Israel strike kills 5 Syrian soldiers near Lebanon: state media

Israel strike kills 5 Syrian soldiers near Lebanon: state media
The Israeli military said on September 26 that its fighter jets struck infrastructure on the Syria-Lebanon border used by Hezbollah, as cross-border attacks continued amid calls for a ceasefire. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 28 September 2024
Follow

Israel strike kills 5 Syrian soldiers near Lebanon: state media

Israel strike kills 5 Syrian soldiers near Lebanon: state media
  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli warplanes targeted a crossing that links Syria’s Qusayr area to Lebanon

Damascus: An Israeli air strike on Friday killed five Syrian soldiers near the border with Lebanon, the official news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.
“The Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack... on one of our military positions near Kfar Yabus on the Syrian-Lebanese border,” SANA quoted the source as saying, adding that five Syrian soldiers were killed and one was wounded.
The raid came a day after the Israeli army said its warplanes struck “infrastructure along the Syria-Lebanon border used by Hezbollah to transfer weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli warplanes targeted a crossing that links Syria’s Qusayr area to Lebanon, causing “a number of wounded.”
The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, said it was the first such strike on Syria since Israel intensified its attacks on Lebanon’s Hezbollah this week.


Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut strike, Israel’s military says

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut strike, Israel’s military says
Updated 28 September 2024
Follow

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut strike, Israel’s military says

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut strike, Israel’s military says
  • Israel launches airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, other areas of Lebanon on Saturday 
  • Fate of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah remains unclear with group yet to issue statement

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Saturday that it killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah militant group, 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.

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.

On Saturday morning, the Israeli military carried out several strikes in southern Beirut and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles across northern and central Israel and the Israel-occupied West Bank.

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.

The death toll is likely to rise significantly as teams comb through the rubble of six buildings. Israel launched a series of strikes on other areas of the southern suburbs following the initial blast.

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.

Israel has not said whether it tried to hit Nasrallah, but a senior Israeli official said top Hezbollah commanders were targeted.

“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.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had killed the commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit, Muhammad Ali Ismail, and his deputy Hossein Ahmed Ismail.

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.


Arab FMs in peace push at UN Security Council meet

Arab FMs in peace push at UN Security Council meet
Updated 28 September 2024
Follow

Arab FMs in peace push at UN Security Council meet

Arab FMs in peace push at UN Security Council meet
  • Guterres warns against ‘full-scale conflagration with unimaginable consequences’
  • Palestinian PM decries ‘dehumanization’ of Gazans as war’s first anniversary approaches

NEW YORK CITY: Arab foreign ministers at the UN have called for an immediate end to Israeli strikes on Lebanon and a ceasefire in Gaza, with officials from countries around the world lending words of support to the Palestinian cause.

The appeal came during a special Security Council meeting convened by Algeria on Thursday, with the Palestinian prime minister delivering an impassioned message condemning the “dehumanization” of his people.

An Arab delegation spoke to the media before the meeting, with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi outlining the position of the two kingdoms on Israel’s latest escalation and a solution to the crisis.

“We address the Palestinian issue through what has been established in international law — the formation of a Palestinian state,” Prince Faisal said.

“And that will indeed open up the horizon, not just for normalization, but also for integration, for cooperation.”

Safadi called on the Security Council to “perform its duty” and “do what it has to do to protect regional, international peace.”

He said: “It is time to face the truth, and the truth is, unless Netanyahu is stopped, unless this (Israeli) government is stopped, war will encompass all of us.

“The real danger in the region are the policies of this government of Israel, are the actions of this government of Israel, and the failure of the international community to stop it and say enough.”

The two foreign ministers were joined by, among others, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, who in the Security Council meeting condemned the “insanity” of the council’s inability to stop Israel’s war in Gaza.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened proceedings, delivering a speech in which he warned that “nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

He said: “Monday was the bloodiest day in Lebanon since 2006. Shockwaves radiating from the unprecedented death and destruction in Gaza now threaten to push the entire region into the abyss: A full-scale conflagration with unimaginable consequences.”

The prime minister of Slovenia, which is heading the Security Council for September, warned that “facts on the ground” made the prospects of a two-state solution almost impossible.

 

Robert Golob said: “We need courage from leaders in the region and from this council to change the trajectory we are facing,” said Robert Golob.

Mustafa, who was appointed prime minister earlier this year, praised the Slovenian presidency for its “honorable positions.”

“We would also like to express our thanks and appreciation to the secretary-general of the UN for his wise leadership of this organization that has been the victim of attacks and unprecedented defamation by Israel,” he added.

“A whole year has passed since the beginning of the Israeli aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip — the Gaza strip that has been destroyed and sieged for 365 days and nights of terror, of killing, of displacement, of destruction, of disease, of pain, of hunger, of despair, of sadness, of need, of deprivation, and on top of all of that, they’ve dehumanized us and they took away our dignity.”

Mustafa questioned the commitment of UN member states to forcing an end to the Israeli war.

“We came to the UN and we felt solidarity, great solidarity, with our people and our just cause. But we leave the UN and we see that the Israeli massacres have not ended, and the Security Council, to this very day, did not put an end to the Israeli aggression, did not adopt measures that would put pressure to bear on the Israeli government,” he said.

As well as Gaza, Mustafa highlighted Israel’s latest actions in Lebanon, which he condemned as a violation of sovereignty, the UN Charter and international law.

“They are acting as a rogue state because they are convinced that they are above the law and they are entitled to things that other countries are not entitled to,” he added.

“So, how would they not repeat the same aggression in Lebanon if they were not held accountable for their crimes in Palestine? Will the Security Council continue with its traditional position where it calls for Israel to put an end to the war and expects Israel to comply?

“When will you activate your tools at the Security Council that will compel Israel to comply to maintain international peace and security? Are you waiting for a bigger catastrophe? Are you waiting for a larger war?”

Mustafa said a “free Palestine” was the “sole key” to unlocking a peaceful future for the Middle East, and that “everything else has been tried and failed.”

The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, said: “When the Middle East is unstable, the world is insecure.”

He signaled China’s “worry” at Israel’s escalation in Lebanon, calling for the country’s sovereignty to be upheld.

“We must not deviate from letting the Palestinian people govern Palestine and must work together for postwar governance,” Wang added. “Gaza used to be where diverse civilizations met, but today it is engulfed in fighting. The Security Council should support Palestine in becoming a full member of the UN and make new efforts for the two-state solution.”

Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf warned the council that “we cannot wash our hands of the responsibility” of ensuring Palestinian rights.

He said the UN body had become “paralyzed” and that the council “cannot even bring justice to the Palestinian people.”

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s longtime foreign minister, warned that the Gaza war and Lebanon escalation was having consequences on the entire region.

“The root cause of these crises has been, and remains, the fact that the Palestinian issue remains unresolved,” he said.

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, quoting US President Joe Biden, that “all-out war” was possible.

But she added it was not inevitable, highlighting the “opportunity” of a ceasefire in Gaza and a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

French Ambassador to the UN Nicolas de Riviere told the council: “The large-scale strikes which took place today in the south suburb of Beirut once again wrought devastation and claimed many casualties.

“This must be brought to an end immediately. France is determined to achieve a cessation of hostilities along the Blue Line in line with UN Resolution 1701.”

Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister, said in his address: “The Israeli government has not only killed Palestinian children, destroyed their homes, bombed their schools, deprived them from food, medicine and hope, it also demonized them.

“They have dehumanized them. They have educated their children to hate them. They educated their soldiers to target them, and they have educated their community to deny them the right to exist.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: “Wisdom could have prevailed to stop this barbaric war in Gaza before it expands to the West Bank, Lebanon and beyond.

“It is so puzzling that certain international actors, which have the leverage to alter this horrific cause, decided deliberately to stay paralyzed, and they showed no reflexes whatsoever to take conclusive action.”


Israeli army says it eliminated head of Hamas network in southern Syria

Israeli army says it eliminated head of Hamas network in southern Syria
Updated 28 September 2024
Follow

Israeli army says it eliminated head of Hamas network in southern Syria

Israeli army says it eliminated head of Hamas network in southern Syria

CAIRO: The Israeli army said on Saturday that it had eliminated the head of the Palestinian Hamas's network in southern Syria, whom it referred to as Ahmad Muhammad Fahd, overnight on Friday. 


Battling to keep flood waters at bay in South Sudan

Battling to keep flood waters at bay in South Sudan
Updated 28 September 2024
Follow

Battling to keep flood waters at bay in South Sudan

Battling to keep flood waters at bay in South Sudan
  • More than 700,000 people have been impacted by flooding across South Sudan

Bentiu: The neat brown rectangle of an airstrip stands out against the vast expanse of floodwater all around — a crucial lifeline in this remote corner of South Sudan.
The landing strip in Bentiu has been carefully preserved with huge dykes against the waters that have added another layer of devastation to the world’s youngest country.
Alongside is a camp for some 200,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) who have endured multiple horrors — war in their own country and neighboring Sudan, and now years of flooding that has destroyed homes, schools, crops and infrastructure.
More than 700,000 people have been impacted by flooding across South Sudan, the UN’s humanitarian agency said recently, and worse floods could be coming next month.
In Bentiu in Unity State, one of the worst affected and most remote areas, a taskforce of Pakistani military engineers with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has constructed a five-meter-high (16-foot) wall around the IDP camp to keep the waters at bay.
Major Mohi Ud Din, head of the taskforce, said they were working “day and night” to keep the wall intact and had managed to build more than 120 kilometers (75 miles) of dykes.
Most crucial is the airstrip. With roads frequently cut off by the floods, it is often the only way to receive food and supplies.
Tap Mach Dhieu, 43, fled to the camp from his home in nearby Panyijiar County in 2014, during the civil war.
He receives rations from the World Food Programme but must then hire a canoe to go in search of firewood.
“We survive this way,” he told AFP.
“People would not be here if (the UN) did not make this dyke. The lifeline of the people is UNMISS, not the government.”
He despairs at officials, who he said have done little to help since his home was destroyed and cows stolen during the 2013-2018 civil war.
“The flood situation is a natural disaster, but looting cows and burning houses is man-made and that’s the government’s responsibility,” he added.
David Garang, a UN health volunteer, said disease was a major problem.
“All the latrines are flooding into the shelters. There’s no cleaning and no collecting of garbage. The situation is dire. What I see in the near future is an outbreak of many diseases,” he said.
Although it still provides services, UNMISS has handed over day-to-day running of the camp to the government, which does not fill Garang with confidence.
“If UNMISS leaves, the situation will not be OK,” he said. “The presence of UNMISS is 100-percent good for the safety of the community,” he said.
There has been a peacekeeper base in nearby Leer County since 2015, currently staffed by a Ghanaian contingent.
They provide security but also items like schoolbooks, fresh water and vaccines for animals.
“There are a lot of problems and without them, it would be difficult,” said a Leer County official, Stephen Taker.
But with waters still rising, there is still plenty of work to do.
“Our problem is that roads are already cut by the water,” said Taker. “We’re working by hand to make sure vehicles can move in the coming month.”


Israel strikes on Beirut cause panic on the streets as Lebanese army spreads across the country

Israel strikes on Beirut cause panic on the streets as Lebanese army spreads across the country
Updated 28 September 2024
Follow

Israel strikes on Beirut cause panic on the streets as Lebanese army spreads across the country

Israel strikes on Beirut cause panic on the streets as Lebanese army spreads across the country
  • Israeli army spokesperson claims “precise strikes” hit Hezbollah’s central headquarters
  • At least two have been killed while hospitals in the area received more than 50 wounded

BEIRUT/DUBAI/LONDON: A series of Israeli airstrikes rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs on Friday evening, erasing a residential block in the Haret Hreik neighborhood and reverberating across the Lebanese capital, rattling windows and sending a thick plume of dark smoke into the sky.

The Israeli army’s spokesperson Daniel Hagari claimed the “precise strikes” hit the central headquarters of the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, believed to be located beneath residential buildings, the AP news agency reported.

The blasts caused nationwide panic and plunged the surrounding area into chaos. Paramedics from Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Authority rushed to the scene alongside relatives of the buildings’ residents.

Others in the southern suburbs rushed into their cars and fled towards Beirut and Mount Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Health Minister Firas Abiad confirmed that “some of the targeted buildings were inhabited.”

At least two people have been killed, and hospitals in the area received more than 50 wounded from nearby buildings, including three in critical condition. Rescue teams urgently appealed for blood donations.

The Lebanese state-run National News Agency said six tall buildings in Haret Hreik have been reduced to rubble in the biggest blast to hit the capital in the past year.

Targeting Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, who was suspected to be in a bunker underneath the buildings, the Israeli military used F-35 aircraft and dropped 2,000 tons of explosives on the area, according to Israeli media.

Mohanad Hage Ali, the deputy director for research at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, told Arab News that “Israel has moved from the precision killings phase into dynamite or blast fishing; the end justifies the means.”

“They can kill hundreds to reach a target,” he continued. “This is why it is more likely a high-value target was there (in the targeted block) – this is why they (the Israeli military) took the decision.”

Israeli broadcaster Kan 11 initially reported an on-screen headline saying Nasrallah was “harmed,” but quickly followed with Israeli assessments indicating he is dead.

However, the Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that a security source confirmed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and the group’s executive council head, Hashim Safi Al-Din, were unharmed.

Iran’s embassy in Beirut described the Israeli strike as a “serious escalation that changes the rules of the game,” threatening that there will be repercussions.

“The Israeli regime once again commits a bloody massacre, targeting heavily populated residential neighborhoods while spewing false justifications to try and cover up its brutal crimes,” the embassy wrote on the social platform X.

“There is no doubt that this reprehensible crime and reckless behavior represent a serious escalation that changes the rules of the game, and that its perpetrator will be punished appropriately.”  

Analysts believe the strike on Haret Hreik reflects Israel’s dismissal of traditional wartime norms, marking the start of a new phase in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

“Such a strike signals a disregard for the limitations typically observed in warfare, including proportionality and ethical considerations as it is a civil populated area as Tel Aviv a city with military basis,” Rafe Jabari, a researcher on the political sociology of Arab states, told Arab News.

 “The scale of the destruction implies that the Israeli government is not constrained by these principles of International Law,” he added.

Jabari also believes “the strategy being employed suggests that Israel believes that war is the solution to end further conflict.”

 

He explained that “airstrikes are the strategic weapons used by Israel before the invasion of the Lebanese territories as happened in the Gaza Strip.

“The Israeli army is using destruction and terrors to eliminate any opposition to its occupation and colonization policy.”

“However, this approach is wrong,” Jabari continued. “Rather than achieving lasting peace, the continuation of such military actions is likely to provoke further instability and insecurity across the region.”

“Instead of bringing about an end to hostilities, this escalation will fuel the conditions for more wars and destruction in the future including this one.”

Likewise, Beirut-based political analyst Nader Ezzedine said: “By targeting Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, regardless of the outcome, Israel has chosen to break all established conflict rules and red lines that had been observed in its previous wars with Hezbollah.”

He told Arab News that “whether the outcome of this strike results in Nasrallah’s death or his survival, it will have significant ramifications for the conflict.”

“Hezbollah initially tried to adhere to certain rules in the hopes that an agreement can be reached to end the war in Gaza and Lebanon,” he added. “However, after this strike, I no longer believe this war will have any rules or limits.”

However, Ezzeddine believes that while the strike may have dealt a significant blow to Hezbollah and undermined its fighters’ morale, “it will not end the war but will likely intensify the fighting even further.”

“This strike will not end the conflict if Israel aimed to do so by killing Nasrallah,” he said. “Instead, it will certainly cause a huge escalation.”

He also expects this strike to be followed by an Israeli ground invasion, while Hezbollah may escalate its attacks against Israel.

Middle East expert Jabari noted that “we are witnessing an open war worse than the one in 2006. The Israeli army and government are choosing weapons as a means of negotiation instead of political and diplomatic endeavors.”

On Wednesday, Sep. 25, Israel’s military chief Herzi Halevi told troops that its airstrikes in Lebanon aimed to destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure to pave the way for a possible ground incursion, CNN reported.

These comments came after the Israeli army intercepted a missile that Hezbollah said it had shot at the headquarters of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, near the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

A day earlier, an Israeli airstrike on Beirut killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Qubaisi, who reportedly led the group’s missile and rocket force.

Reports of Friday’s strikes came less than an hour after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address at the UN General Assembly, in which he vowed to continue his military operation in Lebanon despite a US ceasefire proposal demanding a 21-day pause in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel’s onslaught on Lebanon, which it says aims to eliminate Hezbollah, has killed within a few days 720 Lebanese people, many of them women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

Since October 8, after Israel launched its onslaught on Palestine’s Gaza Strip, Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging cross-border fire. But in the last week, Israel dramatically intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon, claiming the goal is to end Hezbollah’s 11 months of attacks on its territory.