Tunisians set to protest against authoritarianism ahead of upcoming presidential election

Tunisians set to protest against authoritarianism ahead of upcoming presidential election
The North African country’s Independent High Authority for Elections has been accused of lacking independence and acting on behalf of President Kais Saied, who appoints its members. (AFP)
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Updated 13 September 2024
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Tunisians set to protest against authoritarianism ahead of upcoming presidential election

Tunisians set to protest against authoritarianism ahead of upcoming presidential election
  • Newly-formed ‘Tunisian Network for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms’ hopes to draw attention to what it has called a surge in authoritarianism

TUNIS: Tunisians are expected to take to the streets on Friday to denounce the tumult that’s plagued the country’s upcoming election, with candidates arrested, kicked off the ballot or banned from politics for life.
The newly-formed “Tunisian Network for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms” hopes to draw attention to what it has called a surge in authoritarianism.
“Protesting this Friday is a reaction to the violation of rights and freedoms we’re seeing in Tunisia today. The other reason is seeing some citizens being deprived of their right to run in the presidential vote,” said Mohieddine Lagha, Secretary-General of the Tunisian League for Human Rights.
The North African country’s Independent High Authority for Elections has sparred with judges over which candidates will be allowed to appear on the ballot in the October 6 election.
The commission’s detractors have accused it of lacking independence and acting on behalf of President Kais Saied, who appoints its members.
The commission has rejected organizations that have applied to be election observers, and it has said it will not add three candidates to the ballot who won court appeals challenging the authority’s earlier rejections.
That includes former health minister Abdellatif Mekki, a former member of the Islamist movement Ennahda now running with his own party, Work and Accomplishment. Mekki was arrested in July on charges his attorneys said were political and banned from politics for life.
A court ordered the election authority to put him on the ballot last month, and his candidacy was reinstated for a second time earlier this week. ISIE dismissed the first court’s ruling and has not commented on the most recent one.
“We called for a large participation of the population in this protest as we’re hoping to pressure for a massive mobilization,” Ahmed Neffati, Mekki’s campaign manager, said.
“Tunisians won’t let go of their right for a free and democratic election,” he added.
Despite expectations of a barely-contested vote, Saied has upended Tunisian politics in recent months. Last month he sacked the majority of his cabinet, and his critics decried a wave of arrests and gag orders on leading opposition figures as politically driven.
The International Crisis Group last week said Tunisia was in a “deteriorating situation,” and Human Rights Watch called on the election commission to reinstate the candidates.
“Holding elections amid such repression makes a mockery of Tunisians’ right to participate in free and fair elections,” said Bassam Khawaja, the group’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director.


Hezbollah confirms Hassan Nasrallah dead in Beirut strike

Hezbollah confirms Hassan Nasrallah dead in Beirut strike
Updated 36 sec ago
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Hezbollah confirms Hassan Nasrallah dead in Beirut strike

Hezbollah confirms Hassan Nasrallah dead in Beirut strike
  • Israel army says struck more than 140 Hezbollah targets ‘since last night’
  • Hamas group says Nasrallah’s killing will only strengthen the resistance

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: Lebanon’s Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed and vowed to continue the battle against Israel, hours after the Israeli military announced his death in a strike in Beirut on Friday.
The military said that it carried out a precise airstrike while Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.
Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders, were also killed in the attack, the Israeli military said. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that 6 people were killed and 91 injured in the strikes on Friday, which leveled six apartment buildings.
Israel’s military said Saturday that “most” senior leaders of Hezbollah had been killed, after it announced the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the group, which has not provided confirmation.
“Most of the senior leaders of Hezbollah have been eliminated,” military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told an online press briefing.
Nasrallah has lead Hezbollah for more than three decades. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
Israel maintained a heavy barrage of airstrikes against Hezbollah on Saturday, as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets toward Israel.
The Israeli military said it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalate with Lebanon.
The military said Saturday morning it was activating three battalions of reserve soldiers, after earlier sending two brigades to northern Israel earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.
Hezbollah also said that it had targeted Israeli sites on Saturday including Rosh Pina in the north with missiles in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanese cities, villages and civilians.
In Beirut’s southern suburbs, smoke rose and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes. Shelters set up in the city center for displaced people were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.
At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded in the strikes against the Hezbollah on Friday, Lebanon’s health ministry said. It was the biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year and appeared likely to push the escalating conflict closer to full-fledged war. At least 720 people have been killed in Lebanon during the week, according to the Health Ministry.
Reuters journalists heard more than 20 airstrikes in Beirut before dawn on Saturday and more after sunrise. Smoke could be seen rising over the city’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh.
Thousands of people have fled the area since Friday’s attack, congregating in squares, parks and sidewalks in downtown Beirut and seaside areas.
“They want to destroy Dahiyeh, they want to destroy all of us,” said Sari, a man in his 30s who gave only his first name, referring to the suburb he had fled after an Israeli evacuation order. Nearby, the newly displaced in Beirut’s Martyrs Square rolled mats onto the ground to try to sleep.
The Israeli military said a missile fired at central Israel on Saturday had struck an open area. Earlier, the military said about 10 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory and that some had been intercepted.
The Israeli military also said it was striking Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley, a region of eastern Lebanon at the Syrian border that it has pounded over the last week.
Israel’s five hours of continuous strikes on Beirut early on Saturday followed Friday’s attack, by far the most powerful by Israel on the city during the conflict with Hezbollah that has played out in parallel to the Gaza war for nearly a year.
The escalation has sharply increased fears the conflict could spiral out of control, potentially drawing in Iran, Hezbollah’s principal backer, as well as the United States.
There was no immediate confirmation of Nasrallah’s fate after Friday’s heavy strikes, but a source close to Hezbollah told Reuters he was not reachable.
“I think it’s too early to say... Sometimes they hide the fact when we succeed,” the Israeli official told reporters when asked if the strike on Friday had killed Nasrallah.
Earlier, a source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive. Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported he was safe. A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Tehran was checking his status.
Israel’s attacks in Lebanon have widened to new areas this week. On Saturday, an airstrike hit the Lebanese mountain town of Bhamdoun, southeast of Beirut, Lebanese lawmaker for the area Mark Daou told Reuters.
The mayor of Bhamdoun, Walid Khayrallah, told Reuters the strike hit a large empty lot and did not cause any casualties.
Death toll rises
Hours before the latest barrage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations that his country had a right to continue the campaign.
“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely,” he said.
Several delegations walked out as Netanyahu approached the lectern. He later cut short his New York trip to return to Israel.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television reported seven buildings were destroyed.
Hours later, the Israeli military told residents in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate as it targeted missile launchers and weapons storage sites it said were under civilian housing.
Hezbollah denied any weapons or arms depots were located in buildings that were hit in the Beirut suburbs, the group’s media office said in a statement.
Alaa Al-Din Saeed, a resident of a neighborhood that Israel identified as a target, told Reuters he was fleeing with his wife and three children.
“We found out on the television. There was a huge commotion in the neighborhood,” he said. The family grabbed clothes, identification papers and some cash but were stuck in traffic with others trying to flee.
“We’re going to the mountains. We’ll see how to spend the night — and tomorrow we’ll see what we can do.”
Around 100,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced this week, increasing the number uprooted in the country to well over 200,000.
Israel’s government has said that returning some 70,000 Israeli evacuees to their homes is a war aim.
Fear the fighting will spread
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and missiles against targets in Israel, including Tel Aviv. The group said it fired rockets on Friday at the northern Israeli city of Safed, where a woman was treated for minor injuries.
Israel’s air defense systems have ensured the damage has so far been minimal.
Iran, which said Friday’s attack crossed “red lines,” accused Israel of using US-made “bunker-busting” bombs.
At the UN, where the annual General Assembly met this week, the intensification prompted expressions of concern including by France, which with the US has proposed a 21-day ceasefire.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a New York press conference: “We believe the way forward is through diplomacy, not conflict... We will continue to work intentionally with all parties to urge them to choose that course.”
Hezbollah opened the latest bout in a decades-long conflict with a missile barrage against Israel immediately following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza last year.


Israel mobilizes three reserve battalions for central command in West Bank

Israel mobilizes three reserve battalions for central command in West Bank
Updated 12 min 24 sec ago
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Israel mobilizes three reserve battalions for central command in West Bank

Israel mobilizes three reserve battalions for central command in West Bank
  • The decision was made ahead of a period of Jewish holidays when tensions often escalate in Jerusalem and the West Bank

(Repeats with amended slug; no change to story text)
Sept 28 : Israel’s military said on Saturday it was mobilizing three reserve battalions to bolster the defenses of its central command, whose areas of operation includes the occupied West Bank .
The decision was made ahead of a period of Jewish holidays when tensions often escalate in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where conflict with Palestinian militants has resurged during Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
“In accordance with the situational assessment, the IDF is calling up three reserve battalions for operational activities and to strengthen the defense in the Central Command,” the military said. It provided no further details.


EU recommends airlines avoid Lebanese, Israeli airspace

EU recommends airlines avoid Lebanese, Israeli airspace
Updated 40 min 59 sec ago
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EU recommends airlines avoid Lebanese, Israeli airspace

EU recommends airlines avoid Lebanese, Israeli airspace
  • The European Commission and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an official recommendation “not to operate within the airspaces of Lebanon and Israel at all flight levels”

PARIS: Airlines should avoid Lebanese and Israeli airspace for the coming month, the European Union said Saturday, amid an escalation in air strikes and rocket fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The European Commission and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) warned in a statement of “an overall intensification of air strikes and degradation in the security situation.”
They issued an official recommendation “not to operate within the airspaces of Lebanon and Israel at all flight levels.”
Provisionally lasting until October 31, the Conflict Zone Information Bulletin (CZIB) “can be reviewed earlier and adapted or withdrawn,” the statement added.
“EASA will continue to closely monitor the situation, with a view to assess whether there is an increase or decrease of risks for EU aircraft operators as a result of the evolution of the threat,” the body said.
Israeli bombardment of the southern outskirts of Beirut on Friday hit its highest intensity since the state’s last war with Hezbollah in 2006.
The Israeli army claimed to have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike, while the Iran-backed group said it had fired rockets toward a kibbutz and military targets in northern Israel.


Iranian leader Khamenei calls on Muslims to confront Israel

Iranian leader Khamenei calls on Muslims to confront Israel
Updated 33 min 53 sec ago
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Iranian leader Khamenei calls on Muslims to confront Israel

Iranian leader Khamenei calls on Muslims to confront Israel
  • He condemned Saturday what he described as Israel’s “short-sighted” policy after strikes on Lebanon that Israel said killed Nasrallah

TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslims on Saturday “to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah with whatever means they have and assist them in confronting the ... wicked regime (of Israel).”
Khamenei, in a statement after the Israeli army said it had killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, said: “The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront,” state media reported.
He condemned Saturday what he described as Israel’s “short-sighted” policy after strikes on Lebanon that Israel said killed Nasrallah.
“The massacre of the defenseless people in Lebanon once again revealed the ferocity of the Zionist rabid dog to everyone, and proved the short-sighted and stupid policy of the leaders of the usurping regime,” Khamenei said in a statement, without mentioning Nasrallah’s fate which has not been confirmed by the group.

Reuters earlier reported that Khamenei has been transferred to a secure location inside the country with heightened security measures in place, citing two regional officials briefed by Tehran.
The sources said Iran was in constant contact with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other regional proxy groups to determine the next step after Israel announced that it had killed Nasrallah in a strike on south Beirut on Friday.


International community ‘unjustifiably, immorally silent’ about Palestinian suffering: Tunisian FM

International community ‘unjustifiably, immorally silent’ about Palestinian suffering: Tunisian FM
Updated 28 September 2024
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International community ‘unjustifiably, immorally silent’ about Palestinian suffering: Tunisian FM

International community ‘unjustifiably, immorally silent’ about Palestinian suffering: Tunisian FM
  • Mohamed Ali Nafti rejects foreign intervention in Libya, calls for ceasefire in Sudan
  • UN bodies, particularly Security Council, should reform to ‘improve their performance, promote their credibility’

NEW YORK CITY: Tunisia’s foreign minister on Friday expressed “concern and disappointment” for Palestinians who have been subjected to “the most despicable war crimes” and “all forms of violations of human rights” by Israel.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Mohamed Ali Nafti called out the international community for its failure to ensure that international humanitarian law is respected.

“The international community remains unjustifiably and immorally silent,” he said. “Calling for human rights and humanitarian issues to take precedence disappears when it comes to the Palestinian people.”

The international community must treat all human beings equally, without discrimination or double standards, Nafti said, adding that Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza has jeopardized people’s trust in the UN and its ability to implement its own resolutions.

He said Tunisia “firmly and unconditionally” supports the rights of the Palestinian people, in particular their right to “self-determination” and “the establishment of an independent, sovereign state” with East Jerusalem as its capital. He added that Tunisia also supports Palestine’s bid to become a full UN member.

Nafti highlighted growing crises in the world such as conflicts, wars, extremism, terrorism, organized crime, and unprecedented levels of poverty, hunger and inequality.

He also spoke about the widening digital and development gap between countries in the Global North and South, and the inability of the international financial system to “respond to the development needs of the majority of states.”

These challenges indicate that “the current international system is no longer on track,” and requires joint efforts to “carry out the necessary reviews and reforms to address all the chaos, inequality and turmoil,” Nafti said.

Africa is the most affected by climate change, global crises, terrorism and instability, he added, asking for UN and international efforts to overcome these challenges.

“African solutions for African problems should be the approach for achieving the goal of silencing the guns by 2030,” he said.

Nafti called for the UN to help maintain stability and security in Libya while rejecting “all forms of foreign intervention in Libya’s internal affairs.”

He also urged parties in Sudan to stop fighting and engage in dialogue in order “to end the scourge of war and displacement causing suffering to its people.”

He emphasized Tunisia’s call for reform of the UN and its various bodies, particularly the Security Council, to “improve their performance and promote their credibility.”