UN to send investigators to Lebanon over potential law breaches: Rights Chief

The UN human rights office will deploy a team of investigators to Lebanon next week to assess potential violations of international law by all parties during the current war in the country, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Wednesday.

Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East conflict on 2 March when the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militia fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Iran, which was under US-Israeli attack, prompting a major Israeli air and ground campaign.

"It's the first time that we are sending this assessment mission, and the idea is indeed to look at violations by all parties — violations of international law, violations of international human rights law, and to document this, and eventually to report back to you on our findings," Türk said.

More than 3,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon and more than one million Lebanese are displaced. The US declared a ceasefire on 16 April but fighting has continued, and Lebanon says Israel has carried out nearly 3,500 strikes since the truce was announced.

The office of Lebanon's Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Earlier in May Salam told a regular cabinet meeting it was important to continue documenting potential crimes and to submit them to the UN, according to Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos.

Salam also said an agreement had been reached with the UN human rights chief for a visit to carry out investigations in Lebanon in the near future, Morcos added at the time.

The crisis is rapidly eroding food security, with nearly one in four people in Lebanon — about 1.24 million people — expected to face crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity until August, according to the UN.