TEL AVIV: The US military thwarted an attack targeting its forces in Iraq early on Wednesday, intercepting two drones before they could strike, two US officials said after the first such attack on US forces in Iraq in more than a year.
The officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, declined to say who was suspected of the attack but Washington is on heightened alert for activity by Iran-backed groups amid soaring tension in the region over the Israel-Hamas war.
Last week, Iraqi armed groups aligned with Iran threatened to target US interests with missiles and drones if Washington intervened to support Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
The Pentagon has rushed air defenses and munitions to Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East, but US forces have not joined the fighting.
The one-way attack drones were intercepted as they attempted to strike Iraq’s al Asad air base, which hosts American troops, the officials said.
The attack came hours after an explosion at a Gaza hospital killed hundreds of Palestinians, raising the stakes for US President Joe Biden as he flies to Israel on Wednesday to signal support for its war against Hamas.
Israel blamed the blast at Al-Ahli Al-Arabi hospital on a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which denied responsibility.
Palestinian officials said an Israeli air strike hit the hospital, with the Palestinian Authority’s health minister accusing Israel of causing a “massacre.”
In Iraq, tension over the war in Gaza had already been high. Its top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, last week condemned Israel and called on the world to stand up to the “terrible brutality” in Gaza.
Leaders of Iraqi armed groups blamed Israel for the attack on the hospital. Some of them condemned the US for supporting Israel.
Kataib Hezbollah, a powerful armed faction with close ties to Iran, accused the United States of supporting Israel in “killing innocent people” and said it should leave Iraq.
“These evil people must leave the country, otherwise they will taste the fire of hell in this world before the afterlife,” the group said in a statement late on Tuesday.
Iraqi politician Hadi Al-Amiri, leader of the political and military group the Badr Organization which is close to Iran, also blamed Israel for the attack on the hospital and described it as “the massacre of the era, which can only be classified as a war crime” and condemned the US and Western countries for supporting Israel.
We “will not hesitate to consider America and the West as partners in this hideous massacre”, he said in a statement on Tuesday night. Last week he threatened to target US interests if Washington intervened to support Israel.
The United States currently has 2,500 troops in Iraq — and an additional 900 in neighboring Syria — on a mission to advise and assist local forces in combating Daesh, which in 2014 seized swathes of territory in both countries.
In past years, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq regularly targeted US forces in Iraq and the US embassy in Baghdad with rockets, though such attacks have abated under a truce in place since last year, as Iraq enjoys a period of relative calm.
US officials have accused Kataib Hezbollah of previous attacks on US interests. The group has denied the claims.
Dozens of members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the state paramilitary organization that contains many Iran-backed factions, took to the streets on Tuesday to condemn the hospital attack.
Demonstrators chanted anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans and said they wanted to storm the US embassy for its support of Israel.
A Reuters witness said that some of the protesters tried to cross the bridge that leads to the fortified Green Zone — home to the US embassy and other missions in Baghdad — but were blocked by security forces.
US says it thwarted drone attack on troops in Iraq
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US says it thwarted drone attack on troops in Iraq
- The officials declined to say who was suspected of the attack
Namibians vote to wind up chaotic polls
- Electoral authorities prolonged voting until Saturday in presidential and legislative polls
- The original election day was marred by logistical and technical failures that led to hours-long queues
Electoral authorities prolonged voting until Saturday in presidential and legislative polls, after the original election day — Wednesday — was marred by logistical and technical failures that led to hours-long queues, which some voters eventually abandoned.
On Saturday, hundreds of people queued up at the sole polling station in the capital Windhoek where some 2,500 voters had cast their ballots on Friday.
Sielfriedt Gowaseb, 27, managed to vote in less than 30 minutes on Saturday but was critical of the arrangements.
“They should have set up at least another polling station where the majority of Namibians live. We would have needed more venues, one in the suburbs. Most Namibians don’t live in the central business district,” he said.
Namibia’s opposition is hoping to bring an end to 34 years of rule by the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), which is facing its toughest challenge as disenchanted younger voters across the region reject traditionally dominant liberation-era parties.
SWAPO has governed Namibia since leading it to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, but high youth unemployment and enduring inequalities have eroded its support, with around 42 percent of the 1.5 million registered voters aged under 35.
Naita Hishoono, executive director of the Namibia Institute for Democracy, a nonpartisan NGO, echoed popular dissatisfaction.
“It would have been helpful to open more than 36 polling stations... each constituency should have at least have one polling station open to accommodate everybody. Every voter should only stay half an hour to an hour in line and the whole voting process should take no more than 15 minutes,” Hishoono said.
SWAPO’s candidate, Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, could become the first woman to lead the country if she is elected.
The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has admitted to failures in the organization of the vote, including a shortage of ballot papers and the overheating of electronic tablets used to register voters.
Pakistan court grants bail to journalist detained after probing protest, lawyer says
- Matiullah Jan was picked up off the street on Wednesday night while investigating claims of casualties in a protest march
- The Committee to Protect Journalists had expressed ‘grave alarm’ over Jan’s ‘abduction,’ demanding his immediate release
Matiullah Jan, a critic of military influence in Pakistani politics, was granted bail by an anti-terrorism court in the capital Islamabad in a terrorism and narcotics case, his lawyer, Imaan Mazari, said in a text message.
“He should be home by this evening,” Mazari said.
Jan was picked up off the street on Wednesday night while investigating claims of casualties in a protest march demanding the release of jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to a colleague and his lawyer.
The Committee to Protect Journalists had expressed “grave alarm” over Jan’s “abduction,” demanding his immediate release.
Hours before being picked up, Jan had appeared on television casting doubt over the government’s denial that live ammunition had been used when security forces dispersed the protest and that any protesters had been killed.
The government has repeatedly denied using deadly force against protesters. Police and the information ministry have not responded to request for comment on Jan’s detention.
Thousands of supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party this week stormed Islamabad. The government said they had killed four security officers.
The PTI said hundreds of protesters had been shot, and between eight and 40 killed.
Taiwan’s Lai departs for US stopover during Pacific trip
- China considers self-governed Taiwan to be part of its territory
- Beijing opposes any international recognition of the island
TAIPEI: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te departed Saturday for a stopover on US soil as part of a week-long tour of the Pacific, which has ignited fiery threats from Beijing.
China considers self-governed Taiwan to be part of its territory and opposes any international recognition of the island and its claim to be a sovereign state.
Lai, on his first trip abroad since taking office in May, will stop over in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam as he visits Taiwan’s allies Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau.
They are the only Pacific island nations among the 12 remaining allies that recognize Taiwan, after China poached others with promises of aid and investment.
In a speech shortly before take-off, Lai said the tour “ushered in a new era of values-based democracy” and he thanked the US government for “helping to make this trip a smooth one.”
Lai said he wanted to “continue to expand cooperation and deepen partnerships with our allies based on the values of democracy, peace and prosperity.”
The trip has elicited a furious response from China, which has vowed to “resolutely crush” any attempts for Taiwan independence.
China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island.
Taiwan lives under the constant threat of an invasion by China, which has refused to rule out using force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing deploys fighter jets, drones and warships around Taiwan on a near-daily basis to press its claims, with the number of sorties increasing in recent years.
Taiwanese government officials have previously stopped over on US soil during visits to the Pacific or Latin America, angering China, which has sometimes responded with military drills around the island.
Lai’s tour of the Pacific was an opportunity for him “to show those countries and the world that Taiwan matters,” said Bonnie Glaser, a Taiwan-China affairs expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
“I think that the People’s Republic of China always wants to leave the impression that Taiwan is isolated and it is dependent on the PRC,” Glaser told AFP, using China’s official name.
“When Taiwan’s president travels outside Taiwan, it’s a reminder that there are countries in the world that value their diplomatic relationships with Taiwan,” she said.
“And of course, when he transits the United States, it’s a reminder, I think, to the public of Taiwan, that the United States and Taiwan have a close partnership.”
The US is Taiwan’s most important backer and biggest supplier of arms, but Washington does not have official diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Lai’s trip follows the US approving the proposed sale to Taiwan of spare parts for F-16 fighter jets and radar systems, as well as communications equipment, in deals valued at $385 million in total.
Earlier this month, Taiwan’s foreign minister Lin Chia-lung met with European Parliament members in Brussels.
It was part of a trend of more senior Taiwanese officials traveling abroad and countries publicly receiving them despite the risk of suffering retaliation from China, Glaser told AFP.
“I think there’s safety in numbers — the more countries that do something, the more that other countries are willing to do it,” Glaser said.
“There’s also greater awareness of how aggressive and assertive China has been, and so countries are willing, to some extent, to stand up to China because they don’t like China’s behavior,” she said.
“And there is recognition of Taiwan’s role in the world, especially in semiconductor chips.”
More than 100 Rohingya refugees rescued off Indonesia: UN
- Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar
Banda Aceh: More than 100 Rohingya refugees including women and children have been rescued after their boat sank off the coast of Indonesia, the United Nations refugee agency said Saturday.
The mostly Muslim ethnic Rohingya are heavily persecuted in Myanmar and thousands risk their lives each year on long and dangerous sea journeys to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
“We received a report from the East Aceh government that there are 116 refugees in total,” UNHCR’s Faisal Rahman told AFP on Saturday.
“The refugees are still on the beach right now, it has not been decided where they would be taken.”
He said the flimsy wooden boat carrying the Rohingyas was found half-submerged not far from the beach off the coast of northeastern Sumatra island.
A local fisherman, Saifudin Taher said the boat was first spotted entering East Aceh waters on Saturday morning, and a few hours later it nearly sank.
“All passengers survived, but one of them was ill and ...immediately received treatment,” Saifudin told AFP, adding the boat was only 100 meters away from the beach, and the refugees could walk easily to safety.
Rohingya arrivals in Indonesia tend to follow a cyclical pattern, slowing during the stormy months and picking back up when sea conditions calm down.
Last month, 152 Rohingya refugees were finally brought ashore after being anchored for days off the coast of South Aceh district for days while officials decided whether to let them land.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and says it cannot be compelled to take in refugees from Myanmar, calling instead on neighboring countries to share the burden and resettle Rohingya who arrives on its shores.
Many Acehnese, who have memories of decades of bloody conflict themselves, are sympathetic to the plight of their fellow Muslims.
But others say their patience has been tested, claiming the Rohingya consume scarce resources and occasionally come into conflict with locals.
In December 2023, hundreds of students forced the relocation of more than 100 Rohingya refugees, storming a community hall in Aceh where they were sheltering and vandalising their belongings.
Georgia police say 107 people arrested at pro-EU protest
- The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in a Oct. 26 parliamentary election
TBILISI: Georgia on Saturday said 107 people were arrested during a second day of protests sparked by the government’s decision to delay European Union membership talks amid a post-election crisis.
The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory in a October 26 parliamentary election that the pro-EU opposition said was fraudulent.
The interior ministry said 107 people were detained for “disobedience to lawful police orders and petty hooliganism.”
“Throughout the night... protesters threw various objects, including stones, pyrotechnics, glass bottles, and metal items, at law enforcement officers,” it said, adding that “10 employees of the ministry of internal affairs were injured.”
It had said that 32 police officers were wounded and 43 protesters detained on Thursday.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement Thursday that Georgia will not seek to open accession talks with the European Union until 2028 ignited a furious reaction from the opposition and two days of protests.
He later accused the opposition and the EU ambassador to Georgia of distorting his words, and insisted membership in the bloc “by 2030” remains his “top priority.”
On Friday, AFP reporters saw riot police fire water cannon and tear gas at pro-EU protesters gathered outside the parliament in Tbilisi who tossed eggs and fireworks.
Clashes broke out later between protesters and police, who moved in to clear the area outside parliament, beating demonstrators, some of whom threw objects.
Independent TV station Pirveli said one of its journalists covering the protest was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Protests were also held in other cities across Georgia on Friday, independent TV station Mtavari reported.
At least eight demonstrators were arrested in Georgia’s second-largest city, Batumi, local media said.
Opposition lawmakers have questioned the results of the election.
Brussels has demanded an investigation into what it said were “serious (electoral) irregularities.”
Pro-Western opposition parties are boycotting the new parliament, while President Salome Zurabishvili has sought to annul the election results through the country’s constitutional court.
In recent years, critics accuse Georgian Dream – in power for more than a decade – of having moved the country away from Europe and closer to Russia.
