Editorial丨Gaza spillover-sparks risk igniting wider war

Editorial丨Gaza spillover-sparks risk igniting wider war

The Red Sea tensions have escalated rapidly since the United States and the United Kingdom launched air strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen on Thursday. In light of this, Sunday's joint statement issued by China and the Secretariat General of the Arab League was a sharp rebuke of their actions even if the two sides did not say so directly.

自1月11日美国和英国对也门胡塞军事目标发动空袭以来，红海紧张局势迅速升级。对此，中国和阿盟秘书处周日发表的联合声明，虽无直接表态，但对其行为表达了强烈谴责。

The statement, issued in Cairo during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Egypt, expressed the two sides' "deep concern" over the recent escalation of the situation in the Red Sea and stressed the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen while ensuring the safety of international commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

中国外交部部长王毅访问埃及期间，在开罗发表声明，表达了双方对近期红海局势升级的“深切关注”，并强调需要尊重也门的主权和领土完整，确保红海国际商业航运的安全。

The Red Sea crisis is clearly a spillover consequence of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, and China and Egypt called for an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire and the cessation of all violence against civilians and violations of international law and international humanitarian norms. They called on the members of the UN Security Council to heed the call of Arab, Islamic and other countries that oppose Israel's ongoing war against civilians in Gaza, and to earnestly shoulder their responsibility to take actions to fully and effectively implement the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly on the situation in Gaza and the Palestine-Israel conflict.

红海危机显然是当前巴以冲突的余波，中国和埃及呼吁立即全面停火，停止一切针对平民的暴力行为以及违反国际法和国际人道主义准则的行为。并呼吁联合国安理会成员倾听阿拉伯、伊斯兰等国家反对以色列针对加沙平民发动战争的呼声，切实承担起责任，采取行动，全面有效执行安理会有关决议。联合国安理会和联合国大会应就加沙局势和巴以冲突举行会议。

Indeed, allowing the situation to escalate further will only exacerbate the crisis. Since last month, the Red Sea as an important international trade route for goods and energy has been under constant threat as the Houthi militia has intensified its attacks on "Israel-linked" ships using the waterway, demanding an end to Israel's military actions in Gaza.

事实上，任由事态进一步升级只会加剧危机。上个月以来，红海作为重要的国际货物和能源贸易通道不断受到威胁，胡塞武装加大了对使用红海“与以色列有联系”的船只的攻击力度，要求以色列停止在加沙的军事行动。

While the Houthi militia must stop targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yemen must be respected. The US-led attacks on Houthi targets have only complicated the situation and ratcheted up tensions in the region.

胡塞民兵必须停止在红海袭击商船，也门的主权和领土完整也必须得到尊重。以美国为首的针对胡塞武装目标的袭击只会使局势复杂化，并加剧该地区的紧张局势。

The UNSC has never authorized any country to use force against Yemen, a move that will obviously "add fuel to the fire" in the Red Sea and raise the overall security risks in the region.

联合国安理会从未授权任何国家对也门使用武力，此举显然会在红海“火上浇油”，增加该地区的整体安全风险。

The flare-up of the Red Sea tensions reinforces the urgency for the world community to step up efforts to put an end to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, which has now been raging for 100 days.

目前巴以冲突已持续100天，红海局势日益紧张，国际社会结束巴以冲突的紧迫性加剧。

Both restraint and diplomatic efforts are needed to bring an end to the conflict as soon as possible to prevent the humanitarian crisis in Gaza from worsening and the conflict from escalating further.

巴以双方需要克制，并辅之以外交努力，以期尽快结束冲突，防止加沙人道主义危机进一步恶化、冲突进一步升级。

humanitarian crisis

人道主义危机

territorial integrity

领土完整