Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired

Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired
This picture taken from the southern city of Tyre shows smoke billowing from the site of an Israeli airstrike that a southern Lebanese village, on Oct. 7, 2024. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 08 October 2024
Follow

Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired

Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired
  • The military said the strike killed Suhail Husseini, who it said was responsible for overseeing logistics, budget and management of the group
  • There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah

BEIRUT: The Israeli military said Tuesday it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut while the militant group’s acting leader promised more fighting against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and rocket fire into Israel.
The military said the strike killed Suhail Husseini, who it said was responsible for overseeing logistics, budget and management of the group. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
Sheikh Naim Kassem, the acting leader of Hezbollah, said in a defiant televised statement that his group’s military capabilities are still intact. He said that Hezbollah has replaced all of its senior commanders after weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, including targeted strikes that killed much of its top command in a matter of days.
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday, the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, underscoring their resilience in the face of a devastating Israeli offensive in Gaza that has killed about 42,000 people, according to local medical officials.
A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023. On Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an Israeli strike in the country’s south, part of a wider bombardment, killed at least 10 firefighters. Hezbollah fired new barrages despite its recent losses.


Turkish lawmakers discuss Mideast in closed session after Erdogan’s Israel claim

Turkish lawmakers discuss Mideast in closed session after Erdogan’s Israel claim
Updated 56 sec ago
Follow

Turkish lawmakers discuss Mideast in closed session after Erdogan’s Israel claim

Turkish lawmakers discuss Mideast in closed session after Erdogan’s Israel claim
Israel has also not commented publicly on Tuesday’s closed-door parliamentary session in Ankara
Foreign and defense ministers made presentations at the closed-door session on the risk of the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon widening further

ANKARA: Turkiye’s lawmakers held a closed-door session on Tuesday to discuss the spread of war in the Middle East, a week after President Tayyip Erdogan made an unsubstantiated claim that Israel eventually aimed to encroach on Turkish territory.
Israel has not publicly responded to Erdogan’s claim, which analysts and opposition lawmakers say is far-fetched and is intended primarily to deflect public attention away from Turkiye’s economic woes.
Israel has also not commented publicly on Tuesday’s closed-door parliamentary session in Ankara, which is titled “Israel’s occupation of Lebanon and developments in the region.”
Foreign and defense ministers made presentations at the closed-door session — which was requested by the opposition — on the risk of the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon widening further.
NATO member Turkiye is among the world’s sharpest critics of what it calls Israel’s illegal and reckless wars with armed groups Hamas and Hezbollah. It halted trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against it at the World Court.
Israel rejects the genocide case and Turkiye’s criticism, saying it is locked in an existential struggle with militant Islamist groups backed by Iran that are sworn to Israel’s destruction.
Last week Erdogan told parliament that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was acting out his dream of a “utopia” and “promised land” for Israel.
“After Lebanon, the next place on which Israel will set its eyes will be our homeland,” he told parliament’s opening session, attended by dozens of foreign ambassadors and his cabinet, without providing evidence.

CHAOS AT BORDERS
Devlet Bahceli, leader of Erdogan’s main ally MHP, said on Tuesday it was “likely that chaos in neighboring countries will reach our borders and that Israel will harass Turkiye” in the near future.
But Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), dismissed such talk.
“It’s unreasonable to think Netanyahu will conduct an assault on Turkiye, which is a NATO member and has a great army,” Ozel told his party.
Later, after hearing the ministers’ presentation, Ozel said he had not been convinced by them about any alleged Israeli threat against Turkiye.
“They didn’t say anything that we don’t know,” he said, reiterating his view that Erdogan had raised the issue in order to stop Turks focusing on “unemployment, inflation, poverty and high prices.”
Polls show Turks strongly back the government’s hard line on Israel.
Some Turkish protesters in recent days — marking the anniversary of the beginning of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel — demanded that Erdogan take more action.
Critics have raised questions over whether Turkiye is still effectively shipping goods to Israel despite the May trade ban, given official data show exports to Palestinian territories have leapt six-fold so far this year.

US slaps sanctions on Sudan paramilitary leader

US slaps sanctions on Sudan paramilitary leader
Updated 44 min ago
Follow

US slaps sanctions on Sudan paramilitary leader

US slaps sanctions on Sudan paramilitary leader
  • Algoney Hamdan Dagalo Musa was sanctioned “for his involvement in RSF efforts to procure weapons and other military materiel,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said
  • His actions have fueled war in Sudan “and brutal RSF atrocities against civilians”

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday announced sanctions against a senior leader in war-torn Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for his role in obtaining weapons for the paramilitary organization.
Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced since war broke out in April 2023 between Sudan’s army and the RSF after their head generals refused a plan to integrate.
Algoney Hamdan Dagalo Musa was sanctioned “for his involvement in RSF efforts to procure weapons and other military materiel that have enabled the RSF’s ongoing operations in Sudan,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
His actions have fueled war in Sudan “and brutal RSF atrocities against civilians, which have included war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing,” Miller said.
The US Treasury said that as a result of such sanctions “all property and interests in property of the designated persons... that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported.”
The United States has led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting in Sudan but has seen limited success and leverage, with RSF commanders unlikely to hold major assets in the West that would be affected by sanctions.


France, Qatar deliver urgent aid to Lebanon, foreign minister says

France, Qatar deliver urgent aid to Lebanon, foreign minister says
Updated 08 October 2024
Follow

France, Qatar deliver urgent aid to Lebanon, foreign minister says

France, Qatar deliver urgent aid to Lebanon, foreign minister says
  • “If we don’t do anything, then Lebanon tomorrow could resemble what Syria has become,” Jean-Noel Barrot told lawmakers in parliament
  • French and Qatari military planes delivered some 27 metric tons of medicines and basic necessities

PARIS: France and Qatar delivered urgent humanitarian aid to Lebanon on Tuesday, France’s foreign minister said, as Paris pushes for broader humanitarian efforts and a ceasefire in the country.
“If we don’t do anything, then Lebanon tomorrow could resemble what Syria has become,” Jean-Noel Barrot told lawmakers in parliament. “(That is), a hub of instability for smuggling, terrorism and a point of departure for a large migration of civilians seeking refuge in Europe.”
French and Qatari military planes delivered some 27 metric tons of medicines and basic necessities, including blankets and hygiene kits, diplomatic sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Paris has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with the United States in trying to secure a ceasefire in the Middle Eastern country. Those talks stalled at the end of September when Israel heavily bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
It has since launched a ground offensive displacing thousands of people. Tuesday’s Franco-Qatari aid aims to support local aid groups to help the wounded and displaced.
The two sides must accept the ceasefire proposal, Barrot said, to “give peace and negotiations a chance to guarantee the sovereignty of Lebanon and security for Israel.”
France is also working to put together a conference on Lebanon soon that will center around three pillars: humanitarian aid, reinforcing the Lebanese army and discussing the ongoing political vacuum in the country, Barrot said.


Lebanese fishermen stay ashore after Israeli warning

Lebanese fishermen stay ashore after Israeli warning
Updated 08 October 2024
Follow

Lebanese fishermen stay ashore after Israeli warning

Lebanese fishermen stay ashore after Israeli warning
  • Commercial vessels and leisure boats were anchored in the harbor, while the city’s ancient fish market fell unusually quiet
  • “The Lebanese army told us we weren’t allowed to go out, and we’re respecting that,” said Mohammed Bidawi, a member of the local fishermen’s union

SIDON, Lebanon: Piles of fishing nets lay on land unused in the southern Lebanese port of Sidon on Tuesday as fishermen stayed ashore after the Israeli military warned of strikes against militants along the coast.
Commercial vessels and leisure boats were anchored in the harbor, while the city’s ancient fish market fell unusually quiet, with traders trying to peddle the catch from earlier in the week.
“The Lebanese army told us we weren’t allowed to go out, and we’re respecting that,” said Mohammed Bidawi, a member of the local fishermen’s union.
“If it continues like this, the market will close too.”
After nearly a year of cross-border clashes, Israel intensified its bombing campaign in Lebanon on September 23, killing more than 1,100 people and displacing over a million from their homes, according to official figures.
The Israeli army warned late Monday that it would expand its operations against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to Lebanon’s coast.
It warned people to stay away from the shore in the area south of the Al-Awali river, which flows into the sea to the north of Sidon.
Issam Haboush, another fisherman, said he was worried about his family.
“Fishing is the way we support our children. If we don’t go out to sea, we won’t be able to feed ourselves,” he said, adding that hundreds of families depended on the trade.
Bidawi said the de facto ban on fishing in Sidon had plunged around “5,000 to 6,000 people” into difficulty, the latest blow after a huge financial crisis in the country since 2019.
“The fishermen and traders at the fish market are going to need help,” he said.
Before the war, Lebanon’s fleet of 3,000 fishing boats reaped in between 3,000 and 3,500 tons of fish each year, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said in 2021.
Fisherman Hamza Sonbol said he and his colleagues had become destitute overnight.
“We’ve become like the country’s displaced,” he said.
Freediving instructor Marwan Hariri, 47, also has a boat in the port to take students out on for lessons.
“Since yesterday I’ve been feeling very down,” he said.
He had already lost 70 percent of his students in the past year of border clashes, as they largely came from southern areas under heavy Israeli bombardment, he said.
“I haven’t even been opening the diving center. I’ve just been going down to the sea to go spearfishing,” he said.
Despite the financial crisis and the tensions in the south, he was still enjoying diving with his speargun which he said was a way to temporarily escape from the news.
On Monday, he put his catch up for auction among acquaintances and managed to sell it for $56.
Then the Israeli military issued its warning.
Despite the perfect weather conditions on Monday morning, when he went down to the beach, he saw no fishermen coming back on their boats.
“It was really upsetting,” he said.


Israel’s Gallant says it appears Nasrallah’s replacement has been eliminated

Israel’s Gallant says it appears Nasrallah’s replacement has been eliminated
Updated 08 October 2024
Follow

Israel’s Gallant says it appears Nasrallah’s replacement has been eliminated

Israel’s Gallant says it appears Nasrallah’s replacement has been eliminated
  • Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official was widely expected to succeed Nasrallah
  • “Hezbollah is an organization without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated,” said Gallant

JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that it appears that the replacement of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been eliminated.
He did not give further details.
Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official was widely expected to succeed Nasrallah.
“Hezbollah is an organization without a head. Nasrallah was eliminated, his replacement was probably also eliminated,” Gallant told officers at the military’s northern command center, in a brief video segment distributed by the military. “There’s no one to make decisions, no one to act,” he said.
Safieddine had been running Hezbollah alongside its deputy secretary general Naim Qassem since Nasrallah’s assassination and was expected to be formally elected as its next secretary general, although no official announcement had yet been made.
Qassem said in a televised statement on Tuesday that the group will elect a new secretary general and will announce it once it has been done.