Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and UN Secretary General Discuss Crisis in the Middle East

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin and UN Secretary-General António Guterres exchanged views on the prospects for overcoming the current crisis in the Middle East. This is reported on November 27 on the official website of the ministry.

It is informed that during the meeting the parties raised issues of bilateral cooperation between Russia and the UN secretariat, including the international and regional agenda.

"The interlocutors exchanged views on the current situation in the Middle East, primarily in the occupied Palestinian territory and Lebanon, the prospects for getting out of the current unprecedented crisis," the press service of the agency informed.

On the eve of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a telephone conversation thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for his help in concluding a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.

Earlier, on November 25, it was reported that the Israeli Prime Minister tentatively approved a possible agreement that seeks a ceasefire between the Israel Defense Forces and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

In early November, Lebanon's acting Prime Minister Najib Mikati described the resumption of attacks as Israel's abandonment of the peace initiative. He emphasized that Israel's repeated threats "confirm the disregard for all efforts made to secure a ceasefire."

The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah came after the events of September 17 and 18, when thousands of people, including employees of the movement, were injured when pagers and other communication devices exploded in Lebanon. The country blamed Tel Aviv for what happened. Since then, Israel has continued to eliminate the leadership of the Shiite movement and strike Lebanese territory.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected the territory of Israel to a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.