Israel-Hezbollah war would leave Lebanon desperate for aid, warns minister – latest

Lebanon would struggle to meet even a fraction of its aid needs if full-scale war with Israel erupts, a senior official has warned – as it seeks increased donor support amid persistent border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.

Nasser Yassin, the minister overseeing contingency planning, told Reuters that Lebanon would need $100m every month for food, shelter, healthcare and other needs in a worst-case scenario – with Lebanon already having received just a third of the $74m it has sought since the Gaza war began.

“A small fraction, even 10 to 15 percent of that, would be huge for the government. We will need donors to step up,” Mr Yassin said, adding: “Humanitarian funding in many places has been reduced to a minimal level of just keeping heads above water. Some organisations are even slashing funding for critical life-saving matters.”

Under an Israeli blockade similar to the 2006 war, Mr Yassin said Lebanon’s food supply would last four to five months – however diesel supplies would last only five weeks, in a country heavily reliant on using generators to power hospitals, bakeries and the internet amid shortages of state electricity.

Israeli tanks have today returned to the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, forcing thousands to evacuate along congested roadways, as Palestinian fighters continued to attack Israeli troops from the ruins, residents and the military said.

Following an evacuation order issued by Israel’s military for parts of Gaza’s second largest city, Palestinian families fled eastern Khan Younis in vehicles and on foot, belongings heaped on donkey carts and motorcycle rickshaws, making a slow escape along congested roads.

The United Nations human rights chief has joined the condemnation of comments by Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said on Monday that the starvation of Gaza’s population “might be just and moral” until Israeli hostages are returned home.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk was “shocked and appalled” by the comments that “incite hatred against innocent civilians,” spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said.

“The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime. The collective punishment of the Palestinian population is also a war crime. This direct and public statement risks inciting other atrocity crimes,” Mr Laurence told a briefing in Geneva.

The UK and EU have already criticised the comments this week.

Pakistan will support all efforts to prevent war escalating in the Middle East, its foreign ministry has said.

“Pakistan will support all efforts to prevent a war in the Middle East,” a ministry spokesperson told reporters. She did not comment on whether Pakistan had been in contact with Washington over the issue.

The ministry denied reports by the Jerusalem Post newspaper that Pakistan was planning to provide Shaheen-III medium-range ballistic missiles to Iran.

Pakistan does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, but has seen a marked improvement in previously rocky ties with neighbouring Iran which culminated in military fire between the two nations in January. Iran’s president visited in April and the nations have said they are boosting trade ties and cooperation.

Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar has spoken by phone with Iran’s foreign minister in recent days, and attended an emergency meeting convened by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia this week where he condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza and called for a ceasefire.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy has new cruise missiles equipped with highly explosive warheads that are undetectable, the semi-official Tasnim news agency has claimed, as Israel braces for a retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

“A large number of cruise missiles have been added to the Guards’ navy fleet. These new missiles have capabilities of highly explosive warheads that are undetectable and can cause extensive damage and sink their targets,” Tasnim said.

Leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar have issued a joint statement demanding that Israel and Hamas return to stalled talks on the war in Gaza next week.

“Only the details” of carrying out a ceasefire and hostage release remain to be negotiated, they said, adding: “There is no further time to waste, nor excuses from any party for further delay.”

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that it had accepted the invitation.

US president Joe Biden, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatari Emir Tamim al-Thani – who have acted as mediators in indirect negotiations – set the talks for Thursday, in either Doha, Qatar or Cairo.

The Delta Blue crude oil tanker has reported a third and fourth incident in the last 24 hours off Yemen’s port of Mokha, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency has said.

The crew and vessel are safe and proceeding to their next port of call, the UKMTO said in an advisory note. The latest incidents included an attack by an uncrewed surface vessel and another by a missile that landed near the ship, UKMTO said.

On Thursday the ship’s captain reported that two small craft had approached and fired a rocket-propelled grenade which exploded near the Liberia-flagged Delta Blue some 45 nautical miles south of Mokha. Each of the two small boats had four people on board, UKMTO said.

Hours later, another missile exploded close to the tanker, it said.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea region since November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin held a phone call with Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and discussed the US steps in the Middle East to defend Israel and a Gaza ceasefire.

Mr Austin said on social media platform X: “The US F-22 Raptors that arrived in the region today represent one of many efforts to deter aggression, defend Israel and protect US forces in the region.”

He added: “I also stressed the importance of concluding a ceasefire deal in Gaza that releases the hostages.”

It comes as vice president Kamala Harris did not agree to discuss imposing an arms embargo on Israel during an exchange with pro-Palestinian activists who are pushing for changes to US policy towards Gaza, an aide.

The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ms Harris did not express a willingness to discuss an arms embargo during an interaction with Uncommitted National Movement.

But a campaign spokesperson said the vice president did tell members of the Muslim and Palestinian community she would continue to engage with them on the war.

Two people have been confirmed dead in the Naqoura area in southern Lebanon, the Ministry of Public Health of Lebanon said today.

There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defence Forces.

The situation has remained tense along the Israel-Lebanon border as Israel and its allies are bracing for retaliation from Hezbollah and Tehran over the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran and a Hezbollah leader in Beirut.

Three suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have targeted a ship in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, authorities said.

One incident saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat.

The Houthis did not immediately claim the assaults, which follow a months-long campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor in response to Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

After a recent two-week pause, their attacks resumed following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, amid concerns of a wider regional war.

Iran backs the Houthis as part of what it calls a regional “Axis of Resistance”.

The Houthis’ leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said in a speech on Thursday: “The operations are ongoing – our operations toward occupied Palestine to target the Israeli enemy, our operations at sea, the inevitable forthcoming response, as well as coordination with the axis in any joint operations.

“The decision to respond is a collective decision, at the level of the entire axis and at the level of each front individually.”

In the first attack, a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) exploded close to the ship on Thursday, according to the UK Ministry of Defence’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO).

Two smaller craft, with men aboard wearing white and yellow raincoats, launched the RPG, the UKMTO said.

The second attack came early Friday, with a missile “exploding in close proximity to the vessel,” the UKMTO added.

“The vessel and crew are reported to be safe.”

The private security firm Ambrey reported that the ship was hit by a drone that caused no injuries or physical damage.

“The vessel was assessed to be aligned with the Houthi target profile,” Ambrey said. “The vessel was assessed to have been targeted earlier in the day.”

Then came the third attack with the drone boat, where private security guards on board “opened fire and (were) able to successfully destroy the vehicle”, Ambrey said.

Though the Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, it sometimes can take hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults. They have also claimed others that apparently have not happened.