MUSCAT/BEIRUT: Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al Busaidy, Foreign Minister, on Monday received a phone call from David Lammy, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom (UK).
The two ministers discussed the historical and strategic relations between the two countries and the keenness to continue developing economic interests and in the energy fields, including renewable energy, in addition to security and defence cooperation.
The two sides discussed the regional developments, stressing the need to intensify regional and international efforts to stop the military escalation and prevent the deterioration of the humanitarian situation. The two sides also expressed their concern over the increasing number of civilian casualties in Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories, especially the Gaza Strip, as well as the increasing risks to the stability of the region.
The two ministers underscored the importance of collective action within the framework of the international community's responsibilities to achieve and establish a comprehensive and just political solution to the Palestinian cause as a basis for security and stability in the region.
They underlined the need to open urgent and safe humanitarian corridors for relief supplies to the Gaza Strip, back and empower the Palestinian National Authority, and resume full international support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel's third-largest city, Haifa, on Monday as Israeli forces looked poised to expand ground raids into south Lebanon on the first anniversary of the Gaza war, which has spread conflict across the Middle East.
Hezbollah said it targeted a military base south of Haifa with 'Fadi 1' missiles and launched another strike on Tiberias, 65 km away. Hezbollah said it targeted areas north of Haifa in a second salvo of missiles later in the day. Israel's military said around 135 projectiles had entered Israeli territory on Monday as of 5 pm. Ten people were reported injured in the Haifa area and two others further south in central Israel.
The military said the air force was carrying out extensive bombings of Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon, and that two Israeli soldiers were killed in border-area combat, taking the military death toll inside Lebanon so far to 11.
It said it also carried out a targeted strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, where a thick plume of smoke could be seen.
Lebanon's health ministry said 10 firefighters were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a municipal building in the border-area town of Bint Jbeil, and that other aerial attacks on Sunday killed 22 people in a swathe of southern and eastern towns.
An Israeli military statement said five rockets were launched towards Haifa, also a major Mediterranean port, from Lebanon, and interceptors were fired at them. "Fallen projectiles were identified in the area. The incident is under review."
It said 15 other rockets were fired inland at Tiberias in Israel's northern Galilee region, some of which were shot down. Israeli media said five more rockets hit the Tiberias area later.
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