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Tag: Iran

  • Iran, Israel, and Hezbollah: Rising Tensions in the Middle East

    Iran, Israel, and Hezbollah: Rising Tensions in the Middle East

    The New York Times article discusses escalating tensions between Iran, Israel, and Hezbollah as the dynamics of power shift across the region. Iran’s growing influence through its support of Hezbollah and other proxy groups continues to alarm Israel, sparking fears of broader conflict.

    Hezbollah’s Role in Regional Power

    The article explores how Hezbollah, heavily backed by Iran, has bolstered its military and political influence in Lebanon, positioning itself as a central actor in the region. This development worries Israel, which views Hezbollah as a direct threat to its security. Increased military posturing between Hezbollah and Israeli forces near Lebanon’s border has raised concerns about potential clashes.

    Iran’s Expanding Regional Influence

    Iran’s strategy of using proxy groups like Hezbollah to extend its influence across the Middle East remains a point of contention for Israel and its allies. Tehran’s military and financial support to these groups strengthens its hold in countries such as Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. The article notes that Israel’s military preparedness reflects its growing anticipation of a potential confrontation with Iranian-backed forces.

    Impact on Diplomacy

    As these tensions escalate, diplomatic efforts to mediate between the parties have stalled. The article highlights the difficulties faced by international actors in preventing an outbreak of violence, especially in light of the volatile situation in neighboring Syria. The strained relations between Israel and Iran complicate peace efforts, with both sides preparing for possible military escalations.

    Source:
    The New York Times.

  • Iran says Hamas leader killed from close range

    Iran Says Hamas Leader Killed From Close Range

    The recent assassination of a top Hamas leader, Mazen Fuqaha, has caused shock and outrage throughout the Middle East. The incident took place in Gaza City on March 24, 2017, when Fuqaha was killed by multiple gunshots to the head. While Hamas has blamed Israel for the attack, Iran has come forward with evidence suggesting that the assassination was carried out by individuals within Hamas itself.

    According to Iranian officials, their intelligence agents have discovered that Fuqaha was killed by a close range shot from a 9mm handgun, a weapon commonly used by Hamas militants. This finding contradicts Hamas’ initial claim that the assassination was carried out by Israeli Mossad agents using a silencer-equipped gun.

    Iran’s involvement in the investigation of Fuqaha’s murder comes as no surprise, as the country is known for its close support and alliance with Hamas. However, the revelation that Hamas may have played a role in the killing has raised eyebrows and sparked speculation about a power struggle within the Palestinian militant group.

    Source: BBC

  • Netanyahu Begs For Forgiveness Over Hostage Killings

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized to Israelis for failing to return six hostages found dead in Gaza on Saturday, as Hamas warned of the possibility of others returning to their families in shrouds if a ceasefire agreement is not reached. His comments came as intense street protests against his handling of the negotiations erupted for the second time in Israel. 

    International pressure also increased after the United Kingdom suspended some arms sales to Israel, citing the risk that the equipment could be used to go against international law.  

    But the Israeli prime minister struck a defiant tone, insisting that his troops must control the Philadelphia-Gaza corridor, a strip of land which is strategically important and is a sticking point in negotiations with Hamas.

    Israelis in their thousands took to the streets on Monday in fresh protests called by the hostages’ families to express their anger at Netanyahu’s failure to secure the release of their loved ones after nearly 11 months.

    The Times of Israel reported that police employed considerable aggression in managing the demonstration outside the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, including violently pushing protesters, throwing some to the ground and dragging several others.

    The Times of Israel reported that one member of the police squeezed the throat of one of its reporters.

    The latest demonstrations come after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in protests across the country on Sunday, with some demonstrators blocking a major highway in Tel Aviv. 

    Many were dressed in Israeli flags and hung yellow ribbons, a symbol of solidarity with the hostages – from a bridge overlooking the Ayalon Highway.

    A total of 97 hostages are still missing after being kidnapped by Hamas on October 7. 

    On Monday, Hamas said that the hostages would be returned inside coffins if Israel’s military pressure continued, and added that “new instructions” had been given to militants guarding the prisoners if  Israeli troops approached. 

    “Netanyahu’s insistence to free prisoners through military pressure, instead of sealing a deal means they will be returned to their families in shrouds. Their families must choose whether they want them dead or alive,” said a spokesman for the group, without elaborating on the new orders.

    Earlier on Monday, Israel’s largest trade union said hundreds of thousands of people had joined a general strike called to pressure  the government to accept a ceasefire deal and the release of hostages with Hamas in Gaza. 

    Despite this, Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport reported limited disruption and many restaurants and hospitality services were operating normally. 

    Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich boasted that Israelis had gone to work “en masse” and proved  they were no longer slaves to political exigencies. 

    Elsewhere, US President Joe Biden accused Netanyahu of not doing enough to secure a hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas, amid reports suggesting a new proposal would be sent to the Israeli prime minister as “final”.  

    Many accuse Netanyahu of blocking a deal by prioritizing his own political survival – a claim he disputes. 

    Netanyahu’s far-right allies have threatened to pull out of the coalition government, jeopardizing his chances of staying in power, if he accepts a deal linked to a permanent ceasefire before the destruction of Hamas.

    Mediators from the US, Egyptian and Qatari are trying to negotiate a ceasefire deal that would see Hamas release the 97 hostages still being held, including the 33 presumed dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

    On Monday, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that his country had suspended 30 of Israel’s 350 arms export licenses, citing a “clear risk” that the equipment could be used to commit serious violations of international law. 

    Affected equipment includes parts for fighter jets, helicopters and drones.  Lammy said the UK continues to support Israel’s right to defend itself and that this does not amount to an arms embargo. 

    Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on X that he was “deeply disheartened” by the decision, while Foreign Minister Israel Katz said it sent a “very problematic message” to Hamas and Iran.  

    Meanwhile, funerals had been held for some of the hostages killed on Saturday.

    The mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the hostages whose body was recovered by Israel on Saturday, spoke at his funeral and said she had been in “such torment and worry” about him for months. 

    Rachel Goldberg-Polin said it was a great honor to be the mother of her son. At the time of his abduction, Hersh had sent two text messages to his family, in which he wrote: “I love you guys” and “I’m sorry.” 

    Mourners lined the streets of Jerusalem and Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke to relatives at the funeral.  

    The war in the Gaza Strip began after Hamas crossed the Gaza border, killing 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping 251 on October 7. 

    Since then, Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in revenge attacks, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas.

     

    Source: BBC News 

  • Israel’s Labour Union Threatens General Strike Over Delays In Hostage Release Deal

    Workers in Israel are warming up for a general strike as protests continue over what is seen as the government’s failure to secure the release of hostages still in the captivity of Hamas.  

    There have been high tensions since the bodies of the six hostages were recovered by soldiers on Saturday, sparking national outrage. 

    Tens of thousands of people rallied in Israel on Sunday, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of not doing enough to reach an agreement on the remaining hostages taken by Hamas in the attack on the 7th ‘October. 

    The call for a one-day strike on Monday was made by Israel’s biggest trade union, the Histadrut, whose leader, Arnon Bar-David, said the country was getting body bags instead of an agreement.

    The government expressed anger at  the union’s action, with far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accusing it of playing into Hamas’ hands. 

    Many cities and municipalities have announced that they will not participate and it is not yet clear how the closure will be observed.

    However, the call for a national strike is the latest indication that public anger over the recent hostage killings will not subside soon.

    The Israeli military said earlier that the six bodies were discovered on Saturday in an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of ​​southern Gaza.

    The names of the hostages killed were Carmel Gat, Alexander Lobanov, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi and Sergeant Ori Danino.  

    The IDF said they were killed shortly before its troops got to them on Saturday.

    That sparked the Sunday protests, with crowds accusing the government and Netanyahu personally of failing to rescue the remaining hostages.  

    The protests on Sunday were largely peaceful, but crowds broke through police lines and blocked a main street in Tel Aviv.

    Some climbed onto buses and trash cans to gain a vantage point in the march, while others surrounded someone wearing a Netanyahu mask, chanting: “Alive, alive, we want them alive.” 

    One protester held a sign that read: “You’re the head. You are to blame.” Protesters, many carrying Israeli flags, also descended on Jerusalem and other Israeli cities.

    The protests have disrupted humanitarian efforts in Gaza, where the United Nations announced on Sunday that the first full day of a campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children against polio was a success.

    The rollout relies on a series of localized pauses in fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters, and the first three-day window began on Sunday.

    Hamas abducted 251 people and killed another 1,200  during its attack in southern Israel on  October 7, 2023. 

    Israel says 97 of those hostages are still being held in Gaza, including 33  presumed dead.

    The Israeli military retaliated by launching a ground and air offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas. 

    The Hamas health ministry puts the number of those killed in Gaza at more than 40,738 since then.

    Source: BBC News 

  • Hamas Leader Killed On Third Day Of West Bank Operation, Says Israel

    The military in Israel announced it had killed the head of the Palestinian armed group Hamas in Jenin and two other members of the terrorist group, as a major operation continued for a third day in the northern occupied West Bank. 

    Israeli security forces “encountered and eliminated” Wissam Khazemi in a vehicle, then carried out airstrikes on two other fighters as they tried to flee, according to a statement. 

    The Palestinian Ministry of Health said the three men were killed overnight near the town of Zababdeh, southeast of Jenin. 

    Reports according to Palestinian media said that Israeli forces withdrew from Tulkarem after causing serious damage to buildings and infrastructure in the city’s refugee camps.

    The Israeli military had no immediate comment but said on Thursday it had killed five members of the armed groups in Tulkarem, including its local leader.  

    The Israeli army, however, announced that its forces had withdrawn from the al-Faraa refugee camp, near Tuba, after achieving what it called the objective of defeating terrorism, uncovering the terrorist infrastructure and eliminating armed terrorists. 

    More than 19 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli operation started, which is one of the largest in the West Bank in two decades, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. 

    As the war in Gaza rages, it is causing international concern. 

    On Friday, the UK said it was “deeply worried by the methods Israel has employed and by reports of civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure”.

    “The risk of instability is serious and the need for de-escalation urgent,” a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

    The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that the raids were “fuelling an already explosive situation”.

    Violence has increased in the West Bank since Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7 and following the war in Gaza. 

    Several Palestinians were killed as Israeli forces stepped up raids, saying they were trying to stop deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Israel.

     

    Source: BBC News

  • UN Calls For Calm After Attacks Between Israel And Hezbollah

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” by the most significant cross-border attacks carried out by Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement since the start of  the war in Gaza. 

    Israeli warplanes struck dozens of sites in southern Lebanon on Sunday in what they said were pre-emptive strikes to prevent a much wider attack, and Hezbollah fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel. 

    The UN boss cautioned that their actions put civilians at risk and threatened regional security and stability.

    The United States has said it is working to avoid a further escalation of hostilities, and both sides have indicated they are not interested in such a situation. 

    There have been exchanges of fire almost every day on the Israeli-Lebanese border since the day after the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza began on October 7. 

    Hezbollah said it is acting in support of the Palestinian group. The two groups are supported by Iran and are considered terrorist organizations by Israel, the United Kingdom and other countries.  

    Since October, more than 560 people have been killed, most of them Hezbollah fighters according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, while 26 civilians and 24 soldiers have been killed in Israel, according to authorities.  

    Close to 200,000 people were also  displaced on both sides of the border.  

    The Israeli attack on Hezbollah began before dawn on Sunday, when the military said about 100 warplanes bombed thousands of missile launchers at more than 40 locations in southern Lebanon.

    The Israeli military said the strikes were launched after the discovery of “extensive preparations” for a large-scale Hezbollah airstrike.  

    Hezbollah said two of its fighters were lost in the attacks, along with another fighter from the allied Amal movement.  

    Hezbollah said 11 military installations were targeted and hit in Israel and the occupied Golan Heights with 340 missiles and a “large number” of drones.

    It said the barrage was in response to the assassination of senior military commander Fuad Shukr, killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on July 30. 

    The Israeli forces said it had intercepted “numerous threats” fired by Hezbollah and that the shells that landed caused “little damage.” 

    However, it also said a navy soldier had been killed in the fighting in northern Israel, with local media saying he was on a patrol boat when an interceptor missile engaged a drone.

    On Sunday evening, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah addressed his supporters, who seemed to want an end to the escalation, in a televised broadcast.  

    He said the group’s “initial response” to the retaliation for Shukr’s killing had gone “as planned,” though he said its impact was still being evaluated.

    “If the result is not sufficient, we will reserve the right to respond at another time,” he said.

    In the meantime, he said further, the people of Lebanon “can be at ease and carry on with their lives, as the country has been in tension for a month now”.

    Earlier, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, informed a cabinet meeting that “what happened today is not the end of the story”.

    “We are striking Hezbollah with surprising crushing blows,” he said. “Three weeks ago, we eliminated its chief-of-staff and today we thwarted its attack plan.”

    “Nasrallah in Beirut and [Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north, and returning our residents securely to their homes.”

    The UN secretary-general called for an “immediate de-escalation” and asked the parties to return urgently and immediately to the cessation of hostilities, a spokesman said. 

    White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan expressed hope that Sunday’s events would not lead to a regional war.

     

    Source: BBC News

  • Hamas Military Commander Killed in July Strike, Says Israel

    The Israeli military has confirmed that Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip last month.
    Deif was the target of an attack on a compound in the Khan Younis area on July 13. Hamas has not yet confirmed his death.
    Israel says Deif was one of the masterminds of the October 7 attacks in southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage.
    Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh was killed on Wednesday during a visit to Iran. Israel has not commented directly on his death.
    In a statement released on Thursday, the Israeli military said that “following an intelligence assessment, it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated” in the July 13 attack.
    The Hamas-run Gaza health authorities said at the time that the airstrike killed more than 90 people, but denied that Deif was among the dead.
    Deif was widely seen as Hamas’ second-ranking official in Gaza, after Yahya Sinwar, the group’s leader in the territory.
    Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Deif’s death was “a significant milestone” in disbanding Hamas.
    “This operation reflects the fact that Hamas is disintegrating, and that Hamas terrorists may either surrender or they will be eliminated,” he added.
    Mohammed Deif is the leader of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement.
    For decades, he was one of the most wanted men by Israel and survived seven assassination attempts.
    According to Israeli and Palestinian media, Deif was born in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza in 1965, when the territory was occupied by Egypt.
    In the 1980s as a young man, he joined Hamas and quickly rose in rank.
    Israel accused him of plotting and overseeing bombing of buses that killed dozens of Israelis in 1996, and of being involved in the capture and killing of three Israeli soldiers in the mid-1990s.
    Deif is also known for helping build tunnels that allow Hamas militants to enter Israel from Gaza.
    In 2002, he assumed the position of head of the military wing of Hamas.
    In 2014, Israel tried to kill Deif by launching an airstrike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza, killing his wife, Widad, and their infant son, Ali.
    Israel thought Deif was also killed, but he was not in the building at the time.
    In the current conflict, Deif is suspected of directing Hamas military operations from underground tunnels inside Gaza.
    Confirmation of Deif’s death came at the end of a tumultuous week in the Israel-Gaza conflict, which has raised fears of a wider regional war.
    On Saturday, 12 Israeli children and teenagers were killed after a rocket hit a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Lebanon-based Hezbollah, vowing that it would pay a heavy price.
    On Tuesday, Israel responded by launching an airstrike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah’s senior commander Fuad Shukr and four others, including two children.
    Hours later, Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh was killed in an attack on the building he was staying in during a visit to Tehran, the capital of Iran.

    Source: BBC News