U.N. chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Beirut for a “solidarity” visit to Lebanon on Friday, cutting short a stay in Turkey where he joined fasting Muslims for Ramadan while calling for the world to “eradicate the scourge of Islamophobia from every country and community.”
The veteran Portuguese Socialist has been steadfast in honoring Islam in general and Ramadan in particular as holding the key for society to prosper if it embraces a “noble vision of hope and peace” he claims that all Muslims hold dear via the Ramadan observance.
AFP reports Guterres is expected to raise awareness of humanitarian needs in Lebanon with more than 800,000 people displaced as Israel fights back against rocket attacks from Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
“I have just landed in Beirut for a visit of solidarity with the people of Lebanon. They did not choose this war. They were dragged into it,” the United Nations secretary-general revealed on X.
“The UN and I will spare no effort in striving for the peaceful future that Lebanon and this region so richly deserve.”
The U.N. said an emergency appeal for funds is to be launched during his visit as its own migration agency said that it needed $19 million to cover operations over the next three months.
“Humanitarian needs are rising faster than the response,” Mathieu Luciano, the Lebanon mission chief for the International Organization for Migration, told reporters in Geneva per AFP.
Lebanon entered the Middle East conflict over the past seven days when Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists used it as a base to attack Israel in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his wife Emine Erdogan and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres together after Erdogan presents the Ataturk International Peace Prize to Antonio Guterres in Ankara, Turkiye, on March 12, 2026. (Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Handout/Anadolu via Getty)
Israel expanded its retaliatory strikes in Lebanon on Friday, targeting multiple areas, including a bridge over the Litani River it observed Hezbollah had been using as a passageway for its terrorist fighters.
Meanwhile Hezbollah launched fresh attacks against Israeli forces as it ignores all calls to disarm