Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged maximum restraint by all sides after Sunday's rocket attack on Israel from southern Lebanon, which was then followed by artillery fire from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council and the top United Nations envoy in Lebanon have strongly condemned the car bombing in Beirut today that killed former minister Mohammad Chattah and at least five others, underlining the need to protect the country’s stability in the face of such terrorism and the crisis in neighbouring Syria.

The United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees today condemned Israel’s latest demolitions in the West Bank which have displaced 68 people, including 32 children, in the depths of winter, saying it is violating international law and calling on it to abide by its obligations.

As efforts intensify to bring the Syrian sides to a negotiating table in Switzerland, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced his grave concern about the continued and indiscriminate use of heavy weapons and mortar shelling in the ongoing conflict, most recently in hard-hit Aleppo which has been the site of a “barrel bomb” campaign by Government forces.