Escalation of fears as the UN urges caution amid growing tensions: "The risk for the conflict in the Middle East to widen is real and must be avoided"

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized that the conflict in the Middle East is at risk of escalating and that every effort should be made to avoid it.

"Escalation in bellicose rhetoric from both sides as if an all-out war was imminent. The risk for the conflict in the Middle East to widen is real and must be avoided. One rash move - one miscalculation could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border, and frankly, beyond imagination," Guterres warned in an interview with journalists.

He added that UN peacekeeping soldiers stationed in southern Lebanon are doing everything they can to calm the situation and prevent misunderstandings.

Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah, supported by Iran, has been regularly bombarding Israeli territory. The Israeli army responds to these attacks, leading to an escalation of the conflict. As a result, tens of thousands of civilians have been evacuated from the border areas of both countries.

This week, the Israeli army approved an offensive plan on Lebanon. On the other hand, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced that his organization's attacks will not cease until a ceasefire is reached in the Gaza Strip.

The Iranian diplomatic mission to the UN stated on Friday, stating that Hezbollah can defend itself and Lebanon against Israel.

"Any imprudent decision by the occupying Israeli regime to save itself could plunge the region into a new war, the consequence of which would be the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure as well as that of the 1948 occupied territories. Undoubtedly, this war will have one ultimate loser, which is the Zionist regime. The Lebanese Resistance Movement, Hezbollah, has the capability to defend itself and Lebanon—perhaps the time for the self-annihilation of this illegitimate regime has come," reads a post on the profile of the Iranian embassy to the UN on the social media platform X.

Meanwhile, Israeli television Channel 12 reported that Canada is preparing to evacuate 45,000 of its citizens from Lebanon, citing a conversation that took place on Friday between Canadian and Israeli foreign ministers Melanie Joly and Israel Katz. According to information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, 40,000 and 75,000 Canadian citizens reside in Lebanon.