Israel’s Netanyahu discusses ‘Iranian threat’ with Trump

Israel’s Netanyahu discusses ‘Iranian threat’ with Trump
Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting in Jerusalem in 2017. (AP)
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Updated 06 November 2024
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Israel’s Netanyahu discusses ‘Iranian threat’ with Trump

Israel’s Netanyahu discusses ‘Iranian threat’ with Trump
  • Trump and Netanyahu agreed to work together for Israel’s security

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the “Iranian threat” in a call with US president-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday as the wars in Gaza and Lebanon show no sign of easing.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement the Israeli premier “congratulated Trump on his election victory, and the two agreed to work together for Israel’s security.
“The two also discussed the Iranian threat,” it added.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said Wednesday tens of thousands of its militants were ready to fight Israel, adding that the US election result would have no bearing on the war in Lebanon.
Its leader warned that nowhere in Israel would be “off-limits” to attacks, as the Israeli military said about 120 projectiles were fired across the border on Wednesday.
Israel’s military also said a missile was fired into southern Israel from central Gaza, where it has battled the Tehran-backed Hamas group since Palestinian militants launched a deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hezbollah’s main bastion of south Beirut came under Israeli air attack after a warning to evacuate.
Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since late September, when the Israeli military widened the focus of its Gaza war to securing its northern border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah began low-intensity cross-border attacks on Israel last year, in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas after the October 7 attack.
Efforts to end the war in Gaza sparked by the Hamas attack have yet to bear fruit, and the war in Lebanon has killed at least 3,050 people since October 2023, the health ministry said Wednesday.
In a televised speech marking 40 days since his predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a strike, new Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said: “We have tens of thousands of trained resistance combatants” ready to fight.
His address aired after Trump’s victory was announced, but had been recorded earlier.
Qassem said whoever won the election would have no impact on any possible ceasefire deal for Lebanon.
“What will stop this... war is the battlefield” he said, citing fighting in south Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
Hezbollah announced Wednesday it had Iran-made Fatah 110 missiles, a weapon with a 300-kilometer range that military expert Riad Kahwaji described as the group’s “most accurate.”
It also said it targeted a naval base near the Haifa in Israel with drones and missiles, the fourth attack on the base in as many weeks.
Earlier, Hezbollah said it targeted a military base near Israel’s main airport close to commercial hub Tel Aviv, but Israel’s Airports Authority said operations were not disrupted.


Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported Israeli air strikes on the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon and the southern city of Nabatiyeh.
An AFP correspondent in the eastern city of Baalbek reported intense strikes in and around the city.
Israel is “betting on prolonging the war so it becomes a war of attrition... We are ready,” Qassem said in his second speech since being named Hezbollah secretary-general last week.
He also called for Lebanese sovereignty to be safeguarded in any truce talks.
Qassem demanded explanations from the Lebanese army after Israeli commandos seized a man from north Lebanon on Saturday who they said was a senior Hezbollah operative.
He said the operation was “a great offense to Lebanon” and a “violation” of its sovereignty.
On Tuesday, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP Israeli commandos used a speedboat equipped with advanced devices capable of jamming UN peacekeepers’ radar in the operation, according to a preliminary probe.
The UN Maritime Task Force has helped Lebanon’s military to monitor territorial waters and prevent the entry of arms or related material by sea since 2006, according to the mission’s website.


In Gaza, where the 13-month war has had a devastating impact, people were desperate for a solution and voiced the hope Trump might offer one.
Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,391 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry the United Nations considers reliable.
“We were displaced, killed... there’s nothing left for us, we want peace,” said 60-year-old Mamdouh Al-Jadba, who was displaced to Gaza City from Jabalia.
“I hope Trump finds a solution, we need someone strong like Trump to end the war and save us...”
Netanyahu earlier feted Trump’s “huge victory” as “history’s greatest comeback.”
The United States is Israel’s top ally and military backer, and the election came at a critical time for the Middle East.
While maintaining the steady flow of aid to Israel, US President Joe Biden’s administration had for months piled pressure on Netanyahu to agree to a truce.
Analysts say Netanyahu wanted a Trump return, given their longstanding personal friendship and the American’s hawkishness on Israel’s arch-foe Iran.


Nearly 50,000 displaced in Syria in recent days: UN

Nearly 50,000 displaced in Syria in recent days: UN
Updated 03 December 2024
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Nearly 50,000 displaced in Syria in recent days: UN

Nearly 50,000 displaced in Syria in recent days: UN

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Nearly 50,000 people have recently been displaced in Syria, where an Islamist-led militants alliance has wrested swathes of territory from control of President Bashar Assad’s government, the UN’s humanitarian agency reported Monday.
“The displacement situation remains highly fluid, with partners verifying new figures daily,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement. “Over 48,500 people have been displaced as of 30 November.”
 

 


Far-right Israeli minister slams ‘coup’ after arrests

Far-right Israeli minister slams ‘coup’ after arrests
Updated 03 December 2024
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Far-right Israeli minister slams ‘coup’ after arrests

Far-right Israeli minister slams ‘coup’ after arrests
  • Ben Gvir called the arrests “an attempt to bring me down, me, the government and the prime minister,” Benjamin Netanyahu

JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned Monday the arrests of a senior prison official and two police officers linked to him as an attempt to oust him.
The three, who media say are close to Ben Gvir, were arrested on suspicion of bribery, abuse of office and breach of trust, according to reports.
Police have not commented on the arrests.
“This is a coup d’etat... a political decision,” Ben Gvir said in televised comments.
He called the arrests “an attempt to bring me down, me, the government and the prime minister,” Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The decision to investigate police officers and a senior prison service official who are clearly and fully implementing my policy... is a political decision,” Ben Gvir added.
Israeli media said on Monday the prison service official questioned by police was the chief, Kobi Yaakobi, a close friend of Ben Gvir who was appointed in January.
Ben Gvir on Monday posted on his Telegram channel a photo with Yaakobi and the words: “Kobi, we love you.”
Last week the minister gave his “full” support to four people working in his office, who Israeli media said were questioned by police as part of a probe into the alleged issuing of weapons permits illegally.
Ben Gvir also directly attacked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who had previously provoked the ire of some ministers in the current government.
“In order for the right-wing government to function, without the legal adviser preventing it, we must stop this crazy campaign and legal coup,” Ben Gvir said.
He urged Netanyahu to discuss in Sunday’s cabinet meeting ending Baharav-Miara’s mandate.
In March last year, it was Baharav-Miara who deemed “illegal” one of Netanyahu’s public interventions on proposed judicial system reforms then dividing the country.


Turkiye could benefit from militant offensive in Syria: experts

Turkiye could benefit from militant offensive in Syria: experts
Updated 9 min 42 sec ago
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Turkiye could benefit from militant offensive in Syria: experts

Turkiye could benefit from militant offensive in Syria: experts
  • Ankara and Damascus broke off ties in 2011 when the war started with Erdogan backing the militants

ISTANBUL: Turkiye could be one of the big winners from the new Syria crisis, giving it a chance to tackle its Syrian refugee problem and the Kurdish threat along its border, observers say.

Although Syrian President Bashar Assad spurned an offer of help from his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara now appears to have an increasingly important role in decisions that will affect Syria’s immediate future.

Omer Ozkizilcik, an Atlantic Council associate researcher in Ankara, said Turkiye has a “complex and difficult relationship” with Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the terrorist alliance that led last week’s militant offensive.

“We can clearly say there was indirect Turkish support (for the offensive) but no direct Turkish involvement,” he said.

Although the attack was due to take place “seven weeks ago... Turkiye stopped the militants from launching this military offensive,” he added.

Assad’s ally Russia has also been “heavily” bombing militants positions in the northwest to stymie an attack on his government.

Charles Lister, an expert at Washington’s Middle East Institute agreed, saying “the Aleppo offensive was initially planned for mid-October but Turkiye put a stop to it.”

It was only after Ankara’s efforts to normalize ties with the Assad goverment were rebuffed as it pushed for a political solution, that Turkiye gave its green light, Ozkizilcik said.

Turkiye has pushed back against the expansion of HTS into the “security zone” in northwest Syria it has carved out for itself, and has put pressure on the radical group to drop its Al-Qaeda affiliation.

It has also pressed it to avoid attacking Christian and Druze minorities, analysts say.

“The HTS of today is not what it was in 2020,” Ozkizilcik said.

Although Turkiye has some influence over the group, Firas Kontar, a Syrian Druze origin and author of “Syria, the Impossible Revolution,” believes Erdogan “no longer has the means to stop HTS.”

Ankara and Damascus broke off ties in 2011 when the war started with Erdogan backing the militants.

However, since late 2022 the Turkish leader has been seeking a rapprochement, saying in July he was ready to host Assad “at any time.”

But Assad said he would only meet if Turkish forces withdrew from Syria.

Ankara is hoping a rapprochement would pave the way for the return of the 3.2 million Syrian refugees still on its soil, whose presence has become a major domestic hot potato.

“Now with the changing situation on the ground, the balance of power in Syria has shifted: Turkiye is the most powerful actor at the moment inside Syria, and Iran and Russia will likely try to negotiate with Turkiye,” Ozkizilcik said.

Since 2016, Turkiye has staged multiple operations against Kurdish forces in northern Syria which has given it a foothold in areas bordering the frontier.

The aim is to oust Kurdish fighters from the border zone, notably the YPG (People’s Protection Units) which are backed by Washington as bulwark against Daesh group terrorists.

But Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the PKK which has fought a decades-long insurgency inside Turkiye and is banned as a terror group by Washington and Brussels.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, pro-Turkiye militans on Sunday seized Tal Rifaat, a town north of Aleppo and the surrounding villages, where some 200,000 Syrian Kurds were living.

Tal Rifaat lies just outside Turkiye’s “security zone” with the move prompting Kurdish residents to flee to a safe zone further east.

Turkiye’s secret service said it had killed a PKK leader in the area.

“Turkiye has already made and probably will make many gains against the YPG terror group to secure its national security,” said Ozkizilcik.


Israel tells residents to evacuate areas of south Gaza

Israel tells residents to evacuate areas of south Gaza
Updated 03 December 2024
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Israel tells residents to evacuate areas of south Gaza

Israel tells residents to evacuate areas of south Gaza
  • At least 44,466 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army called on Monday for some areas of the southern Gaza Strip to be evacuated, warning that Palestinian militants were launching rockets from there.
It is the first such call in weeks relating to the south of the embattled Palestinian territory after the military turned its attention to the north in October.
“Terrorist organizations are once again firing rockets toward the State of Israel from your area,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post in Arabic on X, addressing residents of the Khan Yunis area.
“For your safety, you must evacuate the area immediately and move to the humanitarian zone,” he said, sharing a map of the area in question.
Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military said in a statement that “one projectile that crossed into Israeli territory from Khan Yunis was intercepted” by the Israeli air force.
Hamas’s armed wing later claimed responsibility, saying it had fired rockets toward southern Israel.
Israel has destroyed large swathes of Gaza since it launched a retaliatory military offensive following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
At least 44,466 Palestinians, a majority of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to data provided by the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.
 

 


US welcomes Israel lifeline for Palestinian banking

A man withdraws cash from an ATM machine at Bank of Palestine in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 15, 2018. (AFP)
A man withdraws cash from an ATM machine at Bank of Palestine in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 15, 2018. (AFP)
Updated 03 December 2024
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US welcomes Israel lifeline for Palestinian banking

A man withdraws cash from an ATM machine at Bank of Palestine in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 15, 2018. (AFP)
  • US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that cutting off Palestinian banks “would create a humanitarian crisis” and voiced disappointment in October when Israel approved only a 30-day extension

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday welcomed Israel’s one-year extension of a lifeline to Palestinian banks, after threats by the far-right finance minister to sever the connection amid the Gaza war.
The United States had pressed Israel to maintain the waiver which allows Israeli banks to work with Palestinian ones, fearing otherwise that the comparatively stable West Bank would descend into economic havoc.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. (AFP file photo)

The State and Treasury Departments in a joint statement said they welcomed the decision taken Thursday at a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet.
“Economic stability in the West Bank is essential for Israeli and Palestinian security, and correspondent banking is a key pillar of that economic stability,” the statement said.
“The United States appreciates the ongoing engagement with the Government of Israel and the Palestine Monetary Authority on this matter.”
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement and advocates for the full annexation of the territory occupied by Israel since 1967, earlier threatened to end the waiver in retaliation for three European countries’ recognition of a Palestinian state.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that cutting off Palestinian banks “would create a humanitarian crisis” and voiced disappointment in October when Israel approved only a 30-day extension.