BEIRUT: Israel launched a wave of air strikes on Hezbollah bastions in Beirut and south Lebanon on Saturday, as the Iran-backed militants said they fired on several Israeli military bases around the coastal city of Haifa.
Israel’s military reported a “heavy rocket barrage” on Haifa and said a synagogue was hit, injuring two civilians.
Since September 23, Israel has escalated its bombing of targets in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops after almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire begun by Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in support of Hamas in Gaza.
In the Palestinian territory, where Hamas’s attack on Israel triggered the war, the civil defense agency reported 24 people killed in strikes on Saturday.
Security services in Israel said two flares landed near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in the town of Caesarea, south of Haifa, but he was not home.
The incident comes about a month after a drone targeted the same residence, which Hezbollah claimed.
Israel’s military chief, in comments issued Saturday, said Hezbollah has already “paid a big price” but Israel will keep fighting until tens of thousands of its residents displaced from the north can return safely.
“We will continue to fight, to implement plans, to go further, conduct deep strikes, and hit Hezbollah very hard,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on a visit earlier in the week to the Kfar Kila area of south Lebanon.
AFPTV footage showed fresh strikes Saturday on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, after Israel’s military called on residents to evacuate.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported a series of strikes.
The Israeli military said aircraft had targeted “a weapons storage facility” and a Hezbollah “command center.”
The NNA also reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighborhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel’s military late Saturday said it had hit Hezbollah facilities in the Tyre area.
In Lebanon’s east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children.
Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile which set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwest Lebanon village of Shamaa, about five kilometers (three miles) from the border.
Late Saturday, after Israel reported the rocket barrage on Haifa, Hezbollah said it had targeted five military bases, including the Stella Maris naval base which it said it fired on earlier in the day.
In eastern Lebanon, funerals were held for 14 civil defense staff killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday.
“They weren’t involved with any (armed) party... they were just waiting to answer calls for help,” said Ali Al-Zein, a relative of one of the dead.
Lebanese authorities say more than 3,452 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.
Israel announced the death of a soldier in southern Lebanon, bringing to 48 the number killed in fighting with Hezbollah.
In Hamas-run Gaza, the Israeli military said it continued operations in the northern areas of Jabalia and Beit Lahia, the targets of an intense offensive since early October.
Israel said its renewed operations aimed to stop Hamas from regrouping.
A UN-backed assessment on November 9 warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, amid the increased hostilities and a near-halt in food aid.
Israel has pushed back against a 172-page Human Rights Watch report this week that said its displacement of Gazans amounts to a “crime against humanity,” as well as findings from a UN Special Committee that pointed to warfare practices that “are consistent with the characteristics of genocide.”
A foreign ministry spokesman dismissed the HRW report as “completely false,” while the United States — Israel’s main military supplier — said accusations of genocide “are certainly unfounded.”
The Gaza health ministry on Saturday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war has reached 43,799.
The majority of the dead are civilians, according to ministry figures which the United Nations considers reliable.
In Rafah, southern Gaza, Jamil Al-Masry told AFP a house was hit, causing “a massive explosion.”
“We went to the house, only to find it in ruins, with fire raging and smoke and dust everywhere.”
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday reiterated demands that the government reach a deal to free dozens of hostages still held in Gaza.
The protest came a week after mediator Qatar suspended its role until Hamas and Israel show “seriousness” in truce and hostage-release talks.
In a rare claim of responsibility for a strike on Syria, Israel said it targeted the Islamic Jihad group on Thursday.
A statement from the group on Saturday confirmed that “prominent leader” Abdel Aziz Minawi and external relations chief Rasmi Yusuf Abu Issa were killed in the air raid on Qudsaya, in the Damascus area.
Islamic Jihad still holds several Israeli hostages taken during the October 7 attack.
Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are all backed by Israel’s arch-enemy Iran, which said Friday it supported a swift end to the nearly two-month war in Lebanon.
With diplomacy aimed at ending the Gaza war stalled, a top government official in Beirut said on Friday that US ambassador Lisa Johnson had presented a 13-point proposal to halt the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
It includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon will deploy troops to the border. The official added that Israel has yet to respond to the plan.
Israel pummels south Beirut as Hezbollah targets Haifa area
https://arab.news/g2wvn
Israel pummels south Beirut as Hezbollah targets Haifa area
- Israel’s military reported “heavy rocket barrage” on Haifa, saying synagogue was hit
- Lebanese authorities say over 3,452 people have been killed since October last year
Iraqi amnesty law could free prisoners convicted of attacking US troops
Sunni blocs in the Iraqi parliament have been pushing for the law
BAGHDAD: The Iraqi parliament has passed an amnesty law that could lead to the release of thousands of prisoners, including Iraqis convicted of attacks on US soldiers and people who fought for Islamic State, lawmakers said on Thursday.
A copy of the law seen by Reuters shows that those found guilty of terrorism leading to murder or disability, manslaughter, vandalising government institutions, and recruiting for or joining terrorist organizations can request a retrial if they allege a confession was extracted under duress.
Judicial sources and lawmakers confirmed that those convicted of attacks against American forces in Iraq could benefit from the law.
Sunni blocs in the Iraqi parliament have been pushing for the law as many of those in prison on such charges are Sunni Muslims, with most convicted of membership of Al Qaeda and Islamic State and carrying out attacks against Iraqi forces and civilians, mostly between 2004 and 2018.
Sunni lawmakers estimate that at least 30,000 Sunni prisoners will have the chance for a retrial.
Judicial sources say around 700 members of Shiite militias are also in prison convicted of terrorism, having been arrested by US forces between 2004 and 2008, for attacks on US soldiers.
Abul Karim Al-Mohammedawi, the Shiite head of parliament’s security and defense committee, said the top priority of the law should be releasing detainees who fought American forces in Iraq because “they are heroes and should be rewarded for their sacrifices, not left behind bars for the crime of defending their country.”
Sunni lawmaker Raad Al-Dahlaki said: “This law will not lead to the immediate release of prisoners. We, the Sunni bloc in parliament, demanded the retrial and review of all the prisoners’ investigations, and the courts will decide their fate.”
The law applies to all convicted Iraqis and those accused of crimes still under investigation or on trial. It also allows for the review of death sentences.
Government officials and judicial sources say the new law will alleviate pressure on overcrowded prisons, which currently house around 67,000 prisoners, far exceeding their capacity of 25,000.
Tuesday’s session also passed an amendment to the Iraqi personal status law, which was submitted by the majority Shiite blocs in parliament, that would allow Iraqi Muslims to choose either Sunni or Shi’ite sharia laws for personal status matters, instead of one standard regardless of sect or religion.
Critics say amendments that allow sect-based jurisprudence to govern personal matters, such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance, could institutionalize legal divisions between Sunni and Shiite Iraqis, further entrenching sectarian divides.
“This amendment could change the social fabric of the country at a time when sectarian tensions run high and stability remains precarious”, said Sarah Sanbar, Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The parliament also approved a law, which was pressed by the Kurds, allowing the return of farmlands confiscated before 2003 to their original owners, mainly Kurds.
Jordanian Foreign Ministry condemns Israeli military campaign in Jenin
- Governor of Jenin says Israeli forces cut off electricity
LONDON: The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday condemned the Israeli military campaign in the city of Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank.
Sufian Al-Qudah, the spokesperson for the ministry, said that Jordan opposed and condemned the aggression of Israeli occupation forces in Jenin, which violated international humanitarian law.
He urged the international community to act to compel Israel to halt the escalation in action in the occupied West Bank, the Jordan News Agency reported.
The Governor of Jenin Kamal Abu Al-Rub told WAFA News Agency that Israeli forces had cut off electricity to the Jenin camp and surrounding areas on Thursday. This had resulted in a power outage at the Jenin Government and Ibn Sina hospitals.
The Israeli operation, which was launched just after a ceasefire in Gaza, has left at least 10 Palestinians dead, according to health authorities.
WEF panel discusses crises beyond Gaza, Ukraine, questions the ‘crisis of crisis management’
- WEF draws attention to world’s flashpoints
DUBAI: More than 300 million people around the world will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2025, according to the Global Humanitarian Overview.
The conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine have dominated international attention, while other crises — such as those in Sudan, Myanmar and Venezuela — continue to affect millions.
The World Economic Forum in Davos drew attention to these crises, bringing together Comfort Ero, the president and CEO of International Crisis Group; Catherine Russell, the executive director of UNICEF; and Ricardo Hausmann, founder and director of the Growth Lab at Harvard University. The panel they attended was titled “Crises Beneath the Headlines” and moderated by Ishaan Tharoor, the foreign affairs columnist at The Washington Post.
Ero said that it was the first time in the group’s 30 years of operations where its work was dominated by “big power rivalry and major power competition,” which “infects” and influences many conflicts.
Although there are fewer conflicts, particularly in Africa, it does not mean there are not any conflicts, she added.
Ero said: “I do not necessarily think that these conflicts are off the radar; they have been deprioritized because of the bandwidth and the capacity, and because there’s just an inordinate amount of conflicts on the rise at the same time.”
Russell said that UNICEF, too, was struggling to respond to the sheer number and scale of crises.
She said: “We estimate that more than 213 million children live in 146 countries and territories and will need humanitarian assistance. The numbers are just overwhelming.”
Crises in Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan and Syria are also on UNICEF’s agenda, but the organization faces funding issues with 50 percent of the humanitarian funding it receives going to only five emergencies, Russell said.
She spoke about the massive numbers of children affected in Haiti and Sudan.
Some 700,000 people, including 365,000 children, are displaced because of violence perpetrated by armed gangs, and 6 million people need humanitarian assistance, with serious food insecurity an added issue in Haiti.
In Sudan, 19 million children are school-aged and 17 million of them are out of school and have been for more than a year.
While Syria has had a recent moment of triumph, its infrastructure has completely collapsed and millions of children are out of school and living in areas with landmines, which have become a leading cause of death and injury, she added.
“Attention draws resources, and so not having a lot of attention (drawn to these issues) is a problem,” Russell said.
Latin America is not free of issues either, with Venezuela being in the midst of a political and humanitarian crisis exacerbated by Nicolas Maduro, its president, remaining in office despite a six-month-long election dispute, international calls for him to stand aside, and an increase in the US reward offered for his capture.
Hausmann described the country’s downfall as “poetic in some dark sense.”
Despite Venezuela sitting on top of the largest oil reserves in the world, its gross domestic product has collapsed by 75 percent — “that’s three Great Depressions” — and 8 million people have left the country, he said.
Hausmann added that “Venezuela’s biggest obstacle is the government,” which has become an “international criminal organization” involved in “narco trafficking, money laundering, (and) the finance of terrorism.”
He said: “We have a situation where you have a government that has a deep internal sense of illegitimacy, and in the process of trying to survive it has destroyed the legitimacy of all other organizations (such as) the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, the attorney general, the army, etc.”
Looking to the future, he said, Venezuela was receiving mixed messages from the US with some people, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, “showing a willingness to be helpful in re-establishing democratic order,” while others, like Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, were “more or less normalizing Maduro.”
Tharoor asked the panel how the work of international groups had been affected at a time when countries were shaping their messaging for a “Trumpist world” and becoming more “nation-first.”
Ero said that we “can’t divorce ourselves” from the nation-first approach or from “national interest.”
But, she added: “There is a serious question mark about the crisis of the crisis management system itself, where it’s very hard now to see who the key mediators are that have the influence and leverage to change the dynamics in a country like Sudan. We are in a crisis of peacemaking.”
Organizations like UNICEF and other humanitarian aid agencies are doing what they can but Russell described them as a “band-aid” that arrives due to political failures.
She said: “We save millions and millions of lives, but we’re not the answer. The answer is to stop the conflict in the first place. We have no power to do that, and so we are at the mercy of this really dysfunctional political system.”
She added that the countries that make up the UN Security Council “have to come together and decide that they’re going to put their own interests aside, hopefully, and try to look out for what’s best for their countries and their regions and the world at large.”
Microsoft’s ties to IDF deepened during Gaza war, investigation reveals
- US tech giant provided Israeli military with computing, cloud services as demand surged
- Air force unit also used Microsoft services to develop databases of potential targets
LONDON: The Israel Defense Forces’ reliance on Microsoft cloud technology deepened at the height of its invasion of Gaza, an investigation has revealed.
Leaked documents viewed by The Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call show that Microsoft’s business ties with the IDF surged after Oct. 7, 2023.
The US tech giant supplied the IDF with greater computing and cloud services, artificial-intelligence technologies and thousands of hours of technical support.
The Gaza offensive brought new demands for data storage and computing power, with several sources in the Israeli defense community saying the IDF had become dependent on Microsoft, Amazon and Google.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform was used by Israeli units across air, sea and ground forces to support combat and intelligence activities.
Staff from the tech giant also worked closely with members of Unit 8200, an IDF intelligence unit that develops cutting-edge espionage technology.
Microsoft’s technology was also used by the IDF to operate Rolling Stone, a system used to manage the population registry of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The system is capable of tracking the movement of its subjects.
Ofek, an Israeli air force unit, also used Microsoft services to develop “target banks.” The large databases included potential airstrike targets in Gaza, and were used by IDF personnel during the height of the bombing campaign.
Between October 2023 and June 2024, the Israeli Defense Ministry bought 19,000 hours of engineering support and consultancy services from Microsoft, which was awarded about $10 million in fees as a result of the sales.
The leaked documents reportedly show that the IDF’s average monthly consumption of Azure cloud services in the first six months of the war was 60 percent higher than in the four months preceding it.
The IDF also used technologies from Microsoft’s competitors. Google’s cloud division provided the Israeli military with access to AI-based services, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Use of OpenAI’s GPT-4 also surged during the first six months of the war, though the service was made available through Microsoft’s Azure.
Turkiye attacking Kurds in northern Syria will be dangerous, Iraqi FM tells Davos
- Attacking Kurdish forces in northern Syria would create more refugees, Hussein told WEF
DAVOS: Turkiye attacking Kurdish forces in northern Syria would be dangerous and would create more refugees in neighboring Iraq, said Fuad Hussein, Iraq’s foreign minister, at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
