China called on the United Nations Security Council to take “urgent actions” to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East as Israel launched fresh air strikes in Lebanon.

China’s permanent representative to the U.N., Fu Cong, said during a Security Council briefing on Wednesday, that it needed to make clear and unequivocal demands to stop the cycle of violence over the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

“The Security Council bears the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security,” the official Xinhua news agency reported Fu as saying, noting that all parties concerned “must return to the track of political and diplomatic solutions”.

Israel’s latest missile strikes in central Beirut come after Iran fired more than 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday. Israel has also sent infantry and armoured units into Lebanon with reports of fighting with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

Iran said on Wednesday its missile volley – its biggest ever assault on Israel – was over barring further provocation, but Israel and the United States promised to hit back hard.

Iran’s missile attack and Israel’s pledge of retaliation have raised concerns that the oil-producing Middle East could be caught up in a wider conflict.

Warning that the current situation is “hanging by a thread,” Xinhua cited Fu as saying that any “passive procrastination would be irresponsible, and any rhetoric of condoning further military adventurism would send a wrong message”.

Fu said the spreading Middle East conflict had already caused an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, with Gaza having become a “hell on earth,” and over 1.2 million people displaced in Lebanon.

China’s Foreign Ministry has urged all parties and especially Israel to immediately cool things down to prevent the situation getting out of control. Beijing has also said it opposes any violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.

(Reuters)