Israel defense minister calls for use of ‘all forces’ to hit West Bank militants

Israel defense minister calls for use of ‘all forces’ to hit West Bank militants
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meets with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon on June 25, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP/File)
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Updated 04 September 2024
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Israel defense minister calls for use of ‘all forces’ to hit West Bank militants

Israel defense minister calls for use of ‘all forces’ to hit West Bank militants

JENIN: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday said the military should use its “full strength” to strike at Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank, where a sweeping military operation has killed dozens.

“In the face of the resurgence of terrorism, we are eradicating terrorist organizations throughout Judea and Samaria (the West Bank),” Gallant said in a statement issued by his ministry.

“These terrorist organizations that have various names, whether in Nur Al-Shams, Tulkarem, Faraa or Jenin, must be wiped out,” he said, referring to cities and refugee camps where an Israeli military operation is currently underway.

“Every terrorist must be eliminated, and if they surrender, they must be arrested. There is no other option, use all the forces, everyone who is needed, with full strength.”

Gallant, speaking after meeting officers to assess the operation, compared the campaign against the militants to “mowing” a lawn.

“Essentially, we are mowing the grass, but the time will come when we will also uproot the roots, and that must be done,” he said.

The Israeli defense minister said he had ordered the military to carry out air strikes “wherever necessary” in order to “avoid endangering soldiers.”

On August 28, Israeli forces launched simultaneous raids across the northern West Bank cities of Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarem.

The raids have so far left dead at least 30 Palestinians, including militants, and wounded 140, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.

Nineteen have been killed in Jenin governorate, seven in Tulkarem and four in Tubas, it said.

In recent days, the focus of Israeli raids has been in and around Jenin city, a known militant hub.

On Wednesday, an AFP journalist in Jenin saw empty streets, with residents leaving their homes only to purchase necessities.

The streets were strewn with the rubble of overturned asphalt as armored military vehicles rumbled past.

Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp — where army bulldozers destroyed infrastructure — have long been a bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel, which has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

The military carries out regular incursions into Palestinian population centers, but such operations are rarely conducted simultaneously as in the northern West Bank since last week.

Violence in the West Bank has surged since Hamas’s October 7 attack triggered war in the Gaza Strip, which is separated from the West Bank by Israeli territory.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 661 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

At least 23 Israelis, including soldiers and police officers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period, according to Israeli officials.


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 6 sec ago
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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 STRIP, Palestinian Territories: 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.

Israeli strike on south Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah leader -security source

Israeli strike on south Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah leader -security source
Updated 24 min 50 sec ago
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Israeli strike on south Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah leader -security source

Israeli strike on south Beirut targeted senior Hezbollah leader -security source

Israel targeted a senior Hezbollah leader in a strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday afternoon but his fate was not immediately known, a security source told Reuters.
The strike hit near a part of the southern suburbs where several of the Lebanese armed group’s facilities are located.


Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital

Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital
Updated 26 September 2024
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Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital

Sudan’s army launches push to retake ground in capital
  • Army lost most of capital early in the war
  • Army chief Burhan to address UN in New York

DUBAI: Sudan’s army launched artillery and air strikes in Sudan’s capital on Thursday in its biggest operation to regain ground there since early in its 17-month war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), witnesses and military sources said.
The push by the army, which lost control of most of the capital at the start of the conflict, came ahead of an address by its commander, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York later in the day.
Witnesses reported heavy bombardments and clashes as army troops tried to cross bridges across the Nile connecting the three adjoining cities that make up the greater capital, Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri.
“The army is carrying out heavy artillery strikes and air strikes on Halfaya and Shambat,” Ahmed Abdalla, a 48-year-old resident told Reuters by phone, referring to areas of Bahri close to the river. “The sounds of explosions are very loud.”
Video footage showed black smoke rising above the capital and the booms of the battle could be heard in the background.
Army sources said their forces had crossed bridges in Khartoum and Bahri. The RSF told Reuters it had thwarted the army’s attempt to cross two bridges to Khartoum. Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts.
Though the army retook some ground in Omdurman early this year, it depends mostly on artillery and airstrikes and has been unable to dislodge nimble RSF ground forces embedded in other parts of the capital.
Darfur fears
The RSF has also continued to make advances in other parts of Sudan in recent months in a conflict that has caused a vast humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 10 million people and driving parts of the country to extreme hunger or famine.
Diplomatic efforts by the United States and other powers have faltered, with the army refusing to attend talks last month in Switzerland.
This month the battle for control of Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state in the west of Sudan, has also intensified as the RSF has tried to advance from positions surrounding the city against the army and allied former rebel groups.
Al-Fashir is the last army holdout across the Darfur region, where the UN and rights groups say the RSF and allies have led ethnically-targetted attacks and the humanitarian situation is
particularly critical. The RSF has denied being behind the violence.
The UN human rights office said on Thursday it had documented summary executions, sexual and gender-based violence, and abductions of women and young men in Al-Fashir, in addition to rising civilian casualties.
“From bitter past experience, if Al-Fashir falls, there is a high risk of ethnically targeted violations and abuses, including summary executions and sexual violence, by the RSF and allied militia,” UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said.
The UN Security Council and secretary-general have also demanded an end to the siege of Al-Fashir, home to more than 1.8 million residents and displaced people.
The war began when tensions between the RSF and the army, who had been jostling for position ahead of an internationally-backed transition to civilian rule, erupted into open conflict.
The army and the RSF had previously shared power after staging a coup in 2021, two years after veteran autocrat Omar Al-Bashir was toppled in a popular uprising.


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.


Israel far-right minister rejects Lebanon ceasefire, calls for ‘crushing’ Hezbollah

Israel far-right minister rejects Lebanon ceasefire, calls for ‘crushing’ Hezbollah
Updated 26 September 2024
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Israel far-right minister rejects Lebanon ceasefire, calls for ‘crushing’ Hezbollah

Israel far-right minister rejects Lebanon ceasefire, calls for ‘crushing’ Hezbollah
  • The United States, European Union issued a joint call for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon after Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah killed hundreds

JERUSULAM: Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday rejected a proposal for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon and called for the “crushing” of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.
The United States, European Union and other allies including several Arab states issued a joint call for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon after Israeli air strikes on Hezbollah killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands in Lebanon this week.
The call for a three-week ceasefire came hours after Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Wednesday told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive against Hezbollah.
Smotrich, a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, opposed the proposal, insisting that continuing the war against Hezbollah was the only way forward.
“The campaign in the north should end with a single result: crushing Hezbollah and elimination of its ability to harm the residents of the north,” Smotrich said on X.
“The enemy must not be given time to recover from the heavy blows it has suffered and reorganize itself to continue the war after 21 days,” he said.
“Hezbollah’s surrender or war — this is the only way to bring back the residents and security to the north and the country.”

In a separate statement on X, opposition leader Yair Lapid said the Israeli government should only agree to a seven-day ceasefire.
This would “prevent Hezbollah from restoring its command and control systems,” Lapid said.
“We will not accept any proposal that does not include the withdrawal of Hezbollah from our northern border.”
Smotrich, along with far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, has been a strong advocate of continuing the war in Gaza too, where Israeli forces have been battling Palestinian militants led by the Islamist group Hamas since October 7.
The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, and Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon a day later in what it says is solidarity with its ally Hamas.
Since then Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in fierce cross-border clashes, which worsened this week when Israel launched a withering bombing campaign in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah sites in the deadliest violence since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.