Crushed as far as the eye can see: Clock is ticking for thousands queuing to escape as Taliban beat Afghans with canes
Every day the scene outside the British evacuation camp changes, every day it seems to get worse and this day there is a new sense of desperation.
Collectively I think the thousands queuing outside in burning temperatures know that the clock is ticking on how long this airlift will go on for.
Nobody is saying it, but you can feel it.
I’ve had tears in my eyes most of this dreadful day.
British soldiers on containers, which have been put on the road to keep the gates of the UK compound clear
The narrow road that passes the compound, so often jammed with people right up to the doors of the entrance, is now blocked by two shipping containers.
It means that there is at least some breathing space for the soldiers to attempt to process people – although it’s still chaotic.
Beyond the containers and beyond a line of paratroopers standing behind riot shields, it is quite simply horrendous.
Thousands, maybe tens of thousands, crushed as far as the eye can see.
At the front, Taliban militants beat Afghans with canes.
Sergeant Major Daz Mcmahon says the experience has been tough for the British soldiers
There is nothing the civilians can do and nothing the paras can do – but hold the line.
I’ve seen many bad things, but right now I can’t think of anything worse.
It’s hard to put into words how desperate this is – but most of the people I have seen over the barricade will not get through.
Sergeant Major Daz Mcmahon has a British man’s passports – he clambers on to the shipping containers and calls him forward.
A Talib fighter lets him through, the sergeant major passes the passports back and tells him to wait.
The containers have been put on the road to keep the gates of the British compound clear, they’re trying to funnel people through, and even British passport holders wait their turn.
All the time soldiers are called up to reinforce the human wall beyond.
On this side of the containers, it’s better, but not by much. Again, thousands penned in as the identification process goes on.
Outside the compound, British and American troops are now working together trying to differentiate the countries the evacuees should be going to.
It’s organised, but there are so many people, it’s an almost impossible task. I asked Sgt Maj Mcmahon if the whole experience has been tough on his men, he lets out a deep breath, shakes his head and says yes.
I said to him it appears to ebb and flow, sometimes it’s quiet, most of the time it’s pandemonium.
“It’s often calm but then it gets very hot, and the people who cause the most trouble and agitate the crowd are probably the ones who don’t have the right paperwork,” he replied.
“We’re not gonna be here forever.”
A man who said he worked for the Americans for five years claimed he was looking for a military contact called Spencer
In the crowd we spot an Afghan man holding a banner with the name “Spencer” on it. I asked him who Spencer was.
He said he’d worked for the Americans for five years, and that “Spencer” was the military contact who had vouched for him.
He told us he was looking for Spencer, but he wasn’t sure if Spencer had come – or ever would.
He said: “Spencer is someone who’s supposed to get here and help us out. We’ve been in contact… but this is crazy, no-one is helping and I don’t know – if this keeps going, no-one will get help, we are requesting the government to fix this.”
We watch on as British soldiers spot a baby in danger, they take control
It’s hot, blisteringly hot. There are women and children everywhere you look. We watch on as British soldiers spot a baby in danger, they take control.
With a family in tow they make their way through to the British compound.
These are combat soldiers remember, but they also care about what’s happening to the people here.
Over the heads of the crowds of the evacuees, another transporter plane takes off. The sound is deafening, everyone looks up.
That’s what they’re here for – the flight to safety.
And in the midst of all this, sometimes, just sometimes, you see joy breaking out.
Wahid Zahid and his family are going to the UK
Wahid Zahid and his family are going to the UK – it’s been agreed.
He was a British military interpreter in Helmand Province, and tells us he got the call last night. He came straight to the airport with his wife and children.
He told us this is a happy day for him and his family.
He said: “I’m going to go to Britain, this is my first trip to Britain.”
“It was very scary, like a ‘zombieland’,” he told me, describing the scenes beyond the containers.
He can’t wait to get to Britain, and wants his children to grow to be engineers and doctors “to serve the Afghanistan people and also the British”.
Time is running out for this evacuation there is no doubting that – it’s just a matter of how long.
Not everyone who should go will go. The majority in the streets outside the container barricade will not.
Very soon they’re on their own.
World
Israeli president’s denial goes further than official response – but it doesn’t tally with background talks
President Isaac Herzog’s outright denial that Israel was behind the attacks on Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies goes further than the official Israel government response which, so far, has been to say nothing at all.
It’s not unusual for Israel to remain silent after major attacks on its enemies, and guilt is generally assumed by the absence of comment, but Herzog was definitive, saying he “rejects out of hand any connection to this or that source of operation”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘Israel is not interested to be at war with Lebanon’
That does not square with background conversations I’ve had with political and security officials here in recent days.
Follow the latest updates on the Middle East
Admittedly no one has confessed outright, however discussion of the attacks and the potential consequences, are generally framed by a metaphorical nod and wink, and conversations had proceeded along the lines of ‘we all know what happened, even if we’re going to dance around it’.
Nearly 3,000 people were injured and 12 killed by the first round of pager explosions in Lebanon
Herzog might be right to suggest Hezbollah has other enemies, but aside from the US, which has repeatedly denied even knowing about the attacks ahead of time, I can not think of another state that would have the capability, will and purpose to carry out those attacks.
Read more:
How pagers can be modified to remotely explode
Israel’s long history of alleged secret operations
As one serving Western intelligence official remarked to me a few days ago, “None of us would dare do it because of the collateral damage”.
No one, not even Israel, has come up with an alternative culprit.
The timing of the attacks, were it not Israel, are too coincidental.
This came around the same time Israel announced it was entering a new phase in the north and then launched multiple heavy barrages of Lebanon, including a massive air strike in southern Beirut.
World
Fire rips through arms depot deep inside Russia after huge Ukrainian drone attack – as Zelenskyy prepares to meet Trump
A fire has ripped through a Russian missile depot in the Tver region deep inside the country after it was targeted in a Ukrainian drone attack, the defence ministry in Moscow has said.
Footage shows a second Ukrainian drone attack on the southwestern Russian region of Krasnodar also triggered a fire and caused a series of explosions.
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its forces shot down 101 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and occupied Crimea during the overnight attacks.
The drone strikes were carried out as Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskky said he is hoping to meet Donald Trump next week when he travels to the US – where he will present US President Joe Biden with a “victory plan” in relation to the war.
An explosion after the drone strike on the arms depot in Krasnodar
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign minister said Russia appears to be planning strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities before the winter.
Posts on local Telegram channels said a Ukrainian drone attack struck an arms depot near the town of Toropets, in Russia’s Tver region – which is about 380 kilometres (240 miles) northwest of Moscow and about 500 kilometres (300 miles) from the Ukrainian border on Saturday.
Russian authorities closed a 100-kilometre (62-mile) stretch of a highway and evacuated passengers from a nearby rail station.
The depot appeared to be just miles from a Russian weapons arsenal storing missiles, bombs and ammunition in Tver that was struck by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday, injuring 13 people and also causing a huge fire.
Flames rise after the strike on the Tver region on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
Meanwhile, at least 1,200 people were evacuated from Russia’s southwestern Krasnodar region after an ammunition depot and missile arsenal were struck in the second drone attack overnight, the local governor has said.
Most of those evacuated were staying with friends and relatives, Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Krasnodar region, said on the Telegram messaging app.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in either Tver or Krasnodar.
Ukraine warning of attacks on nuclear sites
It comes as Kyiv is urging the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Ukraine’s allies to establish permanent monitoring missions at the country’s nuclear plants as it warns they could be targeted in Russian attacks.
“In particular, it concerns open distribution devices at (nuclear power plants and) transmission substations, critical for the safe operation of nuclear energy,” foreign minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X.
Read more from Sky News:
Body found in search for missing TV chaplain
Parents die on Hawaii ‘babymoon’
Anthony Joshua’s shot at greatness against Dubois
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
A mushroom cloud rises after the drone strike on Toropets in the Tver region. Pic: Reuters
Zelenskyy prepares for US trip
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leader has said he plans to meet Republican presidential candidate Mr Trump on either Thursday or Friday next week.
During the trip, Mr Zelenskyy will present Mr Biden with a so-called victory plan as he hopes to bring about an end to the conflict.
Volodymr Zelenskyy with Donald Trump in 2020. Pic: Reuters
The Ukrainian president has said the plan will include long-range striking capabilities and other weapons long sought by Kyiv, and will serve as the basis for any future negotiation with Russia.
He is also expected to push Washington to lift restrictions on long-range missile strikes inside Russia.
Mr Zelenskyy will attend sessions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly and also plans to meet vice president Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate in this year’s US election, in separate meetings on 26 September.
The developments come as three sources have told Reuters that Iran did not include mobile launchers with the close-range ballistic missiles that Washington has accused Tehran of delivering to Russia for use against Ukraine.
The sources – a European diplomat, a European intelligence official and a US official – said it was not clear why Iran did not supply launchers with the Fath-360 missiles, raising questions about when and if the weapons will be operational.
At least 44 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Gaza in the last 24 hours.
A strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut killed at least 31 people including three children and seven women, the country’s health minister Firas Abiad said.
Fifteen of the 68 wounded in the attack remain in hospital.
Ali Harake, the head of the rescue team searching through the rubble, told Sky News his team is still looking for between 17 and 18 missing people – though he fears none have survived.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
‘I think the missing people are dead’
Follow the latest updates on the Middle East
It is understood two apartment blocks in a densely populated southern neighbourhood collapsed in the strike – the deadliest attack on Beirut in decades.
Top Hezbollah commanders are believed to have been meeting in the basement of one of the buildings.
Hezbollah has confirmed two of its senior commanders, Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi, died in the strike while an Israeli military spokesperson said that at least 16 Hezbollah militants were killed.
Wahbi oversaw the military operations of the Radwan special forces – a commando unit that seeks to infiltrate and carry out attacks in Israel – until early 2024. Aqil was also a top commander for the Iran-backed group.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas has described the killing of Aqil as a “crime” and a “folly”, adding Israel will “pay the price”.
Read more: Israeli airstrike on Beirut causes more shock to a country already rocked to its core
Meanwhile, at least 13 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza City, according to a local report.
The strikes are believed to have hit several schools sheltering displaced people in the southern part of the city.
Inside a school, that was sheltering displaced people, after it was hit by an Israeli strike this morning. Pic: Reuters
The street outside the school. Pic: Reuters
The strikes come after Hezbollah launched one of its most intense bombardments of northern Israel in nearly a year of fighting, largely targeting Israeli military sites.
Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted most of the Katyusha rockets.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Hezbollah said its latest wave of rocket attacks was a response to past Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.
It came days after mass explosions of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies killed at least 37 people, including two children. Some 2,900 others were wounded in the assault which has been widely attributed to Israel.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports6 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports11 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Environment1 year agoTesla advances Powerwall pilot project with German electric company