Pope Leo appealed on Saturday for authorities in Iran and Israel to act with "reason" after airstrikes between the two countries killed dozens and sent civilians into shelters, and called on the nations to pursue dialogue.

Leo, in one of the strongest peace appeals yet of his five-week papacy, told an audience in St. Peter's Basilica he was following the situation with "great concern."

"In such a delicate moment, I strongly wish to renew an appeal to responsibility and to reason," said the pope.

"The commitment to building a safer world free from the nuclear threat must be pursued through respectful encounters and sincere dialogue to build a lasting peace, founded on justice, fraternity, and the common good," he said.

"No one should ever threaten the existence of another," said Leo. "It is the duty of all countries to support the cause of peace, initiating paths of reconciliation and promoting solutions that guarantee security and dignity for all."

Leo was elected on May 8 to replace the late Pope Francis and is the first pope from the United States. Unlike Francis, who often spoke off the cuff at public events, Leo is more cautious with words and almost always speaks from a prepared text.

The pope read aloud his appeal on Saturday in Italian from a piece of paper.

Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran early on Friday, targeting commanders, military targets and nuclear sites in what it called a "preemptive strike" to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons programme.

Iran, which denies that its uranium enrichment activities are part of a secret weapons programme, retaliated by launching waves of missiles at Israel, killing at least two people and injuring dozens.

MSH

At least 34 people, including two babies were killed when a contraband fuel depot exploded into flames in southern Benin near the border with Nigeria on Saturday.

According to Beninese Interior Minister Alassane Seidou, “a serious fire occurred in the town of Seme Podji. Another 20 people were seriously wounded in the incident.”

"I can't really give you the cause of the fire, but there is a large gasoline warehouse here and cars, tricycles and motorcycles come from morning to evening,” he added.

Nigeria is a main oil and gas producer where fuel smuggling is very common along its borders, particularly when the government maintains a subsidy to keep fuel prices low.

The majority of the victims were burnt and they could not be not be identified.

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