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Israeli Settlement Plan Would Mark ‘Flagrant’ Breach of International Law, UK’s Lammy Says

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy looks on as he meets with US Vice President JD Vance (not pictured) at Chevening House in Sevenoaks, Britain, August 8, 2025. (Reuters)
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy looks on as he meets with US Vice President JD Vance (not pictured) at Chevening House in Sevenoaks, Britain, August 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Settlement Plan Would Mark ‘Flagrant’ Breach of International Law, UK’s Lammy Says

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy looks on as he meets with US Vice President JD Vance (not pictured) at Chevening House in Sevenoaks, Britain, August 8, 2025. (Reuters)
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy looks on as he meets with US Vice President JD Vance (not pictured) at Chevening House in Sevenoaks, Britain, August 8, 2025. (Reuters)

British foreign minister David Lammy said on Wednesday that a widely condemned Israeli settlement plan would, if implemented, constitute a breach of international law and risk dividing a future Palestinian state.

The E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, received the final go-ahead from a defense ministry planning commission on Wednesday.

"If implemented, it would divide a Palestinian state in two, mark a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution," Lammy said in a post on X, calling on the Israeli government to reverse the decision.

The project would effectively cut the West Bank in two, and that Palestinians and rights groups say could destroy hopes for a future Palestinian state.

Settlement development in E1, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen due to US pressure during previous administrations. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a former settler leader, cast the approval as a rebuke to Western countries that announced their plans to recognize a Palestinian state in recent weeks.

In July, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain was prepared to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly unless Israel takes a number of steps to improve life for Palestinians.

Starmer said Britain would make the move unless Israel took substantive steps to allow more aid to enter Gaza, made clear there will be no annexation of the West Bank and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a two-state solution - a Palestinian state coexisting in peace alongside Israel.

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Arab World

Syria Signs Deal with CMA CGM to Operate Two Dry Ports, State Media Says

A shipping container belonging to CMA CGM passes through the Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt October 5, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A shipping container belonging to CMA CGM passes through the Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt October 5, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
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Syria Signs Deal with CMA CGM to Operate Two Dry Ports, State Media Says

A shipping container belonging to CMA CGM passes through the Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt October 5, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A shipping container belonging to CMA CGM passes through the Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt October 5, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Syria's General Authority for Borders and Customs has signed an agreement with French shipping and logistics group CMA CGM to operate two dry ports within the free zones of Adra, in Damascus' outskirts, and Aleppo, Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.

The deal covers the management and operation of the dry ports to support logistics and trade. It coincided with the launch of a trial freight train linking Latakia port, which is Syria’s principal maritime access point, to Adra after a 14-year halt due to the Syrian civil war.

CMA CGM was not immediately available for comment.

The agreement follows a separate deal signed in May 2025 under which CMA CGM secured a 30-year contract to modernise and operate Latakia port. Chief Executive Rodolphe Saadé, a Franco-Lebanese of Syrian origin, has family roots in the country.

On May 11, the European Union restored the full application of its 1977 cooperation agreement with Syria, ending a partial suspension imposed in 2011 over human rights violations under Bashar al-Assad.

The move follows Assad's fall in December 2024 and the lifting of most EU economic sanctions in 2025, and is intended to support Syria's economic recovery and signal renewed EU engagement with the country.

Arab World

Israel Orders UN Food Agency to Cut Ties with Turkish NGO in Gaza

A Palestinian girl walks past a toddler playing among makeshift shelters in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 21, 2026. Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
A Palestinian girl walks past a toddler playing among makeshift shelters in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 21, 2026. Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
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Israel Orders UN Food Agency to Cut Ties with Turkish NGO in Gaza

A Palestinian girl walks past a toddler playing among makeshift shelters in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 21, 2026. Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)
A Palestinian girl walks past a toddler playing among makeshift shelters in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 21, 2026. Since October 10, a fragile US-sponsored truce in Gaza has largely halted the fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas, but both sides have alleged frequent violations. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)

Israel has ordered the UN's World Food Program to suspend its work in Gaza with a Turkish NGO it designated a terrorist organization, the UN agency told AFP on Friday.

"WFP has been instructed by the Israeli authorities to immediately suspend fuel provision and all activities with its partner IHH, cutting off assistance to more than 166,000 people who rely on daily hot meals, bread, and nutrition support to survive," an agency spokesperson told AFP in a statement.

IHH, or the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, is a Turkish NGO that provides humanitarian assistance and search and rescue operations around the world.

WFP began working with IHH in Gaza in January 2024.

Israel designated it a terrorist organization in May 2008 over accusations of supporting Hamas.

"WFP's partnership with IHH was established at a time of extreme need, particularly to reach under-served areas," WFP said, adding that IHH had been rigorously vetted before the start of the partnership.

Israel's defense ministry body in charge of civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, COGAT, announced on Thursday that it had ordered WFP to stop all coordination with IHH after learning "that the UN agency transferred fuel within the Gaza Strip to the IHH organization".

In a letter to WFP's leadership, COGAT's chief demanded the "immediate suspension of fuel distribution and all other support by WFP to IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation".

In a statement, COGAT accused IHH of promoting flotillas that have attempted to breach its blockade of Gaza.

Israel "will not permit the transfer of resources to entities linked to Hamas under humanitarian cover," the statement added.

WFP lamented the impact the order would have on its activities in war-ravaged Gaza.

"The imposed suspension halts around 111,000 meals per day and critical support to approximately 55,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children at risk of malnutrition," its spokesperson told AFP.

More than six months after the UN endorsed US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza, the humanitarian situation in the territory remains catastrophic, three international NGOs said Thursday, calling on Israel to respect its obligations.

"Israel continues to deny most experienced aid groups from bringing in essential supplies, like pipes to fix water systems, shelters, materials and medical supplies at the levels needed," Oxfam America President Abby Maxman said.

Despite the ceasefire meant to halt the war that started with Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, violence has continued, with Israeli airstrikes pounding the coastal territory several times a week.

"With 1.7 million people facing highly fragile food security conditions, it is critical that humanitarian operations are allowed to continue without disruption so life-saving assistance can reach civilians in need," WFP's spokesperson said.

Arab World

Lebanon Army Says Soldiers Loyal after US Sanctions One over Alleged Hezbollah Links

Lebanese army members stand on a military vehicle during a Lebanese army media tour, to review the army's operations in the southern Litani sector, in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, November 28, 2025. (Reuters)
Lebanese army members stand on a military vehicle during a Lebanese army media tour, to review the army's operations in the southern Litani sector, in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, November 28, 2025. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Army Says Soldiers Loyal after US Sanctions One over Alleged Hezbollah Links

Lebanese army members stand on a military vehicle during a Lebanese army media tour, to review the army's operations in the southern Litani sector, in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, November 28, 2025. (Reuters)
Lebanese army members stand on a military vehicle during a Lebanese army media tour, to review the army's operations in the southern Litani sector, in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, November 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Lebanon's military said Friday its soldiers were loyal to the institution after the US announced sanctions that included, for the first time, an army officer accused of sharing information with Hezbollah.

In a statement, the army said it "affirms that all officers and members of the military institution are performing their national duties with utmost professionalism, responsibility, and discipline, in accordance with the decisions and directives issued by the army command".

It emphasized that "the loyalty of military personnel is solely to the military institution and the nation, and that they are committed to fulfilling their national duties without any other considerations or pressures", also saying it was not informed of the sanctions beforehand.

Washington on Thursday sanctioned what it called nine Hezbollah-linked individuals in Lebanon, including army colonel Samir Hamadi, and Khattar Nasser Eldin, an officer at another state security service.

The US said Hamadi and Nasser Eldin "shared important intelligence" with Hezbollah over the past year.

It marked the first time Lebanese officers have been sanctioned by the United States.

Hezbollah on Thursday condemned the sanctions, calling them "an attempt to intimidate the free Lebanese people in order to bolster the Zionist aggression against our country".