BEIRUT: Lebanon accused Israel of targeting journalists in a “deliberate” attack that killed three people in the country’s south on Friday, calling the incident a “war crime.”
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the strike “targeting journalists” was “a war crime committed by Israel without any deterrent or international voice to halt the ongoing atrocities.”
He added that the “deliberate aggression aims to intimidate the media and obscure the crimes and destruction being perpetrated.”
Mikati said he had directed the Foreign Ministry “to include this latest crime in a series of documented files of Israeli crimes to be submitted to relevant international authorities, with the hope that global conscience will intervene to stop the ongoing violence.”
Al-Mayadeen TV channel confirmed the deaths of broadcast technician Mohammed Rida and camera operator Ghassan Najjar, while Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV mourned the death of camera operator Wissam Qassim in the Israeli strike on a hotel in Hasbayya.
Several other people including media personalities Zakaria Fadel, Hussein Hoteit, and Ali Chaib were injured in the blast.
Survivors appeared on their respective TV channels covered in dirt in the aftermath, stressing that they did not have any weapons and that there “weren’t any armed people” at the hotel.
They added that they only had “their cameras and microphones and that their movement was clear to everyone,” according to Al-Jadeed correspondent Mohamed Farhat and Al-Mayadeen reporter Fatima Ftouni, who showed her shrapnel-torn protective shield.
The number of journalists, technicians, and photographers caught by Israeli hostilities since Oct. 8, 2023, has risen to 13.
Lebanon’s Health Minister Firas Abiad said Israeli strikes killed more than 160 rescuers and health workers in the past year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
At a press conference on Friday, Abiad said 55 attacks on hospitals had been recorded, including 36 direct hits.
Eight hospitals were forcibly closed down, while seven are partially operating.
The attacks resulted in “the martyrdom of 12 health workers, the injury of 60 people and the damage of 24 vehicles,” Abiad said.
According to the minister, the latest Israeli attacks targeted “201 emergency response teams, bringing the total of casualties in the health and hospital sector to 163 martyred and 272 injured.”
He said 51 emergency response centers, 158 ambulances, 57 fire trucks, and 15 rescue vehicles have been targeted.
“Two weeks ago, eight paramedics were martyred in the triangle of Odaisseh-Taybeh-Rab El-Thalathine. Their bodies are still in three ambulances due to the enemy’s refusal to allow the retrieval of their bodies. In addition, six firefighters are still under the rubble in Baraachit,” Abiad said.
The Israeli military has targeted health workers, claiming that Hezbollah “uses ambulances to transport members and weapons.”
Avichay Adraee, spokesperson for the Israeli military, warned on Friday that troops could target medical personnel carrying out their duty of helping the injured in southern Lebanon.
Adraee called on medical personnel to “avoid engaging with Hezbollah members and cooperating with them. Otherwise, necessary action will be taken against any vehicle transporting armed people regardless of its type.”
Adraee’s warning came as the UN Interim Force in Lebanon said that its peacekeepers withdrew from a watchtower in one of its posts near Dhayra in south Lebanon on Tuesday, after Israeli forces fired at it.
UNIFIL senior leadership announced in a statement on Friday that “peacekeepers on duty at a permanent observation post near Dhayra were observing Israeli soldiers conducting house clearing operations nearby.”
The statement added: “Upon realizing they were being observed, the soldiers fired at the post.”
UNIFIL clarified that the duty guards “withdrew following the incident to avoid being shot.”
It also pointed out that the Israeli military had “repeatedly demanded that UNIFIL vacate its positions along the Blue Line and has deliberately damaged camera, lighting, and communications equipment at some of these positions.”
UNIFIL added: “Despite the pressure exerted on the mission and our troop-contributing countries, peacekeepers remain in position and on task.
“We remind the Israeli army and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property. Any deliberate attack on them is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Resolution 1701.”
These developments were preceded and followed by Israeli raids on the southern suburbs of Beirut and towns in the south, in addition to the shelling of a second border crossing between Lebanon and Syria in the Qaa region in the Bekaa.
The Masnaa border crossing was targeted once again, which limited the movement of cars and trucks between Lebanon and Syria to one crossing in northern Lebanon after the raids blocked traffic on the Masnaa crossing.
People could only cross the border on foot and under the surveillance of Israeli reconnaissance aircraft.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, launched a series of military operations targeting northern Israel. Israeli media reported that “a state of emergency was declared in Nahariya Hospital due to a security event in Shomera in Western Galilee.”
The party said it hit “a gathering of soldiers who were sheltering inside a place considered to be safe. Additionally, a truck and several vehicles were hit by rockets launched from Lebanon.”
Israeli media reported that “four wounded people were in critical condition, in addition to other injuries of varying degrees, as a result of rockets fired by Hezbollah on the Shomera area.”
Fires were still raging in the morning after Israeli airstrikes on Thursday night in El-Aamroussieh, Haret Hrek, and the Sainte Therese area, reaching Burj Al-Barajneh in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
In the south, the Israeli military used
phosphorous bombs to burn forests and olive groves in the border areas in the western sector.
An airstrike on a house in the town of Bazourieh killed three people, whilst clashes between Hezbollah and Israel continued in the towns of Aitaroun, Taybeh, and Marwahin.
Hezbollah said that it targeted Israeli military sites in the settlements of Al-Malikiyah and Al-Baghdadi.
Relief efforts between Lebanon and international partners continued as a UAE ship docked at Beirut Port, delivering 2,000 tons of aid.
This shipment, provided by the UAE, includes food supplies and essential equipment for shelter centers, offering critical support to the people of Lebanon.
The Army Command announced the arrival of a donation from the Malta-Lebanon Organization to the Lebanese Army.
A UNHCR spokeswoman estimated that around one-fifth of the Lebanese population has been displaced from their homes so far.
She said the government-run displacement centers in Lebanon had become overcrowded, and that the number of people fleeing from Lebanon to Syria had reached 430,000.
The Crisis and Disaster Management Room in the Beirut Governorate — in collaboration with the Farah Al-Ataa Association, a civil society organization, successfully relocated displaced people from tents along the Beirut waterfront to a shelter center in the Karantina area.
In the initial phase, more than 400 displaced people were transferred, with the second phase set to be completed in the coming days.
Health workers, journalists bear brunt of Israeli strikes in Lebanon
https://arab.news/83q5d
Health workers, journalists bear brunt of Israeli strikes in Lebanon
- Mikati denounces ‘Israeli aims to intimidate media and obscure their crimes’
- UN peacekeepers say Israeli troops fired at Lebanon post
Iran, Israel launch new attacks after Tehran rules out nuclear talks
- Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons
JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON: Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m. in Israel (2330 GMT on Friday), the Israeli military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Interceptions were visible in the sky over Tel Aviv, with explosions echoing across the metropolitan area as Israel’s air defence systems responded.
At the same time, Israel launched a new wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran, the Israeli military said.
Sirens also sounded in southern Israel, said Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and that there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Interceptions visible in skies over Tel Aviv
• Israel says it targeted Iranian missile storage, infrastructure
• Iran says no talks with US under 'Israeli aggression'
There were no initial reports of casualties.
The emergency service released images showing a fire on the roof of a multi-storey residential building in central Israel. Local media reported that the fire was caused by debris from an intercepted missile.
Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying its longtime enemy was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is only for peaceful purposes, retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel.
Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons. It neither confirms nor denies this.
Its air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a US-based human rights organisation that tracks Iran. The dead include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists.
In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile attacks, according to authorities.
Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures for either side.
TALKS SHOW LITTLE PROGRESS
Iran has repeatedly targeted Tel Aviv, a metropolitan area of around 4 million people and the country’s business and economic hub, where some critical military assets are also located.
Israel said it had struck dozens of military targets on Friday, including missile production sites, a research body it said was involved in nuclear weapons development in Tehran and military facilities in western and central Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said there was no room for negotiations with the US "until Israeli aggression stops". But he arrived in Geneva on Friday for talks with European foreign ministers at which Europe hopes to establish a path back to diplomacy.
US President Donald Trump on Friday reiterated that he would take as long as two weeks to decide whether the United States should enter the conflict on Israel's side, enough time "to see whether or not people come to their senses", he said.
Trump said he was unlikely to press Israel to scale back its airstrikes to allow negotiations to continue.
"I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing, but we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens," he said.
The Geneva talks produced little signs of progress, and Trump said he doubted negotiators would be able to secure a ceasefire.
"Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this one," Trump said.
Hundreds of US citizens have fled Iran since the air war began, according to a US State Department cable seen by Reuters.
Israel's envoy to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the Security Council on Friday his country would not stop its attacks "until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled". Iran's U.N. envoy Amir Saeid Iravani called for Security Council action and said Tehran was alarmed by reports that the US might join the war.
Russia and China demanded immediate de-escalation.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran was ready to discuss limitations on uranium enrichment but that it would reject any proposal that barred it from enriching uranium completely, "especially now under Israel's strikes".
Israel may have breached EU agreement, bloc’s foreign policy arm says
- EU-Israel pact requires “respect for human rights and democratic principles” for both sides
- EU foreign ministers are set to discuss the review during a gathering in Brussels on Monday
BRUSSELS: The European Union’s diplomatic service said on Friday there were indications that Israel had breached its human rights obligations under the terms of a pact governing its ties with the bloc, according to a document seen by Reuters.
Citing assessments by independent international institutions, the European External Action Service said “there are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.”
The report comes after months of deepening concern in European capitals about Israel’s operations in Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the enclave.
“Israel’s continued restrictions to the provision of food, medicines, medical equipment, and other vital supplies affect the entire population of Gaza present on the affected territory,” the document said.
Asked about the EU review, an Israeli official called it “a one-sided report that exemplifies the double standards the EU uses toward Israel.”
Under the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which came into force in 2000, the EU and Israel agreed that their relationship “shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”
The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, announced in May that the bloc would examine whether Israel was complying with the terms of the pact, after over half of EU members backed the conducting of a review.
The report includes a section dedicated to the situation in Gaza, covering issues related to denial of humanitarian aid, attacks with a significant number of casualties, attacks on hospitals and medical facilities, displacement, and lack of accountability.
The report also looks at the situation in the West Bank, including settler violence.
The document relies on “facts verified by and assessments made by independent international institutions, and with a focus on most recent events in Gaza and the West Bank,” it said.
Israel has said that it respects international law and that operations in Gaza are necessary to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian group responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
EU foreign ministers are set to discuss the review during a gathering in Brussels on Monday. Member countries remain divided in their approach to Israel.
While some ministers could advocate for moving toward taking action based on the review, no concrete decisions are expected at Monday’s session.
Diplomats expect EU officials will reach out to Israel with the outcome of the review in an effort to influence it, and that ministers will return to the subject during a July meeting.
Morocco says 2024 ‘hottest year’ on record
- Moroccan climatologist Mohammed-Said Karrouk, who also heads Morocco’s National Future Planet Committee, warned that the kingdom’s geography and climate make it more vulnerable to temperature extremes
RABAT: The year 2024 was Morocco’s hottest on record, the North African country’s meteorological agency said on Friday, mirroring the record surface temperatures measured globally.
In an annual report, the agency said it recorded an average temperature anomaly of +1.49 degrees Celsius (+2.7 Fahrenheit) last year compared to the 1991-2020 period.
“The year 2024 stands out as the hottest ever recorded in Morocco,” it said, adding that every month in 2024, excluding June and September, had been hotter than the average for the 1991-2020 reference period.
Several cities broke daily heat records, with 47.6 degrees Celsius (117.7 Fahrenheit) in Marrakech and 47.7 degrees Celsius (117.8 Fahrenheit) in Beni Mellal in July last year, the agency said.
It also noted “an increase in thermal anomalies, particularly during the autumn and winter seasons.”
Morocco’s all-time heat record was set in August 2023, when temperatures hit 50.4 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in Agadir.
The country, which is enduring a seventh straight year of drought, registered an average rainfall deficit of -24.7 percent last year, the report said.
The agency said last year’s data reflected “an amplification of climate contrasts in Morocco, where prolonged droughts alternate with episodes of extreme precipitation.”
Torrential rains in September 2024 — causing floods and killing 18 people — “did not reverse the overall rainfall deficit,” it added.
Moroccan climatologist Mohammed-Said Karrouk, who also heads Morocco’s National Future Planet Committee, warned that the kingdom’s geography and climate make it more vulnerable to temperature extremes.
He said warming was now observed in all seasons.
“In autumn, lingering summer heat combined with gradually cooling temperatures favors violent downpours, which have become more dangerous due to excess humidity in the atmosphere,” he said.
“In winter, the heat originating mostly from warming tropical oceans now influences North Africa as well.”
A former member of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Karrouk also warned of a recent intensification of the West African monsoon — a seasonal wind system that brings moist air from the Atlantic Ocean — which he linked to the deadly September floods.
He called for the construction of shelters to protect vulnerable populations and dams to capture water — a valuable resource with Morocco’s unrelenting drought.
Weather extremes have taken a toll on farming, a vital sector for Morocco which employs nearly a third of its active population and accounts for 12 percent of GDP.
Scientists say that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming and that they are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense.
Fuelled by human-driven climate change, 2024 was the warmest year on record globally — and 2025 is projected to rank among the top three.
Hundreds of US citizens left Iran in last week, State Dept cable says
- Washington is looking at ways to potentially evacuate its citizens from Israel, but it has almost no way of assisting Americans inside Iran
WASHINGTON: Hundreds of American citizens have departed Iran using land routes over the past week since an aerial war between the Islamic Republic and Israel broke out, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters on Friday.
While many left without problem, “numerous” citizens had faced “delays and harassment” while trying to exit, the cable said. It said, without giving further details, that one unidentified family had reported that two US citizens attempting to leave Iran had been detained.
The internal cable dated June 20 underscores the challenge Washington is facing in trying to protect and assist its citizens in a country with which it has no diplomatic relations and in a war in which the United States may soon get involved.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The cable was first reported by The Washington Post.
HIGHLIGHTS
• US advises land exits via Azerbaijan, Armenia or Turkey
• Some US citizens departing Iran faced problems, cable says
• Over 6,400 US citizens filled possible evacuation form in Israel
President Donald Trump and the White House said on Thursday he will decide in the next two weeks whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran war. Trump has kept the world guessing on his plans, veering from proposing a swift diplomatic solution to suggesting Washington might join the fighting on Israel’s side.
The air war began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iran and has alarmed a region that has been on edge since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023.
Israel is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons, and said it struck Iran to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, has retaliated with its own strikes on Israel. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not.
POTENTIAL EVACUATION
The US State Department in a travel alert earlier on Friday urged its citizens wishing to depart Iran to use land routes via Azerbaijan, Armenia or Turkiye. Iranian airspace is closed.
The US Embassy in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat has requested entry for over 100 American citizens, but the Turkmenistan government has yet to give its approval, the cable said.
The Islamic Republic treats Iranian-US dual citizens solely as nationals of Iran, the State Department emphasized.
“US nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest and detention in Iran,” the alert said.
Washington is looking at ways to potentially evacuate its citizens from Israel, but it has almost no way of assisting Americans inside Iran. The two countries have had no diplomatic ties since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Thursday said the administration was looking at different ways to get US citizens out.
“We’re working to get military, commercial, charter flights and cruise ships for evac,” he said in an X post, urging US citizens and green card holders to complete an online form.
As of Friday, more than 6,400 US citizens filled out that form for Israel, a separate internal department email seen by Reuters said. The form allows the agency to predict an approximate figure for potential evacuations.
“Approximately 300-500 US citizens per day would potentially require departure assistance,” said the internal email, also dated June 20 and marked “sensitive.”
The State Department does not have official figures but thousands of US citizens are thought to be residing in Iran and hundreds of thousands in Israel.
Israel’s strikes over the last week have killed 639 people in Iran, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Israel says Iranian attacks have killed 24 civilians in Israel.
“The US Department of State received no reports of US citizen casualties in Israel or Iran,” the second email said.
A woman tried to call her mom in Iran. A robotic voice answered the phone
- “Calling your mom and expecting to hear her voice and hearing an AI voice is one of the most scary things I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “I can feel it in my body”
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: When Ellie, a British-Iranian living in the United Kingdom, tried to call her mother in Tehran, a robotic female voice answered instead.
“Alo? Alo?” the voice said, then asked in English: “Who is calling?” A few seconds passed.
“I can’t heard you,” the voice continued, its English imperfect. “Who you want to speak with? I’m Alyssia. Do you remember me? I think I don’t know who are you.”
Ellie, 44, is one of nine Iranians living abroad — including in the U.K and US — who said they have gotten strange, robotic voices when they attempted to call their loved ones in Iran since Israel launched airstrikes on the country a week ago.
They told their stories to The Associated Press on the condition they remain anonymous or that only their first names or initials be used out of fear of endangering their families.
Five experts with whom the AP shared recordings said it could be low-tech artificial intelligence, a chatbot or a pre-recorded message to which calls from abroad were diverted.
It remains unclear who is behind the operation, though four of the experts believed it was likely to be the Iranian government while the fifth saw Israel as more likely.
The messages are deeply eerie and disconcerting for Iranians in the diaspora struggling to contact their families as Israel’s offensive targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites pounds Tehran and other cities. Iran has retaliated with hundreds of missiles and drones, and the government has imposed a widespread Internet blackout it says is to protect the country.
That has blocked average Iranians from getting information from the outside world, and their relatives from being able to reach them.
“I don’t know why they’re doing this,” said Ellie, whose mother is diabetic, low on insulin and trapped on the outskirts of Tehran. She wants her mother to evacuate the city but cannot communicate that to her.
A request for comment sent to the Iranian mission to the UN was not immediately answered.
Some of the messages are bizarre
Most of the voices speak in English, though at least one spoke Farsi. If the caller tries to talk to it, the voice just continues with its message.
A 30-year-old women living in New York, who heard the same message Ellie did, called it “psychological warfare.”
“Calling your mom and expecting to hear her voice and hearing an AI voice is one of the most scary things I’ve ever experienced,” she said. “I can feel it in my body.”
And the messages can be bizarre. One woman living in the UK desperately called her mom and instead got a voice offering platitudes.
“Thank you for taking the time to listen,” it said, in a recording that she shared with the AP. “Today, I’d like to share some thoughts with you and share a few things that might resonate in our daily lives. Life is full of unexpected surprises, and these surprises can sometimes bring joy while at other times they challenge us.”
Not all Iranians abroad encounter the robotic voice. Some said when they try to call family, the phone just rings and rings.
It’s not clear who is behind this — or what the goal is
Colin Crowell, a former vice president for Twitter’s global policy, said it appeared that Iranian phone companies were diverting the calls to a default message system that does not allow calls to be completed.
Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity expert based in the US, agreed and said the recordings appeared to be a government measure to thwart hackers, though there was no hard evidence.
He said that in the first two days of Israel’s campaign, mass voice and text messages were sent to Iranian phones urging the public to gear up for “emergency conditions.” They aimed to spread panic — similar to mass calls that government opponents made into Iran during the war with Iraq in the 1980s.
The voice messages trying to calm people “fit the pattern of the Iranian government and how in the past it handled emergency situations,” said Rashidi, the director of Texas-based Miaan, a group that reports on digital rights in the Middle East.
Mobile phones and landlines ultimately are overseen by Iran’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology. But the country’s intelligence services have long been believed to be monitoring conversations.
“It would be hard for anybody else to hack. Of course, it is possible it is Israeli. But I don’t think they have an incentive to do this,” said Mehdi Yahyanejad, a tech entrepreneur and Internet freedom activist.
Marwa Fatafta, Berlin-based policy and advocacy director for digital rights group Access Now, suggested it could be “a form of psychological warfare by the Israelis.” She said it fits a past pattern by Israel of using extensive direct messaging to Lebanese and Palestinians during campaigns in Gaza and against Hezbollah.
The messages, she said, appear aimed at “tormenting” already anxious Iranians abroad.
When contacted with requests for comment, the Israeli military declined and the prime minister’s office did not respond.
Trying new ways to contact relatives
Ellie is one of a lucky few who found a way to reach relatives since the blackout. She knows someone who lives on the Iran-Turkiye border and has two phones — one with a Turkish SIM card and one with an Iranian SIM.
He calls Ellie’s mother with the Iranian phone — since people inside the country are still able to call one another — and presses it to the Turkish phone, where Ellie’s on the line. The two are able to speak.
“The last time we spoke to her, we told her about the AI voice that is answering all her calls,” said Ellie. “She was shocked. She said her phone hasn’t rung at all.”
Elon Musk said he has activated his satellite Internet provider Starlink in Iran, where a small number of people are believed to have the system, even though it is illegal. Authorities are urging the public to turn in neighbors with the devices as part of an ongoing spy hunt. Others have illegal satellite dishes, granting them access to international news.
The messages are making relatives feel helpless
M., a woman in the UK, has been trying to reach her mother-in-law, who is immobile and lives in Tehran’s northeast, which has been pummeled by Israeli bombardment throughout the week.
When she last spoke to her family in Iran, they were mulling whether she should evacuate from the city. Then the blackout was imposed, and they lost contact. Since then she has heard through a relative that the woman was in the ICU with respiratory problems.
When she calls, she gets the same bizarre message as the woman in the UK, a lengthy mantra.
“Close your eyes and picture yourself in a place that brings you peace and happiness,” it says. “Maybe you are walking through a serene forest, listening to the rustle of leaves and birds chirping. Or you’re by the seashore, hearing the calming sound of waves crashing on the sand.”
The only feeling the message does instill in her, she said, is “helplessness.”
