Several countries, including France and the United States, are calling for an “immediate ceasefire” of 21 days between Israel and Hezbollah

This appeal, launched from the UN in New York, comes as Israeli strikes left 72 dead in Lebanon on Wednesday and the Middle East is “on the brink of total war”, according to Iran.

The international community is mobilizing. After an intense diplomatic sequence at the UN, France and the United States called on Wednesday, September 25, for a temporary 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. This request is supported by the European Union, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. “It is time to reach a settlement on the Israeli-Lebanese border that guarantees security and allows civilians to return to their homes”write US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron in a joint statement released after their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

“We call for an immediate 21-day ceasefire on the border between Lebanon and Israel to give diplomacy a chance” in connection with the situation in Lebanon and Gaza, all these countries specify in a joint statement. They call “all parties, including the governments of Israel and Lebanon” to approve it. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, was the first to mention this call. A war between Israel and Hezbollah “is not inevitable”, he had hammered home.

Earlier Wednesday, Joe Biden warned that a “generalized war is possible” in the Middle East, while Emmanuel Macron had demanded “Forcibly Israel to stop the escalation in Lebanon and Hezbollah to stop the shooting”. “There can be no war in Lebanon”a country where France has many nationals, the head of state hammered home. The Israeli army had said on Wednesday that it was preparing “a possible entry” on Lebanese soil to strike Hezbollah.

A possibility that makes us fear the worst, while “Hell is breaking loose in Lebanon”according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The Middle East is “on the brink of total catastrophe”warned the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, assuring that Tehran would support Lebanon “by all means”. For his part, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said his country would prefer to use diplomatic channels to secure its northern border with Lebanon, but that it would use “all means” at his disposal if diplomacy were to fail.