Arab summit draft communique adopts Egyptian plan for Gaza

BEIRUT: Lebanese official media said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south on Tuesday killed one person, the latest deadly raid amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“An enemy drone launched a strike” targeting a vehicle in Tyre district, killing one person, the National News Agency said.
It published an image of a burning, mangled car.
A November 27 truce agreement largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, including two months of full-blown war during which Israel sent in ground troops.
Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the deal took effect.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah weapons smuggler in a strike on eastern Lebanon the previous day.
On Thursday, the Israeli military said its forces struck a Hezbollah observation post in the south and on Wednesday it said it targeted a “significant” Hezbollah militant in the east.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel was due to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems “strategic.”
The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
Last week, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces would remain indefinitely in what he called a “buffer zone” in south Lebanon.

London: An advert campaign will be launched in Iraq to dissuade people from traveling illegally to the UK, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

Thousands of migrants have made the dangerous journey across the English Channel since 2018, with 592 doing so on Sunday alone, according to the UK Home Office.

Many of the trips are facilitated by criminal gangs, and the crossings can often lead to accidents and fatalities.

The new campaign will be aimed primarily at people in semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, and will be spread via social media, apps and websites.

The Home Office previously launched similar adverts in Albania and Vietnam. One advert featured an image of an upturned dinghy, alongside quotes from people who had previously risked the crossing, including “the boat was too crowded” and “people disappeared into the sea.”

Another advert quoted a female migrant as saying: “I was promised a well-paid job. Instead I was a slave.”

Home Office Minister Dame Angela Eagle said: “Ruthless criminal gangs spread dangerous lies on social media to exploit people for money, and we are exposing them using the real stories of their victims.”

UK Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt said during a trip to Iraq last week: “Our international campaign is sending a clear message to prospective migrants that these criminals cannot be trusted.”

A spokesperson for the Refugee Council told the BBC that people suffering enough to flee their homes in the first place would be unlikely to be dissuaded by a social media advert campaign.

At least 2,716 people have made the trip to the UK across the Channel so far this year, a 20 percent rise from the same period in 2024, according to the Home Office. A total of 36,816 people crossed last year, including more than 2,000 Iraqis.