Keystone-SDA
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June 7, 2024 – 05:34
(Keystone-ATS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for a cessation of hostilities along the United Nations-established demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon, worrying about a risk of “wider conflict for the region ”.
“As exchanges of fire continue around the Blue Line, the Secretary General once again calls on the parties for an urgent ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.
“These exchanges of fire could trigger a wider conflict with devastating consequences for the region,” he warned.
“Hundreds of lives have already been lost, tens of thousands of people displaced, homes and livelihoods destroyed, on both sides of the Blue Line. Wildfires caused by explosions devastate communities and the environment,” he added.
Daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Lebanese Hezbollah have intensified in recent days, in the midst of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian Hamas, of which Hezbollah is an ally.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel was “ready for a very intense operation” on its northern border, as rocket and drone fire by the Lebanese formation from southern Lebanon initially provoked week several fires in northern Israel, near the border.
