Aha Dua Permata: Middle East on brink of full-scale war, Russian envoy to UN warns

Middle East on brink of full-scale war, Russian envoy to UN warns

Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya
©AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

The Middle East is on the brink of a full-scale war, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya warned.

"The region is on the brink of a full scale war and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe," he told reporters following a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on the current escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Let me be clear: the responsibility for the looming war in the Middle East, to a large extent, lies on the United States," he told.

"We shouldn't ignore that the current flare-up of violence happens against the background with real systematic violations of the decisions of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, including the illegal expansion of settlements, which is regularly condemned by the vast majority of UN member states," he said.

Nebenzya added that Russia unequivocally condemned "extreme brutality, killings and the horrifying scale of violence." "Any killings and violence against peaceful civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian citizens, is inadmissible," the Russian envoy stressed.

Russia urges UNSC to call for immediate ceasefire in Middle East

Moscow suggests that the UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East, according to a Russia-proposed resolution.

The document says that it is possible to ensure a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict only through peaceful means. Russia called for an immediate and long-term ceasefire that all parties would respect.

©AP Photo/John Minchillo, archive

A Russia-proposed United Nations Security Resolution made available to TASS calls for an immediate release of hostages.

According to the document, the UN Security Council "strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism.".

The document calls "for the unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment, as well as creating conditions for the safe evacuation of civilians in need.".

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. Over 1,900 Palestinians have been killed and about 7,700 have suffered wounds; in Israel, the death toll stands at about 1,500 and nearly 4,000 people have been wounded.

Saudi Arabia shelves Israel peace deal – Reuters

Saudi Arabia has suspended plans to normalize relations with Israel amid the latter’s ongoing war with Palestinian Hamas militants, Reuters reported on Friday. Backed by the US, the deal would have been a diplomatic coup for Washington and a strategic blow to Iran.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman walks after inspecting a guard of honour in New Delhi, India, September 11, 2023
©AFP / Money Sharma

Prior to Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, Saudi Arabia and Israel were drawing close to a deal that would have seen the Sunni kingdom recognize the Jewish state, with Saudi Arabia gaining a defense pact with the US and more advanced American weapons in exchange, although the White House stressed that the precise terms had yet to be worked out.

With Israeli warplanes continually bombing Gaza since Saturday and an invasion of the Palestinian enclave reportedly imminent, Saudi officials paused the deal to avoid setting off a wave of anger across the Muslim world, Reuters reported, citing two sources close to Riyadh.

The sources stressed that the deal is not permanently scrapped, but that Riyadh will likely require any future agreement to include significant concessions to the Palestinians from the Israeli side.

Nearly 2,000 people, including 583 children, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, according to the latest figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 1,300 Israelis have died since Saturday, and more than 100 are believed to be in Hamas captivity in Gaza.

Israel’s heavy-handed response, including its imposition of a total siege on Gaza, has brought the country’s Muslim neighbors closer together. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi spoke by phone on Wednesday, their first conversation since the two geopolitical rivals re-established diplomatic ties in a Chinese-brokered deal in March.

Iranian state media said that the pair discussed the "need to end war crimes against Palestine," while Saudi state media said that the prince promised to make “all possible efforts…to stop the ongoing escalation.”

Iran bitterly opposed the planned normalization deal, which would have seen its two primary regional opponents drawn closer together, with one entering a formal alliance with the US. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also warned the entire Arab world against normalizing relations with the “Zionist regime” in Israel.

Less than a week before Hamas’ attack, Khamenei called Israel a “cancer” that will “God willing, be eradicated by the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region.”