Iran’s president slams the West over Gaza war

Iran’s president slams the West over Gaza war
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a press conference at the government palace in Baghdad, on September 11, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 11 September 2024
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Iran’s president slams the West over Gaza war

Iran’s president slams the West over Gaza war

BAGHDAD: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has slammed the West, saying that Israel is “committing massacres” in the war in Gaza and using European and American weapons to do so.

Pezeshkian, who spoke in Baghdad at the start of his first visit abroad since taking office, hopes to cement Tehran’s ties to Baghdad.

“The Israeli entity is committing massacres against women, children, young men, and the elderly. They bomb hospitals and schools,” Pezeshkian said.

“All these crimes are being committed by using European and American ammunition and bombs,” he added.

Ahead of Pezeshkian’s arrival, an explosion struck a site near Baghdad International Airport used by the US military on Tuesday night. There were no reported casualties, and the circumstances of the explosion were unclear.

The US Embassy later described it as an “attack” on the Baghdad Diplomatic Services Compound, an American diplomatic facility, and that it was “assessing the damage” and the cause of the explosion. It did not provide further details.


Libya’s eastern parliament approves new central bank governor, deputy

Libya’s eastern parliament approves new central bank governor, deputy
Updated 30 September 2024
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Libya’s eastern parliament approves new central bank governor, deputy

Libya’s eastern parliament approves new central bank governor, deputy

CAIRO: Libya’s eastern-based parliament agreed on Monday to approve the nomination of Naji Mohamed Issa Belqasem as the new governor of the central bank, part of efforts to end a crisis which has slashed the country’s oil output.
In a televised session, the parliament also approved Mari Muftah Rahil Barrasi as his deputy.
The two names were nominated in a recent UN-facilitated meeting. Belqasem was previously the central bank’s director of banking and monetary control. 


Hezbollah’s deputy chief speaks in first address after Nasrallah’s killing

Hezbollah’s deputy chief speaks in first address after Nasrallah’s killing
Updated 30 September 2024
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Hezbollah’s deputy chief speaks in first address after Nasrallah’s killing

Hezbollah’s deputy chief speaks in first address after Nasrallah’s killing
  • Naim Qasim appears in televised speech, telling Lebanese to be “reassured, victory is our ally”
  • This is Qassem's first speech since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli airstrike

RIYADH: Lebanon’s Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qasim appeared in a televised speech on Monday, telling Lebanese to be “reassured, victory is our ally, we need a bit of patience”

In his speech Qassem vowed to fight on, saying the group was prepared for a long war in his first speech since the leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed, and addeed that the group would choose a new secretary-general based on the mechanism within Hezbollah.

Qassem’s speech on Monday comes days after Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Friday.

Qassem added that despite the killing of Hezbollah’s top military commanders over the past months, Hezbollah was now relying on new commanders.
“Israel was not able to affect our (military) capabilities,” Qassem said.

“There are deputy commanders and there are replacements in case a commander is wounded in any post.”

Israel has in recent days escalated its attacks on Lebanon and the intensifying Israeli bombardment over two weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah officials.

Hezbollah’s deputy leader vowed to continue fighting Israel and said the militant group was prepared for a long war after much of its top command was wiped out, including its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
In his speech Qassem said that if Israel decided to launch a ground offensive, Hezbollah fighters are ready to fight and defend Lebanon.


Israeli airstrikes kill 12 in Gaza, but ground fighting less intense

Israeli airstrikes kill 12 in Gaza, but ground fighting less intense
Updated 30 September 2024
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Israeli airstrikes kill 12 in Gaza, but ground fighting less intense

Israeli airstrikes kill 12 in Gaza, but ground fighting less intense
  • Airstrike kills journalist and her family, medics say
  • At least 12 killed so far on Monday, health officials say

CAIRO: Israeli airstrikes pounded areas across the Gaza Strip on Monday killing 12, including a journalist and her family, medics said, although the intensity of the ground offensive has subsided as Israel steps up its fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Palestinian health officials said Wafa Al-Udaini, who wrote articles about the war in English advocating the Palestinian viewpoint, was killed when a missile struck her house in the central city of Deir Al-Balah, also killing her husband and their two children.
There has been no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Udaini’s death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the Israeli offensive since Oct. 7 to 174, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
In another strike, a Palestinian was killed and several were wounded in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, while in the northern town of Beit Hanoun an airstrike killed one man and injured others, medics said.
While later on Monday, an Israeli air strike on a house in Nuseirat, one of Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, killed six people, health officials said.
Some residents said fighting and Israeli military activities in Gaza have declined slightly in the past week as Israel has escalated its military offensive against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Friday. The group announced Nasrallah’s death on Saturday.
While the intensity of the ground offensive has been lower, Israel has kept up its airstrikes in the enclave, they added.
Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel for almost a year, in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza.
In the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities released 12 Palestinians, including Khaled Al-Ser, head of the surgery unit at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, medics and Hamas media said. Palestinians freed by Israel have complained of torture and ill-treatment in Israeli jails, charges Israel denies.
Israel and Hamas have been fighting since gunmen from the Palestinian militant group stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing about 250 hostages, going by Israeli tallies.
Most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced by the war, in which more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health authorities.


Lebanon asks those who lost relatives in recent airstrikes for DNA samples to match with unidentified remains

Lebanon asks those who lost relatives in recent airstrikes for DNA samples to match with unidentified remains
Updated 30 September 2024
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Lebanon asks those who lost relatives in recent airstrikes for DNA samples to match with unidentified remains

Lebanon asks those who lost relatives in recent airstrikes for DNA samples to match with unidentified remains
  • A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people

BEIRUT — Lebanese officials have asked people who lost relatives in recent Israeli airstrikes to provide DNA samples to match with unidentified remains.
Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces on Monday called on residents across the country to visit police stations with an identity card to give their samples. It said more than one person from each family should provide a sample, if possible.
A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Satellite images show site of Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader
Satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press show the site of the Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The images, taken Sunday by Planet Labs PBC, show the site just some 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) northeast of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport.
The images show multi-story buildings at the site now cratered in the densely populated predominantly Shiite southern Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh.
Israel said the Friday night strike targeted a meeting at an underground Hezbollah compound located beneath the towers and at least one empty lot at the site.


Lebanon to hold session to elect president after a ceasefire, caretaker PM says

Lebanon to hold session to elect president after a ceasefire, caretaker PM says
Updated 30 September 2024
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Lebanon to hold session to elect president after a ceasefire, caretaker PM says

Lebanon to hold session to elect president after a ceasefire, caretaker PM says

BEIRUT: Lebanon will hold a parliamentary session to elect a new president as soon as a ceasefire in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel takes hold, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday after talks with the house speaker.