BEIRUT: The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has confirmed that Israel killed a top commander after a rare strike in Beirut on Tuesday.
The Iran-backed group said earlier that Fouad Shukur was in the building during the attack, and they were searching for him in the rubble to determine his fate.
Hezbollah’s announcement comes after an overnight strike in Tehran that killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which Hamas and Iran blamed on Israel.
Israel said late Tuesday it had killed Shukur, who it said was behind the weekend rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 youths. The United States also blames Shukur for staging and planning a bombing of a Marine Corps barrack in Lebanon in 1983 that killed 241 American service members.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least five civilians — two children and three women — died in the strike in a busy neighborhood where Hezbollah has political and security operations.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged fire since Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel and sparked the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Israeli carried out a rare strike on Beirut, which it said killed a top Hezbollah commander who was allegedly behind a weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Hezbollah didn’t immediately confirm the commander’s death. The strike came amid escalating hostilities with the Lebanese militant group. An Israeli official said the target was Shukur whom the US blames for planning and launching the deadly 1983 Marine bombing in the Lebanese capital.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details of the strike with the media. Shukur is also suspected in other strikes that killed Israeli civilians.
Though Hezbollah issued a rare denial of involvement in the rocket attack Saturday in the town of Majdal Shams, Israel is holding the militant group responsible. “Hezbollah crossed a red line,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on the platform X shortly after Tuesday’s strike.
The two sides have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, but they have previously kept the conflict at a low level that was unlikely to escalate into full-on war.
Lebanon’s public health ministry said Tuesday’s strike wounded 74 people, some of them seriously. The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals. Bahman Hospital near the site of the blast called for blood donations.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the strike was carried out with a drone that launched three rockets.
“The Israeli enemy has committed a great stupid act in size, timing and circumstances by targeting an entirely civilian area,” Hezbollah official Ali Ammar told Al-Manar TV. “The Israeli enemy will pay a price for this sooner or later.”
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the Israeli attack, saying it hit a few meters from one of the largest hospitals in the capital.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately release a statement, but minutes after the strike sent a photo of the prime minister with his national security adviser and other officials.
The airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik — a crowded urban neighborhood where Hezbollah has political and security operations but which is also full of small shops and apartment buildings — damaged several buildings.
It was not immediately clear if any Hezbollah official was hit, a Hezbollah official said. A Lebanese military intelligence official said they had no information when asked by The Associated Press whether a senior Hezbollah security official had escaped the airstrike.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations.
The strike hit an apartment building near to a hospital, collapsing half of the targeted building and severely damaging one next to it. The hospital sustained minor damages, while the surrounding streets were littered with debris and broken glass.
A forklift was in the middle of the street, reaching to the top floors of the destroyed building, while utility crews removed fallen power lines. Crowds gathered to inspect the damage and check on their families. Some of them chanted in support of Hezbollah.
Paramedics could be seen carrying several wounded people out of the damaged buildings.
A resident of the suburb whose home is about 200 meters (yards) away said that dust from the explosion “covered everything,” and that the glass in his son’s apartment was broken.
“Then people went down on the streets,” he said. “Everyone has family. They went to check on them. It was a lot of destruction.” He spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern about his security at a tense moment.
Hassan Noureddine said he was riding his motorcycle near the building when he heard the sound of two explosions. “It looked like a strike from a drone and not a jet,” Noureddine told the AP near the site of the attack.
Despite fears of escalation and a strike in recent days, Noureddine said that he and other people he knows in the area are not fazed and that their spirits are high.
Talal Hatoum, a local official with the Shiite Amal Movement, Hezbollah’s key political ally in Lebanon, said Tuesday’s attack marked a shift in the rules of engagement in the conflict because it caused a significant number of civilian casualties.
The last time Israel targeted Beirut was in January, when an airstrike killed a top Hamas official, Saleh Arouri. That strike was the first time Israel had hit Beirut since the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.
Israel had been expected to retaliate for the strike in Majdal Shams, but diplomats had said in recent days that they expected the response to stay within the boundaries of the ongoing low-level conflict between Hezbollah and Israel without provoking all-out war.
Many of them had not expected that Israel would hit Beirut, which might elicit a strike by Hezbollah on a major population center in Israel.
The United Nations’ special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, said in a statement that she was “deeply concerned” by the strike and called for “calm to prevail.”
US Vice President Kamala Harris said Israel “has the right to defend itself against the terrorist organization,” referring to Hezbollah, but added, “We still must work on a diplomatic solution to end these attacks, and we will continue to do that work.”
Hezbollah confirms that top commander was killed in Israeli strike in Beirut
https://arab.news/gte64
Hezbollah confirms that top commander was killed in Israeli strike in Beirut
- Hezbollah’s announcement comes after an overnight strike in Tehran that killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which Hamas and Iran blamed on Israel
Iraq, US agree on phased pullout of coalition troops
- Pullout to be completed from Bagdad and other parts of federal Iraq by September 2025 and from Kurdistan by September 2026, says Iraq defense chief
- The US has some 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Daesh group
BAGHDAD: Iraq and the United States have agreed on a phased pullout of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition but have yet to sign a final agreement, the Iraqi defense minister said Sunday.
The US has some 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of the international coalition against the Daesh group.
They have been engaged in months of talks with Baghdad on a withdrawal of forces, but fell short of announcing any timeline so far.
On Sunday, Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet Al-Abbassi told pan-Arab television channel Al-Hadath that the coalition would pull out from bases in Baghdad and other parts of federal Iraq by September 2025 and from the autonomous northern Kurdistan region by September 2026.
The pullout is “two-phased” and “maybe we will sign the agreement within the next few days,” Abbassi said.
He added that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had said in a meeting that “two years were not enough” to carry out the withdrawal.
“We refused his proposal regarding an (extra) third year,” Abbassi said.
Coalition forces have been targeted dozens of times with drones and rocket fire in both Iraq and Syria, as violence related to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza since early October has drawn in Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East.
US forces have carried out multiple retaliatory strikes against these groups in both countries.
The Daesh group seized parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014, and was defeated by Baghdad three years later and in Syria in 2019.
But jihadist fighters continue to operate in remote desert areas although they no longer control any territory.
Iraqi security forces say they are capable of tackling Daesh remnants unassisted, as the group poses no significant threat.
Paris Paralympics close with a party after ‘historic summer’
- More than 4,400 athletes from 168 Paralympic delegations partied despite persistent rain
- Estanguet said the closing ceremony marked the end of six weeks of Olympic and Paralympic fervor in the City of Light
PARIS: The Paralympics closed on Sunday with a giant music-fueled party as chief Paris 2024 organizer Tony Estanguet said the Games and the Olympics had created a “historic summer.”
The Paralympic flame and cauldron were extinguished before a concert featuring the best of French electronic music capped off proceedings at a packed Stade de France.
More than 4,400 athletes from 168 Paralympic delegations partied despite persistent rain.
Estanguet said the closing ceremony marked the end of six weeks of Olympic and Paralympic fervor in the City of Light.
The former Olympic gold medal-winning canoeist said that period would remain “etched in people’s memories.”
“This summer, France had a date with history, and the country showed up,” he said.
“This summer when people talked to each other, this summer when France was happy,” said Estanguet, referring to how France had been left deeply divided by snap elections just weeks before the Olympics opened.
The next Paralympics will take place in Los Angeles in 2028.
In the official handover, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo passed the Paralympic flag to International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons, who gave it to Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass.
Broadway star Ali Stoker then sang the American national anthem before a film was shown of a band performing on a Californian beach as skateboarders and wheelchair athletes performed tricks.
Despite initial fears about ticket sales, the Paralympics took place in mainly full stadiums, benefiting from the feelgood factor from the highly successful Olympics which ended on Aug. 11.
Parsons said the Paris Paralympics had shown that “change starts with sport.”
The level of the sport in Paris, the organization and the gender parity of the competitors had set a “benchmark” for future Paralympics, he said.
The hour-long electronic concert was kicked off by composer Victor Le Masne as LED bracelets worn by the crowd and athletes on the field lit up the stadium.
The 24-artist show with highlights including French synthesizer legend Jean-Michel Jarre, Cassius, Busy P and Kungs was rounded off in style by DJ Martin Solveig, who finished his set with 2010 hit “Hello” and then Daft Punk’s “One More Time.”
China finished top of the medals table in Paris, as they have at every Paralympics since Athens in 2004.
They had 94 golds, followed by Britain with 49 and the USA with 36.
Ukraine’s athletes overcame the formidable obstacles posed by their country’s war with Russia to finish in seventh place with 22 golds and host nation France were eighth with 19 golds.
In amputee track athletes Hunter Woodhall and 19-year-old Ezra Frech, the USA have found charismatic faces who are sure to play a prominent role in the buildup to LA2028.
On the final day of competition, Switzerland won both Paralympic wheelchair marathons while the Netherlands secured back-to-back women’s wheelchair basketball titles, denying the USA.
Early in the morning, Catherine Debrunner propelled her racing wheelchair through the streets of Paris to win the women’s marathon.
The 29-year-old Swiss athlete added to the four gold medals she has already won on the track at these Games, ranging from the 400 meters to the 5,000m.
Marcel Hug, 38, made up for a disappointing Games on the track by dominating the men’s wheelchair marathon, finishing three minutes and 40 seconds ahead of Hua Jin of China.
The Netherlands scored a convincing 63-49 win against the USA to retain the women’s wheelchair basketball title they won at Tokyo 2020.
The Americans must wait until 2028 on home soil before trying to win a title that their men secured for a third Games in a row on Saturday. The USA women’s last title came at the 2016 Rio Games.
Yang wins first PGA Tour Champions title in a playoff over Langer. Wallace wins in Switzerland
- Matt Wallace of England won his first European tour title in six years when he closed with an even-par 70
ST. LOUIS: Y.E. Yang forced a playoff with a 6-foot par putt for a 5-under 66 and made a 10-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole against Bernhard Langer to win the Ascension Charity Classic on Sunday for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
The 67-year-old Langer was trying to win for the 18th consecutive season on the 50-and-older circuit and nearly did. He hit a shot out of the rough to 15 feet on the 18th hole at Norwood Hills and made birdie for a 64.
They finished at 13-under 200.
Yang’s par putt sent them to a playoff at 13-under 200.
Missing from the playoff was Stewart Cink, going for his second straight win on the PGA Tour Champions. He had a one-shot lead until a bogey on the 17th hole, where Yang made birdie for a two-shot swing. Cink shot 67 and finished third.
European Tour
Matt Wallace of England won his first European tour title in six years when he closed with an even-par 70 and made an 8-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat Alfredo Garcia-Heredia in the Omega European Masters.
Garcia-Heredia birdied the 18th hole for a 66 to make up a four-shot deficit against Wallace.
They finished on 11-under 269.
Wallace, who won in the Dominican Republic on the PGA Tour last year to end a five-year drought, picked up his fifth career European tour title.
Andrew “Beef” Johnston had two straight birdies and pulled within one shot until he had to settle for three pars at the end for a 66 to finish alone in third, his best finish in four years.
Other tours
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen of Denmark earned an instant promotion to the European tour when he won his third Challenge Tour event of the year, closing with an 8-under 64 to rally for a one-shot victory over John Axelsen in the Big Green Egg German Challenge. ... Kensei Hirata won for the second straight week on the Japan Golf Tour, this one over 72 holes, as he closed with a 6-under 66 for a one-shot victory over Travis Smith in the Shinhan Donghae Open. The tournament was tri-sanctioned with the Asian Tour and Korea PGA. Hirata won last week in Japan in a tournament shortened to 36 holes by bad weather. ... Fatima Fernandez Cano of Spain closed with a 5-under 67 for a one-shot victory Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden in the Guardian Championship on the Epson Tour. ... Will Cannon birdied the par-5 18th for a 1-under 69 and a one-shot victory in the Fortinet Cup Championship on the PGA Tour Americas in Canada. ... Rio Takeda held off a late charge from Miyu Yamashita and closed with a 3-under 69 for a one-shot victory in the Sony JLPGA Championship on the Japan LPGA. Yamashita birdied three of her last five holes for a 66. ... Hyunjo Yoo closed with a 3-under 69 for a two-shot victory in the KB Financial Group Star Championship on the Korea LPGA. ... Greig Hutcheon of France rallied with a 64 for a two-shot victory in the Legends Open de France, is first title on the European Legends Tour.
Israeli strikes in central Syria kill seven: war monitor
- In the most high-profile attack on Syria since the war in Gaza began, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in April, a strike that Iran said killed seven military advisers, including three senior commanders
DAMASCUS: Israeli strikes in central Syria killed at least seven people late Sunday, including three civilians, a war monitor reported.
Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes there, targeting pro-Iranian groups in particular.
“The number of dead in the Israeli strikes on the Masyaf region stands at seven, namely three civilians, including a man and his son who were in a car, and four unidentified soldiers,” said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a vast network of sources inside the country.
The attack also wounded at least 15 others and destroyed military facilities in the area, the Observatory said.
“Thirteen violent explosions rang out in the zone housing scientific research centers in Masyaf where pro-Iranian groups and weapons development experts are present,” the group said in an earlier statement.
The Syrian state news agency Sana had previously reported five killed and 19 wounded near Masyaf, citing a medical source.
“Around 11:20 p.m. (2020 GMT) on Sunday, the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the northwest of Lebanon targeting a number of military sites in the central region,” Sana reported, citing a military source.
“Our air defense shot down some missiles.”
Israeli air raids in Syria have intensified since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
At the end of August, three pro-Iranian fighters were killed in the central region of Homs in strikes attributed to Israel, the Observatory said.
A few days later, the Israeli military said it had killed an unspecified number of fighters belonging to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad in a strike in Syria near the Lebanese border.
Putin loyalists set to win local elections in war-affected Russian regions
- Results of the tightly controlled elections are already being interpreted in Russia as a vote of confidence in Putin
Supporters of President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine were set to win gubernatorial races across Russia, according to early vote counts on Sunday, including in Kursk where Ukrainian forces have seized control of some towns and territory.
Russia’s three-day local and regional elections came to an end on Sunday evening, with voters expected to elect Kremlin-backed candidates in all 21 gubernatorial races, as well as legislative assembly members in 13 regions and city council officials across the country.
Results of the tightly controlled elections are already being interpreted in Russia as a vote of confidence in Putin and his operation in Ukraine, now in its third year — just as was the election in March that extended his presidential term and voting a year ago.
“Let’s be honest: there is a war going on. Our task is to defeat our enemy,” Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and now the chairman of the ruling United Russia party said on Sunday, as cited by the TASS state news agency.
“It is extremely important not to lose the trust of the citizens of Russia, our comrades, during this period.”
In the border Kursk region, which together with the Kremlin was caught by surprise in August by an ongoing incursion by Ukrainian forces, the acting governor leads the race with more than half of the vote counted.
Alexei Smirnov, who has led the region since May, has received nearly 66 percent of the vote so far, according to data from the Russian Central Election Commission.
In the Lipetsk region in Russia’s southwest — a frequent target of Ukrainian drone attacks — the current governor and United Russia candidate, Igor Artamonov, has received 80 percent of votes with nearly all votes counted.
Former Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, also of United Russia, is leading in the by-election to the lower-house State Duma, in the border Bryansk region, another area frequently affected by Ukrainian air attacks.
