Xinhua Commentary: World must not slip back to law of jungle

BEIJING, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Israel have carried out deadly military strikes against Iran for about one week. Among an increasing number of those killed in Iran were its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior officials and innocent civilians, including children.

Coming less than two months after a January raid on Venezuela in which U.S. forces captured President Nicolas Maduro, this marked the second time in such a short span that Washington has taken extreme military action against the leader of a sovereign state.

From Latin America to the Middle East, the use of force to remove or assassinate the leader of another country -- bypassing the United Nations Security Council -- raised a fundamental question about whether the bottom line of international law can endure.

The unrestrained military rampage, the disregard for the widely recognized international order, and its destructive aftermath should alarm the international community. If such aggressive logic were to be tolerated, any nation at odds with the United States could find itself facing a similar threat. International relations would drift toward the law of the jungle, governed by force rather than rules.

As the military becomes the preferred instrument for resolving disputes, the space for diplomacy and dialogue inevitably narrows, and peaceful resolutions for conflicts are eroded. But force does not resolve complex international disagreements. It instead risks undermining the hard-won development achievements of peacetime and unleashing complex consequences that are impossible to predict.

Attempts to impose government change also yield not stability but deepened resentment and protracted turmoil. History is full of painful lessons, among them the widespread devastation and lasting pains in Iraq. The bombardment now falling on Iran could push the Middle East into an even more volatile and fractured future.

The blatant military strikes against Iran have already ratcheted up regional tensions and caused spillover effects. In many cities across the Middle East, the sounds of blasts and air-raid sirens, as well as the sighting of missiles and explosions, have become common, spreading panic and fear.

Probably the most devastating moment came as Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi shared an image on social media this week, showing graves being dug for more than 160 young girls killed in a bombing of a primary school. The war is all about pain and loss, nothing to glorify.

The protraction and escalation of the conflict serve no one's interests. Major countries should not make use of their military advantages to arbitrarily attack other countries, and the world must not slip back to the law of the jungle. Any moves that violate international law should be resisted by the international community, and basic norms governing international relations should be jointly upheld.

War and force cannot solve issues once and for all. The Iranian nuclear issue ultimately has to return to a political and diplomatic solution. The military operations must stop at once and return to dialogue and negotiations at an early date, and further escalations of the tensions and spread of the conflict must be avoided. ■