BEIRUT: The Israeli military apologized Monday for a strike that killed three Lebanese soldiers in southern Lebanon, saying it is not battling the country’s military and its troops believed they were targeting a vehicle belonging to the Hezbollah militant group.
Israeli strikes meanwhile hit nearly a dozen branches of a Hezbollah-run financial institution that Israel says is used to fund attacks but where many ordinary people keep their savings.
Last week, Hezbollah said it is entering a new phase in its fight against invading Israeli troops, as the region reckoned with the killing of top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a battle with Israeli forces in Gaza. Sinwar was a chief architect of the attack on southern Israel that precipitated the latest escalating conflicts in the Middle East.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to annihilate Hamas and recover dozens of hostages held by the group. Hamas says it will only release the captives in return for a lasting ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed in, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish combatants from civilians. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 percent of its population of 2.3 million people.
Israel apologizes for strike that killed 3 Lebanese soldiers
https://arab.news/9tcep
Israel apologizes for strike that killed 3 Lebanese soldiers
- Israel said its troops believed they were targeting a vehicle belonging to Hezbollah
Palestinians met requirements for Israel to extend banking waiver, source says
WASHINGTON: Israel’s requirements for the indemnification needed to allow Israeli banks to continue conducting transactions with Palestinian banks have been met by the Palestinian authorities, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Technical experts argue that should warrant an extension of a current indemnification — set to lapse on Oct. 31 — for at least a year to avert an economic crisis in the West Bank, the source said.
US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, who last month warned Israel that allowing the banking relationships to lapse would put its own security at risk, spoke on Monday with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, according to the source. They discussed security and economic issues, as well as the authority’s efforts to improve its anti-money-laundering and countering-the-financing-of-terrorism regime.
Adeyemo noted the authority’s progress on the issue, including completing key milestones for assessing risks within its jurisdiction and bolstering effective compliance with international standards, the source said.
Israel’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lebanon security source says planes switch runways after Israeli strike near Beirut airport
BEIRUT: A Lebanese security official told AFP that the country’s national airline had to switch landing strips on Monday after Israeli strikes near Beirut’s only international airport hit close to the main runway.
“Middle East Airlines switched the runway it was using because the main runway is close to the site of the Ouzai strike,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Hezbollah hides millions in cash, gold under Beirut hospital, says Israel
- There are hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold inside the bunker right now, Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says
JERUSALEM: Hezbollah has stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in a bunker built under a hospital in Beirut, Israel’s military said on Monday, adding it will not strike the facility as it keeps up attacks against the group’s financial assets.
Fadi Alameh, a Lebanese lawmaker with the Shiite Amal Movement party and the director of the hospital in question, Al-Sahel, told Reuters that Israel was making false and slanderous claims and called on the Lebanese Army to visit and show it only had operating rooms, patients and a morgue.
Alameh said the hospital was being evacuated. Israel’s military said it was not going to strike the facility.
Reuters could not independently verify the details provided by the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, which he said had been collected by Israeli intelligence for years.
Hezbollah could not immediately be reached for comment.
In a televised statement, Hagari said Hezbollah’s former leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whom Israel killed last month, had built the bunker which was designed for lengthy stays.
“There are hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold inside the bunker right now. I’m calling on the Lebanese government, Lebanese authorities, and the international organizations — don’t allow Hezbollah to use the money for terror and to attack Israel,” Hagari said.
“The Israeli Air Force is monitoring the compound, as you can see. However, we will not strike the hospital itself,” Hagari said.
Israeli Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi told troops in Lebanon that overnight between Sunday and Monday, aircraft had struck around 30 sites belonging to Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which Israel says is Hezbollah’s financial arm.
Hagari said more strikes against Hezbollah financial sites were to continue.
Fire extinguished at Syria’s Homs refinery, state media says
CAIRO: Firefighting teams and civil defense forces extinguished a fire that broke out at the gas department of Syria’s Homs refinery, state media reported early on Tuesday.
Cooling operations are currently being carried out, it added.
Queen Rania meets young entrepreneurs in Jordan
- Program had been supported by her sponsorship initiative
AMMAN: Queen Rania met a group of young Jordanians in Amman on Monday to discuss their income-generating projects, as part of a program previously supported by her sponsorship initiative.
The sponsorship scheme, which aimed to empower young entrepreneurs, has successfully backed 190 youth-led projects across Jordan.
The schemes were primarily selected by civil society organizations with support from the Jordan River Foundation, utilizing its own community empowerment programs, the Jordan News Agency reported.
The entrepreneurs shared insights into their initiatives at the meeting, detailing the job opportunities they had created and the vocational and professional skills developed among fellow Jordanians.
They highlighted several success stories that demonstrated the positive impact of the ventures on their lives and communities and, rather than pursuing traditional employment routes, had showed their commitment to following their passions and launching unconventional projects.
Each participant in Queen Rania’s sponsorship program had already established a small project, successfully creating between one and three part-time or full-time jobs prior to receiving support.
The initiative aimed to provide young leaders with the necessary resources and mentorship to expand their businesses further to enhance their social impact.
