Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon bury dozens of civilians beneath the rubble of their homes

Update People inspect a site of an Israeli strike, in the town of Almat in Jbeil district, Lebanon November 10, 2024. (Reuters)
People inspect a site of an Israeli strike, in the town of Almat in Jbeil district, Lebanon November 10, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon bury dozens of civilians beneath the rubble of their homes

People inspect a site of an Israeli strike, in the town of Almat in Jbeil district, Lebanon November 10, 2024. (Reuters)
  • Civil Defense and Red Cross teams continue their search for missing people amid call for ceasefire
  • Airstrikes have killed at least 3,150 since October 2023 and wounded 14,000

BEIRUT: Israel targeted on Sunday several houses in Lebanon hosting displaced people from the south and Bekaa, leaving dozens dead.

The Israeli raids reached areas outside the evacuation zone, causing massacres, notably against women and children, many of whom were left beheaded.

One of the raids targeted a house in Almat, Jbeil, in the north of Lebanon, making it the second raid on the area since the expansion of the hostilities against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Ali Haidar, whose grandfather owns the bombed house, said that the raid killed over 30 people, adding that only 27 bodies had been recovered until now.

Rubble removal operations are continuing slowly, as civilians might be trapped alive under the wrecked house.




Rescuers use an excavator to search for survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Almat. Jbeil district, Lebanon, on Nov.10, 2024. (AFP) 

Haidar said that the house hosted 35 relatives from Baalbek, who arrived there weeks ago when Israel sent its first warnings to evacuate the area.

“They spent a full day on the road to reach Almat, including children and women … and were martyred today,” he added.

Haider said that “the brutality of Israel did not spare the child or the mother. It mutilated their bodies, obliterated an entire family from existence, and destroyed a 70-year-old home filled with memories.”

An official with the municipality of Almat said the victims who had earlier sought refuge in the house included a taxi driver and another person specializing in sanitary equipment repairs.

“They had no political affiliations,” he said, providing the names of the families that were targeted: Al-Korsaifi, Abdul Hussein, and Zreik.

A member of the Civil Defense said that the impact of the airstrike caused the victims to be thrown into the valley, with some located up to 100 meters away from the original site.

Six people who were injured were either living in homes situated at a considerable distance or were bystanders on the road.

Local MP Simon Abi Ramia said the targeted house belonged to a well-known resident who might have been hosting displaced people.

“The massacre cannot be justified. This represents a new crime in the record of the Israeli killing machine.

“May God protect Jbeil and Lebanon from this Israeli madness, and our demand is for a ceasefire to halt the daily bloodshed,” said the MP.

Hezbollah lawmaker Raed Berro, one of the members of parliament representing the Jbeil district, was at the site of the strike and denied Israeli claims that Hezbollah members or weapons were embedded among civilians.
“Important military and security figures are usually on the frontlines... not at the rear,” he told AFP.

“Under the rubble, there are only children, elderly men and women,” he said.




Residents inspect the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Almat in Jbeil district, Lebanon, on Nov. 10, 2024. (REUTERS)

A previous Israeli airstrike targeted a valley, but this marks the first instance of a home being targeted in this town, which is situated in an area predominantly inhabited by Christians.

One person injured in the Israeli raid on Almat, named Ahmad Amhaz, who later died of his wounds, was described as a Hezbollah official. 

A raid targeting an ambulance in the town of Adlun resulted in the deaths of three paramedics as Israeli airstrikes shifted to the south and the Bekaa region.

Civil Defense and Red Cross teams continued their search for missing people beneath the rubble of the building that was destroyed by an airstrike in the town of Deir Qanoun-Ras Al-Ain on Saturday night.

The death toll rose to 17, including seven paramedics and the two sons of an Amal movement leader in Jabal Amel.

A raid on a house in the town of Hanawiya killed five people.

In Baalbek, an Israeli raid targeted a house in the Al-Laqees neighborhood, and other raids led to dozens of deaths and injuries in the towns of Al-Hadath and Al-Kanisa in Baalbek.

Four people lost their lives, and several others were injured in two airstrikes targeting a residential home in the town of Rasem Al-Hadath belonging to citizen Nidal Al-Haj Hassan.

Efforts to clear the rubble and search for missing people were underway.

Israeli airstrikes struck a furniture factory located in the town of Sarein, causing one death.

The attacks also impacted Al-Hallaniah and a residence in the Sajad farm area of Hermel, resulting in one fatality and 10 injuries, according to preliminary reports.

A house in the town of Badnayel was also targeted, leading to four deaths and multiple injuries.

Airstrikes in the Western Bekaa region targeted Sahmar and Mashghara. The attacks resulted in one death and four injuries in Sahmar, whereas Mashghara suffered three fatalities and one injury, according to the Ministry of Health.

Multiple casualties were reported in Labaya as well.

Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed at least 3,150 since October 2023 and wounded 14,000.

The report issued by the ministerial emergency committee said that the Israeli attacks had been focused in Nabatieh for two weeks now, as well as in other regions in the south, Baalbek, Hermel, and Mount Lebanon.

In other developments, Israeli Channel 12 reported “the firing of eight rockets from Lebanon toward Kiryat Shmona and the Galilee and the direct targeting of a building in Tel Hay, Galilee.”

Hezbollah said it targeted a gathering of Israeli army forces near the Hassan Gate in the vicinity of the Lebanese town of Shaaba and another in HaGoshrim.

Hezbollah also attacked the Shraga base north of the occupied city of Acre, Kiryat Shmona, and the settlements of Zarit and Avivim, as well as a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the Al-Qabaa highland on the outskirts of Markaba.

Israeli forces attacked dozens of Hezbollah fighters on Lebanese territory and intercepted rockets that were fired from southern Lebanon. The other rockets fell in open areas.
 

(With Agencies)

 

 

 

 

 


Egypt hosts 1.2 million Sudanese, with ‘hundreds’ arriving daily: UN

Egypt hosts 1.2 million Sudanese, with ‘hundreds’ arriving daily: UN
Updated 40 sec ago
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Egypt hosts 1.2 million Sudanese, with ‘hundreds’ arriving daily: UN

Egypt hosts 1.2 million Sudanese, with ‘hundreds’ arriving daily: UN
CAIRO: Hundreds of people fleeing war-torn Sudan arrive in neighboring Egypt every day, a UN official said Sunday, adding to more than 1.2 million who have found refuge there, according to official figures.
The war between rival Sudanese generals since April 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million, with 3.1 million of them seeking shelter beyond the country’s borders, according to the UN.
Egypt currently hosts 546,746 Sudanese refugees who are officially registered with the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR, as well as others who are awaiting registration, said Christine Bishay, associate external relations officer at UNHCR Egypt.
A UNHCR report issued on Friday said that “recent data from the government of Egypt indicates that more than 1.2 million Sudanese have sought international protection in Egypt.”
This has made the North African country the largest host of Sudanese refugees despite imposing stricter entry requirements during the war in Sudan, which shares a long border with Egypt.
Sudanese nationals “now make up two-thirds of the country’s total registered refugee population” of 827,644 people representing 95 nationalities, including Syria, South Sudan and Eritrea, she said.
“Initially, at the very beginning of the conflict, thousands of Sudanese arrived in Egypt on a daily basis, before stabilising to a few hundreds per day,” Bishay added.
Cairo had initially waived visa requirements for Sudanese women, children and men over 50 at the start of the war.
But a month after the conflict erupted, the Egyptian government introduced visa entry requirements for all Sudanese, leaving many to resort to irregular crossings.
In September this year, Egypt further tightened entry requirements, obliging people entering from Sudan to obtain “prior security clearance” alongside a consular visa, according to Egypt’s interior ministry.
Raga Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a 27-year-old Sudanese woman who crossed into Egypt illegally in August, told AFP she had paid about 500,000 Sudanese pounds ($830) to travel in a pick-up truck with 16 others.
The desert journey, which took a gruelling day and a half, was “exhausting and terrifying,” Abdel Rahman said.
“We were constantly afraid of being stopped by RSF forces,” she added, referring to the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces who have been battling the regular army.
Hundreds of thousands of others who fled Sudan have sought refuge primarily in neighboring countries, including Chad, South Sudan and Libya.
In the report published on Friday, UNHCR Egypt warned that the humanitarian crisis caused by Sudan’s war has placed “immense pressure on Egypt’s resources and infrastructure.”
Hanan Hamdan, UNHCR representative to Egypt’s government and the Arab League, said that “the burden on Egypt is unsustainable and requires immediate and substantial international assistance to ensure the protection and well-being of those affected by the conflict.”
UNHCR also noted that so far, just over half of the funding needed for an aid scheme for Sudanese refugees has been secured.
The Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan 2024 “has received $1.52 billion in funding, which is 56.3 percent of the required $2.7 billion,” the UN agency said.
“Despite this significant contribution, the funding gap remains substantial.”

Five Iranian security forces killed in attack in Sistan-Baluchistan province

Five Iranian security forces killed in attack in Sistan-Baluchistan province
Updated 34 min 59 sec ago
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Five Iranian security forces killed in attack in Sistan-Baluchistan province

Five Iranian security forces killed in attack in Sistan-Baluchistan province
  • Iranian forces launched a major operation in the area after an attack on October 26 killed 10 police officers

TEHRAN: At least five members of Iran’s security forces were killed Sunday in a “terror attack” in the restive southeast, where authorities have been conducting operations against rebels, local media reported.
The Fars news agency reported that in a “terror attack in Saravan county, in the south of the Sistan-Baluchistan province, five members of the security forces were killed.”
Sistan-Baluchistan borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces. It is one of the few mainly Sunni Muslim provinces in Shiite-dominated Iran.
For years it has faced unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and extremists.
Fars said that after the attack in Saravan, “units stationed in the region were quickly deployed to pursue the criminals.”
Iranian forces launched a major operation in the area after an attack on October 26 killed 10 police officers.
That attack was later claimed by the Pakistan-based Sunni jihadist group Jaish Al-Adl (Arabic for Army of Justice).
Local media reported that those behind the October attack have been killed in the current security operation.
Some 15 militants have been reported killed in Sistan-Baluchistan province since the October attack, including three on Sunday, state television said.
It also said more than 30 suspects have been arrested.
Formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, Jaish Al-Adl is designated a terrorist organization by both Iran and the United States.


Israel PM says okayed Lebanon pager attacks

Israel PM says okayed Lebanon pager attacks
Updated 10 November 2024
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Israel PM says okayed Lebanon pager attacks

Israel PM says okayed Lebanon pager attacks
  • Hand-held devices used by Hezbollah operatives detonated in supermarkets, on streets and at funerals in mid-Sept.
  • They killed nearly 40 people and wounded nearly 3,000, and preceded Israel’s ongoing military operation in Lebanon

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he okayed a deadly September attack on Hezbollah communications devices which exploded in Lebanon, the first time Israel has admitted involvement.
Hezbollah had previously blamed its arch-foe for the blasts that dealt a major blow to the Iran-backed militant group, and vowed revenge.
“Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that he greenlighted the pager operation in Lebanon,” his spokesman Omer Dostri told AFP of the attacks.
Hand-held devices used by Hezbollah operatives detonated two days in a row in supermarkets, on streets and at funerals in mid-September.
They killed nearly 40 people and wounded nearly 3,000, and preceded Israel’s ongoing military operation in Lebanon.
Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel in support of Hamas following its ally’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.
Strikes have intensified since war broke out in Lebanon in late September, when Israel escalated its air campaign against Hezbollah and later sent ground troops into south Lebanon.


Israel PM says okayed Lebanon pager attacks

A photo taken on September 18, 2024, in Beirut’s southern suburbs shows the remains of exploded pagers on display.
A photo taken on September 18, 2024, in Beirut’s southern suburbs shows the remains of exploded pagers on display.
Updated 10 November 2024
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Israel PM says okayed Lebanon pager attacks

A photo taken on September 18, 2024, in Beirut’s southern suburbs shows the remains of exploded pagers on display.
  • Hand-held devices used by Hezbollah operatives detonated two days in a row in supermarkets, on streets and at funerals in mid-September
  • They killed nearly 40 people and wounded nearly 3,000

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he okayed a deadly September attack on Hezbollah communications devices which exploded in Lebanon, the first time Israel has admitted involvement.
Hezbollah had previously blamed its arch-foe for the blasts that dealt a major blow to the Iran-backed militant group, and vowed revenge.
“Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that he greenlighted the pager operation in Lebanon,” his spokesman Omer Dostri told AFP of the attacks.
Hand-held devices used by Hezbollah operatives detonated two days in a row in supermarkets, on streets and at funerals in mid-September.
They killed nearly 40 people and wounded nearly 3,000, and preceded Israel’s ongoing military operation in Lebanon.
Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel in support of Hamas following its ally’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.
Strikes have intensified since war broke out in Lebanon in late September, when Israel escalated its air campaign against Hezbollah and later sent ground troops into south Lebanon.


Netanyahu says spoke again with Trump about Iran ‘threat’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday he had spoken three times with US president-elect Donald Trump.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday he had spoken three times with US president-elect Donald Trump.
Updated 10 November 2024
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Netanyahu says spoke again with Trump about Iran ‘threat’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday he had spoken three times with US president-elect Donald Trump.
  • “We see eye to eye on the Iranian threat in every aspect,” Netanyahu said
  • Analysts believe Netanyahu had hoped for a Trump return to the White House

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday he had spoken three times with US president-elect Donald Trump over the past few days about the “Iranian threat” to Israeli security.
“In the last few days, I have spoken three times with President-elect Donald Trump... Talks designed to further tighten the strong alliance between Israel and the US,” Netanyahu said, quoted in a statement issued by his office.
“We see eye to eye on the Iranian threat in every aspect,” he added during a weekly cabinet meeting, according to the statement.
Netanyahu also said he had talked to Trump about “great opportunities before Israel in the field of peace and its expansion.”
The United States is Israel’s top ally and military backer, and the election came at a critical time for the Middle East amid wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Analysts believe Netanyahu had hoped for a Trump return to the White House, given the longstanding personal friendship between the two as well as the former president’s hawkishness on Israel’s arch-foe Iran.
During his first term, Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights and helped normalize ties between Israel and several Arab states under the so-called Abraham Accords.