WASHINGTON: The chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee urged President Joe Biden on Thursday to speed up weapons shipments to Israel, including 2000-pound (907 kg) bombs that have been held up for months over human rights concerns.
“I urge you to act today to ensure all weapons shipments to Israel, including 2,000-pound bombs, are expedited to support our ally,” Representative Michael McCaul said in a letter sent to Biden and seen by Reuters on Thursday.
McCaul, who reviews all major foreign US weapons sales in his position as committee chairman, said he was also aware of more than 10 other planned weapons sales to Israel that have been awaiting final approval for more than four months and urged that they proceed quickly.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McCaul sent the letter amid global fears that the Middle East will erupt into widespread war, which have fueled calls in Washington for the Biden administration to provide more assistance to Israel.
Israel, which has been fighting Hamas in the Palestinian territory of Gaza for almost a year, has sent troops into southern Lebanon, where it is targeting Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, after two weeks of intense airstrikes.
Iran barraged Israel with more than 180 ballistic missiles on Tuesday. Israel has sworn it will retaliate.
US Republicans have been urging Biden for months to reverse his decision earlier this year to pause one shipment of the 2,000-pound bombs, citing concern over the impact they could have in densely populated areas in Gaza.
One 2,000-pound bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.
“We all wish Israel did not need these larger bombs, but they are operationally necessary as Israel’s enemies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, are intentionally using deeply buried subterranean bunkers and tunnels. I call on you to allow these weapons, which are ready to ship, to be sent to Israel immediately,” McCaul wrote.
Influential US Republican urges Biden to speed Israel arms sales, letter says
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Influential US Republican urges Biden to speed Israel arms sales, letter says
- Michael McCaul urged the speedy release of withheld weapons amid global fears that the Middle East will erupt into widespread war
- Biden had shipment of the 2,000-pound bunker-busting bomb, citing concern over the impact they could have in densely populated areas
World Bank redirects funds toward Lebanon emergency aid
- The multilateral institution currently has $1.5 billion in funding for programs in Lebanon. Part of the amount will be redirected
WASHINGTON: The World Bank announced on Thursday that it was redirecting funds originally earmarked for development programs in Lebanon toward emergency aid for people displaced by Israeli bombardment of the country.
“The World Bank is activating emergency response plans to be able to repurpose resources in the portfolio to respond to the urgent needs of people in Lebanon,” said a statement from the US-based multilateral institution.
The multilateral institution currently has $1.5 billion in funding for programs in Lebanon. Part of this amount will be redirected.
Since September 23, more than 1,000 people have been killed in an Israeli air-and-ground campaign on Lebanon that has targeted armed group Hezbollah in the south and east of the country, with strikes expanding to include the capital Beirut.
The fighting has driven nearly 1.2 million people from their homes in Lebanon, the country’s crisis unit said Thursday.
Thousands have been displaced since the bombing began, and the funds would be used to provide aid to those populations, the World Bank said.
“This would include emergency support to displaced people that could be deployed through a digital platform the World Bank helped put in place during the Covid epidemic,” the statement said.
Hezbollah has engaged in cross-border exchanges of fire with Israel since October last year, when its Palestinian ally Hamas launched an unprecedented attack that sparked Israel’s war in Gaza.
Lebanon, already facing difficult economic conditions and sky-high inflation before the latest hostilities, has lost more than 40 percent of its GDP since 2018, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in a report last week.
Hezbollah intel HQ in Beirut hit in series of Israeli air strikes
- Hezbollah source says Israel launched 11 consecutive strikes and witnesses reported hearing loud bangs that made car alarms go off and building shake
- Israeli strike also targeted a warehouse next to Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport
BEIRUT: Israel’s military said Thursday it had hit Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut, as troops battled militants near the border and warplanes bombarded their strongholds around the country.
A source close to Hezbollah said Israel had conducted 11 consecutive strikes on the group’s south Beirut stronghold late Thursday, in one of the most violent raids since Israel intensified its bombardment campaign last week.
Witnesses in the capital and beyond heard loud bangs that made car alarms go off and building shake.
About an hour later, several explosions were observed coming from the direction of the southern suburbs after the Israeli military ordered residents of the Hadath neighborhood to evacuate.
Video footage showed giant balls of flame rising from the targeted site with thick smoke billowing and flares shooting out.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said “more than 10 consecutive strikes have been recorded so far, in one of the strongest raids on the southern suburbs of Beirut since the start of the Israeli war on Lebanon.”
The strikes echoed to mountain regions outside Beirut, the NNA said.
Earlier Thursday, Israeli army Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee had issued an “urgent warning” for residents of the south Beirut area of Burj Al-Barajneh to evacuate along with maps of the area. He later issued an evacuation order for the Hadath neighborhood of Beirut’s south.
“You are located near facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah, and the IDF (Israeli army) will work against them in the near future,” he had said in a statement on X.
Earlier in the evening, a source close to Hezbollah said another Israeli strike had targeted a warehouse next to Beirut airport, in the capital’s south.
“An Israeli air strike targeted a warehouse adjacent to the airport,” the source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. It was unclear what the warehouse contained.
Earlier in the afternoon, the NNA had reported several “enemy raids.”
A source close to the group had told AFP that the earlier strikes had “targeted a building housing Hezbollah’s media relations office,” which had already been evacuated.
This week, Israel announced that its troops had started “ground raids” into parts of southern Lebanon, after days of heavy bombardment of Hezbollah strongholds around the country.
After nearly a year of low-intensity cross-border fighting, Israel has expanded its military campaign from Gaza to Lebanon, where heavy bombing has killed more than 1,000 people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.
Israel last week killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in south Beirut, a densely populated area before residents fled Israel’s intensifying bombardment.
Libya to resume oil production after central bank dispute ends
- Libya produces more than 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, and Sharara is the country’s largest field, producing up to 300,000 barrels per day
- Authorities in Benghazi closed the oilfields on Aug. 26 after the Tripoli-based Presidential Council replace the veteran central bank chief
CAIRO: Libya’s state-run oil company said Thursday it was restarting full oil production, almost two months after shutting down operations in two of its major fields amid a political crisis.
The National Oil Corporation said in a statement that it would resume production at the Sharara and El-Feel oil fields, and export shipments from Es Sider, the country’s largest port. In August, the company declared “force majeure,” a legal maneuver that lets a company get out of its contracts because of extraordinary circumstances.
As part of the review of the force majeure situation, NOC confirmed in its statement that it “can resume the operations of crude oil production and exporting operations to its customers.”
The National Oil Corporation previously blamed the shutdown on the Fezzan Movement, a local protest group. It came as the country’s rival authorities were locked in a dispute over the governance of its Central Bank, which distributes the country’s oil revenues.
In August, the UN warned that the country was poised to face even greater instability due to the dispute. But that was resolved in recent days, when the country’s parliament appointed a new governor to the bank.
Libya produces more than 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, and Sharara is the country’s largest field, producing up to 300,000 barrels per day. It was exporting most of it. In September, exports averaged 460,000 bpd according to oil analytics firm Kpler.
The oil-rich country has been in political turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Since then, Libya has been split between rival administrations in the east and the west, each backed by militias and foreign governments.
The latest dispute
NOC declared force majeure on Aug. 7 at Sharara oilfield — one of Libya’s largest production areas with a capacity of about 300,000 barrels per day — and on Elfeel oilfield on Sept.2.
Sharara is located in southwestern Libya and operated by a joint venture of NOC with Spain’s Repsol, France’s TotalEnergies, Austria’s OMV, and Norway’s Equinor.
Elfeel has a capacity of 70,000 barrels per day and is operated by Mellitah Oil and Gas, a joint venture between NOC and Italy’s Eni.
Two engineers at the field told Reuters the oilfield resumed production but not with full capacity due to maintenance work.
Earlier, three engineers said there were some “technical problems” at Elfeel.
The government in Benghazi in the east said oil production and exports would resume normal operations, after the rival authorities agreed last month to appoint Issa as new central bank governor.
Authorities in the second-largest city had closed oilfields and halted most of crude exports on Aug. 26 in protest against a move by the Presidential Council, which sits in Tripoli in the west, to replace veteran central bank chief Sadiq Al-Kabir.
The head of the Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Menfi, met with Issa on Wednesday and stressed “the need for the central bank governor to commit to the technical role of the bank, stay away from politics, and not surpass the legal jurisdictions of the board of directors.”
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya UNSMIL welcomed in a statement NOC announcing the lifting of force majeure on oil production.
The mission emphasized that “it is essential that revenues from this vital resource be channeled through the appropriate institutional framework, and ultimately to the Central Bank of Libya.”
Security Council backs UN secretary-general after Israel bans him from entering country
- Foreign Minister Israel Katz described Antonio Guterres as an “anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists” and declared him persona non grata
- Council members say all nations need to have a ‘productive and effective relationship with the secretary-general’ and must not undermine his work or office
NEW YORK CITY: The Security Council on Thursday affirmed its “full support” for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and said any decision not to engage with him or his office was counterproductive.
Israel on Wednesday banned Guterres from entering the country. Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared him to be persona non grata and an “anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists,” citing as a reason what he described as the UN chief’s failure to condemn the Iranian missile attack against Israel on Tuesday.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as nearly all the countries of the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil,” he said.
“Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without Antonio Guterres.”
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for Guterres, described Katz’s comments as political and “just one more attack on UN staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.” The concept of “persona non grata” does not apply to UN staff, he added.
Addressing an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Wednesday, Guterres said he had condemned a similar attack against Israel by Iran in April and added: “As should have been obvious yesterday, in the context of the condemnation I expressed, I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.
“These attacks, paradoxically, do not seem to support the cause of the Palestinian people or reduce their suffering.”
Guterres also criticized Israel’s military operations in Gaza, describing them as “the most deadly and destructive military campaign in my years as secretary-general.”
Switzerland holds the presidency of the Security Council this month. The country’s permanent representative to the UN, Pascale Baeriswyl, said on Thursday that members of the council stressed the need for all nations to “have a productive and effective relationship with the secretary-general and to refrain from any actions that undermine his work and that of his office.”
She added: “The members of the Security Council further underscored that any decision not to engage with the UN secretary-general or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East.”
37 killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in past 24 hours, health ministry says
- Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah started swapping fire as the Gaza war worsened
BEIRUT: Thirty seven people were killed and 151 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon in the past 24 hours, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement early on Friday
Among the dead were nine residents of an apartment in the Lebanese capital, according to ministry.
Israel has been pounding areas of the country where the Hezbollah militant group has a strong presence since late September, but has rarely struck in the heart of Beirut.
There was no warning before the strike late Wednesday, which hit the building close to the United Nations headquarters, the prime minister’s office and parliament. Hezbollah’s civil defense unit said seven of its members were killed.
Israel is also conducting a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah, while also conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. The Israeli military said nine soldiers have died in the conflict in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage.
Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.
Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
