Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba condemns, in the strongest terms, the continued air strikes perpetrated by Israeli government forces against residential areas in Beirut and Damascus, in flagrant violation of International Law, including International Humanitarian Law.

Cuba denounces, in particular, the air attack carried out on November 14 by Israeli forces occupying the Syrian Golan against the residential neighborhood of Mezzeh, in Damascus, where diplomatic headquarters and offices of the United Nations accredited in Syria are located.

We denounce, in the same terms, the daily Israeli attacks in the southern suburb of Beirut, near the neighborhood of Hazmieh.
These attacks have occurred in places very close to the Cuban diplomatic headquarters in Damascus and Beirut.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba has requested the attention of the UN Secretary General to this denunciation, and demands that the Security Council exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, as established in the Charter of the United Nations.

We also request the efforts, in the same sense, of the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The heinous crimes, committed by Israel, have caused dozens of deaths and injuries to civilians, including women and children, and caused the complete destruction of residential buildings.

These actions are part of the aggressive policy of the State of Israel against the nations of the Middle East, as evidenced by the genocide committed against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, the attacks in Lebanon and other aggressions against the Syrian territories.

Israel, the Occupying Power, has the military, logistical and political backing of the United States government, which guarantees impunity and has led to a dangerous escalation that further compromises regional and international stability and security.

Cuba, while expressing its solidarity with the nations attacked by Israel, calls for the pursuit of legitimate international efforts to achieve peace and an immediate and permanent ceasefire to avoid further escalation of a conflict that has already cost the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, including women, the elderly and children, and has aggravated the humanitarian crisis to alarming levels in these peoples of the region.

In accordance with its foreign policy based on strict respect for the UN Charter and International Law, the Republic of Cuba reiterates that peace will only be possible in the Middle East through a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the conflict, which contemplates the creation of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State, with the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and the return of refugees.

It also demands that the entry of Palestine as a full member of the UN be guaranteed without further delay.

Havana, November 18, 2024.

(Cubaminrex)