Iran accuses Israel of ‘mass murder’ after pager explosions

Iran accuses Israel of ‘mass murder’ after pager explosions
A person is carried on a stretcher outside American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) as people, including Hezbollah fighters and medics, were wounded and killed when the pagers they use to communicate exploded across Lebanon. (File/Reuters)
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Updated 18 September 2024
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Iran accuses Israel of ‘mass murder’ after pager explosions

Iran accuses Israel of ‘mass murder’ after pager explosions
  • Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was among the wounded
  • Iranian Red Crescent dispatches “rescue teams and eye surgeons” to Lebanon to treat the wounded

TEHRAN: Iran accused Israel on Wednesday of “mass murder” after paging devices belonging to the Tehran-aligned Hezbollah group in Lebanon exploded, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others.
Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement he “condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime... as an example of mass murder.”
Among those wounded in the pager blasts on Tuesday was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani, with Iranian media reporting he suffered injuries “to the hand and the face.”
State television said that Amani was only lightly injured.
The Iranian Red Crescent said on Wednesday it had dispatched “rescue teams and eye surgeons” to Lebanon to treat the wounded.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the wave of explosions that killed nine people, including the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member, and wounded around 2,800 others.
The blasts came just hours after Israel announced it was broadening the aims of the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attacks to include its fight against the group’s ally Hezbollah along the country’s border with Lebanon.
In his statement, Kanani expressed solidarity with the families of those killed and wounded in the explosions including the Iranian ambassador.
“Combating the terrorist acts of the (Israeli) regime and the threats arising from them is an obvious necessity,” said Kanani.
“It is necessary for the international community to act quickly in order to counter the impunity of the Zionist criminal authorities.”


Israeli strikes kill Hamas leader in Lebanon and three Palestinian leaders in Beirut

Israeli strikes kill Hamas leader in Lebanon and three Palestinian leaders in Beirut
Updated 30 September 2024
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Israeli strikes kill Hamas leader in Lebanon and three Palestinian leaders in Beirut

Israeli strikes kill Hamas leader in Lebanon and three Palestinian leaders in Beirut
  • Hamas says Israeli strike kills its leader in Lebanon
  • Lebanon’s Health Ministry reports over 1,000 killed, 6,000 wounded in two weeks

Beirut: Palestinian militant group Hamas said an Israeli strike killed its leader in Lebanon on Monday, while another Palestinian militant group said three of its leaders were killed in a strike on Beirut, the first attack within the city limits.
Hamas said its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was killed, along with his wife, son, and daughter, in a strike that targeted their house in a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre in the early hours of Monday.
As Israel escalates hostilities against Iran’s allies in the region, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said three of its leaders were killed in a strike that targeted Beirut’s Kola district.
The strike hit the upper floor of an apartment building, Reuters witnesses said.
There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military.
Israel’s increasing frequency of attacks against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the Houthi militia in Yemen have prompted fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel’s main ally.
The PFLP is another militant group taking part in the fight against Israel.
Israel on Sunday launched airstrikes against the Houthi militia in Yemen and dozens of Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon after earlier killing the Hezbollah leader.
The Houthi-run health ministry said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded in airstrikes on Yemen’s port of Hodeidah, which Israel said were a response to Houthi missile attacks. In Lebanon, authorities said at least 105 people had been killed by Israeli air strikes on Sunday.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry has said more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without saying how many were civilians. The government said a million people — a fifth of the population — have fled their homes.
The intensifying Israeli bombardment over two weeks has killed a string of top Hezbollah officials, including its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel has vowed to keep up the assault and says it wants to make its northern areas secure again for residents who have been forced to flee Hezbollah rocket attacks.
Israeli drones hovered over Beirut for much of Sunday, with the loud blasts of new airstrikes echoing around the Lebanese capital. Displaced families spent the night on benches at Zaitunay Bay, a string of restaurants and cafes on Beirut’s waterfront.
Many of Israel’s attacks have been carried out in the south of Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah has most of its operations, or Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Monday’s attack in the Kola district appeared to be the first strike within Beirut’s city limits. Syrians living in southern Lebanon who had fled Israeli bombardment had been sleeping under a bridge in the neighborhood for days, residents of the area said.
The United States has urged a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Lebanon but has also authorized its military to reinforce in the region.
US President Joe Biden, asked if an all-out war in the Middle East could be avoided, said “It has to be.” He said he will be talking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


French FM in Beirut, despite air strikes: ministry

French FM in Beirut, despite air strikes: ministry
Updated 30 September 2024
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French FM in Beirut, despite air strikes: ministry

French FM in Beirut, despite air strikes: ministry
  • Israel's military on Sunday said it struck more targets of Lebanon's Iran-backed group Hezbollah, after its leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a Beirut air raid on Friday

BEIRUT, Lebanon: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in Lebanon on Sunday night, his ministry said, making him the first high-level foreign diplomat to visit since Israeli air strikes intensified one week ago.
The arrival of Barrot, who earlier called for an immediate halt to the strikes, came as the foreign ministry announced that a second French national had been killed in Lebanon, though details were unclear.
Barrot oversaw delivery of 11.5 tonnes of French humanitarian aid, Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad said.
After a meeting about the status of French nationals, Barrot on Monday will meet officials including Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
He is also due to meet the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon and members of the UN peacekeeping force in the south.
"We confirm the death of a second French national," his ministry said Sunday, adding that further details will be supplied later.
The death comes after an 87-year-old French woman died last Monday after a blast in a village in south Lebanon.
Israel's military on Sunday said it struck more targets of Lebanon's Iran-backed group Hezbollah, after its leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a Beirut air raid on Friday.
The violence has raised strong fears of even further escalation in the Middle East.
French President Emmanuel Macron has also appointed a former foreign and defence minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, as special envoy to Lebanon.
Le Drian has visited the country six times, most recently at the beginning of the week.
 

 


4 killed as Israel strikes apartment in central Beirut, first hit outside Hezbollah-controlled Dahiyeh

4 killed as Israel strikes apartment in central Beirut, first hit outside Hezbollah-controlled Dahiyeh
Updated 30 September 2024
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4 killed as Israel strikes apartment in central Beirut, first hit outside Hezbollah-controlled Dahiyeh

4 killed as Israel strikes apartment in central Beirut, first hit outside Hezbollah-controlled Dahiyeh
  • Video footage showed the partially flattened floor of the building targeted by the strike, in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Kola
  • Reports on the affiliation of those killed were conflicting: some said Jamaa Islamiya, others said Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

BEIRUT: Four people have been killed in an Israeli strike targeting an apartment in Beirut’s Kola district on Sunday, witnesses said, in the first such attack in central Beirut in nearly a year of conflict.

There have been conflicting reports on who the intended targets were, with some news outlets claiming they were officials of The Islamic Party or Islamic Group — also known as Jamaa Islamiya — and others claiming they were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Sources close to Arab News identified those killed in the strike as senior Jamaa Islamiya members Zakariya Bazzi and Ali Rahal and two others.

Agence France Presse also quoted its own source, and The Associated Press, quoting an unnamed official with Lebanese Civil Defense, said the targets were Jamaa Islamiya members.

Reuters, also quoting unnamed sources, said the PFLP had admitted that three of its leaders were killed the strike.

Formed in 1960, Jamaa Islamiya, like Hamas, traces its origins to the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood. It has been the target of several Israeli strikes since the escalation began on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The PFLP said the three leaders were killed in a strike that targeted Beirut’s Kola district.

The PFLP,  a Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization, is the second-biggest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization, next to Fatah.

The strike marks the first time Israel has carried out attacks within Beirut’s city walls since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel last year.

Television footage showed the partially flattened floor of the building targeted by the strike, in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Kola, near the road linking the capital to Beirut airport.

The strike happened  hours after Israel hit targets across Lebanon and killed at least 105 people as Hezbollah sustained heavy blows to its command structure, including the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

In the past week, Israel has frequently targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the militant group Hezbollah has a strong presence — including a major strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah — but had not hit locations near the city center.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.

Earlier, Hezbollah confirmed that Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of the militant group’s Central Council, was killed Saturday, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. They include founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades.

Hezbollah also confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in an airstrike Friday strike that killed Nasrallah. Israel says at least 20 other Hezbollah militants were killed, including one in charge of Nasrallah’s security detail.

The Lebanese health ministry documented at least 105 people killed around the country in airstrikes Sunday. Two strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the Lebanese health ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and injured at least 47. There were other strikes.

The Israeli military previously said it also carried out another targeted strike on Beirut, but did not immediately provide details.

Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa and in the south, besides strikes on Beirut. The strikes have targeted buildings where civilians were living and the death toll was expected to rise.

In a video of a strike in Sidon, verified by The Associated Press, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors filmed. One TV station called on viewers to pray for a family caught under the rubble, posting their pictures, as rescuers failed to reach them. The Lebanese health ministry reported at least 14 medics were killed over two days in the south.

Meanwhile, wreckage from the strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah was still smoldering. AP journalists saw smoke over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what was left of their homes and others to pay respects, pray or simply to see the destruction.

In response to the dramatic escalation in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah significantly increased its attacks in the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the Israeli military said. The attacks injured several people and caused damage, but most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems or fell in open areas.

The army says its strikes have degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities and the number of launches would be much higher if Hezbollah had not been hit.


’We will reach everyone’: how Israel hunted Nasrallah

An Israeli Hermes 450 UAV drone flies over Beirut, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP)
An Israeli Hermes 450 UAV drone flies over Beirut, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP)
Updated 30 September 2024
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’We will reach everyone’: how Israel hunted Nasrallah

An Israeli Hermes 450 UAV drone flies over Beirut, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP)
  • Analysts said the operation reflected huge strides by Israel’s Unit 8200 signals intelligence group in penetrating Hezbollah’s communications devices
  • The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel spent months planning how to use “a series of timed explosions” in the bunker beneath residential buildings where Nasrallah would be, “with each blast paving the way for the next one”

JERUSALEM: Israel’s killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike on Friday was a feat of spycraft capping days of operations highlighting its deep infiltration of the Iran-backed group.
Here’s what we know about how Israel marshalled its intelligence resources to pull off the attack:

Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel the day after its ally Hamas staged the brutal October 7 attack on southern Israel, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza.
Israel’s relatively low-level campaign against Hezbollah escalated dramatically on September 17 with sabotage attacks on pagers used by Hezbollah, followed the next day by explosions targeting the group’s two-way radios.
Exploding devices, which Israel has not claimed, killed at least 39 people, wounded almost 3,000 and “threw Hezbollah’s communications back to the stone-age,” wrote Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Analysts said the operation reflected huge strides by Israel’s Unit 8200 signals intelligence group in penetrating Hezbollah’s communications devices.
In February Nasrallah himself warned that “the cell phone that you hold in your hand is a spying device,” prompting use of the pagers that were later weaponized.
Yet military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told journalists the intelligence-gathering that led to Friday’s Beirut strike on Nasrallah went back years.
“We had used the intelligence we’ve been working for years to gather, and we had real-time information, and we carried out this strike,” he said.
Retired Col. Miri Eisen, a senior fellow at Israel’s International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Reichman University, also said the strike was the product of extensive work.
“Israel’s capabilities when it comes to Hezbollah show the depth of the intelligence infiltration into Hezbollah lines,” she said, adding these were “not things that were invented in the last 11 months” after Hezbollah began striking the north.

Israeli officials have said Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders gathered on Friday for a meeting at the group’s “central headquarters” in its main stronghold, located in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Warplanes had been pounding the area extensively as Israel ramped up operations against Hezbollah.
A military video showed F15 jets taking off from Hatzerim Airbase on Friday to carry out the operation.
Just before 6:30 p.m. (1530 GMT) the sound of powerful explosions was heard across the Lebanese capital.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel spent months planning how to use “a series of timed explosions” in the bunker beneath residential buildings where Nasrallah would be, “with each blast paving the way for the next one.”
But the paper also cited Israeli officials as saying the strike’s timing “was opportunistic, coming after Israeli intelligence learned about the meeting hours before it occurred.”
It coincided with the UN General Assembly, meaning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was out of the country at the time.
His office would later publish a photograph it said showed him approving the strike, which The Times of Israel said was apparently taken “at his hotel in New York.”
Israel has not specified the weaponry used in the strike.
However, the New York Times said analysis of a military video indicates the aircraft used had been “fitted with at least 15 2,000-pound bombs.”
Senior officials told the paper that “more than 80 bombs were dropped over a period of several minutes to kill” Nasrallah. The Wall Street Journal said Israel hit the bunker with “80 tons of bombs.”

The air strikes left craters up to five meters (16 feet) across, AFP photographers said.
Lebanon’s health ministry gave a preliminary toll of six dead and 91 wounded in the raid.
Middle East expert James Dorsey said there was no question that the strike represented a “very sophisticated” intelligence coup.
“It demonstrates not only significant technological capacity but just how deeply Israel has penetrated Hezbollah,” he said.
Heiko Wimmen of International Crisis Group said the long-term effects on Hezbollah’s operations were unclear.
“While Hezbollah is too well-institutionalized to collapse by decapitation, the staggering loss of its human resources will inevitably have a degrading effect sooner rather than later,” said Wimmen, the think tank’s project director for Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
“Their extensive intelligence infiltration also makes it doubtful that they can launch a strategic response or keep up the rocket attacks on northern Israel for much longer.”
For now, Israeli officials are celebrating Nasrallah’s death while weighing whether to press on with ground operations intended to tackle the threat posed by Hezbollah along the northern border.
The military on Saturday distributed a transcript quoting the commander of the squadron that struck Nasrallah as saying “We will reach everyone, everywhere.”

 


Israel’s prime minister appoints a former rival to strengthen his hold on office

Israel’s prime minister appoints a former rival to strengthen his hold on office
Updated 30 September 2024
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Israel’s prime minister appoints a former rival to strengthen his hold on office

Israel’s prime minister appoints a former rival to strengthen his hold on office
  • Saar is a veteran politician who himself has had a strained relationship with the prime minister

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Sunday a former rival, Gideon Saar, as a member of his Cabinet, expanding his coalition and strengthening his hold on office.
Under their agreement, Netanyahu said Saar would serve as a minister without portfolio and serve in the Security Cabinet, the body that oversees the management of the ongoing war against Israel’s enemies across the Middle East.
Saar, 57, had hoped to replace Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, another rival of Netanyahu’s. But a deal to become defense minister fell through several weeks ago after fighting intensified with Hezbollah along Israel’s northern border, leaving the popular Gallant in office for the time being.
Saar is a veteran politician who himself has had a strained relationship with the prime minister. He was once a rising star in Netanyahu’s Likud party, but angrily left it four years ago after accusing the prime minister of turning it into a “cult of personality” as he battled corruption charges.
Since then, however, Saar has struggled as leader of a small conservative party, enjoying little support with the broader public. While he and Netanyahu have little love for one another, they share a hard-line ideology toward Israel’s Arab adversaries.
In recent months, Saar has said Israel must fight until Hamas is destroyed. He also has called for tougher action against Hezbollah’s sponsor, Iran. And like Netanyahu, he strongly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In a joint statement, they said they had put their differences aside for the good of the nation.
Netanyahu’s decision appears to have been driven in part by domestic politics. He faces a number of key political battles in the coming weeks — including the contentious issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox men into the army, passing a budget and taking the stand in his long-running corruption trial. Saar is expected to help Netanyahu on many of these issues.
His appointment also will likely scale back the influence of ultranationalist members of his coalition. Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s minister of national security, are religious ideologues who have threated to bring down the government if Netanyahu makes too many concessions in any ceasefire deal. Ben-Gvir has also drawn international criticism for provocative visits to a contested Jerusalem holy site.
Sunday’s agreement gives Saar, who hopes to be prime minister one day, an opportunity to revive his political career, while expanding Netanyahu’s majority coalition to 68 seats in the 120-seat parliament.