UN Urges Halt to Israel-Hezbollah Fighting

The United Nations warned on Monday that hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon were spreading and urged a halt to the violence.
In a joint statement on Monday, United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka and the commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, Aroldo Lazaro, said “the violence must stop.”
“The unrelenting cycle of strikes and counterstrikes in breach of the cessation of hostilities constitute the most serious violation of Security Council Resolution 1701 since its adoption in 2006,” they said.
That UN resolution ended a month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel nearly two decades ago but many of its points were never implemented.
“The lives of thousands of people have been profoundly affected. Tens of civilians have tragically lost their lives while many more have lost their homes, their livelihoods and any sense of certainty for the future,” said the joint statement Monday.
“The gradual expansion in the scope and scale of the confrontations well beyond the Blue Line significantly raises the risk of miscalculation and further deterioration of an already alarming situation,” it added.