Kremlin: Risk of major Mideast war ‘very high’ in wake of killing of Hezbollah leader

ISTANBUL

The Kremlin on Monday said that the risk of a major conflict in the Middle East is “very high” following Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Such indiscriminate bombing of residential areas in Lebanon leads to a huge number of human casualties.”

“This will inevitably lead to a humanitarian catastrophe similar to what we are seeing in Gaza,” he added.

Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 960 people and injuring over 2,770 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Nasrallah, along with several Hezbollah commanders, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the capital Beirut on Friday.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza last October, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, mostly women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.​​​​​​​