LONDON: Air strikes by Britain, France and the United States in Syria sent a “clear message” against the use of chemical weapons, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Saturday.
“This collective action sends a clear message that the international community will not stand by and tolerate the use of chemical weapons,” May told a press conference.
She said that at an emergency cabinet meeting in London on Thursday “we agreed that it was both right and legal to take military action” after hearing legal advice.
“I believe that the action taken will have significantly degraded the Syrian regime’s ability to use chemical weapons,” she said.
“While the full assessment of the strike is ongoing, we are confident of its success,” she added.
Four British fighter jets struck a military base near Homs where Britain said Syrian government forces were holding chemical weapon components.
“We have hit a specific and limited set of targets,” she said.
Asked why she had proceeded without consulting parliament, May cited operational security consideration.
“It was right to take the action that we have done in the timing that we have done,” she said.
May said she would address parliament on Monday about the strikes.
Syria strikes send ‘clear message’ on chemical weapons: British PM
Syria strikes send ‘clear message’ on chemical weapons: British PM
Mourners at commander’s funeral express loyalty to Hezbollah
- Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave
- At least 39 people were killed and almost 3,000 wounded when Hezbollah pagers and two-way radios exploded. Hezbollah has blamed Israel, which has not commented
BEIRUT, Lebanon: Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon turned out in force Sunday for the funeral of a top commander killed in an Israeli air strike, in a major show of support for the Iran-backed group.
Hezbollah has hailed commander Ibrahim Aqil as “one of its great leaders,” saying the 61-year-old died in an “Israeli assassination... in Beirut’s southern suburbs” on Friday.
Aqil headed Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, and had been on a US sanctions list for nearly a decade.
Israel said Friday’s “targeted strike” killed Aqil and several other commanders in the Radwan Force.
Men and women, many wearing black, gathered for the packed ceremony in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital where Hezbollah enjoys steadfast support.
Some mourners carried photos of Hezbollah members who have been killed.
Fighters in fatigues and red berets lined up while others carried Aqil’s coffin and that of another Hezbollah member, both covered in the group’s yellow flag, as a brass band played.
Security was tight, with the immediate area surrounded by metal fencing.
Amira Makki, 60, told AFP she was attending the funeral “to say that we are all with” Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
“We sacrifice our children and grandchildren for him,” she said, carrying a photo of her brother and brother-in-law who were killed by Israeli fire in recent months.
Nearby, a woman who identified herself only as Fatima said that attending Aqil’s funeral was a “duty.”
“Every martyr protects us... and if not for our men’s sacrifices, we wouldn’t be here,” the 26-year-old said.
“We are in... a fateful battle,” she told AFP.
One poster near the procession read: “We will not abandon Palestine,” a reference to Hezbollah’s position that only a ceasefire in the Gaza war will put an end to its attacks on Israel.
Hezbollah has traded near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in support of Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack triggered the Gaza war.
Tensions and violence spiked dramatically this week, with heavy Israeli strikes on south Lebanon and Hezbollah firing rockets at Haifa in north Israel this weekend, raising fears of all-out war.
Addressing the funeral, Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said the group was “ready to face all military possibilities” in its battle with Israel.
The crowd interrupted his speech with intermittent chants of “Death to America, death to Israel!” and expressions of devotion to Nasrallah.
Qassem said Aqil was “a commander of Hezbollah operations” and had established the Radwan Force and its leadership in 2008.
Friday’s strike targeted an underground meeting of commanders of the force, killing 16 of them.
Lebanon’s health ministry has put the overall death toll from the Israeli air strike at 45 people including civilians.
Hezbollah has said a second senior commander, Ahmed Wahbi, was also among the dead.
After the funeral ceremony, mourners walked near the coffins which were placed on a truck and laid with wreaths.
Aqil was the second senior Hezbollah commander to be killed since October, after an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in July killed top commander Fuad Shukr.
Also this week, at least 39 people were killed and almost 3,000 wounded when Hezbollah pagers and two-way radios exploded. Hezbollah has blamed Israel, which has not commented.
Despite the soaring violence and growing fears of war, Hezbollah supporters at Sunday’s funeral expressed unflinching loyalty to the Shiite Muslim movement.
“We are ready to give our blood and our children,” said engineer Hussein Zaarur, 72, who said two of his relatives had been killed since October.
“We are ready, and our fingers are on the trigger,” he told AFP.
Israelis in north worried but ‘used to’ Hezbollah threat
- A series of coordinated blasts targeting beepers and other communications devices in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, widely blamed on Israel, killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000
HAIFA, Israel: Israelis inspected air raid shelters and stocked up on groceries Sunday after Hezbollah rocket fire threatened northern cities, with some saying they were not too worked up about the danger.
Ilan Ravor, a 76-year-old retiree, ducked into a public shelter near his home in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
He found the shelter a bit dirty but acceptable. Everything was more or less in working order, with the refrigerator full and the Internet functional.
While the space usually hosts Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Ravor said he would not be surprised if he ended up spending more time there in the coming days.
“I am worried. I know that it is possible the missiles will reach here,” Ravor told AFP.
The cross-border barrages from Lebanon-based Hezbollah began nearly a year ago after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, but fears of all-out war erupting have grown considerably over the past few days.
A series of coordinated blasts targeting beepers and other communications devices in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, widely blamed on Israel, killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000.
On Friday, an Israeli air strike in a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut killed the head of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil, and other members of the group.
Israel and Hezbollah then traded heavy fire over the weekend and threatened to further escalate their attacks on Sunday despite international calls for restraint.
On Sunday morning, hundreds of thousands of people in northern Israel fled to their local bomb shelters as a barrage of rockets was fired into Israel by Hezbollah, with some striking civilian structures.
“I know that Hezbollah is looking for revenge after what we did to them. Especially with the beepers last week,” Ravor said.
However, he added that he had “expected” tensions to ramp up and said he felt prepared.
“I think the Israeli military and the air force is strong enough to stop them.”
Haifa, a city of nearly 300,000 people and a major commercial port, is no stranger to incoming fire.
In the summer of 2006, during a war between Israel and Hezbollah, the militant group targeted Haifa with rockets, and 15 years earlier Iraqi missiles were fired at Haifa during the Gulf War.
“This morning, we were a little bit shocked,” said writer Sylvia, 77. “But we are not afraid, we are more in a state of expectation.”
Adir Schaffer, a 33-year-old gardener who lives in an area of Haifa where many buildings do not have shelters, said: “It is unfortunate but we have gotten used to it. We know that Hezbollah wants to destroy Haifa. People can change, but the ideology remains.”
Schaffer added that he hoped for “days of peace” but was trying to keep recent events in perspective.
“We grew up with stories of the Holocaust, of previous wars, so even if what happened last night is important, we are not overly worried.”
While Schaffer was not taking any special precautions, other residents rushed to food shops and filled their cars with water and canned goods.
Some seemed frantic, shopping as often as five times in a day, mini-market employee Shaked Ariel said.
“They don’t know what to do,” the 24-year-old told AFP.
Though Sunday is the first day of the working week in Israel, the streets were relatively empty after authorities ordered schools in the area closed.
Many offices were also deserted after employees preferred to stay away.
Haifa residents played video clips of rocket damage elsewhere on their mobile phones, staring at images of burnt houses and cars.
The nearby city of Kiryat Bialik came under fire, damaging Lea Sabag’s house, but she told AFP she was trying to keep calm.
“We know it will last a few days and we have to keep our spirits up,” she said.
“I hope we will face it bravely.”
A small demonstration was held later in Haifa, with many holding placards calling for the release of hostages.
“I don’t see this (past) night as different than any other night,” said Orit Zacks, a 64-year-old protester.
“I don’t sleep properly anymore since October 7, because I cannot sleep when people are held hostages and haven’t seen the light of day for almost a year and last night was no different for me.”
Iran arrests 12 accused of collaborating with Israel
- Iran has repeatedly vowed to retaliate over a July strike
TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have announced the arrest of 12 people accused of “collaborating” with the country’s arch-foe Israel, local media reported on Sunday.
Revolutionary Guards “arrested 12 collaborators with the Zionist regime (Israel) in six provinces” of the Islamic republic, the Fars news agency said.
Iran regularly announces the arrest of people accused of working as agents for foreign countries, most notably Israel.
Fars did not specify the dates or locations of the arrests, but said the accused had been “planning to take action against the security” of Iran.
Tehran has accused Israel of being behind sabotage operations at a number of its nuclear sites, as well as assassinating several Iranian scientists.
In December, authorities executed a man convicted of collusion with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
And in December 2022, four men were hanged after being convicted of collaborating with Israel.
Iran has repeatedly vowed to retaliate over a July strike, blamed on Israel, in Tehran that killed the Qatar-based political chief of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.
Tunisians resume protests against president ahead of Oct. 6 election
- Political tensions in the North African country have risen since an electoral commission named by Saied disqualified three prominent presidential candidates, Mondher Znaidi, Abdellatif Mekki and Imed Daimi
TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisians protested on Sunday against President Kais Saied, accusing him of deepening authoritarian rule and stifling political competition two weeks before a presidential election.
Amid a heavy police presence, protesters for a second week marched along Tunis’ main avenue, a focal point of 2011 “Arab Spring” revolution, chanting slogans including “The people want the fall of the regime” and “Out with dictator Saied.”
The protest came after lawmakers proposed a bill to strip the administrative court of its authority to adjudicate electoral disputes, a move that the opposition says would discredit the Oct. 6 election, and pave the way for Saied to secure a second term.
“Saied’s steps show that he is no longer popular and he fears losing the election,” Nabil Hajji, the leader of the opposition Attayar party, told Reuters.
“Tunisians now have only one choice, which is the streets to defend our democracy,” he said.
Political tensions in the North African country have risen since an electoral commission named by Saied disqualified three prominent presidential candidates, Mondher Znaidi, Abdellatif Mekki and Imed Daimi.
The commission defied the administrative court, the highest judicial body in election-related disputes, and allowed only two candidates to run against Saied.
One of them, Ayachi Zammel, is in jail after being sentenced on Wednesday to 20 months in prison for falsifying signatures on election paperwork in what he calls a politically motivated case.
Critics say Saied is using the electoral commission and judiciary to secure victory by stifling competition and intimidating candidates. The president denies the accusations, saying he is fighting traitors, mercenaries and the corrupt.
Saied, who was democratically elected in 2019, has tightened his grip on power and began ruling by decree in 2021 in a move the opposition has described as a coup.
Hezbollah enters ‘new phase’ of battle against Israel: deputy chief
- Naim Kassem warns there will be no peace without Gaza ceasefire as tensions rise after series of Israeli attacks
- Israeli military production facilities, air base near Haifa targeted by rockets
BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s deputy chief, Naim Kassem, said on Sunday the group was in a “new phase” of its battle against Israel.
“We have entered a new phase, namely an open reckoning” he said, adding that only a ceasefire in Gaza would put a stop to cross-border attacks, warning “the Israeli military solution increases the dilemma for Israel and the residents of the north” of the country.
Kassem personally attended the funeral of military leaders Ibrahim Aqil and Mahmoud Hamad on Sunday in southern Beirut.
They were killed in the Israeli raid last Friday during a leadership meeting of the party’s elite Radwan Brigade.
FASTFACT
Tension and violence spiked dramatically this week, with heavy Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon and Hezbollah firing rockets at Haifa in northern Israel, raising fears of all-out war.
Kassem’s latest remarks are seen as Hezbollah’s response to Israeli pressure to force the party to stop hostilities in southern Lebanon that have raged for almost a year, in order to allow civilians to return to their homes.
“The residents of the north will not return, but rather displacement will increase, support will expand, and the Israeli solution will increase their predicament,” Kassem said. “Go to Gaza and stop the war, and we do not need threats and we will not determine how to respond to the aggression. We have entered a new phase entitled the ‘open account’ battle.”
His statement came after a violent night of Hezbollah military operations against Israel, after an Israeli military graph indicating that Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is at the top of its assassination list was published over the weekend.
Kassem said that Israel “committed three painful war crimes for us, and they represent the highest levels of savagery that we have never seen.”
He added: “By targeting the leaders of Radwan, (Israel) wanted to paralyze the resistance, incite its environment, and stop the support front, but the resistance fighters disrupted that.
Kassem said: “Threats will not stop us, and we do not fear the most dangerous possibilities, and we are ready to confront all military possibilities.”
Thousands of Hezbollah members and supporters took part in the funeral of Aqeel and Hamad as Civil Defense personnel continued working for the third consecutive day to remove the victims of the raid on Al-Jamous neighborhood.
The number of dead has risen to 50 including women and children and 18 Hezbollah members. Thirteen people are still missing.
A member of the Civil Defense told Arab News: “The Hezbollah officials who were gathered at the time of the raid all died as a result of the intense pressure and were still in their chairs on the second floor underground.
“Their bodies were not disfigured as happened with the civilians living in the building, some of whom died of suffocation.
“We recovered the bodies of children who were burned, and their limbs were shattered when we tried to lift them. There are many remains whose owners are unknown.”
A Civil Defense statement on Sunday said: “One of the most main difficulties faced by the personnel was the fire that broke out under the rubble in a car park on the first lower floor.
“The personnel made tremendous efforts in trying to reach the source of the fire due to the presence of several layers of concrete, which caused smoke to spread and hindered the search and rescue operations.”
On Sunday Lebanon’s Health Ministry said three people were killed in separate Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.
The ministry said an Israeli raid on the town of Aitaroun “led to the death of one person and the wounding of another, and that a raid on the town of Khiyam led to the death of one person. A raid on the town of Al-Malikiyah led to the death of one person and the wounding of three people.”
More than 60 airstrikes were recorded “in an initial response” to the explosions of pagers and two-way radios in various Lebanese regions last Tuesday and Wednesday. Hezbollah said it “bombed the Rafael military industry complexes” in northern Israel with “dozens” of rockets, and targeted Ramat David airbase with Fadi-1 and Fadi-2 rockets.
The Israeli military said that “within hours, Hezbollah launched about 115 air threats toward civilian areas in northern Israel.”
Israeli media reported that two houses in the town of Kiryat Bialik near Haifa were hit, and three Israelis were injured.
The Israeli military responded with more shelling of southern Lebanese towns during the early hours of Sunday morning, and Israeli warplanes raided border towns in the south and western Bekaa, targeting the Deir Al-Zahrani area and Iqlim Al-Tuffah.
Hezbollah announced on Sunday afternoon that it had “launched two airstrikes with squadrons of suicide drones on newly established positions of Israeli soldiers around Al-Manara site and the Yiftah barracks.”
