Latest from Business Recorder
Business Recorder
3 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Pakistan warns nationals against traveling to Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday issued a travel advisory, strongly urging Pakistani nationals to avoid all travel to Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria due to the current security situation in the region. In a statement, the ministry said the advisory was being issued for the safety and security of Pakistani citizens, advising them to defer all non-essential travel to the four countries until conditions improve. Pakistani nationals currently residing in these countries have been advised to exercise extreme caution, remain vigilant, and minimise non-essential movement. Foreign ministry denies Pakistan-Iran border closure reports The Foreign Office also urged citizens to stay in regular contact with Pakistan's diplomatic missions for timely updates and assistance. The ministry advised citizens to contact Pakistan embassies in Tehran, Zahidan, Mashhad, Baghdad, Beirut, and Damascus on these numbers: Embassy of Pakistan in Iran Tehran +98-21-66-9413-88/89/90/91 (landline) +98-21-66-9448-88/90 (landline) +98 9100 607 658 (mobile) Zahidan +98 54 33 22 3389 (landline) +98 99129 45346 (mobile) Mashhad +98 910 762 5302 Embassy of Pakistan in Baghdad, Iraq Cell/Whatsapp: +964(0)7839800899 +964(0)7834950183 +964(0)7834950311 Email: [email protected] Embassy of Pakistan in Beirut, Lebanon Cell/Whatsapp: +961-81669488 +961-81815104 Email: [email protected] Embassy of Pakistan in Damascus, Syria Cell/Whatsapp: +963983538186 Landline +963116132696 Email: [email protected] The ministry stressed that the measure was part of ongoing efforts to safeguard Pakistani citizens in areas facing heightened regional instability.
Business Recorder
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
US envoy says Hezbollah involvement in Iran-Israel war would be ‘very bad decision'
BEIRUT: The US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack warned Lebanese group Hezbollah on Thursday against getting involved in the war between its main backer Iran and Israel. Barrack, who is also the US ambassador to Turkey, is on his first visit to Beirut, where he met top Lebanese officials including parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah. 'I can say on behalf of President (Donald) Trump… that would be a very, very, very bad decision,' Barrack said after his meeting with Berri, responding to a question on what the US position would be on any involvement by Hezbollah in the war. In a statement, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the group will 'act as we see fit'. 'Tyrannical America and criminal Israel will not be able to subjugate the Iranian people and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,' Qassem said. Hezbollah, he added, still had 'the responsibility to stand by Iran and provide it with all forms of support that contribute to putting an end to this tyranny and oppression'. Hezbollah suffered devastating losses in its war against Israel last year, which ended with a ceasefire agreement in November. Trump to decide on US action in Israel-Iran conflict within two weeks, White House says When Israel struck Iran last week, the Lebanese foreign ministry said that it was 'continuing its contacts' to spare the country from being dragged into any conflict. In a statement shared by the Lebanese presidency after his meeting with Barrack, President Joseph Aoun said that 'communications are ongoing to achieve the goal of weapons monopoly at both the Lebanese and Palestinian levels, and will intensify after stability returns… to the region'. According to the November ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah must pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the area. Israel is required to fully withdraw its troops but has kept them in five locations in Lebanon it deems 'strategic'. Lebanon has also recently ramped up efforts to disarm Palestinian groups, which for decades had been in charge of Palestinian refugee camps in the country. After his meeting with Barrack, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam expressed Lebanon's 'commitment to the choice of security and stability and rejection of being dragged into the ongoing war in the region'. He also asked the US envoy 'to assist Lebanon in pressuring Israel for its complete withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories'. Despite the ongoing ceasefire, Israel has carried out repeated strikes in Lebanon, which it has said will continue until Hezbollah has been disarmed. An Israeli strike killed one person in the southern village of Hula on Thursday, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Business Recorder
4 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Pakistan warns nations against traveling to Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday issued a travel advisory, strongly urging Pakistani nationals to avoid all travel to Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria due to the current security situation in the region. In a statement, the ministry said the advisory was being issued for the safety and security of Pakistani citizens, advising them to defer all non-essential travel to the four countries until conditions improve. Pakistani nationals currently residing in these countries have been advised to exercise extreme caution, remain vigilant, and minimise non-essential movement. Foreign ministry denies Pakistan-Iran border closure reports The Foreign Office also urged citizens to stay in regular contact with Pakistan's diplomatic missions for timely updates and assistance. The ministry advised citizens to contact Pakistan embassies in Tehran, Zahidan, Mashhad, Baghdad, Beirut, and Damascus on these numbers: Embassy of Pakistan in Iran Tehran +98-21-66-9413-88/89/90/91 (landline) +98-21-66-9448-88/90 (landline) +98 9100 607 658 (mobile) Zahidan +98 54 33 22 3389 (landline) +98 99129 45346 (mobile) Mashhad +98 910 762 5302 Embassy of Pakistan in Baghdad, Iraq Cell/Whatsapp: +964(0)7839800899 +964(0)7834950183 +964(0)7834950311 Email: [email protected] Embassy of Pakistan in Beirut, Lebanon Cell/Whatsapp: +961-81669488 +961-81815104 Email: [email protected] Embassy of Pakistan in Damascus, Syria Cell/Whatsapp: +963983538186 Landline +963116132696 Email: [email protected] The ministry stressed that the measure was part of ongoing efforts to safeguard Pakistani citizens in areas facing heightened regional instability.
Business Recorder
5 hours ago
- Health
- Business Recorder
Gaza rescuers say Israeli fire kills 72
GAZA CITY: Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 72 people on Thursday, including 21 who had gathered near aid distribution sites as famine looms after more than 20 months of war. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that six people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 15 others in a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, where thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations. The Israeli army told AFP that its troops in Netzarim corridor – a strip of land militarised by Israel that bisects the Palestinian territory – had fired 'warning shots' at 'suspects' approaching them, but that it was 'not aware of any injured individuals'. The army did not comment on the incident reported in the south. In northern Gaza, Bassal said that nine separate Israeli strikes killed another 51 people, updating earlier tolls provided by his agency. Bassam Abu Shaar, who witnessed the shooting incident in the Netzarim area, said thousands of people had gathered there overnight in the hope of receiving aid at the US- and Israeli-backed distribution site when it opened in the morning. Gaza rescuers say Israel army kills at least 50 people near aid site 'Around 1:00 am (2200 GMT Wednesday), they started shooting at us,' he told AFP by phone, reporting gunfire, tank shelling and bombs dropped by drones. Abu Shaar said that the size of the crowd had made it impossible for people to escape, with casualties left lying on the ground within walking distance of the distribution point, which is run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. 'We couldn't help them or even escape ourselves,' he said. At least 300 Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while trying to reach aid distribution points in Gaza, which is suffering from famine-like conditions, the Hamas-run territory's health ministry has said. Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and authorities in the Palestinian territory. In early March, Israel imposed an aid blockade on Gaza amid a deadlock in truce negotiations, only partially easing restrictions in late May. After Israel loosened its blockade, the privately run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began distributing aid, but its operations have been marred by chaotic scenes. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation – which has the support of Israel and its ally the United States – over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
Business Recorder
5 hours ago
- Health
- Business Recorder
Israel says WHO ‘selective silence' deafening after hospital hit in Iranian strike
GENEVA: Israel accused the World Health Organization of a deafening 'selective silence' after a hospital in southern Israel was hit in an Iranian missile strike on Thursday. Daniel Meron, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba was a civilian facility. In a video on X filmed outside the WHO's headquarters, he demanded a condemnation from the UN health agency. A few hours later, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued a statement saying the reports on attacks on health in the conflict between Iran and Israel were 'appalling', citing the hospital. The Soroka Hospital was left in flames by a bombardment that Iran said targeted a military and intelligence base. In his video, Meron was standing at the road entrance to the WHO's offices in Geneva, with the main building visible in the background. 'I'm here with a clear message to the WHO, to the director general of the WHO, Dr Tedros,' Meron said. Trump to decide on US action in Israel-Iran conflict within two weeks, White House says 'A few hours ago, a ballistic missile was shot from Iran directly at the main hospital in the south of Israel, the Soroka Hospital. Dozens of people were wounded and hundreds were evacuated from this hospital. 'It is not a military site. It is a civilian hospital… the selective silence of the WHO is deafening. 'They must condemn the shooting of ballistic missiles and the targeting from Iran at civilian targets in Israel.' The WHO has repeatedly mentioned damage to healthcare infrastructure in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war in the Palestinian territory, triggered by the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas. On Tuesday, the WHO said only 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were currently minimally to partially functional. In a message later Thursday on X, Tedros said: 'The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran is putting health facilities and access to health care at risk. The reports on the attacks on health so far are appalling.' He cited 'this morning's attack on Soroka Medical Centre', and a hospital in Kermanshah in Iran being 'impacted by a nearby explosion'. 'We call on all parties to protect health facilities, health personnel and patients at all times,' said Tedros. WHO's director for Europe Hans Kluge said he was 'deeply disturbed to learn of the attack on Soroka Hospital', having visited it following the October 7, 2023 attacks. 'Hospitals and health workers must never be targets – under any circumstances,' Kluge said. Israel is in the WHO's Europe region.
