Biden seeks diplomatic solution as world leaders gather at UN

The 79th UN general assembly is set to open this morning amid a massive bombing campaign in southern Lebanon that has brought Israel and the Shia militant group Hezbollah closer than ever to a all-out war despite fevered diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the conflict.

- Andrew Roth

Yesterday, diplomats huddled behind the scenes at the UN headquarters and Manhattan hotels for bilateral and ministerial meetings on issues from Atlantic Ocean ecology to Ukraine's energy supply before what the UN bills as its own "Super Bowl of global diplomacy".

At the same time, media livestreams showed Israeli shells and bombs raining down over southern Lebanon in strikes that killed at least 350, among them 21 children, and displaced thousands, according to the country's health minister.

"The continuing Israeli aggression on Lebanon is a war of extermination in every sense of the word and a destructive plan that aims to destroy Lebanese villages and towns," said the Lebanese PM, Najib Mikati, according to local media. He urged "the United Nations and the general assembly and influential countries ... to deter the [Israeli] aggression."

But key Israeli allies including the US voiced only muted criticism over the new Israeli bombing campaign, raising questions about what diplomatic pressure was being put on the Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, as his government claimed it was escalating the conflict in order to pressure Hezbollah into negotiations.

Speculation remains over whether Netanyahu will attend the general assembly as he may remain in Israel during the escalating violence in southern Lebanon.