UN chief calls Middle East crisis ‘nightmare’ amid push for Lebanon ceasefire

António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said the ‘level of impunity in the world is politically indefensible and morally intolerable’. Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP

The UN secretary general has told world leaders that Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a second Gaza, adding that the crisis has “become a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the whole region down”.

António Guterres made his warning as diplomats meeting in New York for the UN general assembly battled to impose a ceasefire in Lebanon and to hold Israel back from a possible ground invasion.