Libyans deported from S. Africa training to be special forces

Libyans deported from S. Africa training to be special forces
Cadets of the "Saiqa" force (Special Forces) of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) affiliated with eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar take part in a graduation ceremony, in the eastern city of Benghazi, on January 20, 2022. (AFP/File)
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Updated 02 September 2024
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Libyans deported from S. Africa training to be special forces

Libyans deported from S. Africa training to be special forces

JOHANNESBURG: Ninety-five Libyans deported from South Africa last month were training to be special forces for a commander in eastern Libya from where they were monitored via webcam, whistleblowers told local media.

The 95 were getting proper military instruction for the Libyan faction of Khalifa Haftar, who controls the oil-rich east of the unstable country, and not training to be security guards as claimed, they told the Rapport and City Press newspapers.

Police raided the camp near the town of White River, about 360 kilometers east of Johannesburg, on July 26 and detained the men, who were in South Africa on study visas issued for security guard training.

An investigation found the visas were “irregularly acquired” and were canceled. The men were deported on August 18.

South Africa’s Foreign Military Assistance Act makes it illegal to offer military or security training to a foreign national from a country where there is armed conflict.

The sources told Rapport that the Libyans included former Daesh fighters who were paid to join Haftar’s forces. The 95 were to have also undergone instruction in sniper-shooting, parachuting and sea survival.

One anonymous source was quoted as saying that the men trained with wooden guns because the instructors were afraid they might turn real weapons against them. 


Middle East latest: Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired

Middle East latest: Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired
Updated 6 sec ago
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Middle East latest: Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired

Middle East latest: Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired
The military said the strike killed Suhail Husseini, who it said was responsible for overseeing logistics, budget and management of the group
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah

BEIRUT: The Israeli military said Tuesday it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut while the militant group’s acting leader promised more fighting against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and rocket fire into Israel.
The military said the strike killed Suhail Husseini, who it said was responsible for overseeing logistics, budget and management of the group. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
Sheikh Naim Kassem, the acting leader of Hezbollah, said in a defiant televised statement that his group’s military capabilities are still intact. He said that Hezbollah has replaced all of its senior commanders after weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, including targeted strikes that killed much of its top command in a matter of days.
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday, the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, underscoring their resilience in the face of a devastating Israeli offensive in Gaza that has killed about 42,000 people, according to local medical officials.
A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023. On Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an Israeli strike in the country’s south, part of a wider bombardment, killed at least 10 firefighters. Hezbollah fired new barrages despite its recent losses.

Israel’s Gallant says it appears Nasrallah’s replacement has been eliminated

Israel’s Gallant says it appears Nasrallah’s replacement has been eliminated
Updated 21 min 59 sec ago
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Israel’s Gallant says it appears Nasrallah’s replacement has been eliminated

Israel’s Gallant says it appears Nasrallah’s replacement has been eliminated
  • Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official was widely expected to succeed Nasrallah
  • “Hezbollah is an organization without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated,” said Gallant

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that it appears that the replacement of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been eliminated.
He did not give further details.
Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official was widely expected to succeed Nasrallah.
“Hezbollah is an organization without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated,” Gallant told officers at the military’s northern command center, in a brief video segment distributed by the military. “There’s no one to make decisions, no one to act,” he said.
Safieddine had been running Hezbollah alongside its deputy secretary general Naim Qassem since Nasrallah’s assassination and was expected to be formally elected as its next secretary general, although no official announcement had yet been made.
Qassem said in a televised statement on Tuesday that the group will elect a new secretary general and will announce it once it has been done.


UN warns Lebanon could face same ‘spiral of doom’ as Gaza

UN warns Lebanon could face same ‘spiral of doom’ as Gaza
Updated 53 min 19 sec ago
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UN warns Lebanon could face same ‘spiral of doom’ as Gaza

UN warns Lebanon could face same ‘spiral of doom’ as Gaza
  • “We need to do everything we can to stop that from happening,” said Matthew Hollingworth, Lebanon country director for WFP
  • “It is in my mind from the time I wake until the time I sleep, that we could go into the same sort of spiral of doom,”

GENEVA: UN humanitarian officials called Tuesday for urgent action to stop the escalating conflict in Lebanon from spiralling into a similar scene of devastation as seen in Gaza.
“We need to do everything we can to stop that from happening,” said Matthew Hollingworth, Lebanon country director for the United Nations’ World Food Programme.
Speaking from Beirut, he told a press briefing in Geneva that he spent the first half of the year coordinating WFP’s operations in Gaza before taking the helm of its Lebanon office, and was deeply concerned by the similarities.
“It is in my mind from the time I wake until the time I sleep, that we could go into the same sort of spiral of doom... We shouldn’t allow that to happen,” he said.
Israel’s war in Gaza, launched after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel, has killed more than 41,900 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The UN has said the figures are reliable.
The October 7 attack left 1,206 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.
The resulting conflict has spilled into Lebanon, with intensifying airstrikes and Israeli troops battling Hezbollah militants on the ground.
Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon has killed more than 1,100 people and displaced upwards of a million in less than two weeks.
Hollingworth said many people were fleeing because they “have watched over the last year as the war in Gaza has continued and neighborhoods have been decimated and pounded, and that is deep in their gut, in their hearts, in their minds.”
James Elder, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, warned that “the commonalities are unfortunately absolutely there to be seen, whether it is displacement on the ground, impact upon children or language being used ... (to) soften the realities on the ground.”
“We are seeing the same patterns that we saw in Gaza,” added Jeremy Laurence of the UN rights office.
“The devastation is beyond belief for all people in Lebanon as it is in Gaza. We can’t let this happen again.”
Humanitarians are working to address the soaring needs, but Hollingworth insisted that what was needed was to “de-escalate.”
While WFP is currently able to reach around 150,000 people a day, they “need to be reaching, at this point, almost a million people per day,” he said.
At the same time, he highlighted that 1,900 hectares of agricultural land had been burned in southern Lebanon over the past year, mainly in the past couple of weeks, while 12,000 hectares of productive farmland had been abandoned.
“We have very significant needs moving forward,” Hollingworth said, lamenting that the WFP was facing a $115 million funding gap to cover the towering needs over the next three months.
The World Health Organization meanwhile said it had registered 16 attacks on health care in Lebanon since mid-September, leaving 65 health care workers dead and 40 injured.
At the same time five of the country’s hospitals were now non-functional and four were only partially functional, Ian Clarke, WHO’s deputy incident manager in the country, told reporters, speaking via video link from Beirut.
Nearly 100 primary health care facilities had also been forced to close, he said, warning that with limited access to care, “we are facing a situation where there is a much higher risk of disease outbreaks.”


Turkiye says exports to Palestinians surge after halting trade with Israel over Gaza war

Turkiye says exports to Palestinians surge after halting trade with Israel over Gaza war
Updated 08 October 2024
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Turkiye says exports to Palestinians surge after halting trade with Israel over Gaza war

Turkiye says exports to Palestinians surge after halting trade with Israel over Gaza war
  • The 526 percent rise in exports occurred largely after the ban went into effect
  • Turkish opposition lawmaker Mustafa Yeneroglu on Monday submitted questions to parliament about the sharp increase in exports to Palestinian areas

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s exports to Palestinian territories leapt sixfold in the first nine months of the year to $571.2 million, data showed on Tuesday, five months after the country halted trade with Israel in protest over its war in Gaza.
The 526 percent rise in exports occurred largely after the ban went into effect. In the first four months of the year, Turkish exports to Palestinian territories were up 35 percent to $49.4 million, according to data from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM).
Turkish opposition lawmaker Mustafa Yeneroglu on Monday submitted questions to parliament about the sharp increase in exports to Palestinian areas and ongoing ship traffic from Turkiye to Israel, despite the trade ban.
Yeneroglu asked Trade Minister Omer Bolat to respond to local media reports that trade with Israel was quietly continuing through Palestinian companies, with shipping documents describing goods as going to Palestinian territories when they were actually going to Israel.
Asked for comment by Reuters, the Trade Ministry pointed to previous statements on the issue. On Sept. 18, it denied trade with Israel was continuing, reiterating that it ended on May 2.
It said Palestinian authorities had declared several times that Turkish goods were used exclusively in Palestinian areas.
These territories encompass the Gaza Strip, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Arab East Jerusalem.
The trade ministry imposed export restrictions on 54 categories of products to Israel in April before completely halting exports and imports in early May.
At the time, Turkiye said it would not resume trade with Israel, worth $7 billion a year, until a permanent ceasefire and humanitarian aid were secured in Gaza, becoming the first of Israel’s key commercial partners to take such a step.
Israel launched a devastating war against Hamas in Gaza a year ago after the Palestinian Islamist group’s deadly cross-border attack.


Iran warns Israel not to attack its infrastructure

Iran warns Israel not to attack its infrastructure
Updated 08 October 2024
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Iran warns Israel not to attack its infrastructure

Iran warns Israel not to attack its infrastructure
  • Israel said it was preparing a response to Iran’s October 1 missile attack on its arch-enemy
  • On Friday US President Joe Biden cautioned Israel against attacking oil installations in Iran

TEHRAN: Iran warned Israel on Tuesday against attacking any of its infrastructure amid fears of a possible Israeli assault on oil or nuclear sites following Iran’s missile barrage last week.
“Any attack against infrastructure in Iran will provoke an even stronger response,” state television quoted Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as saying.
He spoke after Israel said it was preparing a response to Iran’s October 1 missile attack on its arch-enemy, its second on the country in six months.
On Monday, an official statement quoted Araghchi as saying Iran did not seek war in the region.
On Friday US President Joe Biden cautioned Israel against attacking oil installations in Iran, one of the world’s top 10 producers of crude.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Rassul Sanairad warned Israel on Sunday any attack on nuclear or energy sites would cross a “red line.”
The Fars news agency quoted him as saying following the Israeli threat: “Some political leaders have spoken of a possible change in Iran’s nuclear policy.”
In 2022, after an official said Iran had the technical capability to produce a nuclear weapon, the country stressed there had been no change in its nuclear ambitions.
Last year Iran slowed the pace of its uranium enrichment, but then in late 2023 accelerated the production of 60 percent enriched uranium, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Enrichment levels of around 90 percent are required for military use.
Iran has always denied any ambition to develop a nuclear weapons capability, insisting its activities are entirely peaceful.
Any attack on Iranian nuclear sites “would have an impact on the kind of response by Iran,” General Sanairad said.
Tehran says its attack on Israel, when some 200 missiles were fired, was a response to the death in a Beirut air strike of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iran-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah, and of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Iran blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s death, but Israel has not commented.