Washington, DC, May 30, 2024. The recent deadly attacks and counterattacks on the Lebanon-Israel border, eight months after Hamas’s October 7 attack, are reaching a new level of intensity. Lebanon continues to suffer from compounding and interlinked political, economic, and social crises and can ill-afford the devastation that would accompany war with Israel.
We decry the recent provocations and call for restraint on all sides. We are further concerned about Israel’s continued use, in violation of international humanitarian law, of phosphorous bombs in South Lebanon that are causing potentially irreversible damage to the environment and agriculture, making these areas uninhabitable and impeding the livelihoods of its citizens. Over 90,000 of them have been forced to flee the region since the beginning of the Gaza war.
We urge all parties to take every step possible to end hostilities, protect civilians who are at risk as the conflict expands, and find a sustainable agreement that brings long-term stability to the Israel-Lebanon border.
