Iran says Hezbollah behind drone attack on Netanyahu’s residence

Iran says Hezbollah behind drone attack on Netanyahu’s residence
An ambulance drives behind a barrier across a street leading to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea on Oct. 19, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 19 October 2024
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Iran says Hezbollah behind drone attack on Netanyahu’s residence

Iran says Hezbollah behind drone attack on Netanyahu’s residence
  • “This action was taken by the Lebanese Hezbollah,” the mission said in response to a question about Iran’s role in the attack
  • The Tehran-backed militant group, which fights Israel in Lebanon’s south, has not yet acknowledged the attack

TEHRAN: Iran’s United Nations mission said Saturday that Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, armed and financed by Tehran, was behind a drone attack on the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This action was taken by the Lebanese Hezbollah,” the mission said in response to a question about Iran’s role in the attack, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Earlier Saturday, Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of trying to kill him after his office said a drone from Lebanon had hit the premier’s family home.
The Tehran-backed militant group, which fights Israel in Lebanon’s south, has not yet acknowledged the attack.
“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Addressing “Iran and its proxies,” Netanyahu vowed that “anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price.”
The spokesman of Iran’s foreign ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei also slammed Israel for “spreading lies” as its “current and permanent practice of this regime and its criminal leaders” in regards to the accusations against Iran, according to IRNA.
Iran-aligned armed groups, known as the “axis of resistance” that includes Hezbollah, have been drawn into the Israel-Hamas war, which has raged in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Tehran has also launched two direct attacks on arch-foe Israel during the war, most recently a barrage of 200 missiles on October 1, for which Israel has vowed to retaliate.
Iran has said it will strike back if Israel attacks.


Israeli strikes put Gaza’s Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital out of service

Israeli strikes put Gaza’s Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital out of service
Updated 19 sec ago
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Israeli strikes put Gaza’s Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital out of service

Israeli strikes put Gaza’s Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital out of service
  • Bombing damages intensive care unit, energy panels
  • 37 hospitals have been put out of service since Israel began its attacks in late 2023

LONDON: The Martyr Mohammed Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital, east of Gaza City, was put out of service on Thursday, according to Palestinian medical sources.

The facility, which provides health services for children in northern Gaza, sustained severe damage after being targeted by Israeli forces this week, the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported.

Bombing damaged the hospital’s intensive care unit and alternative energy panels, the report said.

Medical sources told Wafa that Israel’s blockade of food and medical supplies since mid-March meant that children in Gaza were facing a catastrophic situation.

Al-Durrah is the 37th hospital to be put out of service since Israel began its attacks on the Palestinian coastal enclave in late 2023.


Jordanian foreign minister chairs Arab meeting to address Israeli actions in Jerusalem

Jordanian foreign minister chairs Arab meeting to address Israeli actions in Jerusalem
Updated 7 min 15 sec ago
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Jordanian foreign minister chairs Arab meeting to address Israeli actions in Jerusalem

Jordanian foreign minister chairs Arab meeting to address Israeli actions in Jerusalem
  • Arab ministerial committee condemns the actions of Israel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem
  • Ministers emphasized the significance of the Hashemite custodianship in preserving Jerusalem’s religious identity

LONDON: Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s minister of foreign affairs and expatriates, chaired an Arab ministerial meeting to discuss Israeli policies in the occupied East Jerusalem.

Safadi led the ninth meeting of the Arab Ministerial Committee on Wednesday evening in Cairo, which took place on the sidelines of the 163rd regular session of the Council of the Arab League.

Representatives from Bahrain, Palestine, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, along with the secretary-general of the Arab League, issued a statement regarding Israeli actions in Jerusalem.

Palestinian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Varsen Aghabekian briefed the committee about Israel’s home demolition policy in Jerusalem, attempts to erase Palestinian cultural heritage, and the arbitrary arrests of individuals, including children.

The committee emphasized the need for united Arab and international efforts to end the illegal Israeli occupation and address the human rights offences in Jerusalem, Petra, the Jordan News Agency, reported.

In 2024, Israeli authorities demolished 181 homes belonging to Palestinians in Jerusalem on the pretext of not having a building permit, which Israel rarely grants to residents of the city, according to rights groups.

The committee condemned the actions of Israel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, where Palestinian families face the threat of eviction. It also condemned the regular storming of the Al-Aqsa compound by Israeli settlers and far-right ministers, asserting that these actions threaten the site’s sanctity and integrity.

It said Israeli policies represent “clear violations of international law, escalating tensions and undermining the historical and legal identity of occupied Jerusalem,” Petra reported.

The ministers emphasized the significance of the Hashemite custodianship in preserving Jerusalem’s religious identity and called for the establishment of a Palestinian state to pave the way for peace in the region.


Syrian president hails Pope Francis for solidarity in ‘darkest moments’

A message board for the late Pope Francis is covered with writings from Catholic devotees outside St. Peter Parish.
A message board for the late Pope Francis is covered with writings from Catholic devotees outside St. Peter Parish.
Updated 18 min 22 sec ago
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Syrian president hails Pope Francis for solidarity in ‘darkest moments’

A message board for the late Pope Francis is covered with writings from Catholic devotees outside St. Peter Parish.
  • Sharaa said of Francis: “His calls transcended political boundaries, and his legacy of moral courage and solidarity will remain alive in the hearts of many people”

DAMASCUS: Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa paid tribute to Pope Francis, saying he had supported the Syrian people in “their darkest moments.”


The Argentine pontiff, who died on Monday aged 88, “supported the Syrian people in their darkest moments, constantly raising his voice against the violence and injustice they faced,” Sharaa said in a statement on Wednesday.


Syria’s civil war began in 2011 with a crackdown by president Bashar Assad on a pro-democracy movement.


By the time Assad was ousted in an offensive led by Sharaa on December 8, more than 500,000 people had been killed and more than half the population displaced.


Syria is home to a majority Sunni Muslim population, but also a sizeable Christian minority from several denominations, as well as other religious minorities.


Extending condolences to Catholics, Sharaa said of Francis: “His calls transcended political boundaries, and his legacy of moral courage and solidarity will remain alive in the hearts of many people in our country.”


Syria’s Christian community has shrunk from around one million before the war to under 300,000 due to waves of displacement and emigration.


The capital Damascus is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world but its Christian population dwindled to only about two percent, the Vatican said last year.


While the war began as a crackdown on peaceful protests, religion and ethnicity swiftly came into focus as groups battling each other became increasingly radicalized.


Syria’s Christian community generally either supported the government or sought to be neutral in the war, with Assad, himself from the minority Alawite sect, portraying himself as a protector of minorities.


Critics of Assad, however, accused him of using minority communities to prop himself up, and of meting out especially brutal punishment for any detained members of minority communities who dared to voice dissent.


Sharaa and the new government are under pressure from Western countries to ensure they are inclusive in their exercise of power.


Sharaa, now the president of Syria, was the former head of the country’s Al-Qaeda offshoot, a radical Sunni Muslim group widely proscribed as a terrorist organization.


Since Assad’s ouster, the most serious violence to hit Syria was a massacre on the Mediterranean coast in March, which according to a war monitor saw more than 1,700 people killed.


The victims were mostly members of the Alawite minority of ousted president Assad.


Israel military issues evacuation order for residents of two north Gaza areas

Israel military issues evacuation order for residents of two north Gaza areas
Updated 20 min 42 sec ago
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Israel military issues evacuation order for residents of two north Gaza areas

Israel military issues evacuation order for residents of two north Gaza areas
  • Civilians in Beit Hanoun and Sheikh Zayed areas were ordered to move west, Adraee warned

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military issued an evacuation order on Thursday for Palestinians residing in two north Gaza areas ahead of a planned attack.
“To all of the civilians of the Gaza Strip staying in the areas of Beit Hanoun and Sheikh Zayed. This is a preliminary and a final warning... move west immediately toward Gaza City,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.


Israel army says initial probe shows Israeli tank fire killed UN worker in Gaza last month

Israel army says initial probe shows Israeli tank fire killed UN worker in Gaza last month
Updated 57 min 5 sec ago
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Israel army says initial probe shows Israeli tank fire killed UN worker in Gaza last month

Israel army says initial probe shows Israeli tank fire killed UN worker in Gaza last month
  • “The examination indicates that the fatality was caused by tank fire from IDF,” the military said

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Thursday that the initial findings from an investigation into the death of a UN worker in the central Gaza Strip last month showed he was killed by Israeli tank fire.
“According to the findings collected so far, the examination indicates that the fatality was caused by tank fire from IDF (Israeli military) troops operating in the area. The building was struck due to assessed enemy presence and was not identified by the forces as a UN facility,” the military statement said, referring to the incident on March 19.