Hezbollah warns Lebanese over dropped Israeli leaflets

A machine clears debris in a street under a residential building whose top two floors were hit by an Israeli strike in the Ghobeiri area of Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 24, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 24 September 2024
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Hezbollah warns Lebanese over dropped Israeli leaflets

  • “Please do not open or circulate the barcode. You must destroy it immediately,” the statement said, warning the code could “take all your information”

BEIRUT: Hezbollah urged Lebanese to discard Israeli leaflets dropped over the country’s east on Tuesday, warning against scanning barcodes that it said could compromise personal data.
“The Zionist enemy is dropping leaflets with barcodes in the Bekaa region and may drop them elsewhere,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement.
“Please do not open or circulate the barcode. You must destroy it immediately,” the statement said, warning the code could “take all your information.”
Later Tuesday, a Lebanese security source said an Israeli strike hit Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold, with the Israeli army also saying it had carried out a strike, a day after hitting the same area.
Hezbollah and its arch-foe had been exchanging near-daily cross-border fire for nearly a year over the Gaza war.
Since then, Israel has repeatedly broadcast warnings on loudspeakers to residents of southern Lebanon, asking them to evacuate.
On Monday Israel launched devastating strikes across Lebanon’s south and east, killing more than 550 according to Lebanese figures — the deadliest in one day since Hezbollah and Israel last went to war in 2006.
Lebanese official media said on Monday that people were receiving Israeli phone warnings telling them to evacuate, and Information Minister Ziad Makary’s office told AFP it had received one of the messages.
The calls caused panic among Lebanese after devastating week of coordinated communications devices explosions that killed 39 people and wounded thousands on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
Those were followed by a deadly strike on Friday on south Beirut, with leading Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil among the dead.


UK campaigners file emergency injunction over F-35 exports to Israel

Updated 12 sec ago
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UK campaigners file emergency injunction over F-35 exports to Israel

  • Move follows ICC issuing of warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant
  • ‘UK is now arming suspected war criminals,’ says Global Legal Action Network lawyer

LONDON: Campaigners in the UK seeking to block the sale of F-35 parts to Israel are applying for an emergency high court injunction after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The government has until Friday to file a defense against the campaigners from Global Legal Action Network and Al-Haq.

It is “unconscionable” that British manufacturers of F-35 parts continue to sell weapons systems that are used to kill Palestinians in Gaza, campaigners said.

On Nov. 18 at a high court hearing, the government admitted that potential damage to the UK-US relationship played a role in the continuation of exports.

In earlier hearings, ministers, some of whom have admitted that Israel is in breach of international law, were asked about the rationale for continuing exports.

The court was set to hear the case again in January next year.

Government ministers have said that F-35 parts enter a general export pool and that it is impossible to determine the destination of each part.

The Labour government reversed a decision by the former Conservative government to allow some arms export licenses to Israel to remain in place, finding a risk that the exports could be used to breach international humanitarian law.

GLAN lawyer Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe said: “It is unconscionable that the UK continues to allow British-made components for F-35s to be used in Israel’s extermination campaign against Palestinians.

“As of Thursday, the UK is now arming suspected war criminals who have been indicted by the world’s preeminent criminal court.

“For 13 months, GLAN and Al-Haq have argued that weapons sales to Israel are unlawful. When will it be enough? Does the UK government have any red lines?”

The emergency injunction follows the ICC’s issuing of arrest warrants for Netanyahu; former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant; and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.

The Israeli leader condemned the court’s decision as “antisemitic.”

GLAN and Al-Haq’s injunction is a sign of the impact caused by the ICC warrants.

Al-Haq spokesperson Zainah El-Haroun said: “The latest arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant for the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity add to the insurmountable evidence that British weapons, particularly F-35 components, are being used to commit international crimes, including genocide.”


Militia detains 300 migrants in the desert in Libya’s effort to contain sea crossings

Updated 38 min 15 sec ago
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Militia detains 300 migrants in the desert in Libya’s effort to contain sea crossings

  • The group in a post on Facebook condemned smuggling and human trafficking and said its patrols would continue efforts to block smuggling routes
  • The apprehensions come as Libya remains a primary point of departure for men, women and children from the Middle East and Africa aiming to reach Europe

TRIPOLI: Libyan military officials said Monday they apprehended hundreds of migrants traversing the country’s vast desert hoping to ultimately cross the Mediterranean Sea in pursuit of a better life in Europe.
The 444 Brigade, a powerful militia group that operates under the auspices of the Libyan army, said in a statement that its patrolling commanders detained more than 300 migrants and referred them to authorities.
The group in a post on Facebook condemned smuggling and human trafficking and said its patrols would continue efforts to block smuggling routes. It posted satellite images of the desert and pictures of what appeared to be migrants sitting in rows in front of armed and masked militants.
The apprehensions come as Libya remains a primary point of departure for men, women and children from the Middle East and Africa aiming to reach Europe. Many are escaping war or poverty and many employ smugglers to help them negotiate treacherous deserts and sea routes. Roughly 38,000 people have arrived in Italy and Malta from Libya this year, according to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The overcrowded boats used by migrants and smugglers are known to routinely capsize and a key priority for European leaders has been to encourage North African countries to prevent migrants from reaching the sea. But unlike in Morocco and Tunisia — where tens of thousands of migrants also attempt to pass through en route to the southern shores of Europe — fighting between rival governments in Libya has added additional challenges to migration management partnerships.
Migrant apprehensions are rarely reported in Libya, though the country’s state news service LANA reported more than 2,000 arrests in July.
The oil-rich country plunged into turmoil after a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Since then, the country has been divided between dueling governments in the east and west, each backed by militias and foreign powers. Human traffickers have for years benefited from the political chaos.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk in July said migrants in the country had been subjected to torture, forced labor and starvation while being detained.


Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says

Updated 51 min 57 sec ago
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Major food aid ‘scale-up’ underway to famine-hit Sudan, WFP says

  • “In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” said WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli
  • The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated

GENEVA: More than 700 trucks are on their way to famine-stricken areas of Sudan as part of a major scale-up after clearance came through from the Sudanese government, a World Food Programme spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in conflict since April 2023 that has caused acute hunger and disease across the country. Both sides are accused of impeding aid deliveries, the RSF by looting and the army by bureaucratic delays.
“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli told a press briefing in Geneva.
“We’ve received around 700 clearances from the government in Sudan, from the Humanitarian Aid Commission, to start to move and transport assistance to some of these hard-to-reach areas,” she added, saying the start of the dry season was another factor enabling the scale-up.
The WFP fleet will be clearly labelled in the hope that access will be facilitated, she said.
Some of the food is intended for 14 areas of the country that face famine or are at risk of famine, including Zamzam camp in the Darfur region.
The first food arrived there on Friday prompting cheers from crowds of people who had resorted to eating crushed peanut shells normally fed to animals, Kinzli said.
A second convoy for the camp is currently about 300 km (186 miles) away, she said.
On Monday, the head of Sudan’s sovereign council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, said he would allow the airports in El Obeid, Kadugli, and Damazine — army-controlled areas isolated by the fighting — to serve as humanitarian hubs for UN agencies to facilitate deliveries.


Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 26, 2024. Reuters
Updated 13 min 24 sec ago
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Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

  • Israeli strikes smashed more of Beirut’s southern suburbs, with the Israeli military saying one barrage of strikes had hit 20 targets in 120 seconds

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT: Israeli war planes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs with a wave of airstrikes on Tuesday just before Israel’s cabinet met to discuss a ceasefire deal with its Hezbollah foes.
A senior Israeli official and Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib appeared optimistic a deal could be reached, clearing the way for an end to a conflict that has killed thousands of people since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year.
Despite the possibility of an imminent diplomatic breakthrough, hostilities raged on Tuesday.
Israeli strikes smashed more of Beirut’s densely-populated southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, with the Israeli military saying one barrage of strikes had hit 20 targets in the city in just 120 seconds. Israel had issued its biggest evacuation warning yet, telling civilians to leave 20 locations.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has kept up rocket fire into Israel.
The UN rights chief voiced concern about the escalation of bloodshed in Lebanon and his office said nearly 100 people had been reported killed by Israeli airstrikes in recent days, including women, children and medics.
Israel’s security cabinet under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to start meeting at 1400 GMT for up to three hours to discuss the ceasefire deal, which a senior Israeli official said was likely to be approved.


Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’

Updated 26 November 2024
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Germany says Lebanon ceasefire ‘within reach’

Baerbock said a proposed ceasefire in the conflict in Lebanon was “within reach“

FIUGGI, Italy: Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Tuesday that an agreement on a proposed ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was “within reach.”
“A ceasefire and steps toward a political solution along the lines of UN Resolution 1701 are within reach thanks to direct US and French mediation,” Baerbock told reporters on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy.