The United Nations envoys in the Middle East hot spots urged all warring parties on Saturday to translate Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' appeal for immediate cease-fires to tackle the coronavirus pandemic into concrete actions aimed at ending hostilities.
The envoys for Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stressed that solidarity is required to face the challenge of COVID-19 and this cannot happen "if the guns of war and conflict are not silenced." They said "many parties have responded positively" to the secretary-general's March 23 appeal but stressed the need for stepped-up action, stressing that COVID-19 has compounded the suffering of people caught up in Mideast conflicts.