BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: Israel bombed southern Lebanon on Thursday and said it had thwarted an Iranian-led assassination plot, a day after explosions of Hezbollah radios that came on the heels of blasts in booby trapped pagers, setting the foes hurtling toward war.
The sophisticated attacks on armed group Hezbollah’s communications equipment, which killed 37 people and wounded around 3,000 over two days, sowed disarray in Lebanon, with panicked residents abandoning their mobile phones.
“This isn’t a small matter, it’s war. Who can even secure their phone now? When I heard about what happened yesterday, I left my phone on my motorcycle and walked away,” said Mustafa Sibal on a street near central Beirut.
A distant roar in the skies could be heard in Beirut from what Lebanese state media said was Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier — a sound that has grown increasingly common in recent months.
Israel said its warplanes struck villages in southern Lebanon overnight, and a security source and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported airstrikes near the border resumed on Thursday just after midday.
Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated on Wednesday across Lebanon’s south. The Lebanese health minister raised the death toll, saying 25 people had been killed and 608 injured in the country’s deadliest day since cross-border fighting erupted between the militants and Israel in parallel with the Gaza war last year.
The previous day, hundreds of pagers — used by Hezbollah to evade mobile phone surveillance — exploded at once, killing 12 people including two children, and injuring more than 2,300.
In a post on X, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on the United Nations Security Council to take a firm stand to stop Israel’s “aggression” and “technological war” against his country.
Israel has not commented directly on the booby-trapped walkie-talkies and pagers, but multiple security sources have said the attacks were carried out by its spy agency Mossad.
Israel says its conflict with Hezbollah, like its war in Gaza against Palestinian militant group Hamas, is part of a wider regional confrontation with Iran, which sponsors both groups as well as armed movements in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
On Thursday Israeli security forces announced that an Israeli businessman had been arrested last month after attending at least two meetings in Iran, where he discussed assassinating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defense minister or the head of the Shin Bet spy agency.
Last week, Shin Bet uncovered what it said was a plot by Hezbollah to assassinate former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
Israel has been accused of assassinations including a blast in Tehran that killed the leader of Hamas and another in a Beirut suburb that killed a senior Hezbollah commander within hours of each other in July.
Despite the events of the past few days, a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon said the situation along the frontier had “not changed much in terms of exchanges of fire between the parties.”
“There was an intensification last week. This week it is more or less the same. There are still exchanges of fire. It is still worrying, still concerning, and the rhetoric is high,” the spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti, told Reuters.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the Israeli-Lebanon border in parallel with the war Israel has waged in Gaza against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group whose fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Tens of thousands of people have had to flee the Israel-Lebanon border area on both sides. Netanyahu vowed on Wednesday to return the evacuated Israelis “securely to their homes.”
Shifting focus
The Israeli military said its overnight air strikes hit Hezbollah targets in Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela in southern Lebanon, as well as a Hezbollah weapons storage facility in the area of Khiam.
Israeli media reported that a number of Israeli civilians had been wounded by anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon, but there was no official confirmation.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the war was moving into a new phase, with more resources and military units now being shifted to the northern border.
According to Israeli officials, the forces being deployed there include the 98th Division, an elite formation including commando and paratroop elements that has been fighting in Gaza.
Hezbollah launched missile barrages on Israel on the day after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, and since then there has been a constant exchange of fire that neither side has allowed to escalate into a full-scale war.
However, tens of thousands have been evacuated on both sides of the border, and there has been mounting pressure in Israel for the government to get the evacuees back home.
Israeli planes bomb southern Lebanon after radio blasts
https://arab.news/nv96b
Israeli planes bomb southern Lebanon after radio blasts
- Hezbollah fired around 20 projectiles into Israel, most of which were intercepted by air defense systems without causing any injuries
- Israeli media reported that a number of Israeli civilians had been wounded by anti-tank missile fire from Lebanon
Iran FM warns against ‘destructive interference’ in Syria’s future
- Abbas Araghchi: Iran ‘considers the decision-making about the future of Syria to be the sole responsibility of the people... without destructive interference or foreign imposition’
BEIJING: Iran’s top diplomat warned Friday against “destructive interference” in Syria’s future and said decisions should lie solely with the country’s people, writing in Chinese state media as he visited Beijing.
Abbas Araghchi touched down in the Chinese capital on Friday afternoon, Iranian state media reported, to begin his first official visit to the country since being appointed foreign minister.
China and Iran were both supporters of ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad.
Assad fled Syria this month after an Islamist-led offensive wrested city after city from his control, with the capital Damascus falling on December 8.
Iran “considers the decision-making about the future of Syria to be the sole responsibility of the people... without destructive interference or foreign imposition,” Araghchi wrote in a Chinese-language article in People’s Daily published on Friday.
He also emphasized Iran’s respect for Syria’s “unity, national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Iran’s supreme leader – a key backer of Assad’s administration – predicted on Sunday “the emergence of a strong, honorable group” that would stand against “insecurity” in Syria.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Syria’s young men would “stand with strength and determination against those who have designed this insecurity and those who have implemented it, and God willing, he will overcome them.”
In People’s Daily, Araghchi said supporting the Syrian people was a “definite principle (that) should be taken into consideration by all the actors.”
Beijing had also built strong ties with Assad – he met President Xi Jinping in China last year, where the two leaders announced a “strategic partnership.”
China has affirmed its support for the Syrian people and has said it opposes terrorist forces taking advantage of the situation to create chaos.
Araghchi’s two-day visit will include talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, according to Iran’s foreign ministry.
China is Iran’s largest trade partner, and a top buyer of its sanctioned oil.
Xi pledged in October to increase ties with Iran during talks with his counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in Russia on the sidelines of a BRICS summit.
Araghchi told reporters in a video published by Iranian state media as he arrived in Beijing that the visit was taking place “at a very suitable time.”
“Now it is natural that there are sensitive situations, both the region has various tensions, and there are various issues at the international level, also our nuclear issue in the new year will face a situation that needs more consultations,” he said.
“The invitation of our Chinese friends was for this reason, that at the beginning of the new year... we should think together, consult and be ready for the challenges that will come.”
He wrote in his editorial that Iran and China shared the “common view” that calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza was the biggest priority in the Middle East.
Lebanese university students launch donation campaign to aid war-displaced families
- ‘Hardship of war should never be faced alone,’ says student Nour Farchoukh
- More than 1,000 families benefit from food and clothing donations
DUBAI: Three American University of Beirut students have launched a donation campaign to support families across Lebanon displaced by the 13-month war with Israel.
Titled “Hope for our Lebanon,” the campaign distributes food supplies, sanitary boxes, and clothes through a collaboration with ‘Wahad Activism’ charity organization.
Nour Farchoukh, Celine Ghandour, and Kian Azad told Arab News that they provide the aid based on the needs of each family.
“We put snacks or diapers if there are children. We also ask if they need clothes,” said Ghandour, adding that the group depends on people’s in-kind donations.
So far, the donation campaign has reached more than 1,000 families in Baabda, Beirut, Chouf, Batroun, Barouk, and Hazmieh among other areas.
Israel stepped up its military campaign in south Lebanon in late September after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges launched by Hezbollah in retaliation for the war on Gaza.
Over 13 months, the war killed more than 4,000 people across Lebanon, injured over 16,600 people, and displaced 1 million people, according to the latest figures of the Lebanese health ministry.
On Nov. 27, a 60-day ceasefire agreement, brokered by US and France, was signed between Hezbollah and Israel.
Azad said the campaign was still running after the ceasefire, with clothes donations being distributed to orphanages.
“We know that no matter how small the number of families we help, it will still make a difference,” he added.
“Every volunteer and every donation help rebuild Lebanon bit by bit. The hardship of war should never be faced alone,” Farchoukh said.
The three students have invited the community to take part in the initiative through donations or volunteering.
Israeli troops burn north Gaza hospital after forcibly removing staff and patients
- Kamal Adwan Hospital is one of only three medical facilities on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip
- Israeli forces order dozens of patients and hundreds of others to evacuate the compound
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza: Israeli troops stormed one of the last hospitals operating in the northernmost part of Gaza on Friday, forcing many of the staff and patients out of the facility, the territory’s health ministry said.
The Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods, according to staff. The ministry said a strike on the hospital a day earlier killed five medical staff.
Israel’s military said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and fighters in the area of the hospital, without providing details. It repeated claims that Hamas fighters were operating inside Kamal Adwan, though it provided no evidence.
Hospital officials have denied the accusations.
The Health Ministry said troops forced medical personnel and patients to assemble in the hospital yard and remove their clothes amid the winter temperatures. They were led out of the hospital, some to an unknown location, while some patients were sent to the nearby Indonesian hospital, which was knocked out of operation after an Israel raid earlier this week.
The ministry said troops set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the hospital’s lab and surgery department. It said 25 patients and 60 health workers remained in the hospital out of 75 patients and 180 staff who had been there. The ministry’s account could not be independently confirmed, and attempts to reach hospital staff were unsuccessful.
“Fire is ablaze everywhere in the hospital,” an unidentified member of the staff said in an audio message from the hospital posted on the social media accounts of its director Hossam Abu Safiya. The staffer said some evacuated patients had been unhooked from oxygen. “There are currently patients who could die at any moment,” she said.
In raids, Israeli troops frequently carry out mass detentions, stripping men down to their underwear for questioning in what the military says is a security measure as they search for Hamas fighters. Although the AP doesn’t have access to Kamal Adwan, armed Hamas security men in civilian clothes have been seen in other hospitals in Gaza, controlling access to certain areas or the distribution of supplies.
Since October, Israel’s offensive has virtually sealed off the north Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and levelled large parts of the districts. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced out, but thousands are believed to remain the area, where Kamal Adwan and two other hospitals are located. Troops raided Kamal Adwan earlier in October, and on Tuesday troops stormed and evacuated the nearby Indonesian Hospital.
The area has been cut off from food and other aid for months , raising fears of famine. The UN says Israeli troops had only allowed four humanitarian deliveries to the area from Dec. 1 to Dec. 23.
The Israeli rights groups Physicians for Human Rights-Israel earlier this week petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice seeking a halt to military attacks on Kamal Adwan. It warned that forcibly evacuating the hospital would “abandon thousands of residents in northern Gaza.” Before the latest deaths Thursday, the group documented five other staffers killed by Israeli fire since October.
Israel’s nearly 15-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives in Gaza have devastated the territory’s health sector. A year ago, it carried out a wave of raids on hospitals in northern Gaza, including Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and nearby Al-Awda Hospital, saying they served bases for Hamas, though it presented little evidence.
Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have been driven from their homes, most of them now sheltering in sprawling, squalid tent camps in south and central Gaza.
Israel launched its campaign vowing to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, around a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel strikes ‘infrastructure’ on Syria-Lebanon border
- It did not specify whether the strikes were on the Syrian or Lebanese side
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military reported it conducted air strikes on Friday targeting “infrastructure” on the Syrian-Lebanese border near the village of Janta, which it said was used to smuggle weapons to the armed group Hezbollah.
“Earlier today, the IAF (Israeli air force) struck infrastructure that was used to smuggle weapons via Syria to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon at the Janta crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border,” the military said in a statement.
It did not specify whether the strikes were on the Syrian or Lebanese side, but they came a day after Lebanon’s army accused Israel of “violation of the ceasefire agreement by attacking Lebanese sovereignty and destroying southern towns and villages.”
There is no official crossing point near Janta but the area is known for illegal crossings.
The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, has also expressed concern over “continuing destruction” caused by Israeli forces in south Lebanon.
The Israeli military said Friday’s strikes were aimed at preventing weapons falling into the hands of Hezbollah, with whom it fought a land and air war for more than a year until a ceasefire was agreed upon last month.
“These strikes are an additional part of the IDF’s (Israeli military’s) effort to target weapons smuggling operations from Syria into Lebanon, and prevent Hezbollah from re-establishing weapons smuggling routes,” the military said.
“The IDF will continue to act to remove any threat to the state of Israel in accordance with the understandings in the ceasefire agreement.”
The truce went into effect on November 27, about two months after Israel stepped up its bombing campaign and later sent troops into Lebanon following nearly a year of exchanges of cross-border fire initiated by Hezbollah over the war in Gaza.
Israel hospital says woman killed in stabbing attack in coastal city
- Israel’s police said the suspected attacker had been arrested
HERZLIYA, Israel: An Israeli hospital reported that a woman in her eighties was killed after being stabbed in the coastal city of Herzliya on Friday, while police stated that the suspected attacker had been arrested.
“She was brought to the hospital with multiple stab wounds while undergoing resuscitation efforts, but the hospital staff was forced to pronounce her death upon arrival,” Tel Aviv Ichilov hospital said in a statement. Israel’s police said the suspected attacker had been arrested.
