Rhino: Agencies – Slovenia’s UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar said the UN Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the detonation of radio communications equipment in Lebanon to target the Hezbollah group.

Zbogar, whose country chairs the Security Council for September, said the meeting would be held at the request of Algeria on behalf of Arab states.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned earlier on Wednesday that the explosions signaled “a serious risk of a major escalation in Lebanon and that everything possible must be done to avoid such an escalation.”

“It is clear that the logic of making all these devices explode is to do so as a pre-emptive strike ahead of a major military operation,” he told reporters before the annual meeting of world leaders at the UN General Assembly.

Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement that the secretary-general “calls on all parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint to avoid any further escalation.”