Israeli planes bomb southern Lebanon after radio blasts

Israeli planes bomb southern Lebanon after radio blasts
Smoke rises above Kiryat Shmona after rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel September 18, 2024. (REUTERS)
Short Url
Updated 19 September 2024
Follow

Israeli planes bomb southern Lebanon after radio blasts

Israeli planes bomb southern Lebanon after radio blasts
  • Hezbollah fired around 20 projectiles into Israel, most of which were intercepted by air defense systems without causing any injuries
  • Israeli media reported that a number of Israeli civilians had been wounded by anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: Israel bombed southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had thwarted an Iranian-led assassination plot, a day after explosions of Hezbollah radios that came on the heels of blasts in booby trapped pagers, setting the foes hurtling toward war.
The sophisticated attacks on armed group Hezbollah’s communications equipment, which killed 37 people and wounded around 3,000 over two days, sowed disarray in Lebanon, with panicked residents abandoning their mobile phones.
“This isn’t a small matter, it’s war. Who can even secure their phone now? When I heard about what happened yesterday, I left my phone on my motorcycle and walked away,” said Mustafa Sibal on a street near central Beirut.
A distant roar in the skies could be heard in Beirut from what Lebanese state media said was Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier — a sound that has grown increasingly common in recent months.
Israel said its warplanes struck villages in southern Lebanon overnight, and a security source and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported airstrikes near the border resumed on Thursday just after midday.
Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon’s south. The Lebanese health minister raised the death toll, saying 25 people had been killed and 608 injured in the country’s deadliest day since cross-border fighting erupted between the militants and Israel in parallel with the Gaza war last year.
The previous day, hundreds of pagers — used by Hezbollah to evade mobile phone surveillance — exploded at once, killing 12 people including two children, and injuring more than 2,300.
In a post on X, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the United Nations Security Council to take a firm stand to stop Israel’s “aggression” and “technological war” against his country.
Israel has not commented directly on the booby-trapped walkie-talkies and pagers, but multiple security sources have said the attacks were carried out by its spy agency Mossad.
Israel says its conflict with Hezbollah, like its war in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas, is part of a wider regional confrontation with Iran, which sponsors both groups as well as armed movements in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
On Thursday Israeli security forces announced that an Israeli businessman had been arrested last month after attending at least two meetings in Iran, where he discussed assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defense minister or the head of the Shin Bet spy agency.
Last week, Shin Bet uncovered what it said was a plot by Hezbollah to assassinate former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
Israel has been accused of assassinations including a blast in Tehran that killed the leader of Hamas and another in a Beirut suburb that killed a senior Hezbollah commander within hours of each other in July.
Despite the events of the past few days, a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said the situation along the frontier had “not changed much in terms of exchanges of fire between the parties.”
“There was an intensification last week. This week it is more or less the same. There are still exchanges of fire. It is still worrying, still concerning, and the rhetoric is high,” the spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti, told Reuters.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the Israeli-Lebanon border in parallel with the war Israel has waged in Gaza against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group whose fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Tens of thousands of people have had to flee the Israel-Lebanon border area on both sides. Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to return the evacuated Israelis “securely to their homes.”
Shifting focus
The Israeli military said its overnight air strikes hit Hezbollah targets in Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Khiam.
Israeli media reported that a number of Israeli civilians had been wounded by anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon, but there was no official confirmation.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the war was moving into a new phase, with more resources and military units now being shifted to the northern border.
According to Israeli officials, the forces being deployed there include the 98th Division, an elite formation including commando and paratroop elements that has been fighting in Gaza.
Hezbollah launched missile barrages on Israel on the day after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, and since then there has been a constant exchange of fire that neither side has allowed to escalate into a full-scale war.
However, tens of thousands have been evacuated on both sides of the border, and there has been mounting pressure in Israel for the government to get the evacuees back home.


Shelling kills 12 in Sudan’s Darfur: activists

Shelling kills 12 in Sudan’s Darfur: activists
Updated 03 November 2024
Follow

Shelling kills 12 in Sudan’s Darfur: activists

Shelling kills 12 in Sudan’s Darfur: activists
  • UN officials have voiced mounting concern about the dire conditions in Darfur and across Sudan

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Shelling by Sudanese paramilitary forces on Saturday killed at least 12 people in the north of the vast Darfur region that is almost completely under their control, activists said.
Five people were also wounded in the bombardment by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting the regular army since April last year, according to the local resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating aid across the country.
RSF fighters took three people captive after the bombardment north of the town of Kutum, the committee added.
The region’s governor, former rebel leader Mini Minawi, who is close to the regular army, said the paramilitaries had torched some 20 villages in the area.
The army has largely been confined to the North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher since the paramilitaries swept through the rest of the region last year.
RSF fighters have laid siege to the city of some two million people since May and famine has already been declared in the Zamzam camp for the displaced to its south.
UN officials have voiced mounting concern about the dire conditions in Darfur and across Sudan.
“The people of Sudan are living through a nightmare of violence — with thousands of civilians killed, and countless others facing unspeakable atrocities, including widespread rape and sexual assaults,” UN chief Antonio Guterres told the Security Council late last month.


War decimates harvest in famine-threatened Sudan

War decimates harvest in famine-threatened Sudan
Updated 03 November 2024
Follow

War decimates harvest in famine-threatened Sudan

War decimates harvest in famine-threatened Sudan
  • Hundreds of farmers have been driven off their once-fertile lands and those who have managed to remain face tremendous hardships
  • Warring sides accused of using “starvation tactics” against 25 million civilians and aid groups warned that families are resorting to eating leaves and insects

GEDAREF, Sudan: Ahmed Othman’s farm has been spared from the deadly fighting that has spread across Sudan, but the war’s toll on the economy and labor market has still reached him.
“I had to sell two vehicles” to afford to harvest this season’s crops, he told AFP from his large sesame farm in eastern Sudan’s Gedaref state.
A year and a half of war in Sudan between the army and paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and devastated harvests.
Last month, United Nations experts accused the warring sides of using “starvation tactics” against 25 million civilians, and three major aid organizations warned of a “historic” hunger crisis as families resort to eating leaves and insects.
Hundreds of farmers have been driven off their once-fertile lands and those who have managed to remain face tremendous hardships.
Gedaref state is key to Sudan’s corn production, a crucial crop for a population the World Food Programme warns is nearing famine — a condition already declared at a displacement camp in the country’s western region of Darfur.
“The first challenge we faced was securing funding as banks are experiencing a cash crunch due to the war,” said Othman.
Cash shortages have occurred even in army-controlled Gedaref since the RSF took over the capital Khartoum and banks were ransacked.
The farmer said that without selling two out of his three vehicles he could not have afforded fuel for farm machinery or to pay workers to prepare the fields and tend to the crops.
“The second problem is the scarcity of farm workers due to the war, which has limited their movement across states,” he added.
Most workers in Gedaref previously came from the adjacent states of Blue Nile and Sennar, as well as from Kordofan further away.

However, the war has restricted inter-state movement, leaving farm owners like Othman with only a small workforce.
Another local farmer, Suleiman Mohamed, said “the shortage of workers has driven up wages, so we are relying on those already in the area, mainly Ethiopians” who have long resided in Sudan’s east as refugees.
War began in April 2023 between the army under the country’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the RSF, led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Disruptions to the harvest this season could exacerbate the hunger crisis, made worse by restrictions on aid entry.
European and North American nations issued a joint statement last month that accused the warring sides of “systematic obstruction” of aid efforts. They said both sides should urgently admit the assistance to millions of people in dire need.
In southern Gedaref, another farmer, Othman Abdelkarim, said many have already given up on this year’s season.
“Most of us have relied on ourselves for financing, and some simply opted out and didn’t plant,” he said, pointing to an unplanted field west of his farm.
“This crisis will delay the harvest and affect its quality,” he added.
The state’s agriculture ministry reported that nine million acres (3.6 million hectares) were cultivated in Gedaref this year — five million with corn and the rest with sesame, sunflowers, peanuts and cotton.
That is less than half of the roughly 20 million acres planted annually before the war.
Farmer Suleiman Mohamed fears there is no hope for this season’s crop.
“With fewer workers and delayed harvesting, we’ll face losses, and part of the crop will be lost,” he said from his farm in eastern Gedaref.
 


‘Nobody cares about us’: US election doubts in West Bank

‘Nobody cares about us’: US election doubts in West Bank
Updated 03 November 2024
Follow

‘Nobody cares about us’: US election doubts in West Bank

‘Nobody cares about us’: US election doubts in West Bank
  • There are about 172,000 Palestinian-Americans in the US, according to a 2022 census survey, with many from swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania

TURMUS AYA, West Bank: As Palestinian American entrepreneur Jamal Zaglul stood by his olive press at the end of the harvest season in the occupied West Bank, his mind was far away from this week’s US election.

Like other US passport holders living in Turmus Aya, where they form the majority, he was skeptical that the ballot would bring change to the region.

“Here we have problems. Nobody (in the US) cares about us,” said the businessman in his 50s.

Violence in the West Bank — occupied by Israel since 1967 — has surged since the Gaza war erupted after militants’ unprecedented Oct.7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Zaglul spoke fondly of former US President Bill Clinton, under whose administration the landmark Oslo Accords were signed, creating arrangements between the Palestinians and Israel.

“This time, we need to start changing. We have to have another party, a separate party, independents,” Zaglul said. “The other ones, they’re not helping us.”

Fellow dual national Basim Sabri planned to vote for a third-party candidate in protest after “eight years of miserable administration.”

The Minnesota-based native of the northern West Bank did not mince words about the current White House occupant, sharply criticizing Joe Biden.

He was equally critical of Biden’s predecessor and current Republican contender, Donald Trump, calling him a “racist.”

Sabri said he would vote for Jill Stein, the perennial Green Party candidate on the ballot in nearly every battleground state this presidential cycle.

Stein ran in 2012 and 2016, securing just 0.4 percent and one percent of the vote, respectively.

Deeply shocked by the Gaza war, Sabri hopes the US will push more for peace.

“It’s the only country in the world that’s vetoing the decision of the majority of the world to stop the war and condemn Israel,” he said.

California resident Odeh Juma, who returns to Turmus Aya several times a year, pointed bitterly to US military support for Israel.

“As Palestinians, we feel our concerns — like ending wars globally, in Palestine or Ukraine — are overlooked in favor of the politicians’ electoral interests,” he said.

Juma planned to watch election night coverage but would not cast a ballot.

“If we don’t vote now, it will highlight the importance of the Arab, Palestinian, and Muslim voices for future elections,” he said.

There are about 172,000 Palestinian-Americans in the US, according to a 2022 census survey, with many from swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Thousands of Palestinian Americans live in the West Bank, a community shaken by the killings of an American and two dual citizens this year.

Juma’s son Adam said that “people tend to be scared to vote for anybody, especially for Trump.”

He recalled that during Trump’s first presidential run, some hoped he would be “different,” but he dealt numerous blows to Palestinians once elected.

Trump’s administration notably broke with US precedent by declaring it did not see Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal.

These settlements are considered illegal under international law.

Adam Juma has been following the election but will not vote, believing the US no longer influences global conflict resolution.

“It won’t change anything if we vote for anybody ... It’s not like how it used to be,” he said.

Ramallah resident Leila said she voted for Stein.

“The ongoing genocide is at the top of my mind, and Harris has done absolutely nothing to win my vote in that regard,” she said.

Sanaa Shalabi, a Palestinian American, also planned to sit out the election.

“Here, no one cares about us... There is an American embassy here, but it does nothing,” she said.

“They do not stand with us. Israel is the one that controls America.”


‘Stop the war’, say Israelis demanding return of Gaza hostages

‘Stop the war’, say Israelis demanding return of Gaza hostages
Updated 03 November 2024
Follow

‘Stop the war’, say Israelis demanding return of Gaza hostages

‘Stop the war’, say Israelis demanding return of Gaza hostages
  • Some at the rally — organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group — brought up the plight of Israel’s soldiers, who are exhausted more than a year into the Gaza war

TEL AVIV: Hundreds of Israeli protesters in Tel Aviv voiced their frustration with the government on Saturday for failing to secure a truce deal to bring the remaining hostages in Gaza home.
Flag-waving demonstrators in the country’s commercial hub held placards with slogans including “Deal now,” “Stop the war” and “We won’t abandon them,” and beat drums and chanted: “Why are they still in Gaza?“
“There have been countless opportunities to end this crisis and each one was torpedoed by the government,” said demonstrator Zahiro Shahar Mor, a 52-year-old bank employee from Tel Aviv.
“The cycle of violence is escalating week after week and we see no end,” added Mor, whose uncle Avraham Munder was killed in captivity in Gaza, and who is campaigning for the release of others’ loved ones.
Critics have questioned why a truce has still not materialized now that Israel has achieved many of its war aims, including last month’s killing of Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar.
Israeli and US officials as well as some analysts have said Sinwar was an obstacle to reaching a truce deal in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Ifat Kalderon, a prominent anti-government protester afraid for her cousin still held in Gaza, blamed Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.
“Each hostage deal they start to talk about, he sabotages. He always blamed Sinwar, but now there is no Sinwar. But every time he finds another reason,” the 50-year-old stylist told AFP.
“It’s a bloody war, we need to stop it. Enough. So many soldiers are dying. And ordinary citizens,” she said, referring to civilians from both sides of the conflict paying with their lives.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023 after Palestinian militants attacked Israel, resulting in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,314 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry the United Nations considers reliable.
During the October 7 attack, Palestinian militants seized 251 hostages, of whom 97 are still in Gaza. The Israeli military says 34 of them are dead.
Some at the rally — organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group — brought up the plight of Israel’s soldiers, who are exhausted more than a year into the Gaza war.
Others hoped for international intervention, including from the United States, which holds a presidential election on Tuesday.
“I hope whoever wins will be adult enough to take the kids in the Middle East by the ear and force them to the negotiating table,” said protester Mor.
He said he was “disappointed, frustrated and angry” at the lack of a hostage deal but was “keeping the hope for the people who are still alive” in Gaza.
Sinwar’s killing had spurred hope that fresh life could be breathed into months of fruitless negotiations for a truce with hostage and prisoner releases.
The talks have been mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
A Hamas official said Friday the group received a proposal from Egypt and Qatar for a short-term truce in Gaza but had rejected it.
He said the group had responded by restating its position that “what the Palestinian people want is a complete, comprehensive and lasting ceasefire.”
Protester Simone Spak Safran said she believed the Israeli government “couldn’t care less” about the hostages.
A few “times an agreement was not reached, and not only because of Hamas. I don’t expect anything from this government,” the 77-year-old from Herzliya told AFP.


Turkiye’s president sues opposition chief, Istanbul mayor for alleged slander

Turkiye’s president sues opposition chief, Istanbul mayor for alleged slander
Updated 03 November 2024
Follow

Turkiye’s president sues opposition chief, Istanbul mayor for alleged slander

Turkiye’s president sues opposition chief, Istanbul mayor for alleged slander
  • The charge has been widely used to silence Erdogan’s political rivals, as well as journalists, human rights defenders, and members of the public

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sued the main opposition leader and Istanbul’s mayor for alleged slander in a forceful legal blow against his political rivals.

The two separate lawsuits targeted Ozgur Ozel, head of the Republican People’s Party or CHP, and Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, also a top party official.

The lawsuit reveals that one or both could be prosecuted for insulting the president under Article 299 of the penal code, which carries a maximum four-year prison term.

The charge has been widely used to silence Erdogan’s political rivals, as well as journalists, human rights defenders, and members of the public.

Court documents cited by Anadolou accused Ozel of “publicly insulting the president” and “clearly committing a crime against the reputation and honor of the office of the presidency.”

The second alleged that Imamoglu had made “unfounded accusations, including slander, that violated Erdogan’s rights” and had “acted with the aim of humiliating the president in front of the public.”

Each lawsuit claims 1 million Turkish lira ($30,000) in damages from the accused.

The legal action centers on remarks the pair allegedly made on Thursday at a demonstration in the Istanbul district of Esenyurt after its opposition mayor was arrested for alleged links to the banned Kurdish PKK militant group.

The move against two top opposition figures comes as Turkiye’s strongman is widely believed to be seeking ways to amend the constitution so he can run again in the 2028 presidential race.

It was not immediately clear which remarks prompted the legal action but Ozer, who took over as CHP leader just a year ago, quickly hit back.

Erdogan “pretends to have been insulted without any insult being made, and tries to make himself the victim... as if it was not he who insulted and victimized Esenyurt” by arresting its mayor, he told reporters.

Asked whether he thought the authorities would try and topple Imamoglu as they did with the mayor of Esenyurt, Ozel said it was unclear.

But if they did, the opposition would put up a fight: “We will challenge them,” he vowed.

Imamoglu, elected Istanbul mayor in 2019, is often portrayed as Erdogan’s biggest political rival and is widely expected to run in the 2028 presidential race.

He is seen as one of Turkiye’s most popular politicians.

Two years ago, Imamoglu was sued for defamation after describing Istanbul election officials as “idiots” during the 2019 Istanbul mayoral election.

A court found him guilty of insulting a civil servant and sentenced him to two-and-a-half years in jail, barring him from politics for the duration of the sentence and prompting an international outcry.

Although Imamoglu appealed, the lawsuit meant it was too risky for him to contest the 2023 presidential election.

But he has continued to serve as mayor while the appeal court mulls its decision.

At the time, Erdogan insisted he had nothing to do with the lawsuit.

The 70-year-old Turkish leader launched his political career in the 1990s by being elected mayor of Istanbul.