Britain's Lammy Holds Emergency Meeting over Lebanon

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy gestures while speaking about climate and environment policy at Kew Gardens in London, Britain September 17, 2024. Frank Augstein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy gestures while speaking about climate and environment policy at Kew Gardens in London, Britain September 17, 2024. Frank Augstein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Britain's Lammy Holds Emergency Meeting over Lebanon

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy gestures while speaking about climate and environment policy at Kew Gardens in London, Britain September 17, 2024. Frank Augstein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy gestures while speaking about climate and environment policy at Kew Gardens in London, Britain September 17, 2024. Frank Augstein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Britain's foreign minister David Lammy chaired a meeting of the government's emergency committee, known as COBR, on Friday to discuss the latest situation in Lebanon, Reuters reported.

"The Foreign Secretary has chaired a meeting of COBR this morning on the latest situation in Lebanon and to discuss ongoing preparedness work, with the risk of escalation remaining high," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

This came as Israel hit a Beirut suburb with an airstrike Friday, not long after Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with 140 rockets following a vow by the militant group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah to retaliate against Israel for a mass bombing attack, the Israeli military and the militant group said.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a “targeted strike” in Beirut. It offered no further immediate details, but explosions could be heard coming from the city’s southern suburbs.
Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV reported that a drone fired several missiles on the heavily-populated area known as Dahiyeh.
A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, confirmed to The Associated Press that an airstrike struck the area, without giving further details.



UN Rights Office: At Least 12 Palestinians Killed in West Bank since Tuesday

An Israeli soldier keeps position during a large-scale Israeli army raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on January 24, 2025. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
An Israeli soldier keeps position during a large-scale Israeli army raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on January 24, 2025. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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UN Rights Office: At Least 12 Palestinians Killed in West Bank since Tuesday

An Israeli soldier keeps position during a large-scale Israeli army raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on January 24, 2025. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
An Israeli soldier keeps position during a large-scale Israeli army raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on January 24, 2025. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Israeli operations in the West Bank have killed at least 12 Palestinians since Tuesday, the United Nations Human Rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said on Friday.

"Our office has verified that at least 12 Palestinians have been killed and 40 injured by Israeli security forces since Tuesday, most of them reportedly unarmed," he told a televised briefing.

"We are also concerned by repeated comments from some Israeli officials about plans to expand settlements further still and a fresh breach of international law. We recall again that the transfer by Israel of its own civilian population into territories it occupies also amounts to a war crime."

Hundreds of Jenin residents left their homes on Thursday, prompted by messages from drones fitted with loudspeakers, witnesses said, as the military demolished a number of houses on the third day of a major operation in the West Bank city.
The operation, involving large columns of vehicles backed by helicopters and drones, was launched in the first week of a ceasefire in Gaza that saw the first exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails since a brief truce in November 2023.
Israeli officials said the Jenin operation was aimed at what the military said were Iranian-backed militant groups in the refugee camp adjacent to the city, a major hub for armed Palestinian groups for years.