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The United States has communicated to Iran and Israel that conflict in the Middle East must not escalate, secretary of state Antony Blinken said. The Middle East is bracing for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies after last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
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He said:
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We’ve been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We’ve communicated that message directly to Israel.
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The United States will continue to defend Israel against attacks, Blinken added, but noted that everyone in the region should understand the risks of escalation and miscalculation.
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Further attacks only raise the risk of dangerous outcomes that no one can predict and no one can fully control.
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More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.
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Hamas has named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its political bureau, elevating the hardline militant to the group’s top post after the assassination in Tehran of its previous political leader, Ismail Haniyeh. Sinwar’s appointment was announced in a brief statement by Hamas on Tuesday that was aired on pro-Hamas Iranian state media channels.
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Vladimir Putin has reportedly told Iran to avoid civilian casualties in any retaliatory attack on Israel, an underlining of the constraints it faces as it frames its response. It is a call for restraint that is likely to be echoed by many foreign ministers from the 57 countries inside the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at a meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday as tensions in the Middle East grow.
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UN peacekeepers on the Israeli-Lebanese border have never been more crucial, the force’s global chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Tuesday, as fears soared of an escalation in the Middle East. Since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have traded near-daily cross-border fire.
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Israeli forces backed by drone strikes killed at least 12 people in the occupied West Bank, medics said on Tuesday, after raids around two flashpoint cities in the north led to gunbattles with Palestinian militants. The Israeli military said it conducted two separate airstrikes in the volatile city of Jenin, hitting armed militant cells, but gave no details.
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Israeli forces killed 45 Palestinian fighters in Gaza over the past day, the military said on Tuesday, after heavy fighting in which militant group Hamas said it destroyed two armoured personnel carriers during an ambush near the city of Rafah. The Israeli military said the Hamas official in charge of smuggling operations was among those killed and that his death significantly hit their ability to bring weapons and military equipment into the besieged enclave.
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Air France said Tuesday that its flights and that of its low-cost subsidiary Transavia to Beirut will be suspended through at least Thursday because of fears that the Gaza war could spread. The resumption of flights to Lebanon’s capital, which have been halted since 29 July, “will be subject to a new assessment of the local situation,” the airline told AFP.
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Lebanon is working to ensure any response to the Israeli killing of a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut does not trigger total war in the Middle East, its foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday. Tensions in the region have spiralled in the last week following the killing in Tehran of Palestinian militant group Hamas’ leader, and an Israeli strike on Beirut’s suburbs that killed the senior commander Fuad Shukr.
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Important Events
Israel’s neglect will mean that ambassadors from Western countries, including the United States, will skip ceremonies marking the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, officials said Wednesday.
Nagasaki’s mayor said last week that he had not invited Israeli Ambassador Gilad Cohen to an event in the city on Friday due to concerns it might spark protests over the Gaza conflict.
The US and UK embassies announced on Tuesday that as a result their ambassadors would not be attending and the two countries would be represented by lower-ranking diplomats.
Media reports suggest Australia, Italy, Canada and the European Union, which last month joined the United States, Britain and Germany in signing a scathing joint letter to the mayor of Nagasaki, are likely to follow suit.
US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel will not attend because “the mayor of Nagasaki has politicised the event by not inviting the Israeli ambassador”, an embassy spokesman told AFP.
Turkey is set to submit a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Wednesday, diplomatic sources told Reuters.
The source said the declaration is due to be made at 2.30pm, following Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s statement this week that Turkey would make the declaration on Wednesday.
“Turkey’s intervention is a reminder to the international community to recognize and address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the source said.
Turkey announced in May its decision to join a lawsuit brought by South Africa to strengthen measures against Israel over its attacks on Gaza, saying it would join once the necessary legal preparations were made.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Tuesday that Hamas’ new political bureau chief, Yahya Sinwar, “has been and will continue to be the key decision maker” and it was up to him to help achieve a ceasefire.
The United States has sent additional warships and fighter jets to the region to support Israel, and President Joe Biden called Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who helped shoot down Iranian drones and missiles in attacks on Israel in April.
This was followed by telephone conversations with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who have played key roles in brokering a ceasefire in the 10-month-old Gaza conflict.
Blinken also called senior officials in Qatar and Egypt.
“We have an intense diplomatic effort going on almost around the clock with a very simple message: all parties must refrain from escalating,” Blinken said after meeting with other senior officials at the White House.
US warns Israel and Iran of escalating conflict
Good afternoon, we are back with The Guardian’s live coverage of the Middle East crisis.
The United States has told Iran and Israel they must not escalate the conflict in the Middle East, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, as the region braces for a new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following the killings last week of senior members of the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
He said:
We have engaged in close diplomacy with our allies and partners, and we have delivered that message directly to Iran. We have delivered that message directly to Israel.
Blinken added that the United States would continue to defend Israel from attack, but noted that everyone in the region should understand the risks of escalating tensions and miscalculation.
Further attacks only increase the risk of dangerous outcomes that no one can predict and over which no one can fully control.
We’ll go into more detail on this shortly, but first, here’s a quick rundown of today’s other major news:
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Hamas has appointed Yahya Sinwar as its new political bureau chief.Sinwar took over as head of the group after the assassination of its former political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. Sinwar’s appointment was announced by Hamas in a short statement on Tuesday, which was broadcast by pro-Hamas Iranian state media.
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President Vladimir Putin has reportedly instructed Iran to avoid civilian casualties in any retaliatory attacks on Israel.That highlights the constraints facing the effort to craft a response, and many foreign ministers of the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are likely to call for restraint when they meet in Jeddah on Wednesday as tensions rise in the Middle East.
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Amid growing concerns about escalating tensions in the Middle East, the UN peacekeeping force on the Israeli-Lebanese border is more important than ever, General Jean-Pierre Lacroix, international commander of the UN peacekeeping force, said on Tuesday. Since the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, sparking war in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Hamas’ Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, have been engaged in almost daily gun battles across the border.
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Israeli forces, backed by drone strikes, killed at least 12 people in the occupied West Bank, medical sources said on Tuesday, as raids around two cities in the north escalated into gun battles with Palestinian militants amid heightened tensions. The Israeli military said it carried out two airstrikes in the volatile city of Jenin, targeting armed militants, but gave no details.
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The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had killed 45 Palestinian fighters in the Gaza Strip over the past day, and in heavy fighting, the militant group Hamas said it had destroyed two armored personnel carriers in an ambush near the city of Rafah. The Israeli military said a Hamas official in charge of smuggling operations had been killed and that his death dealt a major blow to the organization’s ability to bring weapons and military equipment into the besieged area.
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Air France said on Tuesday it and low-cost carrier Transavia were suspending flights to Beirut until at least Thursday due to fears the Gaza war could escalate. The resumption of flights to the Lebanese capital, suspended since July 29, is “conditional on a new assessment of the situation on the ground,” the airline told AFP.
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Lebanon is seeking to ensure that any response to Israel’s killing of a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut does not trigger an all-out war in the Middle East, Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdalla Bou Habib said on Tuesday. Tensions in the region rose last week after a leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas was killed in Tehran and Israeli forces struck an area outside Beirut, killing a senior commander, Fouad Shukr.
