WARSAW, Poland: Poland reinforced its border with Belarus with more riot police on Tuesday, a day after groups of migrants tried to storm through a razor-wire fence on the eastern frontier where thousands have camped on the Belarusian side in the tense standoff.
The European Union accuses Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko of using the migrants as pawns in a “hybrid attack” against the bloc in retaliation for imposing sanctions on the authoritarian government for a brutal internal crackdown on dissent. Thousands were jailed and beaten following months of protests after Lukashenko won a sixth term in a 2020 election that the opposition and the West saw as rigged.
Polish authorities said all was calm overnight on the border — which is also the eastern edge of the 27-nation EU — but they were bracing for any possibility. The Defense Ministry said a large group of Belarusian forces was moving toward the migrant encampments.
During a special session of parliament, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described the situation at the border as part of an effort by Russia to disrupt a region that it controlled during the Soviet era that ended three decades ago.
“It must be strongly emphasized that the security of our eastern border is being brutally violated. This is the first such situation in 30 years when we can say that the integrity of our borders is being tested,” Morawiecki said.
Speaking during a UN Security Council meeting, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia rejected similar accusations, and noted that the migrants are not seeking to stay in Belarus but to get to Europe.
“So who is creating the crisis, building fences with barbed wire and concentrating troops at the border?” Nebenzia said, adding that the EU doesn’t want to accept the migrants, and “it is time to stop playing the blame game.”
Polish Maj. Katarzyna Zdanowicz estimated 3,000-4,000 migrants were along the border, including about 800 near the makeshift camps. Belarusian security services also were there to “control, steer and direct these people,” she added.
She said Poland’s assessment came from aerial observations, alleging that Belarus authorities were taking journalists to the area to promote their version of events.
Independent journalists have limited ability to operate in Belarus, and a state of emergency in Poland kept reporters and others away from its side of the border.
The scene was quiet as night fell, and migrants were seen getting water and other supplies on the Belarusian side, according to Zdanowicz, based on what observations from across the frontier. She said guards prevented some small groups from crossing, part of hundreds of such attempts Tuesday.
The Belarusian Defense Ministry summoned the Polish military attache to protest what it called “unfounded and unlawful Polish allegations” against the Belarusian military at the border. It also voiced concern about the buildup of Polish troops there, saying Warsaw did not notify or invite Belarusian observers per international rules for activity involving more than 6,000 troops.
Speaking on Belarusian state television, Lukashenko threw the allegation of a “hybrid war” back at the EU, pointing at its sanctions against Belarus and adding: “And you, bastards, madmen want me to protect you from migrants.”
“I am afraid that this confrontation at the border because of migrants might lead to an active phase. These are grounds for provocations. All provocations are possible,” he said, accusing Poland’s military of flying its helicopters low at the border, frightening the migrants.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the West bore responsibility for triggering the flows of migrants through their “aggressive wars in the Middle East and North Africa.” The migrants, he said, don’t want to stay in Belarus and “want to get to Europe that has advertised its way of living for many years.”
The crisis has simmered for months after Poland, Lithuania and Latvia accused neighboring Belarus of encouraging thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, to illegally enter those nations. Many of the migrants often end up stuck in a forested area of swamps and bogs, pushed back and forth between Belarusian and Polish forces.
The Belarusian opposition urged the West to strengthen its sanctions on Minsk.
“It’s necessary to introduce tough sanctions, trade embargo and a full stop of transit of goods between the EU and Belarus,” Pavel Latushka, a leading opposition figure, said on a messaging app, urging Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, “as countries on the front line of a hybrid attack launched by the regime, to stop transit.”
On Tuesday, the EU tightened visa rules for Belarus officials, saying it was “partially suspending” an agreement with Minsk. The move affects Belarusian government officials, lawmakers, diplomats and top court representatives by requiring them to provide additional documents and pay more for visas.
Lawmakers in Lithuania voted to declare a state of emergency for a month along the Belarus border, restricting the movement of vehicles and banning all entry, except for residents, in a zone reaching 5 kilometers (3 miles) inland. Guards can check vehicles and people, and gatherings also are banned. It also applies to migrant accommodations in the capital of Vilnius and elsewhere.
At least 170 migrants were stopped from entering Lithuania on Tuesday.
In videos posted on Twitter by Polish police, the migrants were seen in tents and cooking over campfires in near-freezing temperatures. The police blared announcements that border crossing is allowed only at official posts, with visas, and the nearest crossing point in Kuznica was closed early Tuesday.
Refugee agencies UNHCR and International Organization for Migration called the situation “alarming,” and said they contacted governments in both Poland and Belarus to urge them to ensure that those in the makeshift camp get humanitarian assistance.
A man in the Polish village of Bialowieza told The Associated Press he has met many migrants who often are thirsty, hungry and in need of boots or medical care. He is among volunteers distributing food and other aid, and spoke on condition of anonymity because Polish authorities discourage such help.
“They are in really bad condition and the situation is getting worse” as temperatures drop, he said.
Some of the migrants believed they were in Germany and appeared to have been “very disinformed by Belarusian soldiers and guards,” the man said.
At least eight migrant deaths have been recorded by Polish and Belarusian authorities, most of them in Poland.
Morawiecki went to the border Tuesday, accompanied by Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, to meet with border guards and other security officials.
“We do not know what else Lukashenko’s regime will come up with — this is the reality,” Morawiecki said, praising the guards.
Poland has received strong signals of solidarity from the EU and Washington in the confrontation with Belarus.
Germany’s outgoing interior minister, Horst Seehofer, said all EU countries “must stand together, because Lukashenko is using people’s fates — with the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin — to destabilize the West.”
Many migrants have flown to Minsk on tourist visas and travel by taxi to the border. The EU is seeking to pressure airlines not to facilitate such trips. Although direct flights from Iraq were suspended in August, migrants have been arriving in Belarus from Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and even Russia, according to recent internal EU reports seen by the AP. Smugglers use social media to advertise transportation from Belarus to Germany by car.
Pavel Usau, head of the Center for Political Analysis and Prognosis, said Lukashenko expects the West to make concessions.
“Lukashenko is provoking the West to take aggressive action, but, on the other hand, he expects that Western countries will yield to pressure and will be forced to engage in negotiations,” Usau said in an interview from Warsaw.
Tensions rise in migrant standoff at Poland-Belarus border
https://arab.news/n4739
Tensions rise in migrant standoff at Poland-Belarus border
- Independent journalists have limited ability to operate in Belarus, and a state of emergency in Poland kept reporters and others away from its side of the border
Over 7,000 migrants detained in Greece as Crete struggles with Libya arrivals
- Greece implements emergency measures to address a surge in Mediterranean crossings from Libya as authorities detained over 7,000 migrants in the past 10 days
- Prime minister announced that Greece would suspend asylum processing for migrants arriving by sea from North Africa for three months
LAVRIO: More than 500 migrants arrived at the port of Lavrio near Athens on Thursday after being intercepted south of the island of Crete, as Greece implements emergency measures to address a surge in Mediterranean crossings from Libya.
The migrants, consisting mostly of young men, were transferred overnight aboard a bulk carrier after their fishing trawler was intercepted by Greek authorities. Service vessels helped bring them ashore at the mainland port. They will be sent to detention facilities near the capital.
More than 200 migrants were brought to the port of Piraeus, also near Athens, in separate transfers from Crete. The transfers to the mainland were ordered because makeshift reception centers on Crete have reached capacity, with around 500 new arrivals per day on the Mediterranean island since the weekend.
We can no longer accept migration flows from North Africa. People there need to think twice before deciding to pay a large sum of money to come to our country
Manos Logothetis, ministry of migration
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced Wednesday that Greece would suspend asylum processing for migrants arriving by sea from North Africa for three months. The new measures are due to be voted on in parliament on Thursday as an emergency amendment.
“This is an extreme and urgent situation, and we are taking extraordinary steps, ones that are difficult, tough, and strict. But they send a clear message,” Manos Logothetis, secretary-general at the ministry of migration, told state-run television.
“These measures are a clear statement from the Greek government — and by extension, from Europe — that we can no longer accept migration flows from North Africa,” he said. “People there need to think twice before deciding to pay a large sum of money to come to our country.”
Logothetis said that Greece backed EU initiatives linking financial aid to African countries to their willingness to receive their citizens deported or agreeing to voluntary repatriation from Europe.
Greece says more than 7,000 migrants have been detained over the past 10 days after traveling from Libya to Crete — a surge that occurred despite an overall drop in illegal migration to Europe. The European Union’s border protection agency, Frontex, on Thursday reported that irregular crossings into the EU dropped by 20 percent in first half of 2025 on an annual basis though increases were recorded in parts of the Mediterranean.
The crisis on Crete coincided with a diplomatic spat between the European Union and Libya over migration cooperation. EU officials earlier this week were turned away from eastern Libya following an apparent disagreement on the format of talks planned on curbing crossings.
Authorities on Crete are struggling to provide basic services, using temporary facilities to house migrants, primarily from Somalia, Sudan, Egypt and Morocco, according to island officials. The New York-based aid organization International Rescue Committee criticized asylum pause in Greece. “Seeking refuge is a human right; preventing people from doing so is both illegal and inhumane,” the group’s Martha Roussou said. “People fleeing conflict and disaster must be treated with dignity and provided fair and lawful access to asylum procedures — not detained or turned away.”
Iran threats in UK ‘significantly increased’: Intel watchdog
- UK parliamentary committee blames Iran for at least 15 attempts to kill or kidnap British-based individuals since 2022
- Tehran swiftly rejected the 'unfounded, politically motivated and hostile allegations'
LONDON: A UK parliamentary committee on Thursday blamed Iran for at least 15 attempts to kill or kidnap British-based individuals since 2022, saying the threat from Iran had “significantly increased.”
London’s response has been too focused on “crisis management,” said parliament’s intelligence and security committee, with concerns over Iran’s nuclear program dominating their attention too much.
Tehran swiftly issued a “categorical rejection of the unfounded, politically motivated and hostile allegations.”
The committee’s claims were “baseless, irresponsible, and reflective of a broader pattern of distortion intended to malign Iran’s legitimate regional and national interests,” said its London embassy.
The report comes after growing alarm in Britain at alleged Iranian targeting of dissidents, media organizations and journalists in the UK, including accusations of physical attacks.
Iran in March became the first country to be placed on an enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which aims to boost Britain’s national security against covert foreign influences.
It requires all persons working inside the country for Iran, its intelligence services or the Revolutionary Guard to register on a new list or face jail.
“Iran poses a wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat to the UK, UK nationals, and UK interests,” Kevan Jones, chairman of the watchdog committee, said in the report’s conclusions.
“Iran has a high appetite for risk when conducting offensive activity and its intelligence services are ferociously well-resourced with significant areas of asymmetric strength.”
Jones said it bolstered this through proxy groups, “including criminal networks, militant and terrorist organizations, and private cyber actors” to allow for deniability.
His committee’s report said that while Iran’s UK activity “appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China,” it “should not be underestimated.”
The physical threat posed had “significantly increased” in pace and volume, and was “focused acutely on dissidents and other opponents of the regime” as well as Jewish and Israeli interests in the UK, it said.
“The Iranian Intelligence Services have shown that they are willing and able — often through third-party agents — to attempt assassination within the UK, and kidnap from the UK,” the report said.
“There have been at least 15 attempts at murder or kidnap against British nationals or UK-based individuals since the beginning of 2022.”
Similarly, security minister Dan Jarvis said in March Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service had tallied 20 Iran-backed plots “presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents.”
The watchdog committee took evidence for two years from August 2021 for its report, a period which saw Tehran implicated in a plot to kill two London-based Iran International television anchors.
In March last year one of the Persian-language outlet’s journalists was stabbed outside his London home.
Two Romanian men have been charged in relation to the attack and face extradition to the UK to stand trial.
The counter-terrorism unit of London’s Metropolitan Police led the investigation. Iran’s charge d’affaires in the UK has said that the Tehran authorities “deny any link” to the incident.
Filipinos push back against growing Israeli presence on popular tourist island
- Siargao is a premier surfing site and one of the Philippines’ top tourist destinations
- Facebook users accuse Israeli tourists of disrespecting local rules, harassing residents
MANILA: Concerns over the presence of Israeli visitors are growing on a southern Philippine island, locals say, as they protest plans to establish an Israeli community center amid fears of displacement and reports of tourist misconduct.
Siargao — a resort island off Surigao del Norte province in Mindanao — is the Philippines’ premier surfing site and one of the country’s top tourist destinations.
It has lately become popular among Israelis, whose arrival over the past few months has resulted in numerous complaints. Siargao-based singer and community organizer Maria Lalaine Tokong went viral last week when she highlighted that many of the tourists were “disregarding the culture, the customs,” of the place.
“We are feeling less at home in our home,” she wrote. “I speak up because I refuse to let our identity, our peace, and our safety be erased.”
Tokong’s post has since resulted in tens of thousands of interactions, with Filipinos sharing similar concerns.
It came against the backdrop of Israeli plans to open a Chabad house — a Jewish community center and place of worship — on the island. The plans have been opposed by the local community, which met Israeli embassy representatives in May.
“We don’t want it,” Tokong told Arab News. “When we talked about the cultural center with the Israeli embassy, we specifically told them, ‘What’s the purpose?’ We already have an education system. We already have a church here.”
With new officials taking office following recent elections, she is now preparing with other community members to take the case forward with the local administration.
In April, Project Paradise, a Siargao-based non-governmental organization, held a town hall meeting with residents and local business owners to gather their complaints.
“We received reports primarily regarding disrespect for local customs and values — ranging from noise disturbances, reckless driving, disregard for modesty in dress in rural areas, to environmental irresponsibility such as leaving trash on beaches or protected areas,” Sofia Nicole de Asis, president of Project Paradise, told Arab News.
While De Asis said that the incidents “are not isolated to any one group, and our stance has always been that misconduct is a behavioral issue, not a nationality-based one,” members of the Facebook group Siargao Business Classified 2.0 have been reporting Israeli tourists calling local staff “slaves,” illegally raising their flags on boats, trashing local homestays, violating the island’s no-noise curfew past midnight, and verbally and physically assaulting locals.
“They have no right to put up a cultural center as they have no roots or connection to Filipinos’ history. ‘Free Palestine’ today, so we won’t be shouting ‘Free Siargao’ tomorrow,” one user wrote, as others complained over inaction from the island’s administration.
“These people were welcomed into our country and treated with genuine hospitality, yet they choose to disregard our laws and disrespect our people and communities. The local government of Siargao should strictly enforce all local rules and regulations,” another user said.
“For the local government in Siargao, you better act. Remember you’re still part of the Philippines, you might one day be surprised that Siargao is now ‘the promised land,’” another commented.
Officials in General Luna, one of the main towns on Siargao, did not respond to requests for comment from Arab News.
UK students could face jail over support for banned Palestine Action
- Ex-govt advisor urges universities to warn students of penalties for supporting illegal organizations
- Palestine Action proscribed as terrorist group after members broke into Royal Air Force base last month
LONDON: University students in the UK face jail if they support the group Palestine Action, the former government advisor on political violence and disruption has warned.
Lord Walney, who wrote a report in 2024 advising that the organization be proscribed, said vice-chancellors should let students know the penalties that could be incurred by promoting the group’s policies, displaying its symbols or voicing support for it.
Palestine Action was declared a terrorist organization earlier this month after activists filmed themselves breaking into a Royal Air Force base in England.
On Monday, 29 people were arrested for supporting it at a protest in Westminster, with some holding placards stating: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
Penalties for membership of, or eliciting support for, proscribed groups in the UK include a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
Protests in support of the Palestinian cause and against Israel’s war in Gaza have been frequent features across numerous university campuses in the UK since the outbreak of hostilities in October 2023.
In a letter to Vivienne Stern, CEO of Universities UK — a body representing 142 higher education establishments — Walney claimed there was a “clear danger that individuals may be unwittingly lured into expressing support for an entity whose methods are not only criminal, but now formally recognised as terrorism,” and “Universities UK has an important role to play in protecting both freedom of expression and student welfare within the bounds of the law.”
He added: “Palestine Action’s deliberate strategy has long involved drawing students into criminal activity under the guise of legitimate protest, preying on the understandable sympathy for Palestinians felt by large numbers of young people to find recruits.
“With its formal proscription, the legal threshold has shifted: expressions of support, including wearing insignia, arranging meetings, or promoting the group’s activities — whether knowingly or through naivety — now risk serious sanction with students at risk of acquiring a criminal record for a terror offence.
“This risk clearly exists whatever any individual may think of the government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action.
“My view is that the group’s systematic campaign of sabotage justifies proscription, given the fact that property damage is included in the legal definition of terrorism.”
UUK told The Times that it had “written to our member vice-chancellors to alert them to the fact that Palestine Action has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000, effective from Saturday July 5, and to their obligation to ensure that staff and students are aware of this.”
A British F35 fighter jet stranded in India may finally fly back home after inspiring memes
- Jet has been stranded at airport in southern Kerala state due to technical snag, is being repaired by UK engineers
- One of the memes shows cartoon in which plane is enjoying snacks with group f locals against a scenic background
NEW DELHI: A British F-35B fighter jet stranded at an Indian airport for nearly a month, sparking memes and cartoons on social media, is expected to fly back home as early as next week, Indian officials said.
The stealth fighter, one of the world’s most advanced and costing around $115 million, is stranded at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in the southern state of Kerala due to a technical snag and is being repaired by UK engineers, officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media.
The jet was on a regular sortie in the Arabian Sea last month when it ran into bad weather and couldn’t return to the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, officials said.
The aircraft was then diverted to Thiruvananthapuram, where it landed safely on June 14. Officials said engineers hope to repair the plane in the next few days before it could fly back to UK sometime next week.
The stranded military aircraft, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, has triggered A.I.-generated memes in India. In a social media post, the tourism department of Kerala showed the aircraft on the tarmac surrounded by coconut trees and posting a fictitious five-star review.
“Kerala is such an amazing place, I don’t want to leave. Definitely recommend,” it said.
The state’s top official at the tourism department, K. Biju, said the post was put out in “good humor.”
“It was our way to appreciate and thank the Brits who are the biggest inbound visitors to Kerala for tourism,” said Biju.
Another cartoon posted on X showed the plane enjoying snacks with a group of locals against a scenic background.
The British High Commission confirmed to The Associated Press that a UK engineering team has been deployed to “assess and repair” the aircraft.
There has been speculation in India that if the engineers fail to rectify the aircraft, it could be partially dismantled and transported in a cargo plane. The UK’s Ministry of Defense dismissed the speculation in an emailed statement.
