Gaza civil defense says 3 killed in Israeli strike on school

Gaza civil defense says 3 killed in Israeli strike on school
People inspect the damage following an Israeli strike on Amr Ibn al Aas school housing displaced Palestinians in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City on September 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 07 September 2024
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Gaza civil defense says 3 killed in Israeli strike on school

Gaza civil defense says 3 killed in Israeli strike on school
  • The Israeli military said it conducted a “precise strike” at the school
  • A large crowd gathered outside the building in the aftermath of the strike, picking their way over rubble as emergency workers tried to help the wounded

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli air strike targeting a school-turned-shelter for displaced Palestinians killed at least three people on Saturday, while the military reported it struck a Hamas command center.
“Three martyrs and more than 20 wounded people were retrieved after an Israeli warplane fired two missiles at a prayer room and a classroom at the Amr Ibn Al-Aas School, where refugees were sheltering in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza City,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defense agency, told AFP.
The Israeli military said it conducted a “precise strike” at the school.
The strike targeted “terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control center... embedded inside a compound that previously served as Amr Ibn Al-Aas school,” the military said in a statement.
A large crowd gathered outside the building in the aftermath of the strike, picking their way over rubble as emergency workers tried to help the wounded, AFPTV footage showed.
Displaced Gazan Abd Arooq said the school had served as a shelter for more than 2,000 people.
“We don’t know where to go. We are in the street,” he said.
“There is no sanctity for mosques, schools or even the houses we live in.”
In recent months, Israeli forces have struck several schools that were housing displaced Palestinians, many of them in Gaza City, saying the strikes targeted Hamas militants.
Tens of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge in schools since the war in Gaza, which entered its 12th month on Saturday, broke out following Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and some hostages killed in captivity, according to official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has so far killed at least 40,939 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
According to the United Nations human rights office, most of the dead are women and children.


What are Iran’s missile capabilities?

What are Iran’s missile capabilities?
Updated 02 October 2024
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What are Iran’s missile capabilities?

What are Iran’s missile capabilities?
  • “Years of reverse-engineering missiles and producing various missile classes have also taught Iran about stretching airframes and building them with lighter composite materials to increase missile range,” the report said

TEHRAN: Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, drawing on an array of weapons that has long worried the West. The attack came five months after a strike in April that was the first ever direct Iranian strike on Israel. Ballistic missiles are an important part of the arsenal at Tehran’s disposal. According to the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Iran is armed with the largest number of ballistic missiles in the region.

Here are some details: * The semi-official Iranian news outlet ISNA published a graphic in April showing nine Iranian missiles it said could reach Israel. These included the ‘Sejil’, capable of flying at more than 17,000 km (10,500 miles) per hour and with a range of 2,500 km (1,550 miles), the ‘Kheibar’ with a range of 2,000 km (1,240 miles), and the ‘Hajj Qasem’, which has a range of 1,400 km (870 miles), ISNA said. * The Arms Control Association, a Washington-based non-governmental organization, says Iran’s ballistic missiles include ‘Shahab-1’, with an estimated range of 300 km (190 miles); the ‘Zolfaghar’, with 700 km (435 miles); ‘Shahab-3’, with 800-1,000 km (500 to 620 miles); ‘Emad-1’, a missile under development with a range up to 2,000 km (1,240 miles) and ‘Sejil’, under development, with 1,500-2,500 km (930 to 1,550 miles).
* Fabian Hinz, a Berlin-based expert on Iran’s missile arsenal with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that based on the locations of videos of launches posted on social media and the ranges to Israel, he assessed that Iran fired a combination of solid- and liquid-fueled missiles.
The former category of missile, which is more advanced, is fired from angled mobile launchers and the latter from vertical launchers, he said.
He said three solid-propellent missiles fired on Tuesday could be the ‘Hajj Qasem’, ‘Kheibar Shekan’ and ‘Fattah 1’. Liquid propellant missiles reported as being launched from Isfahan might potentially be the ‘Emad’, ‘Badr’ and ‘Khorramshahr’, he said.
* Iran says its ballistic missiles are an important deterrent and retaliatory force against the US, Israel and other potential regional targets. It denies seeking nuclear weapons.
* According to a 2023 report by Behnam Ben Taleblu, a Senior Fellow at the US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Iran continues to develop underground missile depots complete with transport and firing systems, and subterranean missile production and storage centers. In June 2020, Iran fired its first ever ballistic missile from underground, it said.

“Years of reverse-engineering missiles and producing various missile classes have also taught Iran about stretching airframes and building them with lighter composite materials to increase missile range,” the report said. * In June 2023, Iran presented what officials described as its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile, the official IRNA news agency reported. Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and on a complex trajectory, which makes them difficult to intercept.
* The Arms Control Association says Iran’s missile program is largely based on North Korean and Russian designs and has benefited from Chinese assistance.
* Iran also has cruise missiles such as Kh-55, an air-launched nuclear-capable weapon with a range up to 3,000 km (1,860 miles), and the advanced anti-ship missile the Khalid Farzh, with about 300 km (186 miles), capable of carrying a 1,000-kg (1.1-ton) warhead.

REGIONAL ATTACKS
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards used missiles in January 2024 when they said they attacked the spy headquarters of Israel in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, and said they fired at Daesh militants in Syria. Iran also announced firing missiles at two bases of a Baluchi militant group in neighboring Pakistan.
• Saudi Arabia and the US have said they believe Iran was behind a drone and missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s prized oil facilities in 2019. Tehran denied the allegation.
• In 2020, Iran launched missile attacks on US-led forces in Iraq, including the Al-Asad air base, in retaliation for a US drone strike on an Iranian commander.

BACKING FOR YEMEN’S HOUTHIS
• The United States accuses Iran of arming the Houthis of Yemen, who have been firing on Red Sea shipping and Israel itself during the Gaza war, in a campaign they say is aimed at supporting the Palestinians. Tehran denies arming the Houthis. * On Sept. 24, Reuters reported Iran had brokered secret talks between Russia and the Houthis to transfer anti-ship missiles to the armed group, citing Western and regional sources.
• In 2022, the Houthis said they fired ballistic missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates. This included a missile attack targeting a base hosting the US military in the UAE, which was thwarted by US-built Patriot interceptor missiles.

SUPPORT FOR HEZBOLLAH * Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group has said it has the ability within Lebanon to convert thousands of rockets into precision missiles and to produce drones. Last year, the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group was able to transform standard rockets into precision missiles with the cooperation of Iranian experts.

SYRIA
• Iran has transferred indigenous precision-guided missiles to Syria to support President Bashar Assad’s fight against rebels, according to Israeli and Western intelligence officials.
• It has moved some production capacity to underground compounds in Syria, where Assad’s military and other pro-Tehran forces have learned to build their own missiles, those sources say.

 


Airlines scramble to divert flights after Iran missile attack

Airlines scramble to divert flights after Iran missile attack
Updated 02 October 2024
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Airlines scramble to divert flights after Iran missile attack

Airlines scramble to divert flights after Iran missile attack
  • Eurocontrol, a pan-European air traffic control agency, earlier sent a warning to pilots about the escalating conflict

PARIS: Israel’s neighbors closed airspace and airline crews skirted an escalating conflict, with many seeking diversions, after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for tracking service FlightRadar24 said flights diverted “anywhere they could,” and a snapshot of traffic in the region showed flights spreading in wide arcs to the north and south, with many converging on Cairo and Istanbul.
FlightRadar24 said Istanbul and Antalya in southern Turkiye were becoming congested, forcing some airlines to divert south.
Iran launched the strikes in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a “painful response” against its enemy.
Eurocontrol, a pan-European air traffic control agency, earlier sent a warning to pilots about the escalating conflict.
“A major missile attack has been launched against Israel in the last few minutes. At present the entire country is under a missile warning,” it said in an urgent navigation bulletin.
Shortly afterwards it announced the closure of Jordanian and Iraqi airspace as well as the closure of a key crossing point into airspace controlled by Cyprus.
An Iraqi pilot bulletin said its Baghdad-controlled airspace was “closed due to security until further notice.”
Iraq’s transport ministry later announced the reopening of Iraqi airspace to incoming and outgoing civilian flights at Iraqi airports. FlightRadar24 said on X that “it will be a while before flights are active there again.”
Jordan also reopened its airspace after closing it following the volley of Iranian missiles fired toward Israel, the Jordanian state news agency reported.
Lebanon’s airspace will be closed to air traffic for a two-hour period on Tuesday, Transport Minister Ali Hamie said on X.
The latest disruptions are expected to deal a further blow to an industry already facing a host of restrictions due to conflicts between Israel and Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine.

 


Six dead in separatist attacks in southeast Iran

Six dead in separatist attacks in southeast Iran
Updated 02 October 2024
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Six dead in separatist attacks in southeast Iran

Six dead in separatist attacks in southeast Iran
  • Local head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps among victims of militant group

RIYADH: Six people including a local head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed on Tuesday in gun attacks by militant separatists in Iran’s restive southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan.

Town council chief Parviz Kadkhodaei and two volunteer members of the Guards were also among the dead in the first attack at a school ceremony in the small town of Bent, about 1,350 kilometers southeast of Tehran. Two police officers were killed in the second attack in the town of Khash.

Both attacks were carried out by gunmen from Jaish Al-Adl, a militant group based in Pakistan that seeks greater rights for the ethnic Baloch minority.

Sistan-Baluchistan, one of Iran’s poorest regions, is mostly inhabited by the Baloch community. The province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan has long been plagued by unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and militants.

In September, gunmen from Jaish Al-Adl killed four border guards in the province in two separate attacks.

In January Iran carried out a missile and drone strike against militant groups in Pakistan. Pakistan retaliated with strikes against militants in Iranian territory.

Pakistan’s Balochistan province also suffers from low-level insurgency waged by separatist militants against the government of Pakistan. These Pakistani Baloch separatist militant groups are allied with Iranian Baloch groups. Iran and Pakistan historically have a strategic alliance fighting these groups. 


Prayers and applause: two sides of Jerusalem react to Iran missiles

Prayers and applause: two sides of Jerusalem react to Iran missiles
Updated 02 October 2024
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Prayers and applause: two sides of Jerusalem react to Iran missiles

Prayers and applause: two sides of Jerusalem react to Iran missiles

JERUSALEM: Depending on where you were in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, Iran’s missile attack on Israel provoked either fervent prayers or cries of joy.
Jewish prayers in an underground car park in west Jerusalem; expressions of joy in Palestinian districts in the Israeli-annexed east of the city.
When the air raid sirens wailed, hundreds of people in the central bus station in the west heeded the military’s calls and headed underground to take shelter.
Some of those who gathered in the car park read from religious texts as others stayed glued to their phones.
The dull sound of explosions came from above as Israeli air defenses intercepted incoming missiles fired from Iran.
Outside in the open, the dark sky was streaked with light trails from the east, amid the boom of blasts echoing over the Holy City.
In a shelter in Musrara district in west Jerusalem, residents called friends and relatives elsewhere in Israel to exchange news of what was happening.
One man who preferred not to be identified by name told AFP: “We can put things into perspective, but the kids can’t.”
He gave out sweets to young ones in the car park, “so they don’t have bad memories” of the situation.
Children were crying, however, and families continued to arrive amid the wave of alerts.
Some even expressed surprise as they had not heard of the threat, despite repeated warnings broadcast by the authorities for more than an hour.
On the other side of Jerusalem is the Palestinian quarter of Silwan in the east of the city, which Israel seized in the 1967 war and later annexed.
One resident told AFP of the reaction in Silwan when the warnings sounded.
“As soon as the Palestinians heard the first sirens, there were whistles and applause, and there were cries of ‘Allahu Akbar!’ (God is Greatest),” said one resident of the moment the streaks of fire appeared in the night sky.
She said people did not go to shelters because they don’t have any. Instead they went out into the streets or onto roofs to see what was happening.
Back in west Jerusalem, after the all clear, 17-year-old Alon returned to his small DIY shop.
“It’s been six months since I’ve heard the alert in Jerusalem,” he said of the first time Israel’s arch-enemy Iran attacked with drones and missiles on the night of April 13-14.
“I wasn’t afraid,” he added.


Iran warns against any direct military intervention in support of Israel

Iran warns against any direct military intervention in support of Israel
Updated 02 October 2024
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Iran warns against any direct military intervention in support of Israel

Iran warns against any direct military intervention in support of Israel

TEHRAN: Iran’s armed forces warned Wednesday against any direct military intervention in support of Israel in response to Iran’s missile attack.

“In the event of direct intervention by countries supporting the regime (Israel)... their centers and interests in the region will also face a powerful attack by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the armed forces said in a statement quoted by Fars news agency.