Hezbollah attacks Israel with drones as fears of a widening war mount

Hezbollah attacks Israel with drones as fears of a widening war mount
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Khiam near the border on Sept. 19, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 19 September 2024
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Hezbollah attacks Israel with drones as fears of a widening war mount

Hezbollah attacks Israel with drones as fears of a widening war mount
  • Hezbollah said early Thursday it had targeted three military positions in northern Israel near the border, two of them with drones
  • The Israeli military said the drones crashed near communities

BEIRUT: Hezbollah fired a new barrage into northern Israel on Thursday, continuing its drumbeat of exchanges with the Israeli military as fears of a greater war rise.
Hundreds of electronic devices used by Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon earlier this week, killing at least 37 people and wounding some 3,000 others.
The device explosions appeared to be the culmination of a monthslong operation by Israel to target as many Hezbollah members as possible all at once. Over two days, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated, wounding and even crippling some fighters, but also maiming civilians connected to the group’s social branches and killing at least two children.
It was unclear how the attack fit into warnings by Israeli leaders in recent weeks that they could launch a stepped-up military operation against Hezbollah, Lebanon’s strongest armed force.
The Israeli government has called it a war aim to end the Iranian-backed group’s cross-border fire in order to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes near the border.
Speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance.” He made no mention of the exploding devices but praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, saying “the results are very impressive.”
Gallant said that after months of fighting Hamas in Gaza, “the center of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces.”
Hezbollah said early Thursday it had targeted three military positions in northern Israel near the border, two of them with drones. The Israeli military said the drones crashed near communities. Hospitals reported they treated at least eight patients lightly or moderately injured. The military said early Thursday it had struck several militant sites in southern Lebanon overnight.
The volley of strikes was a signal by Hezbollah that it would continue its near daily fire, which it says is a show of support for Hamas. Israel’s 11-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza began after its militants led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Israel has responded to Hezbollah’s fire with strikes in southern Lebanon, and has struck senior figures from the group in the capital Beirut. The exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents on each side of the border.
Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly pulled back from an all-out war under heavy pressure from the United States, France and other countries.
But in their recent warnings, Israeli leaders have said they are determined to change the status quo dramatically.
Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, Israeli officials said. Israel’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said plans have been drawn up for additional action against Hezbollah, though media reported the government has not yet decided whether to launch a major offensive in Lebanon.
Lebanon is still reeling from the deadly device attacks of Tuesday and Wednesday.
The explosions have rattled anxious Lebanese fearing a full-scale war. The Lebanese Army said it has been locating and detonating suspicious pagers and communication devices, while the country’s civil aviation authorities banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all airplanes departing from Beirut’s international airport until further notice.
The attack was likely to severely disrupt Hezbollah’s internal communication as it scrambles to determine safe means to talk to each other. Hezbollah announced the death of five combatants Thursday, but didn’t specify if they were killed in the explosions or on the front lines.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was scheduled to speak later Thursday as the group vowed to retaliate against Israel.
The blasts went off wherever the holders of the pagers or walkie-talkies happened to be in multiple parts of Beirut and eastern and southern Lebanon — in homes and cars, grocery stores and cafes and on the street, even at a funeral for some killed in the bombings, often with family and other bystanders nearby.
Many suffered gaping wounds on their legs, abdomens and faces or were maimed in the hand. Tuesday’s pager blasts killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded some 2,300 others. The following day’s explosion killed 25 and wounded more than 600, Health Minister Firas Abiad said, giving updated figures.
Abiad told reporters that Wednesday’s injuries were more severe than the previous day as walkie-talkies that exploded were bigger than the pagers. He praised Lebanon’s hospitals, saying they had managed to deal with the flood of wounded within hours. “It was an indiscriminate attack. It was a war crime,” he said.


Israel army says top Islamic Jihad commander killed in West Bank

Israel army says top Islamic Jihad commander killed in West Bank
Updated 9 sec ago
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Israel army says top Islamic Jihad commander killed in West Bank

Israel army says top Islamic Jihad commander killed in West Bank
  • The military said Mohammad Abdullah was “eliminated” on Thursday after Israeli aircraft struck the camp in Tulkarem
Jerusalem: Israel’s army said Friday it had killed Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad’s top commander for the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
The military said Mohammad Abdullah was “eliminated” on Thursday after Israeli aircraft struck the camp in Tulkarem.
An additional “terrorist” was killed in the operation, which recovered M-16 rifles and vests, it added.
Abdullah was the successor of Muhammad Jabber, also known as Abu Shujaa, who was killed in an Israeli strike in late August.
Islamic Jihad is an ally of Hamas, with both groups battling Israeli forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Violence has soared in the West Bank since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel in October last year.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 705 Palestinians in the West Bank since, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Israeli officials say at least 24 Israelis, civilians or members of the security forces, have been killed in attacks carried out by Palestinian militants or in Israeli military operations over the same period in the West Bank.

Senior Hezbollah official survives Israeli assassination attempt, sources say

Senior Hezbollah official survives Israeli assassination attempt, sources say
Updated 11 October 2024
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Senior Hezbollah official survives Israeli assassination attempt, sources say

Senior Hezbollah official survives Israeli assassination attempt, sources say
  • The target, Wafiq Safa, heads Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies
  • Safa was the same Hezbollah official who in 2021 warned the judge investigating Beirut’s catastrophic 2020 port explosion against questioning politicians allied with the militia

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: A senior Hezbollah official eluded an Israeli assassination attempt on Thursday in Beirut, three security sources said, as Israeli strikes there killed 22 people and the UN said its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon were in growing danger.
Wafiq Safa, who heads Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, was targeted by Israel on Thursday night but survived, the security sources said.
Earlier on Thursday, a Lebanese security source told Reuters that Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut targeted at least one senior official in Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The Israeli strikes hit a densely packed residential neighborhood of apartment buildings and small shops in the heart of Beirut. Israel had not previously struck the area, which is removed from Beirut’s southern suburbs where Hezbollah’s headquarters have been repeatedly bombed by Israel.
Israel did not issue evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes on Thursday, which were the deadliest attack on central Beirut since the beginning of the hostilities.
The number of casualties rose quickly, and as midnight approached the Lebanese Health Ministry reported 22 people killed and 117 wounded. Among the dead was a family of eight, including three children, who had evacuated from the south, according to a security source.
Reuters witnesses said at least one strike hit near a gas station and a thick column of smoke was visible. A large fire blazed in the background as rescue workers searched the rubble for survivors, according to video broadcast by Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television.
There was no immediate comment on the incident by Israel.
After Israel killed a series of high-ranking Hezbollah officials in recent weeks, including top leader Hassan Nasrallah, Safa was among the few surviving senior figures as the group’s upper echelons struggled to reorganize.
The attempt to kill Safa, whose role merges security and political affairs, marked a widening of Israel’s targets among Hezbollah officials, which previously focused on the group’s military commanders and top leaders.
Safa, whom Middle East media reports said was born in 1960, oversaw negotiations that led to a 2008 deal in which Hezbollah exchanged the bodies of Israeli soldiers captured in 2006 for Lebanese prisoners in Israel. The 2006 incident triggered a 34-day war with Israel.
Reuters also reported that in 2021 Safa warned the judge investigating Beirut’s catastrophic 2020 port explosion, who sought to question several politicians allied with Hezbollah, that Hezbollah would remove him from the probe.
The Israeli military issued a new evacuation warning on Thursday night for Beirut’s southern suburbs including specific buildings. Earlier in the day, Israel warned Lebanese civilians not to return to homes in the south to avoid harm from fighting.

 


S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN

S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN
Updated 10 October 2024
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S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN

S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN

NAIROBI: Some 893,000 people have been affected by flooding in South Sudan and more than 241,000 displaced, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA said Thursday in a grim update on the disaster.

Aid agencies have warned that the world’s youngest country, highly vulnerable to climate change, is facing its worst flooding in decades.

“Flooding continues to affect and displace people across the country,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

“Heavy rainfall and floods have rendered 15 main supply routes impassable, restricting physical access.”

OCHA said about 893,000 people were flood-affected in 42 of South Sudan’s 78 counties as well as the Abyei Administrative Area, a disputed zone claimed by both Juba and Khartoum.

It said Unity and Warrap states in the north of the country accounted for more than 40 percent of the affected population.

More than 241,000 people were displaced in 16 counties and the Abyei area “seeking shelter on higher ground,” OCHA added.

Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, the world’s youngest nation has remained plagued by chronic instability, violence and economic stagnation as well as climate disasters such as drought and floods.

The World Bank said in an October 1 update that the latest floods were “worsening an already critical humanitarian situation marked by severe food insecurity, economic decline, continued conflict, disease outbreaks, and the repercussions of the Sudan conflict.”

It said an estimated nine million people, including refugees, will experience “critical needs” in 2024.

The conflict in Sudan has seen more than 797,000 refugees pour into South Sudan as of September, the World Bank said, almost 80 percent of them South Sudanese returnees.

The country also faces another period of political paralysis after the presidency announced yet another extension to a transitional period agreed in a 2018 peace deal, delaying elections due to take place in December by another two years.

Key provisions of the transitional agreement remain unfulfilled — including the creation of a constitution and the unification of the rival forces of President Salva Kiir and his foe Reik Machar.

The delays have left South Sudan’s partners and the United Nations increasingly exasperated.

UN mission chief Nicholas Haysom said on Wednesday there was deep frustration and fatigue among the South Sudanese people.

The international community needed “tangible evidence that this country’s leaders are genuinely committed to a democratic future.”

South Sudan boasts plentiful oil resources, but the vital source of revenue was decimated in February when an export pipeline was damaged in war-torn Sudan.


Civilians flee Gaza’s Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege

Civilians flee Gaza’s Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege
Updated 10 October 2024
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Civilians flee Gaza’s Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege

Civilians flee Gaza’s Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege

GAZA CITY: Civilians fled heavy bombings in northern Gaza on Thursday as Israeli troops advanced on Jabalia refugee camp, leaving many trapped in the line of fire.

“The bombardment has not stopped. Every minute there are shells, rockets and fire on the buildings and everything that moves,” Areej Nasr, 35, told AFP after fleeing from Jabalia camp to Gaza City Thursday.

She said those wounded in strikes could not be rescued.

“No ambulance has arrived, and no one is assisting the wounded. There are dozens lying on the ground,” Nasr said.

The Israeli army, which said it had surrounded Jabalia over the weekend, issued new evacuation orders on Tuesday, telling residents to leave the camp and the entire Jabalia district around it.

Despite a year of strikes and fierce fighting, analysts say Hamas is regrouping.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said they currently cannot currently reach the wounded and dead in Jabalia, saying access is too complicated and dangerous at the moment.

“Many reports reach our teams, but unfortunately, we cannot access them, either because the area is a red zone or because the Israeli occupation is targeting that area,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP Thursday.

An AFP photographer in Jabalia Wednesday saw towering piles of rubble where buildings once stood, now littered with fragments of the belongings of former residents.

Several people took turns carrying a woman out of the camp by foot, her injured leg in a makeshift splint made of a broken piece of board salvaged from furniture.

The Israeli army on Thursday said it had “eliminated” more than 50 Palestinian combatants, “including those who fired anti-tank missiles toward the troops,” and “located large quantities of weapons, including AK-47, an RPG, and ammunition.”

Bassal said that at least 140 people have died in Jabalia alone so far during Israel’s latest operation in the camp.

Gaza City also suffered heavy artillery strikes, including on the Rimal neighborhood on Thursday, defense reported.

Bassal said the Rimal Clinic, which houses displaced Palestinians, was struck in a strike, killing at least two and injuring many.

Amjad Aliwa, an emergency physician at nearby Al-Shifa Hospital, once the largest medical complex in Gaza, said that a wave of injured people arrived after the bombing.

“The majority of the injured are children and women, with severe and serious wounds, including burns,” he told AFP, adding that “the number of injured is large, and our resources are limited.”

He said that teams “do not have the most basic medical supplies and necessities,” a reminder of the shortages that have hit the north of Gaza particularly hard since the start of the war.

Humanitarian organizations have complained that the drastic conditions brought about by current military operations have limited their work.

Louise Wateridge, spokeswoman for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said Thursday that “people have nowhere left to go, and the humanitarian space in Gaza continues shrinking.”

She said that between October 8 and 10, “118 attacks have impacted the area, in contrast to a total of 140 incidents recorded there in the entire month of September.”

She added that Jabalia refugee camp bore the brunt of these attacks, with 80.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s attack on October 7 last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed and who died in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 42,065 people in Gaza, most them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable.


Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire

Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire
Updated 10 October 2024
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Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire

Erdogan says Gaza ‘shame of humanity,’ calls for permanent ceasfire
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted ‘genocide’ and called it the ‘shame of humanity’
  • Erdogan branded Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ‘butcher of Gaza’ and compared him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler

TIRANA: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed his attacks on Israel as he arrived in Tirana Thursday, the first stop of a Balkans tour that will also take him to Serbia.
Repeating his claim that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted “genocide,” he branded it the “shame of humanity,” at a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
“The international community, we must do our best to urgently guarantee a permanent ceasefire and exert the necessary pressure on Israel,” he added.
“The genocide that has been going on in Gaza for the past year is the common shame of all humanity,” he added.
The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
According to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, mostly civilians. The UN has said the figures are reliable.
Erdogan has branded Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “butcher of Gaza” and compared him to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.
“The aggression led by the Netanyahu government now threatens the world order beyond the region,” Erdogan said.
Later Thursday Erdogan, accompanied by Prime Minister Edi Rama, inaugurated the Great Mosque of Tirana.
The largest Muslim place of worship in the Balkans, it has a capacity of up to 10,000 people. The project, funded by Turkiye, cost 30 million euros.
Turkiye is also a major employer in Albania. As Erdogan said in February, over 600 Turkish companies operate in the country, providing jobs to more than 15,000 workers.
It is also one of the five biggest foreign investors in Albania, he said, with $3.5 billion (3.2 billion euros) committed.
The two NATO member countries also have close military ties, with Turkiye supplying Tirana with its Bayraktar TB2 drones.
For the second stage of his tour Erdogan traveled from Albania to Serbia, where he was greeted at Belgrade airport by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Turkiye made a diplomatic comeback here in 2017 when Erdogan made a landmark visit to Belgrade.
The five century Ottoman presence in Serbia has traditionally weighed heavily on Belgrade-Ankara relations.
Another source of tension has been Turkiye’s historic ties with Serbia’s former breakaway province of Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, a move Belgrade still refuses to recognize.
Erdogan’s 2017 visit repaired the relationship with Serbia, Belgrade analyst Vuk Vuksanovic told AFP.
But Belgrade was furious last year when Turkiye sold drones to Kosovo, something Serbia said was “unacceptable.”
The row could however still be patched up, Vuksanovic insisted.
“I would not be surprised if we see a military deal at the end of this visit,” he said.
He expected talks in Belgrade on Friday to focus on “military cooperation, the position of Turkish companies — and attempts by Belgrade to persuade Ankara to tone down support for Kosovo.”
While the rapprochement is relatively new, economic ties between the two countries are already significant.
Turkish investment in Serbia has rocketed from $1 million to $400 million over the past decade, the Turkiye-Serbia business council told Turkiye’s Anadolu news agency.
Turkish exports to Serbia hit $2.13 billion in 2022, up from $1.14 billion in 2020, according to official Serbian figures.
Turkish tourists are also important for Serbia, second only to visitor numbers from Bosnia.