Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the UN Security Council meeting on Lebanon
Mr. President,
We support Algeria’s initiative to convene today’s meeting in connection with the latest dangerous wave of escalation in the Middle East region. We have thoroughly examined the concerns of both Lebanon and Iran, which were set out in the letters circulated yesterday. We are alarmed by the briefings by Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo and Mr. Volker Türk.
Mr.President,
Unfortunately, for almost a year now, devastating bombardments, airstrikes and brutal ground cleansings have become a grim daily routine for the Middle East. Despite the protest of the international community, the abhorrent practice of “targeted assassinations” is expanding. It appears that in this cauldron of violence there are hardly anything left that we have not condemned in this Chamber yet. Time and again we’ve condemned something.
However, the recent events in Lebanon and Syria have brought the Middle East escalation into a new, high-tech dimension. This is an extremely dangerous turn.
In recent days, a horrible provocation, involving a series of detonations of wireless communication devices, left over 4,000 people injured and 37 dead, including two children. The perpetrators of this barbaric crime spared no one; the explosions occurred in hospitals, markets, streets, stores and pharmacies. We know that it was a coordinated remotely-guided operation, for which no one has taken responsibility. But the countries of the region analyzed the facts and drew their own conclusions.
We regard these events as a terrorist attack that jeopardizes the regional peace and security and could have unpredictable ramifications for the entire Middle East. We strongly condemn this unprecedented attack on friendly Lebanon and its citizens, which is a flagrant violation of its sovereignty and a serious challenge to international law. We extend our sincere condolences to the bereaved families and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.
Those behind this crime are certainly aware that such attempts to drag Lebanon into a regional confrontation are fueling an already volatile situation in the region. It is evident that the organizers of this attack – which has no precedent in terms of the malicious use of domestic communication devices – have deliberately been seeking to incite a large-scale armed confrontation in order to spark a new major war in the Middle East. This is not the first attempt of such kind. It adds to the spate of political attacks and assassinations in Lebanon, Syria and Iran; and the authorities of West Jerusalem have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks.
That includes the largest over the past year bombardment by Israel of South Lebanon, which lasted for more than two consecutive hours, and was followed by another strike on South Beirut, which, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, killed eight people and injured another 59. The world was flooded with images showing the horrific magnitude of the destruction caused by the Israeli airstrike. We strongly condemn such actions by West Jerusalem and call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, to immediately cease fire and fully comply with UNSC resolution 1701. A major war in the Middle East is in no one's interests.
It is also noteworthy that this spiraling violence is clearly undermining the Biden administration’s widely touted efforts to bring about a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and to stabilize the situation on the Blue Line in Lebanon. The results of such pseudo-diplomacy are at best dubious: instead of peace, we are witnessing the same ongoing bloodshed in the OPT, the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was the main negotiator of the ‘deal’ with Israel, and finally the first-ever large-scale terrorist attack with the use of ICTs, which resulted in fatalities. In the light of the policy declared by Washington and its allies to use ICTs against other states for the attainment of their offensive, military and political objectives, it is clear that it is their actions that have brought us to the stage where we may face a terrorist threat involving household appliances.
According to the incoming reports, we are talking about a remote manipulation of electronic devices, and from a different jurisdiction; therefore, we view this as an extremely dangerous precedent. We have repeatedly warned of such risks, including at specialized UN platforms where the issue of international information security is being discussed. Foreseeing that ICTs could be used for destructive purposes, Russia has for many years been advancing the idea of establishing a special international legal regime to regulate the digital environment, which would take into account technical vulnerabilities, including anonymity, cross-border nature and hidden functions. Unfortunately, the US and its allies have consistently opposed taking any commitments in this area in order to “have a free hand”. The example of the terrorist attack in Lebanon clearly demonstrates what this all can lead to.
Speaking of the impact on the information and telecommunications sector, such incidents may further exacerbate the already growing distrust of information and communications technology devices manufactured in other countries. This, in turn, may reinforce the trend for self-isolation of national infrastructures, and the consequences will be as follows: fragmented information space, undermined international standards in this area, disrupted supply chains and expanded digital divide between developed and developing countries.
What really matters in respect to the terrorist attack in Lebanon is the origin of the exploded electronic devices. There is a need for a detailed account by the commercial structures involved regarding the safety of their products. Let us recall that under relevant GA resolutions states have obligations to ensure the integrity of ‘supply chains’.
Mr. President,
However heinous the instances of the misuse of ICTs for terrorist purposes may be, the international community is not powerless in the face of this threat. Recently, at Russia’s initiative, the Global Points of Contact Directory for ICT security, which aims to prevent and resolve serious incidents in the information environment, as well as to reduce tensions in crisis situations. This tool is specifically designed to prevent escalation in the digital world, which is liable to ‘spill over’ into the real world.
We call on all parties concerned, first and foremost Lebanon, to avail themselves of this directory. We expect the recipients of a possible request from Beirut to immediately consider it and respond to their Lebanese colleagues. It will certainly help to establish all the circumstances of what happened in Lebanon.
Mr. President,
It is clear to all that the key to addressing the current unprecedented escalation in the Middle East lies in ending the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, where the number of dead has now exceeded 42,000 people. The only way out is to promptly establish a ceasefire, exchange hostages and prisoners and organize unimpeded humanitarian access to the enclave. Only then will it be possible to restart the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question on an internationally recognized basis, at the heart of which lies the principle of ‘two states for two peoples’, which we steadfastly support.
For our part, we are ready to engage with all those who share these objectives.
I thank you for your attention.
