Senior Iraqi political figure threatens to target US interests if it backs Israel
Senior Iraqi political figure threatens to target US interests if it backs Israel/node/2388756/middle-east
Senior Iraqi political figure threatens to target US interests if it backs Israel
US and Israeli national flags burn, as members of Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba, gather next to fire during a protest in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, in Baghdad. (Reuters)
Senior Iraqi political figure threatens to target US interests if it backs Israel
Updated 10 October 2023
Reuters
BAGHDAD: Hadi Al-Amiri, a powerful Iraqi politician close to Iran and a key figure in the cross-party alliance backing Iraq’s government, has threatened to target US interests if Washington intervenes to support Israel in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
Amiri leads the Badr Organization, a Shi’ite political group supported by Iran that makes up a big part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the state paramilitary organization that contains many Iran-backed factions.
“If they intervene, we would intervene...if the Americans intervened openly in this conflict...we will consider all American targets legitimate … and we will not hesitate to target it,” Al-Amiri said during a tribal gathering in Baghdad on Monday night.
Al-Amiri’s comments came a day after the United States said it would rapidly provide additional munitions to Israel and was moving a carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean.
In past years, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq regularly targeted US forces in Iraq and its embassy in Baghdad with rockets. More recently, those attacks have been halted in what Iraqi officials and militia sources said was a truce that has held since last year, as Iraq enjoys a period of relative calm. The United States currently has 2,500 troops in Iraq — and an additional 900 in Syria — on a mission to advise and assist local troops in combating Islamic State, who in 2014 seized swathes of territory in both countries.
On Saturday the PMF voiced its “unequivocal support” for the Palestinian factions fighting Israel and the Iraqi government has said the Palestinian operations were a natural outcome of oppressive policies by Israel.
How Israel’s war on Hezbollah risks creating a lost generation in Lebanon
War and mass displacement have brought the nation’s education system, already crippled by economic crisis, to the brink of collapse
Schools across Lebanon have been repurposed to house families displaced by Israeli airstrikes, depriving children of an education
Updated 5 sec ago
Razia Desai
DUBAI: Thousands of children across Lebanon, many of whom were due to start the new school year, have seen their education abruptly disrupted by the sudden escalation in hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
With schools closing, teachers fleeing, and students facing mounting trauma, Lebanon’s educational system is on the verge of collapse.
“This has added to existing challenges caused by the pandemic, political instability, economic downturns, including earlier teacher strikes, and continuous conflict,” Erin Wall, an education technical adviser at Save the Children Lebanon, told Arab News.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire along the Lebanese border since Oct. 8 last year. However, this suddenly escalated in September with an unprecedented attack on the militia’s communications network, followed by a wave of strikes on its leaders and weapons caches.
Lebanon was rocked last month when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies carried by Hezbollah members suddenly exploded simultaneously. The devices, reportedly booby-trapped by Israel, exploded in public areas, killing scores and injuring thousands, including children.
Following the pager incident, Lebanon’s Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced the closure of schools and higher education institutions, impacting some 1.5 million young people across the country.
In the days that followed, Israel escalated its airstrikes against Hezbollah targets, with the stated aim of pushing the militia away from the Israel-Lebanon border, making it safe for the 60,000 Israelis displaced from the north to return home.
Israeli strikes, which have now extended beyond southern Lebanon to the capital Beirut and other regions, have forced some 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes — an estimated 35 percent of them children.
School buildings in the north of the country have been repurposed to provide emergency shelter to families escaping the bombardment in the south and other areas that are considered Hezbollah strongholds.
The long-term effects of the violence and disruption are likely to run deep. Children like 14-year-old Ali Al-Akbar, who returned to school not for an education but to find a place of refuge, are missing out on much-needed stability.
“I miss my friends and teachers,” Al-Akbar told AFP news agency from a classroom-turned-shelter in Beirut’s southern suburbs, echoing the sentiment of thousands of displaced students across the country.
War damage and the mass displacement of students and teachers have left education in Lebanon in a state of limbo.
“Damage to some school infrastructure and resources has diminished educational quality,” Mira, an elementary teacher from Beirut, told Arab News. “Displacement forces children to adapt to new curricula and environments, adding to their stress.”
Online learning, while utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic, has proven difficult to implement in the face of daily bombings and unreliable internet access.
Furthermore, the trauma of conflict, compounded by the loss of community and routine, makes it nearly impossible for children to concentrate on their studies.
“The psychological impact on students, who lose access to safe, child-friendly spaces and routine support services, contributes to stress and anxiety,” said Wall of Save the Children.
“This scenario exacerbates the risk of social isolation and disconnection, significantly affecting their overall well-being and development.”
The disruption to education could also have lasting consequences for Lebanon’s recovery. A World Bank report last year estimated the economy could lose $3 million in the long term due to educational disruptions.
Even more concerning is the impact on students who may never return to school or will forget what they have already learned.
Jennifer Moorehead, Lebanon country director at Save the Children, told AFP: “It will be generations before Lebanon will recover from this learning loss.”
"Over a million, 200k people on the road, so 20% of the population basically on the move. 420k of those are children. It's a very impressive and also very scary moment to be a kid." Jennifer Moorehead, Country Director, @SaveChildrenLEB on humanitarian situation in #Lebanonpic.twitter.com/AhgffanQQQ
— Save the Children Global Media (@Save_GlobalNews) October 3, 2024
The country’s fragile economy is unlikely to withstand such an extensive setback, with an entire generation of children at risk of being left behind.
Children displaced by the conflict are also at risk of long-term trauma.
Wall emphasized how the cognitive abilities of children are being affected, with many exhibiting signs of constant anxiety and fear. “This is detrimental to their ability to focus, which negatively affects their acquisition of foundational skills such as math or reading,” she said.
Meanwhile, at schools that have been turned into makeshift shelters, little space remains for the continuation of education. In these overcrowded conditions, the chances of returning to regular schooling are slim.
“No mother wants her child to miss out on school, but this year I’d rather he stayed by my side as nowhere in Lebanon is safe anymore,” Batoul Arouni, a mother staying in a repurposed school in Beirut, told AFP.
Her sentiment is shared by many parents who fear for their children’s safety amid the violence.
In the face of these overwhelming challenges, international aid has begun to trickle in. The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, has been providing educational and psychosocial support to displaced children in shelters.
Regional countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan, have also pledged millions of dollars in relief.
While the aid provided thus far has primarily focused on food, shelter, and medical care, these necessities offer a glimmer of hope for Lebanon’s children.
By stabilizing the humanitarian situation, aid organizations say they are creating an environment where children can eventually return to learning and begin to heal from the trauma.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Education has also partnered with private institutions to allow displaced children to attend nearby schools. However, the success of this initiative will depend heavily on whether schools can remain open in the face of continued violence.
INNUMBERS
• 400k Children displaced by the conflict in Lebanon, according to the UN.
• 40% Proportion of public schools serving as shelters, according to education officials.
• 127 Children killed since the onset of hostilities — more than 100 in the last two weeks.
The current crisis has exposed the deep vulnerabilities in Lebanon’s education system, which has been plagued by instability for years.
The pandemic, teacher strikes, and economic hardship had already pushed many schools to the brink of collapse. The conflict with Israel has only exacerbated these issues.
Lebanon’s public schools are set to reopen in early November after the Ministry of Education pushed back the start of the new term. But uncertainty looms over whether they will be able to function effectively.
Indeed, according to Lebanon’s Education Minister Halabi, around 600 schools, or 40 percent of public institutions, have been repurposed as shelters.
“The education plan we have put in place needs more time for implementation,” Halabi said in a statement, adding that public schools will reopen based on their location and capacity to host students.
The UN estimates that more than 400,000 children have been displaced by the conflict to date. With no formal schooling available in shelters, children and teachers will be enrolled in nearby schools, but it is unclear how many will be able to return.
However, the loss of education is not just a temporary inconvenience — it could have catastrophic long-term consequences for a country already mired in crisis.
Without immediate and sustained international support, an entire generation of Lebanese children risks being lost to conflict, trauma, and missed opportunities.
For many families, though, education is no longer a priority, as survival takes center stage.
At least four Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on West Bank
Nablus governor Ghassan Daghlas said that ‘the four martyrs are ordinary citizens who were among the people and were killed among the people in cold blood’
Daghlas said that that one man was from Balata camp, while the remaining three were from the Askar camp in the West Bank
Updated 09 October 2024
AFP
NABLUS, Palestinian Territories: Israeli police killed at least four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, Palestinian health authorities and Israeli security forces said.
The Palestinian health ministry reported in a statement Wednesday that “four martyrs shot by the occupation in Nablus have been transferred to Rafidia Government Hospital.”
It later said the men were aged between 31 and 43 years old.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also reported the deaths of four people, but Israeli security forces said five were killed Wednesday.
Officers from an elite police unit “killed five wanted terrorists in Nablus,” the Israeli police, army and Shin Bet domestic security service said in a joint statement.
The statement added that among those killed was the head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade in the Balata refugee camp adjacent to the city.
It said that during a joint operation involving army and police force, coordinated by Shin Bet, police killed five armed men “who presented a danger for our forces.”
“The eliminated terrorists were involved in the planning and exporting of terrorist activity against civilians and army forces,” the statement added.
Nablus governor Ghassan Daghlas however told AFP that “the four martyrs are ordinary citizens who were among the people and were killed among the people in cold blood.”
He called the killing “a cowardly and deliberate assassination.”
He added that one man was from Balata camp, while the remaining three were from the Askar camp in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Violence has soared in the West Bank since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel in October last year.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 705 Palestinians in the West Bank since, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Israeli officials say at least 24 Israelis, civilians or members of the security forces, have been killed in attacks carried out by Palestinian militants or in Israeli military operations over the same period in the West Bank.
Algeria’s purchases of Russian grain could reach 3 mln tons in 2024/25 season
Russian grain supplies to Algeria could reach 3 million tons by the end of the season
Updated 09 October 2024
Reuters
MOSCOW: Algeria’s purchases of Russian wheat could reach 3 million metric tons this season after a big part of 510,000 tons bought by Algeria’s state grains agency in a tender on Oct. 8 was awarded to Russia, Russia’s trade mission in Algeria said.
“If the current trend continues, Russian grain supplies to Algeria could reach 3 million tons by the end of the season,” the trade mission said in a statement on Wednesday.
Hezbollah repels Israeli incursions as deadly clashes continue
The two sides exchanged fire early in the day across the Labouneh area, near the coastal border town of Naqoura
The Lebanese border region experienced an unprecedented barrage of airstrikes from Tuesday night through Wednesday
Updated 50 min 34 sec ago
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: Israeli forces clashed with Hezbollah fighters across Lebanon’s southern border on Wednesday as Israel expanded its invasion force with a fourth division.
The two sides exchanged fire early in the day across the Labouneh area, near the coastal border town of Naqoura.
It followed two days of Israeli attempts to infiltrate the towns of Maroun Al-Ras, Adaisseh and Kfar Kila, which were subsequently abandoned after clashes with the militant group.
Hezbollah said on Wednesday that its fighters “targeted an Israeli infantry unit in Ras Al-Naqoura with a missile barrage.”
A military source told Arab News: “The Israeli advances and retreats along the border can be categorized as an assessment of Hezbollah’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of ground confrontation at the primary defense line.”
The Lebanese border region experienced an unprecedented barrage of airstrikes from Tuesday night through Wednesday.
Towns along the border have effectively become military zones devoid of civilian populations, with Khiam enduring about 15 airstrikes within a span of 30 minutes.
Hezbollah said: “While the Israeli enemy’s forces attempted to advance toward Mays Al-Jabal from several locations, the resistance fighters targeted them at 1:30 p.m. with rocket fire and artillery shells, and the clashes are ongoing.”
Hezbollah said in a previous statement: “At 1:20 p.m., a group confronted the forces of the Israeli enemy as they advanced from the Tufa plain toward Mays Al-Jabal and Muhaybib with a barrage of rockets.”
According to its statements this morning, Hezbollah targeted “an Israeli infantry force that tried to infiltrate the Labouneh area with a large missile barrage, killing and wounding them.”
The Israeli army is focused on entering towns situated in highland areas that provide a vantage point into southern Lebanon.
Its activities near Maroun Al-Ras have been particularly significant, with an Israeli unit entering the town between Monday and Tuesday.
During the operation, Israeli soldiers hoisted their national flag on the wall of a garden at the eastern edge of the town after clearing the area and uprooting trees.
Photographs of the event were taken and shared online before the forces withdrew.
Hezbollah acknowledged the Israeli operation.
UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti described the situation on the ground as “unsafe and unclear.”
The Israeli army on Tuesday launched a new incursion into Lebanon’s western sector led by the 146th Division, which includes the 2nd Brigade and 205th Brigade.
It aims to “execute a targeted ground operation against Hezbollah’s infrastructure,” and follows eight days of aerial bombardment over Lebanese territory and warnings for residents in southern villages to move north of the Litani River.
In Tebnine, an Israeli drone targeted two motorcycles, as well as a car on the road to the town of Shaqra.
For the first time, Israel struck the town of Wardaniyeh in the Iqlim Al-Kharroub region of Mount Lebanon, targeting an apartment.
The area is housing displaced people from southern Lebanon, mainly those who left the border town of Aitaroun.
The Ministry of Health reported that the attack killed four people and injured 10 others, including the principal of a local school and his wife.
Their children sustained severe injuries.
Cautious calm prevailed in Beirut’s southern suburb following a series of raids on Tuesday night that targeted several areas in Laylaki, Haret Hreik and Burj Al-Barajneh.
The attacks were preceded by a warning from Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee, who instructed residents of the targeted areas to leave.
The southern suburb has become a ghost town, with unprecedented destruction visible near neighborhood landmarks, as well as flames rising from the rubble of flattened buildings.
A line of four residential buildings in Burj Al-Barajneh collapsed following the most recent Israeli strikes, and Israeli jets have circled over the area round the clock.
In a statement, the Israeli army claimed that its attacks “targeted a weapon factory and Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburb.”
Saaideh in western Baalbek was also hit by an airstrike, killing a citizen later identified as Hussein Saleh Amhaz and injuring several residents, including three women from the same family — a grandmother, her daughter and her granddaughter.
An Israeli raid also targeted a house in Al-Hallanieh, killing two people and injuring others.
Hezbollah operations targeted Israeli military positions and settlements on and across the border.
Israeli media said that the militant group launched 20 missiles at Kiryat Shmona, killing two people.
Hezbollah said that it targeted “a gathering of the Israeli enemy in the Kiryat Shmona settlement with a rocket salvo.”
Amid Israel’s invasion, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that Arab and international efforts to end Israel’s “aggression” are “ongoing.”
He added: “However, the Israeli intransigence and the efforts by the enemy to achieve what it considers as gains and victories are still obstructing the success of these efforts.
“Lebanon’s friends from the Arab and foreign countries also continue to pressure Israel into implementing a ceasefire for a specified period in order to discuss the main political steps, most importantly implementing Resolution 1701 fully, and compelling the Israeli enemy to implement it.”
Yemeni academic, family among 7 killed in Israeli airstrike in Syria
Dr. Shawqi Alawdi, his wife, and three daughters were at a building in Al-Mazzeh, Damascus, when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike
Alawdi taught pharmacology at a private university in Syria and previously taught at Dhamar University’s Faculty of Medicine and Sanaa University in Yemen
Updated 09 October 2024
Saeed Al-Batati
AL-MUKALLA: A Yemeni university professor and his family were killed in an airstrike by Israeli warplanes on the Syrian capital on Tuesday night, relatives and media reports said.
Dr. Shawqi Alawdi, his wife, and three daughters were at a building in Al-Mazzeh, Damascus, when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike, killing them all, including several others.
The Syrian news agency SANA said that the Israelis fired three missiles at a building in Damascus’s “densely populated” Al-Mazzeh neighborhood, killing seven people, including women and children, injuring 11 others, and causing property damage.
Alawdi teaches pharmacology at a private university in Syria and taught at Dhamar University’s Faculty of Medicine and Sanaa University in Yemen.
He moved to Syria four years ago and returns to Yemen every year during breaks, according to relatives, colleagues and students.
His Facebook profile shows that he studied clinical pharmacy at Ain Shams University in Egypt and earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from Cairo University.
Friends and students flooded his Facebook page with condolence and messages of sympathy after learning of his death.
Students in Syria and Yemen shared photos of Alawdi, while others sent condolences to his family in Yemen.
“Dr. Alawdi is composed, humble, and knowledgeable in his field. He has a unique teaching style in which he simplifies the difficult subjects he teaches,” Younes Al-Qadhi, a pharmacist in Sanaa and former student of Alawdi, told Arab News.
Mohammed Aslan, a pharmacist and Alawdi’s friend, described him as a leading expert in nanotechnology and an apolitical person.
“He was free of politics, sectarianism, and all other life pollutants. He was a pioneering scientist and one of the most important researchers in nanotechnology,” Aslan said on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Journalists urged the Houthi militia on Tuesday to release Yemeni journalists abducted for criticizing the Houthis and to stop harassing journalists.
According to the IFJ, the Houthis abducted Mohamed Al-Miyahi on Sept. 20 after raiding his home in Sanaa, two days after he criticized the Houthis.
They also abducted Fuad Al-Nahar, a member of the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate, in September as part of a crackdown on those who celebrated the 1962 revolution.
“Our colleague Mohamed Al-Miyahi is the latest abductee in a long list of journalists who must be immediately and unconditionally released. We call on the de facto authorities and other armed groups to stop hindering journalists’ work and release all unfairly detained journalists,” Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the IFJ, said in a statement.
Since mid-September, the Houthis have abducted hundreds of people as part of a crackdown on Yemenis commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the 1962 revolution that overthrew the Zaidi Imamate in northern Yemen.
The Houthis abducted people who posted on social media encouraging the public to celebrate the revolution, accusing them of being “stooges” for the US and other foreign intelligence agencies to undermine security in areas under their control and pressure them to stop attacking ships.