UK’s Lammy repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East

UK’s Lammy repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East
Antony Blinken and David Lammy, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 11, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 30 September 2024
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UK’s Lammy repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East

UK’s Lammy repeats calls for ceasefire after talk with Blinken on Middle East
  • David Lammy: ‘The best way forward is an immediate ceasefire and to get back to a political solution’
  • David Lammy: ‘I urge UK nationals to leave, because the situation on the ground is fast moving’

LONDON: British foreign minister David Lammy repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire amid reports of a potential escalation in the Israel-Lebanon conflict, after discussing the matter with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the phone on Monday.

“We’ve both seen the reports in the media about a next phase for Israel in Lebanon,” Lammy told Sky News, amid growing indications that Israel was on the verge of sending ground troops into Lebanon.

“We both agreed the position that we had at the UN last week that the best way forward is an immediate ceasefire and to get back to a political solution.”

Earlier in the day a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged “all parties to show restraint.”

Lammy also repeated the government’s advice that British citizens leave Lebanon.

“We have secured places on commercial flights that are flying tomorrow so that UK nationals can get out. I urge them to leave, because the situation on the ground is fast moving,” he said.

“Whilst we will do everything we can to protect British nationals and those plans are in place to do so, we cannot anticipate the circumstances and the speed with which we could do that if things escalate in a major way over the coming hours and days.”


Drone attack targets Tawke oilfield in Iraq’s Kurdistan

Drone attack targets Tawke oilfield in Iraq’s Kurdistan
Updated 3 min 15 sec ago
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Drone attack targets Tawke oilfield in Iraq’s Kurdistan

Drone attack targets Tawke oilfield in Iraq’s Kurdistan
BAGHDAD: A drone attack targeted Norwegian oil and gas firm DNO's oilfield in Tawke in the Zakho Administration area of northern Iraq on Thursday, according to the Kurdistan region's counter-terrorism service.
It is the second attack on the DNO-operated field amid a wave of drone attacks that began early this week.

PHOTO GALLERY: Massive demonstrations in Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs

PHOTO GALLERY: Massive demonstrations in Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs
Updated 7 min 4 sec ago
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PHOTO GALLERY: Massive demonstrations in Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs

PHOTO GALLERY: Massive demonstrations in Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs

Israel’s airstrikes blew up part of Syria’s defense ministry and hit near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.

People took to the streets of Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria’s internal affairs.


Two dead, several injured in raid on Catholic church in Gaza

Two dead, several injured in raid on Catholic church in Gaza
Updated 27 min 31 sec ago
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Two dead, several injured in raid on Catholic church in Gaza

Two dead, several injured in raid on Catholic church in Gaza
  • The strike damaged the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian enclave

GAZA CITY: Two women were killed and several people were injured following a strike which hit the Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip, doctors at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City said on Thursday.

The strike damaged the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic Church inside the Palestinian enclave.

The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Israeli Defense Forces said it was looking into the matter.

Italy’s ANSA news agency said six people were seriously injured, while parish priest Father Gabriele Romanelli, who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, suffered light leg injuries.

“Israeli raids on Gaza have also hit the Holy Family Church,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement.

“The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such an attitude,” she added.


Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport
Updated 48 min 8 sec ago
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Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport

Yemen’s Houthis claim missile attack on Israel airport
  • Israel has carried out several air strikes on Yemen, including on the port city of Hodeida earlier this month

Yemen’s Houthis claimed a missile launched at Israel’s main civilian airport, after the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from the Arabian Peninsula country.

The Houthis targeted Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv with a “Zulfiqar ballistic missile” and drone, military spokesman Yehya Saree said late Wednesday.

In the video statement, he also announced drone attacks on military targets and the southern Israeli port of Eilat.

The Houthis have launched repeated missile and drone attacks against Israel since the Gaza war began in October 2023, sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.

In response, Israel has carried out several air strikes on Yemen, including on the port city of Hodeida earlier this month.

The Israeli military had said that “following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, one missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted.”

Early on Wednesday, pro-government forces in Yemen said they seized “750 tons of weapons” en route from Iran to the Houthis.

US Central Command hailed the operation, calling it “the largest seizure of Iranian advanced conventional weapons in their history.”

Tarek Saleh, who heads the Yemeni National Resistance Forces, said in a post on X that the seizure included “naval and air missile systems, an air defense system, modern radars, drones, monitoring devices, anti-tank missiles, B-10 artillery, tracking lenses, sniper rifles, ammunition, and military equipment.”

Earlier this month, the Houthis resumed deadly attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, targeting ships they accuse of having links to Israel, to force Israel to end the Gaza war.


Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say

Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say
Updated 17 July 2025
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Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say

Fire at mall in Iraq leaves at least 60 dead, officials say
  • “We have compiled a list of 59 victims whose identities have been confirmed, but one body was so badly burned that it has been extremely difficult to identify,” a city health official told Reuters

BAGHDAD: A massive fire in a hypermarket in Al-Kut city in eastern Iraq has left at least 60 people dead and 11 others missing, the city’s health authorities and two police sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Videos circulating on social media showed flames engulfing a five-story building in Al-Kut overnight as firefighters tried to contain the blaze.

Reuters could not independently verify the videos.

“We have compiled a list of 59 victims whose identities have been confirmed, but one body was so badly burned that it has been extremely difficult to identify,” a city health official told Reuters.

“We have more bodies that have not been recovered still under fire debris,” city official Ali Al-Mayahi told Reuters.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but the province’s governor said initial results from an investigation would be announced within 48 hours, the state news agency (INA)reported.

“We have filed lawsuits against the owner of the building and the mall,” INA quoted the governor as saying.