Military building next to Iran’s embassy in Syria hit in suspected Israel attack: Al Arabiya

Emergency and security personnel gather at the site of strikes which hit a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, on April 1, 2024. (AFP)
Emergency and security personnel gather at the site of strikes which hit a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, on April 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 02 April 2024
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Military building next to Iran’s embassy in Syria hit in suspected Israel attack: Al Arabiya

People gather near a damaged site after an Israeli air strike on Iran's consulate in Damascus.
  • Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement that seven military advisers died in the strike including Mohammad Reza Zahedi

RIYADH: Suspected Israeli strikes struck a military building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Syria on Monday, Al Arabiya reported citing sources.

The  Iranian Revolutionary Guards confirmed that seven of its members, including two senior officers, had been killed, ramping up regional tensions over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Iran’s ambassador to Syria said the strike hit a consular building in the embassy compound and that his residence was on the top two floors.

But the Arab broadcaster said the raid did not target the Iranian embassy in Damascus, but rather a military headquarters adjacent to it.

“We strongly condemn this atrocious terrorist attack that targeted the Iranian consulate building in Damascus and killed a number of innocents,” said Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad who was seen at the site along with Syria’s interior minister.

Syrian state media said Israel launched an attack from the occupied Golan Heights targeting Mezzeh, some of which were shot down by Syria’s air defense systems.

Israel has long targeted Iran’s military installations in Syria and those of its proxies, but Monday’s attack was the first time Israel hit the vast embassy compound itself.

Muslim nations including Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also condemned the attack, as did Russia.

It has ramped up those strikes in parallel with its campaign against Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas, which ignited the Gaza war with an Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took 253 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel’ military has escalated airstrikes in Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, both of which support Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Iranian media reported that Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the Guards in Syria and Lebanon from 2008-2016, was killed in the Israeli raid, along with Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hadi Hajji Rahimi, a high-ranking officer.

Zahedi commanded the IRGC’s ground forces from 2005-2008, and assumed command of the Tha’ar Allah base while maintaining his position as commander of the Ground Guard Forces between 2005-2006.

He served as the Guards deputy chief of operations from 2016-2019, was one of the middle commanders during the Iran-Iraq War, and assumed command of the 44th Brigade Qamar Bani Hashem from 1983-1986. For a short period in 2005, he commanded the IRGC’s Air Force.

Brig. Gen. Hussein Amir Allah, chief of the general staff of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria and Lebanon, also died in the attack, Al Arabiya reported.

— with input from Al Arabiya, Reuters, and AFP


Israeli strike hits central Beirut -Lebanese security source

Israeli strike hits central Beirut -Lebanese security source
Updated 3 sec ago
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Israeli strike hits central Beirut -Lebanese security source

Israeli strike hits central Beirut -Lebanese security source
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike hit a central neighbourhood in the Lebanese capital on Thursday evening, an area that had not been previously hit, a Lebanese security source told Reuters.
A thick plume of smoke could be seen rising from central Beirut after missiles were heard flying over the city, Reuters witnesses said.

Activists report spike in mass civilian deaths after Sudan’s army ups airstrikes

Activists report spike in mass civilian deaths after Sudan’s army ups airstrikes
Updated 7 min 53 sec ago
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Activists report spike in mass civilian deaths after Sudan’s army ups airstrikes

Activists report spike in mass civilian deaths after Sudan’s army ups airstrikes
  • Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese human rights group, said hundreds of people had been killed in such strikes across the country
  • It did not state the period of time for that casualty toll but said it demonstrated “the armed forces’ indifference to protecting defenseless civilians“

CAIRO: Rights activists and local responders said scores of civilians had been killed at sites across Sudan in the past week as the army escalates air strikes nearly 18 months into its war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
While the RSF controls almost half of the country, the army has recently deployed its superior air power to help it regain some territory in the capital Khartoum, and to pound other areas occupied by its rivals.
Sudan’s war, which erupted from a power struggle between the army and the RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule and free elections, has already created the world’s largest displacement crisis and caused famine.
Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese human rights group, said hundreds of people had been killed in such strikes across the country. It did not state the period of time for that casualty toll but said it demonstrated “the armed forces’ indifference to protecting defenseless civilians.”
In Hasaheisa, a town in El Gezira state south of Khartoum where the RSF has stationed many fighters, airstrikes killed or injured over 100 people on Monday, Emergency Lawyers said.
An activist from the area said at least 38 people were killed, mostly children. He shared video with Reuters of the aftermath of the strike appearing to show a residential area.
In the North Kordofan town of Humrat Alsheikh, west of Khartoum, an airstrike on Oct. 5 killed 30 people and injured more than 100, Emergency Lawyers said, posting a video that appeared to show a market that had been hit.
Reuters could not independently verify the footage in either video.
A day earlier, a strike that hit another market in Al-Koma in North Darfur killed 61 people, according to the local emergency response room. Those killed included 13 children, UN agency UNICEF said.
The army, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has accused the RSF of occupying civilian homes and launching attacks from civilian areas. The RSF denies using civilians as human shields.
FIGHTING LIKELY TO INTENSIFY
Yale Humanitarian Lab, which monitors the war in Sudan, said the army had also carried out a significant campaign of bombardment in RSF-controlled areas of Al-Fashir, a North Darfur city that the paramilitary has besieged for months.
The army’s advance in the capital, which began in late September, has also led to reported casualties. Radhouane Nouicer, Sudan expert for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed alarm at reports, some of which circulated on social media, of the summary execution of 70 young men by forces allied to the army in Bahri, part of the greater capital region.
Fighting is expected to intensify with the end of rains that had halted the RSF’s advance in southeast Sudan. The RSF’s leader called on troops to report to their units and said they were prepared to fight on for years.
Overall death tolls from the war are highly uncertain due to the collapse of health and government services, and lack of access for aid workers. Both sides have received material support from external supporters.
“The uptick in fighting and reported civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure are all happening while more weapons are finding their way to the warring parties,” said Mohamed Osman of Human Rights Watch.


Amnesty accuses Israel of ‘misleading’ Lebanon evacuation orders

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP)
Updated 42 min 5 sec ago
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Amnesty accuses Israel of ‘misleading’ Lebanon evacuation orders

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP)
  • Callamard said the warning included “misleading maps” and were issued “at short notice — in one instance less than 30 minutes before strikes began”
  • “The conditions being created by Israel’s actions in south Lebanon risk forcibly displacing the majority of the civilian population there,” Amnesty said

BEIRUT: Amnesty International accused Israel on Thursday of “misleading” and sometimes inadequate calls for residents to evacuate parts of the country, expressing concern the warnings intend to massively uproot southerners.
Since September 23, Israel has launched an intense air campaign that has killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon and displaced over a million more from their homes, according to official figures.
“Warnings issued by the Israeli military to residents of Dahiyeh, the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut, were inadequate,” Amnesty chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement.
The group said it analyzed more than a dozen evacuation warnings and maps and conducted interviews with residents of south Beirut and south Lebanon.
Callamard said the warning included “misleading maps” and were issued “at short notice — in one instance less than 30 minutes before strikes began — in the middle of the night, via social media” when many are asleep, she added.
The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson has been routinely issuing evacuation orders online ahead of expected strikes mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.
“Israel’s warnings in southern Lebanon covered large geographical areas, raising concerns as to whether they were designed instead to trigger mass relocation,” Amnesty said.
“The conditions being created by Israel’s actions in south Lebanon risk forcibly displacing the majority of the civilian population there,” it added.
Last week, Israel also announced it was conducting “targeted” ground incursions in Lebanon’s south.
Analysts had previously told AFP Israel’s aim in expanding its activity at the border could be to create a buffer zone in Lebanon’s south, where Hezbollah holds sway.
Israel has issued calls to evacuate 118 south Lebanon towns and villages in the first week of October, Amnesty said.
The group warned that evacuation calls “do not make south Lebanon a free-fire zone” where remaining civilians as seen as targets and urged Israel to abide by international law to minimize harm to civilians.
One quarter of Lebanese territory is under Israeli military displacement orders, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
On September 27, an Israeli air strike killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who had led the group for 32 years, in the group’s south Beirut stronghold.
The latest escalation followed a year of near-daily fire between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, which the group launched in support of ally Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.


Italy summons Israeli ambassador after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon: govt source

Italy summons Israeli ambassador after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon: govt source
Updated 10 October 2024
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Italy summons Israeli ambassador after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon: govt source

Italy summons Israeli ambassador after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon: govt source
  • The UNIFIL force said that Israeli tank fire on its headquarters wounded two members

ROME: Italy’s defense minister summoned the Israeli ambassador Thursday, a government source told AFP, after the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it had been hit by Israeli tank fire.
The UNIFIL force, which has some 10,000 peacekeepers in south Lebanon, said that Israeli tank fire on its headquarters wounded two members, as Israeli troops battle Hezbollah militants on the border.


UN inquiry accuses Israel of crime of ‘extermination’ in destruction of Gaza health system

UN inquiry accuses Israel of crime of ‘extermination’ in destruction of Gaza health system
Updated 10 October 2024
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UN inquiry accuses Israel of crime of ‘extermination’ in destruction of Gaza health system

UN inquiry accuses Israel of crime of ‘extermination’ in destruction of Gaza health system
  • A statement released ahead of a full report accused Israel of “relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” in the war
  • “Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” said Pillay

GENEVA: A United Nations inquiry said on Thursday it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza’s health care system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.
A statement by ex-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay released ahead of a full report accused Israel of “relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” in the war, triggered by Hamas militants’ deadly cross-border attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” said Pillay, whose report will be presented to the UN General Assembly on Oct. 30.
Israel says that Gaza’s militants operate from the cover of built-up populated areas including private homes, schools and
hospitals
and that it will strike them wherever they emerge, while also trying to avoid harming civilians. Hamas denies hiding militants, weapons and command posts among civilians.
The UN inquiry’s statement also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles and restricting permits for patients to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.
As an example, it cited the death of a Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, in February along with family members and two medics who came to rescue her from under Israeli fire.
The World Health Organization says over 10,000 patients requiring urgent medical evacuation have been prevented from leaving Gaza since the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was shut in May. The Palestinian health ministry says nearly 1,000 medics have been killed in Gaza in the past year in what the WHO called “an irreplaceable loss and a massive blow to the health system.”
The statement said the treatment of both Palestinian detainees in Israel and hostages seized by Hamas fighters in the Oct. 7 attack had been investigated and it accused both sides of involvement in torture and sexual violence.
The Commission of Inquiry has a broad mandate to collect evidence and identify suspected perpetrators of international crimes committed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. It bases its findings on a range of sources including interviews with victims and witnesses, submissions and satellite imagery.
The COI has previously alleged that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war, and that Israel’s actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses. The term is reserved for the most serious international crimes knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians.
Israel has not cooperated with the inquiry, which it says has an anti-Israel bias. The COI has accused Israel of obstructing its work and preventing investigators from accessing both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Sometimes, the evidence gathered by such UN-mandated bodies has formed the basis for war crimes prosecutions and could be drawn on by the International Criminal Court.