UN BASE 964: On the deserted border between Lebanon and Israel, Spanish UN peacekeepers have for more than 10 months effectively been caught in a war zone.
Several Blue Helmets have been wounded in the crossfire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, which has also left dozens of Lebanese civilians dead in fallout from the war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
“Sometimes we need to shelter because of the shelling... sometimes even inside the bunkers,” said Alvaro Gonzalez Gavalda, a Blue Helmet at Base 964 of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
To reach the base, AFP journalists escorted in a UNIFIL convoy passed through virtually deserted villages. Only the occasional grocer or automotive repair shop were still open along the road where fields have been left charred by bombardment.
The base, surrounded by barbed wire and protected with heavy stone-filled berms, is not far from the town of Khiam, where dozens of houses have been destroyed or damaged, about five kilometers (three miles) from the border.
Over a wall that marks the frontier, the Israeli town of Metula is clearly visible. It has also been emptied of residents, as have other communities on both sides of the boundary.
From a watchtower, binoculars help the peacekeepers see further — into the Golan Heights annexed by Israel. The area has been a frequent target of Hezbollah fire.
Spanish Lt. Col. Jose Irisarri said their mission, under Security Council Resolution 1701, is to “control the area” and help the Lebanese government and armed forces establish control south of the Litani River, which is around 30 kilometers from the border with Israel.
The resolution ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
It called for all armed personnel to pull back north of the Litani, except for Lebanese state security forces and United Nations peacekeepers.
While Hezbollah has not had a visible military presence in the border area since then, the group still holds sway over large parts of the south.
When Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israel on October 7, triggering war with Israel, Hezbollah opened what it calls a “support front” a day later, launching rockets and other fire from southern Lebanon against Israeli positions.
Israel has hit back with air strikes and artillery fire.
“Some of these villages are completely empty. There is no one living there because of the risk and the constant attacks they are suffering,” Irisarri said.
The Security Council first established UNIFIL in 1978 after Israel invaded south Lebanon. Its mission was expanded after the 2006 war.
Now, with fears of a wider regional war in which Lebanon would be on the front line, the UN’s Under Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said UNIFIL’s role is “more important than ever.”
Spain’s contingent of 650 soldiers, based at several positions, are among around 10,000 troops from 49 countries in the mission.
“It’s the only liaison channel between the Israeli side and the Lebanese side in all its components, such as Hezbollah,” Lacroix told AFP in early August.
UNIFIL’s mandate expires at the end of August and Lebanon has asked for its renewal.
Cross-border violence since the Gaza war started has killed 601 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 131 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
The Israeli authorities have announced the deaths of at least 23 soldiers and 26 civilians since the fighting began, including in the annexed Golan Heights.
The Spaniards don’t just limit themselves to their core mission. They also give “support and some help” to the local population, Irisarri said.
As an example, he said their psychological team assists students with special needs.
AFP was unable to visit the school during its tour on Friday, after the Spanish contingent raised the security level following exchanges of fire in the area.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s south on Friday killed seven Hezbollah fighters and a local child, according to Hezbollah and Lebanon’s health ministry. Israel said its military aircraft had hit “terrorist” targets.
The peacekeepers have little time to rest, but have the company of two adopted dogs.
When they do have leisure time, “we go to the gym to keep fit and also we enjoy watching movies and talking to some friends,” said Gavalda.
He has been in Lebanon since May.
“We miss our families,” but Internet enables them to stay in touch almost daily, Gavalda said.
Surrounded by death, the soldiers have set up on their grounds a small statue of the Virgin Mary inside a protective glass case.
UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon crossfire
https://arab.news/nb2ey
UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon crossfire
- Several Blue Helmets have been wounded in the crossfire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movemen
- The Security Council first established UNIFIL in 1978 after Israel invaded south Lebanon
Northern Gaza at grave risk of Israeli atrocities of ‘the most serious nature,’ UN warns
- ‘Horrific possibility’ of famine cannot be separated from unrelenting Israeli attacks on the human rights of Palestinians, Security Council hears
- Systematic destruction of Palestinian infrastructure is directly contributing to threat of starvation, human rights official tells council members
NEW YORK CITY: Not only are Israeli authorities seeking to clear northern Gaza of Palestinians by displacing them to the south of the territory, but their actions pose a grave risk of atrocities of “the most serious nature,” the UN warned on Tuesday.
Ilze Brands Kehris, the organization’s assistant secretary-general for human rights, urged all states to assess their arms sales or transfers “with a view to ending such support if this risks serious violations of international law.”
Speaking during a meeting of the Security Council to discuss the growing risk of famine in Gaza, she described the humanitarian and human rights situation for Palestinians across the battered enclave as “catastrophic.”
The meeting followed an alert issued at the weekend by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Famine Review Committee, which said there was “a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip.” It called for the international community to act “in days, not weeks” to address this threat.
Figures verified by the UN Human Rights Office reveal that almost 70 percent of those killed in Gaza since the war began in October last year were children, mostly between the ages of 5 and 9 years old, or women. According to the Palestinian health ministry, the total death toll from the conflict stands at least 43,000 Palestinians, and more than 100,000 have been injured.
However, these figures are likely to be “a serious understatement,” Brands Kehris told the Security Council, because the bodies of many other victims are thought to be buried under rubble.
Nearly 1.9 million people in Gaza have been displaced, many of them repeatedly, including pregnant women, people with disabilities, the elderly and children, she said. Meanwhile, Israeli strikes on shelters and residential buildings continue to kill unconscionable numbers of civilians, she added: women, men, young and old.
“Attacks on so-called ‘safe zones’ prove that nowhere in Gaza is safe,” Brands Kehris said.
The destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure by the Israeli military — including facilities that enjoy protected status under international law, such as hospitals, schools and vital services such as including power supplies, water and sewage — is directly contributing to the risk of famine, she added.
In addition, Israeli forces have killed hundreds of medical personnel, civilian police officers, journalists and humanitarian aid workers, including more than 220 UN staff, she said, and thousands of Palestinians have been taken from Gaza to Israel, usually shackled and blindfolded, where they are held incommunicado.
“Meanwhile, there is constant and continued interference with the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, which has fallen to some of the lowest levels in a year,” Brands Kehris added.
“The cumulative impact of more than a year of destruction in Gaza has taken an enormous toll. Basic services for Palestinians in Gaza, the fabric of society, have been decimated. Conditions of life, particularly in northern Gaza, are increasingly not fit for survival.
“This horrific possibility cannot be separated from the unrelenting attacks on the human rights of civilians there.”
Over the past five weeks, she said, Israeli strikes have resulted in massive civilian fatalities in northern Gaza, particularly among women, children, the elderly, the sick and people with disabilities, many of whom are reportedly “trapped by Israeli military restrictions and attacks on escape routes.”
She added: “The pattern and the frequency of these reported attacks suggest the systematic targeting of locations known, or which should have been known, as sheltering significant numbers of civilians, coupled with the continued use of weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas.
“The Israeli military has also conducted repeated attacks on the three major hospitals in the area and on other vital infrastructure, while unlawfully restricting the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance to northern Gaza.”
Brands Kehris echoed a call by the high commissioner for human rights for an end to the war, the release of Israeli hostages, and the urgent delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza “by all routes.”
There must also be “due reckoning” over allegations of serious violations of international law, she said, overseen by “credible and impartial judicial authorities.”
She added: “In line with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion and the General Assembly resolution, Israel must end its continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible, allowing the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination.”
Trump nominates hard-liner Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel
- Huckabee, 69, who ran twice for Republican Party presidential nomination, has traveled to Israel regularly since 1973
- Israel’s FM Gideon Saar quickly offered congratulations to Huckabee
WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he had nominated Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel under his incoming administration, putting a stalwart supporter of that country’s government in a key role.
“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years,” Trump said in a statement, referring to the Christian pastor-turned-politician.
“He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him.”
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar quickly offered his congratulations to Huckabee, who has in the past said there was “no such thing as an occupation” when it came to Palestinian territories.
“I look forward to working with you to strengthen the bond between our peoples,” Minister Saar posted to Huckabee on X. “As a longstanding friend of Israel and our eternal capital Jerusalem — I hope you will feel very much at home.”
Huckabee, 69, ran twice for the Republican Party presidential nomination, including in 2016 against eventual winner Trump, who Huckabee was quick to back after falling out of the race.
Huckabee, whose nomination requires confirmation by the US Senate, has traveled to Israel regularly since 1973, and has led numerous tours there.
In 2017, he was present in Maale Adumim for the expansion of one of Israel’s largest illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. In 2018, he also laid a brick at a new housing complex in Efrat settlement, strongly suggesting he was in support of Trump’s positions on Israel.
“There is no such thing as the West Bank — it’s Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told CNN there at the time, using the Biblical terms for the area.
“There’s no such thing as a settlement; they’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation,” he added.
In December 2023 he visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where dozens of Israelis were killed in the October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas militants.
Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas, the same town that gave rise to Democrat Bill Clinton, who served as the state’s governor before he became president.
His daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the current governor of Arkansas. She also served as Trump’s White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels launch drones and missiles at US warships near the Red Sea but do no damage
- Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the Iranian-backed Houthis launched at least eight drones, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles
- No one was wounded on board in the blasts, and the ship was continuing on its journey, the UKMTO added
DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi militants targeted two US Navy warships with multiple drones and missiles as they were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but the attacks were not successful, the Defense Department said Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the Iranian-backed Houthis launched at least eight drones, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles at the USS Stockdale and the USS Spruance, both Navy destroyers, on Monday. He said there was no damage and no one was injured.
The strait is a narrow waterway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it a year. The militants have been targeting shipping through the strait for months over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon.
The Houthis have insisted that the attacks will continue as long as the wars go on, and the assaults already have halved shipping through the region. Meanwhile, a UN panel of experts now allege that the Houthis may be shaking down some shippers for about $180 million a month for safe passage through the area.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree in a prerecorded statement earlier Tuesday had claimed the militants attacked two American destroyers in the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones.
There were also reports of a commercial ship being attacked. A vessel in the southern reaches of the Red Sea, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida, reported the attack, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
No one was wounded on board in the blasts, and the ship was continuing on its journey, the UKMTO added.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the UKMTO report was directly linked to the attacks on the US destroyers, but similar incidents of Houthi fire coming near other ships have happened before.
The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign, which also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.
The militants maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have shot down multiple American MQ-9 Reaper drones as well.
The last Houthi maritime attack came Oct. 28 and targeted the Liberian-flagged bulk tanker Motaro. Before that, an Oct. 10 attack targeted the Liberian-flagged chemical tanker Olympic Spirit.
It’s unclear why the Houthis’ attacks have dropped, though they have launched multiple missiles toward Israel as well. On Oct. 17, the US military unleashed B-2 stealth bombers to target underground bunkers used by the militants. US airstrikes also have been targeting Houthi positions in recent days as well.
Meanwhile, a report by UN experts from October says “the Houthis allegedly collected illegal fees from a few shipping agencies to allow their ships to sail through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden without being attacked.” It put the money generated a month at around $180 million, though it stressed it hadn’t been able to corroborate the information provided by sources to the panel.
The Houthis haven’t directly responded to the allegation. However, the report did include two threatening emails the Houthis sent to shippers, with one of those vessels later coming under attack by the militants.
Jordan completes latest airdrop of aid to Gaza
- UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees warns that the amount of emergency humanitarian supplies entering the territory ‘is at its lowest level in months’
- Jordanian Armed Forces have carried out 123 airdrops of emergency aid to Gaza since war began, and a further 266 in joint efforts with other countries
LONDON: Jordan’s air force carried out its latest delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
It came as the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees said the amount of emergency supplies entering the enclave is lower than it has been for months.
Royal Jordanian Air Force C130 Hercules aircraft dropped crates of food, drinking water and medical supplies, the Jordan News Agency reported. Since the war began in October last year, the Jordanian Armed Forces have completed 123 airdrops of emergency aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and a further 266 as part of joint efforts with countries including France and the UK.
Humanitarian officials consider land convoys to be the most effective way of delivering emergency supplies to help ease the humanitarian crisis, but Jordan has resorted to airdrops because of Israeli army restrictions on access to the Gaza Strip that have been in place since last year.
Also on Tuesday, Louise Wateridge, an emergencies officer with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, warned that “aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months.”
On Monday, during the Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh, Jordan’s King Abdullah called for “a humanitarian bridge to break the siege imposed on the people in the Gaza Strip and deliver emergency aid to the sector that is suffering a humanitarian disaster.”
He said that finding “a real political horizon to resolve the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution” remains the “only way to achieve peace, stability and security in the region.”
Iran, Russia link bank card systems
TEHRAN: Iranian bank cards can now be used in Russia, state television reported, as the two countries linked their banking systems in the latest bid to counteract sanctions.
Iranian banks have been excluded since 2018 from the SWIFT international financial messaging service, which governs the vast majority of trans-actions worldwide.
The move is part of a raft of sanctions that were re-imposed on Iran after the US withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Iranian bank cards can now be used in Russia, state television channel IRINN said on Monday, showing the withdrawal of money using an Iranian bank card from an ATM in Russia.
The operation was made possible by connecting Iran’s interbank network Shetab to its Russian equivalent Mir, the channel said.
Iranians can currently withdraw money in Russia, and will in the future be able to use their cards to pay for in-store purchases, it added.
“The plan is also going to be implemented in other countries that have a wide range of financial and social interactions with Iran, for example Iraq, Afghanistan and Turkiye,” it said.
Both Iran and Russia have sought to counteract the effects of sanctions on their economies.
