Israel and Hezbollah exchange strikes as escalation fears rise

Update Israel and Hezbollah exchange strikes as escalation fears rise
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The sister of Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, who was killed on a Hezbollah attack, mourns during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on Aug. 25, 2024. (AP)
Update Israel and Hezbollah exchange strikes as escalation fears rise
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Israelis walk near a damaged residential building due to a direct-hit from a projectile, after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones towards northern Israel early on August 25, 2024, in response to the assassination of a senior commander in Beirut last month. (REUTERS)
Update Israel and Hezbollah exchange strikes as escalation fears rise
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Relatives of Petty Officer 1st Class David Moshe Ben Shitrit, who was killed in a Hezbollah attack on Aug. 25, 2024, mourn during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem. (AP)
Update Israeli military announced early August 25, 2024 that it was conducting pre-emptive strikes in Lebanon after detecting preparations for “large-scale” attacks by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Hezbollah said August 25, 2024 it had launched more than 320 rockets at Israel overnight, targeting a string of military positions, even as Israel’s military said it was carrying out pre-emptive strikes against the group. (AFP)
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Israeli military announced early August 25, 2024 that it was conducting pre-emptive strikes in Lebanon after detecting preparations for “large-scale” attacks by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Hezbollah said August 25, 2024 it had launched more than 320 rockets at Israel overnight, targeting a string of military positions, even as Israel’s military said it was carrying out pre-emptive strikes against the group. (AFP)
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Updated 25 August 2024
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Israel and Hezbollah exchange strikes as escalation fears rise

Israel and Hezbollah exchange strikes as escalation fears rise
  • Mikati seeks help from Lebanon’s allies to halt escalation
  • Egypt emphasizes ‘importance of maintaining stability’

BEIRUT: Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across southern Lebanon early on Sunday in what it called a preemptive strike to avert a large Hezbollah rocket and missile attack.

Hezbollah said it fired hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the assassination of the party’s military commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut last month.

Both sides halted the heavy exchange of fire by mid-morning, signaling no immediate escalation.

After more than 10 months of cross-border hostilities, there were fears a large-scale Israeli onslaught could escalate into all-out war.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati initiated a series of contacts with Lebanon’s allies to halt any escalation.

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Fears have spiked since Fouad Shukr’s killing that the cross-border violence could degenerate into all-out conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He said that “the priority is to stop the Israeli aggression first” before implementing a UN resolution calling for an end to hostilities.

According to his media office, Mikati said that “Lebanon supports international efforts that may lead to a ceasefire in Gaza.”

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry warned of “the dangers of opening a new war front in Lebanon.”

Egypt emphasized “the importance of maintaining Lebanon’s stability, sovereignty, and avoiding the risks of the region slipping into a state of total instability.”




In this combination of pictures created on August 25, 2024,  photos taken from a position in northern Israel show a Hezbollah UAV being intercepted by the Israeli air force over northern Israel on August 25, 2024. (AFP)

In a joint statement, UNIFIL and the office of the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon described the developments across the Blue Line as “concerning” and urged “all parties to deescalate strongly.”

At 4:30 a.m., residents of southern Lebanon woke to the sound of airstrikes and missile explosions.

A resident in the Nabatieh area said: “The ground was shaking beneath our feet, and the sound of falling missiles was deafening. Everyone began asking what was happening.”

A statement by the Israeli army circulating on social media asked residents near Hezbollah’s operational areas to move away immediately.

The message was directed at Lebanese civilians located south of the Litani River.

The noise of Israeli airstrikes merged with the sounds of Hezbollah’s rocket launchers firing toward Israeli military positions, while sirens sounded in northern Israel and among UNIFIL stations in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed to air traffic.

Shortly after 6 a.m., a preliminary statement issued by Hezbollah confirmed “the initial response to the assassination of Shukr.”

Hezbollah said that its fighters “are currently at their highest state of readiness and will be vigilant against any violations or acts of aggression, particularly if civilians are harmed, as the repercussions will be severe and harsh.”

In a second statement, issued less than an hour later, the group said that “the first phase had been successfully completed.”

This involved “targeting Israeli barracks and positions to facilitate the passage of offensive drones toward their intended objective deep within the entity, and the drones proceeded as planned,” it said.

Hezbollah claimed to have launched more than 320 Katyusha rockets toward Israeli positions.

Targets included the Meron base, theNaveh Ziv base, Zaatoun base, Zaoura bases, Al-Sahl base, the Keila barracks in the occupied Syrian Golan, the UF barracks in the occupied Syrian Golan, the Nafah base in the occupied Syrian Golan, the Yarden base in the occupied Syrian Golan, the Ein Zeytim base, and the Ramot Naftali barracks.

Israeli media reports said that homes, buildings, and a kindergarten in Acre had been damaged, with a woman treated for minor injuries from shrapnel.

Around 8 a.m., hostilities on both sides of the border eased.

A Hezbollah official said that the response to the assassination of Shukr had been delayed due to political considerations, primarily the negotiations concerning Gaza.

Hezbollah said it was keen to ensure that its response would not escalate into a “full-scale war.”

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that an Israeli political source confirmed “the conclusion of the military operation by Israel and that the situation now rests with Hezbollah.”

The source said that “Hezbollah launched a substantial attack on strategic installations in central Israel, which was successfully intercepted.”

Israeli media said that one of Hezbollah’s targets was the Glilot area, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, where the Mossad headquarters and the military intelligence Unit 8200, along with other strategic facilities, are located.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel “monitored Hezbollah’s preparations to attack Israel, and we directed the military to take the initiative in neutralizing those threats.”

He claimed that the army destroyed thousands of rockets aimed at northern Israel and eliminated other threats.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee claimed that about 100 warplanes destroyed thousands of Hezbollah missile launchers in southern Lebanon.

Adraee claimed that most of these launchers were directed toward the northern region, with some aimed at the central part of the country. More than 40 launch positions were targeted.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation, citing the army, denied that any Israeli military base was damaged.

The Israeli Army Radio said that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, to assess the developments.

The US Department of Defense said Austin “affirmed Washington’s commitment to defending Israel against any attacks from Iran, its partners and proxies in the region.”

The Washington Post quoted Israeli officials as saying that the jamming systems had succeeded in protecting Tel Aviv from Hezbollah’s attacks.

Hezbollah denied Israeli claims about its “preemptive actions, the targets it achieved, and its disruption of the resistance’s attack.”

The Israeli raids began at dawn and continued until 10:30 a.m.

The targets included the outskirts and valleys of the towns of Ain Qana, Kfar Kila, Al-Lwaiza, Bouslaiya, Rashaf, At Tiri, Haddatha, Kounine, Zibqin, Yater, Seddiqine, Haris, Deir Seryan, Tallouseh, El Qsair, Naqoura, Tayr Harfa, Majdal Zoun, Alma Al-Shaab, Jebbayn, Chihine, Mahmoudiya, Jabal er Rafiaa, Berghoz, Dlafy, Mays Al-Jabal, Khiam and Markaba.

They also targeted Kfar Melki, Iqlim Al-Tuffah, and towns in the district of Nabatieh.

The Ministry of Health reported three Lebanese fatalities, including a member from the Amal Movement, Hezbollah’s ally, and two Syrian fatalities.

Hezbollah mourned two members: Khodr Moussa Sweid, 37, and Hamza Mohammed Zalghout, 32, from the town of Haris in southern Lebanon.

 


Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life
Updated 25 November 2024
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Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Turkiye man kills seven before taking his own life

Istanbul: A 33-year-old Turkish man shot dead seven people in Istanbul on Sunday, including his parents, his wife and his 10-year-old son, before taking his own life, the authorities reported on Monday.
The man, who was found dead in his car shortly after the shooting, is also accused of wounding two other family members, one of them seriously, the Istanbul governor’s office said in a statement.
The authorities, who had put the death toll at four on Sunday evening, announced on Monday the discovery near a lake on Istanbul’s European shore of the bodies of the killer’s wife and son, as well as the lifeless body of his mother-in-law.
According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS), a Swiss research program, over 13.2 million firearms are in circulation in Turkiye, most of them illegally, for a population of around 85 million.


2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA

2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA
Updated 25 November 2024
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2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA

2 Palestinians killed in Israeli raid in West Bank: PA
  • The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces entered the village on Sunday night

Yabad: The Palestinian Authority said two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, were killed during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank village of Yabad.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces entered the village on Sunday night, leading to clashes during which soldiers shot dead two Palestinians.
The two dead were identified by the Palestinian health ministry as Muhammad Rabie Hamarsheh, 13, and Ahmad Mahmud Zaid, 20.
“Overnight, during an IDF (Israeli army) counterterrorism activity in the area of Yabad, two terrorists hurled explosives at IDF soldiers. The soldiers responded with fire and hits were identified,” an Israeli military source told AFP.
Last week, the Israeli army launched several raids in the West Bank city of Jenin, killing nine people, most of them Palestinian militants.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7 last year after Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 777 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.


Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike

Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike
Updated 25 November 2024
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Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike

Israel says hit Hezbollah command center in deadly weekend strike
  • The strike hit a residential building in the heart of Beirut before dawn Saturday
  • Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army on Monday said it had struck a Hezbollah command center in the downtown Beirut neighborhood of Basta in a deadly air strike at the weekend.
“The IDF (Israeli military) struck a Hezbollah command center,” the army said regarding the strike that the Lebanese health ministry said killed 29 people and wounded 67 on Saturday.
The strike hit a residential building in the heart of Beirut before dawn Saturday, leaving a large crater, AFP journalists at the scene reported.
A senior Lebanese security source said that “a high-ranking Hezbollah officer was targeted” in the strike, without confirming whether or not the official had been killed.
Hezbollah official Amin Cherri said no leader of the Lebanese movement was targeted in Basta.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign, later sending in ground troops against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The war followed nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the Gaza war.
The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September this year.
On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.


HRW says Israel strike that killed 3 Lebanon journalists ‘apparent war crime’

HRW says Israel strike that killed 3 Lebanon journalists ‘apparent war crime’
Updated 25 November 2024
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HRW says Israel strike that killed 3 Lebanon journalists ‘apparent war crime’

HRW says Israel strike that killed 3 Lebanon journalists ‘apparent war crime’

BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch said on Monday an Israeli air strike that killed three journalists in Lebanon last month was an “apparent war crime” and used a bomb equipped with a US-made guidance kit.
The October 25 strike hit a tourism complex in the Druze-majority south Lebanon town of Hasbaya where more than a dozen journalists working for Lebanese and Arab media outlets were sleeping.
The Israeli army has said it targeted Hezbollah militants and that the strike was “under review.”
HRW said the strike, relatively far from the Israel-Hezbollah war’s main flashpoints, “was most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime.”
“Information Human Rights Watch reviewed indicates that the Israeli military knew or should have known that journalists were staying in the area and in the targeted building,” the watchdog said in a statement.
HRW “found no evidence of fighting, military forces, or military activity in the immediate area at the time of the attack,” it added.
The strike killed cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohammad Reda from pro-Iran, Beirut-based broadcaster Al-Mayadeen and video journalist Wissam Qassem from Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television.
The watchdog said it verified images of Najjar’s casket wrapped in a Hezbollah flag and buried in a cemetery alongside fighters from the militant group.
But a spokesperson for the militant group said he “had no involvement whatsoever in any military activities.”
HRW said the bomb dropped by Israeli forces was equipped with a United States-produced Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit.
The JDAM is “affixed to air-dropped bombs and allows them to be guided to a target by using satellite coordinates,” the statement said.
It said remnants from the site were consistent with a JDAM kit “assembled and sold by the US company Boeing.”
One remnant “bore a numerical code identifying it as having been manufactured by Woodard, a US company that makes components for guidance systems on munitions,” it added.
The watchdog said it contacted Boeing and Woodard but received no response.
In October last year, Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed by Israeli shellfire while he was covering southern Lebanon, and six other journalists were wounded, including AFP’s Dylan Collins and Christina Assi, who had to have her right leg amputated.
In November last year, Israeli bombardment killed Al-Mayadeen correspondent Farah Omar and cameraman Rabih Maamari, the channel said.
Lebanese rights groups have said five more journalists and photographers working for local media have been killed in Israeli strikes on the country’s south and Beirut’s southern suburbs.


Officials in Egypt say over a dozen people are missing after a tourist vessel sank in the Red Sea

Officials in Egypt say over a dozen people are missing after a tourist vessel sank in the Red Sea
Updated 39 min 9 sec ago
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Officials in Egypt say over a dozen people are missing after a tourist vessel sank in the Red Sea

Officials in Egypt say over a dozen people are missing after a tourist vessel sank in the Red Sea

CAIRO: Egypt's governor of the Red Sea region said Monday afternoon that authorities are searching for 17 people who went missing from a sinking vessel off Marsa Alam city.
Amr Hanafy said in a statement that rescuers saved 28 people from the boat, Sea Story, which was carrying 45 people, including 31 tourists of varying nationalities and 14 crew.

The tourists were on a multi-day diving trip when it went down near the coastal town of Marsa Alam, according to a statement by the Red Sea Governorate. 
Hanafi said some survivors were rescued using a helicopter and have been taken to medical care. Efforts to locate more survivors were ongoing in coordination with the Egyptian navy and army.
The governorate said a distress call was received at 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) and that the boat had departed from Porto Ghalib in Marsa Alam on Sunday, with plans to return to Hurghada Marina on Nov. 29.
The Red Sea is a popular diving destination renowned for its coral reefs and marine life, key to Egypt’s vital tourism industry.