Beirut
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Good afternoon Welcome back to our live coverage of developments in the Middle East. Israel has passed a law banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from operating in the country, a move the organisation’s chief says will “deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza”. The law passed in the Knesset yesterday banned…
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Smoke is billowing from an area of Beirut after what appears to be a new Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital tonight. The city’s southern suburbs have been targeted repeatedly by the Israeli military since a recent eruption in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. An Israeli airstrike late last night in Beirut destroyed several buildings…
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Angolan President Joao Lourenco on Tuesday called for a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, emphasizing the need for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The world cannot continue to accept the alarming daily death toll of civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, Lourenco said during his annual…
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Hezbollah’s drone strike on Binyamina failed to trigger Israel’s air defence alert systems, which the Iran-backed group says was part of its plan to cause maximum destruction. It says that, as part of a “qualitative and complex operation”, it launched dozens of missiles towards various targets in Israel “with the aim of occupying the Israeli…
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Downing Street has joined a growing chorus of international condemnation, saying it is “appalled” by reports that Israel deliberately fired on peacekeepers in Lebanon. “It is vital that peacekeepers and civilians are protected,” a spokeswoman said. Asked if Sir Keir Starmer saw the attacks as a breach of international law, she said: “All parties must…
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The demand comes in response to an Israeli ground operation into Lebanon, launched at the end of September to take out Hezbollah positions close to the Israeli border that has killed and displaced thousands. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that 88 predominantly French-speaking countries have collectively called for an “immediate” ceasefire in Lebanon. Speaking…
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Israel says it aims to drive Hezbollah away from the border so the thousands of Israelis displaced by months of almost daily cross-border fire can return to their homes. Powerful new explosions have rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight into Sunday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also striking a Palestinian refugee camp in the…
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Sir Keir Starmer has once again called for any British nationals in Lebanon to leave the country. More than 150 Britons left Beirut on the first government-chartered flight on Wednesday, with another plane landing in Birmingham yesterday. It’s not clear how long Beirut’s airport can remain open, with some Israeli strikes yesterday hitting nearby areas,…
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There’s “clearly going to be escalation” before the current conflict in the Middle East is resolved, says a security and defence editor Deborah Haynes in northern Israel. It’s been almost five days since Israel’s military announced it was launching a “limited” ground incursion into southern Lebanon aimed at removing Hezbollah and its military capabilities from the area.…
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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is gravely concerned by the dramatic escalation of events in Beirut, Lebanon, in the last 24 hours, his spokesman said on Saturday. “This cycle of violence must stop now, and all sides must step back from the brink,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary general, said in a statement. “The…
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At least 100 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, its health ministry has now said. The figure has doubled from 50 given in an earlier update. This would make it the deadliest day in Lebanon since the conflict started in October. The number of people wounded has risen to 400. Israel says…
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The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has launched a drone attack on an Israeli military observation base, the pro-Iranian group said. The group said the target was located “in occupied Palestine” but did not elaborate. It comes a day after the Islamic Resistance said it had attacked a location in the Israeli-occupied Jordan Valley. The Israeli…
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The U.S. embassy in Lebanon, located in the north of the capital Beirut, came under gunfire Wednesday morning, according to a statement by the Lebanese Army Command. “The U.S. embassy in Lebanon was exposed to gunfire by a Syrian national. Army members were deployed in the area and responded to the sources of fire, resulting…
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A year after the explosion that rocked Beirut on August 4, 2020, killing 218 people, injuring more than 7,000 and devastating much of the city, the Lebanese investigation into the blast has yielded no credible results. Families of the victims, some of whom are calling for an international investigation, talked to the media about their search…
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