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EU Mediterranean states set to meet as Middle East conflict grows
Leaders from nine European countries around the Mediterranean Sea are scheduled to meet in Cyprus later today to discuss the ongoing wars in the Middle East.
Heads of state or government from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia and Croatia are to be joined by the king of Jordan, Abdullah II, for the one-day meeting in the Cypriot city of Paphos.
Israel’s war on Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon, as well as rising tensions with Iran, have raised fears of a wider regional conflict that would have a major impact on refugee and migrant flows, as well as Europe’s security and economy.
Countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain are the main arrival points in the European Union for people displaced by war or fleeing poverty, with around 55,000 people crossing the Mediterranean in the first six months of the year, EU data shows.
EU Council chief says Israel’s attacks on UN peace mission ‘not acceptable’
European Council President Charles Michel said Israel’s attacks on the UN peacekeeping operations in Lebanon, which have injured two Indonesian peacekeepers and damaged UN property, are neither responsible nor acceptable.
“An attack against a UN peace mission is not responsible, is not acceptable and that’s why we call on Israel and we call on all sides to fully respect international humanitarian law,” Michel told the French news agency, AFP, on the sidelines of a summit in Laos on Friday.
Two wounded in another Israeli attack on UN peacekeepers
Israeli media is reporting that there has been another attack by Israeli forces on the UN peacekeeping forces near the border with Lebanon. Two people have been wounded.
This comes after UNIFIL said yesterday that two Indonesian peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli attack.
Several UN peacekeepers injured in new Israeli attack on UNIFIL HQ
Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting that several Sri Lankan peacekeepers have been injured in another Israeli attack targeting the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters in southern Lebanon.
The report said an Israeli Merkava tank targeted one of UNIFIL’s observation towers on the main road connecting Tyre to Naqoura, in front of a Lebanese Army checkpoint, injuring the Sri Lankan contingent stationed there.
It said Israeli artillery fired a shell that struck the main entrance of the UNIFIL command centre in Naqoura, causing damage to the site.
Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon on Friday
