Lebanon's prime minister has accused Israel of war crimes after Israeli air strikes killed one journalist and wounded another in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

The strike killed Amal Khalil, who worked for a Lebanese newspaper, and injured freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj.

Officials in Lebanon say they were deliberately targeted as they sought shelter in a home after an initial air strike hit the vehicle in front of them, killing two men.

The officials also accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of intentionally targeting a marked ambulance as it tried to reach the journalists in the village of Tayri.

The IDF denied that it was preventing rescue teams from reaching the area and said it did not target journalists.

Journalists Khalil, 43, who worked for Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, and Faraj, a freelance photographer, were travelling together. The two men who died have not been named by officials.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said: "Targeting journalists, obstructing access to them by relief teams, and even targeting their locations again after these teams arrive constitutes described war crimes."

He accused Israel of repeatedly targeting media workers in southern Lebanon in what he described as "an established approach".

Salam offered condolences to Khalil's family and said that Lebanon would "pursue the crimes before the competent international forums".

In a statement, the IDF said it "does not target journalists and acts to mitigate harm to them while maintaining the safety and security of its troops".

The IDF said it identified two vehicles that had "departed from a military structure used by Hezbollah".

One of the vehicles had approached Israeli troops in a manner that was an "immediate threat" after crossing a "forward defence line", violating a ceasefire, the statement said.

The IDF said the Israeli Air Force then struck one of the vehicles, and that the "structure from which the individuals had fled was also struck".

The Lebanese health ministry said the IDF "pursued" Khalil and Faraj, "who had taken refuge from the first raid in a nearby house, targeting the house where they had sought shelter".

When a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance arrived to treat the wounded, Israeli forces directed a stun grenade and gunfire toward it, preventing it from reaching them, the ministry said in a statement.

"This constitutes a blatant double violation: obstructing the rescue efforts of a citizen known for her civic media activism, and targeting an ambulance clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem," the health ministry said.

Clayton Weimer, the executive director of Reporters Without Borders, said the IDF had received messages from the organisation, as well as journalists, asking that it allow ambulances to get to Khalil.

"The Red Cross signalled they were unable to get through because of ongoing Israeli bombardment. So that is callous disregard, on top of what appears to be a deliberate and targeted killing of a journalist."

Faraj was eventually evacuated along with two of the dead, the statement added. Khalil's body was later recovered by emergency teams, according to Lebanon's civil defence agency.

Al-Akhbar said in an article on her death that Khalil "remained steadfast in her humanitarian and professional duty".

The Guardian's William Christou, who covers the Middle East for the paper, described her in a post on X as a "professional, kind and dedicated journalist, and always a pleasure to run into in the field".

The IDF acknowledged reports that two journalists were injured as a result of the strikes, but insisted it was not preventing further rescue teams from reaching the area. It has not acknowledged Khalil's death.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was "outraged" by Khalil's death.

"The repeated strikes on the same location, the targeting of an area where journalists were sheltering, and the obstruction of medical and humanitarian access constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law," said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah.

In 2024, Khalil said had been the target of an "Israeli death threat" that warned her to leave southern Lebanon, local media reported. CPJ said the report raised "serious concerns of deliberate targeting".

Earlier this month, two journalists were killed in separate Israeli strikes in Lebanon – Ghada Dayekh, a presenter with privately-owned radio station Sawt al-Farah, and Suzan Khalil, a reporter and presenter on Al-Manar TV, which is affiliated with the armed group Hezbollah.

Last month, three Lebanese journalists were killed in a targeted Israeli strike in the town of Jezzine, their employers said.

Ali Shoeib, a reporter for Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar TV, and reporter Fatima Ftouni and her brother, cameraman Mohamed Ftouni, both from Al Mayadeen channel, were killed in the strike.

At the time, the IDF confirmed it killed Shoeib and Mohamed Ftouni, describing them as "terrorists" from Hezbollah's military wing, while saying it was aware of reports a female journalist was also killed.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the killings a "brazen crime" that broke the "most basic rules" of international law by targeting reporters, "who are ultimately civilians performing a professional duty".

At least 2,475 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Lebanon since the latest war began, and more than 7,500 wounded, according to the Lebanese authorities, whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The number includes at least 274 women and 177 children.

The Lebanese health ministry said last week that at least 100 medical workers had been killed in Israeli attacks during the war, and that more than 120 Israeli attacks have been recorded on ambulances and medical facilities. Israeli attacks have killed seven journalists In Lebanon, according to the CPJ.

Israeli authorities say Hezbollah attacks have killed two civilians in Israel since 2 March, and that 13 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat in Lebanon.

Both Hezbollah and Israel have accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement. The IDF said earlier on Wednesday that Hezbollah launched an attack on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.

On the same day, Hezbollah issued four statements saying it had struck Israeli targets in south Lebanon, "in response to the Israeli enemy's violation of the ceasefire", according to the AFP news agency.

Last week, a meeting hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brought Lebanese and Israeli envoys together for the first direct, high-level contact in three decades between the two countries.

Following the talks, their governments agreed to implement a 10-day cessation of hostilities that began on Friday in order to "enable good-faith negotiations toward a permanent security and peace agreement", the US state department said.

Ahead of Thursday's follow-up talks in Washington, Lebanon's president confirmed that efforts were under way to extend the ceasefire.

Aoun said preserving Lebanese sovereignty over all of its territory was his top priority, and that Lebanese negotiators would seek an end to Israeli attacks, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners in Israel, deployment of Lebanese troops along the Israeli border, and the beginning of reconstruction process, according to a statement from his office.

A Lebanese official told AFP news agency that Lebanon would request a one-month extension of the ceasefire at the talks.

In a speech to Israeli diplomats, Israel's foreign minister said the two countries should "work together against the terror state that Hezbollah built".

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US Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving the Trump administration, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday.

His departure will be "effective immediately", Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a social media post.

Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao will serve as acting secretary, Parnell added.

Phelan is the latest high-ranking military leader to leave the administration in recent months. His departure comes amid the US-Israel war with Iran and the continued US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

"On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to Secretary Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy," Parnell wrote. "We wish him well in his future endeavors."

The Navy did not provide a reason for Phelan's departure.

It comes just weeks after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff Randy George to step down from his post.

Two other Army officials, Gen David Hodne and Maj Gen William Green, have also been removed from their roles recently.

Since entering the Pentagon, Hegseth has fired more than a dozen senior military officers, including the chief of naval operations and the Air Force's vice chief of staff.

The secretary's role is largely administrative and includes formulating policies, recruiting, training and equipping the Navy, as well as overseeing budgeting and logistics like construction, and repair of naval ships and facilities.

Phelan, a civilian who had not previously served in the military, was sworn in as Secretary of the Navy in March 2025 after being nominated by President Donald Trump in 2024. The businessman was a major donor to Trump's campaign.

The two appeared alongside one another at Mar-a-Lago last December when Trump announced that the US would commission a new series of heavily armed Navy "battleships" named after himself – part of a revamped "Golden Fleet" which Phelan supported.

Andrew Peek, a former State Department deputy assistant secretary, told the BBC that the president was clear that he wanted to expand the country's merchant and civilian fleet.

"Eventually, somebody was going to take the fall for the lack of movement on that. I would bet that's about 30% of this," Peek said.

"The other 70% – Phelan's replacement is very well known to the MAGA base, I would bet it's a simple replacement with someone he likes and trusts better," he added.

Phelan's replacement, Cao, became undersecretary in October 2025 and is a 25-year Navy veteran.

He ran an unsuccessful campaign for the US Senate in Virginia in 2024, endorsed by Trump, against incumbent Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. During a campaign debate, he criticized the military's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Speaking about Navy recruiting during the debate, Cao said: "What we need is alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat them and ask for seconds. Those are the young men and women that are going to win wars," the AP reported.

The Navy's change in leadership comes as Trump said the US blockade of Iranian ports would continue amid a ceasefire in the war. Clashes have continued in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global shipping route that supplies much of the globe's oil, with Iran announcing that it had "seized" two ships in the strait.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president is "satisfied" with the ongoing US naval blockade on Iranian ports, and "understands Iran is in a very weak position".

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator in talks with the US, said on Wednesday that it is "not possible" for the Strait of Hormuz to be re-opened due to "the blatant violations of the ceasefire" by the US and Israel.

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Cocaine, cannabis, laughing gas and prescription pills are being offered for sale in mini-marts on UK High Streets, a BBC investigation can reveal.

They were readily offered to our undercover researchers who secretly filmed in shops across four neighbouring West Midlands towns.

One street we visited was described as "lawless" by an anonymous law enforcement source.

Just a few miles away, in a town where we found illegal drugs being sold in shops, legitimate businesses told us they had been intimidated by gangs – and witnessed knife and gun violence.

Across the country, shopfronts are being exploited by organised criminal gangs that have gained a foothold pushing illegal drugs, say both the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI).

We analysed dozens of recent local news reports as part of our ongoing investigation into criminal activity on UK High Streets. From Bideford in Devon, to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, to Belfast in Northern Ireland – we found that drugs, including crystal meth and heroin, had been found in more than 70 shops and linked premises.

Responding to our findings in the West Midlands and more widely, a senior Labour MP is now calling on the government to act urgently. "We can't restore our High Streets unless we take out the cancer of organised crime," says Liam Byrne, chair of the Business and Trade Committee.

The government is working with police, the NCA and Trading Standards to "take the strongest possible action against these criminal businesses", a spokesperson for the Home Office said. West Midlands Police said it would always work with partners "to act on complaints about illegal drugs sales, anti-social behaviour, and crime and disorder".

"I've got weed, coke, everything. Whatever you want, I can sort you out," said a man behind the counter at a mini-mart in Cradley Heath.

We had come to the Black Country town as part of our year-long investigation. A law enforcement whistleblower had told us that drug gangs were out of control along its 300m stretch of High Street.

When asked, it took just seconds for the man behind the counter of the shop – called Cradley Market – to supply our researcher with 3.5g of cannabis for £30.

Handing money over to criminals is not something we do lightly – but in this instance we decided there was a public interest in carrying out the test purchases.

Our researcher was able to buy cannabis from the shop on two separate visits.

Past shelves of fizzy drinks, sweets and nappies, he was taken to the back of the shop and handed a small bag of cannabis from a rucksack by the man, who said his name was Akwa.

When our researcher asked if he could buy cocaine, Akwa immediately made a call to get some. A couple of hours later, a gram of cocaine was delivered to the shop which Akwa sold for £95.

While we were in the shop, Akwa showed us a selection of pictures of prescription drugs on his phone for sale – inviting our researcher to take photos in case he knew anyone who might be interested.

The offer included pregabalin, a prescription drug used to treat anxiety, nerve pain and epilepsy. Its misuse has been linked to a sharp increase in deaths.

Akwa denied any wrongdoing when we later confronted him. When asked about selling drugs, he said he did not know what we were talking about, before asking us to leave.

We put our findings to the local authority. A spokesperson said Sandwell Council was working with police to tackle illegal activity.

Less than three miles away, in the neighbouring borough of Dudley, organised crime gangs have taken hold of some of its High Streets, the Trading Standards lead there says.

The sale of illegal drugs, alongside counterfeit cigarettes and illegal vapes, is the worst it has been in 20 years, Kuldeep Maan told us.

During our research in the borough, we observed so-called "spotters" outside mini-marts – on the lookout, we were told, for potential law enforcement raids. Our team was also followed and photographed by mini-mart workers on Dudley High Street.

Maan says he shut down 39 shops for selling illegal cigarettes in Dudley in 12 months, but during raids he also repeatedly found cannabis, cocaine, nitrous oxide, and fake and foreign prescription drugs.

Visits to shops in two towns in the borough, Lye and Brierley Hill, filmed by our undercover researchers, resulted in offers of cannabis, cannabis vapes and nitrous oxide.

A class C drug commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous oxide can cause brain damage when inhaled. It is used legally in the catering industry and other sectors, but is illegal to possess or supply with the intent to inhale it for recreational use.

In Lye, four shops offered us illegal cigarettes and laughing gas. A 10-minute drive away in Brierley Hill we were twice offered cannabis at IK Convenience. A shop worker showed us illegal cannabis vapes costing £20 each.

The shop did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

When we asked about cannabis in another Brierley Hill shop, called Best Choice, the man behind the counter directed us to a flat above where we were twice able to buy the drug, from a man and woman.

The flat and the shop have the same landlord, we discovered. He told us he was "shocked" to hear from the BBC, had "no prior knowledge of any alleged sale of cannabis" and had notified the police.

The BBC was poised to confront the cannabis sellers in the flat but withdrew for safety reasons when two large pitbull-type dogs without collars or leads appeared.

We approached the tenants for comment and were contacted by someone on their behalf, who denied the allegations.

Maan told us he is investigating increasing numbers of reports of laughing gas being sold to children, across the borough of Dudley.

We found nitrous oxide readily available in the heart of Dudley town centre.

Inside Dawood Grocery store, the shopkeeper asked our undercover researcher how many bottles of gas he wanted, before handing over a plastic bag with some balloons in and being told to wait outside on a nearby street corner. Balloons are filled with the gas, which is then inhaled.

A few minutes later, a hooded man arrived, took our £25 in cash and handed over a nitrous oxide canister without saying a word. We were twice able to buy the gas in this way from the shop.

Another local business owner, who did not want to be named, told us they regularly witnessed people inhaling laughing gas, having bought it from Dawood.

Dawood Grocery denies all the allegations made by the BBC.

"People are scared to come here," says Romanian national Marius Boros, who moved to the UK 13 years ago and now runs a grocery shop on Dudley High Street.

There are "a lot of fights, knives, guns" outside, he says.

Mini-marts selling cut-price, illegal goods – including drugs – are destroying his business, says Boros. "I work really hard, everything I had, I invested here… I'm very close to losing everything."

Meanwhile, hair salon owner Diane Shawe believes local criminals are trying to push her out. Her shop windows have been smashed four times, she says, each time in the middle of the night.

CCTV footage showed how men in hoodies threw bricks at her shop windows in the early hours, shortly after the glass had been replaced.

"They want the shop. They're going to make it expensive for me until they get their own way," says Shawe, whose customers include people with cancer and alopecia

After one of the attacks, she explains, two men called into the shop and tried to intimidate her, saying they wanted the premises to set up a barber shop.

"One guy asked me, am I ready to sell now?"

Dudley Council says it has been working with local police, landlords and businesses "to rid the borough of businesses run by organised crime" through its Operation Clearance campaign, launched in August 2024.

"The council has delivered some of the strongest enforcement outcomes in the country and, to date, 42 shops have been successfully

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