Pakistan condemns Israeli attacks on Lebanon at UN Security Council meeting

Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and condemned Israeli military actions in southern Lebanon during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

During an emergency council meeting on the situation in Lebanon, Jadoon said Lebanon was a country of “extraordinary diversity”, shaped by “layers of civilizations and a rich cultural and historical heritage”.

“The people of Lebanon have consistently shown remarkable resilience and have maintained a vibrant social fabric based on the coexistence of different communities and traditions,” he said.

He said Lebanon needed a period of calm to achieve its goals of peace and stability, and warned that renewed hostilities posed a serious risk.

He told the council that recent tensions and renewed clashes not only threaten infrastructure but also put civilian lives at grave risk and risk reversing the fragile political and security progress Lebanon had begun to make before the current crisis.

“Pakistan strongly condemns Israel’s continued military aggression in southern Lebanon,” he said, adding that the attacks had left more than 400 civilians dead, including at least 83 children and 42 women, while more than 600,000 people had been displaced.

AFP reported that, according to the UN, Israeli airstrikes and evacuation orders have forced nearly 700,000 people to flee their homes in Lebanon in just over a week.

Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR representative in Lebanon, said the latest escalation had forced families to flee their homes within minutes of Israeli airstrikes and evacuation warnings were issued to residents of dozens of villages.

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“More than 667,000 people in Lebanon have now registered on the government’s online platform as displaced,” she said, noting that the number had increased by more than 100,000 in a single day.

Lebanese authorities said Monday that Israeli strikes since March 2 have killed at least 486 people and wounded at least 1,313.

The United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, said 84 of those killed were children.

“Large-scale destruction of civilian infrastructure and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law must stop immediately,” the Pakistani diplomat said.

He emphasized that the use of force in Lebanon should remain the prerogative of the Lebanese state through its legitimate constitutional institutions. “The Lebanese Armed Forces play a pivotal role in this regard and Pakistan supports efforts to strengthen their capabilities and operational effectiveness,” Jadoon said.

The Pakistani envoy also condemned attacks on UN peacekeepers serving under the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

He said Pakistan strongly condemns attacks against UN peacekeepers serving under the UN flag, including those injured in Israeli strikes. He added that the safety and security of peacekeepers must be ensured at all times.

Jadoon described further Israeli military activities in southern Lebanon, including the continued presence of forces and the establishment of positions within Lebanese territory, as “illegal and unacceptable”.

Read more: Lebanon says Israeli strikes have killed nearly 300 since Monday

“We call on Israel to immediately, fully and unconditionally withdraw from all occupied Lebanese territories,” he said.

He stressed that lasting peace required full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity along the Blue Line.

Jadoon also warned that the situation in Lebanon could not be separated from larger tensions in the Middle East. “At this delicate time, negotiations and diplomacy must take precedence over confrontation,” he said. “De-escalation, restraint and renewed diplomatic engagement are urgently needed.”

Concluding his remarks, the Pakistani envoy said that Islamabad stood firmly with the Lebanese government and people.

“The international community must act urgently to prevent further escalation, alleviate human suffering and support Lebanon’s efforts to restore peace and stability across its territory,” he added.

Despite a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah since November 2024, Israel has continued almost daily violations that have left hundreds dead and wounded.

Israel has killed more than 4,000 people and wounded 17,000 during an offensive in Lebanon that began in October 2023 and escalated into a full-scale war in September 2024.

Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East war on Monday as Hezbollah fired on Israel, which responded with a new military campaign that has killed nearly 300 people and forced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from their homes.

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In the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, buildings lay in heaps of smoking rubble and twisted metal, Reuters recordings shown.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a separate statement that the Lebanese government and all of Lebanon would “pay a heavy price” if Hezbollah is not disarmed. Israel had no territorial claims against Lebanon but would not allow cross-border fire, Katz said.

Lebanon’s government ordered the army last year to establish a state monopoly on weapons. Troops had confiscated Hezbollah weapons in parts of the south, but senior Lebanese officials and security sources said pursuing the plan could cause internal tensions as the group had refused to give up their arsenals in full.

An Israeli military official said Reuters Israeli military operations now acted “to remove the threat from Lebanon.”

During the night, Israeli helicopters dropped troops near Nabi Chit in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley.

Israel’s military said troops staged the operation to search for the remains of Ron Arad, an Israeli air force navigator who has been missing in Lebanon since 1986, but no findings related to him were found.