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Israeli strikes may have displaced a million people – Lebanon PM

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Israel’s continuing air strikes may have already forced as many as one million people from their homes across Lebanon, the country’s prime minister has said.

“It is the largest displacement movement that may have happened,” Najib Mikati said.

Lebanon’s health ministry reported more than 50 people killed in Sunday’s strikes – two days after Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired more rockets into northern Israel.

In a separate development, Israel said it had carried out “large-scale” air strikes on military targets of the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen.

Hezbollah confirmed on Sunday that top military commander Ali Karaki and a senior cleric, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, had also been killed in the Israeli air strikes.

“We need to keep hitting Hezbollah hard,” Israel’s military chief of staff Herzi Halevi said.

Another Israeli strike in the central Beirut neighbourhood of Kola early on Monday killed three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the group said in a statement.

The PFLP is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, a coalition recognised at the UN as the official representative of the Palestinians. The group is also considered a terrorist organisation by both the US and EU.

The statement named those killed as military security chief Mohammad Abdel-Aal, military commander Imad Odeh, and fighter Abdel Rahman Abdel-Aal.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Mikati said the wave of air strikes had forced people to flee from Beirut and other parts of the country, including the southern border areas.

The local authorities are struggling to assist everyone in need, with shelters and hospitals under growing pressure, BBC correspondents in Lebanon report.

Aya Ayoub, aged 25, told the BBC she had to flee her house in Beirut’s southern Tahweetet al-Ghadir suburb with her family of six as it was too dangerous to stay.

Around her house, she said, “all the buildings are completely destroyed”, and she was currently staying with another 16 people in a house in Beirut.

“We left on Friday and had no place to go. We stayed until 02:00 in the streets until a group of people helped us get into a residential building that was under construction. We are living on candles at night, and have to get water and food from outside”.

Sara Tohmaz, a 34-year-old journalist, told the BBC she had left her house near Beirut with her mother and two siblings last Friday.

It took them almost 10 hours to reach Jordan through Syria by car, she said.

“I think we are lucky enough to have a place to stay in Jordan, where my mother’s relatives are based. We don’t know what will happen next, and don’t know when we will be back,” Tohmaz added.

The previously sporadic cross-border fighting escalated on 8 October 2023 – the day after the unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip – when Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions, in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Since then hundreds of people, including many Hezbollah fighters, have been killed, while tens of thousands have also been displaced on both sides of the border.

Also on Sunday, Israel said it carried out air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, striking power plants and a port in Ras Isa and Hudaydah.

Footage later emerged showing a huge explosion at the port.

Israel says it targeted the sites in response to recent missile attacks from the Houthis, as well as to destroy facilities being used to transport Iranian weapons.

The Houthis, a Shia group controlling large areas of Yemen, condemned the Israeli strikes as a “brutal aggression”.

They said four people were killed and 33 injured, vowing revenge.

There are mounting international fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Washington warned Israel against an all-out war with Hezbollah or Iran, saying a major conflict would leave Israelis unable to return to their homes in the north.

(BBC News)

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Netanyahu visits US as Trump puts pressure to agree Gaza ceasefire deal

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After 21 months of war, there are growing hopes of a new Gaza ceasefire announcement as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets US President Donald Trump in Washington.

Trump previously told reporters he had been “very firm” with Netanyahu about ending the conflict and that he thought “we’ll have a deal” this week.

“We are working to achieve the deal that has been discussed, under the conditions we have agreed,” the veteran Israeli PM said before boarding his plane. “I believe that the conversation with President Trump can definitely help advance this outcome, which we all hope for.”

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas on a US-sponsored proposal for a 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal resumed in Qatar on Sunday evening.

However, it is unclear whether key differences that have consistently held up an agreement can be overcome.

Only cautious optimism is being expressed by weary Palestinians living in dire conditions amid continuing daily Israeli bombardment, and the distressed families of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.

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Trump threatens extra 10% tariffs on BRICS as leaders meet in Brazil

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US President Donald Trump said the US will impose an additional 10% tariff on any countries aligning themselves with the “Anti-American policies” of the BRICS group of developing nations, whose leaders kicked off a summit in Brazil on Sunday.

With forums such as the G7 and G20 groups of major economies hamstrung by divisions and the disruptive “America First” approach of the U.S. president, BRICS is presenting itself as a haven for multilateral diplomacy amid violent conflicts and trade wars.

In opening remarks to the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew a parallel with the Cold War’s Non-Aligned Movement, a group of developing nations that resisted joining either side of a polarized global order.
“BRICS is the heir to the Non-Aligned Movement,” Lula told leaders. “With multilateralism under attack, our autonomy is in check once again.”

In a joint statement released on Sunday afternoon, the group warned the rise in tariffs threatened global trade, continuing its veiled criticism of Trump’s tariff policies.

Hours later, Trump warned he would punish countries seeking to join with the grouping.
“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump did not clarify or expand on the “Anti-American policies” reference in his post.Trump’s administration is seeking to finalize dozens of trade deals with a wide range of countries before his July 9 deadline for the imposition of significant “retaliatory tariffs”. India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

BRICS nations now represent more than half the world’s population and 40% of its economic output, Lula noted in remarks on Saturday to business leaders, warning of rising protectionism.The original BRICS group gathered leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China at its first summit in 2009. The bloc later added South Africa and last year included Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as members. This is the first summit of leaders to include Indonesia.
More than 30 nations have expressed interest in participating in the BRICS, either as full members or partners.

Expansion of the bloc has added diplomatic weight to the gathering, which aspires to speak for developing nations across the Global South, strengthening calls for reforming global institutions such as the United Nations Security Council and the International Monetary Fund.

“If international governance does not reflect the new multipolar reality of the 21st century, it is up to BRICS to help bring it up to date,” Lula said in his remarks, which highlighted the failure of U.S.-led wars in the Middle East.

Urging the BRICS to take the lead on reforms, Lula reflected on the G20 summit hosted in the same locale last November: “In a short period of time, the international scene has deteriorated to the point that some of the initiatives we approved then would no longer be possible now.”Stealing some thunder from this year’s summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to send his premier in his place. Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending online due to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court related to his war in Ukraine.

Still, several heads of state were gathered for discussions at Rio’s Museum of Modern Art on Sunday and Monday, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

However, there are questions about the shared goals of an increasingly heterogeneous BRICS group, which has grown to include regional rivals along with major emerging economies.

In the joint statement, the leaders called attacks against Iran’s “civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities” a “violation of international law.”

The group expressed “grave concern” for the Palestinian people over Israeli attacks on Gaza, and condemned what the joint statement called a “terrorist attack” in India-administered Kashmir.

The group voiced its support for Ethiopia and Iran to join the World Trade Organization, while calling to urgently restore its ability to resolve trade disputes.

The leaders’ joint statement backed plans to pilot a BRICS Multilateral Guarantees initiative within the group’s New Development Bank to lower financing costs and boost investment in member states, as first reported by Reuters last week.

In a separate statement following a discussion of artificial intelligence, the leaders called for protections against unauthorized use of AI to avoid excessive data collection and allow mechanisms for fair payment.

Brazil, which also hosts the United Nations climate summit in November, has seized on both gatherings to highlight how seriously developing nations are tackling climate change, while Trump has slammed the brakes on U.S. climate initiatives.China and the UAE signaled in meetings with Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad in Rio that they plan to invest in a proposed Tropical Forests Forever Facility, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions about funding conservation of endangered forests around the world.

(Reuters)

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Passengers jump from plane’s wing after fire alert on Spain flight

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Wildfires have broken out on an island and in towns near Athens in Greece, with blazes also being sparked in Turkey and Syria.

The Hellenic Fire Service and local authorities said that two villages – Tsakeoi and Limnionas – had been evacuated on the island of Evia after the blaze started late on Friday.

One fire service official said more than 160 firefighters, 46 trucks and five aircraft were deployed in southern Evia to put out the fire.

Southern Evia, to the east of Athens, was one of several regions in Greece placed on high alert for wildfires over gale-force winds forecast for today.

Images from Koropi, a town to the southwest of Athens, also show houses burnt down and helicopters dropping water on burning forests.

It marks the latest wildfires to break out in Greece – where blazes are common during the summer – as it tackles strong winds and dry conditions amid an early summer heatwave in southern Europe.

Officials have linked the conditions to at least nine deaths across the continent.

A wildfire broke out in Achlia on the island of Crete on Wednesday, forcing thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate – with some taken to a nearby basketball arena and hotels in safer parts of the island.

The fire service official told Reuters on Friday that the fire in Crete was largely contained.

Meanwhile, blazes have also broken out on Turkey’s west coast – the latest in a series of blazes which started in late June – as well as its southerly neighbour Syria.

At least five fires have been reported in Izmir after extreme heat, strong winds and low humidity. Two people have been killed by the blazes, while tens of thousands have been evacuated.

Fires also flared on both sides of the Turkish-Syrian border on Friday, with a new blaze reported near the town of Dortyol in Turkey’s border province of Hatay.

According to Syria’s Civil Defence, wildfires have spread across large parts of mountainous areas in the Latakia province.

The government department added that conditions have hampered efforts to bring the fire under control, and noted unexploded ordnance could be in some of the areas affected.

Source: SKY NEWS

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