ANKARA: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkiye would toughen up its justice system to crack down on crime, after a string of gruesome murders sent shockwaves through the country.
Turkiye has struggled to contain a recent wave of femicides, with a young man suspected of slaying two 19-year-old women — beheading one — in Istanbul last week before taking his own life.
A 26-year-old policewoman was also killed in late September by a suspect with a lengthy criminal record.
Erdogan said he was intent on making it easier to detain suspects likely to reoffend, and on stiffening release conditions for convicts sentenced to up to five years behind bars.
The proposed measures would require a change to the criminal code and other laws making up the justice system.
“A series of recent events, from the martyrdom of a policewoman to the brutal murder of (two) young women, have provoked a justified reaction within our nation,” he told his AKP party’s parliamentary group.
The head of state said he also planned to firm up Turkiye’s sentence enforcement system to avoid releasing detainees before they complete ten percent of their jail term.
“It bothers us, as it does everyone else, to see criminals with dozens of cases on their criminal records, walking around freely,” he added.
The number of cases would be taken into consideration to facilitate the detention of an individual, even if their trial is under way and a verdict is pending, according to the president.
One monitoring group says there have been 290 murders of women this year in Turkiye, with more than 160 “suspect” killings officially classed as suicides or accidents.
Erdogan says Turkiye to curb crime after wave of murders
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Erdogan says Turkiye to curb crime after wave of murders
- Erdogan said he was intent on making it easier to detain suspects
- “A series of recent events, from the martyrdom of a policewoman to the brutal murder of (two) young women, have provoked a justified reaction within our nation,” he told AKP
At least four Palestinians killed in Israeli raid on West Bank
- Nablus governor Ghassan Daghlas said that ‘the four martyrs are ordinary citizens who were among the people and were killed among the people in cold blood’
- Daghlas said that that one man was from Balata camp, while the remaining three were from the Askar camp in the West Bank
NABLUS, Palestinian Territories: Israeli police killed at least four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday, Palestinian health authorities and Israeli security forces said.
The Palestinian health ministry reported in a statement Wednesday that “four martyrs shot by the occupation in Nablus have been transferred to Rafidia Government Hospital.”
It later said the men were aged between 31 and 43 years old.
The Palestinian Red Crescent also reported the deaths of four people, but Israeli security forces said five were killed Wednesday.
Officers from an elite police unit “killed five wanted terrorists in Nablus,” the Israeli police, army and Shin Bet domestic security service said in a joint statement.
The statement added that among those killed was the head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade in the Balata refugee camp adjacent to the city.
It said that during a joint operation involving army and police force, coordinated by Shin Bet, police killed five armed men “who presented a danger for our forces.”
“The eliminated terrorists were involved in the planning and exporting of terrorist activity against civilians and army forces,” the statement added.
Nablus governor Ghassan Daghlas however told AFP that “the four martyrs are ordinary citizens who were among the people and were killed among the people in cold blood.”
He called the killing “a cowardly and deliberate assassination.”
He added that one man was from Balata camp, while the remaining three were from the Askar camp in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Violence has soared in the West Bank since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel in October last year.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 705 Palestinians in the West Bank since, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Israeli officials say at least 24 Israelis, civilians or members of the security forces, have been killed in attacks carried out by Palestinian militants or in Israeli military operations over the same period in the West Bank.
Algeria’s purchases of Russian grain could reach 3 mln tons in 2024/25 season
- Russian grain supplies to Algeria could reach 3 million tons by the end of the season
MOSCOW: Algeria’s purchases of Russian wheat could reach 3 million metric tons this season after a big part of 510,000 tons bought by Algeria’s state grains agency in a tender on Oct. 8 was awarded to Russia, Russia’s trade mission in Algeria said.
“If the current trend continues, Russian grain supplies to Algeria could reach 3 million tons by the end of the season,” the trade mission said in a statement on Wednesday.
Hezbollah repels Israeli incursions as deadly clashes continue
- The two sides exchanged fire early in the day across the Labouneh area, near the coastal border town of Naqoura
- The Lebanese border region experienced an unprecedented barrage of airstrikes from Tuesday night through Wednesday
BEIRUT: Israeli forces clashed with Hezbollah fighters across Lebanon’s southern border on Wednesday as Israel expanded its invasion force with a fourth division.
The two sides exchanged fire early in the day across the Labouneh area, near the coastal border town of Naqoura.
It followed two days of Israeli attempts to infiltrate the towns of Maroun Al-Ras, Adaisseh and Kfar Kila, which were subsequently abandoned after clashes with the militant group.
Hezbollah said on Wednesday that its fighters “targeted an Israeli infantry unit in Ras Al-Naqoura with a missile barrage.”
A military source told Arab News: “The Israeli advances and retreats along the border can be categorized as an assessment of Hezbollah’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of ground confrontation at the primary defense line.”
The Lebanese border region experienced an unprecedented barrage of airstrikes from Tuesday night through Wednesday.
Towns along the border have effectively become military zones devoid of civilian populations, with Khiam enduring about 15 airstrikes within a span of 30 minutes.
Hezbollah said: “While the Israeli enemy’s forces attempted to advance toward Mays Al-Jabal from several locations, the resistance fighters targeted them at 1:30 p.m. with rocket fire and artillery shells, and the clashes are ongoing.”
Hezbollah said in a previous statement: “At 1:20 p.m., a group confronted the forces of the Israeli enemy as they advanced from the Tufa plain toward Mays Al-Jabal and Muhaybib with a barrage of rockets.”
According to its statements this morning, Hezbollah targeted “an Israeli infantry force that tried to infiltrate the Labouneh area with a large missile barrage, killing and wounding them.”
The Israeli army is focused on entering towns situated in highland areas that provide a vantage point into southern Lebanon.
Its activities near Maroun Al-Ras have been particularly significant, with an Israeli unit entering the town between Monday and Tuesday.
During the operation, Israeli soldiers hoisted their national flag on the wall of a garden at the eastern edge of the town after clearing the area and uprooting trees.
Photographs of the event were taken and shared online before the forces withdrew.
Hezbollah acknowledged the Israeli operation.
UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti described the situation on the ground as “unsafe and unclear.”
The Israeli army on Tuesday launched a new incursion into Lebanon’s western sector led by the 146th Division, which includes the 2nd Brigade and 205th Brigade.
It aims to “execute a targeted ground operation against Hezbollah’s infrastructure,” and follows eight days of aerial bombardment over Lebanese territory and warnings for residents in southern villages to move north of the Litani River.
In Tebnine, an Israeli drone targeted two motorcycles, as well as a car on the road to the town of Shaqra.
For the first time, Israel struck the town of Wardaniyeh in the Iqlim Al-Kharroub region of Mount Lebanon, targeting an apartment.
The area is housing displaced people from southern Lebanon, mainly those who left the border town of Aitaroun.
The Ministry of Health reported that the attack killed four people and injured 10 others, including the principal of a local school and his wife.
Their children sustained severe injuries.
Cautious calm prevailed in Beirut’s southern suburb following a series of raids on Tuesday night that targeted several areas in Laylaki, Haret Hreik and Burj Al-Barajneh.
The attacks were preceded by a warning from Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee, who instructed residents of the targeted areas to leave.
The southern suburb has become a ghost town, with unprecedented destruction visible near neighborhood landmarks, as well as flames rising from the rubble of flattened buildings.
A line of four residential buildings in Burj Al-Barajneh collapsed following the most recent Israeli strikes, and Israeli jets have circled over the area round the clock.
In a statement, the Israeli army claimed that its attacks “targeted a weapon factory and Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburb.”
Saaideh in western Baalbek was also hit by an airstrike, killing a citizen later identified as Hussein Saleh Amhaz and injuring several residents, including three women from the same family — a grandmother, her daughter and her granddaughter.
An Israeli raid also targeted a house in Al-Hallanieh, killing two people and injuring others.
Hezbollah operations targeted Israeli military positions and settlements on and across the border.
Israeli media said that the militant group launched 20 missiles at Kiryat Shmona, killing two people.
Hezbollah said that it targeted “a gathering of the Israeli enemy in the Kiryat Shmona settlement with a rocket salvo.”
Amid Israel’s invasion, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that Arab and international efforts to end Israel’s “aggression” are “ongoing.”
He added: “However, the Israeli intransigence and the efforts by the enemy to achieve what it considers as gains and victories are still obstructing the success of these efforts.
“Lebanon’s friends from the Arab and foreign countries also continue to pressure Israel into implementing a ceasefire for a specified period in order to discuss the main political steps, most importantly implementing Resolution 1701 fully, and compelling the Israeli enemy to implement it.”
Yemeni academic, family among 7 killed in Israeli airstrike in Syria
- Dr. Shawqi Alawdi, his wife, and three daughters were at a building in Al-Mazzeh, Damascus, when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike
- Alawdi taught pharmacology at a private university in Syria and previously taught at Dhamar University’s Faculty of Medicine and Sanaa University in Yemen
AL-MUKALLA: A Yemeni university professor and his family were killed in an airstrike by Israeli warplanes on the Syrian capital on Tuesday night, relatives and media reports said.
Dr. Shawqi Alawdi, his wife, and three daughters were at a building in Al-Mazzeh, Damascus, when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike, killing them all, including several others.
The Syrian news agency SANA said that the Israelis fired three missiles at a building in Damascus’s “densely populated” Al-Mazzeh neighborhood, killing seven people, including women and children, injuring 11 others, and causing property damage.
Alawdi teaches pharmacology at a private university in Syria and taught at Dhamar University’s Faculty of Medicine and Sanaa University in Yemen.
He moved to Syria four years ago and returns to Yemen every year during breaks, according to relatives, colleagues and students.
His Facebook profile shows that he studied clinical pharmacy at Ain Shams University in Egypt and earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from Cairo University.
Friends and students flooded his Facebook page with condolence and messages of sympathy after learning of his death.
Students in Syria and Yemen shared photos of Alawdi, while others sent condolences to his family in Yemen.
“Dr. Alawdi is composed, humble, and knowledgeable in his field. He has a unique teaching style in which he simplifies the difficult subjects he teaches,” Younes Al-Qadhi, a pharmacist in Sanaa and former student of Alawdi, told Arab News.
Mohammed Aslan, a pharmacist and Alawdi’s friend, described him as a leading expert in nanotechnology and an apolitical person.
“He was free of politics, sectarianism, and all other life pollutants. He was a pioneering scientist and one of the most important researchers in nanotechnology,” Aslan said on Facebook.
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Journalists urged the Houthi militia on Tuesday to release Yemeni journalists abducted for criticizing the Houthis and to stop harassing journalists.
According to the IFJ, the Houthis abducted Mohamed Al-Miyahi on Sept. 20 after raiding his home in Sanaa, two days after he criticized the Houthis.
They also abducted Fuad Al-Nahar, a member of the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate, in September as part of a crackdown on those who celebrated the 1962 revolution.
“Our colleague Mohamed Al-Miyahi is the latest abductee in a long list of journalists who must be immediately and unconditionally released. We call on the de facto authorities and other armed groups to stop hindering journalists’ work and release all unfairly detained journalists,” Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the IFJ, said in a statement.
Since mid-September, the Houthis have abducted hundreds of people as part of a crackdown on Yemenis commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the 1962 revolution that overthrew the Zaidi Imamate in northern Yemen.
The Houthis abducted people who posted on social media encouraging the public to celebrate the revolution, accusing them of being “stooges” for the US and other foreign intelligence agencies to undermine security in areas under their control and pressure them to stop attacking ships.
Two people killed in northern Israel by Hezbollah rocket fire, medics say
- Hezbollah fighters repel Israeli troops in skirmishes along border
- Hezbollah has been launching rockets against Israel for a year
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT: Two people were killed in a town in northern Israel that was hit by rocket fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon on Wednesday, Israeli authorities said.
Israel’s ambulance service said that a man and a woman had been killed in the town of Kirya Shmona.
The military said about 20 projectiles had been launched from Lebanon in the barrage.
Hezbollah claimed on Wednesday its fighters had pushed back advancing Israeli troops in clashes along the length of the border, a day after Israel said it had killed two successors to the Iran-backed Lebanese militant movement’s slain leader.
Hezbollah has been launching rockets against Israel for a year in parallel with the Gaza war and is now fighting it in ground clashes that are spreading along Lebanon’s mountainous frontier with Israel.
The group said it had fired several rocket salvos at Israeli troops near the village of Labbouneh in the western part of the border area, close to the Mediterranean coast, and had managed to push them back.
Further east, it said it had attacked Israeli soldiers in the village of Maroun el-Ras and fired missile barrages at Israeli forces advancing toward the twin border villages of Mays Al-Jabal and Mouhaybib.
The Israeli military said Hezbollah fighters had fired around 40 projectiles across the frontier into Israeli territory on Wednesday, some of which had been shot down. Sirens sent Israelis rushing toward shelter.
Israel meanwhile launched airstrikes including at targets far from the border combat zone. The Lebanese health ministry said four people were killed and 10 wounded by a strike that hit the town of Wardaniyeh, north of Sidon along the coast.
The escalation in Lebanon, after a year of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, has raised fears of a wider Middle East conflict that could suck in Iran and Israel’s superpower ally the United States.
In recent weeks Israel has carried out a string of assassinations of top Hezbollah leaders and launched ground operations into southern Lebanon that expanded further this week.
Israel has said that troops from as many as four divisions have operated inside Lebanon since the first announcement of the ground operation on Oct. 1. It has not confirmed that they have established a permanent presence there.
Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon has killed more than 2,100 people, most of them in the last two weeks, and forced 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has no choice but to strike Hezbollah so that tens of thousands of Israelis can return to homes they fled under Hezbollah rocket fire.
Burn victims from Israeli strikes are being treated at a specialized unit in Beirut’s Geitaoui hospital, the only one of its kind in the country. Reuters journalists saw nurses gently change the gauze on patients, some of whom were wrapped neck down because of the severity of burns.
Mahmoud Dhaiwi, a Lebanese soldier, told Reuters he was off duty and heading to the beach when his car was hit by an Israeli strike. His whole body was burned.
Overnight, Israel again bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs and said it had killed a figure responsible for budgeting and logistics for Hezbollah, Suhail Hussein Husseini.
The densely-populated and thriving suburban district has been abandoned by many residents following Israeli evacuation warnings. Some Lebanese draw parallels between the warnings and those seen in Gaza over the last year, prompting fears that Beirut could face the same scale of destruction.
BIDEN-NETANYAHU CALL
US President Joe Biden is expected to speak on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel’s response to a missile attack from Iran last week that Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel’s military escalation in Lebanon. The only fatality from the Iranian attack was a Palestinian hit by debris that fell in the West Bank.
Biden has said Israel should consider alternative targets to striking Iranian oil fields or nuclear sites. An attack on oil facilities could drive up global prices.
Iran’s foreign minister was visiting Gulf Arab states. Tehran has told them would be unacceptable if they allowed use of their airspace or military bases for attacks against Iran, a senior Iranian official said.
Netanyahu said on Tuesday Israeli airstrikes had killed two successors to Hezbollah’s slain leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, himself killed in an Israeli air attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sept. 27.
Netanyahu did not identify them, but Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Hashem Safieddine, the man expected to succeed Nasrallah, had probably been “eliminated.”
Safieddine has not been heard from since a huge Israeli airstrike late last week.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said the group endorsed efforts by Lebanon’s speaker of parliament to secure a ceasefire. He conspicuously left out an oft-repeated condition of the group — that a separate ceasefire would have to be reached in Gaza before Hezbollah would agree to a truce. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on Qassem’s remarks.
