UN Chief Urges Israel, Lebanon to Return to 2006 Ceasefire Amid Escalation Along Blue Line

UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2019) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in the wake of fire exchange on the Israeli-Lebanese border, has urged the sides to exercise "maximum restraint" and adhere to the 2006 agreements on cessation of hostilities.

On Sunday, the Lebanese Army said that Israel had fired over 40 missiles in the vicinity of settlements of Maroun El Ras, Aitaroun and Yaroun. The shelling came after Hezbollah's anti-tank missile destroyed Israeli armored vehicles in the border area in retaliation against Israel's drone attacks.

"The Secretary-General is seriously concerned about the incidents across the Blue Line. He calls for maximum restraint and urges all concerned to cease all activities that violate resolution 1701 and endanger the cessation of hostilities," Guterres' spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a Sunday statement.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701 put an end to a month-long war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah in 2006. It called for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and drew the so-called blue line between the two, which serves as their land border.

Relations between the two neighbors, however, remain strained amid Israel's regular air raids against the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement � attacks that Beirut qualifies as aggression and assault on its sovereignty.