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Tehran, Iran — Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that efforts underway to normalize ties between Israel and Arab countries will not resolve the crisis in the Middle East.   "Some people think that by forcing neighboring countries to normalize their ties [with Israel] the problem will be solved," Khamenei said in remarks made Wednesday. "They are wrong."   Khamenei's remarks came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said Washington is nearly ready with a security package to offer Saudi Arabia if it normalizes relations with Israel.   Saudi Arabia had been in talks over a potential normalization with Israel, but they were paused when the Gaza war broke out.  The war erupted after Hamas' October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. About 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas, which has been designated a terror group by the U.S., U.K., EU and others.    Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least more than 34,500 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.   Regional tensions have soared since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, drawing in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.   The Islamic republic backs Hamas but has denied any direct involvement in the group's attack on arch-foe Israel.  Iran does not recognize Israel and has made support for the Palestinian cause a centerpiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic revolution.   "Palestine should be returned to them [Palestinians]," Khamenei said.  "They should form their own regime, their own system. Then that system should decide how to deal with the Zionists," he said. 

Tehran — Iran announced on Thursday sanctions on several American and British individuals and entities for supporting Israel in its war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  The Islamic republic, the regional arch-foe of Israel, unveiled the punitive measures in a statement from its Foreign Ministry.  It said the sanctions targeted seven Americans, including General Bryan P. Fenton, commander of the U.S. special operations command, and Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, a former commander of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.  British officials and entities targeted include Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps, commander of the British army strategic command James Hockenhull, and the U.K. Royal Navy in the Red Sea.  Penalties were also announced against U.S. firms Lockheed Martin and Chevron and British counterparts Elbit Systems, Parker Meggitt, and Rafael UK.  The ministry said the sanctions include "blocking of accounts and transactions in the Iranian financial and banking systems, blocking of assets within the jurisdiction of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as prohibition of visa issuance and entry to the Iranian territory."  The impact of these measures on the individuals or entities, as well as their assets or dealings with Iran, remains unclear.  The war in the Gaza Strip erupted after the October 7 attack by Palestinian militants on Israel which killed 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.  Iran backs Hamas but has denied any direct involvement in the attack.  Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has since killed at least 34,568 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry.         

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LONDON — British police arrested 45 people on Thursday after a violent protest in London against the transfer of asylum seekers form a hotel to a barge off southern England. Dozens of protesters outside the hotel in Peckham, southeast London, attempted to stop a bus carrying the asylum seekers from leaving, reportedly deflating its tires and obstructing the vehicle by surrounding it, London's Metropolitan Police said. Tackling illegal migration is one of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's top priorities, and to bring down the high costs of accommodating migrants in hotels while their asylum claims are processed, the government has been trying to use barges and former military sites. Critics, however, have called the Bibby Stockholm barge — which is docked at Portland Port in Dorset and can house up to 500 men — inhumane and compared it to a prison ship. Several police officers were assaulted during the protest in Peckham, but none were seriously hurt, police said. "We will always respect the right to peaceful protest, but when officers are assaulted and obstructed from their duty, then we can and will take decisive action," Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said. Arrests were made for offenses that included obstruction of the highway, obstructing police and assault on police. "Housing migrants in hotels costs the British taxpayer millions of pounds every day," Home Secretary James Cleverly said on social media platform X, alongside a video of the protest. "We will not allow this small group of students, posing for social media, to deter us from doing what is right for the British public," he said.

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Tehran — Iran's judiciary rejected on Thursday a BBC report suggesting a teenage girl was sexually assaulted and killed by Revolutionary Guards during the 2022 protests triggered by Mahsa Amini's death. Protests erupted across Iran over the September 2022 death of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.  The body of 16-year-old Nika Shakarami, who disappeared on September 20 after joining one of those demonstrations in the capital, was found after a week.  At the time, the authorities in Iran denied the death was linked to the protests and said she committed suicide by jumping from a building.  But a BBC report this week contained allegations the teenager had been sexually assaulted and killed after being arrested by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.  In an article on its website, the BBC News said it had no immediate comment. "The so-called investigative report of BBC World about Nika Shakarami showed that this media outlet ... is not committed to truth and reality," said a statement posted on the judiciary's Mizan Online website.  It added that the report showed the British broadcaster "did not and does not pay attention to the most basic principle of a documented report, which is the possibility of verifying and validating the sources and documents".  The judiciary's statement, which contains a number of photos and documents from Tehran's Legal Medicine Organization, rejected the molestation claim and said the teenager had committed suicide.  Months of unrest following Amini's death saw hundreds of people killed including dozens of security personnel, and thousands more arrested.  Iranian officials labelled the protests as riots and accused Tehran's foreign enemies of fomenting the unrest.  Nine men have been executed in protest-related cases involving killings and other violence against security forces. 

United Nations — The United Nations said Thursday that the war in the Gaza Strip has set back development there by 40 years, and that rebuilding will cost billions of dollars over many years. “An early recovery program for three years to bring back hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to temporary shelters in their original locations with comprehensive community support, will cost between $2-3 billion,” said Abdallah Al Dardari, director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at the U.N. Development Program (UNDP). “The overall reconstruction of Gaza today according to our estimate will be between $40-50 billion, at least.” Dardari spoke to reporters from Amman, Jordan, where he launched an updated UNDP report on expected socioeconomic impacts of the war between Israel and Hamas, which hits the seven-month mark on Tuesday. The conflict has taken a toll on Palestinian lives, with more than 34,000 killed and nearly 78,000 injured to date, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. By mid-April, UNDP says deaths and injuries amounted to at least 5% of Gaza’s population. During the October 7 Hamas terror attacks inside Israel, at least 1,200 people were killed and 250 others kidnapped. More than 30 of those still in captivity are believed to be dead. The fighting has leveled much of Gaza, damaging or destroying some 370,000 housing units and 9% of commercial properties. UNDP says even in its best-case scenario it would take 16 years — until 2040 — to reconstruct the destroyed homes, without repairing the damaged ones. If reconstruction timelines follow the same pattern as after the 2014 and 2021 wars between Hamas and Israel, the report says, Gaza would need approximately 80 years to restore the destroyed homes. Regression to 1980 levels Dardari said 40 years of development gains in Gaza have been lost, amounting to an investment of nearly $50 billion. “That means that the levels of education and literacy will be affected dramatically at the end of this conflict,” he said. “But more dangerously, in our analysis, the impact of the conflict will stay with us for a long time, unless we quickly address temporary schooling, temporary health care, psycho-social support to the population, and bringing back basic services like water, sanitation, and electricity.” While every Palestinian has been affected in some way by the conflict, the report found that the middle class has been most affected. If the war continues until July, it would bring a large part of the middle class below the poverty line, increasing the total number of Palestinians pushed into poverty to 3.32 million — or just over 60% of the population. Palestinian GDP has also suffered dramatically since the war started, declining 25% — or nearly $7 billion. Dardari said that could reach 29% if the war continues into July.

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Demonstrations against Israel's military action in Gaza continue around the world as police raid the protester's encampment on the campus of UCLA. Joe Biden reacts to the protesters and the politics. A look at security in Asia, plus, tomorrow is World Press Freedom Day.

Witnesses and survivor accounts, photographs, and videos as well as satellite images place Burkina Faso troops at the scene of the attack reported by Human Rights Watch, an international watchdog with a decades-long history of documenting abuses.

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BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbian lawmakers on Thursday voted into office a new government that reinstated two pro-Russia officials who are sanctioned by the United States, reflecting persistent close ties with Moscow despite the Balkan nation's proclaimed bid to join the European Union.  Prime Minister Milos Vucevic's government got backing in a 152-61 vote in the 250-member parliament. The remaining 37 lawmakers were absent.  The government includes former intelligence chief Aleksandar Vulin, who has made several visits to Russia in recent months, as one of several vice-premiers, along with Nenad Popovic, another Russia supporter who has faced U.S. sanctions.  The foreign minister in the previous government, Ivica Dacic, also a pro-Russia politician, will be in charge of the Interior Ministry in the new Cabinet.  The vote followed a heated two-day debate. President Aleksandar Vucic's ruling nationalist conservative Serbian Progressive Party holds a comfortable majority after an election in December that fueled political tensions because of reports of widespread irregularities.  The increasingly authoritarian Vucic has refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, though Serbia has condemned the aggression.  Vucevic, the new prime minister, reiterated that Belgrade doesn't intend to impose sanctions on Russia and "cannot and will not give up" the friendship with Russia. Integration into the EU remains a "strategic goal," Vucevic said.  "Best possible" relations with the U.S. also are in Serbia's interest, Vucevic added. "I firmly believe that our relations can once again be on a high level."  Security analyst and a Belgrade university professor Filip Ejdus described the new government's composition as a "spin" designed to send a message both to the West and Russia, and to voters at home.  "It sends a message to the EU that they should not push Belgrade too much over democracy, rule of law, or Kosovo if they want to keep Serbia in its orbit," Ejdus said. "At the same time, it signals to Moscow a readiness to strengthen the strategic partnership with Russia."  The U.S. imposed sanctions on Vulin in July, accusing him of involvement in illegal arms shipments, drug trafficking and misuse of public office.  The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said that Vulin used his public authority to help a U.S.-sanctioned Serbian arms dealer move illegal arms shipments across Serbia's borders. Vulin is also accused of involvement in a drug-trafficking ring, according to U.S. authorities.  Vulin, who in the past had served as both the army and police chief, has recently received two medals of honor from Russia, one from the Federal Security Service, or FSB, and the other awarded to him by Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Popovic, a businessman and a former government minister, has "used his Russia-based businesses to enrich himself and gain close connections with Kremlin senior leaders," the U.S. Treasury said last November in a statement.  The U.S. sanctions against individuals and companies in the Balkans are designed to counter attempts to undermine peace and stability in the volatile region and Russia's "malign" influence.  The West has stepped up efforts to lure the troubled region into its fold, fearing that Russia could stir unrest to avert attention from the war in Ukraine. The Balkans went through multiple wars in the 1990s, and tensions still persist.  Serbia's falling democracy record has pushed the country away from EU integration, explained Ejdus. Reports of election fraud at the December 17 vote triggered street protests and clashes.  "Vucic is still pretending to be on the EU path because it's beneficial for Serbia's economy, and the EU tolerates his authoritarian tendencies out of fear of instability that could be caused in its backyard if Belgrade was lost to Russia and China," Ejdus said. 

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Beirut — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen announced $1 billion in aid to Lebanon on Thursday to help tackle illegal migration, as rights groups warned against forced returns to Syria. The European Union has already agreed deals with Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritania and others aimed at helping stem flows of irregular migrants. "I can announce a financial package of $1 billion for Lebanon that would be available from this year until 2027," the European Commission chief said, adding that "we want to contribute to Lebanon's socio-economic stability." She said the aid was designed to strengthen basic services such as education and health amid a severe economic crisis. Europe will also support Lebanon's army, with the aid "mainly focused on providing equipment and training for border management." $1 billion in aid The EU Commission's spokesman said in Brussels the aid will be disbursed "in grants," with 736 million euros ($788 million) earmarked to support Lebanon "in response to the Syrian crisis." He said, "264 million euros will be for bilateral cooperation," notably to support the security services, including with border management. Von der Leyen said the EU was committed to maintaining "legal pathways open to Europe" and resettling refugees, but "at the same time, we count on your good cooperation to prevent illegal migration and combat migrant smuggling." Lebanon's economy collapsed in late 2019, turning it into a launchpad for migrants, with Lebanese joining Syrians and Palestinian refugees making perilous Europe-bound voyages. Lebanon says it currently hosts around 2 million people from neighboring Syria — the world's highest number of refugees per capita — with almost 785,000 registered with the United Nations. "We understand the challenges that Lebanon faces with hosting Syrian refugees and other displaced persons," said von der Leyen, adding that the EU had supported Lebanon with 2.6 billion euros to host them. The Syria war erupted in 2011 after the government repressed peaceful pro-democracy protests and has killed more than half a million people and displaced around half of the prewar population. Eight rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, warned before von der Leyen's Beirut visit that Syria was not safe for returns. EU assistance "geared to enabling or incentivizing returns to Syria risks resulting in forced returns of refugees," a statement said. EU aid bolstering Lebanese security agencies so they can curb migration to Europe "could result in Syrians resorting to even longer and more dangerous routes," they added. Lebanon has also faced nearly seven months of border clashes between its powerful, Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah and Israel that flared after the Israel-Hamas war began in October. Lebanon remains essentially leaderless, without a president and headed by a caretaker government with limited powers amid deadlock between entrenched political barons. Cyprus also watching Von der Leyen was accompanied by Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides. Cyprus, the EU's easternmost member, is less than 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Lebanon and Syria, and it wants to curb migrant boat departures from Lebanon toward its shores. Nicosia says the Israel-Hamas war has weakened Beirut's efforts to monitor its territorial waters. "I am very confident that this package announced today will enhance the capacity of Lebanese authority to handle various challenges, including controlling land and maritime borders, ensuring the safety of its citizens, fight against people smuggling and continue their fight against terrorism," Christodoulides said. Some Lebanese politicians have blamed Syrians for their country's worsening troubles, and pressure often mounts ahead of an annual conference on Syria in Brussels, with ministers meeting this year on May 27. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said: "We reiterate our request to the European Union ... to help displaced people in their own countries to encourage them to return voluntarily, and thus guarantee them a decent life in their country of origin. "If we insist on this issue, it is to warn against Lebanon becoming a transit country from Syria to Europe, and the problems at the Cypriot border are just one example of what could happen if this issue is not radically resolved."

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Geneva — UNICEF warns the conflict in Gaza and mounting violence between Israel and Hezbollah are increasing the suffering of tens of thousands of children in Lebanon caught in the crosshairs of this escalating regional crisis.  A report issued by the United Nations Children’s Fund this week calls for an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Gaza as an essential prerequisite for protecting the lives and well-being of children and civilians in Lebanon and beyond.  “Without that, Lebanon is at risk of a full-scale war which would have a devastating impact on the 1.3 million children living in the country, as well as the rest of the children in the region,” said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.  Presenting the report at a Geneva press conference, Elder said humanitarian needs were surging across Lebanon as airstrikes by Israel Defense Forces have progressively increased and “hit deeper into a country already suffering protracted economic and political crises.”  Israel has been exchanging frequent fire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants.    “UNICEF has previously warned of Lebanon’s unrelenting, overlapping emergencies and their impact on children and education. Today these are compounded by almost daily airstrikes,” he said.  According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, airstrikes have damaged civilian infrastructure and facilities, killing 344 people, including eight children and 21 women, since October 7, when Israel began its offensive in Gaza in response to a Hamas attack that killed some 1,200 people and saw 240 abductions.  “Together with those children killed and scores injured, 30,000 children have been displaced,” said Elder. “Infrastructure that children rely on is being destroyed, including significant damage to water stations, thus denying 100,000 people access to safe drinking water. Around 23 health care facilities, serving 4,000 people, are also closed due to the hostilities.  “Should the conflict continue to escalate, UNICEF warns that repercussions for children will be devastating,” he said.  Before the conflict, UNICEF reports, some 700,000 children in Lebanon were out of school. It says Lebanon’s pre-existing education crisis has since worsened, noting that the recent violence has forced the closure of 72 schools in southern Lebanon, disrupting the education of an additional 20,000 students.  The agency says nearly half of Lebanon’s 5.49 million population live below the poverty line, while an estimated 90% of its more than 1 million Syrian-refugee households live in extreme poverty.  “There are some commonalities between Syrian and Lebanese children, and Palestinian children on the ground in that the vast majority of children in Lebanon are not having their needs met,” Ettie Higgins, deputy head of office for UNICEF in Lebanon, told journalists Tuesday.  She observed that tensions between communities and nationalities have risen due to the lack of resources brought on by “a massive collapse of humanitarian funding in Lebanon in the past few months.”  “This has forced us to cut back virtually on all of our services, including the provision of safe drinking water and simple things like getting rid of sewage in communities.”  She acknowledged that cutbacks in food and other essential life-saving commodities and services are having a profound impact on the health and well-being of children.    This is borne out by data collected for a comprehensive nutrition assessment conducted by UNICEF in Lebanon last year. Higgins said the results, which will be released next month, “point to a very, very worrying situation, particularly for children who are living in informal settlements.”  “The rates of stunting and wasting [becoming underweight for height] are much higher than we, unfortunately, had assumed,” she said, noting that there has been “a three-fold increase in children being referred to malnutrition programs in the past 12 months.”  Discussing Lebanon’s economic meltdown, she said: “Now in the fourth year of this massive catastrophe that has hit Lebanon, we are seeing tensions spike, and this is having an impact on children daily.” Higgins added that Palestinian refugees who have been living for a long time in terrible conditions in camps and settlements are experiencing “the secondary trauma of seeing what is happening to fellow Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”  She said destitute families who are unable to make ends meet have been forced into negative and sometimes potentially dangerous coping mechanisms to survive.  “We are seeing families sending the entire family out to beg. They are forcing children as young as four to work in agriculture. And this means that their overall health and well-being are impacted,” she said.  “I spoke to a doctor recently who said that he had 7-year-olds coming to him with back problems because of the heavy loads of trash that they are carrying on a daily basis,” she added. “And this was to earn maybe two dollars a day, just to be able to eat and put a meal on the table."