UN rights chief urges Middle East warring parties to ‘give peace a chance’
GENEVA: The United Nations rights chief on Friday called for cool heads to prevail in the Middle East and urged the warring sides to pull back and “give peace a chance”.
The crisis sparked in the Middle East a week ago by the barrage of US and Israeli strikes on Iran “has been spreading like wildfire”, Volker Turk told reporters in Geneva.bellicose rhetoric, more bombings, more destruction, killings, and escalation that fuels it further”.
“I urge the states involved to take immediate steps to de-escalate, to give peace a chance. And on other states to call clearly on those involved to pull back,” he said.Turk voiced particular concern about the situation in Lebanon, which he said was “becoming a key flashpoint”.
“I am extremely concerned and worried about the latest developments following Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel and Israel’s heavy counter-strikes, as well as its extensive displacement orders that have already forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes,” he said.
“I call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.”
“Cool heads must prevail if we are to prevent further terror and devastation for civilians.”
“The world urgently needs to see steps to contain and extinguish this blaze,” he said, lamenting that “instead, we are only seeing more inflammatory, bellicose rhetoric, more