UN chief warns Middle East conflict is widening

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that continuing conflict in the Middle East had pushed the region close to a point he described as unimaginable.

Speaking at a Security Council meeting, Guterres said the situation was getting out of control and that the region was being drawn into a widening circle of confrontation. He said one crisis was feeding another and each escalation was triggering the next.

Guterres also said that, as the pattern spread, political objectives were becoming increasingly hidden by the confrontation itself.