COPENHAGEN: Norway issued an international wanted notice on Thursday for a man linked to a Bulgaria-based company that may have been involved in the dissemination of exploding electronic devices to the militant Hezbollah group that killed dozens and wounded thousands in Lebanon last week.
The notice is part of a multi-country investigation trying to piece together how thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies were rigged to explode and their trail to Lebanon.
Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for the coordinated two-day attacks, which killed at least 39 people and wounded more than 3,000, including civilians. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
“We have on behalf of the Oslo police sent out an international wanted notice today,” Åste Dahle Sundet, a spokeswoman for Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service told The Associated Press.
The agency declined to name the man or provide his nationality. All that is known is that he was listed as working for a Norwegian company.
Norwegian news agency NTB wrote on Thursday that the 39-year-old man had traveled to the United States last week but vanished after arriving there. The man was subsequently reported missing on Wednesday, one of Norway’s major tabloids VG wrote, citing police.
The CEO of the man’s employer, Norway-based DN Group, told the AP in an email that the company had “tried to contact our employee without success since we first heard the serious allegations about his alleged private activity, which we did not know about and has nothing to do with us as a company.”
“We haven’t heard from him since (last) Wednesday, and we don’t know where he is. This worries us,” DN Group CEO Amund Djuve said.
Djuve also did not give the man’s name.
The man holds a Norwegian passport and has lived in Norway for 12 years but was born in another country, NTB reported. The news agency described him as one of the founders of the Bulgarian company that was allegedly connected to supplying the pagers to Hezbollah.
The Bulgarian company is not the only firm implicated in the pagers’ journey to Lebanon.
Last week, Taiwanese firm Gold Apollo, whose name appeared on the pagers, said it had authorized Budapest, Hungary-based BAC Consulting to use its brand for the devices that exploded, but insisted the Hungarian company was responsible for their manufacturing and design.
Hungary’s Special Service for National Security told the AP last week that the CEO of BAC Consulting had been interviewed “several times” as part of an investigation, but that they believed the company had not taken part in rigging the devices to explode.
“The results of the investigation so far have made it clear that the so-called pagers have never been on Hungarian territory, and that no Hungarian company or Hungarian expert was involved in their manufacture or modification!” the agency said in an email.
Norway’s domestic security agency, known by its acronym PST, earlier told the AP that it was checking whether a Norwegian national had any connection with the company that sold the pagers that exploded in Lebanon.
PST stressed that it was not a formal investigation and that there was currently no concrete suspicion against the man.
Norway issues wanted notice for man connected to exploding pagers in Lebanon
https://arab.news/nk5y4
Norway issues wanted notice for man connected to exploding pagers in Lebanon
- The notice is part of a multi-country investigation trying to piece together how thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies were rigged to explode and their trail to Lebanon
- Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel for the coordinated two-day attacks
Iran shows ‘willingness’ to re-engage on nuclear issue: IAEA chief
UNITED NATIONS: The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Thursday said Iran is showing “willingness” to re-engage on the nuclear issue, but that Tehran will not reconsider its decision to deny access to top UN inspectors.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said Tehran was “showing signs of willingness to reengage, not only with the IAEA, but also... with our former partners in the nuclear agreement of 2015.”
Grossi spoke after meeting this week with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who played a key role in the negotiations that culminated in the 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers which has since unraveled.
“It’s a moment where there is a possibility to do something” on the nuclear question, Grossi told AFP on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“The advantage Araghchi has is that he knows everything about this process, so that allows us to move faster,” Grossi said at the IAEA’s New York offices.
In recent years, Tehran has decreased its cooperation with the IAEA, while significantly ramping up its nuclear program, including amassing large stockpiles of uranium enriched to 60 percent — close to the 90 percent needed to develop an atomic bomb.
But since the July election of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Tehran has signaled openness to relaunching talks to revive the nuclear agreement.
The landmark deal — also known by its acronym JCPOA — started to unravel in 2018 when then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it and reimposed sanctions, and Iran retaliated by stepping up its nuclear activities.
Efforts to revive the deal — bringing the United States back on board and Iran back into compliance — have so far been fruitless.
“If things move in a positive way... and I think this is the intention of the president and the foreign minister (of Iran), there will be a return to the conversations with the former partners,” Grossi said.
Tehran, however, is not willing to walk back on a decision it took last year to ban some of the IAEA’s “best inspectors,” Grossi said, a move Teheran initially described as retaliation for “political abuses” by the United States, France, Germany and Britain.
“They are not going to restore the inspectors to the list,” Grossi said.
“Maybe there will be a review of that. I will keep pushing,” he added, explaining that he is due to visit Tehran in the “coming weeks.”
During his visit, Grossi plans to discuss “different monitoring and verification measures that we could agree on prior to a wider agreement.”
“I think getting an agreement with Iran on these things would be a very constructive indication... toward a future negotiation,” Grossi said.
“If you do not allow me to establish a baseline of all the capacities that the country has at the moment, then what kind of confidence and trust are you injecting in the system for a negotiation with other partners?” he added.
According to a diplomatic source, the European side is skeptical about the possibility of returning to the framework of the initial pact.
Grossi said the actual framework of the deal would be left to Iran and Western powers.
“Will it be the same? Will it be updated? Will it be something completely different? This is for them to decide,” Grossi said.
UNRWA earning ‘global vote of confidence’: Jordanian FM
- Ayman Safadi: Agency for Palestinian refugees is victim of Israeli ‘political assassination campaign’
- UNRWA chief: Gaza ‘definitely horrifies even the most seasoned humanitarians’
NEW YORK CITY: A high-level meeting on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugee produced a “global vote of confidence” in the agency despite Israel’s “political assassination campaign” against it, Jordan’s foreign minister said on Thursday.
Ayman Safadi was speaking at a joint press conference with UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini following the meeting at the UN headquarters.
Safadi said: “Today rallied international support behind an agency which carries out heroic work in helping the Palestinian people through the misery that Israel continues to bring to Gaza.
“Nobody can do the job that UNRWA is doing. It’s irreplaceable. It’s indispensable. It’s needed now more than ever before.
“UNRWA and its staff made the ultimate sacrifice. Israel has killed 222 UNRWA staff members. It targets them. It doesn’t allow them to operate.”
Safadi said more than 50 countries attended the meeting. He hailed UNRWA’s “noble job” in saving the lives of thousands of Palestinian children from paralysis through a polio vaccination campaign.
The agency has become the victim of an Israeli “political assassination campaign” designed to undermine support for the Palestinian people, Safadi said.
It is “incomprehensible” that a UN member state would designate a UN agency as a terrorist organization, he added.
“That can’t happen, and we must stand against that,” Safadi said, because “it’s undermining the whole UN system, and the world mustn’t allow that, and we’ll stand up to it, along with all our partners who showed up in support of UNRWA today.”
He added: “We’ll continue to do everything to ensure that UNRWA stands because UNRWA is also a beacon of hope for Palestinians, and that’s why Israel has launched the political assassination campaign on UNRWA, because it wants to liquidate the cause of the Palestinian refugees, which shouldn’t be done and won’t be done.”
Lazzarini echoed Safadi’s words, describing the Israeli campaign against the agency as “relentless” and “coming from every corner.”
He said: “These aren’t just attacks against UNRWA. They’re attacks against the broader UN system, attacks against the broader international community.
“They aim, first, at stripping Palestinians from the refugee statute, but secondly, they aim at weakening or putting an end to the aspirations of the Palestinians for self-determination.”
The UNRWA chief said his agency and others, as well as international NGOs, have seen staff being “phased out” in the Occupied Territories as a result of Israeli practices.
Calls to dissolve UNRWA or end its presence in the Middle East would be “unconscionable, unprecedented, and would open an extraordinary Pandora’s Box,” Lazzarini warned.
To counter the Israeli campaign, “we’ll continue to push the true narrative that UNRWA deserves to be supported,” Safadi said.
“UNRWA deserves to be thanked for the tremendous sacrifices that it continues to do in the execution of its global mandate.”
Both officials described conditions on the ground in Gaza almost one year on from Israel’s invasion.
The UNRWA chief warned that the Palestinian enclave is a “place which definitely horrifies even the most seasoned humanitarians who’ve seen it all over the last 20, 30 years.”
He said more than 1 million school-age children in Gaza are “deeply traumatized” and living amongst rubble.
“An entire generation might be sacrificed if they aren’t brought back to learning,” he added. “Obviously learning in this environment is extraordinary difficult, but we’re trying to make sure that they lose as little as possible.”
Lazzarini discussed the financing of his agency, warning that the shortfall in funding from October to the end of the year stood at $60-$80 million.
But he said UNRWA would make sure to “bridge the gap” despite some donor countries signaling a decline in foreign aid due to austerity measures.
Lazzarini also highlighted UNRWA operations in Lebanon, saying shelters are now open to “not only Palestinian refugees, but also Lebanese and Syrian refugees.”
The UNRWA meeting on Thursday was backed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot.
“Virtually all donors have reversed their funding suspensions” to UNRWA, Guterres said in a statement, adding that “123 countries have signed up to the declaration on shared commitments to UNRWA.
“This underscores the consensus that UNRWA’s role across the West Bank and the region is vital. Friends, there is no alternative to UNRWA.”
Barrot said: “The role of UNRWA is necessary in the Gaza Strip to provide vital humanitarian aid to a civilian population of Gaza whose needs are immense.
“France pays tribute to the UNRWA personnel and to all the humanitarian personnel killed in Gaza while they were trying to rescue civilians.”
Macron says would be ‘mistake’ for Israeli PM to ‘refuse’ Lebanon ceasefire
MONTREAL: French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday it would be “a mistake” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refuse a ceasefire in Lebanon, and that he would have to take “responsibility” for a regional escalation.
“The proposal that was made is a solid proposal,” Macron said at a news conference in Montreal, specifying that the plan supported by the United States and the EU had been prepared with Netanyahu himself.
Russia in weapon transfer talks with Yemen’s Houthis, says US envoy
NEW YORK: The US has accused Russia of discussing weapon transfers with Houthis, whose attacks on Red Sea shipping are holding hostage a vital commercial waterway.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking said Moscow was “cutting its deals” with the Houthis to allow their ships to sail through the Red Sea unharmed.
“We have confirmation that the Russians and the Houthis are in dialogue about ways to cooperate,” including on weapon transfers, Lenderking said.
“We don’t know that weapons are being transferred as we speak, but it’s come to the point that we’re all sounding the alarm bell to ensure this does not happen,” he added.
If the weapon transfers were to materialize, it “could potentially change the conflict in a significant manner,” Lenderking said, warning of “an escalation” that would derail already stalled efforts to end Yemen’s war.
“The notion that the Russians would provide the Houthis with lethal weapons is deeply alarming to the countries of the region,” he said.
Russia has been stepping up military relationships with Iran and North Korea, both under heavy sanctions, as it seeks to bolster its arsenal in its war in Ukraine.
Russia’s relationship with the US has deteriorated sharply since the invasion of Ukraine, with Washington leading the West in slapping sanctions on Moscow and arming Kyiv.
The Houthis have been firing drones and missiles at ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, saying they are targeting vessels linked to Israel, the US, and Britain in a show of solidarity with Palestinians over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The Houthi campaign has killed at least four sailors and sunk two ships.
One vessel — the Galaxy Leader — was hijacked in November and continues to be held by the Houthis along with its 25 international crew.
Gaza rescuers say 7 killed in Israeli strike on school
GAZA STRIP: Civil defense rescuers in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed at least seven people, with the Israeli military saying it had targeted a Hamas command center.
The vast majority of the besieged Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the war, sparked by the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, with many seeking shelter in school buildings.
Civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were “seven martyrs, including children, and many wounded following an Israeli missile attack that targeted Al-Faluja School in Jabalia camp in north Gaza.”
The military said it carried out “precise strikes” targeting Hamas militants operating inside what it said was a command-and-control center at the Al-Faluja School.
Thursday’s attack was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes on school buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for nearly a year.
A strike on the UN-run Al-Jawni School in central Gaza on Sept. 11 drew an international outcry.
In his address to the UN General Assembly, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the international community to stop sending weapons to Israel to halt the bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza, singling out the US.
Abbas said that Washington continued to provide diplomatic cover and weapons to Israel for its war in Gaza despite the mounting death toll there, now at 41,534 according to the Health Ministry in the Strip.
“Stop this crime. Stop it now. Stop killing children and women. Stop the genocide. Stop sending weapons to Israel. This madness cannot continue. The entire world is responsible for what is happening to our people in Gaza and the West Bank,” Abbas told the UN General Assembly.
“The US alone stood and said: ‘No, the fighting will continue.’ It did this by using the veto,” he said, referring to the veto repeatedly wielded to thwart censure in the UN Security Council of Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
“It furnished Israel with the deadly weapons that it used to kill thousands of innocent civilians, children, and women.
“This further encouraged Israel to continuous aggression,” he added, saying that Israel “does not deserve” to be in the UN.
