Russian, Turkish officials blame Israel for 'destabilization' of Middle East

The Kremlin on Monday condemned the killing of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air attack last week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Nasrallah's death had led to a serious destabilization in the broader region. "The Russian side condemns such actions, we believe that they have led to a significant destabilization of the situation in the region,"  he told reporters.

"The main thing is that such indiscriminate bombing of residential areas in Lebanon leads to a huge number of human casualties, which will inevitably bring on a humanitarian catastrophe like the one we are seeing in Gaza," he added, expressing Moscow's "deepest concern."

Israel's intensifying offensive on Hezbollah has deepened international concerns about the risk of a wider Middle East war involving Iran. 

Further, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the UN General Assembly he is concerned with the "almost commonplace practice of political killings." 

Lavrov described the killing of Nasrallah at the weekend as a political assassination and the Russian foreign ministry in a statement called on Israel to immediately stop hostilities in Lebanon.

Similarly, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday condemned Israel's recent attacks in Lebanon as part of what he called an Israeli policy of "genocide, occupation, and invasion," urging the UN Security Council and other bodies to stop Israel.

In a post on X without naming Nasrallah, Erdogan said that Turkey stood with the Lebanese people and government, offering his condolences for those killed in the Israeli strikes, while saying the Muslim world should show a more "determined" stance.

İsrail’in, 7 Ekim’den bu yana sürdürdüğü soykırım, işgal ve istila politikasının yeni hedefinde Lübnan ve Lübnan halkı vardır.İsrail’in vahşi saldırıları sonucunda son bir hafta içerisinde aralarında çocukların da olduğu çok sayıda Lübnanlı katledilmiştir.Vicdan sahibi hiç…

— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) September 28, 2024

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In contrast, last week's assassination constituted the use of Israel's right to defend itself, a German foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

"Hezbollah is, of course, a terrorist organization, and it was obviously a meeting of the top leadership of Hezbollah, from which one can assume, even from a distance, that they were planning their further operations," the spokesperson said.

"So in this respect, there are also reasons to believe that the right to self-defense was exercised here," he added.

At least six people were killed and 91 people were injured during the September 28 operation, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. 

Germany is continuing efforts to enable a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah group, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told broadcaster ARD on Saturday, adding the situation in the region was "extremely dangerous."

"There is a threat that this entire region will slip further into an absolute spiral of violence," Baerbock said.

Asked about the civilian deaths in the incident, the spokesperson said, "Every civilian victim is one civilian victim too many."

France also repeated calls for an immediate end to Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and said that it was opposed to any Israeli ground operation in Lebanon.

In a statement following a call with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also called on Hezbollah and Iran to refrain from any action that could destabilize the region further.

Lebanon has been facing a massive governmental crisis. It has not had a president since 2022, has a deeply  divided cabinet, and faces an economic crisis that has impoverished approximately 80%  of the population, according to Reuters. 

This is a developing story.