Israeli air force commander confirms ‘increase in readiness for any attack on Lebanon’

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An Israeli air force F-16 Jet fighter aircraft flies over the border area between northern Israel and southern Lebanon on June 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Beirut on Jun. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
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Updated 25 June 2024
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Israeli air force commander confirms ‘increase in readiness for any attack on Lebanon’

  • German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrives in Beirut for talks following meetings in Tel Aviv and the West Bank
  • Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, holds talks at HQ of the Maronite Patriarchate focused on ‘finding solutions for Lebanon and its suffering people’

BEIRUT: Fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli army continued in regions along the border between Lebanon and Israel on Tuesday, with artillery exchanges and drone strikes in both directions.

During a meeting with Ori Gordin, the head of the Northern Command, Israeli Air Force Commander Tomer Bar confirmed “an increase in readiness for any attack on Lebanon,” Russia Today reported.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it carried out “an attack with assault drones on a brigade headquarters in Nahal Gershom, targeting the positions and settlement of enemy officers and soldiers.” The group said it also attacked “the Bayad Blida and Birkat Risha sites.”

The Israeli army targeted the outskirts of the town of Khiam and the village of Blida with artillery and warplanes. In the Wazzani area, a Syrian driver was forced to jump from his truck for his life when the Israeli army opened fire on it with machine guns.

Israeli combat drones launched from Misgav Am dropped shells on the border town of Taybeh. No injuries were reported as the town, like many close to the border, has been abandoned by residents.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Beirut on Tuesday evening following meetings in Tel Aviv on Monday and the West Bank on Tuesday. She was expected to meet Lebanese officials to discuss the situation in southern Lebanon and Israel’s threats of an expanded war against Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is also visiting Lebanon, held talks at the headquarters of the Maronite Patriarchate that focused on “finding solutions for Lebanon and its suffering people.”

He said there is a deep political rift between Christians in Lebanon and Hezbollah over the latter’s decision to go to war without consulting the state, the group’s demands relating to the selection of a candidate to fill the post of president, which has been vacant since October 2022, and the disruptions it has caused during parliamentary sessions to discuss the election of a new president.

The vice president of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, Sheikh Ali Al-Khatib, declined an invitation to attend a lunch hosted by the Maronite Patriarchate in honor of Parolin, to which all Islamic and Christian spiritual authorities and the heads of Christian political parties in Lebanon were invited.

A council source said: “The sheikh did not take part in the meeting in protest against positions expressed by the Maronite patriarch, Bechara Al-Rahi, concerning the resistance.”

In his most recent Sunday sermon, Al-Rahi objected to the failure to elect “a president who negotiates according to constitutional powers, and asks the UN Security Council to implement its resolutions. This means that Lebanon will not go back to being a launching pad for terrorist actions that destabilize the region’s security and stability.”

Al-Khatib is considered a supporter of Hezbollah. His representative, Grand Jaafari Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Qabalan, criticized Al-Rahi’s sermon without naming him, saying: “There is no neutrality when it comes to what is right and there should be no bias toward what is wrong.” He also spoke of “the resistance’s role in protecting the church in Syria and Lebanon in the face of Daesh and Al-Nusra attacks.”

When Lebanon’s religious leaders met Parolin, Al-Rahi called on all Christians in the country “to consider next Sunday as a day of prayer for peace in southern Lebanon and Gaza.”

During a ceremony hosted by the Embassy of Malta, Parolin stressed the “importance of the church in Lebanon being a testament to coexistence, which is one of the most significant characteristics of the ‘Land of the Cedars.’”

He added: “Lebanon is suffering from a great vacuum and a diminishing Christian life,” as he called on officials “to elect a president as soon as possible to calm the situation and overcome the current difficulties.”


Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills, but no casualties are reported

Updated 46 sec ago
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Explosion occurs at Turkish oil refinery during drills, but no casualties are reported

ANKARA: An explosion occurred at an oil refinery in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, an official said, adding the situation was “under control” and there were no reports of any casualties.
Mayor Tahir Buyukakin told private NTV television that the blast occurred at the Turkish Petroleum Refineries company, Tupras, in Izmit provicince during “routine drills.”
A fire was quickly brought under control by the privately owned company’s own emergency crews and no request for help was made, he said.
Video footage from the site showed smoke rising from the refinery.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.

Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut

Updated 9 sec ago
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Lebanon media reports strike on residential building south of Beirut

BEIRUT: Lebanese state media reported a strike on an apartment in the Jiyeh coastal area south of Beirut on Tuesday, more than a month into the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The official National News Agency said “a raid targeted a residential apartment in a building in the town of Jiyeh,” where an AFP correspondent said a large plume of grey smoke covered the area.


Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan

Updated 38 min 40 sec ago
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Iran says killed eight militants since attack on police in province bordering Pakistan

  • Militants from the Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid in Sistan-Baluchistan province on October 26
  • Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces

TEHRAN: Iran’s military has killed eight militants in an operation in the restive southeast since a deadly attack last month on a police station, state media reported Tuesday.
Militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish Al-Adl group killed 10 police officers during a raid on October 26 in Sistan-Baluchistan province — one of the deadliest attacks in the region in recent months.
Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, is one of Iran’s most impoverished provinces.
It has long been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists and extremists, opposed to the authorities in Iran.
Revolutionary Guards commander Ahmad Shafahi said “a total of eight terrorists have been killed” since the beginning of operations in the province, according to the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.
“Fourteen other terrorists have been arrested,” including key figures involved in the attack, he said, adding security forces seized weapons and ammunition.
Shortly after the attack in Taftan county, some 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran, a report on the Tasnim news agency said four militants had been killed and four others arrested.
Late on Monday, IRNA quoted Guards ground forces commander Mohammad Pakpour as saying the attackers “were not Iranian,” though he did not specify their nationalities.
In early October, at least six people including police officers were killed in two separate attacks in the province.
Jaish Al-Adl said on Telegram they had carried out the attacks.
Formed in 2012 by Baluch separatists, the group is proscribed as a “terrorist organization” by both Iran and the United States.
 
 


Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says

Updated 05 November 2024
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Over 100 patients to be evacuated from Gaza, WHO says

  • The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing

GENEVA: More than 100 patients including children suffering from trauma injuries and chronic diseases will be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday in a rare transfer out of the war-ravaged enclave, a World Health Organization official said.
“These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza,” said Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, adding that 12,000 people were awaiting transfer.
The patients will travel in a large convoy on Wednesday via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel before flying to the United Arab Emirates, he added, and then a portion will travel to Romania.


Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions

Updated 05 November 2024
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Iran says two French detainees held in good conditions

  • In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security

DUBAI: Two French citizens detained in Iran since May 2022 are in good health and being held in good detention conditions, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said on Tuesday, according to state media.
Last month, France’s foreign ministry said the conditions that three of its nationals were being held in by Iran were unacceptable.
“According to the relevant authorities, these two people have good conditions in the detention center and are in good health, so any claim regarding their conditions being abnormal is rejected,” Jahangir said.
The spokesperson was referring to Cecile Koehler and Jacques Paris, who he said were arrested on charges of espionage and will have their next court hearing on Nov. 24.
Jahangir did not mention the third French national detained in Iran. French media have disclosed only his first name, Olivier.
In recent years, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.