Iran warns Israel against retaliation, global powers urge restraint

Iran warns Israel against retaliation, global powers urge restraint
A police officer inspects the remains of a rocket booster near Arad, Israel on April 14, 2024.(Reuters)
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Updated 14 April 2024
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Iran warns Israel against retaliation, global powers urge restraint

Iran warns Israel against retaliation, global powers urge restraint
  • Tehran had informed the US its attack on Israel would be ‘limited’ and for self defense

JERUSALEM/DUBAI/WASHINGTON: Iran warned Israel and the United States on Sunday of a much larger response if there is any retaliation for its mass drone and missile attack on Israeli territory overnight, as Israel said “the campaign is not over yet.”

The threat of open warfare erupting between the arch Middle East foes and dragging in the United States has put the region on edge as Washington said America did not seek conflict with Iran but would not hesitate to protect its forces and Israel.

Iran launched the attack over a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Syria on April 1 that killed top Revolutionary Guards commanders and followed months of clashes between Israel and Iran’s regional allies, triggered by the war in Gaza.

However, the attack from hundreds of missiles and drones, mostly launched from inside Iran, caused only modest damage in Israel as most were shot down with the help of the US, Britain and Jordan.

An Air Force base in southern Israel was hit, but continued to operate as normal and a 7-year old child was seriously hurt by shrapnel. There were no other reports of serious damage.

“We intercepted, we repelled, together we shall win,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on social media ahead of a planned 1230 GMT meeting of the war cabinet to discuss a response to the attack.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said despite thwarting the attack, the military campaign was not over and “we must be prepared for every scenario.”

Israel’s Channel 12 TV cited an unnamed Israeli official overnight as saying there would be a “significant response” to the attack.

Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian said Tehran had informed the United States its attack on Israel would be “limited” and for self defense.

He said Israel’s neighbors had also been informed of its planned strikes 72-hours in advance.

Global powers Russia, China, France and Germany as well as Arab states Egypt, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates urged restraint.

“We will do everything to stop a further escalation,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters during a visit to China. “We can only warn everyone, especially Iran, against continuing this way.”

Turkiye also warned Iran it did not want further tension in the region.

The Islamic Republic’s mission to the United Nations said its actions were aimed at punishing “Israeli crimes,” but that it now “deemed the matter concluded.”

Iranian army chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri warned on television that “our response will be much larger than tonight’s military action if Israel retaliates against Iran” and told Washington its bases could also be attacked if it helped Israel retaliate.

US President Joe Biden has pledged “ironclad” support for Israel against Iran, but did not announce any military response on Saturday night, saying instead he would coordinate a diplomatic response with other Western leaders.

The UN Security Council was set to meet at 4 p.m. ET (2000 GMT) on Sunday.

ESCALATION

Analysts debated how far Iran’s attack was calibrated to cause genuine devastation in Israel, or to save face at home after vows of revenge while avoiding a major new war.

“I think the Iranians took into consideration the fact that Israel has a very, very strong multi-layer anti-missile system and they probably took into consideration that there will not be too many casualties,” said Sima Shine, a former senior Mossad official at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

But if Iran was hoping for a muted response, like with its missile attacks on US forces in Iraq after the killing of Guards commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020, she warned “I don’t think Israel sees it this way.”

On Saturday Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized an Israel-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy shipping routes, underscoring the risks to the world economy of a wider conflict.

Some flights were suspended in countries across the region and share prices fell in stock markets in Israel and Gulf states.

The war in Gaza, which Israel invaded after an attack by Iran-backed Hamas on Oct. 7, has spread to fronts with Iran-aligned groups in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Iran’s most powerful ally in the region, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah fired rockets at an Israeli base overnight. Israel said it struck a Hezbollah site deep inside Lebanon on Sunday morning.

Yemen’s Houthis, who have been firing missiles at ships in the Red Sea in what they say is support for the Palestinians, called Iran’s attack legitimate.

The Oct. 7 attack in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 253 taken hostage, along with internal discontent with the government and international pressure over the war in Gaza, form the backdrop to Netanyahu’s decisions over a response.

The Israeli prime minister has for years advocated a tough military line against Iran, pushing the United States for harder action over Tehran’s nuclear program and its backing for Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups in the region.

In Jerusalem on Sunday, Israelis described their fear during the attack, when sirens wailed and the night sky was shaken by blasts, but differed on how the country should respond.

“I think we’ve been given license to respond now. I mean it was a major attack from Iran... I imagine Israel will respond and may be over quickly and get back to normal life,” said Jeremy Smith, 60.

In Iran, state television showed small gatherings in several cities celebrating the attack, but in private some Iranians were worried about Israel’s response.

“Iran gave Netanyahu a golden opportunity to attack our country. But we, the people of Iran, will bear the brunt of this conflict,” said Shima, a 29-year-old nurse, from Tehran.


Lebanon’s death warrant signed on Oct. 7, and we have been updating the obituary ever since

Lebanon’s death warrant signed on Oct. 7, and we have been updating the obituary ever since
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Lebanon’s death warrant signed on Oct. 7, and we have been updating the obituary ever since

Lebanon’s death warrant signed on Oct. 7, and we have been updating the obituary ever since
  • Lebanon being drawn into someone else’s catastrophe
  • Hezbollah’s ‘hubris’ and unilateral actions are to blame

LONDON: How does one write a feature looking through Lebanon’s year without it sounding like an obituary?

Across Lebanon and wherever in the world citizens found themselves on Oct. 7 last year, phones buzzed and lit up with notifications of the seemingly unbelievable news.

Hamas, the insurgent militant group that had been running the Palestinian enclave of Gaza since 2007, had launched a surprise attack on Israel.

At first, near disbelief. Could it possibly be true?

Israel had long boasted about the impregnable nature of its “Iron Wall,” the high-tech, 7-meter-tall fence surrounding Gaza.

Bristling with cameras, watch towers, robotic machine guns, razor wire, radar and underground sensors, it was designed precisely to prevent exactly such an incursion.

Yet with every fresh ping, with every update flashing on smartphones, the unthinkable became increasingly possible, then probable and, finally, certain.

Hamas, relying on a combination of brute force and ingenuity — bulldozers smashed through the fence and drones dropped explosives on watch towers, knocking out the remotely operated machine guns — had broken through the Iron Wall in as many as 30 places.

More than 1,200 Israelis and others were killed, and 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages.

Hearts sank. All Lebanese knew full well that Lebanon was never not going to get involved, whether its citizens wanted to or not.

Past is prologue, and Lebanon’s history is riddled with sudden yanks into conflicts in which it has no business being involved.

From Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, in response to Palestinian militants using the country’s south as a launching pad for missiles and attacks, to the 2006 war between Iran-backed group Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanese citizens have always found themselves caught in the crossfire.

Their dead, wounded, ruined homes and countless devastated lives are written off by all sides as collateral damage.

Now, one year on since the start of Hamas’ assault on Israel and the latter’s devastating response in Gaza — which has claimed in excess of 40,000 Palestinian lives, including more than 6,000 women and 11,000 children — once again Lebanon is being sucked into someone else’s catastrophe.

It all seemed depressingly inevitable from the outset, when the day after the Hamas attack its ally Hezbollah began exchanging fire with Israel over Lebanon’s southern border.

Since then, Lebanon has suffered immense damage, especially in its southern villages and towns, which have been repeatedly and indiscriminately pounded by Israeli jets targeting Hezbollah outposts.

Nearly 1 million Lebanese have been displaced internally, 1,974 have been killed including 127, and 9,384 wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The situation began to deteriorate alarmingly on Sept. 17, when thousands of Hezbollah pagers, sabotaged by Israeli agents, exploded simultaneously across Lebanon, killing a dozen people, including two children, and wounding thousands more.

The following day similarly sabotaged walkie-talkies detonated. This time 30 people died and hundreds more were injured. Now Israeli troops have invaded the south of Lebanon.

Lebanon has been in a spiral since 2019, when it was rocked by a disastrous and ongoing financial crisis that has seen the lira drastically devalued.

Since then further blows have included the COVID-19 pandemic, which struck Lebanon in early 2020, and the devastating Beirut Port explosion later that year that rocked the capital and destroyed thousands of structures.

To make matters worse, political paralysis has left Lebanon without a president or an effective government for the past two years.

In a statement issued on Oct. 31, 2023, the first anniversary of Lebanon’s presidential vacancy, the US State Department accused the country’s “divided parliamentarians” of “putting their personal ambitions ahead of the interests of their country.”

Issued just over three weeks after the Hamas attack on Israel, the statement added presciently: “Even as rising tensions along Lebanon’s southern border threaten the country’s stability and the economic crisis deepens, the Lebanese people are deprived of leadership when they need it most.”

Around the world, since Oct. 7, Lebanese have been glued to their screens, holding their breath with each missile fired across the border in either direction.

And listening with growing anxiety to the pronouncements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the fiery speeches of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Nasrallah’s death in an Israeli air strike on Beirut on Sept. 27 killed at least five other people and injured dozens more.

For the Lebanese in Lebanon and abroad, every day begins with a recap of the destruction and a counting of the dead, injured and missing. Every day ends with evacuation drills across areas of the capital targeted by Israeli bombs and missiles.

Today, as before, they are helpless bystanders, witnesses to the destruction of their country and the loss of the lives of their friends and family members.

As Michael Young of the Malcom H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center wrote late last month, “the opening of a front in the south on Oct. 8, 2023, was the final straw. Hezbollah consulted none of its Lebanese partners in initiating a war in defense of its ally Hamas in Gaza.”

Hezbollah, he added, “displayed remarkable hubris in being completely indifferent to the fact that Lebanon paid a heavy price in the past for the Palestinian cause — especially the Shia community itself.

“After hubris comes nemesis, however, and today Hezbollah is largely alone in facing the violent Israeli campaign against Lebanon.”

Perhaps. But for now, the war has seen Lebanon’s sectarian noose grow ever tighter.

Social media has become a parallel battleground, for the preaching of one side against the other, pitting blame based on religiosity and correlating silence with acquiescence.

The Lebanese have always reluctantly accepted that, in Lebanon, this is just the way things are.

It remains to be seen whether, in the wake of the current disaster engulfing the country, the Lebanese will finally abandon their passive acceptance of a cruel fate dictated by others.
 


Palestine at the UN: A new chapter in the quest for statehood

Palestine at the UN: A new chapter in the quest for statehood
Updated 6 min 18 sec ago
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Palestine at the UN: A new chapter in the quest for statehood

Palestine at the UN: A new chapter in the quest for statehood
  • Palestine’s first UN General Assembly seat marks progress toward two-state solution

RIYADH: More than 140 of the UN’s 193 member states have now recognized the state of Palestine.

Sept. 10 marked a significant moment as Palestine secured a seat at a UN General Assembly for the first time in history.

This was achieved despite opposition from Israel in Palestine’s quest for statehood. 

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said during his address at the General Assembly: “We affirm our appreciation for the countries that have recently recognized Palestine.

“We urge all nations to show the courage to make the same decision and join the international consensus represented by the 149 countries that recognize Palestine,” he said.

A groundbreaking development occurred recently when Prince Faisal bin Farhan announced the launch of the “Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution” on Sept. 26.

This alliance, endorsed by Arab and Islamic countries along with European partners, aims to advance the two-state solution as a means to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The inauguration of the alliance marks a significant milestone in international efforts toward lasting peace in the region.

Saudi Arabia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan speaks during the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on September 28, 2024. (AFP)

A resolution was passed on May 10 of this year to acknowledge the review of Palestine’s UN membership in the UN Security Council, as well as the extension of additional privileges to Palestine, which currently has observer status.

Saudi Arabia expressed its support for the UN General Assembly resolution, confirming that the state of Palestine meets the requirements for becoming a UN member state.

The recognition of Palestine as a state has been a gradual process, with different countries recognizing it at different times. Most recognitions occurred after the Palestinian declaration of independence in 1988, while others joined in subsequent years.

Most African countries recognized Palestine soon after 1988, especially those in the non-aligned movement, such as Egypt, Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Morocco and Sudan.

Some European countries recognized Palestine over the years, with the most recent trend of recognition from EU countries.

In 2024, Slovenia, Spain, Ireland, Norway and Armenia recognized the state of Palestine.

Iceland and Cyprus joined in 2011, Sweden in 2014 and the Vatican City in 2015.

Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia (later split into Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia), recognized Palestine in 1988.

Other countries such as Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia, joined in the 1990s.

Asian recognition also largely began in 1988, with widespread support among Muslim-majority countries and the socialist bloc.

These countries include Saudi Arabia, China, North Korea, Qatar, Bahrain, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Afghanistan and Yemen. 

The state of Palestine will be granted additional rights and privileges in participation following the 79th session of the General Assembly, without affecting its current rights and privileges.

One of these rights includes the right to actively participate in conferences and meetings organized by the UN and other international bodies, as well as the right to propose and present amendments both orally and on behalf of a group. 

The two-state solution has long been regarded as a potential path to peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With recent developments and initiatives, there is renewed hope for progress toward this goal.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres captured the urgency of the situation, warning that the repercussions of the devastation in Gaza could escalate into a broader conflict with catastrophic outcomes for the entire region.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas commended the General Assembly for adopting a resolution that called on Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories within 12 months, during the 79th session of the UN General Assembly on Sept. 26.

Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its commitment that it will not form diplomatic ties with Israel until significant advances are made regarding Palestine. 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Sept. 18 that the Kingdom would not recognize Israel without a Palestinian state.

“The Kingdom will not stop its tireless work toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and we affirm that the Kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that,” the crown prince said.

This position underscores Saudi Arabia’s unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and the realization of a viable two-state solution.

It is a continuation of historical Saudi efforts to help achieve Palestinian statehood, including the Arab Peace Initiative – A comprehensive plan to end Arab-Israeli conflict first proposed in 2002.


Israel obstructing search for Hezbollah’s Safieddine, Hezbollah official says

People inspect the damage, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Choueifat, amid the ongoing hostilities.
People inspect the damage, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Choueifat, amid the ongoing hostilities.
Updated 5 min ago
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Israel obstructing search for Hezbollah’s Safieddine, Hezbollah official says

People inspect the damage, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Choueifat, amid the ongoing hostilities.
  • Safieddine is seen as a likely successor to former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs

BEIRUT: Israel is not allowing a search for senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine to progress after it bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday, a Hezbollah official said, noting the group would only announce his fate when the search concluded.
Safieddine is seen as a likely successor to former leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiye, on Sept. 27.
His fate remains unclear.
Israel should “let rescue teams do their work” senior Hezbollah political official Mahmoud Qmati told Iraqi state television.
He said that Hezbollah was now being jointly led until it could pick a new leader, which would take time.
“What’s important is that joint command is in place,” he said.
“The method of choosing a replacement for the secretary-general takes time and requires appropriate circumstances, and for that reason we suffice today with temporary joint command,” he said.
Qmati said Nasrallah’s body remained in Lebanon and that he would be laid to rest in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds heavy influence, when conditions allowed.
Israel has killed much of Hezbollah’s military command and senior leadership in nearly a year of fighting that began when Hezbollah opened a front in solidarity with Palestinians the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The conflict has rapidly expanded in the past couple of weeks, with Israel snubbing a US-backed push for a ceasefire, killing Nasrallah and launching a wide air campaign that has pummeled Lebanese towns and villages and left 1.2 million people displaced, according to Lebanese government figures.


With strong ties to Lebanon, Latin Americans suffer in the wake of Israeli attacks

Brazilians deplane after the Air Force evacuated them from Lebanon amid Israeli airstrikes, at the Air Force base in Guarulhos.
Brazilians deplane after the Air Force evacuated them from Lebanon amid Israeli airstrikes, at the Air Force base in Guarulhos.
Updated 06 October 2024
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With strong ties to Lebanon, Latin Americans suffer in the wake of Israeli attacks

Brazilians deplane after the Air Force evacuated them from Lebanon amid Israeli airstrikes, at the Air Force base in Guarulhos.
  • Brazil’s government estimates 21,000 Brazilian nationals living in Lebanon

BRASILIA: With millions of people of Lebanese descent living in Latin America — certain analysts think there are more people of Lebanese ancestry in Brazil alone than in Lebanon itself — the number of Latin Americans in Lebanon is equally high.

Since the Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon and on Beirut intensified, countries like Colombia and Brazil have sent planes to rescue groups of their citizens.

A massive evacuation from cities near the border with Israel has been ordered by the invading forces over the past few days. At least 70 towns have been included in the evacuation list by Israel. The strikes on Beirut led hundreds of thousands of people to move as well.

In many such locations, there are groups of Latin American families, many the sons and daughters of Lebanese immigrants to the New World who decided to go back to their parents’ homeland.

Cases of Latin American women, with or without Lebanese ancestry, who married Lebanese men in Latin America and decided to move with them to Lebanon are also pretty common.

That is the case with Leni Souza, a 48-year-old Brazilian woman from Parana state, which has one of the largest Lebanese communities in Brazil.

Souza spent her childhood in Foz do Iguacu, on the border with Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, and Puerto Iguazu, in Argentina, an area with hundreds of thousands of Lebanese nationals. She met her husband, a Lebanese-born man with dual (Lebanese and Brazilian) citizenship, in the city. Some 11 years ago, already with three daughters, the couple decided to move to a city in the south of Lebanon. The eldest is 20 and a university student; the other two are 13-year-old twins.

“Our region has been hardly hit. We finally managed to escape on Oct. 1, after a long time trying to put fuel in our cars. We spent nine hours stuck on the road. Everybody was trying to run away,” she told Arab News.

Souza said her daughters are traumatized by the sound of the bombs. The night before they escaped, there was a terrible strike on the area. They spent the night at their grandparents’ house, thinking it would be safer. Souza, who was also there, said it was a nightmare.

She added: “The bomb’s noise was so loud that we thought they were exploding the house. We had to touch ourselves to confirm we were alive.”

Her eldest daughter lost a college colleague that night. The building where she lived was destroyed and the young lady died.

The family left the city without a definite destination. Shelters were all full of displaced people. They eventually found a second-floor free space to rent, in a mountainous region. It has no furniture or any home appliances, but they feel better now that they have a place to stay.

Brazil’s government estimates at 21,000 the number of Brazilian nationals living in Lebanon. After sending questionnaires to the whole community, the Brazilian Embassy in Beirut learned that about 3,000 of them wished to be evacuated to the South American country.

Souza said: “I confirmed that we want to be taken to Sao Paulo. But it will not be easy for us. Our whole life is in Beirut. We’ll begin our lives from scratch in Brazil.”

The region’s Brazilian women keep a group on social media and stand by each other in difficult situations. Souza said many people are facing serious health problems now and need to be immediately taken from Lebanon.

She said: “I would be happy to give my place to those people, if my name appears on the next list. I feel safer now on the mountains and don’t care if we have to wait a little longer in order to go to Brazil.”

Brazil’s first plane had to wait longer than had been planned in Portugal due to security reasons, but it finally landed in Beirut on Oct. 5, rescuing 229 Brazilians and three pets. Operation Cedar Roots, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration called it, may take several weeks until it is finally concluded.

Up until now, two Brazilians have died as a result of Israeli aggression, 15-year-old Kamal Abdallah and 16-year-old Mirna Raef Nasser.

Another significant Latin American community in Lebanon is the one formed by Argentines. There are no reliable estimates of their number and President Javier Milei’s administration still has not announced an evacuation plan.

“I called the Argentine Embassy and I was told that the government is not taking anyone out of Lebanon,” an Argentine woman, who preferred to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, told Arab News. The embassy directed her to leave Lebanon through Syria.

On Oct. 5, however, Said Chaya, the secretary-general of the Lebanese-Argentine Culture Union, known as the UCAL, told Arab News that the government had begun to ask Lebanon’s residents if they wanted to be rescued and taken to Argentina.

Chaya told Arab News: “People who can’t leave endangered areas are being consulted. But, as far as I know, most of them don’t want to escape from Lebanon. They prefer to remain there on the mountains and wait to see what will happen.”

The Argentine woman who talked to Arab News has been feeling those contradictory sentiments. On the one hand, she has thought about fleeing the region after the strikes on Beirut, where she lives, had led her and her family to leave the capital, but, on the other, she said her husband’s extended family cannot be left behind.

“We can’t flee the country and leave them here. Either we all go or no one goes,” she said, adding they are a group of 20 people who are all together now in a small house with only one bathroom.

An Argentine woman with no Arab ancestry, she has been living in Lebanon since 2003 and has three children: two of them, aged 20 and 25, are with her now.

She said: “We came in order to live a safer life with our kids, for their education, for religion. Except for the 2006 attacks, it used to be a safe country.”

Her two children now get extremely anxious when they hear the sound of bombs exploding.

She added: “Israel wants to create a second Gaza here. I’m terribly sad, because most of the world pretends that nothing is happening. They don’t care about us.”

She said that her family is tired and that she fears for her relatives’ safety.

She said: “The truth is that I don’t want to go anywhere else. I just want this to end tomorrow and to go back to my house.”

Lebanese families in Latin America follow the events in the Middle East and their country’s rescue plans with anguish. Lawyer Hanna Mtaneos Hanna Jr., an honorary consul of Lebanon in Goiania, Brazil, told Arab News the atmosphere among Lebanese Brazilians is tense.

“The Lebanese community is saddened and disgusted with the situation. Things have been escalating and the world keeps watching without doing anything,” he told Arab News.

Hanna Jr. himself has relatives in the northern part of Lebanon. Despite the fact that his four cousins are relatively safe now, he has been worried like everybody else.

He said: “A friend of mine has two sons living in Beirut. He has been extremely concerned. They’ve been trying to come back, but all commercial flights are constantly canceled.”

He thinks that the Brazilian government has been acting with the necessary haste since the crisis began, despite the difficulties involved in an operation during war.

That is not the case with Argentina, where Milei’s own particular views concerning Israel — he is very interested in Judaism and even promised, during the campaign, that he would move the Argentine Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — have reportedly been affecting his work with the Lebanese community.

Chaya said: “He keeps, for instance, a distant relationship with Muslims, who are part of the Lebanese community. Maybe that’s why it took so long for the government to organize the rescue.”

The UCAL and dozens of other Lebanese organizations published a letter last week in which they repudiated Israeli aggression. Protests against the attacks have been promoted in cities like Rosario and Cordoba.

The Islamic Center of the Argentine Republic, known as CIRA and founded mainly by Lebanese and Syrian immigrants decades ago, has been directly impacted by the attacks, said Hassan El-Bacha, its secretary-general.

“Israel is destroying the cities from which our ancestors came,” he told Arab News.

He said the community is appalled by the strikes, adding: “The Zionist occupation will not be detained unless the international community takes the matters in its hands.”

Other countries in Latin America are also involved in the crisis. A flight carrying 116 Colombian nationals and a few foreigners arrived in Bogota last week. New flights have already been scheduled and Peru’s government has also been helping a group of Peruvian nationals sheltering in the north.


Syria air defense intercepts ‘hostile targets’: state media

A Syrian man crosses on foot into Syria through a crater caused by an Israeli airstrike.
A Syrian man crosses on foot into Syria through a crater caused by an Israeli airstrike.
Updated 06 October 2024
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Syria air defense intercepts ‘hostile targets’: state media

A Syrian man crosses on foot into Syria through a crater caused by an Israeli airstrike.
  • “Our air defense systems are intercepting hostile targets in the airspace of the central region” of Syria, official SANA news agency said

DAMASCUS: Syrian air defense was intercepting ‘hostile targets’ in the country’s central region on Sunday evening, state media said, a phrase usually used to refer to Israeli strikes on the war-torn country.
“Our air defense systems are intercepting hostile targets in the airspace of the central region” of the country, the official SANA news agency said.
“Israeli strikes” targeted a “weapons depot south of Homs and a rockets depot in the eastern Hama countryside,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, adding that the sites belonged to the Syrian army.
Earlier on Sunday, an Israeli strike in Syria targeted trucks transporting aid for Lebanese people, wounding three aid workers, the Observatory said.
On Friday, Lebanon said an Israeli air strike on the Syrian border cut off the main international road linking the two countries.
Since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including Hezbollah.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
The strikes have increased in recent days, including on areas near the border with Lebanon.
Tens of thousands of people have crossed into Syria over the past week, fleeing heavy Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.