UN human rights chief to travel to Washington amid concerns over Middle East crisis

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.

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“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 Poidevin Editing by Ludwig Burger

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