UK says Lebanon must be part of ceasefire deal

LONDON —Britain wants to see the ceasefire in the Middle East extended to Lebanon, UK’s foreign secretary Yvette Cooper said on Thursday as Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “We do want to see the ceasefire extended to Lebanon. I’m deeply troubled about the escalating attacks that we saw from Israel in Lebanon yesterday,” Cooper told Sky News. “We’ve seen the humanitarian consequences, the huge mass displacement of people in Lebanon. So we do strongly want to see the ceasefire extended to Lebanon,” she said. In an annual foreign policy speech at ⁠Mansion House in London, Cooper will repeat calls for Lebanon to ⁠be included in a two-week ceasefire agreed between Iran and the US on Tuesday. “The fundamental freedoms of the seas must not be unilaterally withdrawn or sold off to individual bidders. Nor can there be any ‌place ⁠for tolls on an international waterway. Freedom of navigation means navigation must be free,” Cooper will say, according to advance extracts. Cooper’s comments came as Starmer arrived in the UAE on the second leg of his visit to the Gulf to meet with regional leaders in an effort to bolster the ceasefire in the Middle East war. Starmer on Wednesday met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah. “The prime minister began by welcoming the ceasefire and set out how efforts must now be focused on upholding it and turning it into a lasting peace,” a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement. “He was clear that it was vital now to continue work to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and discussed the UK’s ongoing efforts to convene partners to agree and plan the practical steps required to give shipping the confidence to transit the Strait,” the spokesperson added. The visit follows a virtual meeting Tuesday of military planners from over 30 countries hosted by Britain.The meeting explored measures for an international coalition to make the Strait of Hormuz accessible and safe after a ceasefire according to the Ministry of Defense. Last week, a UK-led diplomatic virtual meeting of around 40 countries also discussed the critical waterway.It has been largely closed since the US-Israeli war against Iran started on February 28, impacting global supplies of oil, liquified natural gas, and fertilizer. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained extremely limited on Wednesday despite the announcement of the ceasefire between the United States and Iran. — Agencies