20/08/2026

THURSDAY | AUG 20, 2026

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Tehran warns Gulf states against helping US

UN laments 350 aid workers killed NEW YORK: The number of aid workers killed worldwide last year reached 350, with the most fatalities in Gaza and Sudan, the United Nations said yesterday, calling attacks on humanitarians “unacceptable”. Some 186 humanitarians were killed in Gaza, the deadliest place for aid workers for the third year running, followed by Sudan, with 71 killed. Last year’s death toll was slightly lower than that of 2024, when 377 aid workers were killed. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) cited the figures from the research and advisory group Humanitarian Outcomes in a statement marking World Humanitarian Day. “More than 1,000 aid workers have been killed in just three years and that is utterly unacceptable,” said Tom Fletcher, under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. “But just calling it out will not protect the next aid worker. States must uphold international humanitarian law and use every tool to protect civilians and our colleagues. And for those who break the rules, there must be real consequences.” Since the start of this year, 82 more aid workers have been killed, with 97 more injured and 39 abducted worldwide. OCHA voiced particular concern over the proliferation of armed drones “that are putting lethal power into ever more hands and sending more explosive weapons into towns and cities”. In Sudan, armed drones caused 80% of civilian deaths in the first four months of the year, hitting markets and health facilities, the statement said, also noting casualties from drone attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war. “Weaponised drones have become the new face of an old danger, the deliberate or reckless destruction of civilian life.” – AFP CAIRO: An Israeli airstrike killed at least six Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, a day after Donald Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner ended a trip to the region that failed to push forward the US president’s plan to end the war in Gaza. Israel’s military said it had carried out an airstrike on Hamas commanders and several other gunmen. Gaza medics said apart from the six dead, 14 others were wounded when the Israeli plane fired two missiles at a small cafe inside the fishing harbour in western Gaza City. Hamas accused Israel of trying to sabotage Trump’s plan to end the war, which both Israel and Hamas agreed to last year, and said it was committed to the agreement. It said a child was among those killed in the strike. Hamas did not say whether any of its commanders or any other fighters had been killed in the strike. – Reuters RUSSIAN DRONE KILLS FOUR IN UKRAINE MINIBUS KYIV: A Russian drone attack on a minibus in the frontline city of Kherson killed four people yesterday, Kyiv said. Russian forces regularly strike the southern Ukrainian city, under Moscow’s control from March to November 2022, with drones in what Ukraine says is purposeful targeting of civilians. “Russian military forces attacked a bus travelling down a street in Kherson with a drone. As a result of the attack, according to preliminary information, four civilian passengers were killed,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Five people were wounded in the attack. Ukraine earlier this month accused Russia of chasing a civilian on a street market in Kherson with a remotely piloted FPV drone before detonating its explosive charge. The man survived the blast but sustained blast trauma and shrapnel wounds. – AFP ISRAEL AIRSTRIKE LEAVES SIX DEAD IN GAZA

o UAE cuts Iran trade ties

Fernando Cerimedo (pic) , a political consultant, has worked on the presidential campaigns of several Latin American right-wingers, from Argentina’s Javier Milei to former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro to Bolivia’s Paz. He stayed on as Paz’s adviser after he took office in November, ending 20 years of socialist rule. Cerimedo was arrested at the airport in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, hours after his former partner, lawyer Nadia Beller, was shot by hitmen. Two men dressed as food delivery drivers approached Beller outside a hotel in Santa Cruz and opened fire before fleeing, video TEHRAN: Iran’s armed forces warned Gulf countries against assisting the US military yesterday, hours after the United Arab Emirates announced it was severing economic ties with Tehran following new attacks on shipping. The Gulf is dotted with US military installations, including in the UAE, which said on Tuesday that Iran had fired two ballistic missiles at vessels off its coast. Despite a recent lull in hostilities between the United States and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz – which Tehran has blockaded and through which vessels departing most UAE ports must pass – remains a flashpoint, and attacks on commercial ships have continued. A framework US-Iran deal aimed at reopening the vital trade corridor collapsed, and although both sides recently said messages were being exchanged, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted talks were off, taunting Iran with a social media post depicting the strait as a “new US territory”. Iranian armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi warned yesterday “that any assistance or facilitation provided to the aggressor US military amounts to participation in the US military operation”, according to the Mehr news agency. The war between Iran and the United States broke out on Feb 28 when US and Israel assassinated the Islamic republic’s supreme leader. Since the start of the conflict, many Middle Eastern countries have said they would not allow the United States to use their territory as a launchpad for attacks, although Ali cast doubt on those promises. “It seems unlikely that such a large number of military aircraft, particularly refuelling aircraft, could be present at regional bases without knowledge of host countries,” said Ali, adding Gulf countries “should know that we are fully aware of the situation”. Media reports have suggested that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain have all hit targets in Iran in retaliation for Tehran’s attacks on the Gulf, although the countries have mostly denied the reports. On Tuesday, the UAE announced that it was suspending all economic dealings with Iran. “In light of regional escalations ... all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions with Iran have been halted until further notice,” Foreign Ministry communications director Afra Al Hameli said.

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Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf delivers a speech yesterday at the site where Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport. – REUTERSPIC

cultural and historical ties, and the UAE, home to a sizable Iranian community, had been a major trading partner for US-sanctioned Iran, at least before the war. Tuesday’s announcement was the latest measure against Iran by the UAE after it recalled its ambassador early in the conflict and shut Iran-linked schools and a hospital. Tankers belonging to the UAE’s state-owned oil company ADNOC have been repeatedly targeted in the past few weeks. – AFP

Earlier in the day, Abu Dhabi accused Iran of firing two ballistic missiles towards the country. It later clarified the salvo was directed at shipping, with both missiles falling in the sea, one of them within the UAE’s territorial waters. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei “categorically rejected the claim that Iran had launched a missile towards that country”. The neighbours across the Gulf share deep

Adviser to Bolivian president arrested over shooting LA PAZ: Bolivian police arrested a key adviser of President Rodrigo Paz on Tuesday over a gun attack on his former partner. footage broadcast by local media showed. Speaking from her hospital bed, Beller told “I have instructed the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough, transparent and exhaustive investigation,” the Bolivian president wrote on X.

the local DTV channel: “Clearly, he (Cerimedo) wanted to get rid of me.” She said her relationship with Cerimedo had made her a “witness” to the inner workings of Paz’s government and party, including, she claimed, cases of corruption. She also said she was four weeks pregnant. Attorney-general Roger Mariaca told reporters that an investigation

Presidential spokesperson Jose Luis Galvez said Bolivian authorities will not cover up crimes, but will also not “tolerate unfounded accusations”. Cerimedo flew from La Paz, the political capital, to Santa Cruz on Tuesday morning and from there had planned to fly on to Buenos Aires, local media reported. Santa Cruz police chief David Gomez told reporters that investigators suspected the attack on Beller was related to her past relationship with Cerimedo. Beller ran for a congressional seat some years ago with the leftist party of Evo Morales. More recently, she has been linked to the political right. – AFP

into attempted murder had been launched. Paz expressed solidarity with Beller and said she “must be accorded full security and all necessary guarantees, just as the investigation process itself must be carried out with absolute transparency and independence”.