UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says a Security Council resolution on a cessation of hostilities in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict could be adopted this week.
"The Secretary-General is working very intensely with Security Council members and key leaders, both here and in capitals, to push for a resolution concerning the situation along the Blue Line," a spokesman said in a statement Thursday.
"The fighting must stop to save civilians on both sides from the nightmare they have endured for the past four weeks," the statement continued. "The Secretary-General believes that it ought to be possible for the Security Council to adopt a resolution by the end of the week."
Annan began calling for a cessation of hostilities almost as soon as the conflict began July 12. He has also deplored the killing of civilians, whom he says have borne the brunt of suffering since the start of hostilities.
Annan's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, told reporters Thursday in Geneva that humanitarian corridors in Lebanon have not been respected, resulting in even greater suffering among civilians.
Egeland has called for a temporary truce to allow for the evacuation of especially vulnerable civilians and for the dispersal of humanitarian aid.
Since the start of hostilities, the Security Council has adopted a resolution temporarily extending the mandate of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.
It has also issued two presidential students: one expressing support for a delegation dispatched by the secretary-general to the Middle East to engage interested parties in diplomatic talks, and a second expressing shock at the July 30 shelling by the Israeli Defense Forces of a residential building in Qana, Lebanon, which killed at least 28.
