Israel border violence displaces 76,000 in Lebanon: IOM

Israel border violence displaces 76,000 in Lebanon: IOM
A man stands amidst the rubble of destroyed buildings following strikes on the the town of Naqura in southern Lebanon close to the border with northern Israel on January 4, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 05 January 2024
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Israel border violence displaces 76,000 in Lebanon: IOM

Israel border violence displaces 76,000 in Lebanon: IOM
  • Cross-border violence left 175 people dead including 129 Hezbollah fighters and more than 20 civilians

Beirut: More than 76,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon in almost three months of near-daily fighting along the border with Israel, the UN’s International Organization for Migration has said.
The border area has seen a surge of violence since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in early October, with tit-for-tat exchanges of fire continuing on Friday between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Lebanese ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas.
In a report published on Thursday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that the escalation has displaced 76,018 people, mainly in areas of southern Lebanon bordering Israel.
More than 80 percent of the displaced Lebanese are staying with relatives, according to the report, and only 2 percent housed in 14 collective shelters spread across the south of the country, mainly in the coastal city of Tyre and in the Hasbaya region.
The rest have rented apartments or moved to homes in areas farther from the border, the UN agency said.
Cross-border violence has left 175 people dead in Lebanon, including 129 Hezbollah fighters and more than 20 civilians, including three journalists, according to an AFP count.
In northern Israel, nine soldiers and five civilians have been killed, according to Israeli authorities.
Hezbollah, which conducts daily operations against Israeli soldiers along the border, says it is intervening in support of Hamas in Gaza.
Tensions rose further with a strike on Tuesday that killed Hamas’s number two, Saleh Al-Aruri, in a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that the assassination, widely attributed to Israel, “will not go unpunished.”
Israel vowed to “destroy” Hamas following the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel which left around 1,140 people dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has killed 22,438 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.


UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warn against ‘catastrophic’ regional conflict

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warn against ‘catastrophic’ regional conflict
Updated 12 October 2024
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UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warn against ‘catastrophic’ regional conflict

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warn against ‘catastrophic’ regional conflict
  • This risks “turning very soon into a regional conflict with catastrophic impact for everyone“

BEIRUT: A spokesman for UN peacekeepers in Lebanon on Saturday said he feared an Israeli escalation against Lebanese militants Hezbollah in the country’s south could soon spiral out of control.
This risks “turning very soon into a regional conflict with catastrophic impact for everyone,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told AFP, calling for a diplomatic solution.


Hezbollah says launched drone attack on base in north Israel’s Haifa

Hezbollah says launched drone attack on base in north Israel’s Haifa
Updated 12 October 2024
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Hezbollah says launched drone attack on base in north Israel’s Haifa

Hezbollah says launched drone attack on base in north Israel’s Haifa
  • Hezbollah fighters launched “an air attack with a swarm of explosives-laden drones”

BEIRUT: Hezbollah said Saturday it launched a drone attack on a military base in north Israel’s Haifa a day earlier.
Hezbollah fighters at 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Friday launched “an air attack with a swarm of explosives-laden drones on an air defense base” in Haifa, a statement from the Iran-backed group said.


Morocco’s King lauds new allies in Western Sahara dispute after European court ruling

Morocco’s King lauds new allies in Western Sahara dispute after European court ruling
Updated 12 October 2024
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Morocco’s King lauds new allies in Western Sahara dispute after European court ruling

Morocco’s King lauds new allies in Western Sahara dispute after European court ruling
  • The king noted that the United States, Spain and most recently France had backed Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed territory
  • “So it is that the French Republic supports Morocco’s sovereignty over the entire Sahara territory,” he said

RABAT: King Mohammed VI on Friday reaffirmed that settling sovereignty disputes over the Western Sahara remains the driving force behind Morocco’s foreign policy, lauding diplomatic triumphs and framing them as progress toward resolving the decades-long conflict in Morocco’s favor.
In an annual speech to members of parliament, the king noted that the United States, Spain and most recently France had backed Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed territory. He thanked President Emmanuel Macron for his “frank support for the ‘Moroccanness’ of the Sahara.”
“So it is that the French Republic supports Morocco’s sovereignty over the entire Sahara territory,” he said.
Mohammed VI invited Macron to visit Morocco after France shifted its position in July, a gesture reflecting how relations between Paris and Rabat have warmed.
The disputed territory, which Morocco considers to be its “southern provinces,” is among the most sensitive topics in the North African Kingdom and a common theme in royal speeches.
Morocco has pushed countries that partner with it economically and on security and managing migration to back its 2007 autonomy plan, which would grant it sovereignty over the region in question. Doing so, however, risks angering Algeria — a key player in the conflict as well as a security partner and gas supplier to many of the same countries.
The Western Sahara is a former colony that has been a lightning rod in regional politics since the 1970s. The United Nations categorizes it as among Africa’s last “non-self-governing territories” and has since 1979 considered a pro-independence movement called the Polisario Front to be a legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people.
Most of the territory is controlled by Morocco, while the Polisario operates out of refugee camps in Algeria, which supports it both financially and politically. Efforts to resolve the conflict span back to 1991, when the UN brokered a ceasefire and negotiations began over the territory’s future.
With discussions long stalled, Morocco has sought recognition among its political and economic allies while the Polisario has pursued legal routes, challenging Morocco’s claims in international courts.
The United States backed Morocco’s plan as part of an agreement that saw Morocco normalizing its ties with Israel in 2020. Countries including Saudi Arabia and 18 European Union members have since followed suit, according to Morocco’s tally.
In July, France amended its longstanding position to begin backing Morocco’s plan. Algeria subsequently withdrew its ambassador from France and its president indefinitely postponed a planned visit to Paris.
Weeks ago, Europe’s Court of Justice issued a ruling in favor of the Polisario, invalidating expired fishing and agricultural agreements between Morocco and the European Union pertaining to exports from the territory because they didn’t take the people of the Western Sahara into account.
Morocco has also recruited allies in the Middle East and Africa and struck ground on infrastructure projects including a territory-spanning highway and an Atlantic port that it plans to use to grow its influence as an Atlantic and African power.
Mohammed VI on Friday said Morocco’s African allies consider the territory “the heart of strategic continental initiatives,” including a planned pipeline extending from Nigeria and an initiative announced last year to give countries in the Sahel additional access to Atlantic trade routes.
“The fundamentals of Morocco’s position need to be explained to the small number of countries that continue to turn the logic of law on its head and deny the facts of history,” he told members of parliament.
The opening of parliament is one of the rare instances in which Mohammed VI gives public speeches. During his address, the king was flanked by his brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, and son, Prince Moulay Hassan, who is expected to succeed him.
The king spent much of the summer at a palace in the northern city of Tetouan, where he received Morocco’s central bank governor, Olympic Gold-winning runner Soufiane El Bakkali and celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ascension to the throne, according to Morocco’s state news agency.


Iran overturns death sentence for woman labor activist: media

Iran overturns death sentence for woman labor activist: media
Updated 12 October 2024
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Iran overturns death sentence for woman labor activist: media

Iran overturns death sentence for woman labor activist: media
  • “The Supreme Court... has overturned the verdict against my client, Ms Sharifeh Mohammadi,” her lawyer Amir Raisian was quoted as saying
  • Iran carries out the highest number of executions annually after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International

TEHRAN: Iran’s highest court has overturned the death sentence of a woman labor rights activist who was accused of links to an outlawed Kurdish group, local media reported Saturday.
“The Supreme Court... has overturned the verdict against my client, Ms Sharifeh Mohammadi,” her lawyer Amir Raisian was quoted as saying by the reformist Shargh daily.
He added that the case was referred for a re-trial.
Iran carries out the highest number of executions annually after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International.
Mohammadi, 45, was sentenced to death in early July following her arrest in the northern city of Rasht, according to rights groups.
She has since been accused of being a member of the Komala party, an exiled Iraq-based Kurdish separatist group that Tehran considers to be a terrorist organization.
Tehran accused Kurdish groups in Iraq of fomenting months-long nationwide mass protests triggered by the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died following her arrest over an alleged violation of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
The Islamic republic uses capital punishment for major crimes including terror convictions, murder and drug trafficking, as well as rape and sexual assault.


US forces strike Daesh group in Syria

US forces strike Daesh group in Syria
Updated 12 October 2024
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US forces strike Daesh group in Syria

US forces strike Daesh group in Syria
  • US military has around 900 troops in Syria as part of the international coalition against Daesh group

Washington: US forces have conducted air strikes against multiple Daesh group sites in Syria, the military said Saturday, as ally Israel battles other militants in Gaza and Lebanon.
US forces “conducted a series of airstrikes against multiple known Daesh camps in Syria in the early morning of Oct. 11,” the US Central Command said in a statement on X, using an acronym for the Islamist militant group.
“The strikes will disrupt the ability of Daesh to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against the United States, its allies and partners, and civilians throughout the region and beyond.”
The US military has around 900 troops in Syria as part of the international coalition against Daesh group.
The coalition was established in 2014 to help combat the armed group, which had taken over vast swaths of Iraq and Syria.
Anti-IS coalition forces have been targeted dozens of times with drones and rocket fire in both Iraq and Syria, as violence related to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza since last year has drawn in militants across the Middle East, including Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
US forces have carried out multiple retaliatory strikes against militant factions in both Iraq and Syria.
In September, US forces conducted two separate strikes in Syria, killing 37 “terrorist operatives” including members of IS and Al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras Al-Din.
US Central Command said Saturday that its damage assessments were underway and “do not indicate civilian casualties.”