Israeli army says intercepts two drones approaching from Syria

Israeli army says intercepts two drones approaching from Syria
An Israeli army tank drives in an area near Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip on October 6, 2024. (File/AFP)
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Updated 14 October 2024
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Israeli army says intercepts two drones approaching from Syria

Israeli army says intercepts two drones approaching from Syria
  • Israel is fighting a war on two fronts, one on its northern border with Lebanon, the other with Hamas in Gaza, while also facing attacks from Iran-backed militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it intercepted two drones approaching from Syria on Monday, a day after a drone attack by Lebanon’s Hezbollah on a base killed four soldiers.
“A short while ago, two UAVs that approached Israeli territory from Syria were successfully intercepted by the IAF (air force). The UAVs were intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.
Israel is fighting a war on two fronts, one on its northern border with Lebanon, the other with Hamas in Gaza, while also facing attacks from Iran-backed militants in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Hezbollah has historically relied on its ally Syria to transport arms and other equipment from its main backer Iran.
Israeli authorities rarely comment publicly about individual strikes or operations involving Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow Iran to expand its sway over the region.
Last week, the Israeli army said its forces killed a Hezbollah figure inside Syria, Adham Jahout, who was described as an intermediary who “relayed information from Syrian regime sources to the Hezbollah.”
Iran and Hezbollah have been among the Syrian government’s most important allies in the country’s more than decade-old civil war.
On October 30, an Israeli air strike hit a road linking Syria and Lebanon as Israel tried to cut off supply routes of Hezbollah, according to a Syrian war monitor.
That strike came less than a week after Israeli jets struck the main Lebanon-Syria border crossing of Masnaa in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, cutting off the road to traffic.
A deadly strike blamed on Israel on April 1 against Iran’s diplomatic mission in Damascus levelled the embassy’s consular annex, killing seven Revolutionary Guard members, including two generals.
Nearly two weeks later, Iran launched a wave of missiles and drones at Israel, Tehran’s first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory since the establishment of its Islamic republic in 1979.


Sudan extends opening of Adre crossing for aid delivery

Sudan extends opening of Adre crossing for aid delivery
Updated 9 sec ago
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Sudan extends opening of Adre crossing for aid delivery

Sudan extends opening of Adre crossing for aid delivery

DUBAI: Sudan’s sovereign council said on Wednesday it would extend the use of the Adre border crossing with Chad, seen as essential by aid agencies for the delivery of food and other supplies to areas at risk of famine in the Darfur and Kordofan regions.
Experts determined earlier this year that while more than 25 million people across the country face acute hunger, several parts of the country are at increased risk of famine, and that one camp in the Darfur region was already in its throes, the consequence of war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Adre, which was closed by an order from the army-controlled government in February, was re-opened for
three months
in August until November 15, and it had not been clear whether that period would be extended.
Members of the government have protested against the opening, saying it allows for the RSF to deliver weapons.
However, the Sudanese army is not in physical control of the border crossing which lies within territory seized last year by the RSF, which controls most of Darfur.
Aid agencies decided against ignoring directives from the internationally recognized government, and had been bracing themselves for closure of the corridor, seen as a more efficient route than cross-line deliveries from army-controlled Port Sudan or the more remote Al-Tina border crossing.
The re-opening of Adre in August coincided with the rainy season and the destruction of several roads and bridges, meaning that
aid trickled in
at the start.
More than 300 aid trucks with supplies for more than 1.3 million people have since crossed into Sudan through Adre, according to UN humanitarian coordination official Ramesh Rajasingham in a briefing to the Security Council on Tuesday.
The World Food Programme on Saturday moved a convoy of 15 trucks across Adre with food and nutrition for 12,500 people in famine-stricken Zamzam camp, said spokeswoman Leni Kinzli to reporters on Tuesday.


Blinken: Israel has met its goals in Gaza, time to end the war

Blinken: Israel has met its goals in Gaza, time to end the war
Updated 55 min 47 sec ago
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Blinken: Israel has met its goals in Gaza, time to end the war

Blinken: Israel has met its goals in Gaza, time to end the war
  • He called for “real and extended pauses” in fighting to allow essential humanitarian aid to reach those affected by the hostilities

DUBAI: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel has achieved its objectives in Gaza and that it is now time to pursue an end to the ongoing war.

Blinken said that ending the conflict would be the most effective means of addressing the urgent needs of Gaza’s civilian population.

He called for “real and extended pauses” in fighting to allow essential humanitarian aid to reach those affected by the hostilities and said that Israel holds an ongoing responsibility to facilitate this assistance, urging sustained efforts to address Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

Blinken also called for increased international pressure on Hamas, seeking “genuine, sustained, and effective pressure” to cease hostilities. He said that achieving peace requires cooperation from all parties involved, with humanitarian access as a central priority.


Russia asks Israel to avoid air strikes near Syrian base

Russia asks Israel to avoid air strikes near Syrian base
Updated 13 November 2024
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Russia asks Israel to avoid air strikes near Syrian base

Russia asks Israel to avoid air strikes near Syrian base
  • Israel has carried out intensive bombing of Syria but rarely targets Latakia
  • Latakia, and in particular its airport, is close to the town of Hmeimim that hosts a Russian air base

MOSCOW: Russia has asked Israel to avoid launching aerial strikes as part of its war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah near one of Moscow’s bases in Syria, a top official said Wednesday.
Syrian state media in mid-October claimed that Israel had struck the port city of Latakia, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad, who is supported by Russia and in turn backs Hezbollah.
Latakia, and in particular its airport, is close to the town of Hmeimim that hosts a Russian air base.
“Israel actually carried out an air strike in the immediate vicinity of Hmeimim,” Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy in the Near East, told the RIA Novosti press agency.
“Our military has of course notified Israeli authorities that such acts that put Russian military lives in danger over there are unacceptable,” he added.
“That is why we hope that this incident in October will not be repeated.”
Israel has carried out intensive bombing of Syria but rarely targets Latakia, to the northwest of Damascus.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of transporting weapons through Syria.
The two warring parties have been in open conflict since September after Israel’s year-long Gaza war with Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — escalated to a new front.
Lavrentiev said that Russia’s air base was not being used to supply Hezbollah with weapons.
Israel stepped up strikes on Syria at the same time as targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian government forces and groups supported by its arch-foe Iran, notably Hezbollah troops that have been deployed to assist Assad’s regime.
Israel rarely comments on its strikes but has said it will not allow Iran to extend its presence to Syria.


Lebanon says at least six killed in Israeli strike south of Beirut

Lebanon says at least six killed in Israeli strike south of Beirut
Updated 13 November 2024
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Lebanon says at least six killed in Israeli strike south of Beirut

Lebanon says at least six killed in Israeli strike south of Beirut

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli strike killed at least six people on Wednesday in a densely-packed area south of the capital Beirut, outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.
“The Israeli enemy strike on Aramoun killed six people” and wounded 15 others, the ministry said giving a preliminary toll, adding that “body parts were recovered from the site and their identities are being verified.”

The Israeli army on Wednesday told residents of parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs to leave, the third such warning in 24 hours.
“You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the Israel Defense Forces (military) will act in the near future,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that included a map of the areas in question.


Northern Gaza at grave risk of Israeli atrocities of ‘the most serious nature,’ UN warns

Northern Gaza at grave risk of Israeli atrocities of ‘the most serious nature,’ UN warns
Updated 13 November 2024
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Northern Gaza at grave risk of Israeli atrocities of ‘the most serious nature,’ UN warns

Northern Gaza at grave risk of Israeli atrocities of ‘the most serious nature,’ UN warns
  • ‘Horrific possibility’ of famine cannot be separated from unrelenting Israeli attacks on the human rights of Palestinians, Security Council hears
  • Systematic destruction of Palestinian infrastructure is directly contributing to threat of starvation, human rights official tells council members

NEW YORK CITY: Not only are Israeli authorities seeking to clear northern Gaza of Palestinians by displacing them to the south of the territory, but their actions pose a grave risk of atrocities of “the most serious nature,” the UN warned on Tuesday. 

Ilze Brands Kehris, the organization’s assistant secretary-general for human rights, urged all states to assess their arms sales or transfers “with a view to ending such support if this risks serious violations of international law.”

Speaking during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the growing risk of famine in Gaza, she described the humanitarian and human rights situation for Palestinians across the battered enclave as “catastrophic.”

The meeting followed an alert issued at the weekend by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee, which said there was “a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip.” It called for the international community to act “in days, not weeks” to address this threat.

Figures verified by the UN Human Rights Office reveal that almost 70 percent of those killed in Gaza since the war began in October last year were children, mostly between the ages of 5 and 9 years old, or women. According to the Palestinian health ministry, the total death toll from the conflict stands at least 43,000 Palestinians, and more than 100,000 have been injured.

However, these figures are likely to be “a serious understatement,” Brands Kehris told the Security Council, because the bodies of many other victims are thought to be buried under rubble.

Nearly 1.9 million people in Gaza have been displaced, many of them repeatedly, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, the elderly and children, she said. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on shelters and residential buildings continue to kill unconscionable numbers of civilians, she added: women, men, young and old.

“Attacks on so-called ‘safe zones’ prove that nowhere in Gaza is safe,” Brands Kehris said.

The destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure by the Israeli military — including facilities that enjoy protected status under international law, such as hospitals, schools and vital services such as including power supplies, water and sewage — is directly contributing to the risk of famine, she added.

In addition, Israeli forces have killed hundreds of medical personnel, civilian police officers, journalists and humanitarian aid workers, including more than 220 UN staff, she said, and thousands of Palestinians have been taken from Gaza to Israel, usually shackled and blindfolded, where they are held incommunicado.

“Meanwhile, there is constant and continued interference with the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, which has fallen to some of the lowest levels in a year,” Brands Kehris added.

“The cumulative impact of more than a year of destruction in Gaza has taken an enormous toll. Basic services for Palestinians in Gaza, the fabric of society, have been decimated. Conditions of life, particularly in northern Gaza, are increasingly not fit for survival.

“This horrific possibility cannot be separated from the unrelenting attacks on the human rights of civilians there.”

Over the past five weeks, she said, Israeli strikes have resulted in massive civilian fatalities in northern Gaza, particularly among women, children, the elderly, the sick and people with disabilities, many of whom are reportedly “trapped by Israeli military restrictions and attacks on escape routes.”

She added: “The pattern and the frequency of these reported attacks suggest the systematic targeting of locations known, or which should have been known, as sheltering significant numbers of civilians, coupled with the continued use of weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas.

“The Israeli military has also conducted repeated attacks on the three major hospitals in the area and on other vital infrastructure, while unlawfully restricting the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance to northern Gaza.”

Brands Kehris echoed a call by the high commissioner for human rights for an end to the war, the release of Israeli hostages, and the urgent delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza “by all routes.”

There must also be “due reckoning” over allegations of serious violations of international law, she said, overseen by “credible and impartial judicial authorities.”

She added: “In line with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion and the General Assembly resolution, Israel must end its continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible, allowing the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination.”