Flurry of diplomacy to ease Mideast tensions as Israel awaits Iran attack

Men burry bodies that were taken and later released by Israel during a mass funeral at a cemetery in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 5, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (AFP)
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Men burry bodies that were taken and later released by Israel during a mass funeral at a cemetery in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on August 5, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. (AFP)
Flurry of diplomacy to ease Mideast tensions as Israel awaits Iran attack
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A person operates an earth moving machine to put sand over the bodies of unidentified Palestinians during their burial at a mass grave after the bodies were handed over by Israel, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip August 5, 2024. (REUTERS)
Flurry of diplomacy to ease Mideast tensions as Israel awaits Iran attack
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A person buries the bodies of unidentified Palestinians at a mass grave after the bodies were handed over by Israel, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip August 5, 2024. (REUTERS)
Flurry of diplomacy to ease Mideast tensions as Israel awaits Iran attack
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A mother is comforted by other women as she mourns after the recovery of the body of her child from the beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in the aftermath of Israeli bombardment in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on May 14, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Flurry of diplomacy to ease Mideast tensions as Israel awaits Iran attack
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A man pushes a bycicle along as he walks amid building rubble in the devastated area around Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital on April 3, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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An aerial view shows mourners watching as medical personnel prepare the bodies of 47 Palestinians, that were taken and later released by Israel, during a mass funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 7, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Palestinians mourn after identifying corpses of relatives killed in overnight Israeli bombardment on the southern Gaza Strip at Al-Najjar hospital in Rafah on February 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 06 August 2024
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Flurry of diplomacy to ease Mideast tensions as Israel awaits Iran attack

Flurry of diplomacy to ease Mideast tensions as Israel awaits Iran attack
  • Tehran said on Monday that “no one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the Zionist regime” for Haniyeh’s killing
  • Israel has killed more than 39,623 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry

JERUSALEM: Diplomatic pressure mounted Monday to avert an escalation between Iran and Israel following high-profile killings that have sent regional tensions soaring.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Sunday that his country was “determined to stand against” Iran and its allied armed groups “on all fronts.”
As its war against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza nears the 11th month, Israel has been bracing for retaliation from the Tehran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” for the killing of two senior figures.
Palestinian armed group Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran on Wednesday in an attack blamed on Israel, which has not directly commented on it.
The killing came hours after an Israeli strike on Beirut killed the military chief of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Fuad Shuk.
Tehran said on Monday that “no one has the right to doubt Iran’s legal right to punish the Zionist regime” for Haniyeh’s killing.
United States President Joe Biden, whose country has sent extra warships and fighter jets to the region in support of Israel, held crisis talks on Monday with his national security team.
The head of the US military command covering the Middle East, General Michael Kurilla, arrived in Israel and met Israel’s military chief Lt. General Herzi Halevi for a security assessment, an Israeli military statement said.
Iraqi sources said a base hosting US troops in Iraq came under rocket fire on Monday, after an American strike on July 30 killed four pro-Iran Iraqi fighters.
“Rockets were launched at Ain Assad base” in Anbar province, said a military source, while a commander in a pro-Iran armed group told AFP that at least “two rockets targeted” the base, without saying who had carried out the attack.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged all sides in the Middle East to avoid “escalation,” his spokesman said.
US news site Axios earlier reported that Blinken told his counterparts from the G7 nations that any attack by Iran and Hezbollah could happen as early as Monday.

A European diplomat in Tel Aviv said “a coordinated response” from Iran and its proxies was expected but de-escalation efforts persisted.
“We’re telling them they have to stop playing with fire, because the risk of flare-ups is higher than at any time since October 7,” he said, declining to be named as he was not authorized to speak on the issue.
The Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation is to meet on Wednesday at the request of “Palestine and Iran,” to discuss developments in the region, an OIC official said.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said his country is “preparing for any scenario both offensively and defensively.”
In the northern port city of Haifa, shop owner Yehuda Levi, 45, told AFP that Israelis are used to conflict, but facing a multi-pronged attack “is a little tricky.”
“It’s difficult, but we believe we’re a strong country. We’re going to win this war.”
Turkiye on Monday joined multiple nations calling on their citizens to leave Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based.
Numerous airlines have suspended flights to the country or limited them to daylight hours.
Germany’s Lufthansa, which has already suspended flights to the region including Tel Aviv, said its planes would avoid Iraqi and Iranian airspace until at least Wednesday.
Royal Jordanian Airlines said it would be operating three flights this week to transport nationals out of Beirut.

The United Nations’ rights chief Volker Turk called on “all parties, along with those states with influence, to act urgently to de-escalate what has become a very precarious situation.”
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in a joint statement Monday “agreed to make every effort to avoid a regional escalation.” Italy currently holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group of countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron also appealed for “restraint” in the Middle East, during conversations with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on Israel, has already drawn in Iran-backed militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
In Tel Aviv on Monday thousands of Israelis gathered to mark the fifth birthday of child hostage Ariel Bibas, and to call for the liberation of him and his family.
Netanyahu repeatedly promises to bring the hostages home but is facing a growing chorus of skeptics who worry he’s not interested in a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas, which US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have for months been trying to reach.
“The hostages have no time and it seems like some people in Israel, including the prime minister, are taking their time,” said Gil Dickman, whose cousin Carmel Gat is among the captives.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 39,623 people, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.
As the region braced for further escalation, Hezbollah and Israel kept up their near-daily exchanges of fire.
The Lebanese health ministry said three people were killed Monday in Israeli strikes on the country’s south. Israel’s military said it had struck militants operating a drone in the Mais Al-Jabal area.
Hezbollah later said two fighters had been killed, one from Mais Al-Jabal.
Tehran has said it expects Hezbollah to hit deeper inside Israel and no longer be confined to military targets.
Far from the Lebanese border, the Israeli military said around 15 rockets had crossed from the southern Gaza Strip into Israel on Monday, with medics reporting one injury.
 

 


Hezbollah says 20 members dead, hours after walkie-talkie blasts

Hezbollah says 20 members dead, hours after walkie-talkie blasts
Updated 56 min 41 sec ago
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Hezbollah says 20 members dead, hours after walkie-talkie blasts

Hezbollah says 20 members dead, hours after walkie-talkie blasts
  • Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is due to give his first televised speech since the attacks on Thursday afternoon

Beirut: Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said 20 of its members were killed, with a source close to the group telling AFP on Thursday that they had died in walkie-talkie blasts blamed on Israel the day before.
The group sent separate death notices for each member from Wednesday evening to Thursday morning, saying they had been killed “on the road to Jerusalem” — the phrase used by Hezbollah to refer to fighters killed by Israel.
“The 20 Hezbollah members were killed by walkie-talkie explosions” across Lebanon on Wednesday, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Earlier Wednesday, the health ministry said the second wave of explosions of electronic devices in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon killed 20 people and left more than 450 people wounded.
Wednesday’s blasts came a day after the simultaneous detonation of pagers used by Hezbollah killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others across Lebanon, in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel.
Israel did not comment on the incidents.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is due to give his first televised speech since the attacks on Thursday afternoon.


Israeli security services arrest Israeli man over alleged Iranian-backed assassination plot

Israeli security services arrest Israeli man over alleged Iranian-backed assassination plot
Updated 19 September 2024
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Israeli security services arrest Israeli man over alleged Iranian-backed assassination plot

Israeli security services arrest Israeli man over alleged Iranian-backed assassination plot
  • Man attends at least two meetings in Iran to discuss the possibility of assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

JERUSALEM: Israeli security services said on Thursday they had arrested an Israeli citizen on suspicion of involvement in an Iranian-backed assassination plot targeting prominent people including the prime minister.
It said the person was a businessman with connections in Turkiye who had attended at least two meetings in Iran to discuss the possibility of assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant or the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency.
The arrest took place last month, according to a joint statement by Shin Bet and the Israeli police that highlighted the intelligence war running alongside the escalating conflict on Israel’s border with southern Lebanon.
Last week, Shin Bet uncovered what it said was a plot by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior defense official, who was subsequently identified as the former army Chief of Staff and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
The announcement of the arrest came a day after Hezbollah was hit for a second day running by a sophisticated
attack
that detonated communications equipment remotely, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 450.
Israel has not commented directly on the attack but multiple security sources have said it was undertaken by Israel’s spy agency Mossad.


Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon

Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon
Updated 19 September 2024
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Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon

Israeli strikes hit multiple targets in Lebanon
  • Hezbollah fired around 20 projectiles into Israel, most of which were intercepted by air defense systems without causing any injuries
  • Israeli media reported that a number of Israeli civilians had been wounded by anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon

JERUSALEM: Israeli jets and artillery hit multiple targets in southern Lebanon overnight, Israel’s military said on Thursday, amid spiralling tensions following the mass attack on Hezbollah communications devices this week.
The military said air strikes hit Hezbollah targets in Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Khiam.
Israeli media reported that a number of Israeli civilians had been wounded by anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon but there was no official confirmation.
The latest Israeli strikes follow a period of sharply spiralling concern over an escalation of the conflict on the border with southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Iranian-backed Hezbollah for months.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah fired around 20 projectiles into Israel, most of which were intercepted by air defense systems without causing any injuries, the military said.
Around 10 missiles were fired at the Mount Hermon area of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where Israel has key surveillance, espionage and air defense installations.
This week dozens of people were killed and thousands wounded by a sophisticated attack targeting communications devices used by operatives of Hezbollah. Israel has not commented directly on the attacks, which multiple security sources have said was carried out by its spy agency Mossad.
Shifting focus
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza since last October, after Hamas-led gunmen stormed communities in southern Israel, was moving into a new phase, with the focus now shifting to the northern border.
He said more military units and resources were being sent to the border. According to Israeli officials, the forces being deployed to the border include the 98th Division, an elite formation including commando and paratroop elements that has been fighting in Gaza.
Hezbollah launched missile barrages on Israel on the day after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and since then there has been a constant exchange of fire that neither side has allowed to escalate into a full-scale war.
However, tens of thousands have been evacuated on both sides of the border, and there has been mounting pressure in Israel for the government to get the evacuees back home.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to return the evacuated Israelis “securely to their homes.”


20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon

20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon
Updated 19 September 2024
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20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon

20 killed, 450 injured in second wave of blasts in Lebanon
  • Walkie-talkies, solar equipment targeted day after pagers blast, report says
  • New blasts hit a country thrown into confusion, anger after Tuesday’s bombings 

BEIRUT: Explosions in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon were apparently a second wave of detonations of electronic devices, state media said on Wednesday.
The report said walkie-talkies and even solar equipment were targeted a day after hundreds of pagers blew up.
At least 20 people were killed and 450 were wounded, the Health Ministry said.
A Hezbollah official told the Associated Press that walkie-talkies used by the group exploded.
Lebanon’s official news agency reported that solar energy systems exploded in homes in several areas of Beirut and southern Lebanon, wounding at least one girl.
The new blasts hit a country thrown into confusion and anger after Tuesday’s pager bombings, which appeared to be a complex Israeli attack targeting Hezbollah members that caused civilian casualties, too.
At least 12 people were killed, including two children, and about 2,800 people were wounded as hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded wherever they happened to be — in homes, cars, at grocery stores and in cafes.
Wednesday’s blasts caused fires, injuries and a state of hysteria because some of the devices were being carried by security personnel during the funeral ceremonies for the victims of the pager explosions on Tuesday.
Explosions were heard in the southern suburbs of Beirut and several areas in the south and the Bekaa Valley.
Many were injured outside hospitals where the wounded from Tuesday’s bombings were being treated. Several of the wounded were transferred to Baalbek hospitals. 
Some devices exploded with their carriers in front of the American University Hospital in Beirut. 
Four cars containing devices exploded in the town of Aabbassiyeh in the south, three people were injured when a device exploded in a car in Jdeidet Marjeyoun, and parked cars exploded in Nabatieh because there were wireless devices in them.
Ambulances rushed everywhere, and Hezbollah supporters went out on motorcycles searching for victims after abandoning all their communication devices. 
The Lebanese Army Command asked citizens “not to gather in places witnessing security incidents to make way for the arrival of medical teams.” 
According to initial information, the devices that exploded on Wednesday are Icom V82 models, bought in the deal for pagers last spring. 
Panic increased when information circulated on social media about the explosion of solar panels connected to Internet devices. There were also claims that computers exploded. 
A Hezbollah member in a video clip that showed a room with shrapnel damage, said: “This was because of the device’s battery. I removed it from the device and put it aside. Look what happened.”
Footage showed fires in residential apartments in the southern suburbs of Beirut and in the south, and casualties during funeral ceremonies after their devices exploded. 
The Axios website reported that “Israel blew up thousands of wireless communication devices used by Hezbollah elements in a second wave.” 
In the first wave of bombings, it appeared that small amounts of explosives had been hidden in the thousands of pagers delivered to Hezbollah and then remotely detonated.
The reports of further electronic devices exploding suggested even greater infiltration of boobytraps into Lebanon’s supply chain.
It also deepens concerns over the attacks in which hundreds of devices exploded in public areas, often with many bystanders, with no certainty of who was holding the rigged devices.


Relentless fighting is devastating Sudan and escalating in Darfur’s capital, UN says

Relentless fighting is devastating Sudan and escalating in Darfur’s capital, UN says
Updated 19 September 2024
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Relentless fighting is devastating Sudan and escalating in Darfur’s capital, UN says

Relentless fighting is devastating Sudan and escalating in Darfur’s capital, UN says
  • Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes
  • Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders

UNITED NATIONS: Relentless violence has devastated Sudan and large-scale fighting has escalated in and around the only capital in Sudan’s western Darfur region not held by paramilitary forces, the United Nations top humanitarian official said Wednesday.
Acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya told the UN Security Council that famine has already struck Zamzam camp, about 15 kilometers from North Darfur’s embattled capital of El Fasher. She said a large-scale humanitarian operation is “a matter of life and death.”
Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital Khartoum and spread to other regions including Darfur. The UN says over 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured.
Msuya urged the council to demand that the warring government and paramilitary Rapid Support Force refrain from targeting civilians, hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, and allow unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid through all border crossings and across conflict lines.
She also called on the UN’s 193 member nations to pressure the parties “to agree to a humanitarian pause to save lives, give civilians respite and allow us to deliver assistance.”
Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African. Up to 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million were driven from their homes.
That legacy appears to have returned, with the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, saying in January there are grounds to believe both sides may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide in Darfur.
Msuya said “the world should not abide in El Fasher the atrocities we witnessed in West Darfur.”
In June, the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for “an immediate halt to the fighting and for de-escalation in and around El Fasher.”
Regrettably, Msuya said, both sides ignored the call, and fighting escalated in the past week with “constant and heavy” shelling and bombing.
“Civilians, especially women and children, have been hit (and) civilian sites and infrastructure — including hospitals and internally displaced persons’ camps — have been hit,” she said. “Of the three main hospitals in El Fasher, only one is functioning, although only partially following an attack that caused extensive damage in August.”
In August, international experts confirmed there is famine in Zamzam camp, which houses around 500,000 displaced people.
Msuya said close to 1.7 million people in North Darfur face “acute food insecurity,” adding that 13 other localities in Sudan have been identified as at risk of famine.
In February, Doctors Without Borders reported that a child was dying every two hours in Zamzam camp, she said. The latest screening by the medical aid organization and the Ministry of Health between Sept. 1 and 5 indicates the situation is getting worse.
“About 34 percent of the children are malnourished, including 10 percent who are severely malnourished,” Msuya said.
Aid deliveries have been impeded by fighting and flooding, but Msuya said that as floodwaters subside in the coming weeks, the UN will be able to start moving food and other assistance to El Fasher and other areas at risk of famine.
The acting undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs stressed that to address “the atrocious humanitarian situation,” there are two keys: a de-escalation in fighting and a willingness by both sides to facilitate access to those in need.
“Be in no doubt: Without safe and predictable access and a steady supply of food and humanitarian supplies, we will see a dramatic spike in mortality — including children — in Zamzam and in other areas around El Fasher,” she said.
“The same goes for the situation across Sudan,” Msuya said, especially the capital Khartoum and neighboring Sennar and Jazeera states in southeast Sudan, which continue to be devastated “by relentless violence.”