BEIRUT — The United Nations’ top envoy to Lebanon sought to ease Middle East war jitters Wednesday, insisting that the region was not headed toward a fresh conflict pitting Israel against Arabs despite potentially explosive reports of Scud missile transfers and continuing fighter aircraft maneuvers.
Michael Williams, the U.N.’s special coordinator for Lebanon, told reporters in Beirut that his agency had been in touch with both Lebanese and Israeli government officials as well as the Shiite Muslim military and political organization Hezbollah, and was convinced that a sharp spike in regional tensions was receding.
“I think there is too much at stake to lose for all the parties,” he told reporters after a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, according to an official transcript. “I think tensions have been high the last few days. But I hope that those will lower now.”
U.S. officials have voiced concern about the allegation that Hezbollah has Scuds that could hit Israel’s major population centers — but have not publicly verified or rejected it.
Tensions between Israel and its neighbors rose earlier this month after reports cited anonymous Israeli officials alleging that Syria had transferred medium-range Scud ballistic missiles to Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a bloody standstill in a 2006 war that still haunts the region.
Hezbollah, a strategic ally of Iran and Syria, controls much of southern Lebanon, which abuts Israel’s northern border. Israel has invaded Lebanon over the decades to halt guerilla attacks, occupying the country’s south for nearly two decades from 1982, before withdrawing amid mounting casualties.
Lebanese and Syrian government officials have vehemently denied transferring Scuds to Hezbollah. Hariri likened it this month to false allegations that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the 2003 U.S. invasion.
But Hezbollah itself has kept mum about whether it has Scuds.
