BRITAIN is calling on its citizens to immediately leave Lebanon as tensions in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continue to rise.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy warned the situation could “deteriorate rapidly” and urged Brits to leave while they still can.
It comes after 37 people were killed and over 3,000 injured in remote-controlled device explosions across Lebanon this week.
Israeli Mossad spies twice surprised terror group Hezbollah by hiding explosives inside their pagers and walkie-talkies and setting them off.
Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to seek revenge and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched airstrikes above southern Lebanon today as tensions soar.
Mr Lammy tweeted today: “My message to British nationals in Lebanon is leave while commercial options remain.
“Tensions are high and the situation could deteriorate rapidly.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened a “crushing response” against Israel for the hack attacks this week.
Lebanese security forces claim Israeli spooks planted explosives inside thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah, months before the blitz.
Top brass inside the militant group had ordered its fighters to swap phones for pagers in a failed move to keep Israel from tracking them.
Mossad reportedly intercepted the devices on the supply route and packed them with the explosive PETN.
After the initial wave of pager blasts on Tuesday, other devices including walkie-talkies, fingerprint scanners, home solar systems and radios also exploded in Lebanon on Wednesday.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah hit out against Israel in a speech today, saying the “enemy” had crossed “all limits, rules and red lines” in a “massacre”.
He dubbed it a “declaration of war”.
Meanwhile Israel moved hordes of troops to its northern border with Lebanon and unleashed a wave of airstrikes on the country.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) hit seven targets in the country after Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said a “new phase” of war had begun.
Warplanes fired on settlements in southern Lebanon overnight and heavy artillery also fired across the northern border.
THE wife of the “Beast of Avignon” had to endure 27 photos of her harrowing rape being shown to a hushed court.
Gisèle Pélicot was drugged by her twisted husband Dominique Pelicot, 71, so that 72 men he recruited online could rape her over the course of 10 years.
The 72-year-old voiced outrage to the court about the way the lawyers for some of the 50 men accused had relayed their claims that they believed she had consented and was enacting a fantasy when they had sex with her.
Dominique Pélicot, 71, told the court on Tuesday that he had organised the rape of his wife by 49 of the men over a decade after secretly sedating her.
She had known nothing about her ordeal until police found video of the crimes on his phone.
Twenty-seven images were shown to the court in silence yesterday, including Ms Pelicot naked and conscious, reports say.
She said she had no memory of the pictures being taken.
Sixteen of the accused are denying guilt, claiming that they believed claims by Pélicot that they were playing a “libertine” game when they were invited to the couple’s home at Mazan, near Avignon, where the trial is taking place.
Before the men gave evidence, Mrs Pélicot, who has gone public to expose the horrors of conjugal sexual violence, addressed the court.
“Today forgiveness does not exist,” she said, adding that she was furious with the defence lawyers’ conduct since the trial opened on September 2.
“Since I arrived in this court, I have felt humiliated,” she said.
“They have treated me as an alcoholic, making out that I get into an inebriated state in a way that makes me an accomplice of Mr Pélicot.
“In the state that I was in, I absolutely couldn’t reply to anything at all.
“I was in a state of coma, and the videos that they are going to show are going to prove that,” she added.
While her life had been “destroyed” for ten years, she said: “I get the impression that I’m the guilty party and the 50 men behind me are victims.”
The Pélicots’ daughter, Caroline, photographs of whom were found on her father’s devices alongside images of her mother being raped, was on the verge of tears as her mother spoke.
After dodging giving evidence due to poor health, Dominique Pelicot took the stand at the Vaucluse Criminal Court, in Avignon, on Tuesday.
The vile grandfather made the twisted claim he recruited scores of men to rape his wife Gisèle Pélicot because he was “utterly idle” in retirement.
Pélicot is on trial alongside 50 other men charged with “aggravated rape” of his wife.
He now faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the horror crimes.
Asked by a defence lawyer how he “picked up dozens of strangers” to rape his wife, Pélicot said: “I didn’t pick anyone up, they came and got me themselves.
“They asked me and I said yes. They agreed and came to my home. I didn’t handcuff anyone to my home.”
He told the court there was a tripod and camera in the bedroom, “for all to see”, and that he respected everyone who turned up.
He said: “I trusted these men who knew why they were coming.”
There was also intense drama when Pélicot faced his only daughter, Caroline Darian, in court.
His daughter has previously claimed that she was also drugged by her sicko father.
However, he denied the claim in court.
Police found images on Mr Pélicot’s camera and laptop that showed multiple alleged rapes of his wife between 2011 and 2020.
Ms Pélicot had remained silent during the first three days of the rape trial but took the stands last Thursday to speak about the harrowing case.
The brave mum stood tall and faced dozens of men accused of sexually assaulting her while she allegedly lay unconscious.
Ms Pélicot said she does not know how she survived the atrocities that spanned over nine years by her husband who she thought was the love of her life.
She described the bedroom where she was raped as a “torture chamber”.
“I don’t know how I survived … I ask myself how I am standing before you,” she told the court.
The mum even said she could have never “imagined” she was drugged “even for a single second”.
“I lost 10 years of my life. Those are years I will never get back.”
Ms Pelicot revealed she thought of taking her own life, but with the support of her family and children, she gathered the courage to build a new identity.
Ms Pélicot could have chosen to stay anonymous and let the trial happen behind closed doors under French laws.
But she decided to come out and speak of the horror she faced as she told the court “no woman should suffer” what she did.
The trial continues.
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
MARRIED At First Sight UK groom Kieran caused fans’ hearts to melt with a unique compliment about his new bride.
In Wednesday’s episode, Kieran and new bride Kristina were sent off on their romantic honeymoon as part of the E4 experiment, having got married without ever meeting before.
After Kieran met her at the altar with false teeth in his mouth, Kristina looked scared but later embraced the joke, with their quirky lust for life and sense of humour proving to be an immediate bonding point.
Heading off on their honeymoon, and their relationship seemed to continue to bloom, promising to give it “everything they’ve got” and “keep each other’s smiles on their faces”.
Speaking to the camera, Kieran said: “Tonight has been beautiful. Kristina’s just the brightest coloured pencil in the pencil case, and just brightens up every room she walks into.”
That seemed to seal the pair as fan favourites, with viewers taking to Instagram and X in order to celebrate what they hope to be a happy couple.
“The brightest pencil in the pencil case” STOP why are Kieran and Kristina actually so cute #MAFSUK,” wrote one.
“’She’s the brightest coloured pencil in the pencil case’ has got to be one of the best MAFS compliments ever,” said another.
The pair proved to be a strong pair from the outset, with Kieran beaming: “You are my woman!” as they hugged and laughed at the altar before even knowing each others’ names.
He later told cameras: “Oh my God, she’s absolutely stunning. She’s amazing. She’s actually everything I could wish for.”
“I’m feeling like I’ve hit gold,” he said after the vows. “She is just the most bubbly, happiest, outgoing person I’ve ever met. And she’s mine. She’s my wife!”
He later even sang a song about their new marriage at the wedding reception.
While the songs explicit content may have left guests a little confused, it only seemed to endear Kristina even more.
When she discovered he lived in a caravan, she broke down in tears, saying how excited she was to move in with his dog, Hugo, and embrace a more rural life.
Animal reiki practitioner Kristina is no stranger to the great outdoors, regularly walking pooches, but her spouse feared she might not take to his lifestyle.
The pair’s connection seemed instantaneous as they embarked on their marriage – which is far luckier than some of the others on the series, with one groom slamming his bride as “not his type” seconds after they met.
In contrast, the Kieran and Kristina were both left in tears over their excitement at starting a life together.
But now they’ve tied the knot, will their happy demeanour remain as the real experiment begins?
Married At First Sight UK continues 9pm on Channel 4.
