UN Chief Urges Israel and Hezbollah to Cease Hostilities

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting, his spokesperson said on Monday. “The message is to stop the fighting,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN chief, when asked about Guterres’s message amid conflicting statements regarding Lebanon and a US-Iran agreement. Regarding Hezbollah, Dujarric said the message is “to allow the government of Lebanon to have the monopoly of weapons and authority throughout its territory, and for Israel to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.” “And we want to see an end to this fighting so that the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who want to go home can go home and start rebuilding, and people in Israel can go back to their homes in the north,” he said. Dujarric noted that the UN has not yet seen the text of the agreement. The Secretary-General believes the US, Iran, and other countries in the Gulf region need to do whatever they can to ensure peace is maintained, the spokesperson added.