Israeli jets pound Haret Hreik as Netanyahu’s home targeted in drone attack

Update Israeli jets pound Haret Hreik as Netanyahu’s home targeted in drone attack
Thick smoke billows over buildings following an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik on October 19, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Updated 19 October 2024
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Israeli jets pound Haret Hreik as Netanyahu’s home targeted in drone attack

Israeli jets pound Haret Hreik as Netanyahu’s home targeted in drone attack
  • Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military spokesman, warned residents of Haret Hreik to evacuate before the area was struck
  • An Israeli target map included the building of the Islamic Charitable Emdad Committee affiliated with Hezbollah

BEIRUT: Israeli jets on Saturday pounded Haret Hreik in southern Beirut as Hezbollah announced it had targeted the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu using drones.
Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military spokesman, warned residents of Haret Hreik to evacuate before the area was struck.
An Israeli target map included the building of the Islamic Charitable Emdad Committee affiliated with Hezbollah.
The area has been hit with consecutive days of airstrikes over the past three weeks, with residents evacuating in the wake of the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sept. 27.
Fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah entered a new phase on Saturday with the Israeli announcement that drones had been launched at Netanyahu’s home in Caesarea, south of Haifa.
Meanwhile, Israeli expanded its air campaign against Hezbollah to new areas, including Chtaura in central Bekaa and the coastal town of Jounieh in Mount Lebanon.
The development in Caesarea was kept under wraps for some time, with three drones said to have crossed into Israel from Lebanon in the morning.
Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack, though the party has yet to claim responsibility.
One drone crashed in Caesarea, where Netanyahu owns a private residence.
Netanyahu’s office said: “A drone was launched toward his home in Caesarea, but the prime minister and his wife were not there, and no injuries were reported.”
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said that the drone “flew 70 km from Lebanon and directly hit a building in Caesarea,” while Israeli media reported that “shrapnel hit a nearby building.”
In an official statement, the Israeli army acknowledged that it “detected three drones crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory, two of which were intercepted.”
The military operations room of Hezbollah a day earlier had announced a “transition to a new and escalatory phase in the confrontation with the Israeli enemy.”
This would “be reflected in the developments and events of the coming days,” it added.
In August this year, Hezbollah released footage captured by an observer drone that had infiltrated Israeli airspace, showing Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military drone on Saturday struck a residential apartment in the Qataya building in Chtaura at 5 a.m, killing one man and injuring two other people.
A reporter, who requested to remain anonymous, told Arab News that the dead man was affiliated with Hezbollah, “but we are unaware of his military rank.”
Hours later, another Israeli military drone tracked a vehicle traveling from northern Lebanon toward Beirut along the Jounieh highway.
It launched a missile at the car but missed, before firing a second missile that prompted the driver to flee the vehicle with his wife.
The pair ran into a nearby forest but were struck by the drone and killed.
Initial reports suggested that they were from the Al-Burj Al-Shamali area in southern Lebanon.
The Al-Hadath TV channel reported from sources that the target was a “military leader in Hezbollah’s intelligence.”
The Ministry of Health said: “The Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in Jounieh resulted in the deaths of two individuals.”
The Israeli army previously employed the same drone-launched missile during the assassination of a driver in the Kahala area three weeks ago.
The target was killed as his family, who accompanied him in the vehicle, were left unharmed.
Eyewitnesses at the time described the incident as a “silent targeting.”
The assassination on Saturday caused significant confusion in Jounieh, a Christian area with no Hezbollah presence, and which has rarely drawn Israeli attention.
Israeli airstrikes intensified in the southern region and the Bekaa, coinciding with Hezbollah’s targeting of northern Israel.
The strikes on western Bekaa killed Haidar Shahla, the mayor of Sohmor, after a raid targeted the town of Baaloul.
In southern Lebanon, Israeli jets raided the surroundings of a building previously used by the demining organization “MAG” in Kfar Joz in Nabatieh, as well as Chkeif, Kfarkila and Srifa.
Kfarshouba, Khiam and the Marjayoun valley were targeted by Israeli artillery.
A raid targeted and completely destroyed a building on the Zefta-Nabatieh highway, while other raids struck the town of Ebba.
A raid on a building in Jal Al-Bahr, Tyre, near a medical center, injured six people, one critically. The targeted region includes commercial shops, medical clinics and residential buildings.
A raid on Kharayeb injured three civilians.
Meanwhile, ground fighting continued in the border region, notably on the outskirts of Aita Al-Shaab, Ramieh and Kafra, where violent clashes are taking place for the third consecutive day.
In Bekaa, Israeli raids reached the town of Khodor in western Bekaa, Mecherfeh on the northeastern border of Hermel, Bouday, the barrens of Shmistar, the surroundings of Qasr and Hosh Sayyid Ali in Hermel on the Syrian border.
In a series of statements, Hezbollah announced that it targeted Safed, Haifa, Israeli military bases and gatherings in Rosh Pinna, east of the Malkia settlement, and Jal Al-Deir, northeast of the Avivim settlement.
Hezbollah also said that it launched “a swarm of attack drones” toward the Ein Shemer base of Israel’s air force, as well as a regional brigade base east of Hadera.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that “several missiles landed in Tiberias and its lake,” adding that “three drones were fired from Lebanon toward Nahariya, Akka and the Haifa Bay, one of which was intercepted by the Israeli army.”


UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in West Bank

UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in West Bank
Updated 25 sec ago
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UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in West Bank

UN chief ‘gravely concerned’ at Israeli settler violence in West Bank
  • Israel earlier announced expanded military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory
GENEVA: The UN chief voiced alarm Monday at rising violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and calls for annexation after Israel announced expanded military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“I am gravely concerned by the rising violence in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers and other violations, as well as calls for annexation,” Antonio Guterres told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye

10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye
Updated 28 min 35 sec ago
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10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye

10th pro-Kurdish party mayor removed in eastern Turkiye

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s interior ministry announced on Monday the removal of a 10th pro-Kurdish party mayor in eastern Turkiye in less than a year for alleged ties.
The development targeting a mayor of DEM party — the third largest political group in the parliament — comes as the party leads negotiations with jailed leader of outlawed Kurdish militants Abdullah Ocalan to end the four-decade conflict.
“Mehmet Alkan, mayor of the Kagizman district in the province of Kars, has been temporarily suspended from his duties by the interior ministry because he was sentenced to six years and three months in jail on charges of membership of an armed terror group,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
The DEM condemned the action as part of the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) Party’s “war against the people’s right to vote and to be elected,” in a message on X.
Ankara has stepped up the pressure on pro-Kurdish movements and sympathizers accused of “terrorism,” even as it pursues talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) listed as a terror group by Turkiye and much of the international community.
The PKK has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 that has left more than 40,000 people dead.


Syria’s foreign minister to visit Turkiye on Monday, two sources say

Syria’s foreign minister to visit Turkiye on Monday, two sources say
Updated 50 min 45 sec ago
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Syria’s foreign minister to visit Turkiye on Monday, two sources say

Syria’s foreign minister to visit Turkiye on Monday, two sources say

ISTANBUL: Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani will visit Ankara on Monday for talks with Turkish officials, two sources familiar with the plan told Reuters.
The visit coincides with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov holding talks with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in the Turkish capital. 


Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t return

Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t return
Updated 24 February 2025
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Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t return

Israel sends tanks into West Bank for first time in decades, says fleeing Palestinians can’t return
  • The Palestinian foreign ministry called the Israeli moves “a dangerous escalation of the situation in the West Bank,” and urged the international community to intervene in what it termed Israel's illegal “aggression”
  • Israel regularly sends troops into Palestinian zones but typically withdraws them after missions

JENIN, West Bank: Israeli tanks moved into the occupied West Bank on Sunday for the first time in decades in what Palestinian authorities called a “dangerous escalation,” after the defense minister said troops will remain in parts of the territory for a year and tens of thousands of Palestinians who have fled cannot return.
Associated Press journalists saw several tanks move along unpaved tracks into Jenin, long a bastion of armed struggle against Israel.
Israel is deepening its crackdown on the Palestinian territory and has said it is determined to stamp out militancy amid a rise in attacks. It launched the offensive in the northern West Bank on Jan. 21 — two days after the current ceasefire in Gaza took hold — and expanded it to nearby areas.
Palestinians view the deadly raids as part of an effort to cement Israeli control over the territory, where 3 million Palestinians live under military rule.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to “increase the intensity of the activity to thwart terrorism" in all refugee camps in the West Bank.
“We will not allow the return of residents, and we will not allow terrorism to return and grow,” he said.
Earlier, Katz said he had instructed the military to prepare for “an extended stay” in some of the West Bank's urban refugee camps from which about 40,000 Palestinians have fled, leaving them “emptied of residents.”

 

The camps are home to descendants of Palestinians who fled during wars with Israel decades ago. It was not clear how long Palestinians would be prevented from returning. Katz said Israeli troops would stay “for the coming year.” Netanyahu said they would stay “as long as needed."
Tanks were last deployed in the West Bank in 2002, when Israel fought a deadly Palestinian uprising.
The Palestinian foreign ministry called the Israeli moves “a dangerous escalation of the situation in the West Bank,” and urged the international community to intervene in what it termed Israel's illegal “aggression.”
“Even if they stay, we will return to the camp at the end,” said Mohamed al-Sadi, one of those displaced from Jenin. “This camp is ours. We have no other place to go.”
Netanyahu under pressure to crack down
With fighting in Gaza and Lebanon on hold, Netanyahu has been under pressure from far-right governing partners to crack down on militancy in the West Bank. The U.N. says the current Israeli military operation is the longest since the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s.
Under interim peace agreements from the early 1990s, Israel maintains control over large parts of the West Bank, while the Palestinian Authority administers other areas. Israel regularly sends troops into Palestinian zones but typically withdraws them after missions.
More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the war in Gaza erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas attack on southern Israel. Israel says most were militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting Israeli raids as well as bystanders have also been killed. In the most recent operation, a pregnant Palestinian woman was killed.
Jewish settlers also have carried out rampages in Palestinian areas in the territory. And there has been a spike in Palestinian attacks emanating from the West Bank. On Thursday, blasts rocked three empty buses in Israel in what police view as a suspected militant attack.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians want all three territories for their future independent state.
US envoy to pursue extended ceasefire
The truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza remains tenuous.
A week is left in the ceasefire’s first phase, and no negotiations have been reported on the second phase. The truce’s collapse could lead to renewed fighting in Gaza, where Netanyahu says 63 hostages remain, about half of them believed dead, including a soldier captured in 2014.
“We are ready to return to intense fighting at any moment," Netanyahu said Sunday. The military increased its “operational readiness” around Gaza.
The US special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told CNN he expects the second phase to go forward, adding: “We have to get an extension of phase one and so I’ll be going into the region this week, probably Wednesday, to negotiate that.” He told CBS he will visit Qatar, Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
But a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Mardawi, said Sunday the group will not engage in further discussions with Israel through mediators until Israel releases the 620 Palestinian prisoners meant to be freed on Saturday.
Israel said early Sunday it was delaying the release until it gets assurances that Hamas stops what Israel calls “humiliating” handovers of hostages in staged ceremonies criticized by the U.S. and Red Cross as cruel.
Egypt and Qatar were pressing Israel to release the prisoners, and Egypt refused to discuss any Israeli demands before then, said an Egyptian official involved in the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media.
Palestinian family members were distraught. “What have the prisoners done? We don’t know what happened. They killed our joy,” said one mother, Najah Zaqqot.
The White House is supporting Israel’s decision to delay releasing the Palestinians prisoners, calling it “appropriate.”
National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said Sunday that, “given Hamas’ barbaric treatment of the hostages, including the hideous parade of the Bibas children’s coffins through the streets of Gaza, Israel’s decision to delay the release of prisoners is an appropriate response.”
“The President is prepared to support Israel in whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas,” Hughes said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu faced new criticism over the war while speaking at a military graduation. As he held up a picture of Shiri Bibas and her young boys, Ariel and Kfir, whose remains were returned from Gaza last week, to demonstrate “what we are fighting against,” audience members called out “Shame!” and “Why didn’t you save them?” The prime minister didn’t react.

 


White House backs Israel’s decision to delay releasing Palestinian prisoners

White House backs Israel’s decision to delay releasing Palestinian prisoners
Updated 24 February 2025
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White House backs Israel’s decision to delay releasing Palestinian prisoners

White House backs Israel’s decision to delay releasing Palestinian prisoners
  • President Donald Trump is prepared to support Israel in “whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas,” he added

WASHINGTON: The White House said on Sunday that it supports Israel’s decision to delay releasing 600 Palestinian prisoners, citing the “barbaric treatment” of Israeli hostages by Hamas.
Delaying the prisoner release is an “appropriate response” to the Palestinian militant group’s treatment of the hostages, a statement from National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said.
President Donald Trump is prepared to support Israel in “whatever course of action it chooses regarding Hamas,” he added.