UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which came into force this Wednesday (27), local time, is “the first ray of hope” in the conflict. regional after months of climbing.
“It is essential that those who signed the ceasefire commitment fully respect it,” Guterres said in a short televised statement during a visit to his hometown of Lisbon, adding that the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon was ready to monitor the ceasefire.
He also reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“I received an auspicious sign yesterday, the first ray of hope for peace amid the darkness of recent months,” said the secretary-general, referring to the agreement.
“It is a moment of great importance, especially for civilians who were paying a huge price for this escalating conflict,” he concluded.
Understand conflicts in the Middle East
At the end of November, a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was approved. This comes after months of bombings by the Israeli Army in Lebanon.
The offensive caused destruction and forced more than a million people to leave their homes to escape the war. Furthermore, it left dozens of people dead in Lebanese territory.
Like Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are radical groups financed by Iran, and therefore enemies of Israel.
The expectation is that the agreement will serve as the basis for a more lasting cessation of hostilities.
At the same time, the war continues in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military is fighting Hamas and searching for hostages who were kidnapped more than a year ago during the radical group’s attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023. At the time, more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped.
Since then, more than 43,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza during Israel’s offensive, which also destroyed virtually every building in the Palestinian territory.
On a third front of conflict, Israel and Iran exchanged attacks, which despite raising tension, did not evolve into an all-out war.
In addition, the Israeli Army has been carrying out bombings on Iranian-allied militia targets in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
This content was originally published in UN chief says ceasefire in Lebanon is “ray of hope for peace” on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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