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India extends multi-front support to Sri Lanka’s cyclone relief efforts
India has strengthened its humanitarian support to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, providing critical air assets, emergency supplies, engineering equipment and medical aid to bolster national rescue and recovery operations.
India dispatched an additional MI-17 helicopter to assist the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in ongoing air rescue missions on Tuesday (09). Two MI-17 V5 helicopters of the Indian Air Force had been operating in Sri Lanka from 29 November, conducting around 90 sorties, rescuing approximately 270 survivors, airlifting about 50 tonnes of relief material to inaccessible areas and relief camps and deploying 57 Sri Lankan troops to cut-off locations.
Having completed their flying hours, the two helicopters returned to India on Sunday (08) for mandatory maintenance and a fresh MI-17 aircraft arrived at Katunayake Airport to continue operations alongside the SLAF.
The aviation support comes alongside major maritime assistance. The Indian naval vessel INS Gharial arrived at the Port of Trincomalee on Sunday (08) carrying a 700-tonne humanitarian shipment, marking India’s fifth naval relief consignment to Sri Lanka, apart from 10 aircrafts and 5 helicopters, which have contributed towards rescues and relief operations, since the cyclone.
The shipment included essential food supplies such as pulses, sugar and milk powder, as well as bed sheets, towels, sarees, dhotis and tarpaulins for families displaced by flooding and landslides. The emergency aid is being directed to the hardest-hit districts through local relief agencies.
In a further show of engineering support, India has also handed over a 63-ton Bailey bridge and a consignment of essential medicines to Sri Lankan authorities to restore connectivity and meet urgent medical needs in affected communities.
The cargo was received by General Chaminda Wijerathne of the Sri Lanka Army Headquarters, Sunil Jayaweera, former Director Preparedness of the Disaster Management Centre (DMC), now volunteering in the response and Shan Pathirana, Deputy Director of the DMC Awareness Division.
The handover was facilitated by the Indian High Commission in Colombo.
These coordinated air, sea and engineering initiatives underscore India’s continued commitment to supporting Sri Lanka during its national emergency response and long-term recovery. The assistance forms part of India’s broader partnership to restore essential services, reconnect isolated communities and provide relief to thousands affected by Cyclone Ditwah.
| Date | Match |
|---|---|
| May 3 | 1st ODI |
| May 6 | 2nd ODI |
| May 9 | 3rd ODI |
| May 12 | 1st T20I |
| May 14 | 2nd T20I |
| May 15 | 3rd T20I |
[Cricbuzz]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his government to begin direct talks with Lebanon, he said in a statement on Thursday.
Netanyahu said the talks would focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese political and militant group, and establishing peaceful relations.
A US State Department official confirmed it would host a meeting next week “to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon”.
Lebanese officials called for a ceasefire before the talks begin, but Netanyahu in a subsequent address to residents of northern Israel said: “There is no ceasefire in Lebanon.”
The Israeli military continued to strike Lebanon on Thursday – targeting what it described as Hezbollah rocket launch sites in the south. It also issued a new evacuation warning for residents in the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on X that this included the Jnah area, which includes two major hospitals.
“At this time, no alternative medical facilities are available to receive approximately 450 patients from the two hospitals (including 40 patients in the ICU), rendering their evacuation operationally unfeasible,” he said.
Among those being treated at the hospitals, Tedros added, were some of the 1,150 people that Lebanon’s health ministry said were wounded in Wednesday’s massive wave of Israeli strikes. At least 303 people were killed.
Tedros also said that the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Health, which “hosts five shelters accommodating more than 5,000 people”, is in the evacuation area.
That ceasefire began with confusion over whether Lebanon, Israel’s second front, was to be included. Iranian officials and mediators from Pakistan said it was, US and Israeli officials said clearly that it was not.
Amid the confusion, the wave of Israeli strikes on Lebanon – the heaviest since the conflict began six weeks ago – prompted Iran to declare that Israel was break8ng the terms of the ceasefire, once again halt passage of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, and to threaten retaliatory strikes.
Israel’s military continues to occupy a large part of the south of Lebanon, where it has destroyed villages in recent days. Without a commitment to a temporary ceasefire at least, it is not clear how productive talks could proceed between the two sides.
(BBC)
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