BEIRUT: A second wave of device explosions killed three people and wounded more than 100 in Hezbollah strongholds of Lebanon on Wednesday, officials said, stoking fears of an all-out war in the region.
A source close to Hezbollah said walkie-talkies used by its members blew up in its Beirut stronghold, with state media reporting similar blasts in south and east Lebanon.
AFPTV footage showed people running for cover when an explosion went off during a funeral for Hezbollah militants in south Beirut on Wednesday afternoon.
Three people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the latest attacks, the Lebanese authorities said, with the health ministry also describing the devices targeted as walkie-talkies.
It came a day after the simultaneous explosion of hundreds of paging devices used by Hezbollah killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800 others across Lebanon, in an unprecedented attack blamed on Israel.
There was no comment from Israel, which only hours before Tuesday’s attacks had announced it was broadening the aims its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip to include its fight against the Palestinian group’s ally Hezbollah.
Hezbollah said Israel was “fully responsible for this criminal aggression” and reiterated it would avenge the attack, while vowing to continue its fight against Israel in support of Hamas in the Gaza war.
Cross-border exchanges with Israeli forces were “ongoing and separate from the difficult reckoning that the criminal enemy must await for its massacre,” Hezbollah said.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib warned the “blatant assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty and security” was a dangerous development that could “signal a wider war.”
The influx of so many casualties all at once overwhelmed hospitals in Hezbollah strongholds.
At a Beirut hospital, doctor Joelle Khadra said “the injuries were mainly to the eyes and hands, with finger amputations, shrapnel in the eyes — some people lost their sight.”
A doctor at another Beirut hospital, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said he had worked through the night and that the injuries were “out of this world — never seen anything like it.”
Experts said Israeli operatives had likely planted explosives on the paging devices before they were delivered to Hezbollah.
“This was more than lithium batteries being forced into override,” said Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute.
“A small plastic explosive was almost certainly concealed alongside the battery, for remote detonation via a call or page,” the analyst said, adding Israel’s spy agency “Mossad infiltrated the supply chain.”
Among the dead was the 10-year-old daughter of a Hezbollah member, killed in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley when her father’s pager exploded, the family and a source close to the group said.
Tehran’s ambassador in Beirut, Mojataba Amani, who was injured, said on social media platform X that it was “a source of pride for me that my blood was mixed with that of the wounded Lebanese” in what he called a “horrific terrorist crime.”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned the attack, decrying Western support for Israeli “crimes, killings and indiscriminate assassinations.”
The attack dealt a heavy blow to the militant group, which already had concerns about the security of its communications after losing several key commanders to targeted air strikes in recent months.
A source close to Hezbollah, asking not to be identified, told AFP the pagers were “recently imported” and appeared to have been “sabotaged at source.”
After The New York Times reported the pagers had been ordered from Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo, the company said they had been produced by its Hungarian partner BAC Consulting KFT.
A government spokesman in Budapest said the company was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary.”
As fears again surged of a regional conflagration nearly a year into the Gaza war, Lufthansa and Air France announced the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran and Beirut until Thursday.
Since October, the unabating exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and Hezbollah have killed hundreds of mostly fighters in Lebanon, and dozens including soldiers on the Israeli side.
They have also forced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border to flee their homes.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said Tuesday’s attack had come at an “extremely volatile time,” calling the blasts “shocking” and their impact on civilians “unacceptable.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged governments “not to weaponize civilian objects.”
US officials have expressed increasing frustration with Israel, which has rejected American assessments that a deal is nearly complete and insisted on an Israeli military presence on the Egypt-Gaza border.
The October 7 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures which includes hostages killed in captivity.
Out of 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,272 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.
In Gaza on Wednesday, the civil defense agency said an Israeli air strike on a school-turned-shelter killed five people, while the Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants.
Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
https://arab.news/ns72d
Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- Footage shows people running for cover as explosion goes off during funeral for Hezbollah fighters
- Incident takes place day after explosion of hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah killed 12 people
UNRWA chief condemns Israeli ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza
- Lazzarini said Israeli authorities’ refusal to grant access to foreign media since the beginning of the war in Gaza was unprecedented in modern conflict
AMMAN: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has sharply criticized Israel for barring international journalists from entering the Gaza Strip, calling the ongoing restriction a “ban on reporting the truth.”
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, said the Israeli authorities’ refusal to grant access to foreign media since the beginning of the war in Gaza was unprecedented in modern conflict.
“This is unlike any other conflict in contemporary history,” Lazzarini wrote in a post on X. “It essentially prevents journalists from reporting the truth from the Gaza Strip.”
He warned that the continued ban on international coverage had grave consequences, describing it as “the perfect recipe for fueling media misinformation, deepening polarization, and obscuring humanity.”
Lazzarini called for an immediate end to the ban on foreign media organizations and urged Israel to facilitate access for international journalists. He also called for support for Palestinian journalists who remain in Gaza and continue to report under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions.
“The world must not be kept in the dark,” he said.
The remarks come amid growing international concern over press freedom in Gaza, where Palestinian reporters have borne the brunt of the conflict with limited external scrutiny due to access restrictions.
UN welcomes new Libya safety and rights committees
- UNSMIL said the committees were “composed of key parties“
- The safety committee was tasked with drafting a plan to disarm non-state actors in Tripoli
TRIPOLI: The United Nations mission in Libya on Saturday welcomed the formation of two committees by the Libyan presidential council to address safety and human rights after recent deadly clashes in Tripoli.
UNSMIL said the committees were “composed of key parties,” with one aimed at “strengthening security arrangements to prevent the outbreak of fighting and ensure the protection of civilians.”
The second committee was tasked with “addressing human rights concerns in detention facilities, including widespread arbitrary detention,” it added.
Libya is split between the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east.
The North African country has remained deeply divided since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled and killed longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi.
Last month, its capital was rocked by days of deadly fighting between rival armed groups that left at least eight people dead, according to the UN.
The violence was sparked by the killing of Abdelghani Al-Kikli, the leader of the Support and Stability Apparatus (SSA) armed group, by the government-backed 444 Brigade, which later took on another rival faction, Radaa.
It also came after Dbeibah announced a string of executive orders seeking to dismantle armed groups that he later said had “become stronger than the state.”
Earlier this week, the Libyan presidential council announced the creation of the committees in a move that Dbeibah described as necessary “to strengthen the rule of law.”
The safety committee was tasked with drafting a plan to disarm non-state actors in Tripoli and strengthen the control of official security forces, the council said.
And the human rights committee will monitor conditions in detention centers and review cases of people detained without judicial oversight.
This came after UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk raised alarm over “gross human rights violations uncovered at official and unofficial detention facilities” run by the SSA group.
UNSMIL said it was “committed to providing technical support” to the newly formed committees.
“UNSMIL stresses that these committees come at a crucial moment when Libyans are demanding meaningful reform, accountable and democratic state institutions,” it said.
Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near US-backed aid center
- Deaths latest reported near aid center run by Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in Rafah
- Gazans have gathered at the roundabout almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid
GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution center.
The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid center run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week.
An aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was meanwhile nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), “six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout.”
Gazans have gathered at the roundabout almost daily since late May to collect humanitarian aid from the GHF aid center about one kilometer (a little over half a mile) away.
AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defense agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports.
The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals that it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops.”
Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout.
“As soon as some people tried to advance toward the aid center, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armored vehicles stationed near the center, firing into the air and then at civilians,” Abu Hadid said.
The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month aid blockade on the territory.
UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals.
Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.
The aid boat Madleen, organized by an international activist coalition, was sailing toward Gaza on Saturday, aiming to breach Israel’s naval blockade and deliver aid to the territory, organizers said.
“We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,” German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. “We are all good,” she added.
In a statement from London, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza — a member organization of the flotilla coalition — said the ship had entered Egyptian waters.
The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would constitute “a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war and the Israeli military has made clear it intends to enforce the blockade.
“For this case as well, we are prepared,” army spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said on Tuesday, when asked about the Freedom Flotilla vessel.
“We have gained experience in recent years, and we will act accordingly.”
A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel’s naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead.
Syrian authorities announce closure of notorious desert camp
DAMASCUS: A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday.
The Rukban camp in Syria’s desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria’s civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the Daesh group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.
Desperate people fleeing IS jihadists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan.
Former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years.
After an Islamist-led offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home.
The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was “officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes.”
Syrian Information Minister Hamza Al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that “with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime’s war machine comes to a close.”
“Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert,” he added.
At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. The numbers dwindled with time, especially after Jordan sealed off its side of the border and stopped regular aid deliveries in 2016.
Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad’s fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices.
Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed Al-Saleh said on X said the camp’s closure represents “the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people.”
“We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety,” he added.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad’s fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad.
The IOM says the “lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge” for those returning home.
X
Activist aid ship nears Gaza after reaching Egypt coast: organizers
- The Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily last week with a cargo of relief supplies ‘to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza’
CAIRO: An aid ship with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, has reached the Egyptian coast and is nearing the besieged Palestinian territory, organizers said on Saturday.
The Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily last week with a cargo of relief supplies “to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza.”
“We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,” German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. “We are all good,” she added.
In a statement from London on Saturday, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza — a member organization of the flotilla coalition — said the ship had entered Egyptian waters.
The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies to ensure the safety of those on board, warning that any interception would constitute “a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”
European parliament member Rima Hassan, who is on board the vessel, urged governments to “guarantee safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla.”
The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war and Israel has enforced its blockade with military action in the past.
A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar aid flotilla trying to breach the blockade, left 10 civilians dead.
In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, reported coming under drone attack while en route for Gaza, prompting Cyprus and Malta to send rescue vessels in response to its distress call. There were no reports of any casualties.
Earlier in its voyage, the Madleen changed course near the Greek island of Crete after receiving a distress signal from a sinking migrant boat.
Activists rescued four Sudanese migrants who had jumped into the sea to avoid being returned to Libya. The four were later transferred to an EU Frontex vessel.
Launched in 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is a coalition of groups opposed to the blockade on humanitarian aid for Gaza that Israel imposed on March 2 and has only partially eased since.
Israel has faced mounting international condemnation over the resulting humanitarian crisis in the territory, where the United Nations has warned the entire population of more than two million is at risk of famine.
