Two journalists among 8 killed as Israel hits targets in Lebanon

Special Two journalists among 8 killed as Israel hits targets in Lebanon
Smoke rises from Israeli artillery shelling on Aita Al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel, in south Lebanon, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. (AP Photo)
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Updated 21 November 2023
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Two journalists among 8 killed as Israel hits targets in Lebanon

Two journalists among 8 killed as Israel hits targets in Lebanon
  • Mikati condemns Israeli ‘crime,’ Hezbollah responds by bombing a gathering place for soldiers
  • Intensification of violence on the southern Lebanese border increases the potential for clashes there to escalate into a full-blown conflict with uncertain outcomes

BEIRUT: Eight people were killed on Tuesday in southern Lebanon due to Israeli artillery shelling and drone attacks, among the victims a journalist and photojournalist.

Farah Omar, a correspondent for Al-Mayadeen TV, and photojournalist Rabie Al-Maamari, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Tayr Harfa triangle. Civilian Hussein Aqeel, who happened to be with them, also lost his life.

Al-Mayadeen expressed deep sorrow for the loss of “the martyrs Farah Omar and Rabie Al-Maamari, who died as a result of treacherous Israeli targeting.”

Ghassan bin Jiddo, Al-Mayadeen director, said the journalists were deliberately targeted: “It was a direct attack, it was not by chance.”

The incident brought the total number of civilian casualties to 19 since the beginning of hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on the southern front, which commenced on Oct. 8.

Over the course of the past 45 days, over 70 Hezbollah members have also been killed.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati strongly condemned “the Israeli aggression that targeted media professionals in the south.”

He said: “This aggression proves that there are no limits to Israeli crimes, and (Israel’s) ultimate goal is to silence the media that exposes its crimes and attacks.”

Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said from Brussels after a meeting with his Belgian counterpart: “Lebanon will lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council, and we demand the condemnation of this heinous crime.”

Bou Habib expressed his fears that “the Gaza fire will spread to the Middle East if there is no concerted effort to extinguish it.”

Hezbollah condemned the targeting of journalists with Al-Mayadeen TV, saying: “This crime, and the previous assassination of journalist Essam Al-Abdullah, targeting the media convoy in Yaroun, and the killing of dozens of journalists in Gaza, reveal the crucial role played by the media in exposing the enemy’s terrorist acts. The Islamic resistance will not let this aggression and the loss of innocent lives go unpunished.”

Hezbollah subsequently declared that it launched an assault on “an Israeli military intelligence unit positioned in a residence on the periphery of the Al-Manara settlement using two precision-guided missiles, which led to its members being killed or wounded.”

An intensification of violence on the southern Lebanese border increases the potential for clashes there to escalate into a full-blown conflict with uncertain outcomes.

An observer told Arab News that the current escalation coincided with the announcement that Amos Hochstein, US advisor for global energy security affairs, would arrive in Israel on Monday for talks aimed at preventing an expansion of the war toward the northern border with Lebanon.

“It also coincides with the announcement that Israel and Hamas are approaching a truce agreement. The Israeli escalation in southern Lebanon may be aimed at dragging Hezbollah into war on the northern front, particularly since it is uncertain whether any truce agreement will include the southern Lebanese front,” the observer added.

Israel intensified operations in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Israeli warplanes launched attacks on the heights of Kfar Shuba, Aita Al-Shaab, and Al-Jebin, and artillery bombed the towns of Tair Harfa, Al-Naqoura, Aita Al-Shaab, Yaroun, Rab El Thalathine, Al-Adisa, Al-Khiyam, and Kafr Kila. The most serious targeting was of a Lebanese army center in the Wazzani area, but there were only material damages.

Israeli bombing also hit a house in the town of Kafr Kila, killing Laiqa Sarhan, 80, and wounding her granddaughter, Alaa Al-Qassem, a Syrian national. A number of Sarhan’s grandchildren who were in the house survived.

In the Al-Shaytiya area, Israeli bombs resulted in the death of four occupants of a vehicle. There are unverified reports suggesting that one of the deceased is Khalil Kharaz, the deputy commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades in Lebanon, the military arm of Hamas.

The Israeli army said that it targeted “three cells on Lebanese territory specialized in launching anti-tank missiles.”

The Islamic Resistance, the military wing of Hezbollah, announced that “in response to the Zionist enemy’s targeting of homes in the southern villages, the Islamic Resistance targeted a house in the Metulla settlement where Israeli enemy soldiers were stationed, using suitable weapons, resulting in a direct hit. Additionally, Hadab Al-Bustan and Al-Raheb locations off Aita Al-Shaab were targeted, achieving direct hits on these targets as well.”

According to the observer, the focus of this operation is in line with “Hezbollah’s increased efforts to target Israeli military installations and disrupt their operations by effectively disabling surveillance methods and inflicting maximum casualties on the Israeli army. This objective was achieved on Monday through the precise targeting of military gatherings, particularly at the Pranet barracks.”

The Lebanese Press Editors Syndicate condemned “the treacherous and direct Israeli attack in an airstrike on the media team,” adding that it was “a deliberate attack that amounts to an assassination, and Tel Aviv bears direct responsibility for it.”

The syndicate has brought up the matter of “this massacre” to the UN, its affiliated bodies, and press unions around the world, including those from Arab and Asian regions.

It called for “a formal complaint to be lodged with the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice against Israel. The evidence of Israel’s crimes has been captured in audio and video recordings.”


Israel launches air attack on vicinity of Damascus -Syrian state media

Israel launches air attack on vicinity of Damascus -Syrian state media
Updated 34 sec ago
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Israel launches air attack on vicinity of Damascus -Syrian state media

Israel launches air attack on vicinity of Damascus -Syrian state media

DAMASCUS: Israel launched an air attack on the vicinity of Damascus late on Friday, Syrian state media reported.

 


Inaction on Gaza amounts to ‘approval’ of killing children: UNICEF

Inaction on Gaza amounts to ‘approval’ of killing children: UNICEF
Updated 25 min 59 sec ago
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Inaction on Gaza amounts to ‘approval’ of killing children: UNICEF

Inaction on Gaza amounts to ‘approval’ of killing children: UNICEF
  • Israeli warplanes resumed bombing Gaza, sending Palestinian civilians fleeing for shelter, after a week-old truce ran out with no deal to extend it

GENEVA: UNICEF has appealed for a lasting ceasefire to be implemented in Gaza, describing inaction as “an approval of the killing of children” after a week-old truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed.
“A lasting ceasefire must be implemented,” James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF, told reporters via video link from Gaza.
“Inaction at its core is an approval of the killing of children.”
The UN described the hostilities as “catastrophic” and urged parties to bring about a lasting ceasefire.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva, said the resumption of hostilities meant “hell on Earth has returned to Gaza.”
Israeli warplanes resumed bombing Gaza, sending Palestinian civilians fleeing for shelter, after a week-old truce ran out with no deal to extend it.
“The resumption of hostilities in Gaza is catastrophic,” said Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
“I urge all parties and states with influence over them to redouble efforts, immediately, to ensure a ceasefire – on humanitarian and human rights grounds.”
In a post on X social media platform, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he regretted the resumption of hostilities and hoped a new pause could be established.
“The return to hostilities only shows how important it is to have a true humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.
Laerke said that the week-long truce had seen significantly larger humanitarian convoys entering densely populated Gaza, even reaching north of Wadi Gaza, which prior to the pause had received almost no supplies.
“With the resumption of war, we fear that the continuation of this (aid) is now in doubt,” he said.
“The Rafah crossing is closed as of now. We need a resumption of a humanitarian pause, not a return to war.”

 


11 civilians dead in eastern Iraq attack blamed on Daesh

11 civilians dead in eastern Iraq attack blamed on Daesh
Updated 02 December 2023
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11 civilians dead in eastern Iraq attack blamed on Daesh

11 civilians dead in eastern Iraq attack blamed on Daesh
  • About 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq as part of international efforts to prevent a resurgence of Daesh

BAGHDAD: A blast and gunfire killed at least 11 civilians in eastern Iraq, two security officials said on Friday, an attack that the provincial governor blamed on Daesh extremists.
The violence in Diyala province occurred on Thursday evening.
It targeted a minibus returning the civilians from an electoral meeting organized by a candidate from their tribe, said an Interior Ministry official.
Muthana Al-Tamimi, the governor of Diyala, which is just outside Baghdad, denounced “a cowardly operation” by Daesh.
On his Facebook page, he called on the security forces to “intensify vigilance against dormant cells” of the extremists.
IS did not immediately claim the attack in Diyala, an area where its cells remain active.

BACKGROUND

Muthana Al-Tamimi, the governor of Diyala, which is just outside Baghdad, denounced ‘a cowardly operation’ by Daesh.

After rapidly taking over large swaths of territory in Iraq and neighboring Syria, Daesh saw its brutal “caliphate,” self-proclaimed in 2014, collapse under successive offensives in both countries.
Iraqi authorities declared “victory” over the extremist group at the end of 2017, but jihadist cells continue to sporadically launch attacks, particularly on military and police personnel in remote areas of central and northern Iraq.
In the Diyala unrest, at least “11 people were killed and 17 wounded in an attack carried out by an explosive device then gunfire targeting the gathering” provoked by the initial blast in Al-Omraniya village, said a second security source in Baghdad.
The Interior Ministry source said the minibus was targeted “by two homemade bombs on its return from an electoral meeting.”
Sniper fire followed, according to this source, who gave a toll of 12 civilians dead and 13 wounded.
The attack came ahead of the election on Dec. 18 of provincial councils, which in turn elect the governors.
Iraq is trying to move past four decades of war and unrest, including the overthrow 20 years ago of the dictator Saddam Hussein in a US-led invasion.
About 2,500 US troops remain in Iraq as part of international efforts to prevent a resurgence of IS.
A UN report published in July said Daesh has “between 5,000 and 7,000 members across Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, most of whom are fighters.”

 


Truce breakdown brings ‘nightmare’ back to Gaza Strip, says ICRC chief

Truce breakdown brings ‘nightmare’ back to Gaza Strip, says ICRC chief
Updated 02 December 2023
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Truce breakdown brings ‘nightmare’ back to Gaza Strip, says ICRC chief

Truce breakdown brings ‘nightmare’ back to Gaza Strip, says ICRC chief
  • Combat resumed shortly after Israel’s army said it had intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza, the first from the territory since a missile launched minutes into the start of the truce on Nov. 24

DUBAI: Renewed fighting in Gaza after a week-long truce has brought back a “nightmarish situation” for the Palestinian territory, the head of the Red Cross said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN’s COP28 climate talks in Dubai, Robert Mardini said “people are at a breaking point, hospitals are at a breaking point, the whole Gaza Strip is in a very precarious state.”
Resumption of fighting brings the people of Gaza “back to the nightmarish situation they were in before the truce took place,” said Mardini, director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
He noted their “suffering, destruction, fear, anxiety, and precarious living conditions.”
Israel’s military said fighter jets were striking Hamas targets in Gaza on Friday, as journalists reported air attacks in the north and south of the territory.
Combat resumed shortly after Israel’s army said it had intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza, the first from the territory since a missile launched minutes into the start of the truce on Nov. 24.
“There is nowhere safe to go for civilians,” Mardini said, stressing the challenges hospitals and humanitarian organizations face.
“We have seen in the hospitals where our teams have been working that over the past days, hundreds of severely injured people have arrived,” he said.
“The influx of severely wounded outpaced the real capacity of hospitals to absorb and treat the wounded, so there is a massive challenge.”
During the seven-day truce, 80 Israeli hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners were released after negotiations mediated by Qatar with support from Egypt and the US.
ICRC vehicles brought out both hostages and prisoners.
“We have seen so far that releases only happened when there was a truce because you need certain conditions to be met to do this,” Mardini said.
“We stand ready as the ICRC to facilitate those releases.”
Renewed fighting also threatens the entry of aid to Gaza, where about 80 percent of the population is displaced and grappling with shortages of food, water, and other essentials.
“With the resumption of hostilities, the likelihood will be that less aid will get in,” Mardini said.
“More importantly, humanitarian organizations, like the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, and others such as the ICRC and UN agencies, will have reduced capacities to deliver aid to the people,” he added.
“Even people will have reduced capacities to get to places where they could receive aid.”

 


UN Security Council puts end to mission in Sudan

UN Security Council puts end to mission in Sudan
Updated 02 December 2023
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UN Security Council puts end to mission in Sudan

UN Security Council puts end to mission in Sudan
  • Starting Monday, a three-month transition period would begin to allow for the departure of UNITAMS personnel

NEW YORK CITY: At the request of Sudanese authorities, the UN Security Council on Friday ended the world body’s political mission in the African country ravaged by more than seven months of fighting between two rival generals.
Taking note of a letter from Khartoum demanding an immediate end to the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), the Security Council adopted a resolution terminating its mandate as of Sunday.
Starting Monday, a three-month transition period would begin to allow for the departure of UNITAMS personnel and the transfer of its tasks to other UN agencies “where appropriate and to the extent feasible.”
The UN mission in Sudan employs 245 people, including 88 in Port Sudan, as well as others in Nairobi and Addis Ababa, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed last month.
Fourteen of the council’s 15 members adopted the resolution, while Russia abstained.
“Let me be clear. The United Kingdom would not have chosen to close UNITAMS at this moment,” said Britain’s deputy UN envoy James Kariuki, whose country drafted the text.
“The need for the UN and international community to support the Sudanese people has not reduced.”
In the text, the council expressed “alarm at the continued violence and humanitarian situation, in particular violations of international humanitarian law and grave human rights violations and abuses” in Sudan.
It called on all parties to “immediately cease hostilities, facilitate humanitarian access... and seek a negotiated solution to the conflict.”
UNITAMS was put in place in 2020 to help support a democratic transition in Sudan following the fall the previous year of veteran Islamist autocrat Omar Al-Bashir, who faced pressure from both the military and mass protests.
But in October 2021, the difficult path to civilian government was cut short, when army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan assumed full powers in a coup.
On April 15, before a deal on resuming the transition to democracy could be signed, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army led by Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
A few weeks later, Burhan demanded that UNITAMS chief Volker Perthes be sacked, placing blame for the violence on his shoulders.
The German diplomat, who was barred from returning to Sudan, ultimately stepped down in September, and has not been replaced.
Last month, saying the mission had been “disappointing,” the government in Khartoum demanded its immediate end, leaving the Security Council with virtually no choice but to withdraw, as the UN must operate with the host nation’s consent.
Just days ago, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres rejected all accusations made against the world body, pointing a finger at Burhan and Daglo, “two generals that completely disregard the interests of their population.”
“I think it’s time to call a spade a spade. This is the fault of those that sacrificed the interests of their people for a pure struggle for power,” Guterres said, also highlighting financial and weapons aid granted by unnamed parties.
The forced departure of UNITAMS is a new setback for the United Nations, which is facing a certain amount of hostility, notably in Africa, about the efficiency of its political and security missions.
Under pressure from Mali’s ruling junta, the Security Council ended its peacekeeping mission in that country (MINUSMA) in June, and its blue helmets should be full withdrawn by year’s end.
Despite the end of UNITAMS, “what is clear and what should be clear to everyone is that the United Nations is not leaving Sudan,” Dujarric said Thursday, saying the world body would pursue its humanitarian programs and some political initiatives.
Guterres has named Algerian diplomat Ramtane Lamamra as his personal envoy for Sudan.
The UN has a significant number of humanitarian workers who assist those in need of aid “despite the funding shortages we speak about all the time and despite the fighting that continues,” Dujarric said.
The civil war has left more than 10,000 dead since April, according to an estimate by the non-governmental organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled), a figure that is widely considered an underestimate.
Six million people have been displaced, and much infrastructure destroyed, the UN says.