UNIFIL, UN coordinator urge Israel and Hezbollah to cease fire

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Sunday called on Israel and Hezbollah to “cease fire and refrain from further escalatory action,” in light of the “worrying developments across the Blue Line since the early morning.”

“A return to the cessation of hostilities, followed by the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, is the only sustainable way forward,” a joint statement said.

“We will continue our contacts to strongly urge for de-escalation,” it added.

Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon early Sunday in what it said was a preemptive strike on Hezbollah, as the Lebanese group said it had launched hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the killing of Fouad Shukur, its top military chief, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs weeks ago.

The heavy exchange of fire came amid mounting fears of an all-out war that could draw in the United States, Iran and its militant allies across the region.