Israel said Monday it is “interested” in striking peace agreements with neighbouring Lebanon and Syria, a potentially historic shift in the region after decades of war and animosity.With Syria under new leadership after the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement weakened, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told journalists his government wanted more normalisation agreements with Arab countries.”Israel is interested in expanding the Abraham Accords circle of peace and normalisation,” Saar said of the US-brokered deals that Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020, during US President Donald Trump’s first term.”We have an interest in adding countries such as Syria and Lebanon, our neighbours — to the circle of peace and normalisation while safeguarding Israel’s essential and security interests,” Saar told a news conference in Jerusalem alongside his Austrian counterpart Beate Meinl-Reisinger.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel’s recent “victory” in a 12-day war against Iran “opens the path to dramatically enlarge the peace accords”.- Golan Heights tensions -Control of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has long been a source of tension between Israel and Syria, which are technically still at war.Saar insisted that the strategic plateau, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognised by the United Nations, “will remain part of the State of Israel” under any future peace agreement.Following Assad’s overthrow in December, Israel moved forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone in the Golan, and has carried out hundreds of strikes against military targets in Syria.In Lebanon, the clout of militant group Hezbollah has diminished after it had emerged bruised from a conflict with Israel last year, fuelled by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.Israel, however, has kept up strikes against Hezbollah despite a November ceasefire.There was no immediate response from Lebanese or Syrian officials to Saar’s remarks.- US peace call -US officials say the end of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran with a ceasefire on June 24 has raised prospects for broader peace efforts in the region.On Sunday, a senior US diplomat called for peace agreements by Israel with Syria and Lebanon in the wake of the Iran-Israel ceasefire and expected there would be discussions about it.Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey who is also a special envoy to Syria, said Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa “has indicated that he doesn’t hate Israel and that he wants peace on that border,” Barrack told Turkish news agency Anadolu.”I think that will also happen with Lebanon. It’s a necessity to have an agreement with Israel,” he added.Pressure has risen on the Israeli government to end its offensive in the Gaza Strip, prompted by Hamas’s deadly attack in October 2023.”Everybody is starting to move back towards the Abraham Accords, especially as the Gaza situation dissipates,” Barrack said.”What just happened between Israel and Iran is an opportunity for all of us to say: ‘Time out. Let’s create a new road’,” he added.”The Middle East is ready to have a new dialogue, people are tired of the same old story.”

The High Court in London rejected a legal challenge on Monday brought by a Palestinian rights group seeking to block the UK from supplying components for Israeli F-35 fighter jets.Israel has used the jets to devastating effect in its bombardment of Gaza.Both sides have been accused of atrocities during a conflict that has killed tens of thousands — the vast majority of them Palestinian civilians, according to figures the United Nations deems reliable.The UK government suspended some export licences for military equipment after concluding there was a risk Israel could be breaching international humanitarian law but made an exemption for some parts for Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth jets.Rights group Al-Haq had asked the High Court for a judicial review, saying the “carve out” was unlawful and alleging the government had misunderstood the applicable rules of international law.It was supported by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and others in its case.Judges Stephen Males and Karen Steyn rejected all of the grounds for challenging the government’s decision, saying the case was really asking if the court could order the UK to “withdraw from a specific multilateral defence collaboration”.”Under our constitution that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive, which is democratically accountable to parliament, and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts,” said the judges, denying permission for a judicial review.Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al-Haq, said in a statement to AFP his organisation would “continue to persevere in the UK and beyond until governments are held accountable”. A government spokesperson said the ruling showed that the UK was operating “one of the most robust export control regimes in the world”. – ‘Shocking increase’ -The UK contributes components to an international defence programme that produces and maintains the F-35s for Israel and several other countries.Defence Secretary John Healey had argued a suspension would impact the “whole F-35 programme” and have a “profound impact on international peace and security”.In September 2024, the new Labour government announced it was suspending around 30 of 350 export licences following a review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law.But the partial ban did not cover British-made F-35 parts, which include refuelling probes, laser targeting systems, tyres and ejector seats, according to Oxfam.UK-based NGO Campaign Against Arms Trade has said that licensing figures showed the government had made a “shocking increase in military exports to Israel” in the months after the September 2024 announcement of partial suspensions.It said the figures showed the UK approved £127.6 million ($170 million) in military equipment to Israel in single-issue licences from October to December 2024, saying this was more than for the period from 2020 to 2023 combined.Most of the licences were for military radars, components and software, as well as targeting equipment, according to the NGO, which was involved in the case against the government.Israel launched war on Gaza after an attack by militants from Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 56,500 people in Gaza, an occupied Palestinian territory, most of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.

A French court on Monday sentenced seven Afghans and two Iraqi Kurds to seven to eight years in jail over the fatal capsizing of a boat carrying would-be asylum seekers from France to England in 2022.France and Britain have vowed to crack down on people smugglers who heap migrants on flimsy dinghies to make the dangerous Channel crossing in exchange for thousands of dollars.In the latest such case to go to court in France, a small boat departed France early on December 14, 2022, carrying people from Afghanistan, Albania, India and Senegal. Four people died and four went missing after the dinghy burst a few kilometres (miles) from the English coast.Only one of the bodies was identified — that of an Afghan man. Rescuers saved 39 people from drowning.A court in the French city of Lille sentenced three men to eight years behind bars.They included an Afghan being tried in absentia and thought to be the mastermind of the smuggling operation.It handed the rest seven-year sentences over the disaster.They included two Afghan brothers accused of financing the operation and another Afghan who admitted to summoning passengers for the crossing, although he claimed he did it after being threatened. The court ordered all to pay 50,000 to 100,000 euros ($58,000 to 117,000) in fines, and to leave French territory at the end of their sentences. A tenth man, who is being held in Belgium, is to be tried at a later date.A British court has already sentenced a Senegalese minor who steered the boat to nine years in jail, French prosecutors said.During the trial earlier this month, the prosecutor said the dinghy involved in the accident had been “completely unsuitable for navigation on high seas”.She said the defendants had been benefitting from a “highly lucrative” illegal trade, with migrants paying on average 3,500 euros ($4,000) for the crossing.- Loud bang -According to the investigation, several people heard a loud bang that sounded like the dinghy had been punctured before the departure. The smugglers told the passengers not to worry and that the boat was the only one available for the crossing.But the sea was rough and there were not enough life jackets for all the passengers.Those who died were not wearing any, according to the testimony of survivors. After one or two hours, the boat filled with water and panicked passengers stood up to get the attention of another ship.But the hull of the capsizing boat burst under the weight of the water. All the passengers fell into the freezing sea.The 2022 accident was one of the deadliest in the Channel in recent years.In November 2021, another deadly incident killed 27 people off the French coast, in a case that has not yet gone to court.At least 17 people have died attempting the Channel crossing this year, after a record 78 lost their lives last year.As part of efforts to stem migrant crossings, French authorities intervene on land to try to prevent boats leaving. They also intervene at sea but only to rescue passengers if a boat asks for help.Paris says it is now considering also stopping migrant boats in its shallow coastal waters, though the move raises both safety and legal issues.