Defence Secretary to chair emergency Cobra meeting amid Middle East tensions
John Healey will lead the meeting on Tuesday.
Defence Secretary John Healey is expected to chair a Cobra meeting on Tuesday amid rising tensions in the Middle East, the PA news agency understands.
The emergency meeting in London will take place while Mr Healey’s colleagues, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, attend the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
The Cabinet minister addressed Labour activists and delegates at the event on Monday, when he vowed to “defend the country and keep our citizens safe”.
He said: “War in Europe, conflict in the Middle East, growing Russian aggression – we know these are serious times.”
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged rocket fire and air strikes throughout Monday and Tuesday.
Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad told reporters on Tuesday that 1,835 people have been wounded in Israeli air strikes since the start of the week, and Lebanon’s Health Ministry said the death toll had reached 558 during that period, including 50 children and 94 women.
According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah launched 250 rockets into Israel on Monday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, that “Israel’s war is not with (the people of Lebanon), it’s with Hezbollah”.
In the address to people in Lebanon, Mr Netanyahu added: “Please, get out of harm’s way now. Once our operation is finished, you can come back safely to your homes.”
Mr Healey’s Cabinet colleague David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has made repeated calls for UK nationals to leave Lebanon since late July, when he warned they risked “becoming trapped in a warzone”.
Mr Lammy has also left Liverpool for New York, where he met foreign ministers from across the G7 in a meeting on Tuesday.
In a reference to conflict in Gaza and southern Israel, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani, who chaired the G7 meeting, wrote: “The G7 members reiterated their condemnation of Hamas’s horrendous attacks on October 7 2023.
“One hundred and one hostages are still in the hands of Hamas.
“They noted with deep concern the trend of escalatory violence in the Middle East and its repercussions on regional stability and on the lives of civilians shattered by this conflict, from the Gaza Strip to the Israeli-Lebanese Blue Line.
“Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences. They called for a stop to the current destructive cycle, while emphasising that no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.
“They expressed their deep concern about the situation along the Blue Line.”
According to Mr Tajani, the delegates also “called on all parties to fully comply with international law, including international humanitarian law” and “expressed their deep alarm for the heavy toll this conflict has taken on civilians, deploring all losses of civilian lives equally and noting with great concern that, after nearly a year of hostilities and regional instability, it is mostly civilians, including women and children, who are paying the highest price”.
