Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 38
US President Joe Biden addressed world leaders at the United Nations for the final time yesterday, declaring that Russia’s war in Ukraine has failed and that a diplomatic solution between Israel and Hezbollah was still possible.
With four months left in office, Biden stepped up to the green-marbled lectern at the UN General Assembly with wars in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip and Sudan still raging and likely to outlast his presidency, which ends in January.
He sought to calm tensions as the nearly year-long Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip now threatens to engulf Lebanon – where Israel targeted more than a thousand Hezbollah targets on Monday.
“Full scale war is not in anyone’s interest, even if situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible,” he told the 193-member UN General Assembly.
To a round of applause, Biden called on Israel and Hamas to finalise the terms of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal put forward by the US, Qatar and Egypt.
“The good news is Putin’s war has failed at his core aim. He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free,” said Biden.
Reuters, New York
