PARIS: France said on Wednesday it was sending additional military resources to the Middle East to tackle the Iranian threat and convened a United Nations Security Council meeting for later in the day after Tehran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel.
Iran said early on Wednesday that its missile attack on Israel was finished barring further provocation, while Israel and the US promised to retaliate against Tehran’s assault as fears of a wider war intensified.
“Committed to Israel’s security, France today mobilized its military resources in the Middle East to counter the Iranian threat,” the French presidency said in a statement overnight after an emergency security cabinet meeting to discuss the regional escalation.
“The head of state also reiterated France’s demand that Hezbollah cease its terrorist actions against Israel and its population.”
It gave no details on what additional military assets had been sent to the region and the defense ministry was not immediately available for comment.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke with his US counterpart Antony Blinken to coordinate diplomatic efforts, the ministry said.
Paris and Washington last week had attempted to secure a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon just hours before Israel launched air strikes that killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The foreign ministry said it had convened a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in the Middle East on Wednesday afternoon.
The French presidency said it would also organize soon a conference in support of Lebanon and had asked the foreign minister to travel to the region to work on diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions.
“Attentive to the security and protection of our compatriots in Lebanon and the Middle East, the head of state requested that all necessary measures be taken to assist them and, if necessary, come to their aid,” the presidency added.
France on Monday deployed a helicopter carrier to the region to position itself in case an evacuation order was given.
France sends assets to Middle East, convenes UN Security Council
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France sends assets to Middle East, convenes UN Security Council
Israel declares UN chief ‘persona non grata’ over Iran attack response: foreign ministry
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil. This is an anti-Israel Secretary-General who lends support to terrorists, rapists, and murderers,” said Foreign Minister Israel Katz in a statement.
Rescuers race to find over 100 migrants missing off Djibouti coast
- Every year, hundreds of thousands of people leave the Horn of Africa in pursuit of better economic prospects in Gulf nations
NAIROBI: Rescuers are searching for more than 100 migrants off the coast of Djibouti after smugglers forced them to jump into the sea, the UN migration agency said on Wednesday.
At least 45 bodies have been recovered from Tuesday’s incident, a death toll that makes 2024 the deadliest year on record for sea crossings on the migration route between East Africa and Yemen, the International Organization for Migration said.
Another 154 people have been rescued from the two boats, which left Yemen for Djibouti with a total of 310 passengers, IOM said in a statement.
“Ongoing search and rescue operations are underway by the Djiboutian Coast Guard to locate the missing migrants,” it said.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people leave the Horn of Africa in pursuit of better economic prospects in Gulf nations via the so-called Eastern Route, described by the IOM as one of the world’s busiest and riskiest migration corridors.
Survivors told IOM that they were forced off the two vessels by the boat operators in the open sea off the coast of Obock, a port town in Djibouti.
The survivors included a four-month-old infant whose mother drowned, the agency said.
Many migrants on the Eastern Route end up trapped in violence-wracked Yemen and attempt to return to Djibouti.
Italy to host G7 leaders’ call on Middle East crisis -Meloni’s office
- Meloni told her cabinet on Wednesday that there was “deep concern” about latest developments
ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will host a call of Group of Seven (G7) leaders later on Wednesday to discuss the crisis in the Middle East, her office said.
Meloni told her cabinet on Wednesday that there was “deep concern” about latest developments, including Iran’s missile attack against Israel and the growing instability Lebanon, her office said.
Despite calls for a ceasefire from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued on Wednesday.
Israel renewed its bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed armed Hezbollah group, with at least a dozen airstrikes against what it said were targets belonging the group.
Large plumes of smoke were seen rising from parts of the suburbs. Israel issued new evacuation orders for the area, which has largely emptied after days of heavy strikes.
Hezbollah said it confronted Israeli forces infiltrating the Lebanese town of Adaisseh early on Wednesday and forced them to retreat.
Iran described Tuesday’s assault on Israel as defensive and solely aimed at its military facilities. Iran’s state news agency said three Israeli military bases had been targeted.
Philippines’ Taal volcano erupts but alert level low
- Taal is one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes and some of its previous eruptions have impacted the capital and air travel
- A year earlier, the Taal volcano shot a column of ash and steam as high as 15km into the sky
MANILA: The Philippines’ Taal Volcano near the capital region has erupted, spewing a plume of steam that was more than two kilometers high, the seismology agency said on Wednesday.
Taal, located about 70km south of central Manila, is one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes and some of its previous eruptions have impacted the capital and air travel.
The agency’s chief Teresito Bacolcol described the eruption as phreatomagmatic, where magma interacts with water and produces a plume of steam.
The volcano sits inside a large lake near the town of Tagaytay in Cavite province.
“This phreatomagmatic eruption was limited at the volcano island. We’re looking whether there’s ashfall in the eastern side, but there’s no evacuation yet,” Bacolcol said by phone.
Bacolcol said the alert level remained at the lowest on the scale and there were no immediate reports of injuries.
Despite standing at only 311 meters, it can be deadly and an eruption in 1911 killed more than 1,300 people.
In January 2021, thousands of people were evacuated after it spewed a one-kilometer high plume of gas and steam.
A year earlier, the Taal volcano shot a column of ash and steam as high as 15km into the sky, forcing more than 100,000 people to abandon their homes and triggered widespread disruption in the capital.
Israel embassy in Sweden target of shooting, no-one hurt: police
- Police said they were alerted that “a bang” had been heard on a street near the embassy in central Stockholm
- The statement came as police in neighboring Denmark said they were investigating two blasts near Israel embassy
STOCKHOLM: Swedish police said Wednesday that a shooting had occurred at the Israeli embassy Stockholm the day before, adding that no-one was hurt and that an investigation had been opened.
Police said they were alerted that “a bang” had been heard on a street near the embassy in central Stockholm just before 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Tuesday.
“We’ve made finds that indicate a shooting at Israel’s embassy, but we don’t want to disclose exactly what finds have been made since there is an ongoing investigation,” Rebecca Landberg, press officer at Stockholm police, told AFP.
The statement came as police in neighboring Denmark said they were investigating two blasts that went off overnight in the “immediate proximity” to the Israeli embassy, also without injuring anyone.
Swedish police said in a statement that information indicated the embassy building had been hit by shots.
Landberg added that no-one was injured and that an investigation has been opened into an aggravated weapons offense, endangerment of others and unlawful threats.
Police had made no arrests, but Landberg said that the area was under heavy surveillance by cameras and police were actively gathering and analizing material.
The shooting came as tensions in the Middle East are spiralling, with Iran firing a barrage of missiles at Israeli territory and Israel vowing to make Iran “pay” for the attack.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden have been reported.
In February, police found a grenade on the grounds of the Israeli embassy compound, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack.
In mid-May, gunshots were fired outside the Israeli embassy, which prompted the country to boost security measures around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions.
The Scandinavian country’s intelligence agency Sapo said in late May that Iran was recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden — a claim Iran denied.
The Nordic country has also reported an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes since the war in Gaza started.
In early June, police said they had found a “suspected explosive object” outside the offices of Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems, known for its unmanned aerial systems, in Sweden’s second-largest city Gothenburg.
