Hezbollah enters new phase in war as Netanyahu insists on dismantling its structure

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on October 17, 2024. (AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on October 17, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 17 October 2024
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Hezbollah enters new phase in war as Netanyahu insists on dismantling its structure

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on October 17, 2024.
  • Lebanese MP says the enemy has not managed to take control of or settle in any village

BEIRUT: Hezbollah confirmed that it has “no option in Lebanon except for the realities imposed by its members in the field, and anything else is betting on an illusion.”

MP Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, said in a press conference that “Israel’s war on Hezbollah aims to eliminate the resistance, wipe it out from the region, and subjugate Lebanon.”

He said that the enemy “has been planning this war for years and has adopted a scorched-earth policy along the borders, attempting to create a buffer zone to annex the area south of the Litani, which the resistance will thwart.”

Fadlallah said that the party “has entered a new phase of resisting aggression. We are operating on three fronts, the first being in the field, and so far, the enemy has not managed to take control of or settle in any village. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati are negotiating with international envoys to reach a ceasefire, and we are closely following this matter with Berri.”

Fadlallah refused to confirm or deny reports circulating in the south about Hezbollah capturing Israeli soldiers. He simply said: “If any Israeli soldier is captured, the resistance will announce it through its statements.”

On Thursday, the sounds of airstrikes and artillery fire drowned out any diplomatic talk paving the way for a ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu renewed his escalatory stance, stating Israel’s intent to “destroy all of Hezbollah’s military structure, which has been built over two decades,” and that his goal “in Lebanon is to return the northern residents to their homes and dismantle Hezbollah's military structure.”

A German Ministry of Defense spokesperson on Thursday told Reuters that “a German warship that operates as part of UNIFIL’s peacekeeping mission intercepted a drone off the Lebanese coast.”

He said that the drone “fell into the water,” and caused no damage to the ship.

The spokesperson said that “the origin of the drone brought down by the air defense system is unknown,” adding that “the warship, known as Ludwigshafen am Rhein and deployed as part of the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, is continuing its duties.”

Several UNIFIL positions, as well as the headquarters’ watchtower, were subject to Israeli hostilities, in which several peacekeepers were injured.

The goal of the attacks was to make UNIFIL peacekeepers evacuate their positions in the Lebanese border area and relocate 5 km north. However, the UN strongly rejected the matter and condemned the attacks.

UNIFIL peacekeepers at a position near Kafer Kela on Wednesday observed “an Israeli Merkava tank firing at their watchtower, destroying two cameras and damaging the tower.”

In an official statement, UNIFIL said: “Yet again we see direct and apparently deliberate fire on a UNIFIL position.”

Meanwhile, evacuation threats were sent on Thursday to Lebanese in diplomatic, media and residential buildings in Beirut, Bekaa and the south.

The evacuation warning messages were received by workers in a Beirut building housing offices of the Al-Jazeera news network and the Norwegian Embassy, the Markazia Suites hotel, and buildings in the vicinity of Starco Center, which includes ministries and company offices.

Evacuation warnings were also sent to workers in the main Hamra street next to the American University of Beirut’s campus, including the Commodore Hotel, where foreign journalists usually stay.

A judge at the court of audit received a similar message.

After the army’s investigation of the source of the warnings, it appeared that the calls received on people’s phones were “fake,” according to a security source.

The source considered that “all are rumors other than the warnings issued by the spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, on his social media account, which include maps specifying the targets, remain inaccurate, especially the phone calls received by citizens, officials, mayors, judges, embassies and media offices.”

On Thursday, Adraee issued a series of urgent warnings to residents in northern Bekaa to evacuate before attacking the targeted areas less than an hour later with airstrikes.

Adraee’s warnings included areas in the south, especially the Tyre region.

Israeli airstrikes continued in the border area, particularly in the areas of Tyre, Nabatiyeh, Iqlim Al-Tuffah and Jezzine, reaching the eastern sector with the shelling of Shebaa. The airstrikes focused on the northern Bekaa region, up to the border with Syria.

In a series of statements, Hezbollah said it had repelled Israeli forces in Labbouneh Heights and the Kfarkela and Odaisseh axes.

Adraee claimed that “a Hezbollah battalion commander, Hussein Mohammed Awada, was eliminated in the Bint Jbeil area and that he was responsible for launching shells toward Israeli territory.”


More than 15,000 Syrian refugees return home from Jordan in May

More than 15,000 Syrian refugees return home from Jordan in May
Updated 11 sec ago
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More than 15,000 Syrian refugees return home from Jordan in May

More than 15,000 Syrian refugees return home from Jordan in May
  • UNHCR reported that the figure represents a 45 percent increase compared to April
  • Jordan has received about 628,000 Syrian refugees, according to UNHCR figures as of December 2024

LONDON: More than 15,000 Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have returned to their home country from Jordan since May.

The UNHCR reported that the figure represents a 45 percent increase compared to April, when nearly 10,500 Syrian refugees entered the country through Jordan’s Jaber border crossing.

Since the collapse of the Assad regime in December, 75,000 Syrian refugees have returned home from Jordan alone, which is more than one percent of the estimated six million Syrians who fled the country during the civil war that began in 2011.

As of March, the UN estimated that nearly 1.2 million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home following the change in power in Damascus.

The UNHCR announced the transfer of thousands of refugees from Jordanian communities and refugee camps to Syria in May, marking a significant increase from April, according to the SANA news agency.

Jordan has received about 628,000 Syrian refugees, according to UNHCR figures as of December 2024.


UAE and Jordan condemn terror attack on Pakistani military convoy that killed 13 soldiers

UAE and Jordan condemn terror attack on Pakistani military convoy that killed 13 soldiers
Updated 30 June 2025
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UAE and Jordan condemn terror attack on Pakistani military convoy that killed 13 soldiers

UAE and Jordan condemn terror attack on Pakistani military convoy that killed 13 soldiers
  • A further 24 people were injured, 14 of them civilians, when a car bomb exploded near a bomb-disposal vehicle in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday
  • Emirati Foreign Ministry sends condolences to families of the victims and the people of Pakistan following the ‘cowardly attack’

LONDON: Authorities in the UAE and Jordan have strongly condemned a terrorist attack on a military convoy in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan in which 13 soldiers were killed and at least 24 people were injured.

The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent its condolences to the families of the victims, and all the people of Pakistan, following the “heinous and cowardly attack,” along its best wishes for a speedy recovery of those who were injured.

It added that the UAE firmly rejects all forms of terrorism and violence that undermine security and stability.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry similarly condemned the attack and expressed its solidarity with Pakistan during this terrible time.

A suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into the military convoy on Saturday and it detonated near a bomb disposal vehicle. Of the 24 people who were injured, 14 are civilians.

Armed group Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. It was one of the deadliest, single-day incidents in recent months targeting security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.


Qatari emir, Spanish king meet on sidelines of UN investment conference in Seville

Qatari emir, Spanish king meet on sidelines of UN investment conference in Seville
Updated 30 June 2025
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Qatari emir, Spanish king meet on sidelines of UN investment conference in Seville

Qatari emir, Spanish king meet on sidelines of UN investment conference in Seville
  • King Felipe expressed his desire to strengthen relations and support joint investments with Qatar
  • He reiterated Spain’s solidarity with Qatar and condemned the Iranian attack on Al-Udeid Air Base last week

LONDON: Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, met King Felipe VI of Spain in Seville on the sidelines of a UN-organized international investment conference.

The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development began on Monday and will continue until July 3, bringing together global leaders to discuss urgent reforms necessary for financing sustainable development.

King Felipe expressed his desire to strengthen relations and support joint investments through small and medium-sized enterprises following the recent economic agreements between Qatar and Spain.

He also reiterated Spain’s solidarity with Qatar and condemned the Iranian attack on Al-Udeid Air Base last week, praising Doha’s role in facilitating a ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel.

Sheikh Tamim emphasized Qatar’s commitment to enhancing cooperation with Spain across cultural, educational and security fields to serve the common interests of both countries, the Qatar News Agency reported.


Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection

Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection
Updated 30 June 2025
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Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection

Israeli settlers hold wedding ceremony inside Al-Aqsa Mosque under police protection
  • The Jerusalem Governorate deemed the move ‘provocative and humiliating’

LONDON: Israeli authorities permitted a wedding engagement ceremony for Jewish settlers within the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied Old City of East Jerusalem on Monday.

The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate deemed the move “provocative and humiliating,” describing it as a transformation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque into what resembles a public hall for celebrations by extremist settlers.

“(This is) a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the mosque, a serious provocation of the feelings of Muslims, and a deliberate attempt to impose a new reality that erases the Islamic identity of the site and paves the way for its division temporally and spatially,” the Jerusalem Governorate said.

On Monday, settlers, accompanied by Israeli police, toured the Al-Aqsa compound. Police prevented Palestinians from approaching the settlers to disrupt the ceremony, according to the Wafa news agency.

The Jerusalem Governorate said that Israeli policies aim to impose sovereignty on Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing that these repeated provocations contradict international law and the 2016 UNESCO resolution, which recognized Al-Aqsa Mosque as an Islamic heritage site and called for its preservation.

Since 1967, the Jerusalem Endowments Council, which operates under Jordan’s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, has been the legal authority responsible for managing and regulating the affairs of Al-Aqsa.

However, this status quo has been challenged in recent years by extremist settlers who regularly tour the site under the protection of Israeli police and are often accompanied by government officials and far-right ministers and activists.


UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans

UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans
Updated 30 June 2025
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UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans

UK MPs demand Ukraine-style visa route for Gazans
  • Letter to PM: ‘The same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families’
  • Death toll ‘likely to be exponentially higher’ than official figure due to collapse of local govt, health systems

LONDON: MPs in the UK are calling on the government to launch a visa system for Palestinians in Gaza with family already living in Britain.

Sixty-seven politicians have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper asking for a Gaza Family Scheme mirroring the Ukraine Family Scheme established in 2022 to help refugees escape the war with Russia. It allowed Ukrainians to live and work in the UK for up to three years.

“We believe that the same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families,” said the letter, seen by Sky News.

Signatories include 35 Labour MPs and members of the House of Lords, as well as several people currently suspended from the governing party, including its former leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell. 

All four sitting members of the Green Party have also signed, alongside former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and the Bishop of Chelmsford Dr. Guli Francis-Dehquani.

The letter accuses Israel of “shattering the temporary ceasefire agreement” with Hamas in Gaza, and of conducting a “campaign of bombardment and military assaults, and targeting of people accessing humanitarian aid.”

MP Marsha de Cordova, who helped organize the letter alongside the Gaza Families Reunited campaign, told Sky News that the Ukraine visa scheme “was the right response to a brutal war,” and that establishing one for Gazans “would be an extension of those same principles, showing that this government is steadfast in its commitment to helping families experiencing the worst horrors of war.

“It is time for the government to act now to help British Palestinians get their loved ones to safety, enabling them to rebuild their lives.”

The letter said the proposed scheme would let Palestinians reunite with “people they may never see again unless urgent action is taken,” and many Gazans trying to reach the UK “struggled to navigate the immigration system.”

It added that efforts to secure visas have been made “impossible due to the destruction of the visa application centre in Gaza and blockade of the Rafah crossing.”

The letter said the death toll in Gaza, reported by Palestinian authorities as numbering at least 53,000 people, “is likely to be exponentially higher” due to the collapse of local government and health systems in the enclave.

Ghassan Ghaben, spokesperson for Gaza Families Reunited, told Sky News: “Family unity is an undeniable human right.”

He urged more MPs, including Conservatives, to add their names to efforts to help get Palestinians to the UK, saying: “We are still waiting for the new government to do the right thing. We, as Palestinians in the UK, simply want the opportunity to bring our loved ones from Gaza to safety, until it is safe to return.”

A government spokesperson told Sky News: “The death and destruction in Gaza is intolerable. Since day one, we have been clear that we need to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages cruelly detained by Hamas, better protection of civilians, significantly more aid consistently entering Gaza, and a path to long-term peace and stability.

“There are a range of routes available for Palestinians who wish to join family members in the UK.”