UN chief says 'diplomatic avenues' available to stop war in Lebanon

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, and the Tehran-backed group's leader has said the militants were ready for a long confrontation with Israel.

On Saturday, Israel kept up strikes on Lebanon as Hezbollah claimed attacks against northern Israel and Beirut said the death toll in the country since March 2 had climbed to 826, including 106 children.

"There is no military solution, only diplomacy" and dialogue, Guterres said, adding that "we are doing everything we can now to bring about an immediate de-escalation and the cessation of hostilities".

"The diplomatic avenues are available, including through my special coordinator for Lebanon... and through key member states," he added.

Guterres arrived in Beirut on Friday for what he called a "solidarity" visit, and launched a $325 million humanitarian appeal to support Lebanon as it responds to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people amid sweeping Israeli army evacuation orders.

Guterres urged the international community to "step up your engagement, empower the Lebanese state" and support the army, which has committed to disarming Hezbollah.
Paramedics
The health ministry said 31 paramedics had been killed this month, after the bodies of additional health workers were found following an overnight strike that authorities said hit a healthcare centre in Burj Qalawiya in the country's south, killing doctors, paramedics and nurses.

The Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee said the centre was one of its facilities, pledging such attacks would not deter it from "performing our humanitarian duty".

The Israeli military accused Hezbollah of using ambulances militarily, and its spokesman Avichay Adraee warned that Israel would act "in accordance with international law against any military activity" by any Hezbollah use of medical facilities or ambulances.

Lebanon's health ministry accused Israel of repeatedly "targeting ambulance crews while they were performing rescue duties".

The Israeli army said that it had struck Hezbollah operatives on Friday "who were bringing rockets into a weapons depot" in Majedel, near Burj Qalawiya.

It also said it had struck "approximately 110 Hezbollah command centres" since the regional conflict broke out.

On Saturday, a strike hit an apartment building in a northern Beirut suburb that had been targeted a day earlier.

An AFP correspondent in the Nabaa-Burj Hammoud area saw rescue workers at the scene and damage including a hole in a building, outside Hezbollah's strongholds in the capital's southern suburbs.

The health ministry said the strike killed one person in Burj Hammoud, a densely populated, mixed area known for its large Armenian-Lebanese community.

'No safety'

Levon Ghazalian, 42, who lives in the building next door, said "it's the first time this happens" in the area, which was spared in the previous conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024.

"All the neighbours are afraid," he told AFP.

Hanadi Hachem, 50, who was in her pyjamas, said "there's no safety anymore... you never know where a strike will come from".

She said she and some family members were sleeping in their car out of fear.

In the suburbs of the southern city of Sidon, state media reported a strike targeted an apartment in the densely populated Haret Saida area, while also reporting strikes in other parts of the country's south.

Kandice Ardiel, spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, told AFP on Saturday that one of the peacekeepers' positions near Mais al-Jabal was hit a day earlier, "likely by heavy machine gun fire", with one peacekeeper lightly wounded, and said the force had launched an investigation.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the Lebanese government was ready to engage in "direct talks" with Israel and offered to host negotiations in Paris, warning that "everything must be done to prevent Lebanon from descending into chaos".