Israel attacks Lebanon : Deputy says Hezbollah ready for ground push
- In first address since killing of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem says group is ready for any Israeli ground invasion, will select new head based on existing mechanism.
- Israel has bombed the Kola area of Beirut in its first attack on the Lebanese capital beyond the southern suburbs, killing three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group.
‘Israel stands with you’: Netanyahu in video address to Iranians
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the people of Iran in a new video, saying the Iranian regime “plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war”.
“Every day, their puppets are eliminated. Ask [Hamas commander] Mohammed Deif, ask [Hezbollah’s Hassan] Nasrallah. There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country,” said Netanyahu in the video he posted on X.
“With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you – the noble Persian people – closer to the abyss. The vast majority of Iranians know their regime doesn’t care a whit about them,” he said.
Netanyahu added that when Iran is “finally free”, Israel and Iran will be at “peace” with tourism and technological advancements benefiting both countries.
British base in Cyprus prepares for potential evacuations from Lebanon
Yesterday, pro-Palestinian campaigners protested at the gates of British base Akrotiri, accusing Britain of offering tacit support to Israel’s war in Gaza and bombardment of Lebanon.
The same base has been bolstered in anticipation of any potential evacuation of its nationals from the region, the Reuters news agency reported today.
The UK has two military bases on Cyprus, a former British colony. RAF Akrotiri has been used in the past as a staging point for air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other government ministers have also called on British nationals to leave Lebanon on commercial flights while it is still possible.
Last week, Britain sent additional troops to Cyprus to assist any potential evacuation of nationals trapped in Lebanon.
US Embassy in Beirut working to help citizens leave Lebanon
The US Embassy in Beirut says it is working with airlines “to address US citizens requests to depart Lebanon by providing additional flights with seats for personal purchase”.
The announcement came on X and its website published a form for the citizens to seek information on the possible assistance.
It comes two days after the US Department of State ordered some employees at its embassy in Beirut and family members to leave Lebanon.
The State Department also urged Americans in the country to leave, warning the currently limited options to depart might become unavailable if the security situation worsens.
Berlin police raid pro-Palestinian activists’ homes
Police in Berlin raided homes of five pro-Palestinian activists today, including a man believed to have thrown a microphone stand toward a local politician, DPA news agency is reporting.
Police and public prosecutors in the German capital said the five are suspected of having committed criminal offences “through allegedly pro-Palestinian motivated activities”.
No arrests have been made. Around 125 police officers were involved in the raids on flats in the districts of Friedrichshain, Britz,
Gropiusstadt, Tegel and Schneeberg in Berlin.Authorities have regularly broken up protests against the war on Gaza and assaulted and detained demonstrators.
Israeli forces damage land near Jenin
Israeli forces razed a large tract of land in the town of Barta’a, northwest of Jenin, in occupied West Bank, Wafa news agency reported.
Ghassan Qabha, the mayor of Barta’a, said that Israeli bulldozers uprooted and bulldozed approximately 20 dunums of Palestinian lands in the area.
Amid Israeli and settler attacks, the Palestinian Agricultural Ministry expects that farmers will not be able to reach 80,000 dunums of the area planted with olives, possibly resulting in the loss of about 15 percent of production.
Campaign launched to raise awareness on unexploded ordnance in Lebanon
British NGO Mines Advisory Group (MAG), which operates in Lebanon, has launched a campaign to advise people of the dangers of unexploded ordnance.
“We know from our experience globally that a significant proportion of the ordnance that has hit Lebanon will have failed to explode and will be lodged in the rubble, buried underground or simply lying on the surface,” said MAG CEO Darren Cormack.
“This poses a severe risk to the civilian population, may cost lives and will hamper reconstruction efforts and any return to normality when the conflict abates. Parts of Lebanon have now endured almost a year of aerial bombardments but the latest escalation obviously poses additional and acute risks to communities,” he added.
Israeli raids force 100,000 to flee Lebanon for Syria
Some 100,000 people have fled to Syria from Lebanon in a bid to escape Israeli air raids, according to the UNHCR.
The number of displaced people crossing the border has more than doubled over the past two days, according to the UN figures.
Indian writer turns down USAID-funded award in solidarity with Gaza
Jacinta Kerketta, a poet and writer from India, has refused to accept a USAID-funded award in protest against Israel’s war on Gaza, local media reported.
The poet was awarded the 2024 “Room to Read Young Author Award”, jointly funded by USAID and an organisation called the Room to Read India Trust, for her children’s poetry collection titled Jirhul.
She called attention to USAID’s links to arms companies and its role in the war on Gaza.
“I saw that Room to Read India Trust is also associated with Boeing for children’s education. How can [they have ties to the] arms business and care for children continue simultaneously when the world of children is being destroyed by the same weapons,” Indian media outlet The Wire quoted Kerketta as saying.
“Books for children are important, but adults have not been able to save children – thousands of whom are being killed in Palestine,” she added.
British-American author Jhumpa Lahiri, who has Indian origins, recently turned down an award from New York’s Noguchi Museum, citing the firing of employees who wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves in solidarity with people in Gaza.
