London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Beirut explosion: UK government 'ready to go' with £5m aid to Lebanon - Raab

Beirut explosion: UK government 'ready to go' with £5m aid to Lebanon - Raab

The UK is ready to send medical experts and humanitarian aid to Lebanon following the deadly explosion in Beirut, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said.

Mr Raab said the UK would "stand by the Lebanese people in their time of need" and promised a £5m aid package.

The UK will also send rescue workers with specially trained dogs, as well as a Royal Navy ship.

The blast on Tuesday killed at least 135 people and injured more than 4,000.

Search and rescue workers are continuing to try and find survivors from the explosion, which the UK government said measured 4.5 on the Richter scale.

Lebanon's president has said it was caused by ammonium nitrate stored unsafely in a warehouse, and a number of port officials have been placed under house arrest pending an investigation.

Health authorities and the Red Cross are struggling to deal with the aftermath, and the Lebanese government has announced a two-week state of emergency in Beirut.

Mr Raab said he was not sure on the precise number of UK nationals who may have been hurt, but the embassy was "monitoring that very carefully".

"I've just spoken to the Lebanese prime minister Hassan Diab," Mr Raab told reporters on Tuesday afternoon. "We are going to stand by the Lebanese people in their time of need.

He said measures that were "ready to go" included £5m humanitarian aid, for people made homeless by the disaster, as well as medical experts, search and rescue teams, and a nearby Royal Navy survey ship.

The ship - HMS Enterprise - will assess the damage and support the Lebanese government and people to rebuild the port, the defence secretary added.


Mr Raab said the UK would provide help that is

"exactly what is tailored towards the Lebanese needs"


Meanwhile, the Queen said she and Prince Philip were "deeply saddened" by the news.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those who have been injured or lost their lives, and all those whose homes and livelihoods have been affected," she said in a message of condolence.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Commons defence select committee, said the West needed to be "far more greatly involved in helping" Lebanon, which he described as "a country that's been on its knees for decades".


Even before Tuesday's explosion, tensions were high in Lebanon, with street demonstrations against the government's handling of the worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Many blame the ruling elite, who have dominated politics for years. People have to deal with daily power cuts, a lack of safe drinking water and limited public healthcare.



The whole city was shaken by the explosion


Mr Ellwood said the international community has "taken a step back strategically from the Middle East and Lebanon is paying the price for that".

"There's massive corruption in the government itself - it's poorly governed. Economic crisis - there's a quarter of the people out of work there. And of course they've had their own lockdown issues with Covid-19. On top of that over a million refugees have spilled across from Syria. And I have to say there's been dwindling international support... And now this," he said.

Mr Raab said the "wider challenges facing Lebanon and the region haven't gone away" and that the UK would be "looking at ways in which we can help with their medium term challenges on governance on financial support, given the situation there".

He also said he and Lebanon's PM had discussed the need for "a full, thorough and rigorous investigation to get to the truth" of how the blast happened, adding: "I think the people of Lebanon deserve no less."

Earlier, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for the UK to offer Lebanon its "full support" to deal with the crisis.

The SNP's foreign affairs spokesman also called for the UK to give "immediate humanitarian assistance" to Lebanon, as well as enter talks to possibly suspend its state debt.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×