Unite or Die: Rishi Sunak tells Conservatives before becoming new UK PM
London: Rishi Sunak, who is to take oath as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Tuesday, told his colleagues in the Conservative party on Monday to ‘unite or die’, reported The Guardian.
Sunak was elected leader of the Conservative Party on Monday. During a confidential meeting with the party leaders, Sunak is learned to have said that he would give priority to policies over personalities. The Cabinet would reshuffled on Tuesday, he said.
Stating before his party colleagues that they were fighting an economic as well as political crisis, Sunak is reported to have reminded that they would all be held accountable for it by the citizens. He also stated that they were capable of fixing it as they had time till the next election. “We have got the talent, the energy and the ideas,” and also reminded his colleagues, “But we got one shot, no second chances.”
Sunak’s predecessor Liz Truss chairs her final Cabinet meeting and also meets King Charles at the Buckingham Palace. Sunak will then meet the King and deliver a speech outside the official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 10, Downing Street.
The first British Asian to become prime minister of the United Kingdom and the second person to become prime minister in less than two months, Sunak is also the youngest British Prime Minister at 42 years.
Each candidate in the contest for the post of the prime minister was required to get the support of at least 100 MPs to remain in the contest. Sunak got the support of 193 MPs, while his Conservative Party rival Penny Mordaunt was supported by 26 MPs only, after which she withdrew from the contest.
Labour party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said that Sunak clearly had no mandate and again called for a general election in the United Kingdom.
“Sunak has been crowned prime minister without him uttering a single word on his plans to run the country and without anyone having the chance to vote,” she added.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
