Israel asks its defense sector to help foil drone attacks
Israel asks its defense sector to help foil drone attacks/node/2575429/middle-east
Israel asks its defense sector to help foil drone attacks
A Hebrew sign shows the direction to a military base, the scene of where a drone from Lebanon attacked Israel, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Binyamina, Israel, October 14, 2024. Lebanon's Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack. (REUTERS)
Israel asks its defense sector to help foil drone attacks
On Sunday, Hezbollah said it had attacked the Israeli military’s Golani Brigade in Binyamina in northern Israel with a “swarm of drones”
Updated 23 sec ago
Reuters
JERUSALEM: Israel’s government has turned to industry to bolster the military’s ability to intercept aerial drones launched by Iran or the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
The Defense Ministry said on Tuesday it had launched a competition among eight large and small companies.
“After analizing the trial results, the Defense Ministry will select several technologies to enter an accelerated development and production process. This aims to deploy new operational capabilities within months,” it said.
In addition to missiles, Iran, Hezbollah and others have used drones in attacks on Israel.
On Sunday, Hezbollah said it had attacked the Israeli military’s Golani Brigade in Binyamina in northern Israel with a “swarm of drones.” It said some of the drones, which included models it had not used before, had eluded Israeli air defense radar.
Israel’s military said four of its soldiers had been killed and seven severely injured.
“The UAV threat is a multi-arena threat originating from Iran, which supplies UAVs to Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, and even launches them itself,” said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“We must concentrate the national effort ... to produce operational solutions quickly.”
The ministry’s director general, Eyal Zamir, said it had already invested hundreds of millions of shekels in such capabilities.
Those participating include Israel’s top defense firms, Elbit Systems, Rafael, and Israel Aerospace Industries.
How a former BBC cameraman’s experience of famine drove him to devise ‘a better way to feed displaced people’
Pete Henderson has developed a protein-rich food bar designed specifically for people displaced by conflict and disaster
To tackle food insecurity, his UK and Gulf-based company also aims to empower communities by investing in localized crop production
Updated 40 sec ago
Nadia Al-Faour
DUBAI: Hunger remains one of the world’s most pressing challenges, with more than 733 million people grappling with insufficient nutrition each day, many of them in areas impacted by conflict, economic instability, and climate change.
A year into the war in Gaza, three-quarters of Palestinians there rely on food assistance to survive, despite the increasing challenges faced by organizations trying to bring in vital supplies. Hunger and malnutrition rates could rise in Lebanon too as communities are forced by the ongoing Israel-Hezbollah war to abandon their homes and farmland in the country’s south.
Pete Henderson, a former BBC cameraman, founded E2G Food (Eat 2 Grow) to help address the hunger crisis by developing protein-rich food bars designed specifically for people displaced by conflict and disaster and for the first responders sent in to help them.
Henderson’s career covering global conflicts opened his eyes to the harsh realities faced by those unable to access basic necessities like food. As he witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by hunger, one incident, in particular, stood out — a scene of a man and his two young children crying from hunger.
“All they needed was some nutritious food, and their lives would’ve been slightly better,” he told Arab News. This memory, along with other stark images from famine-stricken regions, inspired him to explore more intuitive ways to provide food aid.
Palestinian boys sit amid the rubble of a building with their pots of soup at a food distribution point in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip on August 21, 2024. (AFP)
Henderson recalled an image of an Irish nurse standing outside a feeding center in Ethiopia during the 1983-85 famine. “She had the unfortunate position of playing God, as whoever she couldn’t admit to the center was at risk of starving to death,” he said.
“It made me realize how sometimes the power of food can be evil. As a cameraman looking at these situations, I often thought over the years we really need to find a better way to feed people who are displaced.
“The old fashioned way of throwing 25 kg bags of maize out of the back of a Hercules doesn’t cut it anymore. And if that doesn’t land on your head and kill you, then you need to cut down a tree, make a fire, find water, to cook, dispense and eat it.”
Traditional methods of distributing emergency food aid have proven inefficient and occasionally dangerous. A tragic incident in March this year underscored the risk when 18 Palestinians died during an airdrop off the coast of Gaza, highlighting the flaws in these approaches.
IN NUMBERS
2.8+bn People who are unable to afford a healthy diet (FAO).
282m People facing acute food insecurity worldwide (WFP).
36m Children under 5 who are acutely malnourished (UNICEF).
3m Children facing most severe forms of malnutrition (UNICEF).
Twelve people drowned in the sea while trying to reach the precious cargo, while six more were killed in a stampede as others rushed to the shoreline.
E2G aims to revolutionize this system by offering ready-to-eat food bars made from nutritious ingredients like dates, nuts, oils, and spirulina. These bars contain 500 calories and 30 grams of protein per serving and require no cooking, heating, or refrigeration.
“It’s instant support on the ground,” said Henderson.
The immediate benefit of E2G bars is particularly evident in conflict zones such as Gaza and Sudan, where access to food is often weaponized and the delivery of aid is restricted by conflict. According to Medecins Sans Frontieres, Sudan is already experiencing famine, while the Gaza Strip has seen pockets of extreme hunger.
People line up to register for a potential food aid delivery at a camp for internally displaced persons in Agari, South Kordofan, on June 17, 2024. (AFP)
In July, E2G partnered with the British Chamber of Commerce to donate 10,000 bars to Gaza, providing much-needed relief to families. Each box of E2G bars can feed a family of four for a week, offering a life-saving supplement in times of severe scarcity.
“Getting to Gaza is a challenge,” Henderson said. “But we are trying to have them delivered via Egypt or air drops from Jordan.”
E2G Food is also transparent about its operations, providing donors with updates on where their contributions are going and whom they are helping. And while its immediate goal is to provide food to those in need, the company understands that lasting solutions require a shift from dependency to sustainability.
“We’ve offered people a chance to help,” Henderson said, but the company aims to go further by establishing local partnerships that enable communities to feed themselves.
One such example is E2G’s work in Zimbabwe, where the company is building a microalgae farm to produce spirulina that can feed up to 500 people daily. Spirulina, rich in protein and other nutrients, offers a sustainable way to improve food security locally.
“If we want to tackle food security on a global basis, we need to grow local, feed local, and improve health locally,” said Henderson.
E2G offers ready-to-eat food bars made from nutritious ingredients like dates, nuts, oils, and spirulina that require no cooking, heating, or refrigeration. (Supplied)
By investing in local food production, E2G aims to empower communities to be self-sufficient, reducing the need for dangerous migration in search of food.
“People don’t want to be crossing dangerous deserts and going across the Mediterranean if they don’t have to,” said Henderson.
“So if we find a way of feeding and supporting people at home and give them the ability to feed themselves and be healthy at the same time, that means we’re tackling food security correctly. And we can do all of this using renewable energy and recycled water.”
E2G’s holistic approach to hunger involves collaboration with established humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross, leveraging their expertise and distribution networks to reach the most vulnerable.
In the long term, the company seeks to improve food security while also creating job opportunities and encouraging sustainable agriculture in the regions it serves.
E2G Food bars enjoyed by a community in Kabul, Afghanistan. Distribution facilitated by Local Partner, Gulzad Group. (Supplied)
Fayaz King, UNICEF’s deputy executive director in Zimbabwe, praised E2G’s innovative approach.
“The E2G food bar is currently undergoing the WHO standard approval process for use in UN humanitarian and development initiatives,” King said, noting that the product is poised to play a role in global food security programs once approved.
He also highlighted the significance of E2G’s microalgae farm in Zimbabwe, calling it “a sustainable approach to addressing food security by involving local communities in the solution.”
As Henderson looks to expand E2G’s operations, he has chosen Dubai as the site for a new factory. The decision reflects his belief in the Middle East’s pivotal role in the global fight against hunger.
“The Middle East is quite positive and forward-thinking when it comes to solving problems,” he said. “If you think of global donations to support world hunger, I would say more than half of the world’s funding comes from the Middle East. And that’s impressive.”
FASTFACT
World Food Day is observed every year on Oct. 16 to commemorate the date of the founding of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945.
The global hunger crisis has reached alarming levels, with nearly 282 million people across 59 countries facing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme. This figure marks a significant rise compared to previous years.
Food crises have been exacerbated by persistent conflict and displacement, while inflation and rising food prices linked to the war in Ukraine continue to limit access to essentials for millions globally.
The UN added Lebanon in June to its list of hunger hotspots, saying that a quarter of the population faced acute levels of food insecurity amid the simmering conflict, soaring inflation, rising global wheat prices and diminishing humanitarian aid for the country’s 1.5 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees.
If the flow of assistance to Gaza does not resume, the UN estimates that 1 million vulnerable people will be deprived of this lifeline. There are around 100,000 tons of food positioned at different corridors, which is enough to feed over a million people for five months. However, the closure of crossing points, security issues and route disruptions at crossings are limiting aid delivery.
Displaced Sudanese queue to receive food portions at their makeshift camp in the eastern city of Gedaref on September 9, 2024. (AFP)
Particularly vulnerable are children and displaced populations. More than 36 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, with nearly 3 million facing the most severe forms of malnutrition, according to UNICEF.
Henderson says E2G Food represents a promising solution to the immediate and long-term challenges of global hunger.
While emergency food aid is essential, his vision for empowering communities through sustainable agriculture and local production reveals a former media worker’s deeper understanding of the complex issues involved.
E2G founder Peter Henderson working for BBC as a cameraman in Jerusalem in 1991. (Supplied)
Indeed, world hunger is not simply a problem of distribution. It is one of inequality, climate change, and conflict. E2G’s model, which balances emergency relief with sustainable development, could be a blueprint for future efforts to combat food insecurity worldwide.
However, as Henderson’s experience reveals, the journey to ending hunger is long and fraught with challenges that require both innovative solutions and collective global action.
E2G Food may not solve the hunger crisis alone, but it arguably brings the world one small step closer to addressing both the symptoms and the root causes of food insecurity.
US raised concerns with Israel over bombing campaign in Beirut, State Dept says
Miller’s comments represent a harsher tone than Washington has adopted so far toward Israel’s military operations in Lebanon
Israel dramatically escalated its bombing campaign of Lebanon in recent weeks, hitting Hezbollah’s strongholds
Updated 24 min 40 sec ago
Reuters
WASHINGTON: The United States opposes the bombing campaign that Israel has carried out in Beirut in past weeks and has communicated its concerns particularly over the civilian death toll, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.
“There are specific strikes that it would be appropriate for Israel to carry out. But when it comes to the scope and nature of the bombing campaign that we saw in Beirut for the past few weeks, it’s something that we made clear to the government of Israel we had concerns with and we were opposed to,” Miller said.
The civilian death toll was among Washington’s concerns, he said, without elaborating.
Miller’s comments represent a harsher tone than Washington has adopted so far toward Israel’s military operations in Lebanon, which Israel says are aimed at degrading Iran-aligned Hezbollah and pushing its forces north and away from the border.
Israel dramatically escalated its bombing campaign of Lebanon in recent weeks, hitting Hezbollah’s strongholds of south Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the eastern Bekaa region. Other areas of Lebanon have also been hit.
The hostilities had been playing out along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel since October last year in parallel with Israel’s offensive in Gaza that was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,350 people over the last year, the Lebanese health ministry said, and more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced. The majority have been killed since late September when Israel expanded its military campaign.
Miller said Washington has seen Israeli bombing of Beirut diminish in recent days, adding that the United States would continue to monitor the situation.
“We’ve seen them come down over the past few days, which is not a prediction about what will happen in the future,” he said.
Fighting escalates along Lebanese border as Hezbollah threatens to strike anywhere in Israel
As tensions continued to escalate, calls by Lebanese politicians for a ceasefire grew
Israel stepped up airstrikes on numerous towns in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley
Updated 53 min 32 sec ago
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: Clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah intensified on Tuesday as an Israeli infantry unit advanced on the outskirts of the border town of Rab El-Thalathine.
At the same time, Israel stepped up its airstrikes on numerous towns in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, resulting in mass casualties.
As tensions continued to escalate, calls by Lebanese politicians for a ceasefire grew and they urged the government to deploy army forces in the border region.
In a televised speech, however, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Sheikh Naim Qassem said “the party (Hezbollah) is strong and united.” Pictured alongside a Lebanese flag and the Hezbollah banner, he warned that “since the enemy has targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right, from a defensive standpoint, to target any point within the Israeli entity.”
He added: “The solution lies in a ceasefire. Following the ceasefire … the settlers will return to the north. However, as long as the conflict persists, the number of uninhabited settlements will increase, placing hundreds of thousands, potentially more than 2 million, at risk.”
Fouad Siniora, a former prime minister of Lebanon, called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities to halt the bloodshed … as well as a complete adherence to the constitution.”
The Kataeb Party called upon “the speaker of the parliament and the prime minister to urgently seek a definitive and unambiguous position from Hezbollah concerning the immediate acceptance of a ceasefire.”
Meanwhile, fighting continues. Hezbollah said its members “engaged in combat with the Israeli forces that infiltrated into the area of Rab El-Thalathine using automatic weapons and missiles, and the clashes are ongoing.”
Fighting also resumed in the border town of Aita Al-Shaab. The Israeli army has tried to cross the Blue Line and enter Lebanese territory in several places. The extent to which incursions have been successful remains unclear, other than video footage released by the Israeli army.
Meanwhile, more than 20 people were killed or injured when an airstrike hit a residential building in the town of Riyaq in Bekaa. Elsewhere, Mohammed Hassan Mashourab, an employee of internet provider Ogero, his wife Ghida Farhat and their children, Raine and Ali, were killed when an airstrike hit their house in the town of Jarjou, in Iqlim Al-Tuffah region.
Israel also targeted Qilya in Western Bekaa with a series of airstrikes, killing three paramedics from Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Organization. Similar attacks targeted Hosh Al-Sayyid Ali in Hermel, and the border area of Jarmash, near the border with Syria.
Parts of Baalbek in the vicinity of its Roman castle were also hit by airstrikes at dawn, described by residents as “the most violent of all times.” Neighboring Al-Murtada Hospital was severely damaged and forced to close.
Israeli forces said they “eliminated Khader Al-Abed, who was in charge of the area north of the Litani River with Hezbollah’s aerial unit.” Hezbollah did not immediately confirm this.
Israeli reconnaissance planes entered Lebanese airspace over Beirut and its suburbs and thermal balloons were deployed over the capital.
Army forces targeted a residential building in Ayto, a town in the Zgharta district of northern Lebanon and the death toll among civilians there rose to 23 on Tuesday, including women, children and the elderly, some of whom were reportedly “blown to pieces.”
Avichai Adraee, a spokesperson for the Israeli military, again warned residents of southern Lebanon on Tuesday “not to return to their villages in the south or to their olive groves.”
In a joint statement, the World Food Programme and UNICEF said “the humanitarian needs of displaced people in Lebanon are increasing. We need to mobilize efforts to provide additional funding to enable a scaled-up response.” A ceasefire is urgently required, they added.
According to the latest daily report issued by the Lebanese government, 200 Israeli airstrikes were recorded in the past 48 hours, bringing the total number of attacks on Lebanon since the start of hostilities just over a year ago to 9,866. The reported death toll stands at 2,309, with 10,782 people injured and 188,146 displaced and living in more than 1,000 shelters, the majority of them in Beirut and Mount Lebanon.
Lebanese citizens have received calls from Israeli authorities ordering them to evacuate their homes and other buildings in specific streets in many Lebanese regions because Hezbollah militants are sheltering in them, which has caused panic among residents.
Some of these calls, described as “psychological warfare,” were reported in Christian areas, including Sin El-Fil, Ballouneh and Hadath, causing chaos among residents and displaced people who thought they were in safe areas.
Body of missing student found as Turkiye grapples with femicides
Hundreds of women have taken to the streets in major cities across Turkiye over the past 10 days to denounce the string of murders
The young woman was studying at university in the nearby city of Van where she was last seen leaving her student digs on September 27
Updated 15 October 2024
AFP
ANKARA: The body of a 21-year-old woman student who went missing nearly three weeks ago has been found in eastern Turkiye, the government said on Tuesday, as the country grapples with a wave of femicides.
Hundreds of women have taken to the streets in major cities across Turkiye over the past 10 days to denounce the string of murders.
The protests began following a grisly October 4 attack in Istanbul in which two 19-year-olds were killed within half an hour of each other by a young man of the same age who then killed himself.
One of the women was decapitated.
The body of Rojin K. was found on the banks of Lake Van near Molla Kasim village some 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Turkiye’s eastern border with Iran, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X.
Although Yerlinkaya did not give the cause of death nor confirm whether she had been murdered, it is rare for such a high-ranking official to comment publicly on a missing person case.
The young woman was studying at university in the nearby city of Van where she was last seen leaving her student digs on September 27.
Turkiye has struggled to contain a wave of femicides, with the country shocked by the murder of an eight-year-old girl in August and a 26-year-old policewoman last month.
Many of those protesting at the weekend chanted slogans against the ruling AKP and its leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who initially blamed alcohol and social media for the violence.
But last week, he promised to toughen the justice system and crack down harder on crime.
Part of the anger is about Turkiye withdrawing from the so-called Istanbul Convention, which was set up by the Council of Europe and required signatory countries to pass laws aimed at preventing and prosecuting violence against women.
Women’s organizations want Turkiye to return to the convention.
Turkiye withdrew from it in 2021 with Erdogan’s government claiming it encouraged homosexuality and threatened the traditional family structure.
In the three months to September 30, 117 women were “murdered” and another 110 died in “suspicious circumstances,” according to a statement released on Friday by women’s rights groups who based their figures on press reports.
EU officials highlight ‘ambitious agenda’ ahead of GCC-EU summit
GCC and EU leaders will address regional stability, trade, and people-to-people cooperation during the summit
Updated 15 October 2024
Lama Alhamawi
RIYADH: Senior EU officials held a press briefing in Riyadh on Tuesday to discuss the “ambitious agenda” of the upcoming Gulf Cooperation Council-EU summit in Brussels on Oct. 16.
GCC and EU leaders will address regional stability, trade, and people-to-people cooperation during the summit.
Regarding regional security, when asked by Arab News about the barriers to EU countries adopting a unified stance on recognizing Palestine in a two-state solution, a senior EU official said: “We agree on the two-state solution with the GCC, and it requires two interlocutors; the EU supports the Palestinian Authority.”
The official emphasized: “It’s a subject that we would like to stress also with the GCC countries together to support the Palestinian Authority.”
Another EU official discussed the recognition of Palestine by more EU nations, stating that recognition is a sovereign decision for each member state. While the majority of EU members recognize Palestine as a state, some do not.
During the press briefing, a senior EU official stressed that the summit topics are “three-fold.”
The first is the geopolitical situation, “and we need to make our relationship with the GCC more strategic, especially in light of the war in Ukraine and the Middle East,” the official said.
“The second is collaborating on global challenges, such as energy.
“The third focus is on ‘bilateral relationships,’ including trade, regional agreements, and visa-related people-to-people initiatives. That is the global framework,” the official added.
“We don’t see eye-to-eye on all topics, and negotiating a statement with this region is not always easy. However, with our 27 member states, I believe we can achieve good work,” the official said.
“We have a common language and shared efforts within the UN, so we will continue working on this.”
During the briefing, EU senior officials emphasized that the summit will feature “a very ambitious agenda.”
Beyond regional stability, the summit aims to “increase cooperation in trade and investment, green and digital transitions, energy, education, research and innovation, gateway projects, digital infrastructure, and fostering people-to-people relations.”
While it was not disclosed which officials would attend, an EU official confirmed a “high level of attendance on both sides.”
Regarding global geopolitical challenges, the official said: “Our concerns about the region are shared, and the security of the region is our security, and vice versa.”
Speaking on the historical ties between the GCC and the EU, a senior EU official noted: “Five years ago, the EU had only two delegations in the Gulf; today, it has four.”
He added that there was no real political dialogue with the GCC or its individual member states back then.
