BAGHDAD: Two rockets targeted an air base at Iraq’s Baghdad airport housing US-led coalition troops on Sunday, in the second such attack in 10 days, a security source said.
One of the projectiles was intercepted by the C-RAM counter rocket, artillery and mortar system deployed to protect US troops in Iraq, the source told AFP.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility or report of casualties.
Washington routinely blames Iran-linked Iraqi factions for such attacks on its troops and diplomats.
Last week, three rockets crashed into the sector of the Baghdad airport base occupied by Iraqi troops, wounding one soldier.
The strikes come amid tensions between sworn foes Tehran and Washington, who have both had a presence since 2003 in Iraq, where 2,500 US troops are still deployed.
Pro-Iran groups have vowed to ramp up attacks to force out the “occupying” US forces.
Almost 30 rocket or bomb attacks have targeted American interests in Iraq — including troops, the embassy or Iraqi supply convoys to foreign forces — since President Joe Biden took office in January.
Dozens of other strikes were carried out from autumn 2019 under the administration of Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.
The operations are sometimes claimed by obscure groups that experts say are smokescreens for Iran-backed organizations long present in Iraq.
Two rockets target Baghdad airport base housing US troops
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Two rockets target Baghdad airport base housing US troops
- Security officials said the rockets were launched from an area close to the airport and there were no reports of damage or casualties
- There was no immediate claim of responsibility
Palestinian population in Gaza Strip decreased by 6% in 2024 during Israeli war
- 5.5m Palestinians reside in West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip
- 65% of them are under 30, only 4% above 65
- Nearly 100,000 Palestinians have fled Gaza Strip since October 2023
- Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics confirms deaths of 45,484 individuals in the Israeli war on Gaza, as of December 2024
LONDON: The population of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip decreased by 6 percent in 2024, while the total number of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, inside Israel, and globally reached almost 15 million.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics’ 2024 consensus published on Sunday reported that the Gaza Strip’s population decreased by 6 percent in 2024, resulting in a loss of nearly 160,000 Palestinians, bringing the total population to 2.1 million.
The report confirmed the deaths of 45,484 individuals during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, as of December 2024.
The casualties included 17,581 children, 12,048 women, and 11,000 individuals who were missing and believed to be dead under the rubble.
Additionally, 108,090 people were injured, and nearly 100,000 Palestinians have fled the coastal enclave since the Israeli military aggression began in October 2023.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the figures were “terrifying,” and showed the extent of the Israeli occupation’s “brutality and its bloody massacres against our people,” the WAFA News Agency reported.
The total number of Palestinians reached 14.9 million in 2024, of which, according to the Bureau of Statistics, 7.3 million lived between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Of these, 5.5 million resided in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, with 65 percent being under 30 and only 4 percent above 65.
About 3.4 million people lived in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, 2.1 million in the Gaza Strip, while 1.8 million were Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Around 6.4 million Palestinians resided across various Arab countries, including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
The remaining 1.2 million Palestinians belonged to the diaspora in Western countries, including Europe and North America.
Israel kills member of Palestinian security forces
- The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national duty”
JERUSALEM: Israeli forces killed a member of the Palestinian security services in the occupied West Bank whom they accused of being a militant. Tearful Palestinians on Sunday meanwhile laid to rest six people killed in Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip the day before, including a teenager.
Israel’s paramilitary Border Police said they carried out an operation in the West Bank village of Meithaloun to arrest Hassan Rabaiya, describing him as a wanted militant.
They said he was killed in a shootout while trying to escape, and that the troops found a shotgun, weapons parts and around $26,000 in cash inside his home.
Meithaloun is near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years.
The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national duty.”
The Palestinian Authority has been waging a rare crackdown on militants in Jenin in recent weeks, angering many Palestinians.
The internationally recognized Palestinian Authority exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and cooperates with Israel on security matters. But Israel has long accused it of inciting violence and turning a blind eye to militants.
Meanwhile, Palestinians in Gaza held funeral prayers outside a hospital after six people were killed in two Israeli strikes the night before.
The mother and grandmother of the 15-year-old who was killed peeled back the white funeral shroud and kissed his cheeks as they sobbed. A few dozen people then gathered for prayers outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir Al-Balah.
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed last year inside war operations room, aide says
- Nasrallah “used to lead the battle and war from this location,” Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa told news conference near the site where Nasrallah was killed
BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike last year while inside the group’s war operations room, according to new details Sunday disclosed by a senior Hezbollah official.
A series of Israeli airstrikes flattened several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27, 2024, killing Nasrallah. The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people died. According to news reports, Nasrallah and other senior officials were meeting underground.
The assassination of Nasrallah, who had led Hezbollah for 32 years, turned months of low-level strikes between Israel and the militants into all-out war that battered much of southern and eastern Lebanon for two months until a US-brokered ceasefire took effect Nov. 27.
“His Eminence (Hassan Nasrallah) used to lead the battle and war from this location,” top Hezbollah security official Wafiq Safa told a news conference Sunday near the site where Nasrallah was killed. He said Nasrallah died in the war operations room. He did not offer other details.
Lebanese media had reported that Safa was a target of Israeli airstrikes in central Beirut before the ceasefire but appeared unscathed.
During the first phase of the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to move its fighters, weapons and infrastructure away from southern Lebanon north of the Litani River, while Israeli troops that invaded southern Lebanon need to withdraw all within 60 days. Lebanese army soldiers are to deploy in large numbers and alongside United Nations peacekeepers be the sole armed presence in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon and Hezbollah have been critical of ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights across the country and for only withdrawing from two of dozens of Lebanese villages it controls. Israel says that the Lebanese military has not done its share in dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.
Hezbollah’s current leader Naim Kassem in a televised address Saturday warned that its fighters could strike Israel if its troops don’t leave the south by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz echoed similar sentiments should Hezbollah’s militants not head north of the Litani River and their infrastructure remain intact.
“If this condition is not met, there will be no agreement, and Israel will be forced to act on its own to ensure the safe return of the residents of (Israel’s) north to their homes,” he said.
Safa said that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who negotiated the ceasefire deal with Washington, told Hezbollah that the government will meet with US envoy Amos Hochstein soon. “And in light of what happens, then there will be a position,” said Safa.
Hochstein had led the shuttle diplomacy efforts to reach the fragile truce.
Syria monitor reports blasts at arms depots near Damascus
- Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the blasts in Kisweh, south of the Syrian capital, may be the result of an Israeli air strike
BEIRUT: A Syria war monitor said explosions on Sunday rocked an area near Damascus housing weapons depots used by the toppled government of Bashar Assad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the blasts in Kisweh, south of the Syrian capital, may be the result of an Israeli air strike.
The Israeli military, which has struck many military sites in Syria in recent weeks, told AFP in Jerusalem it did not attack the site.
The Britain-based Observatory, which has a network of sources in Syria, said that “loud blasts resonated in the wider capital area.”
The explosions occurred “at ammunition depots of the former regime forces... near the town of Kisweh,” sending a thick cloud of smoke billowing over the site, the Observatory said.
Israel, which rarely comments on its actions in neighboring Syria, has carried out hundreds of air strikes on military sites since Islamist-led forces ousted president Assad and seized Damascus last month.
Israel has said it was seeking to prevent weapons from falling into hostile hands.
Most recently, the Observatory said Israeli war planes hit sites of the now defunct Syrian army in the Aleppo area on Friday.
In late December, the Observatory said 11 people died in an explosion at an arms storage facility in the Adra area north Damascus, adding that it was possibly the result of an Israeli strike. Israel denied any involvement.
Israel releases Jordanian doctor detained during relief mission to Gaza
- Jordan engaged in ‘intensive’ diplomatic efforts to secure release of Abdullah Balawi
- Balawi said his mission as a doctor is to relieve those who need help
LONDON: Israeli authorities released Abdullah Balawi, 38, a Jordanian doctor who had been detained in December while attempting to cross into the Gaza Strip to take part in a medical relief mission.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs Sufian Al-Qudah said that Jordan engaged in “intensive” diplomatic efforts via the kingdom’s embassy in Tel Aviv to secure the release of Balawi on Sunday, according to the Petra agency.
Israeli authorities arrested Balawi on Dec. 19 at Allenby crossing, also known as Sheikh Hussein Bridge, which borders Jordan with the Occupied West Bank.
He was returned through diplomatic channels at the Sheikh Hussein Bridge on Sunday, with Jordanian Embassy staff present, Petra added.
Balawi told Al-Mamlaka TV after his release that his mission as a doctor is to relieve those who need help. His family could not contact him for 11 days during his detention in Israel.
Al-Qudah said that Amman closely monitored Balawi’s detention and contacted his family.
Since October 2023, Jordan has launched several medical, airlift and aid relief missions to assist Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Some of these missions have been supervised personally by King Abdullah in response to Israeli military operations that have damaged multiple hospitals in Gaza and resulted in almost 45,000 deaths.
