The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres worries that Lebanon will turn into “another Gaza” as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates.

“What worries me is the possibility of Lebanon turning into another Gaza,” the UN chief said in a brief interview with CNN as the week begins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Antonio Guterres also noted that a year after the start of the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, neither side of the conflict “really” wants a truce.

“It is clear to me that the two sides are not interested in a truce. And this is a tragedy because this is a war that must be stopped,” he insisted.

THE White House also warned Israel today that a military escalation on the border with Lebanon is not in its interest, while the European Union, through the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, expressed extreme concern and called for a “ceasefire along the blue line ” which separates the Lebanese from the Israeli military forces by 200, “just like in Gaza” between the Israeli army and Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that the Israeli army had dealt a “series of blows” against Hezbollah, after a night of fierce cross-border clashes that sent hundreds of thousands of northern Israelis into shelters.

THE Naim KasemHezbollah’s second in command, responded that the Islamist movement was entering “a new phase of settling open accounts” in its war with Israel.