标签： Oceania

A new chapter in diplomatic efforts to stabilize the Middle East emerged Friday, as France and the United Kingdom announced they would spearhead a strictly defensive multinational task force to safeguard unimpeded navigation through the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz — a deployment that will only move forward once a durable regional ceasefire is finalized.

The joint confirmation came as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired a high-level international conference in Paris, convened specifically to address threats to global trade passing through the key shipping chokepoint. Hosted primarily via video conference, the gathering drew participation from 49 countries across Europe and Asia, with representation ranging from senior diplomatic envoys to dozens of heads of state and government. Notably, neither the United States nor Iran, the two primary opposing actors in the ongoing regional conflict, took part in the discussions.

The crisis that prompted the conference began on February 28, when Iran implemented a shipping blockade of the strait immediately after the U.S. and Israel launched military operations against the Islamic republic. The disruption sent immediate economic shockwaves across the globe, stoking widespread fears of renewed global inflation, disrupting global fuel supply chains, and raising alarms over potential worldwide food shortages.

Tensions eased somewhat during the Paris talks, however, when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced via a post on X that the Strait of Hormuz would remain open to all commercial vessels for the duration of any Middle East ceasefire. The announcement was met with a measured positive response from global markets.

In his remarks following the conference, Starmer emphasized that the multinational mission would only activate once conditions on the ground allow for a stable deployment. “This will be strictly peaceful and defensive as a mission to reassure commercial shipping and support mine clearance,” Starmer stated, noting that more than 12 nations have already committed to contributing military assets to the effort.

Macron echoed the call for a permanent end to hostilities, saying that while leaders welcomed Iran’s temporary reopening announcement, they continued to push for “a full, unconditional reopening by all the parties.” The French president added that the verified opening of the strait makes the multinational mission even more critical: it will serve to consolidate recent diplomatic gains in the short term, and lay the groundwork for long-term stability in the corridor.

Macron stressed that the task force is explicitly neutral, and operates completely independent of the belligerent parties currently engaged in the regional conflict. Multiple European nations have already signaled their willingness to join the effort: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who attended the conference in person, confirmed Italy stands ready to participate, joining Macron and Starmer in emphasizing that a full ceasefire must precede any deployment. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, also present in Paris, noted that it would be desirable for the United States to join the mission at a later date.

The conference marked a key moment for European diplomatic and security leadership, coming after European powers were largely sidelined from earlier U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. The U.S. response has been guarded so far: in a post-conference social media statement, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had rejected an offer from NATO to assist with securing the strait, telling the transatlantic alliance to “STAY AWAY”. It remains unclear whether Trump’s comment referenced the Paris-led initiative, as NATO was not invited to or represented at Friday’s talks.

Starmer framed the mission as a critical step to protect the global economy, noting that “the world needs the Strait of Hormuz fully open because that is how we keep prices down for our people and stop the global economic damage” caused by the blockade. While he welcomed Iran’s announcement of a temporary opening during a ceasefire, he underscored that the international community must work to guarantee the opening is lasting and functional.

According to a statement from Starmer’s office, senior military commanders from participating nations will gather next week at the UK’s Northwood military command headquarters outside London to work out operational details for the proposed task force.

Hours after a fragile ceasefire took hold between Israel and Hezbollah, displaced residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs — a long-standing Hezbollah stronghold — began a tentative journey home on Friday, threading past crumpled building facades and mountains of concrete rubble to assess what remains of their lives.

Streaming back in private cars and on motorbikes, many carried only the few belongings they grabbed when they fled, their arrivals marked by equal measures of relief at the lull in fighting and heartbreak over the scale of destruction left by weeks of Israeli airstrikes that began on March 2.

Among the early returnees was 42-year-old Insaf Ezzedine, who fled the neighborhood of Hay al-Sellom and spent the duration of the conflict bouncing between makeshift street shelters after formal evacuation centers hit capacity. Speaking to Agence France-Presse on a Hezbollah-organized media tour of the area — where independent journalist movement remains restricted — Ezzedine described the overwhelming force of the bombardments that shook the district’s aging, densely packed residential blocks. As her young daughter clung to a plastic doll on the back of their motorbike, she voiced what many returning residents echoed: a desperate longing for lasting peace. “We hope the war will stop and we’ll all go back to our homes and live in peace,” she said. “We want to live with our kids in safety. Our own home was badly damaged, so we’re heading to my brother’s place now.”

The scope of damage is visible on every major thoroughfare in the southern suburbs. Piles of broken concrete, toppled solar panels and dented water tanks block roadside verges, while storefronts along main roads stand gutted, their metal doors blown off their hinges and shop windows shattered into shards. Occasional cars bearing Hezbollah’s yellow flags pass families walking and driving through the rubble-strewn streets, many loaded with whatever personal items they have been able to salvage.

Seventy-five-year-old Samia Lawand traveled back with her daughter and grandchildren only to confirm the worst: their home was too damaged to reoccupy. “We came to check on the house and pick up a few things, but we found the place was too damaged, so we’re leaving again,” Lawand said from the front passenger seat of her family’s car. Her 42-year-old daughter Mariam added that shattered glass and scattered belongings made the space unlivable. In one particularly striking scene on a major artery, a mid-rise building had its entire side torn away by a strike, leaving office furniture and even a complete dentist’s chair exposed to open air. Opposite a blackened, destroyed building just steps from a large portrait of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, the twisted wreckage of burned-out cars sits abandoned.

For 34-year-old Hassan Hanoud, who fled to central Beirut with his wife, children and mother to escape the bombardment, the ceasefire represented a chance to return to the only home his family has. “We left for the kids’ sake,” Hanoud explained, a young child resting in his lap as a young daughter behind him held a worn plush toy. “The last time we went back, all the doors and windows were broken, but now the kids just want to come home.”

In the Tahouitet al-Ghadir neighborhood, the first signs of slow recovery are already emerging. Shopkeepers have begun sweeping away debris to reopen their storefronts, and small groups of residents have begun to gather. Long-separated relatives hugged and wept when reunited for the first time since the escalation of hostilities.

Sixty-five-year-old Mustafa, who owns a local garage and spent the war moving between makeshift beachfront tents near the Beirut coast, was one of the first to return, arriving just minutes after the ceasefire went into effect at midnight. “There’s no better feeling than coming back to your area and your people,” he said.

But for many, the fragile truce comes at a devastating cost, bringing a complex mix of fear and cautious hope. Seventy-six-year-old retired soldier Ezzedine Shahrour, who fled the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Hammam and now has one son serving in the Lebanese army and another in security forces, has been begging his children to take him home, even as they warn the security situation remains unstable. “There’s fear and hope” after the ceasefire, he acknowledged.

Seventy-three-year-old Jaafar Ali, who fled the southern Lebanese city of Tyre with his family to shelter in Beirut, came to southern Beirut to check on the home of his relatives. He recalled fleeing so abruptly that the family left in their nightclothes, with no time to grab belongings. “We don’t know how we got out, and we don’t know what’s happened to the house,” he said. While he is relieved the fighting has paused, the loss has been overwhelming. “We’re happy about the ceasefire, but we’ve paid a high price. Our homes were badly damaged. We’ve lost a lot… I feel like crying. Thank God we’re still alive, but what about all the people who died under the rubble?”

A fragile 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah has come into force along the Lebanon-Israel border, opening the door for thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians to rush toward their war-ravaged homes in southern Lebanon and southern Beirut. Despite official warnings from the Lebanese military against returning to areas heavily damaged by weeks of Israeli targeting of Hezbollah positions, crowds of families have already gathered at destroyed crossing points, waiting for infrastructure repairs to be completed so they can begin their journey home.

At the bombed-out Qasmiyeh bridge near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, AFP journalists documented long lines of vehicles packed with belongings and anxious residents, many of whom had been displaced for weeks amid the escalating cross-border conflict. For many of these returnees the temporary truce, negotiated through U.S. diplomatic pressure led by President Donald Trump, has brought a long-awaited glimmer of hope after months of violence. “Our feelings are indescribable, pride and victory,” 37-year-old returnee Amani Atrash told AFP from her car while waiting in the queue, adding that she held out hope the 10-day truce would be extended into a longer lasting ceasefire.

Across the international border in northern Israel, civilian movement restrictions remain in place for vulnerable border communities ordered by the Israeli military’s home front command. Even so, some Israeli civilians are already daring to hope for a return to everyday normalcy after weeks of sheltering from rocket attacks. “I’ve got a three-year-old girl and a two-month-old baby, and the whole time we’ve just not left the house because you never know when there’ll be a rocket attack,” 31-year-old Ofir Ben Aris Lev told AFP. “It’s been crazy, but I think things will be quiet now and I’ll be able to take my daughter to the park”, he added.

Hezbollah, which has sustained heavy damage from Israeli airstrikes and deployed ground fighters in southern Lebanon, has confirmed it will respect the truce so long as Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory cease, but remains on high alert for any violations. “The fighters will keep their finger on the trigger because they are wary of the enemy’s treachery,” the movement said in an official statement. Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Moussawi told AFP the group would “cautiously adhere” to the truce if Israeli attacks stopped, and thanked Iran for applying diplomatic pressure in support of Lebanon.

The ceasefire marks a critical milestone in U.S.-led efforts to broker a broader peace deal between Washington and Tehran, after Iran made an end to the Lebanon-based fighting a non-negotiable precondition for any final agreement. Pakistan has led behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts to restart direct face-to-face negotiations between Tehran and Washington, and President Trump has said the two sides are “very close” to reaching a final agreement.

The conflict in Lebanon erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets into Israel just days after the start of the broader regional Middle East war, in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei. As the ceasefire officially took effect, the Israeli military confirmed it had struck more than 380 targets linked to the “Hezbollah terror organisation” across southern Lebanon during the conflict, and said it remains on “high alert” to resume military operations if the truce is broken.

President Trump confirmed he held separate calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the lead-up to the truce, saying both leaders had agreed to the pause in fighting “in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries”. He added that he expects both Netanyahu and Aoun to visit the White House for talks “over the next four or five days” to continue peace negotiations.

A high-level in-person meeting between Israeli and Lebanese leadership would mark a watershed moment for the long-turbulent region, though it remains unclear whether the meeting will actually go ahead. An anonymous official source told AFP that Lebanese President Aoun has already rejected Trump’s request for a direct call with Netanyahu, a sign of lingering tensions between the two governments.

Netanyahu said the truce opens an opportunity for a “historic peace agreement” with Beirut, but reiterated that the full disarmament of Hezbollah remains a non-negotiable precondition for any long-term deal. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the ceasefire announcement, calling it a “key Lebanese demand that we have pursued since the very first day of the war”.

President Trump called the developing diplomatic progress “very exciting” during a press interaction with AFP at the White House, noting “Today they’re going to be having a ceasefire, and that’ll include Hezbollah.” For Iranian officials, the truce was framed as a victory for Tehran’s diplomatic positioning and Hezbollah’s armed resistance. Iranian state television portrayed the ceasefire as the result of Tehran’s “insistence” alongside Hezbollah’s “resistance” against Israeli aggression.

Netanyahu confirmed Israel agreed to the 10-day truce but will maintain a 10-kilometre (six-mile) “security zone” along the border inside southern Lebanon for the duration of the ceasefire. Violence continued right up to the minute the truce went into effect: Lebanon’s health ministry confirmed that at least seven people were killed and more than 30 wounded in a late Israeli airstrike on the town of Ghazieh on Thursday, just hours before the ceasefire took hold.