Two Israelis killed in Hezbollah retaliatory attack on Golan, police say
Two Israelis killed in Hezbollah retaliatory attack on Golan, police say/node/2546731/middle-east
Two Israelis killed in Hezbollah retaliatory attack on Golan, police say
Israeli soldiers block a road backdropped by smoke from a fire after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Tuesday, July 9, 2024. (AP)
Two Israelis killed in Hezbollah retaliatory attack on Golan, police say
Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been forced to evacuate from areas around the border between the two countries
Updated 10 July 2024
Reuters
DUBAI/JERUSALEM: Two people were killed when Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at the Golan Heights on Tuesday, Israeli police said, as the Lebanese militant group retaliated after a former bodyguard of its leader was killed in an Israeli strike.
One rocket hit a car in the Golan that instantly killed a man and woman, police said. Israel’s ambulance service had initially said in a statement that paramedics had reported two casualties “in critical condition” after red-alert sirens went off in the Israeli-occupied Golan.
Police said firefighters continued to battle several fires that broke out as a result of rockets that fell to the ground.
Israel’s military said its fighter jets had struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the area of Qabrikha from which the projectiles were launched toward the area of the Golan Heights. It added it also struck Hezbollah military structures in the area of Kfarkela in southern Lebanon.
Earlier in the day, an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle in Syrian territory on the Damascus-Beirut highway, killing one of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s former bodyguards, who security sources said was recently involved in transporting weapons for the Iranian-backed group.
Hezbollah said that it had fired dozens of Katyusha rockets at the Golan Heights in retaliation. The Israeli military said 40 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into the Golan.
Hezbollah mourned former bodyguard Yasser Nimr Qarnabsh without elaborating on his role in the organization. Two security sources said he had become a mid-ranking Hezbollah official involved in the transport of weapons.
Israel typically does not discuss attacks by its forces in Syria. When asked about the strike, an Israeli military spokesperson said: “We do not comment on reports in the foreign media.”
Hezbollah began firing at Israeli targets along the border in support of Palestinians after its ally Hamas launched the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that precipitated the war in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have been forced to evacuate from areas around the border between the two countries.
QAMISHLI, Syria: US-backed Syrian fighters carried out a rare attack Monday in eastern Syria, striking at three posts manned by pro-government gunmen and claiming that they killed 18 of them in a major escalation near the border with Iraq.
The renewed clashes in Syria’s eastern oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor came amid high tensions in the region following last month’s killings of a top commander of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group in Beirut and the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas group in Iran. Israel was blamed for both attacks, and Iran and Hezbollah have vowed to retaliate.
The Syrian government, which is backed by Russia and Iran, has vowed for years to liberate eastern Syria from US forces who have been deployed in the area since 2015 to help fight Daesh.
Monday’s attack by members of the Arab-led Deir Ezzor Military Council — part of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — came days after clashes and shelling between the SDF and pro-government gunmen left more than a dozen people dead.
The Deir Ezzor Military Council said the new attack was in retaliation for government forces’ shelling the villages of Dahla and Jdaidet Bakkara last week that left at least 11 civilians dead. The group said it attacked the area where the shelling was launched.
Released Palestinians describe abuses in Israeli prisons
Jail officials acknowledge they have made conditions harsher for inmates
Updated 27 min 40 sec ago
AP
WEST BANK: Frequent beatings, overcrowding, withholding of basic rations. Released Palestinians have described worsening abuses in Israeli prisons crammed with thousands detained since the war in Gaza began 10 months ago.
Israeli officials have acknowledged that they have made conditions harsher for Palestinians in prisons, with hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir boasting that prisons will no longer be “summer camps” under his watch.
Four released Palestinians said that treatment had dramatically worsened in prisons run by the ministry since the Oct. 7 attacks that triggered the latest war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Some emerged from months of captivity emaciated and emotionally scarred.
A fifth prisoner, Muazzaz Abayat, was too weakened to detail his experience soon after his release in July following six months at southern Israel’s Naqab prison. Frail-looking and unable to focus, he could only muster the strength to speak for several minutes, saying he was regularly beaten.
Now at home outside Bethlehem, the 37-year-old can hardly leave his armchair.
“At night, he hallucinates and stands in the middle of the house, in shock or remembering the torment and pain he went through,” said his cousin, Aya Abayat. Like many of the detained, he was put under administrative detention, a procedure that allows Israel to detain people indefinitely without charge.
Their accounts match reports from human rights groups that have documented alleged abuse in Israeli detention facilities.
Alarm among rights groups over abuses of Palestinian prisoners has mainly focused on military facilities, particularly Sde Teiman, a desert base where Israeli military police have arrested 10 soldiers on suspicion of sodomizing a Palestinian detainee. The detention facility at the base has held most of the Palestinians seized in raids in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
The soldiers, five of whom have since been released, deny the sodomy allegation. Their defense lawyer has said that they used force to defend themselves against a detainee who attacked them during a search, but did not sexually abuse him.
The Israeli army says 36 Palestinian prisoners have died in military-run detention centers since October. It said some of them had “previous illnesses or injuries caused to them as a result of the ongoing hostilities,” without elaborating further.
According to autopsy reports for five of the detainees, two bore signs of physical trauma such as broken ribs, while the death of a third “could have been avoided if there had been greater care for his medical needs.” The reports were provided by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, an Israeli rights organization whose doctors observed the autopsies.
Facing calls to shut down the Sde Teiman facility, the military has been transferring hundreds of Palestinians from the base to the prisons run by Ben Gvir’s ministry.
But according to Abayat and the others, conditions in those facilities are traumatic as well.
Munthir Amira, a West Bank political activist who was held in Ofer Prison, said guards regularly beat detainees for punishment or often for no reason at all.
He said he and 12 others shared a cell with only six beds and a few thin blankets, freezing during the winter months. When prisoners had to go to the bathroom, they were handcuffed and bent over, and they were let outside for only 15 minutes twice a week, he said. Amira was held in administrative detention, apparently over his Facebook posts critical of Israel.
What all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel could mean for crisis-wracked Lebanon
Hurried departure of visitors and diplomats causes war jitters as Lebanese await Hezbollah retaliation for Israeli killing of commander
All-out war could wipe 25 percent of Lebanon’s already weak GDP and result in shortages of basic commodities, warns economist
Updated 6 min 40 sec ago
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: As Lebanon faces the increasing possibility of an all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel, it also confronts a perfect storm of crises, ranging from the economic to the diplomatic.
The Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group has traded near-daily fire with the Israeli military in support of its ally Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack last year led by the Palestinian militant group on Israel triggered a military assault on the Gaza Strip.
In recent days, calls by Arab and Western governments and embassies for their nationals to leave Lebanon immediately have greatly heightened concerns. The German Foreign Ministry has expressed its alarm at the “false sense of security” among citizens, and warned of severe consequences if the confrontation escalates into a full-scale war.
The US Embassy in Beirut said on Friday that it “encourages those who wish to depart Lebanon to book any ticket available to them” while urging US citizens who choose not to depart Lebanon “to prepare contingency plans for emergencies and be prepared to shelter in place for an extended period.”
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Hamam on August 9, 2024. (AFP)
The risk of the conflict expanding in the Middle East has also led to more airlines, including Air Algerie and Air India, suspending flights to Lebanon. Britain has advised its airlines “not to enter Lebanese airspace from Aug. 8 until Nov. 4,” citing “a potential risk to aviation from military activity.”
Fear of escalation in the wake of two killings at the end of last month attributed to Israel — Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah’s senior military commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut — has driven thousands of Lebanese expatriates to flee the country.
Many had arrived just weeks earlier to spend the summer with family, but now, urged by foreign embassies, they have hastily packed their bags, leaving behind a country on the brink.
Fire sweep over a car targeted by an Israeli strike in the southern city of Sidon on August 9, 2024. (AFP)
“This is Lebanon. Nothing has changed. We are used to it,” said one of the departing expatriates, reflecting the resigned attitude of someone who knew the risks of both staying back in the country and catching a flight out of Beirut.
The exodus of expatriates has struck a devastating blow to Lebanon’s economy. As the primary lifeline that sustains the nation, their departure spells disaster for small and medium enterprises, especially in the tourism sector. Jean Bayruti, secretary-general of the Federation of Tourism Unions in Lebanon, said: “If we sacrifice the tourism sector this year, we will have sacrificed Lebanon.”
Lebanon’s economy, already fragile and weakened by years of political instability, is now at greater risk. The World Bank had cautiously predicted a slight economic growth of 0.2 percent for 2023, supported by remittances and tourism. However, the situation has drastically changed.
The national currency has lost 95 percent of its value since the economy’s collapse in 2019, with more than 80 percent of the population now living below the poverty line.
In recent days, calls by Arab and Western governments and embassies for their nationals to leave Lebanon immediately have greatly heightened concerns. (AFP)
Jassem Ajaka, a Lebanese economist, warned that the low-intensity war in southern Lebanon is eroding the economy. “If the strikes expand, the situation will be more costly, as insurance rates and general prices will rise, and black-market traders will benefit,” he said, referring to operators in the underground economy.
He believes that losses in the Lebanese tourism industry could exceed $2 billion, compounded by disruptions in imports and banking transactions. In the event of an all-out war involving Israeli attacks on Lebanon’s creaky infrastructure, the damage could be catastrophic, Ajaka said.
“Gross domestic product losses could reach 24-25 percent, businesses and hospitals would be affected, and there could be shortages of basic commodities such as wheat and fuel.”
The cross-border violence since last October has killed at least 565 people in Lebanon, mostly combatants, but also at least 116 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
INNUMBERS
95% Loss in Lebanese currency value since 2019 economic collapse.
80%+ Population of Lebanon now living below the poverty line.
565 People, including fighters, killed in Lebanon since October 2023.
On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures. Tens of thousands of residents have been displaced by fighting from both sides of the Blue Line — the demarcation line dividing Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights.
Lebanon is deeply divided in its response to the escalating tensions. While some believe that the country can avoid the worst of the conflict, others are already experiencing its harsh realities.
Entire towns in southern Lebanon have been wiped out by retaliatory Israeli military strikes, resulting in the displacement of tens of thousands of families.
A televised speech by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is transmitted on large screens as fighters and mourners attend the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut’s southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
On Friday, separate Israeli attacks killed two Hezbollah fighters in Naqoura and two Hamas members in Sidon, including the Palestinian group’s security official in the Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp. It was the first time that the town, 44 km from Beirut, had been targeted.
Israeli drones were seen flying over Lebanese villages along the border, using loudspeakers to broadcast messages in Arabic against Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. In a televised address at Shukr’s funeral on Aug. 1, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah was “paying the price for its support for Gaza and the Palestinian people,” but also declared an “open battle on all fronts.”
The general consensus in Beirut is that Lebanese government officials have limited options for avoiding a catastrophe. “The most Lebanese officials can do is resort to lobbying diplomacy to prevent Israel from destroying Lebanon,” one analyst, speaking anonymously, told Arab News. “They are unable to influence the course of developments when it comes to Hezbollah and Israel.”
A man walks on an overpass beneath a giant billboard that reads “Enough, we are tired, Lebanon doesn’t want war” on a street in Beirut on August 7, 2024. (AFP)
The situation is vastly different from the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, with fewer safe routes for those seeking to flee. Many Lebanese people now consider areas with Christian, Druze, or Sunni majorities as relatively safe, unlike the Shiite-majority regions that are closely associated with Hezbollah.
For many, the threat of war is an all-too-familiar reality. Mohammed Sabra, who lives in Beirut’s southern suburbs, did not try to hide his frustration.
“We are controlled, not chosen. Israel doesn’t need a pretext to attack Lebanon. All I can do is hope for things to stay under control, because I can’t run anywhere. I have five children and displacement will extract a high cost.”
Voicing his concerns, Bilal Ghandour, a jewelry shop owner in Beirut, said: “We are dealing with an enemy that has no red lines, and we saw what happened in the Gaza Strip. The impact of any future war will be severe in light of the economic crisis we are suffering from.”
The aftermath of an Israeli raid in the southern Lebanese village of Shama (Chamaa), on August 2, 2024. (AFP)
In recent weeks, Israeli jets have flown low over Beirut, often visible to the naked eye, and have frequently broken the sound barrier, causing the loudest sonic booms heard in years.
The sense of fear in the Lebanese capital is palpable, especially among residents of areas viewed as Hezbollah strongholds, notably Dahiyeh, a predominantly Shiite suburb in the south of Beirut.
Haret Hreik, in Dahiyeh, was where Shukr was killed in an airstrike by the Israeli military on July 30, in apparent retaliation for the deaths of 12 children in the predominantly Druze town of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights, in a missile strike blamed on Hezbollah.
During the 2006 war, Dahiyeh served as the headquarters of Hezbollah and was heavily targeted and damaged by the Israeli military. Dahiyeh doctrine, the Israeli military strategy involving the destruction of civilian infrastructure in order to pressure hostile regimes, is named after the neighborhood.
“Manal,” a university professor who lives in Dahiyeh, shared her apprehensions with Arab News on condition of anonymity. “There is a sense of fear for the family, and I have no plans A or B for displacement. All the bags of displacement are ready in front of the doors of the homes of Dahiyeh residents, even those who believe in the resistance,” she said.
A Lebanese couple run through the streets in front of a bombed bridge following an Israeli air strikes on the Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh on 14 July 2006. (AFP)
Lebanon now faces a future filled with uncertainty. The economic crisis, combined with the potential for war, has left many feeling helpless. “Everyone is worried, everything is possible,” said Fatima Muhaimish, a resident of Beirut’s southern suburbs. “There is no psychological or physical ability to endure war and the horror it leaves behind.”
As the Lebanese people brace for what may come, they are left with more questions than answers. “Is there really a safe place in Lebanon if Israel launches a war on the country?” they ask. “What happens after this war, and will there be other wars?”
Social political analyst Maher Abi Nader attributes the widespread sense of denial to the psychological trauma endured by the Lebanese people in recent decades, most recently after the August 2020 Beirut port explosion.
Rescuers stand near a building with destroyed top floors following an Israeli military strike on Beirut’s southern suburb on July 30, 2024. (AFP)
“The West is ignorant of our reading of the war. The Lebanese citizen knows how to deal with acute crises. He prefers to live one day at a time to avoid fatal stress,” Abi Nader told Arab News.
In his speech at Shukr’s funeral, Nasrallah said that unnamed countries had asked Hezbollah to retaliate in an “acceptable” way — or not at all. But he said it would be “impossible” for his fighters not to respond. “There is no discussion on this point,” he said. “The only things lying between us and you are the days, the nights and the battlefield.”
With no clear path forward, Lebanon is once again on edge, waiting for what seems like a delayed but inevitable full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Mikati: Lebanon committed to UNIFIL mission, de-escalation
Lebanese military confirms continuation of joint patrols with UNIFIL following row
Updated 12 August 2024
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: Lebanon is committed to UNIFIL’s mission in the south, the country’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, reiterated on Monday.
He said cooperation between the Lebanese military and UNIFIL forces is crucial, and rejected claims of differences and discrepancies, adding that “any issues arising during task implementation are promptly resolved.”
Mikati’s remarks follow a dispute between the military and a UNIFIL patrol during a joint operation within UNIFIL’s area of operation.
According to security reports, “a patrol carrying members of the French unit insisted on entering an area outside UNIFIL’s jurisdiction in the town of Kfarhamam” — a village in the border district of Hasbaya in the Nabatiye Governorate.
Residents were displaced during the escalation of hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli military over the past few months.
The reports said the Lebanese troops refused to follow the patrol after the French unit insisted on entering an area considered private property.
Communications intensified after the Lebanese military threatened to suspend joint patrols, with efforts focusing on mending relations.
The developments prompted Lebanese Army Command to confirm in a statement that “military units continue to carry out joint tasks with UNIFIL, maintaining close cooperation and coordination within the framework of UN Resolution 1701, in light of the exceptional circumstances and developments in the country, particularly the ongoing Israeli assaults.”
The incident in Kfarhamam occurred shortly before the extension of UNIFIL’s mandate, which is scheduled for the end of this month, and amidst increasing hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.
Mikati said on Monday that Lebanon was in discussions with the relevant countries regarding the extension of UNIFIL forces’ presence.
Last week, Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib noted “slight changes to the text concerning the extension of UNIFIL forces (remaining in place).”
A security source said that Lebanon “demanded a comprehensive and ongoing coordination between UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army and that any Israeli attack on the Lebanese Army be condemned.”
Last week, the Lebanese government distributed a document to the heads of diplomatic missions outlining the principles to achieve long-term stability in southern Lebanon in connection with Resolution 1701.
Mikati said on Monday that the document “establishes clear foundations for a solution, the most significant of which is to reduce escalation to avoid a destructive cycle of violence.”
It also calls for the international community to play a decisive and immediate role in calming tensions and restraining the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon, he said.
Mikati emphasized that “the main message that Lebanon underscores in all its diplomatic communications is the implementation of Resolution 1701, which serves as the cornerstone for ensuring stability and security in southern Lebanon.”
Retired Lebanese Army Maj. Gen. Abdul Rahman Chehaitli told Arab News on Monday: “The Army Command Operations Rooms determine the routes of the joint patrols, and therefore, an army route that is not agreed upon cannot be altered during the patrol.”
He continued: “There are stop points that no one can change, and this is not a matter of entering private property.”
A source close to UNIFIL said: “There is a constant issue of entering private property, which could be an orchard, a house, or an establishment.
“UNIFIL submits its schedule of operations in advance to the Army Command Operations Rooms, and the army only participates in eight percent of joint patrols due to its shortage of personnel and military capabilities.”
The source added: “Under Lebanese laws, the army cannot enter private property without permission from the Public Prosecution’s Office, and Hezbollah may have exploited this legal loophole in UNIFIL’s tasks and relied upon it to refuse UNIFIL’s access to private property on the pretext that the Lebanese Army is not entitled to do so.”
Hezbollah’s supporters have previously accused UNIFIL of “monitoring and tracking some of Hezbollah’s military sites, centers or movements.”
The suspicions have intensified during the recent months of confrontation on the southern border.
This is not the first such incident — UNIFIL patrols have faced confrontation with residents of towns over access to their internal streets before. The bloodiest took place at the end of 2022 in the town of Al-Aqabiya, outside UNIFIL’s area of operation, resulting in the killing of an Irish soldier and the wounding of three others.
On Monday, artillery bombardment persisted on the periphery of Naqoura, Aita Al-Shaab Square, and Burj Al-Muluk.
Israeli aircraft conducted airstrikes over the town of Chihine in the west of the country.
Additionally, the forest surrounding Kounin was subjected to incendiary phosphorus bombs.
Meanwhile, in Israel, sirens sounded at dawn in the settlement of Nahariya and its surroundings, reaching the Krayot area.
Israeli media reported that air defenses intercepted 20 missiles fired by Hezbollah at Nahariya and surrounding towns, causing fires to break out in various areas of Western Galilee.
Over the past 48 hours, Hezbollah has conducted more than 10 attacks on military sites and gatherings of Israeli soldiers.
Israeli raids resulted in the death of a Hezbollah member and left five civilians injured in the areas of Taybeh, Kfar Kila, and Wazzani.
During a party event, MP Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, said that Hezbollah initiated actions on the southern front because “we had no other choice.”
Fadlallah said: “No person with a free conscience can observe the events unfolding in Gaza and choose to remain an onlooker.”
Regarding Hezbollah’s response to the assassination of prominent military leader Fouad Shukr, Fadlallah said: “We are currently in a phase of anticipation concerning the strategy and tactics that the resistance will employ in response.
“However, we must not allow the enemy to dictate our actions, as we remain on a supportive front, and the primary conflict continues to unfold in Gaza.”
