Turkey Calls On UN To Recommend Use Of Force Over Israeli Attacks In Lebanon, Gaza

Turkey's president called Monday for the United Nations to recommend the use of force against Israel to stop its deadly attacks in Lebanon and Gaza, according to a report.

"The U.N. General Assembly should rapidly implement the authority to recommend the use of force, as it did with the 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution, if the Security Council can't show the necessary will," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting in the Turkish capital Ankara.

The 1950 resolution allows the General Assembly to intervene if disagreements among the Security Council's five permanent members with veto power result in a failure to maintain world peace, Reuters said.

The permanent Security Council members are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The U.S. has repeatedly vetoed Security Council resolutions demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, most recently in February. President Joe Biden endorsed a cease-fire plan in May and on Monday called for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon.

In a Saturday post on social media, Erdogan accused Israel of engaging in a "policy of genocide, occupation and invasion" since the surprise Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that sparked the latest Mideast conflict.

Erdogan also said that "the Islamic world must take a more determined stance against these attacks" and he repeated that call Monday, warning that Israel would target additional Muslim countries if it weren't stopped soon.

"For the peace of everyone in our region, from Muslim to Jew to Christian, we call on the international community and Muslim world to mobilize," he said.

Erdogan's call comes as Israel turns its attention from Gaza to northern-neighbor Lebanon. IDF forces were amassing along the border as bombings and skirmishes continued Monday.