UN peacekeepers wounded in Israeli strike in Lebanon: army

Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024. (AFP)
Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024. (AFP)
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UN peacekeepers wounded in Israeli strike in Lebanon: army

Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of Sidon.
  • Also on Wednesday, health ministry said 40 people had been killed in Israeli strikes on the Bekaa Valley and the densely populated city of Baalbek

BEIRUT: Four UN peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli air strike in southern Lebanon on Thursday that also killed three civilians, the Lebanese army said.
Israel launched a barrage of strikes Thursday after Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it carried out a missile attack targeting a military base near Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, the health ministry said 40 people had been killed in Israeli strikes on the Bekaa Valley and the densely populated ancient city of Baalbek in east Lebanon, where Hezbollah holds sway.
Hezbollah and Israel have been at war since late September, when Israel broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war continues.
Rescuers in the Palestinian territory on Thursday said 12 people were killed in an Israeli air strike on a school-turned-shelter for displaced people in north Gaza, the latest incident of its kind.
Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel last year in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.
The raid in Sidon, the main city in southern Lebanon, struck near an army checkpoint.
“The Israeli enemy targeted a car while it was passing through the Awali checkpoint in Sidon,” the army said in a statement.
Three civilians inside the car were killed, the military said, and four members of the Malaysian contingent in the UN peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, were injured.
Three soldiers at the checkpoint were also hurt, it said.
The Israeli military told AFP it was looking into the reports.
Israel launched raids across southern suburbs of Beirut overnight, with one hitting an area near the airport.
Taxi driver Abu Elie, who was at the airport when the strikes hit, told AFP “the entire car park shook.”
“People were carrying their suitcases on their shoulders and running,” he said.
Officials told AFP the raid had caused minor damage but the terminal building was safe and flights were running as normal.

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s US presidential election, some in Lebanon had been hopeful that new leadership might bring them a reprieve.
But Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a speech broadcast on Wednesday that the vote — won by Donald Trump — would have no bearing on the future of the war.
He warned that Hezbollah had tens of thousands of trained militants ready to fight, and that nowhere in Israel was “off-limits.”
Israel’s airports authority said Wednesday that operations at its main airport near commercial hub Tel Aviv were not affected after Hezbollah said it fired missiles at a military base nearby.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to keep fighting Hamas and Hezbollah until victory, spoke to Trump on Wednesday.
Netanyahu’s office said the conversation was “warm and cordial” and he had congratulated Trump on his victory.
“The two also discussed the Iranian threat,” the office said.
Shortly afterwards, Israel’s defense ministry said it had signed a $5.2 billion agreement with Boeing to purchase 25 “next generation” F-15 fighter jets, which would be financed by US military aid.
In Lebanon, the strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs were so intense many residents of the city were unable to sleep.
“Death has become a matter of luck. We can either die or survive,” said Ramzi Zaiter, a resident of south Beirut.

Since September 23, more than 2,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to Health Minister Firass Abiad.
Iran, which arms and finances Hezbollah, also dismissed the impact of the US vote.
“It makes no difference to us who won the US election,” President Masoud Pezeshkian was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Iran and the United States have been adversaries since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the Western-backed shah, but tensions peaked during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2021.
Tareq Hamad, a man displaced by the war from his south Lebanon village Kfar Kila, was cautious.
Trump “had said that if he wins, he would work toward a ceasefire. But these are just words,” he told AFP.
In Gaza, ravaged by 13 months of war since the deadliest attack in Israeli history, people were desperate for a solution.
“We were displaced, killed... there’s nothing left for us, we want peace,” said Mamduh Al-Jadba, who was displaced to Gaza City from Jabalia, where one month ago the Israel military began an air and ground assault, vowing to stop Hamas militants from regrouping.
The UN has described “apocalyptic” conditions in Gaza’s north.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, on a visit to Jerusalem, said Trump’s victory could yet provide a “window” for peace because the US president-elect had a “wish to see the end of the Middle East’s endless wars.”
Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,469 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
In Israel, recent surveys have shown that a majority of people were hoping to see Trump return to the White House.
“Now we just need him to give us weapons,” said fruit vendor Yossi Mizrachi, 51, adding he believed Trump would be able to “bring an end to the war.”
In a cafe in Jerusalem, Yechiel Hajjbi, 57, also said he was “very happy” Trump had won and felt hopeful his return to power would “bring peace.”


Greek tanker crippled by Houthi rebels starts oil transfer

Greek tanker crippled by Houthi rebels starts oil transfer
Updated 1 min 55 sec ago
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Greek tanker crippled by Houthi rebels starts oil transfer

Greek tanker crippled by Houthi rebels starts oil transfer

ATHENS: A Greek oil tanker crippled by Yemen’s Houthi militants and towed to avert an environmental disaster began transferring its cargo of over a million barrels on Thursday, the state-run ANA news agency said.
The Sounion caught fire and lost power after being attacked on August 21 off the coast of Hodeidah, a Houthi-held port city.
The following day its 25-strong crew was rescued. The rebels claimed to have detonated charges on the ship’s deck, sparking new fires.
ANA said the Sounion had begun transferring its cargo of 150,000 tons of crude to another tanker, Delta Blue, at a “safe anchorage” in the port of Suez.
“The vessel is at Suez, and as it’s at a safe anchorage, we are no longer monitoring it,” a source at Greece’s merchant marine ministry told AFP.
Citing ministry sources, ANA said the operation began on Thursday and will last between three and four weeks.
In September, EU maritime safety body Aspides said the Sounion was not under its protection at the time of the attack.
The ship’s original course “was a bit of a mystery,” the ministry source told AFP. “We were told it was heading from Iraq to Singapore. If that were the case, how did it end up in the Red Sea?“
The operation to tow the vessel to safety in September required a tugboat escorted by three frigates, helicopters and a special forces team, ANA said.
Had the vessel broken up or exploded, it could have caused an oil spill four times larger than that caused by the Exxon Valdez in 1989 off Alaska, experts had warned.
The EU naval force was formed in February to protect merchant vessels in the Red Sea from attacks by Houthis.
The Houthis have waged a campaign against international shipping to show solidarity with Hamas in its war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
They have been firing drones and missiles at ships in the vital commercial route, saying they are targeting vessels linked to Israel, the US and Britain.
The United States, with the support of allies led by Britain, has carried out repeated air strikes on rebel bases in Yemen.


Hezbollah does not pin ceasefire hopes on any US administration, lawmaker says

Hezbollah does not pin ceasefire hopes on any US administration, lawmaker says
Updated 07 November 2024
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Hezbollah does not pin ceasefire hopes on any US administration, lawmaker says

Hezbollah does not pin ceasefire hopes on any US administration, lawmaker says

BEIRUT: Hezbollah welcomes any effort to stop the war in Lebanon but does not pin its hopes for a ceasefire on any particular US administration, Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim Al-Moussawi said on Thursday, when asked about Donald Trump’s election victory.


France sees ‘window’ to end Gaza, Lebanon wars after Trump win

France sees ‘window’ to end Gaza, Lebanon wars after Trump win
Updated 07 November 2024
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France sees ‘window’ to end Gaza, Lebanon wars after Trump win

France sees ‘window’ to end Gaza, Lebanon wars after Trump win

JERUSALEM: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Thursday in Jerusalem he saw prospects for ending Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon after Donald Trump was elected US president.
“I believe a window has opened for putting an end to the tragedy in which Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region have been immersed since October 7” last year, Barrot told reporters in Jerusalem.
Speaking alongside outgoing Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Barrot cited Trump’s “wish to see the end of the Middle East’s endless wars” as well as Israel’s recent “tactical successes.”
Barrot said he hoped a “diplomatic solution” would emerge “in the coming weeks.”
“Force alone will not be enough to guarantee Israel’s security,” he said, adding that “military success could not be a substitute for a political perspective.”
“It is time to move toward a deal that would allow for the liberation of all hostages, a ceasefire and the mass entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to prepare for the day after.”
Barrot said “Israel has the right to defend itself” but pointed to “colonization,” “humanitarian aid restrictions” and “the continuation of air strikes in north Gaza” as risk factors for Israel’s security.
Barrot is expected to speak with Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas and his prime minister, Muhammad Mustafa


Israel signs $5.2 billion deal to acquire 25 F-15 fighter jets from Boeing

Israel signs $5.2 billion deal to acquire 25 F-15 fighter jets from Boeing
Updated 07 November 2024
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Israel signs $5.2 billion deal to acquire 25 F-15 fighter jets from Boeing

Israel signs $5.2 billion deal to acquire 25 F-15 fighter jets from Boeing
  • The $5.2 billion agreement was part of a broader package of US aid
  • Delivery of the new F-15IA aircraft will begin in 2031

JERUSALEM: The Israeli defense ministry said on Thursday it had signed an agreement to acquire 25 next generation F-15 fighter jets from Boeing Co.
It said the $5.2 billion agreement was part of a broader package of US aid approved by the US administration and Congress earlier this year and included an option for 25 additional aircraft.
Delivery of the new F-15IA aircraft will begin in 2031, with 4-6 aircraft to be supplied annually, it said.
The aircraft will be equipped with weapons systems integrated with existing Israeli weapons as well as having increased range and payloads.
“These advantages will enable the Israeli Air Force to maintain its strategic superiority in addressing current and future challenges in the Middle East,” the ministry said in a statement.
“This F-15 squadron, alongside the third F-35 squadron procured earlier this year, represents a historic enhancement of our air power and strategic reach — capabilities that proved crucial during the current war,” the director general of the defense ministry, Eyal Zamir, said in the statement.
Zamir said that the government has secured procurement agreements worth nearly $40 billion since the onset of the war in Gaza that began Oct. 7, 2023.
“While focusing on immediate needs for advanced weaponry and ammunition at unprecedented levels, we’re simultaneously investing in long-term strategic capabilities,” he said.
For Boeing, the F-15 agreement is the second major deal this year. In August, flag carrier El Al Israel Airlines, signed a deal with Boeing for the purchase of up to 31 737 MAX aircraft worth as much as $2.5 billion, beating out rival Airbus.
Ido Nehushtan, president of Boeing Israel, said the company’s relationship dates back to Israel’s establishment and “will continue working with the US and Israeli governments to deliver the advanced F-15IA aircraft through standard military procurement channels.”


Erdogan phones Trump to discuss cooperation

Erdogan phones Trump to discuss cooperation
Updated 07 November 2024
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Erdogan phones Trump to discuss cooperation

Erdogan phones Trump to discuss cooperation

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken by phone with US president-elect Donald Trump to discuss cooperation between the two countries, the presidency said on Thursday.
Erdogan “congratulated Trump on his election victory” and “expressed his desire to develop cooperation between Turkiye and the United States in the period ahead,” it said in a statement.
Erdogan was twice hosted at the White House by Trump during his first term, but has never been received there by current President Joe Biden.