Lebanon and UN launch $426 million appeal for humanitarian aid

Lebanon and UN launch $426 million appeal for humanitarian aid
People who fled their homes in the south of Lebanon receive a portion of food aid being distributed by a restaurant in the southern city of Sidon on Sept. 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 01 October 2024
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Lebanon and UN launch $426 million appeal for humanitarian aid

Lebanon and UN launch $426 million appeal for humanitarian aid
  • Joint call to help civilians affected by the escalating conflict

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, and UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza launched on Tuesday a $426 million appeal to help civilians affected by the escalating conflict, the UN said in a statement.


Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families

Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families
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Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families

Amid war and deep hunger, Gaza fisherman struggle to feed families
  • Fishermen like Ghurab and Al Masry struggle daily to bring in even a modest catch to feed their families

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: After over a year of war in Gaza, Palestinian fishermen gather along the coastline, desperately casting their nets in hopes of catching enough for their families amid widespread hunger.
Since Israel began a military onslaught in Gaza after Hamas’ October 2023 attack, Israeli restrictions in the waters off the enclave have made life almost impossible for fishermen, who no longer sail out to sea and instead must stay by the shore.
In Khan Younis, Ibrahim Ghurab, 71, and Waseem Al Masry, 24, fish for sardines from the shoreline in front of a encampment of tents and makeshift shelters for those displaced by the war.
“Life is difficult,” Ghurab said. “One tries to secure food. There is no aid, we don’t receive anything anymore. In the beginning there was some (humanitarian) aid, very little, but now there is no more.”
Fishermen like Ghurab and Al Masry struggle daily to bring in even a modest catch to feed their families. There is rarely any fish left over from a daily haul to be sold to others.
Fishing was an important part of daily life in Gaza before the war, helping people eke out a living by selling their daily hauls in the market and feed the population.
But scant aid is reaching Gaza amid Israeli restrictions and frequent fighting, and many people have no income. The price of simple goods are largely out of reach for most.
“We have to come here and risk our lives,” Al Masry said, describing shootings by the Israeli military from the sea that he accused of targeting fisherman on the beach in Khan Younis.
Ghurab similarly said that Israeli military boats had fired upon fisherman at Khan Younis.
The Israeli military did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the claims the military had shot at fishermen.
Israel’s retaliatory war against Hamas for the Islamist militant group’s deadly, cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023 has devastated densely populated Gaza and displaced most of the 2.3 million population.


Israel says nabbed Syrian spy working for Iran

This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon.
This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon.
Updated 23 min 46 sec ago
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Israel says nabbed Syrian spy working for Iran

This picture shows a crater caused by an Israeli strike on the road leading to Syria's Jousieh border crossing with Lebanon.
  • The military named the “Iranian terror network operative” as Ali Soleiman Al-Assi, a Syrian citizen living in the area of the southern village of Saida

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Sunday it had captured a Syrian spy for Iran in recent months, thwarting a planned attack by what it described as Iranian terror networks.
The military named the “Iranian terror network operative” as Ali Soleiman Al-Assi, a Syrian citizen living in the area of the southern village of Saida.
“His activities included gathering intelligence on IDF (Israeli military) troops in the border area for future terror activity of the network,” it said in a statement.
The military said the operation took place “in recent months,” adding that the Syrian citizen “was detained and transferred for interrogation in Israel.”
The operation “prevented a future attack and led to the exposure of the operational methods of Iranian terror networks located near the (occupied) Golan Heights.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, had previously reported that Israel had seized a Syrian man on July 19.
“Israeli forces detained a citizen who worked as a driver to transport milk to the capital Damascus,” the war monitor said in July.
It added that the Syrian was detained in the village of Al-Razatiya, in a southern province bordering the Golan Heights annexed by Israel.
“An Israeli military force of three cars and an armored vehicle crossed the border, entered the village and took the man to the occupied Golan Heights,” the observatory said.
Since late September Israel has been engaged in full-scale war against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah began launching cross-border attacks last year, saying it was acting in support of Palestinian militants Hamas, whose unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023 triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
Iran-aligned groups in Yemen, Iraq and Syria have also been drawn into the fighting, and Iran and Israel have themselves attacked each other, heightening fears of even wider conflict.


Israeli authorities probe suspected Gaza intelligence leak by Netanyahu aide

The father of hostage Idan Shtivi and the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker hug following a court ruling.
The father of hostage Idan Shtivi and the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker hug following a court ruling.
Updated 51 min 26 sec ago
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Israeli authorities probe suspected Gaza intelligence leak by Netanyahu aide

The father of hostage Idan Shtivi and the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker hug following a court ruling.
  • On Friday, court confirmed that suspects had been arrested as part of probe into suspected “security breach caused by the illegal provision of classified information”

RISHON LE-ZION, Israel: A suspected leak of classified Gaza documents involving an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has jolted Israeli politics and outraged the families of hostages held by Hamas who have been pushing for a deal to get their loved ones home.
Details of the case have been trickling out only slowly because of a gag order.
But a court ruling partially lifting the order has provided an initial glimpse of the case which the court said had compromised security sources and may have harmed Israel’s war effort.
On Friday, the magistrates’ court confirmed that a number of suspects had been arrested as part of the probe into a suspected “security breach caused by the illegal provision of classified information.”
Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing by his office staffers and said in a statement on Saturday that he was only made aware of the leaked document by the media. The suspects could not be reached for comment.
Details from the document in question were published by the German Bild newspaper on Sept. 6, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, one of the media outlets that had appealed the court to lift the gag order.
The article, labelled as an exclusive, purportedly outlined the negotiation strategy of Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group which Israel has been fighting in Gaza for more than a year.
Around that time, the United States, Qatar and Egypt were mediating ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, that were to include a deal to release hostages held in Gaza.
But the talks faltered with Israel and Hamas trading blame for the deadlock. The article in question largely corresponded with Netanyahu’s allegations against Hamas over the impasse.
It was published days after six Israeli hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. Their killing sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostage families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing the ceasefire talks for political reasons.
On Saturday, some of the families joined the Israeli journalists’ appeal to lift the gag order.
“These people have been living on a rollercoaster of rumors and half-truths,” said their lawyer, Dana Pugach.
“For the last year they have been waiting to hear any intelligence or any information about negotiations for the release of those hostages. If some of that information had been stolen from army sources then we think that the families have the right to learn about any relevant detail,” she added.
In another session on Sunday about the investigation by the Shin Bet domestic security service, police and the military, the court ordered one suspect be released, while keeping others in remand, according to Israeli Channel 13 News.
Asked about the investigation, Bild said that it does not comment on its sources. “The authenticity of the document known to us was confirmed by the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) immediately after publication,” it said.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s retaliatory offensives have killed more than 43,000 Palestinians and reduced much of Gaza to rubble.


Israel says ‘senior Hezbollah operative’ seized in commando raid

Lebanese intelligence officers leave a building in Batroun, northern Lebanon, where Imad Amhaz was taken by Israeli forces.
Lebanese intelligence officers leave a building in Batroun, northern Lebanon, where Imad Amhaz was taken by Israeli forces.
Updated 03 November 2024
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Israel says ‘senior Hezbollah operative’ seized in commando raid

Lebanese intelligence officers leave a building in Batroun, northern Lebanon, where Imad Amhaz was taken by Israeli forces.
  • Lebanon condemns ‘blatant violation,’ launches urgent inquiry
  • Strikes on Baalbek, southern regions, while Hezbollah targets 10 settlements

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces on Sunday took statements from eyewitnesses after Israeli commandos abducted a man said to be a senior Hezbollah naval operative.

In one of the most dramatic raids of the current conflict, Imad Amhaz was taken from a chalet he rented with his family in the coastal town of Batroun, northern Lebanon, by Israeli special forces who escaped by speedboat in the early hours of Friday.

Amhaz’s wife and a neighbor were among those interviewed by Lebanese security forces.

The abduction was kept secret in Lebanon until leaked footage of the operation appeared showing about 20 Israeli soldiers, fully equipped, leading Amhaz away.

Israel said that the raid, which took place about 40 km north of Beirut, lasted only a few minutes.

However, Lebanon denies Amhaz has links with Hezbollah, and has said it will file an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council.

Ali Hamieh, caretaker minister of public works and transport, on Sunday described the Batroun raid as “a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty.”

He said the government is still waiting on a detailed report into the incident, and added that caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is “making contacts to neutralize the land and sea crossings from Israeli attacks.”

In a social media post and interviews with local television, Amhaz’s father, Fadel, called on the Lebanese government, navy, and UNIFIL forces to pursue his son’s case and work to have him released.

He said that his son is a civilian boat captain and had been studying in Batroun at the Marsati Institute for Marine Sciences, where he had undertaken courses since 2013.

“Imad usually works on civilian ships that transport either livestock or cars. He spends most of his time at sea. He has no connection to parties and does not interfere in politics,” his father said.

He called on the International Red Cross and UNIFIL forces to “communicate with the kidnappers to return my son to his family safely.”

Israeli Army Radio on Sunday said the naval commando operation in Batroun resulted in “the arrest of a Hezbollah leader.”

According to the military outlet, the operation had been planned for a long time, with Israeli intelligence services “waiting for an opportunity that would allow a high degree of certainty for its success.”

The radio reported that “the investigators, who speak Arabic, conducted a preliminary interrogation of the Hezbollah member who was arrested to confirm that he was the person targeted, he is a key member of Hezbollah and a figure fully involved in the party’s activities, and not an innocent Lebanese citizen as some parties in Lebanon tried to portray him.”

Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes continued on Sunday in southern Lebanon and the Baalbek region.

A raid on a house in the town of Joya killed two people and injured several others. Raids also targeted towns in the Tyre, Nabatieh, Iqlim Al-Tuffah, Zahrani, and Sidon districts.

Three people were killed and nine injured in a raid on the town of Harat Saida, according to the Ministry of Health.

The Israeli army evacuated areas near the border town of Khiyam, according to Hezbollah, but retreated “after receiving severe blows from the party’s fighters.”

The Israeli army said that it had killed Farouk Amin Al-Asi, a Hezbollah company commander in Khiyam, while Youssef Ahmed Noun, a platoon commander in the Radwan Force in the Khiyam area, was also targeted.

A UNIFIL force and paramedics on Saturday reached Wata Al-Khiam, where dozens of civilians were believed to be sheltering in a house following clashes more than a week ago.

However, it turned out that the house had been leveled. Some bodies were recovered, while others remain beneath the rubble.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee claimed in a post that “the Israeli army found on Sunday inside a children’s room in a house in the heart of a village in the south, which he did not name, rockets and combat equipment and destroyed them.”

Adraee said: “The forces of the 91st Division continued their specific ground activities in the south to thwart and destroy the infrastructure and eliminate Hezbollah elements.”

Israeli troops warned residents of Baalbek and the surrounding areas on Sunday to leave their homes.

The warning gave a four-hour deadline, but Israeli attacks began before the deadline expired with raids on the city of Baalbek and Douris, one of which struck the government hospital in Baalbek. 


UN experts say Houthis collaborated with Al-Qaeda to weaken Yemeni government

Supporters of Yemen’s Houthis attend an anti-Israel rally in solidarity with Gaza and Lebanon in Sanaa on November 1, 2024.(AFP)
Supporters of Yemen’s Houthis attend an anti-Israel rally in solidarity with Gaza and Lebanon in Sanaa on November 1, 2024.(AFP)
Updated 03 November 2024
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UN experts say Houthis collaborated with Al-Qaeda to weaken Yemeni government

Supporters of Yemen’s Houthis attend an anti-Israel rally in solidarity with Gaza and Lebanon in Sanaa on November 1, 2024.(AFP)
  • UN Panel of Experts on Yemen said in report that the Houthis and Al-Qaeda agreed to put aside their differences and focus on weakening Yemeni government

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia has armed Al-Qaeda militants, provided them with a haven, and facilitated attacks on Yemeni government-controlled areas, UN experts said. The Houthis have also made millions of dollars through sea piracy.

Disclosing the strange partnership between the Houthis and Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, including Al-Shabaab in Somalia, the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen said in their report that the Houthis and Al-Qaeda agreed to put aside their differences and focus on weakening the Yemeni government by transferring weapons, coordinating attacks on Yemeni government forces, cooperating to smuggle weapons into Yemen, sharing intelligence information, and providing haven for the other’s fighters.

“That opportunistic alliance is characterized by cooperation in security and intelligence, offering safe havens for each other’s members, reinforcing their respective strongholds and coordinating efforts to target the Government’s forces,” the report said, adding that the Houthis also released incarcerated Al-Qaeda fighters convicted of terrorism and provided Al-Qaeda with drones and rockets.

“Since the beginning of 2024, the two groups have coordinated operations directly. They agreed that the Houthis would transfer four uncrewed aerial vehicles, as well as thermal rockets and explosive devices, and that the Houthis would provide training to AQAP (Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) fighters.”

Citing deadly drone attacks by Al-Qaeda in Abyan, Yemeni military commanders have lately accused the Houthis of supplying Al-Qaeda with drones and other weapons, as well as sheltering Al-Qaeda militants who stage hit-and-run attacks on government troops.

The 537-page report, which covers the period from Sept. 1, 2023, to July 31, 2024, described Hezbollah as “one of the most important” supporters of the Houthis in Yemen, assisting them in decision-making, field military support through the use and assembly of weapons and fighting techniques, increasing their financial revenues, recruitment and brainwashing techniques, and managing Houthi media propaganda.

The Houthis have a variety of revenue sources to support their military efforts, including selling rare and valuable antiques and antiquities abroad, minting coins and printing currencies, imposing levies on telecom companies in areas under their control, confiscating assets of companies, including Yemenia airways revenues, smuggling weapons and banned pesticides, and imposing levies on oil imports to the country.

“The Houthis have been amassing substantial illegal resources through the organized smuggling of various items such as weapons, drugs, telecommunications equipment, prohibited goods such as banned pesticides, non-permissible medicines, and cultural heritage property,” the report said.

It added: “The Panel's investigations revealed that Houthi-appointed authorities collected approximately 994 billion Yemeni rials in the name of customs duties on imports of fuel through ports under their control during the period from April 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024, under the exchange rate prevailing in government-controlled areas.”

However, during the Houthi campaign against ships that the Yemeni militia claimed were in support of the Palestinian people, the Houthis have collected approximately $180 million a month from ships to allow them to sail in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden without being attacked, and a high-ranking Houthi leader facilitated the transfer of the money from the shipping agencies to the militia’s coffers.

“The sources estimate the Houthis’ earnings from these illegal safe-transit fees to be about $180 million per month. The Panel has not been able to verify this information independently.”

The UN experts also accused the Houthis of recruiting and exploiting Ethiopian migrants — who arrive in the country by the thousands each year — to fight alongside them against the Yemeni government while also facilitating drug trafficking.

The Yemeni government, as well as local and international rights groups, have previously said that the Houthis recruited thousands of African migrants to fight the Yemeni government.  

“Other sources informed the Panel that the Houthis have also recruited mercenaries from the Tigray and Oromo Ethiopian tribes, at salaries ranging from $80 to $100. The Panel has been unable to verify that information and continues to investigate,” the experts said.

The Yemeni government welcomed the findings of the UN report and urged the world to designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization and cut off their financial resources. 

Yemen’s Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani said in a post on X that the collusion between the Houthis and other terrorist organizations is intended to “weaken the Yemeni state, destabilizing security and stability in liberated areas,” thereby undermining maritime navigation security.