With tensions high, UN extends Lebanon peacekeeping force’s mandate

Peacekeepers of the Spanish Contingent in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol along the Jdeideh-Marjeyoun highway in Lebanon. (File/AFP)
Peacekeepers of the Spanish Contingent in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol along the Jdeideh-Marjeyoun highway in Lebanon. (File/AFP)
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Updated 28 August 2024
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With tensions high, UN extends Lebanon peacekeeping force’s mandate

Peacekeepers of the Spanish Contingent in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in Lebanon.
  • With more than 10,000 personnel, the peacekeeping force has been stationed in Lebanon since 1978
  • Tensions have risen again since the October start of Israel’s war in Gaza, with Hezbollah supporting Hamas

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday extended the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon for a year, calling for a “de-escalation” of a recent surge in violence between Israel and armed group Hezbollah.
A unanimously adopted resolution said the council “decides to extend the present mandate of UNIFIL until 31st August 2025,” referring to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
With more than 10,000 personnel, the peacekeeping force has been stationed in Lebanon since 1978, with its role strengthened after a 33-day conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
Tensions have risen again since the October start of Israel’s war in Gaza, with Hezbollah supporting the Palestinian armed group Hamas with operations in southern Lebanon, including daily exchanges of fire with Israeli troops.
On Sunday, Hezbollah carried out a major drone and rocket attack against Israel, in retaliation for the death of one of its military leaders, Fuad Shukr, killed in an Israeli strike near Beirut on July 30.
In response, Israel launched air strikes into Lebanon on Sunday, saying it destroyed “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket launchers and thwarted a major attack.
The UN Security Council resolution said the body “strongly urges that all relevant actors implement immediate measures toward de-escalation, including with a view to restoring calm, restraint and stability across the Blue Line,” referring to the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a letter to the council at the end of July, had supported Beirut’s request to extend UNIFIL’s mandate unchanged.
While the mandate has not been amended, the resolution adopted on Wednesday “encourages the Secretary-General to ensure that UNIFIL remains ready to adapt its activities to support de-escalation, within its mandate and its rules of engagement.”
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, criticized what he termed the “failure” of UNIFIL.
“What good does this mandate do when it fails so miserably to meet any of its objectives?” he told reporters.
Danon described a rocket attack that killed 12 children in the Israeli-annexed part of the Syrian Golan Heights at the end of July as “a direct result of the failure of UNIFIL and the Lebanese government to implement” the Security Council’s resolutions.


Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 41,534

Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 41,534
Updated 5 sec ago
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Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 41,534

Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 41,534
  • The toll includes 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours
  • Gaza rescuers say 15 killed in Israeli strike on school

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Civil defense rescuers in Gaza said an Israeli strike Thursday on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 15 people, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted a Hamas command center.
The vast majority of the besieged Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, with many seeking shelter in school buildings.
Civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were “15 martyrs, including children and women, and dozens wounded, some of them seriously, following an Israeli bombardment of Al-Faluja school in Jabalia camp in north Gaza.”
Bassal earlier said the death toll was seven.
The military said it carried out “precise strikes” targeting Hamas militants operating inside what it said was a command-and-control center at the Al-Faluja school.
AFP was unable to immediately verify what was targeted, and the military statement did not provide information on casualties.
Thursday’s attack was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for nearly a year.
A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said six of its staffers were among the 18 reported fatalities.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Thursday that at least 41,534 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, now in its 12th month.
The toll includes 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 96,092 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.


Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 41,534

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 41,534
Updated 26 September 2024
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Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 41,534

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 41,534
  • The toll includes 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours
  • Gaza rescuers say 15 killed in Israeli strike on school

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Civil defense rescuers in Gaza said an Israeli strike Thursday on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 15 people, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted a Hamas command center.
The vast majority of the besieged Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, with many seeking shelter in school buildings.
Civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were “15 martyrs, including children and women, and dozens wounded, some of them seriously, following an Israeli bombardment of Al-Faluja school in Jabalia camp in north Gaza.”
Bassal earlier said the death toll was seven.
The military said it carried out “precise strikes” targeting Hamas militants operating inside what it said was a command-and-control center at the Al-Faluja school.
AFP was unable to immediately verify what was targeted, and the military statement did not provide information on casualties.
Thursday’s attack was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for nearly a year.
A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said six of its staffers were among the 18 reported fatalities.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Thursday that at least 41,534 people have been killed in the war between Israel and Palestinian militants, now in its 12th month.
The toll includes 39 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 96,092 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.

 

 

 

 


Israel strike targeted head of Hezbollah drone unit: source close to group

Israel strike targeted head of Hezbollah drone unit: source close to group
Updated 59 min 52 sec ago
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Israel strike targeted head of Hezbollah drone unit: source close to group

Israel strike targeted head of Hezbollah drone unit: source close to group

Beirut: An Israeli strike Thursday on Beirut's southern suburbs targeted the head of Hezbollah's drone unit, a source close to the group said, adding it was not clear whether he was killed.
"The Israeli strike targeted the commander of Hezbollah's drone unit, Mohammed Srur, known as Abu Saleh, whose fate is still unclear," the source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, after the Israeli military said it was "carrying out precise strikes in Beirut", without immediately providing further details.


Sudan military offensive sparks new fighting in Khartoum as cholera outbreak worsens

Sudan military offensive sparks new fighting in Khartoum as cholera outbreak worsens
Updated 55 min 25 sec ago
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Sudan military offensive sparks new fighting in Khartoum as cholera outbreak worsens

Sudan military offensive sparks new fighting in Khartoum as cholera outbreak worsens
  • For months, some of the worst fighting has been in the city of El Fasher
  • The death toll from Sudan’s cholera outbreak jumped by nearly 100 or nearly 20 percent in only two days

CAIRO: New fighting rocked Sudan’s capital on Thursday, as the death toll rapidly increased from the country’s worsening cholera outbreak, officials and Sudanese media said.
Sudan’s military launched an operation in the early hours of Thursday aimed at taking control of areas in the capital that had been in the hands of its enemy, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Sudanese media reported increased military movements and airstrikes in the districts of Khartoum and Omdurman, the heaviest in the capital area in months.
A military spokesman confirmed the operation was underway, but declined to comment further. The escalation comes as the head of Sudan’s military, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan is expected to address the United Nations’ General Assembly on Thursday.
For months, some of the worst fighting has been in the city of El Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur state. RSF forces have laid siege to the city since May. On Thursday, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said that artillery shelling on a market there had killed at least 20 civilians on Sep. 20 and 21.
Meanwhile, the death toll from Sudan’s cholera outbreak jumped by nearly 100 or nearly 20 percent in only two days, Sudan’s health ministry said Wednesday, in a worrying sign that the disease is spreading more rapidly. A total of 473 people have died from cholera since the country’s rainy season began two months ago, health officials said.
Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health in a Wednesday update reported on Facebook 14,944 cholera cases across 10 states, with 386 new cases. It said six people died on Tuesday alone in six states.
The majority of cases were reported in Kassala, where UNICEF is collaborating with the ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) to carry out a second round of the oral cholera vaccination campaign that kicked off last week.
UNICEF delivered 404,000 doses of the vaccine to Sudan on Sep. 9. More vaccination campaigns are expected to be rolled out in other affected states.
Cholera was officially declared an outbreak on August 12 by the health ministry after a new wave of cases was reported starting July 22. The disease is spreading in areas devastated by recent heavy rainfalls and floods, especially in eastern Sudan which sheltered millions of people displaced by the conflict between the Sudanese military and a rival paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Cholera is a highly contagious disease that causes diarrhea, leading to severe dehydration and could be fatal if not immediately treated, according to WHO. It’s transmitted through the ingestion of contaminated food or water.
Over 900 areas in 11 states have been affected by cholera between June and September 24, with the northern state being the most impacted, according to the ministry.
UNICEF said in a statement last week that an estimated 3.4 million children under the age of five are at high risk of epidemic diseases.
The war in Sudan created environments prone to disease outbreaks, impacting millions of people already experiencing food insecurity and displacement. The country plunged into war in April 2023 after tensions increased between the military and the RSF.


No formal mediation track on Lebanon ceasefire yet, Qatar ministry says

No formal mediation track on Lebanon ceasefire yet, Qatar ministry says
Updated 26 September 2024
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No formal mediation track on Lebanon ceasefire yet, Qatar ministry says

No formal mediation track on Lebanon ceasefire yet, Qatar ministry says

DOHA: There is no formal mediation track working toward a ceasefire in Lebanon yet, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a press briefing on Thursday following days of violence between Hezbollah and Israel.
He said he was not aware of a “direct link” between a 21-day Lebanon ceasefire proposal and a Gaza ceasefire proposal on which Qatar had worked extensively alongside Egypt and the United States.