By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (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, U.N. 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 U.N. 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 U.N. 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.”
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Katharine Jackson)
