Two Hezbollah members killed in Israeli strike on Syria

Two Hezbollah members killed in Israeli strike on Syria
A man clears the rubble in the area where reported Israeli air strikes targeted a residential building in the Kafr Sousa district of Damascus on February 21, 2024. (File/AFP)
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Updated 25 February 2024
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Two Hezbollah members killed in Israeli strike on Syria

Two Hezbollah members killed in Israeli strike on Syria

DAMASCUS: An Israeli strike on a truck in Syria near the Lebanese border killed two Hezbollah members at dawn on Sunday, a war monitor said.
“Israel struck a civilian truck with a missile near the Syrian-Lebanese border,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a report.
The strike led to “the death of at least two Hezbollah members,” said the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources in Syria.
Hezbollah later announced in separate statements that two of its fighters were “martyred on the road to Jerusalem,” the phrase it uses to refer to members killed by Israeli fire.
A source close to Hezbollah confirmed that both were killed this morning in Syria.
Syrian state media did not report the strike.

Syrian armed forces shot down seven drones aimed at military positions and villages in the countryside of Hama and Idlib, Syrian state media said on Sunday, citing the defense ministry.
The ministry said the drones had been launched by “terrorists,” state media reported.
Since Syria’s civil war began in 2011 following an uprising against the government of President Bashar Assad, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria, primarily against pro-Iran forces, among them Hezbollah and the Syrian army.
The strikes have multiplied amidst the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
An Israeli strike on a Damascus residential neighborhood on Wednesday killed three Iran-backed fighters, a Syrian and two foreigners, according to the Observatory.
On February 10, the Observatory reported an Israeli strike on a building west of Damascus that killed three people from pro-Iran militias.
Since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, Hezbollah has announced the death of 16 members killed by Israeli strikes in Syria.
The Israeli military announced on February 3 that it had “attacked, from the ground and air, more than 50 such targets of Hezbollah spread throughout Syria.”
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

 


Palestinian activist wins prize for peaceful resistance

Palestinian activist wins prize for peaceful resistance
Updated 5 sec ago
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Palestinian activist wins prize for peaceful resistance

Palestinian activist wins prize for peaceful resistance
  • The rights campaigner has been repeatedly detained and tortured by both the Palestinian Authority and by Israel, the foundation said
STOCKHOLM: Palestinian activist Issa Amro on Thursday accepted the Right Livelihood prize — considered by some an alternative Nobel — for his “nonviolent resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation” in the West Bank, the jury said.
Amro was born in the city of Hebron, a flashpoint West Bank city where roughly 1,000 Jewish settlers live under heavy Israeli military protection amid some 200,000 Palestinians.
He has dedicated his life to fighting against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
The 44-year-old founded the Youth Against Settlements group, which campaigns against the proliferation of Jewish settlements in the territory — communities widely regarded as illegal under international law.
The rights campaigner has been repeatedly detained and tortured by both the Palestinian Authority and by Israel, the foundation said.
“It’s a miracle that I still exist,” said Amro.
When Palestine Polytechnic University, where he was studying, closed in 2003 during the Second Intifada, Amro successfully led a six-month civil disobedience campaign.
“I managed to reopen the university with other students,” Amro said in a statement.
“I graduated as an engineer and as an activist — it became part of my character,” he added.
The Sweden-based Right Livelihood Foundation also honored Joan Carling, a Filipino champion of indigenous rights and Anabela Lemos, a climate activist from Mozambique.
It also gave the nod to research agency Forensic Architecture for its work in uncovering human rights violations around the world.
The foundation said the four prize winners had “each made a profound impact on their communities and the global stage.”
“Their unwavering commitment to speaking out against forces of oppression and exploitation, while strictly adhering to non-violent methods, resonates far beyond their communities,” Right Livelihood said in a statement.
Carling from the Philippines was recognized for having defended the rights of indigenous communities for three decades, particularly in their fight against mining projects.
The foundation celebrated Lemos, who heads the NGO Justica Ambiental (JA!), for her role in opposing liquefied natural gas extraction projects in northern Mozambique.
Forensic Architecture, a London-based research laboratory known for 3D modelling conflict zones, won the distinction for “pioneering digital forensic methods” to ensure accountability of human rights violations around the world.
By teaming up with Ukraine’s Center for Spatial Technologies to reconstruct Mariupol’s Drama Theatre before it was destroyed in 2022, the firm highlighted Russia’s “strategies of terror” and “attempts to obscure evidence of their own crimes,” the foundation said.
Swedish-German philatelist Jakob von Uexkull sold part of his stamp collection to found the Right Livelihood award in 1980, after the foundation behind the Nobel Prizes refused to create new distinctions honoring efforts in the fields of environment and international development.

Yemen’s Houthis claim drone attack on Tel Aviv

Yemen’s Houthis claim drone attack on Tel Aviv
Updated 2 min 3 sec ago
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Yemen’s Houthis claim drone attack on Tel Aviv

Yemen’s Houthis claim drone attack on Tel Aviv
  • The Israeli military said it intercepted “a suspicious aerial target” off central Israel overnight
Sanaa: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Thursday said they carried out a drone attack on Tel Aviv, although there was no direct confirmation from Israeli authorities.
In a statement, the Houthis said they “carried out a military operation targeting a vital target in the Jaffa (Tel Aviv) area in occupied Palestine with a number of Jaffa drones.”
“The operation achieved its goals successfully as the drones reached their targets without the enemy being able to confront or shoot them down.”
The Israeli military said it intercepted “a suspicious aerial target” off central Israel overnight, without giving further details.
On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed to have fired cruise missiles at Israel, following Iran’s mass bombardment of the country the night before.
Last week, the rebels said they fired a missile at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, prompting Israeli air strikes on Yemen including the vital port of Hodeida.
The Houthis, who have controlled large swathes of war-torn Yemen for a decade, are part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and the United States.
Since November, they have been attacking ships off Yemen’s coast in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in what they say is a show of solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Biden won’t support a strike on Iran nuclear sites as Israel weighs response to Iran missile attack

Biden won’t support a strike on Iran nuclear sites as Israel weighs response to Iran missile attack
Updated 03 October 2024
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Biden won’t support a strike on Iran nuclear sites as Israel weighs response to Iran missile attack

Biden won’t support a strike on Iran nuclear sites as Israel weighs response to Iran missile attack
  • “The answer is no,” Biden told reporters when asked if he would support such retaliation
  • US and allies are urging Israel to show restraint as it weighs retaliation against Iran airstrikes 

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden said Wednesday he will not support an Israeli strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program in response to Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
“The answer is no,” Biden told reporters when asked if he would support such retaliation after Iran fired about 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday.
Biden’s comments came after he and fellow Group of Seven leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom spoke by telephone about coordinating new sanctions against Iran.
The US and allies are scrambling to keep the Mideast conflict — sparked by Iran-backed Hamas militants’ in Gaza’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel— from spreading further. They are urging Israel to show restraint as it weighs retaliation against Iran for Tuesday’s attack.
Israel is now carrying out what it has described as limited ground operations across its northern border with Lebanon to dig out Hezbollah, another Iran-backed group, after carrying out a series of massive air strikes that killed the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and decimated its leadership.
Last month, thousands of explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated, killing dozens of people and maiming thousands, including many civilians. Israel is widely believed to be behind the attack
Biden stated his opposition to Israel hitting Iranian nuclear facilities as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed a range of options in how to respond to Tuesday’s attack. It was the second such attack by Iran on Israel in less than six months.
Israel’s choices range from a largely symbolic strike— similar to how Israel responded after Iran launched a barrage of missiles and attack drones in April— to hitting oil facilities and other infrastructure.
Targeting Iran’s controversial nuclear program is seen as perhaps the most provocative action that Israel could take. It’s one that the Democratic president believes could further enflame a Mideast conflict that he already worries could develop into a broader regional conflict.
The White House said in a statement that G7 leaders “unequivocally condemned Iran’s attack against Israel” and that Biden reaffirmed America’s “full solidarity and support to Israel and its people.”
Biden added that he supports Israel’s right to defend itself and “there are things that have to be done” in response to the Iranian barrage. He said he expected sanctions from the G7 nations to be announced soon.
“We will be discussing with the Israelis what they are going to do,” Biden told reporters before heading to the Carolinas to see the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. “All seven of us agree that they have a right to respond.”
The office of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said in a statement that the leaders expressed “strong concern for the escalation of these last hours” and emphasized that “a conflict on a regional scale is in no one’s interest.” Italy holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group of industrialized democracies.
Biden said that he planned to speak with Netanyahu “relatively soon.”
Biden’s administration has signaled that it is urging Israel to display restraint in how it responds to Iran’s missile attack, which Biden said was “ineffective and defeated.”
The US military helped Israel defend against the attack that Iran carried out in retaliation for the killing of Tehran-backed leaders of Lebanese Hezbollah.
Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said there “must be a return message” to Iran. He said the US and Israel officials continue to discuss their response.
“At the same time, I think we recognize as important as the response of some kind should be, there is a recognition that the region is really balancing on a knife’s edge,” Campbell said at forum hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Wednesday with his counterparts Britain, France, Germany, and Italy to discuss the situation in the Middle East.


Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory

Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
Updated 03 October 2024
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Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory

Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
  • Saied’s expected win has created a mood of resignation in opposition ranks and made for a deeply lacklustre campaign
  • A little known law lecturer until he was thrust to power in 2019, Saied in 2021 staged a sweeping power grab, jailing many of his critics

TUNIS: Tunisians head to the polls Sunday for a presidential election in which analysts say incumbent Kais Saied is poised for victory with his most prominent critics behind bars.
The near-certainty of Saied’s win has created a mood of resignation in opposition ranks and made for a deeply lacklustre campaign.
There have been no campaign rallies or public debates and nearly all the campaign posters in city streets have been the incumbent’s.
It is a major step back for a country that long prided itself as the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 and a contrast even with the 2019 election that thrust Saied, then a little known law lecturer, to power.
The political outsider won by a landslide, with 73 percent of the vote in a second round runoff that saw turnout of 58 percent.
He had campaigned on a platform of strong government after nearly a decade of deadlock between Islamist and secular blocs since the 2011 revolution.
In 2021, he staged a sweeping power grab, dismissing the Islamist-led parliament. The following year he rewrote the constitution.
A quickening crackdown on political dissent which has seen jail sentences for critics across the political spectrum has drawn mounting criticism at home and abroad.
Jailed opposition figures include Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist-inspired opposition party Ennahdha, which dominated political life after the revolution.
Also detained is Abir Moussi, head of the Free Destourian Party, which critics accuse of wanting to bring back the ousted regime.

Saied’s critics say that higher thresholds for candidate registration have also been exploited by the incumbent’s campaign.
Fourteen hopefuls were barred from joining the race, after election organizers ruled they had failed to provide enough signatures of endorsement, among other technicalities.
Some have been jailed after being convicted of forging signatures.
Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have charged that the organizers’ decision to reject the candidates was political.
Hatem Nafti, a political commentator and author of a forthcoming book on Saied’s authoritarian rule, said rights and freedoms have been curtailed since Saied’s “coup d’etat” in 2021.
“But things have reached a new level during this election, with attempts to prevent any succession (to Saied),” he told AFP.
The result has been that Saied faces just two challengers, one of them, former lawmaker Zouhair Maghzaoui, a supporter of the president’s 2021 power grab who “remains associated” with him, Nafti said.
North Africa analyst Pierre Vermeren said the election’s outcome had been decided in advance, citing “imbalances of all sorts between candidates.”
“Everything was done to ensure that a second round did not take place,” he told AFP.
Referring to Maghzaoui, Vermeren said “allowing a second-rate personality with a similar political persuasion as Saied’s” to join the race presented the incumbent with no real risk to his rule.
He said Maghzaoui’s candidacy was “a way of neutralising potential opposition.”

The second challenger, Ayachi Zammel, is also a former lawmaker and leads a small liberal party.
His candidacy was approved by election organizers shortly before he was charged with and later convicted of forging voter endorsements.
He currently faces more than 12 years in prison.
The jail sentence doesn’t affect his candidacy. The same was the case with 2019 presidential hopeful Nabil Karoui, who made it into the runoff against Saied from behind bars.
But unlike Zammel, Karoui was well known as the owner of widely watched television channel Nessma.
Nafti said Zammel had the potential to rally support from across the political spectrum, but he doubted it was “enough,” particularly after the prison sentence.
“He could have represented a focal point for the opposition, but his status as a convicted prisoner can only lead voters to disengagement and abstention,” he said.
With little at stake for Saied, his main challenge is to ensure a respectable turnout.
In the 2022 referendum on Saied’s revision of the constitution, only 30 percent of voters turned out.
In 2024 elections to a new legislature with limited powers, that figure fell to 11 percent — a record low since the revolution.
 


Tunisia arrests 12 over deadly migrant shipwreck

Tunisia arrests 12 over deadly migrant shipwreck
Updated 03 October 2024
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Tunisia arrests 12 over deadly migrant shipwreck

Tunisia arrests 12 over deadly migrant shipwreck
  • Main smuggler and his wife were among those arrested, two days after boat with 60 migrants capsized off Djerba island
  • Tunisia and neighbor Libya have become key launchpads for migrants risking the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing to Europe

TUNIS: Tunisian authorities have arrested 12 people including a smuggler involved in organizing a recent crossing that killed 15 migrants after their boat capsized, the coast guard said in a statement Wednesday.
On Monday, a boat said to be bearing some 60 migrants capsized off the coast of the southeastern island of Djerba.
The coast guard had given an initial death toll of 12 passengers, all Tunisians and including children and a woman, before later revising it upwards to 15.
Authorities said they rescued 31 people and were still looking for the others.
In its statement Wednesday, the coast guard said the main smuggler and his wife were among those arrested, adding that authorities seized three cars, a boat and “large sums of money.”
President Kais Saied, who is seeking a new term in elections Sunday, has ordered the interior ministry to investigate the event, which he called “painful and strange.”
The island of Djerba — heavily policed and crowded with tourists — has rarely been used as a departure point for migrants seeking to reach Europe.
Other areas of Tunisia, as well as neighboring Libya, have become key launchpads for migrants risking the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing to Europe.
Also on Monday, the coast guard said it rescued 22 Tunisians, most of them women and children, off the coast of Kerkennah in the east.
The day after, 36 other would-be migrants — Tunisians and Egyptians — were rescued off Bizerte in the north, local media said.
Each year, tens of thousands of people attempt to make the crossing from Tunisia, with Italy — whose Lampedusa island is only 150 kilometers (90 miles) away — often their first port of call.
The International Organization for Migration has said more than 30,309 migrants have died in the Mediterranean in the past decade, including more than 3,000 last year.
Since January 1, Tunisian rights group FTDES recorded at least 400 migrant deaths and disappearances in shipwrecks off Tunisia.
More than 1,300 people died or disappeared off the North African country last year, according to the group.
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