ABU DHABI: The US Navy is leading a 30-nation maritime exercise across Middle Eastern waters, which it says will help protect international trade routes against possible threats, including from Daesh and Al-Qaeda.
The exercise, partly being held in the Arabian Gulf, comes as tensions run high between Gulf Arab countries and Iran over its role in the region, including its support for President Bashar Assad, for the Houthis in Yemen and for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The International Mine Countermeasures Exercise started with a symposium in Bahrain where the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based, in part as a bulwark against Iran.
Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, commander, US Naval Forces Central Command, said on Saturday the exercise was designed to stop militants from causing disruption to shipping as, “we know that they want to disturb trade lines.”
US Navy leads 30-nation sea drill in Mideast
US Navy leads 30-nation sea drill in Mideast
Gaza, Lebanon conflicts see civilian casualties at highest point in over a decade
- Israeli military action responsible for more than half of all non-combatants killed or injured in bombings and explosions in 2024
- Last year saw casualty figures increase globally by more than two-thirds, with airstrikes the leading cause of death and injury
LONDON: The number of civilian casualties worldwide caused by bombings or explosions during conflicts has reached its highest point in over a decade, driven in particular by Israel’s campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.
The monitoring group Action on Armed Violence said it had identified 61,353 non-combatants killed or wounded in 2024, up 67 percent on 2023. Of those figures, 25,116 were fatalities, a 51 percent increase.
AOAV said Israeli military activity in Gaza and Lebanon was responsible for 55 percent of all civilians killed or wounded by explosions, at 33,910 people.
Gaza alone accounted for 39 percent of all casualties recorded, with 14,435 killed in explosions and 9,314 injured.
The civil war in Sudan has also contributed to the uptick in numbers, as well as 11,693 civilians killed or wounded by explosions in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Spikes in casualties between 2013 and 2017 were due to the conflict in Syria, but the 2024 total was more than double that previous high-water mark.
The top cause of death and injury from explosions in 2024 was airstrikes — a tactic Israel has used extensively in Gaza and Lebanon.
The number of casualties caused this way more than doubled from 2023, with 30,804 people affected.
AOAV Executive Director Iain Overton said: “2024 has been a catastrophic year for civilians caught in explosive violence, particularly in Gaza, Ukraine and Lebanon. The international community cannot ignore the scale of harm caused.”
The true number of people affected by bombings and explosions is likely to be far higher, as AOAV bases its figures on English-language accounts of incidents.
For instance, where AOAV was only able to verify 14,435 people killed by explosions in Gaza, local health authorities put the number at 23,600.
A report last week in medical journal The Lancet estimated that casualties in Gaza in 2024 could be as much as 40 percent higher than those reported by the enclave’s authorities.
Lebanese PM designate Salam says he is against exclusion
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam said on Tuesday his hands are extended to everyone, in a gesture to the Iran-backed Hezbollah group that accused opponents of seeking to exclude it by nominating him for the post.
Salam, nominated by a majority of Lebanese lawmakers on Monday, said he opposed exclusion and supported unity. “This is my sincere call, and my hands are extended to everyone,” he said.
Salam, who was serving as president of the International Court of Justice before his designation as prime minister, cited priorities including rebuilding Lebanon from last year’s devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The choice of Salam underlined a major shift in the power balance among Lebanon’s sectarian factions since Hezbollah was pummelled in its conflict with Israel, and its ally in neighboring Syria, Bashar Assad, was
toppled
by rebels.
“Reconstruction isn’t just a promise, but a commitment, and this requires complete implementation of UN Resolution 1701, implementation of all articles of the ceasefire, and imposing the full withdrawal of the Israeli enemy from every inch” of Lebanon, Salam said.
He added that he would work for justice for the victims of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, and for depositors whose savings have been frozen inside the Lebanese financial system since its collapse in 2019.
“It is time to begin a new chapter, one that we want to be rooted in justice, security, progress, and opportunity,” Salam said after meeting President Joseph Aoun.
Sudan rescuers say more than 120 killed by shelling around capital
- Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has escalated in recent weeks after more than 20 months of war in Sudan
Port Sudan: Sudanese volunteer rescuers said shelling of an area of Omdurman, the capital Khartoum’s twin city just across the Nile River, killed more than 120 people.
The “random shelling” on Monday in western Omdurman resulted in the deaths of 120 civilians, said the Ombada Emergency Response Room, part of a network of volunteer rescuers across the war-torn country.
The network described the toll as preliminary and did not specify who was behind the attack.
The rescuers said medical supplies were in critically short supply as health workers struggled to treat “a large number of wounded people suffering from varying degrees of injuries.”
Fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has escalated in recent weeks after more than 20 months of war in Sudan.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war which has left the country on the brink of famine, according to aid agencies.
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of targeting civilians, including health workers, and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.
Most of Omdurman is under army control while the RSF holds the capital and part of the greater Khartoum area.
Residents on both sides of the Nile have reported shelling across the river, with bombs and shrapnel regularly striking homes and civilians.
Erdogan ally urges jailed Kurdish militant leader to announce PKK’s disbandment
ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s key nationalist ally urged jailed PKK militant group leader Abdullah Ocalan to explicitly announce the group’s disbandment after his next expected meeting with the country’s pro-Kurdish political party.
The remarks by nationalist Devlet Bahceli came after a rare meeting between officials from the pro-Kurdish DEM Party and Ocalan last week.
The PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
'Final round' of Gaza talks to start Tuesday in Qatar: source briefed on negotiations
Dubai: A “final round” of Gaza truce talks is due to start Tuesday in Qatar, said a source briefed on the negotiations aimed at ending the Israel-Hamas war after more than 15 months.
“A final round of talks is expected to take place today in Doha,” the souce told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that Tuesday’s meetings “are aimed at finalizing the remaining details of the deal” with the heads of Israel’s intelligence agencies, the Middle East envoys for the incoming and outgoing US administrations and Qatar’s prime minister present.
Mediators are to meet separately with Hamas officials, the source said.
