Middle East spiral of violence 'could take down region', leaders warned

World leaders at the UN general assembly were warned by the body's secretary general that Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a second Gaza, with the crisis "a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the whole region down".

- Patrick Wintour, Andrew Roth

António Guterres gave his warning as diplomats meeting in New York struggled to impose a ceasefire in Lebanon and to hold Israel back from a ground invasion.

The Lebanese prime minister, Najib Mikati, flew to New York to lobby the US to order Israel to end the bombardment while France, with support from Egypt and Jordan, called for an emergency meeting of the UN security council.

United States officials insisted they had concrete proposals to lower the tension but there is no sign that either Israel or Hezbollah, the Iranianbacked Lebanese group, is willing to step back from fighting yet.

Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said his country could not allow Hezbollah to stay alone under attack from a fully armed Israel.

Among a whirlwind of meetings in New York and as the death toll in Lebanon - almost 560 people - became clear, foreign ministers from the G7 group of industrialised nations issued a statement warning the "actions and counterreactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences".