New gun attack in east Jerusalem after synagogue mass shooting

New gun attack in east Jerusalem after synagogue mass shooting
Israeli emergency personnel rush to the site of a reported attack in a settler neighborhood in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem on January 27, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 29 January 2023

New gun attack in east Jerusalem after synagogue mass shooting

New gun attack in east Jerusalem after synagogue mass shooting
  • Police said the suspect was “neutralized” following the latest gun attack in the Silwan neighborhood
  • Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency response service identified the victims as two men, aged 47 and 23

JERUSALEM: An assailant shot and wounded two people in east Jerusalem on Saturday, Israeli medics said, hours after a Palestinian gunman killed seven outside a synagogue in one of the deadliest such attacks in years.
Police said the suspect was “neutralized” following the latest gun attack in the Silwan neighborhood, just outside Jerusalem’s old, walled city.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency response service identified the victims as two men, aged 47 and 23, both with “gunshot wounds to their upper body.” It did not identify those involved.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel's response to an attack by a Palestinian gunman attack that killed seven people on the outskirts of Jerusalem will be "strong, swift and precise" .
Netanyahu made the statement as he convened his security cabinet over Friday's attack. 
Police had earlier announced 42 arrests in connection with Friday’s synagogue attack.
The mass shooting unfolded as a 21-year-old resident of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem drove up to the synagogue in the Neve Yaakov neighborhood and opened fire during the Jewish Sabbath.
The bloodshed, which unfolded on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marked another dramatic escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It came a day after one of the deadliest army raids in the occupied West Bank in roughly two decades, as well as rocket fire from militants in the Gaza Strip and Israeli retaliatory air strikes.
There have widespread calls to de-escalate the spiralling violence, but tensions are rising.
Crowds shouted “Death to Arabs” as Netanyahu toured the scene of the synagogue attack late Friday.
Palestinians also held spontaneous rallies to celebrate the killings, in Gaza and across the West Bank, including in Ramallah where large crowds swarmed the streets chanting and waving Palestinian flags.
Several Arab nations that have ties with Israel-- including Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates — condemned the synagogue shooting.
The Lebanese group Hezbollah, one of Israel’s most prominent foes, praised the attack as “heroic,” voicing “absolute support for all the steps taken by the Palestinian resistance factions.”

The gunman at the synagogue was shot dead by police during a shootout that followed a brief car chase after the attack.
There has been no indication that he had prior involvement in militant activity or was a member of an established Palestinian armed group.
“The Jerusalem District Police and border police fighters arrested 42 suspects — some of them from the terrorist’s (immediate) family, relatives and (neighbors),” a police statement said.
“The police will thoroughly examine the connection between each of the arrested suspects and the terrorist who carried out the attack, as well as the extent of their knowledge and/or involvement,” it added.
In a separate statement, police said the force had been placed on the “highest level” of alert following the attack.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem following the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinians claim the area as the capital of their future state.
Israel’s police chief Kobi Shabtai called the shooting “one of the worst attacks (Israel) has encountered in recent years.”

Nine people had been killed Thursday in what Israel described as a “counter-terrorism” operation in the Jenin refugee camp.
It was one of the deadliest Israeli army raids in the occupied West Bank since the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, of 2000 to 2005.
Israel said Islamic Jihad operatives were the target.
Islamic Jihad and Hamas both vowed to retaliate, later firing several rockets at Israeli territory.
Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli air defenses. The military responded with strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza.
There were no injuries reported on either side, but Gaza’s armed groups vowed further action.
After the synagogue shooting, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the attack proved “the resistance knows how to find the appropriate response” to Israeli “crimes.”
Washington had announced Thursday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would travel next week to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he would push for an “end to the cycle of violence.”
A US State Department spokesman confirmed on Friday that the visit would go ahead and said Blinken would discuss “steps to be taken to de-escalate tensions.”
At least 26 Israelis and 200 Palestinians were killed across Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2022, the majority in the West Bank, according to an AFP tally from official sources.

(With AFP and Reuters)


Israel: 2 soldiers wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting

Israel: 2 soldiers wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting
Updated 13 sec ago

Israel: 2 soldiers wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting

Israel: 2 soldiers wounded in West Bank drive-by shooting
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said two soldiers were wounded, one severely, Saturday evening in a drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank, the latest in months-long violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
The attack was the third to take place in the Palestinian town of Hawara in less than a month. One soldier was seriously wounded and the second was in moderate condition, the military said. A manhunt was launched as forces sealed roads leading to Hawara.
No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the shooting attack, but Hamas, the militant group ruling the Gaza Strip, praised it.
“The resistance in the West Bank can surprise the occupation every time and the occupation cannot enjoy safety,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said.
Violence has surged in recent months in the West Bank and east Jerusalem amid near-daily Israeli arrest raids in Palestinian-controlled areas and a string of Palestinian attacks.
US-backed regional efforts to defuse tensions have led to the meeting of Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jordan and Egypt respectively, where parties hoped to prevent a further escalation during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
On Feb. 27, when Israeli and Palestinian officials met in Jordan’s Aqaba, a Palestinian gunman shot and killed two Israelis in Hawara. Another shooting attack in Hawara took place as the parties met again in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, wounding two Israelis.
Eighty-six Palestinians have been killed by Israeli or settler fire this year, according to an Associated Press tally. Palestinian attacks have killed 15 Israelis in the same period.
Israel says most of those killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and people not involved in the confrontations have also been killed.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for their future independent state.

Houthi drone attacks Yemen defense minister’s convoy in Taiz

File photo of Yemeni Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mohsen Al-Daeri. (Screenshot)
File photo of Yemeni Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mohsen Al-Daeri. (Screenshot)
Updated 35 min 6 sec ago

Houthi drone attacks Yemen defense minister’s convoy in Taiz

File photo of Yemeni Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mohsen Al-Daeri. (Screenshot)
  • Muammar Al-Eryani, Yemen’s information minister, accused the Houthis of attempting to derail peace attempts

AL-MUKALLA: A Yemeni government soldier was killed and two others wounded on Saturday when an explosives-laden drone fired by Iran-backed Houthis attacked a convoy conveying senior military leaders, including Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mohsen Al-Daeri, in the besieged city of Taiz, Yemeni officials and local media said.

A Yemeni government official told Arab News that the Houthis launched a drone at a convoy carrying the defense minister, the army’s chief of staff, and the governor of Taiz as they traveled from the Red Sea town of Mocha to Taiz. Al-Daeri and all other government officials were unhurt.

Muammar Al-Eryani, Yemen’s information minister, accused the Houthis of attempting to derail peace attempts.  

“This sinful targeting, which comes in the wake of the terrorist Houthi militia’s continuous escalation on multiple fronts, confirms its insistence on sabotaging efforts to restore the ceasefire and calm the situation,” the minister said on Twitter. 

Al-Eryani had earlier warned that large-scale military operations would resume throughout the nation if the Houthis continued their assaults on government soldiers, particularly in the central province of Marib. 

Scores of fighters have been killed or injured since early last week, when the Houthis began a series of intense assaults on government troops in the district of Hareb, south of Marib province, capturing a few villages.

Those attacks, as well as other less intense shelling and ground attacks in Taiz, have dashed hopes of a peaceful solution to the war, which had arisen following the latest successful round of prisoner-swap talks between the Houthis and the Yemeni government, which resulted in an agreement to release more than 800 prisoners during Ramadan.

Al-Eryani said Houthi raids in Hareb had resulted in the displacement of a significant number of people and posed the prospect of all-out conflict, which would put an end to the country’s relative peace since the UN-brokered ceasefire came into force in April last year.

Speaking to a group of military personnel in Taiz’s Al-Bareh on Friday, the minister pledged to defeat the Houthis, retake Sanaa and other areas currently controlled by the Iran-backed militias, and urged soldiers to remain alert.

“To reclaim every square inch of our territory, retake our capital, and restore our legitimate leadership to its proper position, we must all share the same spirit and direct our firearms against these militias,” the minister said. 

Brig. Gen. Mohammed Al-Kumaim, a Yemeni military analyst, said the Houthis have used the UN-brokered truce to regroup, and to target military officials and government-controlled areas. He suggested that the Yemeni government should abandon any agreements with the Houthis and resume military operations.

“Following this attack on the convoy of the highest military authority in the Yemeni army, the government is expected to terminate all accords, including the Stockholm Agreement, and unleash the fronts,” Al-Kumaim said.

Since October, the Yemeni government has labeled the Houthis a terrorist organization. It threatened to withdraw from the Stockholm Agreement and other agreements with the Houthis and resume military offensives when the Houthis shelled oil facilities in Hadramout and Shabwa with drones and missiles, halting Yemen’s oil exports.


Judicial overhaul legislation must be halted, Israel Defense Minister

Judicial overhaul legislation must be halted, Israel Defense Minister
Updated 31 min 42 sec ago

Judicial overhaul legislation must be halted, Israel Defense Minister

Judicial overhaul legislation must be halted, Israel Defense Minister
  • Gallant asked Netanyahu’s coalition to wait until after the Jewish passover holiday that begins on April 5
  • “I will not take part in this,” Gallant said

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called on Saturday for an immediate and temporary halt to the far-right government’s contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary, the first public dissent from within Prime Minister Benjamin’s coalition.

Citing the need for dialogue with the opposition, Gallant asked Netanyahu’s coalition to wait until after the Jewish passover holiday that begins on April 5 before pushing ahead with its divisive plan to overhaul the judiciary.

He said he is worried that the overhaul plans pose a threat to the country’s security. The plan has sparked the largest protest movement in Israel’s history, bringing thousands to face off against police in the streets weekly.

“I will not take part in this,” Gallant said, although did not elaborate on what would happen if the government pressed on. His statement indicated the first crack in Netanyahu’s coalition, the most right-wing government in Israeli history.

In recent weeks, discontent over the overhaul has even surged from within the Israeli army — what Israelis consider to be the country’s most respected and unifying institution. A growing number of Israeli reservists have threatened to withdraw from voluntary duty in the past weeks, posing a broad challenge to Netanyahu as he plows ahead with the reform while on trial for corruption.

“The events taking place in Israeli society do not spare the Israel Defense Forces — from all sides, feelings of anger, pain and disappointment arise, with an intensity I have never encountered before,” Gallant said in a televised address on Saturday after the end of the Jewish Sabbath. “I see how the source of our strength is being eroded.”

Gallant said that the national crisis over the judicial overhaul has created a “clear, immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state.”


Houthis restricting humanitarian flights arriving in Yemen’s Sanaa

Workers unload aid shipment from a plane at the Sanaa airport, Yemen in 2017. (Reuters/File Photo)
Workers unload aid shipment from a plane at the Sanaa airport, Yemen in 2017. (Reuters/File Photo)
Updated 25 March 2023

Houthis restricting humanitarian flights arriving in Yemen’s Sanaa

Workers unload aid shipment from a plane at the Sanaa airport, Yemen in 2017. (Reuters/File Photo)
  • Houthis said their decision was in response to an alleged barring of commercial flights to and from the Yemeni capital

SANAA: The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen said they were imposing severe restrictions starting Saturday on UN and other humanitarian flights arriving in the capital, Sanaa.

The Houthi-run Civil Aviation Authority said no humanitarian flights would land in Sanaa between March 25-30. It said in a statement they would allow such flights in Sanaa only on Fridays.

The Houthis said their decision was in response to an alleged barring of commercial flights to and from the Yemeni capital, and a ban of booking flights from Sanaa.

The UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Sanaa International Airport was partly reopened for commercial fights last year as part of a UN-brokered cease-fire deal between Yemen’s warring parties. The cease-fire expired in October when the two sides failed to reach a compromise to renew the truce.

The Houthi move comes amid an escalation in fighting in the central province of Marib, where the Houthis in recent days attacked government-held areas.

The Houthi restrictions on humanitarian flights is likely to exaggerate the suffering of Yemenis in Houthi-held areas, including the capital.

Yemen’s conflict has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. More than 21 million people in Yemen, or two-thirds of the country’s population, need help and protection, according to the UN.


Outrage in Lebanon after PM’s last-minute decision to delay daylight savings

Outrage in Lebanon after PM’s last-minute decision to delay daylight savings
Updated 25 March 2023

Outrage in Lebanon after PM’s last-minute decision to delay daylight savings

Outrage in Lebanon after PM’s last-minute decision to delay daylight savings
  • Move forces country’s Muslims to change fasting hours during Ramadan
  • Lebanese institutions on Saturday took divergent positions on the move

BEIRUT: An abrupt decision by Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to postpone the start of daylight saving time by one month has turned into a major political dispute, overshadowing the country’s dire economic crisis.
Despite repeat IMF warnings over the state of the Lebanese economy, the latest political controversy surrounding the postponement from March 25 to April 21 is dominating debate in the country.
The dispute over daylight saving time also involves religious and sectarian differences, and comes as Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan. It means those fasting must break their fasts an hour earlier than planned.
Lebanese institutions on Saturday took divergent positions on the move. One media outlet said that it “will not abide by the decision and will commit to the universal time.”
According to one political observer, the dispute reflects a “political vacuum, given that an absurd decision was explained in a sectarian way.”
This dispute “showed the loss of confidence in the ruling political class and the scale of randomness that political action in Lebanon can slip into.”
The postponement caused confusion among institutions working with other states, notably the international airport, banks and mobile phone networks that automatically adjust to daylight savings each year.
Airlines were forced to reschedule flights, and the two major mobile networks in the country sent a written message to subscribers, asking them to “manually adjust the time on their mobile phones before the midnight of Saturday-Sunday, to avoid the time change on their screens.”
Secretary General of Catholic Schools Father Youssef Nasr said: “Private educational institutions and the Federation of Private Educational Institutions will abide by Mikati’s decision until it is reversed.”
Mikati’s move was met with sarcasm on social media platforms. One political activist said: “We are in the republic of wasting time.”
Another said: “It looks like Lebanon’s connection to the global system is not important.”
Other warned that the decision “was taken by leaders who do not acknowledge the presence of others in the country.”
Free Patriotic Movement MP Saeed Nasr said in a press conference: “Such decision leads to many problems and disruptions in software, applications and electronic devices that rely on daylight saving time in their operations, thus resulting in errors in setting times and dates, delaying production and delivery processes, which could possibly affect banks and SWIFT payments.
Meanwhile, amid political dispute over the postponement — with opposition to the move led by FPM MPs and MP Nadim Gemayel — the Lebanese Cabinet is scheduled to hold a session on Monday to discuss boosting salaries and incentives following a collapse in the wages of public and private sector employees.
Retired army members are likely to protest in Riad Al-Solh Square in central Beirut during the Cabinet meeting, following a similar move earlier this week.
Veteran representatives said that the call to protest came after negotiations with the government failed to meet their basic demands, especially fair and legal wages and an increase in medical and educational benefits.