2 Lebanese soldiers killed and 3 others hurt in airstrike, Lebanese army says

2 Lebanese soldiers killed and 3 others hurt in airstrike, Lebanese army says
Rescue workers walk outside a hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 11 October 2024
Follow

2 Lebanese soldiers killed and 3 others hurt in airstrike, Lebanese army says

2 Lebanese soldiers killed and 3 others hurt in airstrike, Lebanese army says
  • Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have clashed along the border while the Lebanese army has largely stood on the sidelines

BEIRUT: Two Lebanese soldiers were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli airstrike that hit a building near a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Kafra, Bint Jbeil province, the Lebanese Army said Friday.
Since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon, Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have clashed along the border while the Lebanese army has largely stood on the sidelines.
As Israeli troops made their first forays across the border and Hezbollah responded with rocket fire, Lebanese soldiers withdrew from observation posts along the frontier and repositioned about 5 km back.
On Oct. 3, a Lebanese soldier was killed and another injured in an Israeli strike in Taybeh during rescue operations. On Sept. 30, another Lebanese soldier was killed by an Israeli drone targeting a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Wazzani.


Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas

A young boy uses binoculars to watch the port of Haifa from a lookout on October 11, 2024. (AFP)
A young boy uses binoculars to watch the port of Haifa from a lookout on October 11, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 13 sec ago
Follow

Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas

A young boy uses binoculars to watch the port of Haifa from a lookout on October 11, 2024. (AFP)
  • After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel has increased its strikes on what it says are Lebanese militant group Hezbollah sites since September 23

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Friday warned Israelis to stay away from Israeli army sites in residential areas in the north of the country.
“The Israeli enemy army uses the homes” of Israelis in north Israel, and has military bases inside residential “neighborhoods in major occupied cities such as Haifa, Tiberias, Acre,” it said in a statement in Arabic and Hebrew.
It warned Israelis “from being near these military gatherings in order to preserve their lives.”
After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel has increased its strikes on what it says are Lebanese militant group Hezbollah sites since September 23.
The escalation has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced around a million from their homes.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced it has fired rockets at areas in northern Israel.
 

 


Many Palestinian camps in Lebanon ‘empty after Israeli strikes’

UNIFIL vehicles drive in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel. (Reuters)
UNIFIL vehicles drive in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel. (Reuters)
Updated 12 October 2024
Follow

Many Palestinian camps in Lebanon ‘empty after Israeli strikes’

UNIFIL vehicles drive in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel. (Reuters)
  • Israel has ramped up strikes across southern Lebanon and on Beirut’s once-densely populated southern suburbs over the last three weeks, issuing evacuation warnings for more than 100 towns in southern Lebanon and neighborhoods near the capital

BEIRUT: Most Palestinian refugees living in camps in southern Lebanon or near Beirut have fled following escalating Israeli strikes, the head of the UN agency on Palestine refugees said on Friday, drawing parallels with mass displacement in Gaza.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that the agency continued to provide services to the most vulnerable left behind — and that repeatedly fleeing was sadly “part of the history” of Palestinians. “Now, that’s part, unfortunately, of the plight, but if you compare it with what happened also in Gaza recently, you might have heard me describing how people are constantly being moved like pinballs. And one of the fears is that we replicate a situation similar to the one we have seen until now in Gaza,” he said.
Israel has ramped up strikes across southern Lebanon and on Beirut’s once-densely populated southern suburbs over the last three weeks, issuing evacuation warnings for more than 100 towns in southern Lebanon and neighborhoods near the capital.
They include evacuation warnings and strikes on the Burj Al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp near the south coastal city of Tyre. Many of the Palestinians who arrived in Lebanon after Israel’s creation in 1948, and their descendants, were living in 12 refugee camps around the country, which hosted about 174,000 Palestinian refugees.
Israeli leaders have accused UNRWA staff of collaborating with Hamas militants in Gaza, leading many donors to suspend funding.
The UN launched an investigation into Israel’s accusations and dismissed nine staff.
In July, the Israeli parliament gave preliminary approval to a bill that would declare UNRWA a “terrorist organization.”
Asked about the move, Lazzarini said the agency “has never, ever been as much under assault and attack.”
“A year ago, it was primarily a financial existential threat, but today it’s a combination of a political and financial threat. 2025 will be, again, a difficult year,” he said. He said he would have more clarity early next year on whether the US would resume funding.


Gaza civil defense agency says 30 killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia on Friday

Gaza civil defense agency says 30 killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia on Friday
Updated 11 October 2024
Follow

Gaza civil defense agency says 30 killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia on Friday

Gaza civil defense agency says 30 killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia on Friday
  • A strike that occurred before 9:40 p.m. local time had left “12 dead, including women and children“

GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency Friday said at least 30 people have been killed by Israeli strikes throughout the day in northern Gaza’s Jabalia town and refugee camp amid intense combat operations by the Israeli army in the area.
The agency’s spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said that a strike that occurred before 9:40 p.m. local time (1840 GMT) had left “12 dead, including women and children” in the town.
Before that incident, Ahmad Kahlout — director of the agency in northern Gaza — said 18 people had been killed by several strikes, including hits on “eight schools” in the camp that were serving as shelters for displaced people.


Baghdad reinvents itself as heritage tourism destination

Baghdad reinvents itself as heritage tourism destination
Updated 11 October 2024
Follow

Baghdad reinvents itself as heritage tourism destination

Baghdad reinvents itself as heritage tourism destination
  • A professor and an architecture student organize walking tours of Iraqi capital’s historic sites

RIYADH: After decades of war, airstrikes, suicide attacks and car bombs, Baghdad is staking its claim as a heritage tourism attraction.

A fragile stability has emerged since the defeat of Daesh in 2017 allowed a greater focus on the Iraqi capital’s history and culture.

Muaffaq Al-Tai, 83, a professor, and Abdullah Imad, 23, an architecture student, organize walking tours of the city’s historic center, including an 800-year-old Abbasid palace with arabesque reliefs and the battlements of the 12th-century Bab Al-Wastani, the Central Gate.

“We want to show the public what Baghdad has to offer in terms of Islamic architecture, its value and identity,” Imad said
The renewed interest in Iraq’s heritage was “a source of hope for a positive change in our identity, and our heritage and its preservation,” said Fatima Al-Moqdad, 28, an architect.
“When young people surf the internet, they see how other nations look after their heritage. They want and deserve the same.”


Israel army says sirens sound north of Tel Aviv due to ‘aircraft infiltration’

Israel army says sirens sound north of Tel Aviv due to ‘aircraft infiltration’
Updated 11 October 2024
Follow

Israel army says sirens sound north of Tel Aviv due to ‘aircraft infiltration’

Israel army says sirens sound north of Tel Aviv due to ‘aircraft infiltration’
  • Roughly 20 minutes after the alert, Israel’s military said the incident had ended.
  • The air raid sirens came as Israelis observe the Yom Kippur holiday

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military on Friday said air raid sirens sounded in central Israel, including areas north of the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, after an aircraft infiltrated.
“Sirens have been activated in several areas in central Israel following an intrusion of hostile aircraft. Interception attempts have been made, and details are under investigation. Additional explosions may be heard, originating from interceptions or debris,” the military said in a statement.
Roughly 20 minutes after the alert, Israel’s military said the incident had ended.
The air raid sirens came as Israelis observe the Yom Kippur holiday.
Earlier Friday evening, air raid sirens blared in dozens of areas across northwestern after dozens of projectiles were fired from Lebanon, the military said.
From sundown on Friday until nightfall on Saturday, markets are closed, flights stopped and public transport halted as most Jews fast and pray on the Day of Atonement.
Due to its status as Judaism’s holiest day, Yom Kippur is traditionally observed with a complete media silence during the period.
Media outlets, however, have pledged to cover major developments or updates, as Israel fights Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas Palestinians militants in Gaza.