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The UK defence secretary has urged Britons again to leave Lebanon.

Leaving the Cabinet Office a short while ago after chairing an emergency COBRA meeting about the Middle East crisis, John Healey said: “Our concern is always for the safety of British nationals.

“And our advice to them is to leave Lebanon now, that hasn’t changed.

“And this was a meeting simply to make sure that we’ve got plans in place for future developments.”

Biden ‘tin-eared’ on Middle East crisis – with no sign of required urgency

It was not the high note that Joe Biden would have hoped for in his last speech at the UN.

With the world in crisis on so many fronts in the dying months of his presidency, there was little hope of that.

Mr Biden has built so much of his political career in foreign policy and yet his legacy overseas is now unravelling.

It was far from his finest speech. He went through the list of achievements and challenges. His words lacked conviction. His tone was flat.

And most of all, the speech was overshadowed by the spiralling crisis in the Middle East. On that, the president seemed tin-eared.

He spoke of the ceasefire deal his diplomats have tried to forge over Gaza.

For now, it is dead in the water but not for Mr Biden: “Now is a time for the parties to finalise terms,” he said.

With Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon threatening to tip the region into a much bigger conflict, he was pointing out the obvious: “A full scale war is not in anyone’s interests.”

What the region needs now is urgent diplomatic intervention by the US and its allies here at the UN. 

There was little sign of that urgency from the president in this speech, who seemed to be going through the motions in the twilight of his presidency. 

More strikes ready, Israeli defence head says – but envoy stresses preference for diplomacy

Israel has “more strikes ready against Hezbollah”, the country’s defence minister has said.

Yoav Gallant insisted Israel “must continue” until it achieves its goal of ensuring the “safe return of Israel’s northern residents to their homes”. 

According to Mr Gallant, Israel’s offensive is working.

“Hezbollah today is not the same Hezbollah we knew a week ago. [It] has suffered a sequence of blows to its command and control, its fighters, and the means to fight,” he said.

“These are all severe blows.”

At the United Nations General Assembly in New York, however, Israel’s UN ambassador was more reserved, saying the country is “open” to de-escalation ideas.

“As we speak there are important forces trying to come up with ideas and we are open-minded for that,” Danny Danon told reporters.

 “We are not eager to start any ground invasion anywhere… We prefer a diplomatic solution.”