The State Department bypasses Congress to sell 20,000 bombs to Israel. The ministry has announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio believes there is an emergency following the war in Iran and therefore the immediate sale of bombs to Israel for approximately £660 million is necessary. The New York Times reports this, citing sources who say that this is the first time in Trump’s second administration that an emergency has been formally declared, as provided for in the Arms Export Control Act, to bypass Congress and sell arms to Israel.
The Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs announced today that over half a million people have been registered as displaced since the outbreak of the new war between Israel and Hezbollah. At a press conference, Haneen Sayed said that the total number of people who have registered their names on a website affiliated with the ministry has reached 517,000, of whom 117,228 are in government shelters.
