Lemma Shehadi

Lemma Shehadi

Senior Correspondent


Protesters at a Stop The War Coalition demonstration against Israeli strikes on Gaza and Lebanon in central London. Getty Images
UK's 'remarkably cautious' Middle East policy fails to appease critics

Indecision on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Palestinian statehood and arms sales to Israel have led to calls for a bolder stance on the Middle East

October 12, 2024
Hugo Shorter, who has worked in Lebanon and Syria, is the UK's new ambassador to Iran. Photo: UK Government
Britain’s new Iran ambassador has experience of Hezbollah’s rise

Hugo Shorter replaces Simon Shercliff in Tehran ahead of an anticipated Israeli retaliatory strike

October 04, 2024
Evacuees leave HMS Bulwark on July 21, 2006, at Limassol in Cyprus, Getty Images
As a 2006 evacuee, I understand the wrench of fleeing war-torn Lebanon

The UK's Operation Highbrow to evacuate 4,500 people from Lebanon in 2006 was widely praised, but a rerun is less certain today

October 02, 2024
Heathrow arrival Lara said people in Lebanon were saying goodbye 'like they might not see me ever again'. PA
Relief and fear as people in Lebanon manage to flee to London

The UK will charter a commercial flight from Beirut to Birmingham on Wednesday, but won't commit to further evacuations

October 01, 2024
Fighters affiliated with Syria's Hayat Tahrir Al Sham group display drugs seized at a checkpoint they control in Daret Ezza, Aleppo province, in 2022. AFP
EU-Gulf taskforce could tackle Captagon crisis

Drug use in Syria is driven by people coping with trauma, unemployment or pain from conflict-related injuries

September 30, 2024
Author Onjali Q Rauf and a drawing by Mykhailo, 11, a Ukrainian refugee from Lviv at a school in Eastleigh, UK. Photo: Hachette / International Rescue Committee UK
Teachers turn to poets to help refugee children in increasingly hostile Britain

Volunteers are using books and art to create a more welcoming environment for refugees in UK schools

September 27, 2024
Yasmin Almashaan, who now lives in Germany as a refugee, has filed a criminal complaint to a German court alongside three other families. Photo: Yasmin Almashaan
One woman's quest for bereaved Syrians to find justice in German court

Resident in Germany seeks accountability for Assad regime after losing five brothers in Syria

September 27, 2024
Nicolas Guillou, Iulia Motoc, and Reine Alapini-Gansou. AFP / Iulia Motoc / X / Wikimedia Commons
Three key ICC judges who could send Israeli leaders to The Hague

Little is known about the direction the court's panel could take after a request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders

September 27, 2024
More than 30 flights to and from Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport were cancelled on Tuesday. Reuters
Britain sends 700 troops to Cyprus as nationals told to leave Lebanon

Decision forms first stage of government's contingency plans as conflict intensifies in Lebanon

September 24, 2024
The heavily damaged buildings of Al Azhar University in Gaza city. More academics are fleeing persecution and conflict than ever, a British NGO says. AFP
Gaza academics boost numbers seeking refuge in the UK

Charity sees a record 400% increase in applications in the last three years

September 21, 2024
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan in Kyiv last month. AFP
Former UK director of public prosecutions condemns Israeli PM comments about ICC

Ken Macdonald said Benjamin Netanyahu's accusations against ICC Prosecutor Khan were 'shameful'

September 18, 2024
David Miliband speaks at the Aspen Security Forum in July. Photo: Aspen Security Forum
Miliband: UK should be ambitious without hubris on international aid

The UK has a role to play in supporting war-torn countries that are also most affected by climate change, says David Miliband

September 11, 2024
Emily Thornberry at the Labour Party Annual Conference in 2022. Getty.
UK's foreign affairs committee to elect new leader

Labour veteran Emily Thornbury and former trade envoy Dan Carden are vying to lead the influential group of MPs

September 11, 2024
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan. Pro-Israel lawyers have accused him of 'not complying with professional obligations' in arrest warrant proceedings against Benjamin Netanyahu. AFP
ICC prosecutor warns against 'threat and harassment' as pro-Israel lawyers file complaint

Karim Khan's office hits back after he is reported to barristers' regulatory body over pursuit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

September 10, 2024
Taliban security personnel in Khash district, Badakhshan province, north-east Afghanistan. AFP
UN human rights expert to call for more pressure on Taliban

Taliban 'tightening grip on country', emboldened by lack of unity from the international community, says envoy

September 08, 2024