Peskov said the situation in the Middle East is degrading by the day
The situation in the Middle East regarding Israel's conflict with the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah is degenerating day by day and is of extreme concern to Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 23.
"Undoubtedly, the situation is degrading, in fact, every day, rapidly degrading, tensions are rising, unpredictability is growing. This is a subject for our extreme concern," the Russian presidential spokesman said at a briefing.
Prior to that, on September 22, The Economist reported that Israel was preparing a ground operation in Lebanon that would involve seizing a buffer zone consisting of several miles of territory north of the border. The publication noted that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) combat units trained on Saturday at northern bases but have not yet begun to assemble in staging areas near the border.
Earlier, on September 20, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya noted during a UN Security Council meeting that the organizers of the pager explosions in Lebanon wanted to provoke a major war in the region. He pointed out that the explosion of the devices was the first large-scale terrorist attack in history with the use of information and telecommunication technologies, which resulted in loss of life.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) told Izvestia on September 21 that there is a risk of escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border escalating into a regional conflict. The UN mission is working intensively to de-escalate tensions that could potentially trigger a wider conflict.
On September 17, multiple people were seriously injured in pager explosions in Beirut and southern Lebanon. The next day, various wireless devices exploded in cars and on motorcycles. These were portable radios, which were different from pagers. In just two days, more than 4,000 people were affected and more than 30 of them were killed. Lebanese authorities and representatives of Hezbollah blamed Israel for the bombings.
The situation in the Middle East escalated in the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected the territory of Israel to massive rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, as well as invaded the border areas in the south of the country and seized hostages. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.
