Nine killed in Israeli strikes on Baalbek

Rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek on Nov.14, 2024. (AFP)
Rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek on Nov.14, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 14 November 2024
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Nine killed in Israeli strikes on Baalbek

Rescuers gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in Baalbek on Nov.14, 2024.
  • Hezbollah targets Israeli military units trying to advance in South Lebanon

BEIRUT: At least nine people were killed in an Israeli strike on the main eastern city of Baalbek on Thursday.

“Body parts were recovered from the site and their identities are being verified,” Lebanon's Health Ministry reported, as the Israeli army continued to launch destructive raids on Beirut’s southern suburbs for a third consecutive day.

More than 40 missiles targeted residential buildings and commercial and medical centers, some of which are allegedly owned by Hezbollah.

There was no specific timing for the raids, with Israeli evacuation warnings being sent at midnight, in the early morning, noon and the afternoon. Explosions destroyed entire streets and landmarks.

A new type of evacuation warning was sent on Thursday, as many residents received phone calls from non-Lebanese numbers, instructing them to leave their houses.

Residents informed security authorities of the incident and were instructed to leave as a precautionary measure. This caused panic among residents of adjacent buildings, prompting them too to flee.

Israeli raids on Thursday hit Ghobeiry, Chiyah, Rweis, Burj Al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik, Al-Amrousieh and Choueifat.

The Israeli army said that its air force conducted “a series of attacks against Hezbollah’s weapon depots and command centers in Beirut’s southern suburbs.”

Violent confrontations in southern Lebanon between Hezbollah and the Israeli forces penetrated the outskirts of Aitaroun toward Ainata, Bint Jbeil.

Hezbollah said that it “caused casualties among Israeli soldiers.”

The militant group said that on Wednesday night it used missiles to target “a gathering of soldiers south of the Lebanese border village of Odaisseh and a second soldier gathering east of Maroun Al-Ras.”

It also said that rocket salvos struck “a third Israeli soldier gathering on the southern outskirts of Bint Jbeil and the eastern outskirts of Markaba, as well as a fourth soldier gathering between Houla and east Markaba.”

The Israeli army revealed on Thursday that “the Egoz, Duvdevan, and Maglan units have begun operations in new areas in southern Lebanon under the command of the Galilee Division.”

Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardments continued on southern towns, inflicting injuries among the Lebanese who remained in their villages and causing further destruction in residential neighborhoods.

Israeli artillery fired 155mm phosphorus shells at the town of Yohmor, destroying four homes, while a drone killed a motorcyclist in the same town.

The airstrikes also hit towns in the Tyre district, killing a farmer in Habbariyeh, while a strike on Kfar Roummane led to the death of the town’s mukhtar.

The Israeli army blew up the mosque in the border town of Yarine, an airstrike on Arabsalim killed three citizens, while a strike on Aaramta killed two. Strikes were also recorded in Bint Jbeil, Deir Al-Zahrani, Kfar Jouz, and the Al-Bayada neighborhood in Nabatieh, leading to another victim.

The Islamic Media Authority mourned journalist Soukaina Kawtharani, who worked for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Nour radio, and her two children, who were killed two days ago in an Israeli airstrike on a house in which they were sheltering in the town of Joun in the Iqlim Al-Kharroub region.

Meanwhile, a correspondent for the LBC television station in Nabatieh, Rana Jouni, was wounded in an airstrike in the town of Deir Al-Zahrani when her car was hit by shrapnel from the missile.

On the Israeli side, the newspaper Israel Hayom quoted an Israeli security source as saying that “the army is preparing to establish buffer zones inside Lebanese territory, which will contribute to preventing infiltration and firing toward Israel.”

The source said that “Hezbollah must be defeated to prevent rocket fire.”

Hezbollah, according to its statements, demonstrated through its military operations that it maintains its firepower.

The group said its members “targeted the Jal Al-Alam border post, shelled Nahariya and the settlement of Yesud HaMa’ala, the Dovev barracks, the settlements of Al-Manara and Dishon, and a logistics base of the 146th army division east of the settlement of Netiv HaShayara.

In the afternoon, Hezbollah reported that it had carried out “an aerial attack with a squadron of assault drones on the settlement of Yir’on, hitting its targets accurately.”

Israeli media reported that the “Israeli army is facing tough battles on the second line of Lebanese towns.”

The newspaper Maariv quoted a US intelligence official, who said: “Hezbollah’s capabilities have been significantly damaged, but its ground forces on the border with Israel remain largely intact.”

Avichay Adraee, an Israeli army spokesperson, wrote on X: “Over the past week, the Israeli Air Force warplanes targeted and destroyed more than 140 Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon.

“These platforms posed an immediate threat to the Israeli home front and to forces operating in southern Lebanon.

“Among the targeted platforms were those that were used to launch rockets toward the Western Galilee.”


Hamas military arm releases new video of Israeli hostage in Gaza

Hamas military arm releases new video of Israeli hostage in Gaza
Updated 30 November 2024
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Hamas military arm releases new video of Israeli hostage in Gaza

Hamas military arm releases new video of Israeli hostage in Gaza
  • The family of hostage soldier Edan Alexander, 20, declined to comment but permitted the 3-1/2 minute video to be published
  • The video shows a pale-looking Alexander sitting in a dark space against a wall

JERUSALEM: Palestinian militant group Hamas published a video of an Israeli-American hostage on Saturday, in which he pleads for US President-elect Donald Trump to secure his release from captivity.
The family of hostage soldier Edan Alexander, 20, declined to comment but permitted the 3-1/2 minute video to be published. Alexander was abducted to Gaza during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.
The video shows a pale-looking Alexander sitting in a dark space against a wall, identifying himself, addressing his family, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump. It is unclear whether his statement was scripted by his captors.
Netanyahu said in a statement that the video was cruel psychological warfare and that he had told Alexander’s family in a phone call that Israel was working tirelessly to bring the hostages home.
Around half of the 101 foreign and Israeli hostages still held incommunicado in Gaza are believed to still be alive.
Hamas leaders were expected to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for ceasefire talks with Egyptian officials to explore ways to reach a deal that could secure the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners.
The fresh bid comes after Washington said this week it was reviving efforts toward that goal.
The Hostages Families Forum urged the administrations of both outgoing US President Joe Biden and Trump — who takes office in January — to step up efforts in order to secure a hostage release.
“The hostages’ lives hang by a thread,” it said.


World Central Kitchen says pausing Gaza operations after Israeli strike

World Central Kitchen says pausing Gaza operations after Israeli strike
Updated 33 min 36 sec ago
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World Central Kitchen says pausing Gaza operations after Israeli strike

World Central Kitchen says pausing Gaza operations after Israeli strike
  • WCK in a statement said it “had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack“
  • “All three men worked for WCK and they were hit while driving in a WCK jeep in Khan Yunis,” Bassal said

GAZA: US charity World Central Kitchen said Saturday it was “pausing operations in Gaza at this time” after an Israeli air strike hit a vehicle carrying its workers.
The Israeli military confirmed that a Palestinian employee of WCK was killed in a strike, accusing the worker of being a “terrorist” who “infiltrated Israel and took part in the murderous October 7 massacre” last year.
WCK in a statement said it “had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack,” and did not confirm any deaths.
Earlier Saturday, Gaza civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed, including “three employees of World Central Kitchen,” in the strike in the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

“All three men worked for WCK and they were hit while driving in a WCK jeep in Khan Yunis,” Bassal said, adding that the vehicle had been “marked with its logo clearly visible.”
WCK confirmed a strike had hit its workers, but added: “At this time, we are working with incomplete information and are urgently seeking more details.”
The Israeli army statement said representatives from the unit responsible for overseeing humanitarian needs in Gaza had “demanded senior officials from the international community and the WCK administration to clarify the issue and order an urgent examination regarding the hiring of workers who took part in the October 7 massacre.”
It also said its strike in Khan Yunis had hit “a civilian unmarked vehicle and its movement on the route was not coordinated for transporting of aid.”
In April, an Israeli strike killed seven WCK staff — an Australian, three Britons, a North American, a Palestinian and a Pole.
Israel said it had been targeting a “Hamas gunman” in that strike, but the military admitted a series of “grave mistakes” and violations of its own rules of engagement.
The UN said last week that 333 aid workers had been killed since the start of the war in October of last year, 243 of them employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Palestinian militants’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed 44,382 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

 


Israel hits Hezbollah targets in Lebanon days into fragile truce

Israel hits Hezbollah targets in Lebanon days into fragile truce
Updated 30 November 2024
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Israel hits Hezbollah targets in Lebanon days into fragile truce

Israel hits Hezbollah targets in Lebanon days into fragile truce
  • The army said it had also struck “military infrastructure” on the Syria-Lebanon border, where it accused Hezbollah of smuggling weapons in violation of the truce
  • Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported “continued violations of the ceasefire” by Israel

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military carried out air strikes in Lebanon Saturday against Hezbollah activities that it said “posed a threat,” days into a fragile ceasefire between it and the Iran-backed group.
The army said it had also struck “military infrastructure” on the Syria-Lebanon border, where it accused Hezbollah of smuggling weapons in violation of the truce.
In a speech this week announcing his government was ready to accept a ceasefire after more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned that Israel would maintain “full military freedom of action” in the event of any breach.
In a statement on Saturday, the military listed four separate strikes in Lebanon on facilities, weapons and vehicles belonging to Hezbollah, saying it had acted “against activities in Lebanon that posed a threat to the State of Israel, violating the ceasefire understandings.”
Lebanon’s health ministry said that an Israeli “strike on a car in Majdal Zoun wounded three people including a seven-year-old child.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported “continued violations of the ceasefire” by Israel, including an incident in which an Israeli tank “crushed a number of cars and surrounded some families” who were later evacuated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Separately, Israel’s military said it had launched a “strike on military infrastructure sites adjacent to border crossings between Syria and Lebanon that were actively used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons,” adding that the alleged smuggling took place after the ceasefire took effect.
The ceasefire deal, which was intended to end more than a year of cross-border exchanges of fire and two months of all-out war, went into effect early on Wednesday.
As part of the terms of the agreement, the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers will deploy in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws over a period of 60 days.
Hezbollah is also meant to withdraw its forces north of the Litani river, approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
On Friday, the group’s chief Naim Qassem vowed to cooperate with the Lebanese army “to implement the commitments of the agreement.”
NNA reported that army chief Joseph Aoun met US Major General Jasper Jeffers to discuss “the general situation and coordination mechanisms between concerned parties in the south.”
The US military’s Central Command said Jeffers arrived in Beirut this week “to serve as co-chair for the implementation and monitoring mechanism of the cessation of hostilities.”
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, at least 3,961 people have been killed in the country since October 2023 as a result of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, most of them in recent weeks.
On the Israeli side, the hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.
Israel stepped up its campaign in south Lebanon in late September after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas following the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.


West faces ‘reckoning’ over Middle East radicalization: UK spy chief

West faces ‘reckoning’ over Middle East radicalization: UK spy chief
Updated 30 November 2024
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West faces ‘reckoning’ over Middle East radicalization: UK spy chief

West faces ‘reckoning’ over Middle East radicalization: UK spy chief
  • MI6 head Richard Moore cites ‘terrible loss of innocent life’
  • ‘In 37 years in the intelligence profession, I’ve never seen the world in a more dangerous state’

LONDON: The West has “yet to have a full reckoning with the radicalizing impact of the fighting, the terrible loss of innocent life in the Middle East and the horrors of Oct. 7,” the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6 has warned.

Richard Moore made the comments in a speech delivered to the British Embassy in Paris, and was joined by his French counterpart Nicolas Lerner.

Moore said: “In 37 years in the intelligence profession, I’ve never seen the world in a more dangerous state. And the impact on Europe, our shared European home, could hardly be more serious.”

Daesh is expanding its reach and staging deadly attacks in Iran and Russia despite suffering significant territorial setbacks, he added, warning that “the menace of terrorism has not gone away.”

In October last year, Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s domestic intelligence service MI5, said his agency was monitoring for increased terror risks in the UK due to the Gaza war. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in over a year of fighting.

In Lebanon, a 60-day truce agreed this week between Hezbollah and Israel brought an end to a conflict that has killed thousands of Lebanese civilians.


Israel military strikes kill 32 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say

Israel military strikes kill 32 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say
Updated 30 November 2024
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Israel military strikes kill 32 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say

Israel military strikes kill 32 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say
  • Among the 32 killed, at least seven died in an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza City

The Israeli military said it killed a Palestinian it accused of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel in a vehicle strike in Gaza, and is investigating claims that the individual was an employee of aid group World Central Kitchen.
At least 32 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military strikes across Gaza overnight and into Saturday, with most casualties reported in northern areas, medics told Reuters.
Later on Saturday medics said seven people were killed when an Israeli air strike targeted a vehicle near a gathering of Palestinians receiving aid in the southern area of Khan Younis south of the enclave.
According to residents and a Hamas source, the vehicle targeted near a crowd receiving flour belonged to security personnel responsible for overseeing the delivery of aid shipments into Gaza.
Among the 32 killed, at least seven died in an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza City, according to a statement from the Gaza Civil Defense and the official Palestinian news agency WAFA early on Saturday.
The Gaza Civil Defense also reported that one of its officers was killed in attacks in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, bringing the total number of civil defense workers killed since October 7, 2023, to 88.
Earlier on Saturday, WAFA reported that three employees of the World Central Kitchen, a US-based, non-governmental humanitarian agency, were killed when a civilian vehicle was targeted in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
The World Central Kitchen has not yet commented on the incident.