[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The touching scene was played out as other families greeted loved ones who had flown to the UK on a scheduled flight from Beirut.
More than a dozen people, some clutching bouquets of flowers, had waited patiently for their loved ones to appear after Middle East Airlines flight 201 had landed.
Ali, a barber from London, waited for his wife Hasan who had left her home in the village of Tyre, one of the areas in southern Lebanon under heavy bombardment from Israeli forces.
The first charter flight taking UK nationals out of Lebanon has since taken off, foreign secretary David Lammy today confirmed. Another flight is scheduled for tomorrow with 'further flights' planned over the 'coming days', Mr Lammy added.
As of last week, there were thought to be between 4,000 and 6,000 UK nationals, including dependants, in Lebanon.
The first arrivals of Britons fleeing Lebanon come as Israel continues its ground assault and aerial bombardment of the country as the IDF seeks to push back Hezbollah terrorists from its northern border.
And as the fighting continues to spiral, Britons living in Lebanon have been urged to evacuate the country by whatever means they can.
The UK government chartered a commercial flight out of Lebanon to assist British nationals trying to flee the fighting, the foreign secretary announced earlier this week.
The situation was 'volatile' and had the potential to 'deteriorate quickly', David Lammy warned, just hours before Israel announced the start of a 'localised and targeted' ground operation in southern Lebanon.
British nationals and their spouse or partner, and children under the age of 18 are eligible to take the flight, with vulnerable people a priority.
The plane is scheduled to leave on Wednesday from Beirut, which was hit by fresh Israeli air strikes overnight.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Due to the escalation of the situation in the Middle East region following the Iranian military's missile attack on Israel, Russians are advised to refrain from traveling to Iran until the situation stabilizes. This was reported on October 2 by the Russian Embassy in Tehran.
“In connection with the aggravation of the situation around Iran, the Russian Embassy recommends that citizens of the Russian Federation temporarily, until the situation normalizes, refrain from traveling to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the diplomatic mission said in a message on its Telegram channel.
Earlier, the Russian embassy called on compatriots in Iran to refrain from taking photos and videos on the streets and not to give in to the panic that ill-wishers are trying to sow on social networks.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, on the night of October 1, Tel Aviv announced the start of a ground operation in southern Lebanon. According to the Israeli military, they will conduct localized raids to destroy the infrastructure of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
On the evening of October 1, the Iranian military launched a massive missile attack on Israel. According to The Jerusalem Post, about 400 missiles were fired at the territory of the Jewish state.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on October 2 that Iran's action against Israel is over unless Tel Aviv responds. In turn, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Iran's missile attack a big mistake for which Tehran will pay.
Later that day, the American portal Axios wrote that the Israeli authorities were going to respond to the Iranian missile strike within “several days.” It was noted that Tel Aviv had already made a decision on how to respond to the Iranian attack, but had not yet determined how exactly this would be done.
The New York Times reported on October 2 that Iran has prepared hundreds of missiles in case Israel or the United States responds to an Iranian attack. According to two representatives of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, these missiles are located on the western borders of the Islamic Republic.
On October 2, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said that Moscow calls for restraint on the part of the Middle East conflict. He emphasized that the Russian side also condemns actions that lead to the death of civilians.
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[IsraelTimes] Analysts say Ankara’s sympathy for Palestinians doesn’t extend to regional foe Iran and its Shiite allies, largely due to their support for Syria’s Assad.
"What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are the young men and women that are going to win wars."
[GEO.TV] China called on the United Nations Security Council to take "urgent actions" to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East as Israel launched fresh air strikes in Lebanon.
China's permanent representative to the UN, Fu Cong, said during a Security Council briefing on Wednesday, that it needed to make clear and unequivocal demands to stop the cycle of violence over the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.
"The Security Council bears the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security," the official Xinhua news agency reported Fu as saying, noting that all parties concerned "must return to the track of political and diplomatic solutions".
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[IsraelTimes] Survey finds Jews overwhelmingly distrust PA to prevent repeat of Oct. 7, oppose 2-state-solution; long-term IDF occupation of south Lebanon backed by 41% of Jewish population.
#1
Not surprising. As I understood things, many of the protests we saw over the last year was against the govt b/c people didnt think they were doing enough, especially in regards to securing the Northern Border and allowing their displaced residents to return home.
…they’ve been screaming about Bibi for various reasons since the 2015 election, organized and funded by the Obama State Department that year using Democratic Party consultants in an attempt to put Labour back in charge of the country.
#2
Well other than the US helping out with some of the Iranian missiles the other day, this has been pretty much Israel's solo ballgame. The only significant piece the US can bring to this particular table is to let those who might threaten to nuke Israel (like maybe Pakistain) that it would be contra-indicated.
#8
Biden says he would not back Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites
Let me make a prediction.
IDF response to Iranian missile attack will be in a form that nobody expects or can block. In practical terms, it will be as if that Iranian holy man who claimed Israel controls the Djinni was right.
Centauri: I told you, I want to save it for a surprise. Hey, are you kind of kid who reads the last page of a mystery first? Who pesters the magician to tell you his tricks? Who sneaks downstairs to peek at his Christmas presents? No, of course you're not. [singsong voice] That's why I'm not gonna tell you!
[IsraelTimes] Shipments from Jordan halted amid disagreements, while commercial food trade has also become restricted in recent weeks after Hamas found to be benefiting from arrangements
No mention in the article of the hundreds of millions of dollars Hamas has made this past year selling confiscated donations to Gaza’s residents, residents who have been trapped because Hamas would not allow them to leave. Nor of the Hamas warehouses packed to bursting with stolen food and goods because more has come into the Strip than the residents can consume. Both these situations have been reported, and quite probably drove the Israeli decision.
Food supplies to Gaza have fallen sharply in recent weeks because Israeli authorities have introduced a new customs rule on some humanitarian aid and are separately scaling down deliveries organized by businesses, people involved in getting goods to the war-torn territory told Reuters.
The new customs rule applies to truck convoys chartered by the United Nations to take aid from Jordan to Gaza via Israel, seven people familiar with the matter said. Under the rule, individuals from relief organizations sending aid must complete a form providing passport details, and accept liability for any false information on a shipment, the sources said.
They said relief agencies were disputing that requirement, which was announced mid-August, because they fear signing the form could expose staff to legal problems if aid fell into the hands of Hamas or other enemies of Israel.
As a result, shipments have not been getting through the Jordan route — a key channel in Gaza supplies — for two weeks. The dispute has not affected shipments via Cyprus and Egypt, the sources said.
In a parallel move, Israeli authorities have restricted commercial food shipments to Gaza amid concerns that Hamas was benefiting from that trade, the people familiar with the matter and industry sources said.
United Nations and Israeli government data show that in September, deliveries of food and aid sank to their lowest in seven months.
Israel’s civilian coordination agency for the Palestinian territories COGAT, which oversees aid and commercial shipments to Gaza, confirmed that no UN chartered convoy has moved from Jordan to Gaza since September 19, but a spokesperson said Israel was not blocking goods.
The spokesperson referred questions about the form dispute to Israel’s Economy Ministry. A ministry spokesperson did not answer Reuters’ questions. A spokesperson for the UN’s emergency response arm, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), declined to comment. COGAT did not address specific questions about commercial shipments.
The twin restrictions, which had not been previously reported, have reignited concerns among aid workers that pervasive food insecurity will worsen for the 2.3 million Gazans in the war-battered Palestinian enclave, where Israel has been fighting the Hamas terror group for the past year.
“Lack of food is some of the worst it’s been during the war, these past weeks especially,” Nour al-Amassi, a doctor who works in southern Gaza, told Reuters by phone.
“We thought we’d been able to get a hold on it but it’s got worse. My clinic treats 50 children a day for various issues, injuries and illness. On average 15 of those are malnourished.”
The number of trucks carrying food and other goods to Gaza fell to around 130 per day on average in September, according to COGAT statistics. That is below about 150 recorded since the beginning of the war, and far off the 600 trucks a day that the US Agency for International Development says are required to address the threat of famine in wartime.
Israel has denied accusations that it has carried out a “targeted starvation campaign” in the Gaza Strip, and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in June found that its earlier assessment, which had warned that there would be famine by July, had been wildly inaccurate.
In May, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors asked the court to issue an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they suspected Israeli authorities had used “the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”
Israeli authorities have denied this, saying they facilitate food deliveries to Gaza despite challenging conditions. In September, they filed two official challenges to the ICC, contesting the legality of the prosecutor’s request and contesting the court’s jurisdiction.
CHAOTIC ROUTES
During the war, aid to Gaza has been delivered through several different routes that have come in and out of operation, according to UN and Israeli officials.
The main route before the war was to southern Gaza via Egypt, after a detour for Israeli scans. But after the Rafah Border Crossing was closed in May at the start of an Israeli operation in the southernmost Gaza city, UN aid coming that way has slumped because insecurity made it increasingly difficult to organize, UN relief agencies have said.
In May, a US-led effort launched a pier to deliver humanitarian aid by boat, but the jetty was damaged by storms and abandoned in July. Some shipments that were earmarked for the pier at the time have yet to reach Gaza even after they were re-routed through the Israeli port of Ashdod, aid workers said.
Israel opened the Jordan route in December, allowing trucks to move directly from the Hashemite Kingdom to Gaza. UN and NGO aid workers say the Jordan corridor became the most reliable until the recent suspension.
Transportation via the route was helped after Israeli authorities agreed with Jordan to simplify customs procedures for humanitarian aid transported by UN agencies.
But in mid-August, COGAT informed UN relief agencies that this fast track had been revoked, the people familiar with the matter said. That generates additional costs and delays.
The new customs form is an extra headache, the sources said, adding the UN side had proposed an alternative and was hopeful Israel would accept it.
FALL IN COMMERCIAL IMPORTS
Compounding concerns about hunger in Gaza, the sources pointed to a recent drop in commercial supplies.
Commercial imports by Gaza-based traders made up the majority of the 500 trucks that entered the territory daily before the war.
Israel halted most of these supplies when war broke out, but allowed food imports to resume from Israeli territory in May, helping to augment the supply of fresh, nutritious products not contained in aid shipments, four Gazan traders and four UN officials said.
But commercial shipments have fallen from a daily average of 140 trucks in July to 80 in September, according to COGAT statistics. In the last two weeks of September, Gaza-based traders said the daily average fell even further, to a low of 45 trucks.
Israeli authorities actively promoted commercial supply since May, saying in June it was a more efficient alternative to UN aid.
But they changed tack after realizing that Hamas managed to levy taxes on some commercial shipments and seize the food, people familiar with the matter said.
#1
Under the rule, individuals from relief organizations sending aid must complete a form providing passport details, and accept liability for any false information on a shipment, the sources said.
So, they were smuggling weapons to Hamas, and - maybe, West bank.
[GEO.TV] Deputy ambassador of Lebanon to the UN, Hadi Hachem, says his country remains committed to the ceasefire calls issued by the American and French presidents, as per Al Jazeera.
''The people of Lebanon and the government of Lebanon reject the war. They want the implementation of Resolution 1701. They want to deploy the Lebanese army in the south along our ground borders, with the support of UNIFIL,'' he said.
''We remain committed to the call issued by the American and French presidents. We pledge to implement all the points of the declaration, including an immediate ceasefire. Upon a ceasefire, we are prepared to deploy the Lebanese Army to the area south of the Litany River," Hachem said.
[GEO.TV] Iran's UN Ambassador Amir Saied Iravani said the missile attack on Tuesday was "to restore balance and deterrence."
He said further escalation could be avoided if Israel stopped the war in Gaza and attacks on Lebanon.
"Iran is fully prepared to take further defensive measures, if necessary, to protect its legitimate interests and defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty against any acts of military aggression and the illegal use of force," he said.
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#1
You were told that will happen - should've listened. No bribes to Biden & co will save you now.
Yes, you are. Oh well. Consider surrendering to Israel instead of to Hezbollah, and perhaps something can be arranged.
[GEO.TV] Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the country needed a ceasefire in hostilities between Israel and armed group Hezbollah, saying around 1.2 million people in Lebanon had been displaced by Israeli attacks.
"Stop fighting. We don't need more blood. We don't need more destruction," Mikati said in an online briefing organised by the American Task Force on Lebanon, a US-based non-profit.
"There is an immediate need for a ceasefire."
Mikati said a diplomatic end to the escalating war would be a "win-win" for Israel and Lebanon and "all parties" would respect such a deal.
The caretaker premier said he hoped to deploy 10,000 Lebanese army troops in the south if a ceasefire is agreed.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The military escalation between Iran and Israel will have consequences for neighboring countries, including Azerbaijan, Baku analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent suggested. Baku should remain neutral in this conflict, they emphasized.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have worsened against the backdrop of Baku's plans to implement the Zangezur Corridor project through Armenia. In October-November 2022, both countries held military exercises near the border and exchanged mutual accusations of terrorist and sabotage activities. These accusations have become an element of the information war and evidence of the deterioration of relations between the two countries, analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" noted.
Iran launched its second major attack on Israel in six months on Tuesday evening, October 1, firing more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israeli territory. Most of them were shot down by Israel and the "US-led defense coalition,"
…primarily the US Navy and Jordan, it was reported yesterday…
the Israeli army (IDF) said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
Axios, citing Israeli officials, reported on the morning of October 2 that Israel would launch "serious retaliation" in response to a massive Iranian missile attack within a few days. In particular, strikes could be carried out on Iranian oil production facilities and other strategic sites, the publication writes. In addition, Israeli officials admit that the IDF could strike Iran's nuclear facilities in the event of a repeat attack.
Israel's retaliatory strike against Iran is inevitable, believes the editor and analyst of the Turan news agency, Shahin Gadzhiev. "Of course, given that a retaliatory strike against Iran could lead to a regional war,
…that rather depends on how strong that retaliation happens to be, of course…
actions in this direction will be thought out and probably restrained, especially since the US is not a supporter of escalation. But time will tell how events will develop," Gadzhiev told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
In any case, an armed escalation between Israel and Iran will have consequences for neighboring countries and the region. "It is enough to note that flights through the airspace of Iran, Israel and a number of neighboring countries have already been significantly limited. This will also affect trade and political relations. It is possible that relations between Iran and Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, which do not support Tehran's position on events in the Middle East, will worsen. If a large-scale war breaks out, not only the countries of the region will be involved in it, but major powers will intervene. This will lead to instability and uncertainty," Gadzhiev noted.
He is confident that Iran will not threaten Azerbaijan with military strikes given the close partnership between Baku and Tel Aviv. Hajiyev stressed that there is no evidence that cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel is directed against Iran. Azerbaijan also has a military alliance with Turkey, and Tehran will not risk a conflict with Ankara, which has the second largest army in NATO, in such a situation.
In his opinion, Russia will also not tolerate a military escalation near its southern borders, especially since it has been building up a mutually beneficial partnership with Azerbaijan in recent years, the analyst continued. In addition, Azerbaijan carries out important hydrocarbon deliveries to Europe, and the beneficiaries of these projects are Western companies, and a threat to these routes will only create additional problems and risks for Iran.
Finally, Hajiyev noted, for Iran itself, now in the conditions of regional isolation, a window through Azerbaijan is very important for the development of transport links with the outside world in the northern direction, and above all with Russia.
According to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Tofig Zulfgurov, even if events develop along the path of escalating armed confrontation, the period of military action will be short-lived.
"I would like to believe that in relations between Iran and the West, which have influence on Israel, both sides intend to achieve a balance of interests," he said.
In his opinion, after Israel's retaliatory strikes, negotiations on détente between the West and Iran may begin.
In his opinion, if negotiations between Iran and the West begin, the consequences of the current escalation in the region will be minimized. In any case, he said, Azerbaijan should take a neutral position in this conflict, which is in its own interests, as well as important for the international community.
"Due to the military escalation, many airlines are asking for permission to use Azerbaijan's airspace and refuel aircraft at the Baku airport," Zulfugarov said.
Given the instability to the north and south of Azerbaijan, many centers of power will try to help Baku maintain its own stability, given that important transport routes between the West and the East pass through the country, the former head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.
Confrontation and military operations in the region are not in the interests of Azerbaijan, says Asim Mollazade, a member of the Azerbaijani parliament and chairman of the Democratic Reforms Party. In his opinion, it is important for Baku to end military actions. At the same time, the actual alliance between Iran and Armenia, and Tehran's serious support for Yerevan, is causing concern for Azerbaijan.
"Iran supports Armenia and also creates an obstacle to the opening of transport communications in the region, and in particular, the Zangezur corridor. This negatively affects the strategic plans of Azerbaijan. But this disrupts the plans of not only Baku, but also other states close to the region, since Azerbaijan's communications are located on the routes of international transport corridors," Mollazade told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
He believes that, as part of international efforts to defuse the situation in the Middle East, the issue of removing Iran’s obstacles to the development of international transport corridors through Azerbaijan should also be addressed.
Another member of the Azerbaijani parliament, political scientist Rasim Musabeyov, called the prospects of an Iranian-Israeli confrontation dangerous.
"Iran launched missile strikes against Israel. In turn, Israel states that these strikes will not go unanswered. The growing military escalation does not bode well for Azerbaijan, as a neighboring state.
In case of strikes on Iranian seaports, Azerbaijan's transportation from the Persian Gulf countries will suffer. In addition, Azerbaijan's land communication with the Nakhchivan region passes through Iran. All this creates risks for Azerbaijan. Of course, we will welcome it if it is possible to avoid a confrontational development of events. Unfortunately, we ourselves cannot influence this. We must simply try to ensure that tensions do not approach the borders of Azerbaijan," Musabeyov said.
He also noted that the military escalation between Israel and Iran has already had a negative impact on international flights, including travel by Azerbaijani citizens. "Iran's airspace is closed, and there are no flights there. On the other hand, there were six flights a week from Baku to Israel. This in itself is an impact of the consequences (of the military escalation between Iran and Israel) on Azerbaijan," Musabeyov noted.
Official Baku has not yet responded to the military escalation between Iran and Israel. Representatives of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry were unavailable for comment.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
