Ankara has condemned a recent wave of Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah that have allegedly left hundreds dead in southern Lebanon.
“Israel’s attacks on Lebanon mark a new phase in its efforts to drag the entire region into chaos,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said in a Sept. 23 statement.
“The countries that unconditionally support Israel are helping [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu shed blood for his political interests.”
It went on to urge “all institutions responsible for maintaining international peace and security”—including the U.N. Security Council—to take steps to halt Israel’s attacks on Lebanon “without delay.”
On the morning of Sept. 23, Israel began one of its widest-ranging attacks to date against Hezbollah targets across southern Lebanon.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, multiple Israeli airstrikes—including one on Beirut’s southern outskirts—killed at least 558 people and have forced tens of thousands of residents to flee the region.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify the ministry’s claims.
The Israeli military later confirmed it had carried out a strike near Beirut but offered no further details.
It was allegedly the deadliest day for Lebanon since 2006, when Israel and Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, fought a bloody month-long war.
Israel says the strikes are retaliation for earlier drone and rocket attacks by Hezbollah against civilian and military targets inside its territory.
In a brief video message to the Lebanese people, Netanyahu said, “Israel’s war is not with you, it’s with Hezbollah.”
Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in tit-for-tat cross-border strikes since last October, when Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip after a deadly attack on Israel by the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since then, repeated Hezbollah strikes into northern Israel have forced thousands of Israelis to vacate the border area and seek safety elsewhere.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel’s ongoing air campaign in Lebanon would continue until it achieves its “goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes,” according to a recent video published by his office.
From the outset, Turkey—a longstanding NATO member—has condemned Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza.
Since then, Ankara has cut all commercial ties with the Jewish state and has requested to join an ongoing genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Israel rejects the accusations of genocide as baseless.
On Sept. 21, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Western capitals to take “deterrent steps” against Israel’s actions in both Gaza and Lebanon.
“For our region not to be dragged into a great disaster, pressure on Israel must be increased even more,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul.
He also reiterated calls for a “permanent cease-fire” between Israel and its Iran-backed regional adversaries.
‘Full-Fledged War’
On Sept. 23, Erdogan held a closed-door meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.According to a statement released by Erdogan’s office, the two leaders agreed on the need to end “the violence that Israel is committing in the Palestinian and Lebanese territories.”
At the meeting, Erdogan also praised Turkey’s longstanding ties with Iran, saying relations between the two neighbors were on track for further development.
It was Erdogan’s first face-to-face meeting with Pezeshkian since the latter assumed office last month after winning the July presidential election.
In remarks to the U.S. media on Sept. 24, Pezeshkian called on the international community not to let Lebanon “become another Gaza.”
In New York, Erdogan also met with the leaders of Germany, Greece, and Kuwait.
He also held talks with Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of The Hague-based International Criminal Court.
In his discussions with Khan, the Turkish leader said that Netanyahu’s government was in open breach of “international law and human rights,” according to Erdogan’s office.
Erdogan is scheduled to speak before the U.N. General Assembly later on Sept. 24.
Israel’s latest actions in southern Lebanon are expected to feature prominently in Erdogan’s address to the assembly.
Exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah continued on Sept. 24, prompting Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, to raise alarm bells about further escalation.
“This situation is extremely dangerous,” he told reporters in New York. “We are almost in a full-fledged war.”
