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As residents of southern Lebanon begin returning to neighbourhoods reduced to rubble, new data shared with Sky News illustrates the impact of the conflict.The Centre for Information Resilience has verified more than 400 videos showing 300 separate incidents of harm to civilians and damage to infrastructure in Lebanon.It offers a window into the extent of the destruction since fighting began in October last year. This research is part of a larger set of open-source data showing harm to civilians and damage to infrastructure collected by CIR on and since 7 October last year, covering Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, as well as Lebanon.As of 25 November, fighting had displaced more than 899,000 people in Lebanon and killed nearly 4,000 people, according to the International Organisati...

The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is unlikely to last in the long term, according to a former British spy chief.Sir Richard Dearlove - who ran MI6 between 1999 and 2004 - explained his concerns with the recently announced deal in an interview on the Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge. As well as the situation in the Middle East, Sir Richard told Sophy that Europe is in a "war situation" with Russia, rather than a pre-war one, and that he believes the deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius will collapse.Politics latest: Britain can learn a lesson from TrumpThe ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into force in the early hours of the morning on Wednesday local time.Since it began, people have been streaming back into the southern regions of Lebanon as Israel begins to withdr...

Israel has imposed a last-minute curfew forbidding any Lebanese from crossing into the south of the country.Starting in the early hours of this morning, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a 60-day pause halting a conflict that has killed thousands in Lebanon and displaced many more. At 2.30pm UK time (4.30pm locally), Israel's Arab spokesperson warned movement south of the Litani River in Lebanon is "absolutely forbidden" - starting in half an hour.Middle East latest as ceasefire begins"Whoever is north of the Litani River is prohibited from moving south. Whoever is south of the Litani River must remain where he is," the statement added."We remind you that the IDF is still deployed in its positions in southern Lebanon in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire agreement, and our forces will...

Three American citizens who had been detained in China for years have been released, Sky's US partner network NBC News reports.They are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung, a State Department spokesperson said. It comes after Politico earlier cited an unnamed US administration official as saying years-long attempts to free the trio had finally been successful, in exchange for unidentified Chinese citizens in US custody.The agreement reportedly came as part of sensitive negotiations which are yet to be announced. "We are pleased to announce the release of Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung from detention in the People's Republic of China," a State Department spokesperson said. "Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years."Th...