An emboldened Israel appears to believe it can safely ignore a lame duck US president and grab the chance to reset the Middle East’s security dynamics
The Biden administration is losing influence over whether Benjamin Netanyahu launches a ground invasion into southern Lebanon or not.
For more than a year, Joe Biden and his senior advisers have managed to forestall an Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon in fear of a larger war that could envelop the entire Middle East.
Continue reading...National security spokesperson John Kirby reiterates ‘ironclad’ support for Israel but ‘mourns’ civilian deaths
The White House said on Sunday it had not been warned in advance of the airstrike that killed Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a Beirut suburb and assumed it had caused civilian casualties, while reaffirming its “ironclad” support to Israel.
John Kirby, the national security spokesperson, said the US had not been informed of the airstrike, and that the president, Joe Biden, only found out about it once Israeli planes were already in the air.
Continue reading...Israel’s airstrike on Hezbollah’s leadership in Lebanon has far-reaching implications for Tehran and Washington
When Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, told reporters in New York on Friday that the coming days will determine the future path of the Middle East, he could not have been more prescient, even if at the time he was hoping that Hezbollah and Israel could be persuaded to step back from the brink.
Now, with the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah confirmed killed, the region, after 11 months, has finally stepped over the brink and into a place it has truly never been before.
Continue reading...Ex-president hails ‘very good relationship’ as Ukrainian leader says pair share ‘common view’ that Putin cannot win
Donald Trump has met Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York in a high-stakes meeting at which the Ukrainian leader hoped to repair ties with the former US president.
The two men met at Trump Tower on Friday amid a growing feud between Zelenskyy and Republicans that Ukraine fears could sabotage further US military aid if Trump wins in November.
Continue reading...Tension between the Israeli PM and the UN has never been so high, but his behaviour over the Lebanon ceasefire has given him a bigger problem
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has for decades used set-piece speeches to the UN to denounce it. In 2017, he said it had been “the epicentre of global antisemitism” and there was “no limit to the UN’s absurdities when it comes to Israel”, but never have the tensions between him and the body he reviles reached such a pitch.
Since the 7 October massacre by Hamas, Israel has ignored four UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and has not just described the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa as a terrorist state, but launched a campaign to bankrupt it. Arab envoys have walked out when the Israeli ambassador has started to speak.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. Our latest live coverage of the Middle East crisis is here
The Israeli military said drones and rockets crossed into Israeli territory from Lebanon on Friday, as Lebanon’s Hezbollah claimed a rocket attack on the Israeli city of Tiberias (see 9am BST).
The drones infiltrated the coastal area of Rosh HaNikra and were intercepted by the military’s defences, the Israeli military said, adding several rockets were also intercepted.
Continue reading...Democratic nominee calls Republican plan to end war between Ukraine and Russia ‘dangerous and unacceptable’
Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, has indirectly denounced the Trump campaign’s policy on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine as “proposals of surrender” as the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Washington to present his own “victory plan”.
Addressing Zelenskyy at the White House, Harris said that “some in my country” would pressure Ukraine to accept a peace deal in which it surrendered its sovereign territory and neutrality in order to make peace with Vladimir Putin.
Continue reading...Protesters gather outside UN headquarters in New York to oppose Israeli PM’s visit and to call for end to Gaza war
As the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, arrived in New York on Thursday ahead of his address to the United Nations general assembly, scheduled for Friday morning, protesters opposed to the war in Gaza gathered near UN headquarters.
One group of people who waved Israeli flags and campaign banners described themselves as an informal coalition of Jewish and Israeli-led organizations taking an anti-occupation and anti-war stance in relation to the Palestinian territories. They assembled close to the UN building in Manhattan to protest against Netanyahu’s arrival after he flew in from Israel overnight.
Continue reading...Washington says Israel has legitimate security problem and more complex diplomatic agreement is required
An effort led by France and Britain to secure a joint statement by the UN security council calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon has stalled in the face of US objections.
Washington is eager to avoid any suggestion there is any equivalence of blame for the eruption of the crisis that has led to the loss of life of hundreds of people in Lebanon.
Continue reading...American envoy to UN urges humanitarian pause and says international community ‘cannot simply look away’
The United States has announced $424m in new aid for displaced and starving Sudanese, with the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, saying all options for civilian protection must now be considered by the international community.
Describing the war in Sudan as horrific and shaming for the whole world, she said it was now necessary “to compel, insist and demand that the warring parties agree a humanitarian pause to allow aid to flow and for citizens to flee”.
Continue reading...US secretary of state emphasises he wants diplomatic solution, but remarks unlikely to be seen as warning against Israeli ground offensive
Israel has a legitimate interest in seeking to remove Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, from the borders of northern Israel, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said as he rebuffed calls to take a tougher line over the Israeli bombardment.
Speaking before an emergency meeting of the security council in New York, Blinken emphasised that he would prefer a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but his tone is unlikely to be seen as a warning to Israel to stop, or to reconsider its plan for a ground offensive.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president urges world leaders to back peace plan in general assembly speech ahead of Biden meeting
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the United Nations that Russia is planning to attack Ukrainian nuclear power plants as he repeated his calls for unity from world leaders in order to force Russia to the negotiating table to conclude a “just peace”.
His comments came as Vladimir Putin on Wednesday escalated his nuclear rhetoric, telling a group of senior officials that Russia would consider using nuclear weapons if it was attacked by any state with conventional weapons.
Continue reading...US president assumes mantle of elder statesman, defending his foreign policy record and urging Gaza deal
Joe Biden has sought to defend his foreign policy achievements on the world stage with an address to the United Nations general assembly against a backdrop of three brutal, intractable wars that have stymied world diplomats seeking an end to the bloodshed.
Addressing the assembly hall in New York on Tuesday, Biden took on the mantle of elder statesman as he alternated between a message of hope and a full-throated defense of his record on foreign policy.
Continue reading...António Guterres says violence puts region at risk as Hezbollah and Israel seem unwilling to dial down fighting
The UN secretary general has told world leaders that Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a second Gaza, adding that the crisis has “become a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the whole region down”.
António Guterres made his warning as diplomats meeting in New York for the UN general assembly battled to impose a ceasefire in Lebanon and to hold Israel back from a possible ground invasion.
Continue reading...US president is recorded on hot mic singling out Beijing, saying it ‘continues to behave aggressively’ in areas including the South China Sea
Joe Biden has been recorded on a hot mic telling the leaders of Australia, India and Japan that an aggressive China is “testing us”, in remarks at a Quad summit that risked undercutting the group’s declaration that carefully avoided referring to Beijing by name.
The comments came as Biden opened a farewell summit in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese.
Continue reading...Violent blow against Hezbollah leaves the militia vengeful and vulnerable – and again dashes Washington’s diplomacy
For American diplomacy in the Middle East, the extraordinary attack in Lebanon that simultaneously detonated hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members could not have come at a less auspicious moment – and may still spark an escalation that the US had been seeking desperately to avoid.
A day before the coordinated sabotage, Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to Joe Biden, was in Israel urging Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials against an escalation in Lebanon. The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, and the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, had also warned that time was running out to find a negotiated settlement between Israel and Hezbollah.
Continue reading...Russian leader’s warning of potential direct war with Nato regarded as sabre-rattling to weaken support for Ukraine
US officials and lawmakers shot back after Vladimir Putin said that Nato’s potential lifting of restrictions on Ukraine to launch long-range strikes over the border into Russian territory would mean Nato countries were “at war” with Russia.
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, met with the US president, Joe Biden, on Friday at the White House, where the two were expected to discuss – though not necessarily announce – a loosening of restrictions on Storm Shadow missiles that would allow Ukraine to strike targets as far as 155 miles inside Russia.
Continue reading...Decision understood to have already been made in private as secretary of state says in Kyiv that US will continue to adapt policy
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, gave his strongest hint yet that the White House is about to lift its restrictions on Ukraine using long-range weapons supplied by the west on key military targets inside Russia, with a decision understood to have already been made in private.
Speaking in Kyiv alongside the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, Blinken said the US had “from day one” been willing to adapt its policy as the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine changed. “We will continue to do this,” he emphasised.
Continue reading...Cindy and Craig Corrie say they fear Eygi’s death at West Bank protest will go unpunished like their daughter’s
When Cindy and Craig Corrie heard about the death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the American-Turkish woman killed at a protest in the occupied West Bank last week, it reopened a 21-year-old wound. “You feel the ripping apart again of your own family when you know that’s happening to another family. There’s a hole there that’s never going to be filled for each of these families,” Craig Corrie said.
In 2003, their daughter Rachel was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer during a protest in Rafah against the demolitions of homes in Gaza. This week, the couple have joined a chorus of human rights advocates calling for an independent investigation into Eygi’s death, saying that they feared her case would go unpunished like their daughter’s.
Continue reading...Diplomats most struck by Republican’s refusal to say whether he wanted Ukraine to defeat Vladimir Putin
The TV debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was as keenly watched by European diplomats and politicians as by US voters, eager to see who may be next in the White House and – crucially – the direction that a vital ally may next take.
One diplomat said they empathised when Harris adopted a series of poses that ranged from pity, bemusement and genuine curiosity about what craziness would emerge from Trump’s mouth next as she listened to his conspiracy-laden theories. However, the diplomat said they still did not underestimate Trump and the hold he had over one part of a divided America, adding: “Never write him off.”
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