GENEVA, March 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights chief will travel to Washington this month, he said on Friday, but expressed doubt he could influence the development of the Middle East crisis amid mounting concerns.
“I hope to go to Washington D.C. later this month, and we will see what this will bring,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk told reporters in Geneva.
“We have obviously been in touch, but to be honest, I don’t think it’s in any way meaningful in terms of influencing the current trajectory,” he added.
Turk urged international actors to rapidly de-escalate the regional conflict, now into its seventh day after U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Israel said on Friday it launched “broad-scale” air strikes on Iran’s infrastructure. It also continued strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which are under an evacuation order.
Large booms rang out across Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel as Israeli defence systems attempted to intercept an Iranian rocket volley on Friday morning.
(Reporting by Olivia Le PoidevinEditing by Ludwig Burger)
