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Iran says Ismail Haniyeh was killed by ‘short-range projectile’

Iran says Ismail Haniyeh was killed by ‘short-range projectile’
Iranians take part in a funeral procession for late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran, on August 1, 2024, ahead of his burial in Qatar. (AFP)
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Updated 03 August 2024
Reuters
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Iran says Ismail Haniyeh was killed by ‘short-range projectile’

Iran says Ismail Haniyeh was killed by ‘short-range projectile’
  • Tehran blames Israel for the killing, promising revenge at appropriate time, place and manner
  • The Iranian Revolutionary Guards say Israel was 'supported by the United States’ in the attack
Updated 03 August 2024
Reuters
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TEHRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Saturday that Israel killed Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh using a “short-range projectile” launched from outside of his accommodation in Tehran.
“This terrorist operation was carried out by firing a short-range projectile with a warhead of about 7 kilograms — causing a strong explosion — from outside the accommodation area,” the Guards said in a statement.
It added that Israel was “supported by the United States” in the attack.
Haniyeh was killed early Wednesday in the Iranian capital where he was attending the swearing-in of the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Iran and Hamas have vowed to retaliate.
The Guards repeated their insistence that Haniyeh would be avenged and that Israel would receive “a severe punishment at the appropriate time, place and manner.”
Israel, which has declined to comment on Haniyeh’s killing, had earlier struck a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut.
That strike killed a senior commander of the Lebanese militant group it blamed for a deadly weekend rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
The killings are the latest of several major incidents that have inflamed regional tensions during the Gaza war, which has drawn in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
In Iran, the voices clamouring for revenge have intensified since Haniyeh’s killing.
On Saturday, the ultraconservative Kayhan daily said retaliatory operations were expected to be “more diverse, more dispersed and impossible to intercept.”
“This time, areas such as Tel Aviv and Haifa and the strategic centers and especially residences of some officials involved in the recent crimes are among the targets,” the newspaper said in an opinion piece.

German foreign minister heads to Middle East in Gaza truce push

German foreign minister heads to Middle East in Gaza truce push
Updated 31 sec ago
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German foreign minister heads to Middle East in Gaza truce push

German foreign minister heads to Middle East in Gaza truce push
Updated 31 sec ago
BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday set off for a diplomatic tour of the Middle East as efforts continue toward a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war.
Pressure has mounted on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal to end the fighting, days after Israel’s military recovered six killed hostages from a Gaza tunnel.
Baerbock said the “nightmare” of the conflict must end and called for all efforts needed “toward a humanitarian ceasefire that will lead to the release of the hostages and put an end to the deaths.”
A ceasefire plan proposed by US President Joe Biden in May “must now finally be adopted,” Baerbock said.
The trip will be Baerbock’s ninth to Israel and her 11th to the Middle East since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war.
Baerbock set off first for Saudi Arabia, where she was due to meet Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said.
The ministers will discuss “the dramatic situation in the region” and “the ongoing attacks by the radical Islamist Houthi militia from Yemen on international shipping,” Deschauer said.
Baerbock will then head to Jordan and meet her counterpart Ayman Safadi to discuss “in particular the issue of coordinating humanitarian aid for the people in Gaza.”
She will then travel to Israel and meet Foreign Minister Israel Katz before heading to the occupied West Bank, the site of recent heavy clashes.
There she will meet Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohammed Mustafa to discuss “how an imminent escalation of violence in the West Bank can be prevented.”
“Nothing will be gained if a new, young generation becomes radicalized because they have to watch the destruction on their doorstep,” Baerbock said.
“The Palestinians have a right to live in security and dignity.”
The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians and including hostages killed in captivity, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas since October 7 has killed at least 40,861 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.

UK’s Starmer defends Israel arms suspension as ‘legal decision’

An Israeli armored vehicle drives along a devastated street in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on September 4, 2024.
An Israeli armored vehicle drives along a devastated street in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on September 4, 2024.
Updated 04 September 2024
AFP
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UK’s Starmer defends Israel arms suspension as ‘legal decision’

An Israeli armored vehicle drives along a devastated street in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on September 4, 2024.
  • “We will of course stand by Israel’s right to self-defense but it’s important that we are committed to the international rule of law,” Starmer said
Updated 04 September 2024
AFP

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended Wednesday his government’s partial suspension of arms exports to Israel over fears they could be used in a breach of humanitarian law as “a legal decision.”
Starmer said that Monday’s announcement to suspend 30 of 350 arms exports licenses did not signify a change in UK support for Israel’s right to self-defense.
He also said that allies “understand” the UK’s move.
“This is a difficult issue, I recognize that, but it’s a legal decision, not a policy decision,” Starmer told lawmakers during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session in parliament.
He said the decision was taken following a review by the foreign ministry into Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The review was begun shortly after Starmer’s center-left Labour party swept to power in a landslide general election victory over the Conservatives in early July.
“We will of course stand by Israel’s right to self-defense but it’s important that we are committed to the international rule of law,” Starmer said.
The partial ban covers items that could be used in the current conflict in Gaza including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones but not parts for advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets.
The decision has angered Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slamming it as “shameful.”
Starmer also denied that the move indicated a spilt with the United States.
On Monday, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said London had informed Washington of its move before it was announced.
“We’ll let other nations decide for themselves if they’re going to support Israel and to what degree,” Kirby told reporters. “That’s what sovereignty is all about.”
He added that for its part there had been “no determination” by the United States that Israel had violated humanitarian law.
In London, Starmer told MPs: “We have talked this through with our allies, they understand, they have a different legal system, that is the point they have made.”
Starmer’s government is pursuing a more nuanced approach to the Middle East conflict than his predecessor Rishi Sunak’s Tory administration.
It has similarly repeatedly called for a ceasefire and for speeding up aid deliveries to Gaza, and demanded that Hamas release all hostages seized in its October 7 attacks.
But it has also resumed funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and dropped a legal challenge over international arrest warrants for senior Israeli figures, including Netanyahu.

Topics: War on Gaza UK UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer

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US destroys Houthi missile system in Yemen

US destroys Houthi missile system in Yemen
Updated 04 September 2024
Saeed Al-Batati
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US destroys Houthi missile system in Yemen

US destroys Houthi missile system in Yemen
  • “It was determined this system presented an imminent threat to US and coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region,” CENTCOM said
  • Local media and people reported hearing loud explosions and seeing heavy smoke pouring from a Houthi military facility in the province of Ibb
Updated 04 September 2024
Saeed Al-Batati

AL-MUKALLA: The US Central Command said on Wednesday that its forces had destroyed a missile system in a Houthi-held Yemeni territory that was targeting ships in international waters.
This is the second time in the past 24 hours that the US military has said that it is targeting Houthi missile systems in undefined locations in Houthi-controlled Yemeni territory.
“It was determined this system presented an imminent threat to US and coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region,” CENTCOM said.
Local media and people reported hearing loud explosions and seeing heavy smoke pouring from a Houthi military facility in the province of Ibb on Tuesday, apparently struck by the US, as CENTCOM announced the destruction of two Houthi missile systems on the ground in Yemen.
Since January, the US and the UK have launched dozens of strikes on Houthi targets in Sanaa, Hodeidah, Saada, Ibb and other Yemeni provinces held by the Houthis, reportedly striking drone and missile launchers and storage facilities, as well as remotely controlled and explosives-laden boats preparing to target ships in international shipping lanes off Yemen.
Houthi leader Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi on Tuesday night denied that their troops had targeted the Saudi oil ship Amjad in the Red Sea on Monday and accused the US military of “spreading false information.”
This came as Saudi shipping company Bahri said that its vessel, Amjad, was in the Red Sea when another oil tanker was targeted, and that it was not the target.
Since November, the Houthis have destroyed two commercial ships, including one carrying more than 21,000 tons of fertilizer, seized another, and fired hundreds of ballistic missiles, drones, and drone boats at more than 100 ships in Yemen’s commercial channels.
The Yemeni militia claims that they exclusively target ships with links to Israel to put pressure on Israel to halt its war in the Gaza Strip.
Similarly, Yemen’s government has asked that the Houthis be designated as a terrorist group and their leaders’ assets frozen for attacking ships and endangering the environment off Yemen’s coast.
In a post on X, Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani said the Houthi attack on the MV Blue Lagoon I oil tanker is the 10th attack on oil and chemical tankers since the start of their campaign, and that the attack on the tanker is a “systematic terrorism” that risks an environmental, economic, and humanitarian disaster that would primarily affect Yemenis.
“The Houthi militia’s repeated targeting of oil and chemical product tankers demonstrates its disregard for the catastrophic consequences of any oil spill in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, and Gulf of Aden on our country’s economic, agricultural, and fisheries sectors,” the Yemeni minister said.

Topics: War on Gaza US CENTCOM Yemen Houthis Red Sea

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Cross-border attacks by Israeli forces and Hezbollah resume after period of uneasy calm

Israeli soldiers evacuate an injured man following a cross-border attack from Lebanon into Israel.
Israeli soldiers evacuate an injured man following a cross-border attack from Lebanon into Israel.
Updated 04 September 2024
NAJIA HOUSSARI
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Cross-border attacks by Israeli forces and Hezbollah resume after period of uneasy calm

Israeli soldiers evacuate an injured man following a cross-border attack from Lebanon into Israel.
  • Research center in Israel says 281 attacks on the country originated from Lebanon in August, compared with 259 in July
  • In Israel, sirens sounded in the settlements of Zar’it, Shtula, Netu’a, Dishon and Al-Malikiyah, and in Ramot Naftali in western Galilee
Updated 04 September 2024
NAJIA HOUSSARI

BEIRUT: Israeli forces resumed shelling in southern Lebanon on Wednesday following a period of uneasy, relative calm, targeting border towns, valleys and forests.
Two people were injured in an airstrike on the town of Khiam and taken to Marjayoun Hospital. Aircraft also hit Wadi Hujeir and carried out strikes on the outskirts of the town of Qabrikha, on the area between the towns of Aainata and Kounine, and on the outskirts of the town of Bani Haiyyan.
The Israeli army said “warplanes shelled rocket-launch platforms in the areas of Kounine and Qabrikha in southern Lebanon.” Israeli artillery also targeted the outskirts of the villages of Beit Lif and Ramyah.
In Israel, sirens sounded in the settlements of Zar’it, Shtula, Netu’a, Dishon and Al-Malikiyah, and in Ramot Naftali in western Galilee.
The Israeli army said that “60 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward the northern region, causing fires in several settlements in Upper Galilee, which firefighting teams worked to extinguish.”
Hezbollah said it shelled “the headquarters of the Sahel Battalion in the Beit Hillel barracks, and enemy artillery positions in Dishon with volleys of Katyusha rockets,” and launched attacks “targeting Israeli soldiers in the Zar’it barracks (the headquarters of the battalion affiliated with the Western Brigade) with artillery shells, hitting them directly.”
Israeli media reported “two injuries in the Dishon area in Galilee, where several rockets fell after being launched from Lebanon.” There were also reports that “a rocket fell in the Kfar Blum area in Upper Galilee,” “a fire broke out in the Kiryat Shmona settlement due to rockets launched from Lebanon,” and additional rockets struck between Kiryat Shmona and Beit Hillel.
Israeli army media advised settlers in Kiryat Shmona “to remain near shelters and avoid moving around the city until further notice.” Upper Galilee Regional Council similarly urged citizens in several towns to “stay close to shelters, avoid gatherings and decrease movement.”
In its latest report, the Alma Research and Education Center in Israel said 281 attacks on the country originated from Lebanon in August, compared with 259 in July.
“Most of these attacks were carried out by Hezbollah, along with other organizations,” it said. “The average number of daily attacks reached nine in August, compared with 8.3 attacks in July, with Hezbollah confirming its responsibility for the vast majority of them.”
The Hezbollah attacks resulted in “the deaths of three Israelis and injuries to 30 others” last month, it added.
“The middle of the month saw an escalation in Hezbollah’s assaults, which continued until Aug. 25, when Israeli forces conducted a preemptive strike to thwart Hezbollah’s response to the assassination of (its military leader) Fuad Shukr,” the research center said.
The report noted a subsequent “decline in attacks,” suggesting that “the intensity of these attacks coincided with the Israeli military’s targeting of Hezbollah operatives” and were “potentially aimed at exhausting Israeli defense systems in preparation for a planned retaliatory strike on Aug. 25.”
It added: “Kiryat Shmona was an important target for Hezbollah attacks, which resulted in the death of one civilian and injuries to 28 others, in addition to heavy losses to industrial facilities, educational institutions, residential properties, cemeteries and commercial complexes.”
The report also stated: “During August, Hezbollah used the term ‘appropriate weapons’ to refer to various types of armaments. Previously, this term in their statements was specifically associated with anti-tank missiles. In August, however, it became evident that the term encompassed artillery fire, anti-tank missiles and drones.”
Last month, it added, there was “an increase in (Hezbollah’s) utilization of long-range missiles, with 176 missiles launched compared with 137 in July. Additionally, the number of drone attacks rose to 62 in August, up from 56 in July. Throughout August, Hezbollah employed surface-to-air missiles and sniper fire.”

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Lebanon Hezbollah

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Egypt rejects Netanyahu’s demand on Philadelphi Corridor

Egypt rejects Netanyahu’s demand on Philadelphi Corridor
Updated 04 September 2024
Gobran Mohamed
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Egypt rejects Netanyahu’s demand on Philadelphi Corridor

Egypt rejects Netanyahu’s demand on Philadelphi Corridor
  • An Egyptian government spokesman accused Netanyahu of making the demand to distract Israeli public opinion
  • Hamas has rejected any Israeli presence in the area
Updated 04 September 2024
Gobran Mohamed

CAIRO: Egypt has categorically rejected the statements issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sept. 2, in which he insisted that Israeli forces must retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Egypt-Gaza border, vowing “not to give in to pressure” over the issue in Gaza ceasefire talks.
An Egyptian government spokesman accused Netanyahu of making the demand to distract Israeli public opinion, obstruct reaching a ceasefire and a hostage-detainee exchange deal, and impede the mediation efforts being carried out by Egypt, Qatar, and the US.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested on Monday, and US President Joe Biden said Netanyahu needed to do more after nearly 11 months of fighting.
The issue of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, has been a major sticking point in efforts to secure a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and return Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Hamas has rejected any Israeli presence in the area.
The spokesman said that Egypt “holds the Israeli government responsible for the consequences of issuing such statements that further aggravate the situation and aim to justify the aggressive and provocative policies, which lead to further regional escalation.”
Egypt, he said, has affirmed its keenness to lead the peace process in a way that achieves security and stability “for all the region’s peoples.”
Netanyahu’s stance on the truce negotiations, which have been continuing for weeks while showing little sign of a breakthrough, has frustrated allies, including the US, and has widened a rift with his own Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Topics: War on Gaza Philadelphi corridor Egypt Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

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