UN chief urges Israel, Hezbollah to stop fighting: spokesman

Alsharq Tribune-Ahmed Essam 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel and Hezbollah to stop fighting, his spokesman said Monday.

"The message is to stop the fighting," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said when asked for Guterres's message as there are conflicting statements over Lebanon concerning the U.S.-Iran deal.

For Hezbollah, Dujarric said the message is "to allow the government of Lebanon to have the primacy of arms 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 the fighting, so the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who want to go home can go home to start to rebuild, and those in Israel can go back home to the north, as well," he said.

Dujarric cautioned that the United Nations has not seen the text of the deal.

The secretary-general holds the view that the United States and Iran, as well as other countries in the Gulf region, need to do whatever they can to ensure that peace endures, said the spokesman.