International
Russia could provide weapons to hit West, says Putin
Russia could provide weapons to hit West, says Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow could arm countries with a view to attacking Western targets.
Mr Putin made the statement while criticising the West’s delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine.
Several countries including the United States have given Ukraine the green light to strike targets inside Russia.
Such action could lead to “very serious problems”, Mr Putin told foreign reporters.
“If someone thinks it is possible to supply such weapons to a war zone to attack our territory and create problems for us, why don’t we have the right to supply weapons of the same class to regions of the world where there will be strikes on sensitive facilities of those countries?” the Russian president said.
“That is, the response can be asymmetric. We will think about it.”
He did not specify which countries Moscow could supply weapons to.
Mr Putin singled out Germany, which recently told Ukraine it was free to hit targets inside Russia with long-range German-made weapons.
“When they say that there will be more missiles which will hit targets on Russian territory, this definitively destroys Russian-German relations,” Mr Putin said.
US President Joe Biden has given Ukraine permission to use American-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia, but only near the Kharkiv region. The White House has said Ukraine cannot use long-range ATACMS missiles on Russian soil.
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Ukraine has used US weapons to strike inside Russia in recent days, a US senator and a Western official told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Fierce fighting has been raging north-east of Kharkiv since a new Russian push across Ukraine’s northern border. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, is just 30km (18 miles) from the border.
UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said it is up to Ukraine to decide how to use British weapons and insisted it has the right to strike targets on Russian territory.
Ukraine says North Korean missiles are being used inside Ukrainian territory, and Western intelligence agencies say Russia has been using Iranian-made drones in the conflict.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Mr Putin was speaking to foreign journalists at the annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
He also warned that the West was wrong to assume that Moscow would never use nuclear weapons.
“For some reason, the West believes that Russia will never use it,” Mr Putin said when asked by Reuters about the risk of nuclear escalation over Ukraine.
“We have a nuclear doctrine, look what it says. If someone’s actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible for us to use all means at our disposal.
“This should not be taken lightly, superficially.”
Mr Putin also dismissed the idea that Russia has plans to attack Nato territory.
“You should not make Russia out to be the enemy. You’re only hurting yourself with this, you know?” Mr Putin said.
“They thought that Russia wanted to attack Nato. Have you gone completely crazy? That is as thick as this table.
Who came up with this? It is just complete nonsense, you know? Total rubbish.”
Russia could provide weapons to hit West, says Putin
BBC
International
Kuwait flight hostages sue British Airways, UK govt
Kuwait flight hostages sue British Airways, UK govt
Passengers and crew held hostage after a 1990 British Airways flight landed are suing the airline and the UK government for “deliberately endangering” them.
They claim BA and the government knew Iraq had invaded Kuwait before the plane they were travelling on landed in the country.
The 367 passengers and crew of BA Flight 149 were taken hostage, and some were mistreated, seriously sexually assaulted and kept in near-starvation conditions.
The claimants believe those on board were put at risk so an intelligence-gathering mission could take place, an allegation which has been denied for 30 years.
Ninety-four people, either passengers or crew on board Flight 149 or BA crew already in Kuwait awaiting deployment, are behind the civil action alleging the UK government and BA were guilty of negligence and joint misfeasance in public office.
It is the latest step in a long battle to get answers as to what happened during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
On the evening of 1 August 1990, BA Flight 149 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport with a planned stop in Kuwait on its way to Malaysia.
Iraqi troops were already massing on the border with Kuwait ahead of an invasion of the country that night. But the flight was not diverted from stopping in Kuwait.
The claimants say no other airline allowed its planes to land after the invasion began. By the time Flight 149 landed on the morning of 2 August, there was rocket fire near the airport as Iraqi forces took control.
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The plane was evacuated and unable to take off. Those on board were taken hostage.
Some were released quickly, but others suffered mistreatment and were used by Iraq as human shields at key facilities to try to prevent Western forces bombing them.
Passengers and crew held hostage after a 1990 British Airways flight landed are suing the airline and the UK government for “deliberately endangering” them.
They claim BA and the government knew Iraq had invaded Kuwait before the plane they were travelling on landed in the country.
The 367 passengers and crew of BA Flight 149 were taken hostage, and some were mistreated, seriously sexually assaulted and kept in near-starvation conditions.
The claimants believe those on board were put at risk so an intelligence-gathering mission could take place, an allegation which has been denied for 30 years.
Ninety-four people, either passengers or crew on board Flight 149 or BA crew already in Kuwait awaiting deployment, are behind the civil action alleging the UK government and BA were guilty of negligence and joint misfeasance in public office.
It is the latest step in a long battle to get answers as to what happened during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
On the evening of 1 August 1990, BA Flight 149 took off from London’s Heathrow Airport with a planned stop in Kuwait on its way to Malaysia.
Iraqi troops were already massing on the border with Kuwait ahead of an invasion of the country that night. But the flight was not diverted from stopping in Kuwait.
The claimants say no other airline allowed its planes to land after the invasion began. By the time Flight 149 landed on the morning of 2 August, there was rocket fire near the airport as Iraqi forces took control.
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The plane was evacuated and unable to take off. Those on board were taken hostage.
Some were released quickly, but others suffered mistreatment and were used by Iraq as human shields at key facilities to try to prevent Western forces bombing them.
At the centre of the claim is the allegation the UK government and BA received a series of warnings during the night but did not act on them.
It is alleged that one reason for this was the desire of the government to insert a special forces team who could carry out reconnaissance within the country.
Stephen Davis wrote a book about the incident and says he has interviewed members of the team anonymously.
He believes the authorities did not expect the airport to fall to invading Iraqi forces so quickly and the intention was for the men to disembark before the plane went on to its next destination.
The BA cabin services director on the flight previously told the BBC that a British man in military uniform greeted him at the plane’s door on arrival in Kuwait.
The man said he had come to meet 10 men on the flight who had boarded at Heathrow. They were brought to the front, disembarked and were never seen again. But by then, it was too late for the plane to leave.
A UK official serving in the Kuwait embassy at the time previously said he believed there had been a “deniable” operation to hastily put boots on the ground without the full knowledge of the embassy.
Anthony Paice was responsible for political intelligence, a role widely assumed to be cover for MI6.
“I am convinced that the military intelligence exploitation of British Airways Flight 149 did take place, despite repeated official denials,” he told the BBC in his first interview in 2021.
In November 2021, the Foreign Office admitted that Parliament and the public were misled for decades about Flight 149.
Newly released files revealed the British ambassador in Kuwait did warn the Foreign Office about the invasion, but BA was not told.
However, then-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss reiterated earlier denials that the flight was being used for a secret intelligence mission.
“There must be closure and accountability to erase this shameful stain on the UK’s conscience,” said Matthew Jury, from the law firm behind the claim, McCue Jury and Partners.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said the government did not comment on ongoing legal matters. BA did not respond to a request for comment.
Kuwait flight hostages sue British Airways, UK govt
BBC
International
Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
At least six Palestinians have been killed in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and several homes have been destroyed as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the city and pressed further into Shujayea in northern Gaza.
Israeli tanks, which re-entered Shujayea four days ago, fired shells towards several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave, residents said.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that “60,000 to 80,000 people were displaced” from Shujayea in recent days.
For those who remain, “our lives have become hell”, said 50-year-old resident Siham al-Shawa.
She told the AFP news agency that people were trapped as strikes could happen “anywhere” and “it is difficult to get out of the neighbourhood under fire”.
“We do not know where to go to protect ourselves,” she said.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said residents who managed to flee the neighbourhood say the scale of destruction is “massive”.
International
One killed, five injured in France wedding attack
One killed, five injured in France wedding attack
One person was killed and five others sustained gunshot wounds in northeastern France when several masked gunmen opened fire at a wedding ceremony, police sources said on Sunday.
According to sources, the incident in the northeastern city of Thionville was the result of a drug trafficking dispute.
According to an AFP report, the shooting took place overnight, from Saturday to Sunday, in a reception hall with approximately 100 individuals present.
Two people were gravely injured, and one was in critical condition.
The perpetrators of the shooting, however, fled the scene.
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“It was during a wedding,” a police source said.
“At a quarter past one in the morning, a group of people went outside to smoke in front of the hall, and then three heavily armed men arrived and opened fire in their direction.”
According to the informant, the intruders arrived in a 4×4 vehicle, “probably a BMW.” It was unclear where the vehicle had come from.
Thionville is located near the borders of Luxembourg and Germany. Law enforcement officials suspect that the violence was motivated by a desire to settle scores related to narcotics trafficking.
“The wedding was not targeted as such; it was people who were at the wedding,” a source told me.
On Sunday morning, a bullet-pierced glass door was seen at the scene. In the nearby village of Villerupt, five individuals were injured in May 2023 during shootings between rival gangs at a drug distribution site.
One killed, five injured in France wedding attack
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