Thailand Says Four Nationals Killed Near Israel-Lebanon Border

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town Al-Ahmadieh on November 1, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town Al-Ahmadieh on November 1, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by AFP)
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Thailand Says Four Nationals Killed Near Israel-Lebanon Border

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town Al-Ahmadieh on November 1, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town Al-Ahmadieh on November 1, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by AFP)

Four Thai nationals were killed and one was injured by rocket fire near the town of Metula, close to the border between Lebanon and Israel, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa posted on the social media platform X on Friday.
Last year, 46 Thais were among the 1,200 people killed when Hamas militants launched an attack across Israeli borders, according to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Thirty Thai nationals were abducted during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and six are believed to still be in captivity, according to Thai authorities.
The Israeli response to the attack has since laid waste to the Palestinian territory of Gaza and killed tens of thousands of people. Israel has also launched attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Reuters reported.
Before the conflict, about 30,000 Thai nationals worked in Israel, mostly in the agriculture sector, making up one of the largest groups of migrant workers in Israel.
"Thailand continues to strongly urge all parties to return to the path of peace, in the name of the innocent civilians gravely impacted by this prolonged and deepening conflict," Thai foreign minister Maris said.



China Vows Utmost Efforts for ‘Peaceful Reunification’ with Taiwan 

A man walks past a hoisted Taiwanese flag at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
A man walks past a hoisted Taiwanese flag at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
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China Vows Utmost Efforts for ‘Peaceful Reunification’ with Taiwan 

A man walks past a hoisted Taiwanese flag at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
A man walks past a hoisted Taiwanese flag at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on October 15, 2024. (AFP)

China will exert utmost efforts to realize "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan, but will take all necessary steps to safeguard China's territorial integrity, its foreign ministry said on Monday.

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory despite the objection of the government in Taipei. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Last week, on the sidelines of China's annual meeting of parliament, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters that Taiwan would never be a "country", and to support "Taiwan independence" was to interfere in China's internal affairs.

China is "willing to do our utmost to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity," said Mao Ning, spokesperson at the foreign ministry, when asked about Wang's remarks on Taiwan.

"At the same time, China will take all necessary measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity and resolutely oppose Taiwan independence and external interference," Mao said.

In recent years, Beijing has ramped up its military pressure against the island, including holding several rounds of war games, keeping alive the prospect of the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

The United States is Taiwan's key arms supplier even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, but there is no defense treaty, unlike in the case of Japan and South Korea.

The United States must cease its arms sales to Taiwan and stop all military contacts with the island, Mao told reporters.

"The Taiwan issue is the core of China's core interests and the first insurmountable red line in Sino-US relations," she warned.