Browsing: Region
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun yesterday warned that Israeli detonations near a Unesco-listed castle threatened a recent deal with Israel, which in turn said it had razed Hezbollah tunnels there. Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported that ‘Israeli forces triggered very powerful explosions’ overnight, specifically ‘in the area of the Beaufort fortress’, a Crusader-era castle located near the southern border occupied by Israel.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said the army had destroyed ‘terror tunnels in the Beaufort area’ using approximately 700 tonnes of explosives.Aoun labelled it ‘an extremely dangerous escalation’ and ‘a direct threat to the process which was launched as part of the framework agreement’ reached with Israel during US-sponsored talks last month, his office said. Under the Israel-Lebanon deal, Lebanon's army is to disarm Hezbollah and the Israeli military is to withdraw from ‘pilot zones’ where Lebanese forces will subsequently deploy.The timing of the blasts ahead of another round of talks with Israel in Rome next week ‘sends negative messages and undermines international efforts aimed at consolidating stability’, Aoun added. The NNA said huge blasts resounded over a large area, shattering glass in nearby villages, while an AFP correspondent heard large explosions and saw dust covering a swathe of forest area.Citing Lebanon's National Centre for Geophysics, Aoun's statement said the detonations ‘created ground waves equivalent to a 3.8 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale’.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned ‘the ongoing Israeli aggressions in the south’, including ‘the damage to archaeological sites… that constitute a precious part of the history of our homeland’.- 'Under occupation' -Beaufort castle was added last week to UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger.Lebanon's culture ministry said the explosions struck ‘the area opposite the fortress’, warning that ‘the vibrations from the explosions may have caused damage’ in the castle's vicinity.It said technical teams were unable to conduct an on-the-ground assessment because ‘the site is under occupation’. The Israeli army said that ‘the tunnel network served as a central command centre’ for Hezbollah and consisted of ‘several underground levels that were built over the course of two decades’.Netanyahu and Katz said the explosions followed a ‘blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement’ by Hezbollah, which Israel's army accused on Wednesday of launching an explosive drone at a military vehicle.Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, condemned the detonations, while the Iran-backed group urged Lebanese authorities to act ‘at all political and diplomatic levels to stop the destructive crimes being carried out by the enemy’ .Hezbollah has not claimed any attacks since a ceasefire with Israel came into force on June 20 after a US-Iran memorandum of understanding on ending the broader Middle East war.While violence has declined since then, Lebanon continues to report Israeli strikes and artillery shelling on the south, as well as detonations of buildings in southern villages. The NNA reported three ‘violent’ explosions on Friday evening on the outskirts of Taybeh.Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 with attacks on Israel.Israel retaliated with a massive bombing campaign and a ground offensive that Lebanese authorities say have killed more than 4,300 people.Israel's army continues to occupy areas of southern Lebanon extending about 10 kilometres (six miles) into Lebanese territory along the border.str-lk/at/lg/smw/ach Source link
Israeli settlers, are seen illegally taking building materials from a Palestinian owned home under constructions, as they take part in an organised march between the Palestinian…
A child stands next to cans of water at a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City. – Reuters Hamas said yesterday that it had agreed to a deal announced by US President Donald Trump to end the war with Israel, that includes it handing over its weapons to a Palestinian governing committee and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.Israel did not immediately comment on the announcement, but shortly beforehand an Israeli political source had told AFP that the proposed agreement did not “satisfactorily” address Israeli demands for the full demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip. The source also said that “the issue of Gaza did not come up at all” in this week’s meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Trump in Washington.The Palestinian Islamist group’s weapons have been one of the key sticking points in implementing a ceasefire deal in place since October, but Trump announced late on Thursday an agreement for Hamas’s “complete disarmament”, calling it a critical step toward a new Palestinian government in Gaza. A senior Hamas official told Reuters, however, that implementation of the deal will depend on Israel first meeting its commitments under an agreement reached last year.Trump’s announcement in a post on his Truth Social platform followed months of faltering efforts to keep the ceasefire agreement reached last year in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on track and it was not immediately clear how strongly either Hamas or Israel stood behind it.Previous attempts to reach an agreement have foundered amid mutual suspicion and each side’s insistence that the other must move first. Yesterday Hamas issued a statement saying that the first step towards an agreement would have to be a commitment by Israel “to stopping the killing and ending its attacks”.Meanwhile, an Israeli official said yesterday that Israel’s position remained that “there will be no withdrawal whatsoever of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) from the current Yellow Line unless Hamas undergoes a genuine disarmament”, referring to a military demarcation line agreed in the ceasefire. Within hours of Trump’s announcement, Gazan medical authorities said one Palestinian was killed and several others had been wounded in at least two Israeli airstrikes and by gunfire in the enclave.There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military .Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official involved in the negotiations, said the group was ready to accept an agreement he said was “difficult and painful”.He said that said the movement was making “concessions for the sake of our people in the Gaza Strip, to save them from killing and displacement”. However, he avoided using the term disarmament and said the agreement was a “comprehensive framework” that would depend on Israel implementing the first phase of the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement.Under that agreement, he said Israel was obliged to end its attacks in Gaza and withdraw its forces to where they stood in October, as well as increase the flow of goods and aid coming into the enclave.Only then would Hamas agree to hand over its weapons for storage by the new National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the Palestinian technocratic body set up to run the enclave.”We insisted to the mediators that Israel must abide by the agreement,” he said. Yesterday Trump’s Board of Peace published what it said was the 15-point roadmap, which called on both Israel and Hamas, together with other Palestinian factions, to implement fully the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement, in particular the end to military operations in Gaza. The document outlined steps to allow NCAG to assume responsibility for civil governance in Gaza, and said it would oversee a process to “decommission and store heavy weapons, military production sites, depots of weapons, and tunnels”. “This process shall be linked to an Israeli withdrawal, in phases, from the areas under its control in Gaza,” it said, adding that no weapons would be handed over to Israel or non-Palestinian parties.The NCAG welcomed “the progress announced yesterday regarding the roadmap and the opening of a path toward beginning its implementation”.It said it was ready to assume its responsibilities, while Germany, a major donor, said it would do its part to help the agreement. Source link
Saudi Arabia Thursday unveiled plans for a multinational maritime defence coalition aimed at protecting international shipping and energy supply routes in the Red Sea region after attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis disrupted one of the world's busiest trade corridors. The Saudi defence ministry said representatives from 43 countries and the European Union attended an international meeting that discussed the proposed coalition, including Saudi Arabia serving as its founding and leading state and hosting its headquarters. The ministry said the coalition would strengthen maritime security, safeguard freedom of navigation, secure international trade routes and energy supply lines, and protect shared maritime interests in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. It said 14 countries, including Turkiye, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan and Djibouti, issued a joint statement supporting the proposed coalition. Among the six Gulf Arab states, Oman and the United Arab Emirates were not listed among the countries backing the statement. The announcement comes a day after two sources familiar with the deliberations told Reuters that Saudi Arabia was seeking to build an international coalition to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks. The Houthis said on July 20 they would impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, and have since claimed a series of attacks on Saudi-linked shipping. Saudi Arabia has responded with air strikes on what it said were Houthi military facilities in Yemen's Hodeidah used to threaten commercial shipping. The Red Sea tensions mark the latest front in the wider Iran war, with attacks on shipping spreading beyond the Gulf and pushing oil prices higher. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, linking the southern Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, is a key maritime chokepoint for global trade and energy shipments. The European Union launched a naval mission in the Red Sea in 2024 to help restore and safeguard freedom of navigation after the Houthis disrupted maritime traffic by attacking vessels in what they said was solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war. Source link
A child lies on a damaged mattress at the site of Wednesday’s Israeli strike on a house in Gaza City, whose residents were pre-warned by the…
Two years after the International Court of Justice said Israel’s occupation of the West Bank was unlawful, settler violence and territorial annexation is “only getting worse”, the UN said yesterday. The United Nations’ human rights office said that with attacks by Israeli settlers and the creation of outposts “hitting an all-time high”, countries had to act to end the occupation.“We are alarmed by the Israeli government’s announcement to further increase the number of settlements and outposts, and open calls by Israeli leaders for revenge and collective punishment against Palestinian communities, accompanied by threats to turn the West Bank into another Gaza,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.In a sweeping, non-binding “advisory opinion” issued in July 2024, the UN’s top court said that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was “illegal”.Israel is “under the obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence as rapidly as possible”, presiding judge Nawaf Salam said.Violence in the West Bank has surged since the Gaza war began. The West Bank has seen near-daily attacks by Israeli settlers and regular raids on Palestinian villages.Shamdasani said that since last Thursday, eight Palestinians, including a boy, as well as two members of the Israeli military had been killed in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.“Settlers and Israeli security forces, often acting together, have attacked local communities, assaulting families, destroying and confiscating property, and burning mosques,” she said.“Movement restrictions are now tighter, blocking Palestinians from reaching essential services.” Last Friday, deadly clashes broke out last between Israeli settlers and in the village of Tell that left four Palestinians and two Israelis dead.The Israeli military subsequently raided the city of Nablus and several nearby towns, announcing the arrest of dozens of Palestinians as it launched what it described as a “counter-terrorism” operation in the West Bank. Overnight Sunday, Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers set fire to two mosques.“With attacks by Israeli settlers, and the creation of settlements and outposts, hitting an all-time high, third states must act urgently and in unison to halt the continuing killing and dispossession of the Palestinian people, and to bring an end to the Israeli occupation,” Shamdasani said. The comments came after Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN’s deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, warned the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the situation in the West Bank was “rapidly deteriorating”.Since the start of the Gaza war, at least 1,097 Palestinians, have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers, while at least 48 Israelis, civilians and security personnel, have been killed. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank alongside more than 500,000 Israelis residing in settlements that are illegal under international law. Source link
A ship off the port of Aden, where traffic remained steady after the Iran-aligned Houthis said their forces had carried out missile and drone strikes on…
A drone hit a US-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta, British maritime security firm Ambrey said in an initial assessment yesterday, in what could mark a widening of the Middle East conflict beyond the areas directly involved in the fighting.A statement from Egypt’s petroleum ministry confirmed a fire at the port but made no mention of a drone attack. It was not immediately clear who was responsible. The drone hit floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that then spread to another vessel, three trading sources familiar with the incident said. The fire was dealt with immediately with no casualties, the petroleum ministry said. The incident came amid a sharp escalation in the conflict, with Iran firing missiles at US forces in Jordan and the United States and Saudi Arabia striking Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.Alongside Yemen’s Houthi group declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, the latest exchanges suggest the conflict is spreading further than it has since US and Israel started bombing Iran in February.US President Donald Trump vowed to retaliate against Iran for firing on US troops days after he halted air strikes.“We’ll be hitting them hard,” Fox News quoted Trump as saying. Iran confirmed overnight that it had fired on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait.Trump had said operations against Iran would last only a few weeks when he launched them in February but fighting has now gone on for five months with no end in sight.Oil prices shot up yesterday in one of the sharpest spikes of the five-month war. Brent crude futures rose more than 8% to push the benchmark well above $90 a barrel, reversing much of a plunge earlier this week when Trump had unexpectedly halted US strikes over the weekend. The joint US-Saudi attacks also mark the first time Riyadh has publicly joined strikes alongside Washington.Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, said at least 20 members were killed and 32 wounded in US-Saudi strikes targeting several bases across Iraq.Iraqi men shouted sectarian slogans and “Death to America!” as they carried the bodies of slain fighters in body bags. Washington and Riyadh said they struck the Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq.It was the first major US military action in the Middle East since last Friday, when Trump abruptly suspended an intensive bombing campaign after 13 days, having been advised by commanders that the strategy had run its course.US officials have privately cautioned that resuming major combat operations against Iran would carry risk given the negative impact on stocks of munitions. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, estimated this week that the US military has fewer than 1,000 Patriot interceptor inventories and fewer than 250 THAAD interceptors– two key air defense systems.Though Iran denies its forces have directed strikes from Iraqi territory, Iranian newspaper Hamshahri reported that four Iranian Revolutionary Guards advisers had been killed in the strikes on Iraq.The strikes on Iraq expose a dangerous rift in that volatile country. The government is one of the few in the world to balance close military and diplomatic ties with both Tehran and Washington, but those divided loyalties are a constant source of tension and frequent domestic unrest.The office of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who took power just two months ago, urged the parties involved to avoid escalation and said he wanted to keep the country out of regional conflicts. The Iraqi presidency denounced the strikes on the paramilitaries as “an unacceptable attack and a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”, while also calling for a halt to attacks by armed groups against Iraq’s neighbours.Hours before launching the joint attacks with Saudi Arabia on Iraq, the US military said its air defences had averted a surprise Iranian attack on US troops in the region. Source link
Jordanian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed five missiles fired from Iran toward the Kingdom early Thursday. The interception was carried out with efficiency and professionalism, thwarting the attempt to target the Kingdom’s territory. No casualties were reported, the Jordanian Armed Forces said in a statement. The statement reaffirmed that the Armed Forces remain fully committed to safeguarding the Kingdom’s airspace and preserving its security and sovereignty. It will not tolerate any threat targeting the Kingdom’s security or the safety of its citizens. Source link
The Damietta Port Authority announced today that all ship arrivals and departures at the port are proceeding normally and operating at full efficiency, following a fire that broke out on a regasification vessel and a storage vessel in the port, caused by a drone.In a statement issued after the Cabinet released the preliminary findings of its investigation into the incident earlier today, the Authority clarified that all terminals and berths at Damietta Port are operating normally, with regular arrivals and departures of ships. Loading, unloading, and cargo handling of all types of goods are continuing at the established operational rates. The Authority emphasized that the port continues to provide its maritime and logistical services around the clock without interruption. The Cabinet of Egypt had announced in a statement earlier today that the fire on the two vessels had been brought under control. The statement noted that no party has claimed responsibility for the incident, and that the relevant authorities are continuing their investigations to determine the circumstances of the incident and take the necessary measures to protect the country’s interests and national security. Source link