Druze in shock as war between Israel and Hezbollah strikes home

Citizens demonstrated against the Israeli Prime Minister during his visit to the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel annexed Golan Heights on July 29, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Citizens demonstrated against the Israeli Prime Minister during his visit to the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel annexed Golan Heights on July 29, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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Updated 30 July 2024
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Druze in shock as war between Israel and Hezbollah strikes home

Druze in shock as war between Israel and Hezbollah strikes home
  • But in the Golan Heights, an area seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed by Israel in a move not generally recognized internationally, many still identify as Syrians and refuse Israeli citizenship

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights: For many of the Druze community in the Golan Heights mourning 12 youngsters killed in a missile strike at the weekend, the carnage came as a shock despite the months of daily rocket fire and air strikes between Israel and southern Lebanon.
Even when the rockets were flying elsewhere, the community felt largely safe, said Raya Fakher Aldeen, a resident of Majdal Shams, the Druze village where children and teenagers were playing football when the missile landed on Saturday.
“It was a shock because not once in the last nine months, even when the sirens were sounding, did we feel we were being targeted,” she said.
Israel has accused the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah of carrying out the strike and on Monday, during a visit to Majdal Shams, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a “harsh response.”
Hezbollah denies killing the youngsters but said it had launched strikes on what it said were military targets in nearby areas of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
As members of an Arab minority straddling Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the Golan Heights, the Druze, who practice a form of Islam, occupy a special niche in the complicated politics of the region.
Unlike most Israeli Palestinians, many Druze in Israel serve in the military and police, including during the war in Gaza, and some have reached high rank.
But in the Golan Heights, an area seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed by Israel in a move not generally recognized internationally, many still identify as Syrians and refuse Israeli citizenship.
The ambiguity of the Druze position was reflected in the resolutely non-political funeral. Thousands mourned in Majdal Shams on Sunday but there was no sign of either Israeli or Syrian flags and political talk was largely absent.
“Many Druze feel angry and do not want to be fuel in this war for any side,” said Fakher Aldeen.
The standoff between Israel and Hezbollah, which began soon after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border, but has so far stopped short of the full-scale war that many now fear.
Sultan Abu Jabal, a 62-year-old who works and lives in Majdal and who lost a granddaughter in the attack, denounced what he said was a “crazy war.”
“They are all innocent people. Why is it my problem if there are troubles between Hezbollah and Israel?“

NO ESCAPING REGIONAL POLITICS
However the politics of the region is inescapable and though the youngsters killed in the strike do not appear to have held Israeli citizenship, Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have embraced them as their own.
“A Jewish child murdered on the Gaza border on Oct. 7 and a Druze child murdered on the Golan Heights are the same. These are our children,” Gallant said during a visit to Majdal Shams.
On the other side of the dividing line, Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a former Hezbollah opponent who has since reconciled with the movement, told Al Jazeera television the Israeli claim that Hezbollah fired the rocket was a fabrication.
On the Syrian side, Druze Sheikh Yousef Al-Jarbou offered prayers for the dead and accused Israel of “committing daily massacres” in a speech published by Syrian state media, accompanied by a photo showing Syrian and Druze flags behind him and a photo of President Bashar Assad, a Hezbollah ally.
“The incident is being exploited by all sides,” said Lubna Al Bassit, an anti-Assad activist in Sweida, the Druze capital of Syria, who reflects the views of Druze who blame Iran and Hezbollah.
“There’s rivalry. Who is the real voice of the Druze community — is it the Israeli Druze who are integrated in Israel and serve in the army, or is it the Lebanese who have been taking a stance against Israel, specifically Jumblatt who is a historic leader of the Druze,” said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center.
As Lebanon braces for Israeli strikes that are expected to be much heavier than those seen so far in the war, the Druze of Majdal Shams are left to wait.
“We hope this war will end and this massacre will be the last one in this devastating war,” said Sheikh Salim Abu Jabal. “We call for peace. We don’t attack anyone and we don’t accept being attacked by anyone.”

 


Buried for 14 hours after Israeli strike, Lebanese toddler makes recovery

Buried for 14 hours after Israeli strike, Lebanese toddler makes recovery
Updated 21 sec ago
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Buried for 14 hours after Israeli strike, Lebanese toddler makes recovery

Buried for 14 hours after Israeli strike, Lebanese toddler makes recovery
SIDON, Lebanon: Rescuers did not expect to find two-year-old Ali Khalifeh alive after an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed his entire family and left him trapped under the rubble for 14 hours.
Amputated, bandaged and hooked to a respirator in a hospital bed that was way too big for him, “Ali is the sole survivor of his family,” said Hussein Khalifeh, his father’s uncle.
The toddler’s parents, sister and two grandmothers all perished in the strike on September 29, days after Israel intensified its attacks on Hezbollah militants.
The strike on Sarafand, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of the coastal city of Sidon, flattened an apartment complex and killed 15 people, many of them relatives, according to residents.
“Rescue workers had almost lost hope of finding anyone alive under the rubble,” 45-year-old Khalifeh told AFP from the hospital in Sidon where his two-year-old relative was being treated.
But then “Ali appeared among debris in the shovel of the bulldozer, after we all thought he had died,” he said.
“He emerged from the rubble, barely breathing, after 14 hours.”
Israel has been at war with Hezbollah since late September, when it broadened its war focus from fighting Hamas militants in Gaza to securing its northern border with Lebanon.
An escalating Israeli air campaign, after nearly a year of low intensity cross-border fire, has killed more than 2,600 people across Lebanon since September 23, according to health ministry figures.
Signs of the violence were apparent even at the hospital in Sidon where Ali was rushed to following the strike on Sarafand.
The toddler, under a medically induced coma after doctors amputated his right hand, has since been transferred to a medical facility in the capital Beirut where he is due to undergo pre-prosthetic surgery.
“Ali was sleeping on the couch at home when the strike hit. He is still asleep today... were are waiting to complete his surgeries before waking him up,” said the relative Hussein Khalifeh.
Other family members were also fighting to stay alive after the Sarafand strike.
One of Khalifeh’s nieces, 32-year-old Zainab, was trapped under the rubble for two hours before being rescued and transferred to the nearest hospital, said the man.
It was there that she was later informed that her parents, her husband and three children, aged between three and seven, had all been killed.
The strike left her with only one, severely injured eye.
Zainab said she “did not hear the sounds of the missiles that rained down on her family’s home,” according to Khalifeh.
“She only saw darkness and heard deafening screams,” he said.
Ali Alaa El-Din, a doctor treating her, said that “the psychological scars that Zainab suffered are much greater than her physical injury.”
He has also tended Zainab’s sister Fatima, 30, who was wounded in the same strike.
Both had injuries “throughout their bodies, with fractures in the feet and damage to the lungs,” said the doctor.
Medically, he added, “Zainab and Fatima’s cases are not among the most difficult cases we have faced during the war, but they are the most severe from a psychological and human perspective.”

UN accuses Israel of ‘deliberate’ attack on peacekeeping position in Lebanon

UN accuses Israel of ‘deliberate’ attack on peacekeeping position in Lebanon
Updated 2 min 22 sec ago
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UN accuses Israel of ‘deliberate’ attack on peacekeeping position in Lebanon

UN accuses Israel of ‘deliberate’ attack on peacekeeping position in Lebanon
  • UN Interim Force in Lebanon cites ‘seven other similar incidents’
  • Accuses Israel of ‘flagrant violation of international law and resolution 1701’

NEW YORK: The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon on Friday said two Israeli excavators and a bulldozer destroyed part of a fence and a concrete structure in one of its positions in Ras Naqoura in southern Lebanon.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon added that in response to its “urgent protest,” the Israel Defense Forces denied any activity was taking place inside its position.

UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel, an area that has seen more than a year of fighting that turned into fierce clashes since last month between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel claims that UN forces provide cover for Hezbollah, and has told UNIFIL to evacuate peacekeepers from southern Lebanon for their own safety.

But UNIFIL said the incident, which took place on Thursday, “like seven other similar incidents, is not a matter of peacekeepers getting caught in the crossfire, but of deliberate and direct actions by the IDF.”

UNIFIL issued a statement warning that “the IDF’s deliberate and direct destruction of clearly identifiable UNIFIL property is a flagrant violation of international law and resolution 1701.”

It called on the IDF and all other actors to honor “their obligation to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times.”

UNIFIL also expressed concern over the destruction and removal this week of two of the blue barrels that mark the UN-delineated line of withdrawal between Lebanon and Israel (the Blue Line). Peacekeepers said they directly observed the IDF removing one of them.

“Despite the unacceptable pressures being exerted on the mission through various channels, peacekeepers will continue to undertake our mandated monitoring and reporting tasks under resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said.


Netanyahu appoints Yechiel Leiter as new ambassador to US

Netanyahu appoints Yechiel Leiter as new ambassador to US
Updated 14 min 30 sec ago
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Netanyahu appoints Yechiel Leiter as new ambassador to US

Netanyahu appoints Yechiel Leiter as new ambassador to US
  • His son was killed last year in Gaza war against Hamas
  • Leiter’s appointment came three days after Trump’s election to second term as US president

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed US-born Yechiel Leiter, an official who previously served as chief of staff in the finance ministry, as the next Israeli ambassador to the United States.
“Yechiel Leiter is a highly capable diplomat, an eloquent speaker, and possesses a deep understanding of American culture and politics,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
His appointment was also welcomed by Yisrael Ganz, the head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing councils of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a territory Palestinians want as part of a future state.
Ganz said Leiter, who lives in the Gush Etzion settlement area, as “a key partner in English-language advocacy for Judea and Samaria,” a name used by many Israelis for the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Leiter’s appointment came three days after Donald Trump’s election to a second term as US president, celebrated by many Israelis because of his strong support for Israel.
As well as serving in the finance ministry, Leiter also held positions as deputy director general in the Education Ministry and acting chairman of the Israel Ports Company.
His son was killed last year in the Gaza war against Palestinian militant group Hamas while serving with the Israeli military.


Jordan’s King Abdullah returns home after meetings with King Charles, Keir Starmer during UK visit

Jordan’s King Abdullah returns home after meetings with King Charles, Keir Starmer during UK visit
Updated 33 min 52 sec ago
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Jordan’s King Abdullah returns home after meetings with King Charles, Keir Starmer during UK visit

Jordan’s King Abdullah returns home after meetings with King Charles, Keir Starmer during UK visit
  • King Abdullah met Starmer at Downing Street on Wednesday to discuss Middle East crises
  • Meeting with Charles III marked the Jordanian monarch’s silver jubilee — 25 years since ascending to the throne

LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan returned home on Friday following a working visit to the UK.

The visit this week featured key engagements with King Charles III and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Earlier in the visit, King Abdullah met Starmer at Downing Street on Wednesday, where discussions reinforced the close ties between the two kingdoms, Jordan News Agency reported.

They also called for an immediate ceasefire and stronger efforts for de-escalation and humanitarian aid in Gaza.

They warned that Israel’s ban on UNRWA activities could worsen the humanitarian crisis and highlighted the need to address violence in the West Bank.

The King emphasized the UK’s crucial role in seeking resolutions to regional conflicts and achieving a just, comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution, JNA added.

King Abdullah then met Charles at Windsor Castle on Thursday.

The occasion marked the Jordanian monarch’s silver jubilee — 25 years since ascending to the throne — and King Charles commemorated the milestone by presenting King Abdullah with a specially engraved silver beaker, featuring the ciphers of the king and queen.

The formal welcome at Windsor began with the Jordanian monarch receiving a royal salute, accompanied by the Jordanian national anthem.

Major Edward Emlyn-Williams, the captain of the guard, invited King Abdullah, in Arabic, to inspect the guard, followed by a military march-past.

The two kings exchanged conversation as they interacted with the guards before proceeding into the castle for tea.

The long-standing relationship between the two monarchs was highlighted by King Charles’s five visits to Jordan as Prince of Wales, most recently in 2021. King Abdullah’s last visit to Charles took place at Buckingham Palace in November 2022.

King Abdullah’s visit comes months after his son and heir, Crown Prince Hussein, and Crown Princess Rajwa welcomed their daughter, Princess Iman, in August.

Britain’s Prince and Princess of Wales attended the wedding of Hussein and Rajwa in June last year.


Israel says it will re-open crossing into Gaza as pressure builds to get more aid in

Israel says it will re-open crossing into Gaza as pressure builds to get more aid in
Updated 08 November 2024
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Israel says it will re-open crossing into Gaza as pressure builds to get more aid in

Israel says it will re-open crossing into Gaza as pressure builds to get more aid in
  • Aid agencies have warned of a gathering humanitarian crisis in the north of the enclave

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Friday it was planning to reopen the Kissufim crossing into central Gaza to increase the flow of aid into the southern end of the Gaza Strip.
The move comes amid growing international pressure on Israel to get more aid into Gaza, where aid agencies have warned of a gathering humanitarian crisis in the north of the enclave, where Israeli troops have been conducting a major operation for more than a month.
The new crossing would be opened following engineering work over recent weeks by army engineers to build inspection points and paved roads, the army said.
Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to Israeli officials demanding concrete measures to address the worsening situation in the Palestinian enclave.
The letter, which was posted to the Internet by a reporter from Axios, gave the Israeli government 30 days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Among the demands included in the letter was for the opening of a fifth crossing into Gaza.