UN Chief Calls for Immediate Ceasefire in Lebanon

Smoke billows after an Israeli Air Force air strike on a village in southern Lebanon, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke billows after an Israeli Air Force air strike on a village in southern Lebanon, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Chief Calls for Immediate Ceasefire in Lebanon

Smoke billows after an Israeli Air Force air strike on a village in southern Lebanon, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel October 1, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke billows after an Israeli Air Force air strike on a village in southern Lebanon, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel October 1, 2024. (Reuters)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country to be respected, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

"An all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs," Dujarric said in a statement, adding that Guterres spoke with Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati earlier on Tuesday, telling him the UN was ready to help those in need.

"The Secretary-General will continue his contacts, and his representatives on the ground will also continue their efforts to de-escalate the situation," Dujarric said.

He later told reporters at a briefing that UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, had seen sporadic incursions by the Israeli military.

"The information they have and they've received ... is that they've seen sporadic incursions by the IDF," Dujarric said. "They have not witnessed a full-scale invasion."



Israeli Airstrike Targets Three Cars Carrying Medical Materials in Syria's Homs

A woman walks past destroyed buildings in the government-controlled part of Homs, Syria, September 18, 2018. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
A woman walks past destroyed buildings in the government-controlled part of Homs, Syria, September 18, 2018. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
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Israeli Airstrike Targets Three Cars Carrying Medical Materials in Syria's Homs

A woman walks past destroyed buildings in the government-controlled part of Homs, Syria, September 18, 2018. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
A woman walks past destroyed buildings in the government-controlled part of Homs, Syria, September 18, 2018. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

An Israeli airstrike targeted three cars carrying medical and relief materials in the industrial city in Syria's Homs, the Syrian state news agency reported on Sunday, adding that material damage was reported.

The state news agency quoted the head of the industrial city in a town of Homs as saying that no factories were targeted inside the city and that the sound of the blast was a result of the Israeli strike, Reuters reported.

Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since last year's Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Israeli territory that sparked the Gaza war.