Lebanon says over 100 killed in new Israeli strikes

1 / 2
Rescue workers carry a man who was injured after an Israeli airstrike hit two adjacent buildings, in Ain el-Delb neighbourhood east of the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 30 September 2024
Follow

Lebanon says over 100 killed in new Israeli strikes

  • Lebanon’s health ministry said air raids near the main southern city of Sidon killed 32 people on Sunday, while at least 25 died in the east
  • UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said “well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon” and more than 50,000 have fled to neighboring Syria

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes killed more than 100 people on Sunday, after Israel’s military said it had kept up its bombardment of Hezbollah targets there and also struck Yemen.
The health ministry in a revised toll issued late Sunday put the total killed at 105 and 359 wounded.
The attacks come after an air strike on Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs on Friday killed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group which has engaged in cross-border fire with Israel for almost a year.
Hezbollah says it is acting in support of Hamas militants in Gaza, who attacked Israel on October 7, triggering the war in the Palestinian territory.
After Israel turned its focus north from Gaza to Lebanon and cross-border fire escalated, Israeli attacks have killed hundreds since last Monday, the deadliest day since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.
Lebanon’s health ministry said there had been deadly air raids near the main southern city of Sidon Sunday, while dozens more had died in the east, in the south and in and around Beirut.
France’s foreign ministry said Sunday a second French national had been killed in Lebanon, after a woman died following a south Lebanon blast on Monday.
The announcement came as French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in Lebanon, the first high-level foreign diplomat to visit since the Israeli air strikes intensified.
Barrot spoke earlier with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and said Paris sought “an immediate halt” to Israeli strikes.

France also appealed for Hezbollah and its backer Iran to abstain from any action that could lead to “regional conflagration.”
Pope Francis, asked about Israeli air strikes on civilians, said a country “goes beyond morality” when defense is not proportional to the attack.
Israeli military operations in Lebanon seek to downgrade Hezbollah’s capacity to attack Israel, eliminate the group’s military leadership and “clean” the border areas from fighters, an Israeli security official said Friday.
Israeli leaders say they want their citizens displaced from the north to be able to safely return.
Israel’s military said dozens of its warplanes had attacked targets of Iran-backed Houthi rebels in war-ravaged Yemen Sunday, including around Hodeida port, a key entry point for fuel and humanitarian aid.
Houthi media reports said the strikes had killed four people and wounded 33.
The Yemen raids came a day after the Houthis said they targeted Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport with a missile, trying to hit it as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from New York.
Separately, Israel’s military said the air strike that killed Nasrallah had “eliminated” another 20 Hezbollah members, after earlier strikes killed Nasrallah’s right-hand man Fuad Shukr and the head of the elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil.
Israel also said Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah’s central council, was killed in a strike on Saturday.
Hezbollah has yet to officially announce his death, but a source close to the group said Qaouq had been killed.

Israeli bombardment has killed more than 700 people in a week, including 14 paramedics over a two-day period, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel’s military said late Sunday it had hit 120 Hezbollah targets.
Hezbollah said it had again fired rockets at the northern Israeli town of Safed.
Hezbollah is a powerful political, military and social force in Lebanon, but the killing of Nasrallah — its figurehead who enjoyed cult status among supporters — has dealt it a seismic blow.
Netanyahu said Israel had “settled the score” with his killing.
But in the northern Israeli town of Rosh Pina, Matan Sofer had mixed feelings. Sofer, 24, welcomed the “good news” of Nasrallah’s death but wondered if “we risk it getting worse.”
US President Joe Biden — whose government is Israel’s top arms supplier — said Sunday a wider war “really has to be avoided.”
Analysts told AFP Nasrallah’s death leaves a bruised Hezbollah under pressure to respond.
For Tehran, his killing “has not altered the fact that Iran still does not want to get directly engaged” in the ongoing conflict, said Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group.
Iran said a member of its Revolutionary Guards was also killed alongside Nasrallah.

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said “well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon” and more than 50,000 have fled to neighboring Syria.
Prime Minister Mikati said up to one million people may have been uprooted, in potentially the “largest displacement movement” in Lebanon’s history.
In Gaza, the territory’s civil defense agency said Israeli strikes Sunday killed several people.
Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Of the 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 41,595 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN has described the figures as reliable.

 


Syrian leader signs constitution placing country under Islamist group’s rule for 5 years

Updated 4 sec ago
Follow

Syrian leader signs constitution placing country under Islamist group’s rule for 5 years

DAMASCUS: Syria’s interim president on Thursday signed a temporary constitution that leaves the country under Islamist rule for five years during a transitional phase.
The country’s interim rulers have struggled to exert their authority across much of the country since the Islamist former insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning insurgency that overthrew former leader Bashar Assad in December.
Former HTS leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa is now the country’s interim president — a decision that was announced after a meeting of the armed groups that took part in the offensive against Assad. At the same meeting, the groups agreed to repeal the country’s old constitution and said a new one would be drafted.
While many were happy to see an end to the Assad family’s dictatorial rule of over 50 years in the war-torn country, religious and ethnic minorities have been skeptical of the new Islamist leaders and reluctant to allow Damascus under its new authorities to assert control of their areas.
Abdulhamid Al-Awak, one of the seven members of the committee Al-Sharaa tasked to draft the temporary constitution, told a press conference Thursday that it will maintain some previsions from the previous one, including the stipulation that the head of state has to be a Muslim, and Islamic law is the main source of jurisprudence.
However, Al-Awak, a constitutional law expert who teaches at the Mardin Artuklu University in Turkiye, also said the temporary constitution includes provisions that enshrine freedom of expression and the press. The constitution will “balance between social security and freedom” during Syria’s shaky political situation, he said.
A new committee to draft a permanent constitution will be formed, but it is unclear if it will be more inclusive of Syria’s political, religious, and ethnic groups.
Al-Sharaa on Monday reached a landmark pact with the US-backed Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria, including a ceasefire and a merging of their armed forces with the central government’s security agencies.
The deal came after government forces and allied groups crushed an insurgency launched last week by gunmen loyal to Assad. Rights groups say that hundreds of civilians — mostly from the Alawite minority sect to which Assad belongs — were killed in retaliatory attacks by factions in the counter-offensive.
A key goal of the interim constitution was to give a timeline for the country’s political transition out of its interim phase. In December, Al-Sharaa said it could take up to three years to rewrite Syria’s constitution and up to five years to organize and hold elections.
Al-Sharaa appointed a committee to draft the new constitution after Syria held a national dialogue conference last month, which called for announcing a temporary constitution and holding interim parliamentary elections. Critics said the hastily-organized conference was not inclusive of Syria’s different ethnic and sectarian groups or civil society.
The United States and Europe have been hesitant to lift harsh sanctions imposed on Syria during Assad’s rule until they are convinced that the new leaders will create an inclusive political system and protect minorities. Al-Sharaa and regional governments have been urging them to reconsider, fearing that the country’s crumbling economy could bring further instability.

Israel sends aid to Syrian Druze as clerics prepare for historic visit

Updated 12 min 42 sec ago
Follow

Israel sends aid to Syrian Druze as clerics prepare for historic visit

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT: Israel has sent 10,000 humanitarian aid packages to Syria’s Druze community while also strengthening ties with the group, as a delegation of Druze clerics prepares for a historic visit to Israel.

The aid, including basic goods such as oil, flour, salt, and sugar, was delivered to the conflict-affected southern province of Suwayda, Israel’s Foreign Ministry reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Syrian Druze clerics is preparing to visit Israel this Friday, marking the first such visit since 1948.

The group, invited by Israel's Druze community, will visit the Tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Galilee and meet with Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community.

The visit has faced strong opposition within Syria's Druze community, with some members expressing disapproval of the trip.

 


Russian says military base in Syria sheltering 8,000 displaced

Updated 54 min 53 sec ago
Follow

Russian says military base in Syria sheltering 8,000 displaced

  • The Russian airbase at Hmeimim has sheltered over 8,000 locals fleeing violence

MOSCOW: Russia is sheltering at its Hmeimim military air base in western Syria more than 8,000 Syrians who fled a wave of sectarian mass killings, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman said Thursday.
“The Russian air base at Hmeimim has opened its doors to local residents fleeing from the pogroms... Our military have given refuge to more than 8,000 people,” Maria Zakharova told reporters at a regular briefing.


Israeli airstrike targets Palestinian Islamic Jihad headquarters in Damascus

Updated 13 March 2025
Follow

Israeli airstrike targets Palestinian Islamic Jihad headquarters in Damascus

  • The Syrian monitor says at least one dead in Israel strike

DAMASCUS: Israeli aircraft struck a building in Damascus on Thursday, Syria's state news agency SANA reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, confirmed the attack, stating that two missiles hit the building, killing at least one person. The airstrike took place in an area where Palestinian leaders are known to reside.

According to two Syrian security sources, the target of the Israeli strike was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization headquarters. One of the sources identified the victim as a Palestinian person. However, the Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack, though an Israeli army radio military correspondent confirmed that an Israeli aircraft had targeted the Islamic Jihad headquarters in Damascus.


Turkiye says forces killed 24 Kurdish militants in Syria, Iraq in a week

Updated 13 March 2025
Follow

Turkiye says forces killed 24 Kurdish militants in Syria, Iraq in a week

  • A defense ministry source said the deal between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus did not change Turkiye’s commitment to counter-terrorism in Syria

ANKARA: Turkish forces killed 24 Kurdish militants in northern Iraq and Syria over the past week, the defense ministry said on Thursday, continuing attacks in the region after a disarmament call from the PKK leader and a separate accord between US-backed Kurds and Damascus.
Speaking at a briefing in Ankara, a defense ministry source said the deal between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Damascus did not change Turkiye’s commitment to counter-terrorism in Syria, and that it still demands that the YPG militia, which spearheads the SDF, disband and disarm.
Turkiye views the SDF, which controls much of northeast Syria, as a terrorist group linked with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. It has carried out several cross-border offensives against the group.
The PKK’s leader, jailed in Turkiye, called for the group to disarm last month. The group is based in northern Iraq.