have been displaced and are once again moving across the central and southern regions of Gaza as a result of new evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military. These orders include locations that were previously classified as humanitarian “safe zones.”
Last week, the Israel Defence Forces made the announcement that they would be conducting a new ground operation in the Khan Younis region. This came after the IDF disclosed that Hamas had used sites that it had advised people to evacuate to launch rockets and mortars against Israel.
“This is one of the largest evacuation orders affecting the zone to date, and it shrinks the size of the so-called ‘humanitarian area’ to approximately 41 square kilometres, which is equivalent to 11% of the total area of the Gaza Strip,” according to a report from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which is the United Nations’ humanitarian agency.