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Middle East crisis live: Lebanese officials says Israeli strikes on Tyre have killed at least eight people | US-Israel war on Iran
Lebanese official says Israeli strikes on Tyre have killed eight people
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the southern city of Tyre before an Israeli military warning on Tuesday killed at least eight people and wounded 32 others, noting the toll was provisional.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) had reported the strike not long before Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning for the entire city and surrounding areas ahead of strikes there.
Key events
Smoke rising following an Israeli airstrike in Tyre, Lebanon, earlier today.
France has banned Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, as part of coordinated sanctions with other countries over settler violence against Palestinians.
Smotrich is the second member of the Israeli government to be forbidden from entering France in recent months, after national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir was barred on 23 May for mocking activists detained by Israeli soldiers from a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid for the Palestinian territory.
The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway already slapped a travel ban on both ministers in June last year over inciting violence against Palestinians.
Other countries have also banned the ministers, including Spain, Slovenia and most recently Ireland.
The Israeli army on Tuesday said its forces killed a gunman who had managed to infiltrate Israeli territory from Lebanon and opened fire on its troops.
“A short while ago, an initial report was received regarding a shooting toward IDF soldiers operating in the Ramim Ridge area,” the army said, referring to a mountainous area stretching between Israel and Lebanon.
“The soldiers returned fire and eliminated a terrorist in the area. No IDF injuries were reported,” the army said, confirming to AFP that the gunman had managed to enter Israel.
Britain, Canada, France and Norway announced new coordinated sanctions on Tuesday against Israeli networks involved in financing, enabling and carrying out violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The move follows escalating violence by Israeli settlers, which diplomats say is intended to undermine prospects for a Palestinian state.
Tyre church leaders issue appeal to prevent Israel attacking Christian district of city
The heads of several churches in Tyre have appealed for the international community and Lebanese leaders, including the president Joseph Aoun, to act quickly to prevent Israel from attacking the Christian district of the major southern Lebanese port city.
“The Old City is the heart of Tyre, and any attack on it would be a national catastrophe,” the statement said.
It went on to describe the Old City as being home to innocent civilians and “centuries-old cultural and religious heritage”.
“We call for immediate political and security efforts to preserve the ability to remain steadfast, and we call on the international community and UN agencies to fulfil their moral responsibility to protect the population in accordance with international humanitarian law,” the church leaders said.
The statement by the Christian leaders was from George Iskandar, the metropolitan archbishop of Tyre for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church; Elias Kfoury, the Greek Orthodox metropolitan of Tyre, Sidon and Dependencies; and Charbel Abdullah, the archeparch of the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre.
The Israeli military earlier issued an urgent evacuation order for residents in Lebanon’s fifth biggest city to flee ahead of attacks it claimed were aimed at Hezbollah. For the first time in this current conflict, the evacuation order was issued for an entire area in Tyre which is a Christian neighbourhood.
At least eight people were reportedly killed following an Israeli airstrike on the city earlier with dozens of people reported to have sustained injuries.
In a post on X, France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said:
With our British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and Norwegian partners, we are today imposing new sanctions against those responsible for intensifying colonization and violence in the West Bank.
At the national level, we have banned from our territory minister Bezalel Smotrich, four leaders of settler organizations, and twenty-one violent settlers.
Bezalel Smotrich actively promotes the annexation of the West Bank, which he openly claims, the creation of new settlements in the West Bank, the recolonization of Gaza, the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority, and its deleterious consequences on the Palestinian population: this is a policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community cannot accept, firmly committed to the two-State solution.
The UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, is to announce that illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank will be hit with new sanctions by Britain and its allies.
The package, due to be revealed in the House of Commons today, has been co-ordinated with Australia, Canada, France and Norway, who in a joint statement said they aimed to “hold extremist settlers accountable for the horrific levels of settler violence against Palestinian civilians”.
As part of the moves, the UK will impose sanctions on six entities and one individual involved in financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday he was “deeply alarmed” by the renewed escalation in violence in the Middle East.
“All attacks must stop immediately. The ceasefires in Lebanon, Iran + Gaza must be fully respected,” he said in a post on X.
Lebanese official says Israeli strikes on Tyre have killed eight people
Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the southern city of Tyre before an Israeli military warning on Tuesday killed at least eight people and wounded 32 others, noting the toll was provisional.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) had reported the strike not long before Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning for the entire city and surrounding areas ahead of strikes there.
The son of a prominent Palestinian doctor who was detained by Israeli forces in Gaza in late 2024 and held for more than 500 days without formal charges has spoken of his deep concern for his father’s wellbeing after he was transferred without explanation to solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison.
Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, was detained at work on 27 December 2024. Physicians for Human Rights Israel said last week it had received information indicating that the 53-year-old had been transferred from Ketziot prison to Ramon prison, part of the Ganot prison complex, where he had been put in solitary confinement. PHRI said it had not been told the reasons for the transfer.
During a visit by a PHRI lawyer last month, Abu Safiya described harsh detention conditions, untreated medical problems and severe food shortages. You can read the full story by my colleagues, Lorenzo Tondo and Seham Tantesh, here:
A US navy surface drone found and rescued the two crew from a US Apache attack helicopter from the waters of the strait of Hormuz, the US military’s Central Command has told the Reuters news agency (see this post for more details about the incident).
Hezbollah urges Lebanese authorities to build closer ties to Tehran
Hezbollah, the powerful Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group, has thanked Iran for attacking Israel “in defence” of Lebanese people, suggesting that Lebanon’s government should take this opportunity to improve relations with Tehran.
In a statement on Tuesday, Hezbollah said Lebanese authorities should “take advantage of this opportunity and correct their official relations with the Islamic Republic in a way that serves the interests of both countries.”
Iran’s support for Lebanon’s “legitimate rights, and its bearing of material and political costs, reaffirms that Iran is the one that supports Lebanon, not the other way around,” the group added.
Lebanon’s government has been engaging in US-mediated talks with Israel, something that Hezbollah, which is more powerful than the Lebanese army and operates independently of the state, opposes and sees as an act of humiliation.
Israeli troops have taken control of around a fifth of Lebanon since Hezbollah launched attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with Iran days after the US and Israel killed the former Iranian supreme leader in Tehran in February.
The Lebanese state accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts to disarm it before the latest escalation of fighting. Hezbollah has refused to hand over its arsenal in full and said the dispute over the group’s weapons is an internal affair.
Last week, Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, demanded a complete ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, and said that as long as Lebanese villages were being bombed, northern Israel would not be safe.
At least two Iranian military members killed in Israeli attack on Iran
Iran’s state TV said at least two members of an Iranian air defence unit were killed in Israeli attacks on Monday.
State TV identified the men as Bahman Hosseini and Ali Reza Abiri, without offering a rank for them. Their funerals will reportedly be held today. The report said they would be buried in a city outside of Tehran, suggesting they had been posted near the capital.
Graeme Wearden
The oil price is dropping this morning, after Donald Trump declared that negotiations towards an Iran peace deal are in their “final throes”.
The US president made the comments to reporters at JFK airport after attending the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden (where he was roundly booed by the crowd).
Brent crude has dropped by 1% this morning, to $93 a barrel – still around $20/barrel above its levels before the conflict began in late February.
You can follow the latest business and market news in our live blog here:
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at locations across the central belt with their faces covered and many holding Union flags and banners.
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Key events
50 mins: Russo has a snapshot from inside the box but it is blocked.
Moments later Greenwood lines up a free-kick from the other side of 30 yards but it is straight at the wall.
48 mins: No surprise but it is all England at the moment. I will predict five second half goals.
46 mins: Some half times changes …
Hlushchenko and Radionova are on for Ukraine. Kohut and Kunina off.
Mead and Greenwood enter the pitch for England, Morgan and James off.
Second half
Here we go again!
Spain are winning 3-0 in Iceland. No concerns of any shocks tonight.
Tom Garry
It’s been one-way traffic. If you think this game is one-sided, just wait for October’s play-off first round tie against a League C team! The fans at the Hill Dickinson seem to be enjoying it, nonetheless. There are two little pockets of Ukraine fans who are also in good voice, too, as the sun sets to my left over the Mersey.
Tony Mason emails: “I must take issue with your statement that the cost of tickets to see England at Wembley was “incredibly expensive”. This is a misconception. The cheapest England tickets at Wembley are and have been since the “new” Wembley opened are about the same price as a League 1 fixture. Slightly more than I pay to see Notts County. There are also many of the cheapest tickets so you don’t even need to be waiting on a Ticketmaster queue to get them.
“Also, although Wembley isn’t the best positioned ground in the country it isn’t that hard to get to from much of the country. From Nottingham I would get home after an evening kick-off at about 00:30. My mate travels in from Bristol and it is about the same. Granted, we drive but coaches do run from the major cities.
“Having said that, it is always nice to see them around the country.”
I’ve just put in for the best available ticket for the Czechia game in October and it’s £120. You can, in fairness, get tickets for £35 but I really wouldn’t want to travel three hours to then sit at the top in the corner. That’s just me.
Half time: England 2-0 Ukraine
This has not been much of a contest, well any contest whatsoever. The main surprise is that England have not managed to get more than two but ahead very much out of sight thanks to Carter and Stanway.
45 mins: One minute added on.
44 mins: Hemp receives the ball around 20 yards out, spins a defender and fires a shot but flies over the bar.
43 mins: James curls a free-kick from the edge of the box just over the bar.
41 mins: A band is trying to whip the crowd up with Sweet Caroline, the most overplayed song in history.
39 mins: With confidence renewed, Hemp whips in a cross from the right into a dangerous position but no one is there to get on the end of it.
GOAL! England 2-0 Ukraine (Stanway, 37)
The Lionesses needed that. Russo sneaks around the back and slides the ball across to Stanway who slides home at the back post.
36 mins: James loops in a cross from the left which Boklach comes to claim but it takes her two attempts to get the ball under control.
England and the atmosphere have gone quite flat.
34 mins: England have a corner on the right. Le Tissier and James combine once more but it is a slow burner, with the ball belatedly being sent into the box by Walsh, only to be easily collected by the goalkeeper.
32 mins: England are too casual at the back and it gifts Boychuk a first chance of the match but her shot from the edge of the box is scuffed.
30 mins: England will be disappointed they have not got a second but, in truth, they have not come that close to adding to the tally.
The ball goes into the box again but Charles is penalised for something or other.
28 mins: Hemp crashes into the hoardings after a challenge in the box. After brushing herself down, she is up and ready to go again.
Blindkilde Brown has not got into the game much thus far. I would like to see more of her. Just as I write that, she gets in a good position in the box but is tackled before she can shoot. Not to worry, as the ball lands at Russo’s feet but she lashes over.
26 mins: Same old story without England being able to penetrate.
24 mins: Le Tissier should do better from a Charles pull-back but the defender is leaning back and whacks her shot from 12 yards well over.
England currently enjoying more than 86% possession.
22 mins: Hampton’s only involvement thus far has been with her feet. I am not sure she will be kept occupied by shots here.
Russo’s shirt is held when 30 yards out with her back to goal. England take it quickly but Hemp is pushed backwards.
Hemp then thinks she has a great chance to score but Shaynyuk puts in a perfect tackle in the nick of time.
20 mins: The free-kick is tapped to Hemp who fires a shot from 20 yards but Boklach moves quickly to her left to save.
The goalkeeper is tested soon after when Russo meets a cross but her header lacks power and Boklach collects.
18 mins: Stanway and Hemp combine well, allowing the latter to pick out James inside the box but her shot is blocked.
England have a free-kick in a dangerous position after James is bundled over …
Tom Garry
17 mins: That feels like it’ll be the first of many. Lauren James’ cross was sumptuous. But Ukraine can’t even get close to her. It could be a long night for the visitors. The home fans here really enjoyed that goal and they’re all on their feet but England can’t get too excited to be ahead – Spain are already winning in Iceland.
16 mins: I think it is fair to say the goal was coming.
Russo is the next to have a chance but her header loops well wide.
GOAL! England 1-0 Ukraine (Carter, 14)
Hemp wins another corner. Le Tissier decides to take another one short to James. This forward shows some trickery before chipping a cross to the back post from where Carter nods home across the goalkeeper.
12 mins: England have a corner on the right. Le Tissier takes it short to James who pings it towards the far top corner, only to see her shot bounce off bar and post into the goalkeeper’s arms.
10 mins: The free-kick comes to nothing but England continue to attack.
The space is outwide for England, may I suggest James drifts further over to the left. She would be more dangerous than Charles out there.
8 mins: Hemp aims for Russo in the box but a Ukrainian head meets the cross. I will guess the possession stats as being Eng 98%-2% Ukraine.
Le Tissier is crudely taken down by Boychuk just outside the box.
Spain are ahead in Iceland. No surprise there.
6 mins: Charles is starting very high on the left and being allowed to push forward from full-back. England will have plenty of freedom to attack considering the lack of ambition among the Ukrainians.
4 mins: Ukraine try to break but Le Tissier is there to tidy up.
England start again from the back from move up the pitch in a composed manner. Hemp has a cross blocked but the ball is recycled and ends up back with the City winger, who shoots from 20 yards only to hit it straight at the goalkeeper.
2 mins: A positive start from England as they pushed forward to put pressure on the Ukrainian backline. The visitors are keen to defend as deep as humanly possible.
Hemp puts in a dangerous cross from the right but it drifts over everyone inside the box.
Kick off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
Tom Garry
Smoke fills the air as fireworks jet out from the side of the pitch as the players emerge to a crowd of around 30,000. The upper tier is mostly empty, but the lower bowl is busy. Ukraine’s players each have their national flag wrapped around them as they sing their anthem, which receives a generous round of applause from the home fans.
The Ukraine players, each clad in a national flag, sing the national anthem.
ITV are not particularly interested in this game, they have spoken about Friday night for about 15 mins. Look forward, folks.
Sarina Wiegman: “Every game you don’t win, it hurts. Friday was a hard one because we didn’t create any momentum.
“Of course you want to win but always when we lose, win or draw we look at things we can do better but when you lose it makes it more urgent.
“We want to have some freshness and some other players. We expect very tight spaces and she [Blindkilde Brown] position herself really well, she finds the ball and that’s why we brought her in.”
Gordon emails in: “After the debacle of last Friday, and, let us not forget, a poor performance in Iceland, many were calling for changes in the England XI, and, indeed, I am pleased to see Le Tissier, Charles, and Blindkilde Brown starting tonight.
“But, to me, it is inexplicable that Walsh and Stanway retain their spots. These two were embarrassingly poor against Spain last Friday – they had rings run round them by Putellas and co. Their inclusion tonight begs the question – how poor do they have to be to get dropped? Lucia Kendall and Jess Park should be playing in their place.
“I have belatedly realised that Sarina Wiegman has been without her long-time assistant Arjan Veurink since last year’s Euros triumph – he is now the head coach of the Netherlands Women. I am beginning to think that he was the brains of the outfit.”
Will England bounce back or will they be pulped?
It is only four changes for Wiegman tonight, so not as many as some anticipated but will freshen things up.
Not just about England tonight. There will be a decent amount in the away end.
It is great to see England playing away from Wembley. The only time I had much interest in the national side was when they were travelling around during the construction of the new stadium. Getting to Wembley from pretty much anywhere outside London is a massive pain and it is incredibly expensive for tickets, as a general rule.
Pre-match reading …
Starting lineups
England (4-3-3): Hampton; Le Tissier, Carter, Morgan, Charles; Walsh, Stanway, Blindkilde Brown; Hemp, Russo, James.
Subs: Bronze, Moorhouse, Toone, Wubben-Moy, Greenwood, Kelly, Kendall, Mead, Park, Baggaley, Beever-Jones, Fisk
Ukraine (4-2-3-1): Boklach; Savka, Olkhova, Shmatko, Shaynyuk; Kotyk, Zaborovets; Molodiuk, Kohut, Kunina; Boychuk.
Subs: Basanska, Hlushchenko, Holovach, Keliushyk, Khrystiuk, Kotiash, Podolska, Radionova, Samson, Semkiv
Preamble
This will almost certainly not be the end of England’s World Cup qualifying campaign because, barring a strange set of results tonight, they will be heading into the playoffs later this year. The Lionesses are level of points with Spain but sit second thanks to an inferior head-to-head records having been thrashed on Friday in Mallorca.
Sarina Wiegman is set to make changes at Hill Dickinson Stadium tonight. The dreadful result in Spain may have influenced the decision but after a lengthy season, some players will need a rest. England are strong favourites in Liverpool, so rotation is unlikely to harm their chances.
Kick-off: 8pm BST.
The man has also been charged with possession of an article with blade in a public place and threats to kill.
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