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Serbia Sends Weapons to Israel Hoping to Win US Favor

An Israeli tank operating near the border between Israel and Gaza (Reuters)
An Israeli tank operating near the border between Israel and Gaza (Reuters)
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Serbia Sends Weapons to Israel Hoping to Win US Favor

An Israeli tank operating near the border between Israel and Gaza (Reuters)
An Israeli tank operating near the border between Israel and Gaza (Reuters)

Serbia has increased the supply of arms and ammunition to Israel, a joint investigation by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and Haaretz showed on Monday.

This came while Britain’s approval of arms export licenses to Israel dropped sharply after the start of the war in Gaza to a 13-year low, and that some countries such as Italy, Canada and the Netherlands have imposed restrictions on arms exports to Israel.

In April, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling on all states “to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel, to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights.”

According to customs data from a website that collates Serbian business data, Yugoimport-SDPR exported arms and ammunition worth 7.3 million euros to Israel in July, made by Israeli cargo planes, which flew from Belgrade to Nevatim airbase.

The amount adds to the previous Serbian arms exports to Israel worth 15.7 million euros, bringing the total value of Serbian arms and ammunition exports to the country in 2024 to 23.1 million euros.

BIRN and Haaretz identified three more flights to Israel in August – one on August 1 by an Israeli Air Force Boeing 707, serial number 272, from Nis to Nevatim and two more on August 20 – but these reporters were unable to identify any corresponding arms or ammunition export data.

Meanwhile, the Serbian government has yet to comment on the contents of the shipments, declaring the information “strictly confidential.”

The BIRN and Haaretz investigation said since the beginning of the war on Gaza, Israel has benefited from an unprecedented Serbian airlift to transport thousands of tons of ammunition, including shells, missiles, bombs, and interceptor missiles that Tel Aviv is using in its war against the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

The Serbian weapons constitute a small part of arms and ammunition imports to Israel, when compared to shipments sent from the United States.

The Israeli Defense Ministry said last week that since the beginning of the war, 50,000 tons of US military equipment have arrived to Israel made by 500 cargo planes and 107 cargo ships.

But the investigation showed that the Serbian arms shipments have a great moral value.

Diplomatic sources have confirmed that this cooperation is due to the desire of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to win the favor of the United States, and in return guarantees Israel's support for Serbia in international forums.

Last February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Vucic as a “true friend of Israel,” and thanked him for his “unconditional support in word and deed.”

Israel's ambassador to Serbia recently said that Tel Aviv does not recognize that a genocide against Muslims in Bosnia took place, and that it abstained from voting in favor of a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly last May to declare an international day to commemorate the Srebrenica massacre, moves that Belgrade sees as an expression of support.

Meanwhile, Britain will immediately suspend 30 of its 350 arms export licenses with Israel because there was a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, Foreign Minister David Lammy said on Monday.

Soon after the Labour Party won an election in July, Lammy said he would update a review on arms sales to Britain's ally Israel to ensure these complied with international law.

“It is with regret that I inform the House (of Commons, lower house of parliament) today the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” Lammy said.

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World

EU to Invite Taliban Officials to Brussels for Migrant Return Talks

Around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with court convictions -- to Afghanistan. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
Around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with court convictions -- to Afghanistan. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
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EU to Invite Taliban Officials to Brussels for Migrant Return Talks

Around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with court convictions -- to Afghanistan. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP
Around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with court convictions -- to Afghanistan. NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP

The European Commission told AFP Monday it plans to invite Taliban officials to Brussels in the near future for talks on returning migrants to Afghanistan.

According to sources close to the matter, a letter is to be sent "imminently" to Kabul to arrange a date for a meeting in the Belgian capital.

The visit, coordinated with Sweden, would follow two trips by European officials to Afghanistan on the same issue.

Officials are now "working on a potential follow-up meeting at technical level in Brussels with the de-facto authorities in Afghanistan," a spokesperson for the EU executive said.

No specific date has yet been raised for the visit.

- Letter from 20 countries -

As part of a broader tightening of immigration policies, around 20 EU countries are exploring how to return migrants -- particularly those with criminal convictions -- to Afghanistan.

In an October letter, several urged the EU to find diplomatic and practical ways to move the issue forward.

"In this context a technical meeting took place in Kabul in January 2026," the commission spokesperson said, adding that the EU was now working jointly with Sweden to "pursue these discussions" in Brussels.

Such visits raise a host of practical and ethical questions, not least because they involve engaging with Taliban authorities, which are not formally recognized by the European Union.

To enter Belgium, which hosts the EU institutions, Taliban officials would need to be granted exemptions -- something Belgian authorities appear, in theory, prepared to do.

Beyond the practicalities, the European push on returns comes as Afghanistan confronts a severe humanitarian crisis.

Since 2023, more than five million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan, often forcibly. According to international organizations, most of them live in extreme hardship, without stable housing or employment.

- Germany leads charge -

EU countries received about a million asylum applications filed by Afghans between 2013 and 2024, according to the bloc's data agency. About half as many were approved over the period.

In 2025, Afghans still -- by far -- accounted for the largest share of asylum applicants in the EU.

But as the public mood has soured on migration, Europe has looked to scale back its welcome -- and started discussing how to send Afghan migrants back home.

Some countries have pushed ahead, with Germany deporting more than 100 Afghans with criminal convictions since 2024, via charter flights facilitated by Qatar.

Attitudes in the country have been hardened by a string of deadly attacks by Afghans in recent years, including a car-ramming in Munich last year.

Austria has followed suit, receiving a delegation of Taliban representatives in Vienna in mid-September.

A number of other EU member states, including Belgium and Sweden, are looking to emulate their example, with enthusiastic backing from migration hawks.

The returns drive has drawn sharp criticism from NGOs and the political left.

"Deporting Afghans back to a country where almost half of the population cannot feed themselves is not a migration policy; it is a decision that could cost lives," says Lisa Owen, the International Rescue Committee's country director for Afghanistan.

Other migrant rights groups fear that a visit to Brussels could allow Taliban officials to identify individuals they want returned to Afghanistan, potentially putting their fundamental rights at risk.

Several diplomatic sources contacted by AFP counter that the visit is first and foremost intended to resolve practical issues -- such as how to issue passports to people whose embassies in Europe are not recognized by the Taliban authorities.

During their trips to Afghanistan, European officials similarly looked into the handling capacity of Kabul airport and other technical details, according to sources close to the talks.

World

UK Sanctions 12 Iran-Linked People, Entities

An Iranian man walks past an anti-US and anti-Israel mural painted on a wall, in the capital Tehran on May 10, 2026. (AFP)
An Iranian man walks past an anti-US and anti-Israel mural painted on a wall, in the capital Tehran on May 10, 2026. (AFP)
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UK Sanctions 12 Iran-Linked People, Entities

An Iranian man walks past an anti-US and anti-Israel mural painted on a wall, in the capital Tehran on May 10, 2026. (AFP)
An Iranian man walks past an anti-US and anti-Israel mural painted on a wall, in the capital Tehran on May 10, 2026. (AFP)

Britain on Monday slapped sanctions on a dozen Iran-linked individuals and entities accused of involvement in "hostile activities" by Tehran targeting the UK or other countries.

Updating its official sanctions list, the Foreign Office in London imposed the UK travel bans and asset freezes on nine people, two shadow banking exchange houses and the allegedly criminal Zindashti network.

The UK government had already sanctioned its alleged leader, Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti, in 2024 alongside the United States, labelling him the head of international drug and trafficking cartel.

The European Union sanctioned his network last year, with London, Washington and Brussels all claiming it is connected to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security and accusing it of conducting assassination and kidnapping operations against Tehran's critics.

The latest UK curbs follow a string of attacks over recent months against the Jewish community in Britain, and repeated warnings from officials that hostile states are intent on using proxies for such purposes.

Zindashti's nephew, Turkish national Ekrem Abdulkerym Oztunc, was among the nine people sanctioned Monday by Britain.

London also targeted five members of the Zarringhalam family -- Farhad, Fazlolah, Mansour, Nasser and Pouria -- said to have helped finance efforts to "destabilize" the UK.

Mansour, Nasser and Fazlolah Zarringhalam were sanctioned by the US last year for their involvement in Iran's "shadow banking" network.

The US Treasury said the trio had "collectively laundered billions of dollars" for Iran through a network of front companies in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.

London also added Berelian Exchange and GCM Exchange, two US-sanctioned Iran-based exchange houses linked to them, to its sanctions list.

Iranians Nihat Abdul Kadir Asan and Reza Hamidiravari, and Azerbaijani national Namiq Salifov, were the other three individuals hit with the British travel bans and asset freezes.

World

Tens of Millions Risk Hunger as Hormuz Standoff Blocks Fertilizer, UN Official Says

An aerial view shows Jerry Fuerstenau planting a farm field on May 06, 2026 near West Bend, Iowa. (Getty Images/AFP)
An aerial view shows Jerry Fuerstenau planting a farm field on May 06, 2026 near West Bend, Iowa. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Tens of Millions Risk Hunger as Hormuz Standoff Blocks Fertilizer, UN Official Says

An aerial view shows Jerry Fuerstenau planting a farm field on May 06, 2026 near West Bend, Iowa. (Getty Images/AFP)
An aerial view shows Jerry Fuerstenau planting a farm field on May 06, 2026 near West Bend, Iowa. (Getty Images/AFP)

Tens of millions of people could face hunger and starvation if fertilizers are not soon allowed through the Strait of Hormuz, the head of a UN task force aimed at averting a looming humanitarian crisis told AFP on Monday.

Iran has had the strategic waterway -- through which a third of the world's fertilizers normally pass -- in a chokehold for months in retaliation for the war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, disrupting a trade critical for farmers around the world in a race against the end of planting seasons.

"We have a few weeks ahead of us to prevent what will likely be a massive humanitarian crisis," Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and leader of the task force, told AFP in an interview in Paris.

"We may witness a crisis that will force 45 million more people into hunger and starvation."

The UN secretary general created the task force in March to spearhead a mechanism to allow fertilizers and related raw materials such as ammonia, sulphur and urea through the strait.

For weeks, Moreira da Silva has been working to convince the belligerent parties to allow even a few ships through, and has met with "more than 100 countries" to rally UN member state support around the mechanism.

While the ultimate hope is for a "lasting peace" deal in the region and "freedom of navigation for all commodities" through the strait, "the problem is the planting season can't wait", Moreira da Silva said, with some ending in African nations within weeks.

Global focus has been on the economic impacts of the throttled oil and gas trade, but the United Nations has been sounding the alarm of the threat the blockade poses to the world's food security, with countries in Africa and Asia likely to be particularly hard hit.

- 'Political will' -

Moreira da Silva said the United Nations could have the mechanism up and running in seven days but even if the strait were to reopen now, it would take three to four months to return to normality.

"It's just a matter of time. If we don't stop the origin of the crisis soon, we will have to deal with the consequences through humanitarian aid."

While food prices have not exploded yet, Moreira da Silva said, there has been a "massive increase" in fertilizer costs, which experts say would likely lead to a drop in agriculture productivity and send food prices soaring.

Moreira da Silva said moving just an average of five vessels a day of fertilizers and related raw materials through the strait would head off the crisis for farmers.

What's missing, he said, is "the political will".

"We can't procrastinate on what is possible to do, and what is urgent to do -- which is let the fertilizers cross the strait and, through that, minimize the risk of massive food insecurity at the global level."