/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

Bolivia joins South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the ICJ:
https://twitter.com/CIJ_ICJ/status/1843953934429503613

>>484842
kek, there's so many options

Tezcatlipoca's wrath (the Atzek hurricane god)
Nature abhors a genocide
The weather is anti-Zionist
Iran activated its weather controle device

>>484843
Yes if god made them build an air-base into a non-temperate climate zone.

‘Dozens killed in Jabalia. No one can retrieve their bodies’
Anas al-Sharif
Reporting from Jabalia, northern Gaza

The Israeli military ground operation is ongoing against Jabalia refugee camp.

We are here on the street corner of Jabalia al-Balad and Jabalia camp, where the Israeli forces shoot at anyone who moves in this street.

These are some displaced people who are trying to leave the street and to escape the scene.

Also, the Israeli forces have set up a number of barriers, and they destroyed a number of citizens’ homes in order to close the street leading to Jabalia.

The Israeli military has deployed reinforcements here, and there are a number of dead and wounded in the eastern and northeastern areas of the camp.

We can hear the sounds of gunfire. Dozens of people have been killed in the streets of the camp. No one can retrieve their bodies.

It’s a very difficult situation with the Israeli operation in the area now into its fifth successive day.

The streets have been bulldozed, and the Israelis have created piles of earth as barriers to prevent any movement between Jabalia al-Balad and Jabalia camp.

Death toll in Lebanon rises to 2141: Ministry

The Ministry of Public Health has said that 2,141 people have been killed and 10,099 wounded since the beginning of Israel’s “aggression”.

It also said that yesterday, 22 people were killed and 80 injured across Lebanon:

Mount Lebanon: Four injuries

South Lebanon: 12 killed and 37 injured

Nabatieh: 2 killed and 34 injured

Beqaa: 7 killed and 3 wounded

Baalbek- Hermel: 1 killed and 2 wounded

‘Unify efforts’: Hamas, Fatah leaders discuss Gaza war in Cairo meeting

Senior leaders of Hamas and the rival Palestinian group Fatah are meeting in Egypt’s capital to discuss Israel’s war on Gaza and national unity efforts.

Hamas said in a short statement the talks are focusing on “the aggression on the Gaza Strip, political and field developments, and to unify national efforts and ranks”.

Senior political bureau member Khalil al-Hayya is representing Hamas, while Fatah is represented by Mahmoud al-Aloul, deputy chairman of the Palestinian faction.

Dozens of Israeli soldiers troops vow to quit over Gaza captives: Report

More than 100 Israeli soldiers signed a letter saying they’ll refuse to serve in the military unless the government commits to a Gaza ceasefire and secures the release of captives held there.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the 130 signatories of the letter – addressed to Israeli cabinet ministers and army chief of staff – included reservists and draftees from various units.

“It is now clear that continuing the war in Gaza does not only delay the hostages’ return from captivity, but also endangers their lives. Many hostages have been killed by [army] strikes, many more than those who have been rescued in military operations to save them,” the letter said.

Warning they “will not be able to continue serving” unless the government pursues a captive deal, it added: “For some of us, the red line has been crossed already. For others … the day is approaching when we will, with broken hearts, stop reporting for duty.”

Kiryat Shmona residents asked to leave town after deadly Hezbollah attack

A spokesperson for the Kiryat Shmona municipality says authorities are asking residents in the Israeli town near the Lebanese border to leave after a Hezbollah rocket attack earlier in the day that killed two people.

“We were afraid of this all the time,” the spokesperson told Israeli Army Radio.

“Today we have 2,000 people in Kiryat Shmona – 2,000 people too many. We are asking them to leave the city.”

Iran ready to launch ‘thousands of missiles’ at Israel if attacked

A senior commander with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says Iran is prepared to mount operations much larger than the one last week if attacked by Israel.

“If we hit 200 there, we’re now prepared to land hundreds or thousands of missiles in their occupied territories and hit their security, military, and economic centres,” said Ebrahim Jabbari, an advisor to IRGC chief commander Hossein Salami.

He pointed out that Israel is very small in geographical size compared to Iran, and must therefore be careful about the ramifications of an Iranian retaliation.

“We are a vast country. We have created the capability to strike from other points in the country if any one of our points are hit. But what are they going to do? The US won’t dare enter into battle with us, but we can quickly plow that little territory,” Jabbari said in reference to Israel.

For first time in weeks, Biden and Netanyahu speak

The US president and Israeli prime minister have just finished speaking over the phone in their first known conversation since August.

Since then, developments in the Middle East have spiraled to the brink of regional war, with Israel opening up a massive campaign against Lebanon and Iran carrying out a missile attack on Israeli territory in retaliation.

The talks between the two leaders are reported to have covered Israel’s response to Iran’s attack, which Israel has promised to carry out with the White House approving publicly.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/9/live-israel-hits-lebanons-beirut-bekaa-valley-gaza-deaths-near-42000

Looks like Grayzone journalist and US citizen Jeremy Loffredo has been detained by Israelis, most likely for this excellent scoop he did like week unraveling the true extent of Iranian missile strikes that the Israeli authorities don't want people to know about.

>>484864
I don't understand why they nabbed him ?
It just makes them look weak.

Satellite pictures that show pretty much all the missile impacts have appeared a few days later. Admittedly Sat-pics aren't reliable evidence by any means, certainly not as good as on the ground coverage. However the chance of keeping this quiet was nil to begin with, even if they could prevent journalists from investigating.

Israeli forces delivering ‘knock-out punch’ in northern Gaza
Hani Mahmoud
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Gaza

Pain and heartbreak continue to unfold across Gaza as the Israeli military continues to pound the Strip.

We are looking at a large number of casualties from overnight and early hours of this morning. Some 64 people have been killed, 47 of them in Jabalia town and Jabalia refugee camp after the Israeli military attacked the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital as well as an evacuation centre located in the western part of Jabalia town. That attack killed at least 16 people.

Air strikes are continuing, creating difficult conditions on the ground, and preventing people from evacuating to safety. We’ve seen this happening throughout the past 12 months of this genocidal war – the Israeli army deliberately preventing people from evacuating to safety, while also ordering people to go to areas that are supposed to be safe – but they end up getting killed within days and hours of their arrival.

The 400,000 people that UNRWA has estimated are trapped in the northern part of the Gaza Strip have little exit right now amid heavy artillery attacks and intense bombardment.

We interviewed families who managed to leave the area and get to Deir el-Balah, and they described the Israeli offensive as the final knockout punch in what seems to be a campaign to empty the entire northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Lebanon arrests 2 Syrians suspected of spying for Israel

The Lebanese military said it arrested the two Syrian nationals on suspicion of “photographing different places … and documenting the results of enemy air strikes” for Israeli authorities.

The arrests were “a result of surveillance and follow-up of Israeli spy networks and enemy agents” it said, adding that the accused were allegedly “recruited through social media”.

“The investigation with the two detainees has begun under the supervision of the competent judiciary,” the military added.

Israeli attacks cause ‘material damage’ in Syria’s Homs and Hama

Syria’s state news agency is reporting that Israeli forces carried out air attacks on a car assembly plant in the town of Hasiya in the Homs province as well as a military site in the countryside near the city of Hama.

The attacks occurred at 1am Thursday local time (22:00 GMT Wednesday) and caused “material damage”, the agency said, citing a military source.

Israel has ramped up bombings in Syria since it expanded its offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon two weeks ago. Earlier on Wednesday, a member of Syria’s internal security forces was killed and another wounded in an Israeli strike in Quneitra, while on Tuesday, at least seven civilians, including women and children, were killed in an Israeli air strike on the capital, Damascus.

Medics in Lebanon say Israel is deliberately targeting them
Imran Khan
Reporting from Hasbaiyya, Lebanon

Over 100 medics have been killed in Lebanon since hostilities broke out and it’s having an effect.

Hospitals here in southern Lebanon and frontline medical centres have been shut down. At least 40 of them since October 8 – simply because Israeli air strikes are coming too close into their compounds for the doctors and the front-line staff to say that they can operate here safely.

So they’ve shut them down. That’s at least 40 out of 137 hospitals across this 120km border.

So the front-line emergency services are incredibly stretched and this is all just putting more pressure on them. Medical staff say they feel that they are being deliberately targeted and that it’s exactly like what the Israelis have done to medical facilities in Gaza.

Lebanese accuse Israel of collective punishment as bombardment continues
Imran Khan
Reporting from Hasbaiyya, Lebanon

Israeli strikes on Lebanon are continuing.

In the town of Khiam, which is about 14 kilometres from where I am, we’ve been hearing intense Israeli air strikes. We’ve counted at least nine of them so far, and there were at least 16 in that area yesterday.

And overnight, there were attacks on Wardaniyeh, which killed at least five people. This is a town in central Lebanon, in the Mount Lebanon Governorate.

That’s far away from southern Lebanon and from the southern suburbs of Beirut and that’s very concerning to the Lebanese because it shows the Israeli air campaign is widening across the country.

And there were two key strikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight.

A lot of people here feel that this is just collective punishment. The Dahiyeh suburb is actually a vibrant neighbourhood. It gets called a Hezbollah stronghold in the media, which makes it sound like a garrison town. It’s not. It’s just a regular neighbourhood in Beirut. And Beirut’s a lively capital.

So people are just wondering what is left for the Israelis to bomb and they feel that this now is just either collective punishment or straight-up vengeance.

Ship damaged in attack off Yemen’s Hodeidah

The United Kingdom’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said the attack took place 70 nautical miles (about 130km) southwest of Yemen’s Hodeidah.

“The master of the vessel reports being hit by unknown projectile and the vessel has sustained damage,” it said on X.

“No fires or casualties reported. The crew are reported safe and the vessel [is] proceeding to its next port of call,” UKMTO added.

There was no immediate comment from Yemen’s Houthis.

Iraqi armed group claims drone attacks on northern Israel

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it launched two drone attacks on “vital” targets in northern Israel, in support of the people of Palestine and Lebanon, who are under Israeli attack.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Iran-backed group said it launched another drone attack on Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat. The Israeli military said it intercepted a drone that approached Israel over the Red Sea.

The attack aimed at Eilat was the fifth launched by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq on Wednesday.

The group has stepped up attacks targeting Israel in recent weeks as the Israeli military intensifies its assault on Gaza and expands its offensive in Lebanon. The group has also launched rockets and drone attacks at US forces in Iraq and Syria as part of its campaign.

Undercover Israeli troops kill leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Nablus
Nour Odeh
Reporting from Amman, Jordan

Al Jazeera is reporting from outside Israel because it has been banned by the Israeli government.

The occupied West Bank is still a place where a lot of Israeli military activity is taking place. Israeli assaults are continuing against Palestinians tonight, in Nablus, in Ramallah and also in nearby Birzeit.

In the afternoon hours of Wednesday, we saw dramatic pictures of undercover Israeli soldiers attacking in a main artery in Nablus city, killing four people. We understand now that one of them was the leader of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade along with three other members of the organisation.

Of course, this is a reminder that the occupation continues and its daily violence also continues for Palestinians, just as the war continues to rage in Gaza and other fronts continue to escalate in Lebanon and elsewhere. For now, the West Bank remains on everybody’s radar.

Hezbollah now led by longtime military, political figures: Report

Hezbollah continues to show it’s still capable of launching projectiles at Israel and countering its ground invasion of Lebanon, despite the assassination of a large number of its top political and military leaders.

Israel’s national broadcaster Kan reports the Israeli military believes Haitham Ali Tabatabaei, a former commander of the elite Radwan Force, has now taken over command of military operations for the group.

Mohammad Haidar, a member of the Jihad Council, is also overseeing military manoeuvres, the report said.

Naeem Qassem, who released two defiant video messages following the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, is believed to have taken the political lead, after Israel said it succeeded in killing Hashem Safieddine.

Iran’s foreign minister holds war-focused meetings in Qatar

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is meeting Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha.

The Iranian diplomat has been on a regional tour he says is aimed at finding ways of ending Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

He arrived in Qatar late last night after completing a trip to Saudi Arabia. Araghchi visited Lebanon and Syria before that, despite the intense Israeli bombing of the two countries.

‘Israel must just go crazy and attack Iran’
Nour Odeh
Reporting from Amman, Jordan

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Early this morning the Israeli army said it assassinated two Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon. It also claimed to have killed Hezbollah commanders in Syria, in Homs and the occupied Golan Heights. These claims remain unconfirmed by Hezbollah.

The military also confirmed the death of an Israeli soldier and a critical injury to a reservist during clashes with Hezbollah fighters during these incursions into southern Lebanon that are increasing by the day.

The mood in Israel is about what the coming escalation with Iran would look like. In the media, there are very few opinion pieces about the need not to attack Iran and prevent an all-out regional war. One piece was titled “Israel must just go crazy and attack Iran”, with another talking about the “golden opportunity”.

In contrast, regional Arabic media are discussing the wider consequences of such an attack – how it would affect the stability of the region, what it would do to oil prices and the economy.

Biden speaks with Netanyahu, pledges ‘ironclad’ support for Israel
Al Jazeera Staff

Washington, DC – President Joe Biden reaffirmed his “ironclad” support for Israel during a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after an escalation of attacks on Gaza and Lebanon.

The call between the two leaders on Wednesday lasted 30 minutes and was their first publicly announced conversation since August.

The call comes as Israel considers an attack against Iran in response to Iranian ballistic missile launches that targeted Israeli military sites last week.

Israel claims killing two Hezbollah commanders

The Israeli military said it has killed two Hezbollah commanders in air attacks in southern Lebanon.

They are Ahmed Mustafa Allhaj Ali, who the Israeli military said was responsible for firing hundreds of rockets and antitank missiles at the city of Kiryat Shmona, and Muhammad Ali Hamdan, who it said was responsible for launching missile attacks on northern Israel.

The Israeli military also said it bombed weapons warehouses in Beirut and other military infrastructure in southern Lebanon overnight.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/10/live-israel-kills-medics-in-lebanon-as-siege-on-north-gaza-enters-6th-day

Israeli troops open fire at UN peacekeeper positions in southern Lebanon: report

The Reuters news agency is reporting that Israeli troops have opened fire at three positions held by UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

The agency’s source did not specify the type of fire, and said one of the targeted sites was UNIFIL’s main base in Naqoura.

Earlier this week, UNIFIL refused a request from the Israeli military to vacate bases near the border. The area has been a demilitarised zone since the end of the war in 2006.

PRCS says death toll from shelter attack has risen to 27

The number of people killed in an Israeli attack on a school in Deir el-Balah has risen to 27, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

“Palestine Red Crescent teams responded to 27 fatalities and 54 injuries following the Israeli occupation army’s targeting of Rafida School, located near the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters in Deir Al-Balah,” PRCS said on X.

Arrested Israeli in Lebanon deported to US after intervention: Reports

An Israeli man arrested in Lebanon after entering the country with a British passport and exhibiting suspicious behaviour has been freed and deported to the US, according to multiple Israeli media outlets.

Joshua Tartakovsky, a 42-year-old Israeli citizen born in the United States, is believed to have entered Lebanon in the past few weeks with a group of journalists. He was arrested by Lebanese security forces in Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh district on suspicion he may be engaged in espionage.

Israeli media report Tartakovsky’s release came after pressure from Washington.

Tanker struck off Yemen as Houthis continue Red Sea strikes

A Liberia-flagged ship was struck by an unidentified projectile in the Red Sea causing minor damage, but no casualties.

The incident occurred about 135km (73 nautical miles) southwest of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, security firm Ambrey said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) said separately it received a report of an incident in the same area and authorities are investigating.

The chemical products tanker – en route from Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah to Muscat in Oman – was struck on its starboard side. The projectile hit the bridge causing minor damage, Ambrey said.

About four hours later, two additional projectiles reportedly detonated close to the ship’s port side.

“Ambrey assessed the vessel to have a strong affiliation with the Houthi targeting profile,” Ambrey said.

Houthi fighters in Yemen have carried out nearly 100 attacks on ships crossing the Red Sea since November, saying they’re acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel’s yearlong war on Gaza.

More from meeting of Iranian and Qatari foreign ministers

As we previously reported, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has met his Qatari counterpart and prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Doha.

In a statement on X, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said the two officials held “important consultations” on developments in the region.

“It is only responsible for all states to maximise their efforts to shield our region against an imposed catastrophe by stopping genocide in Gaza and aggression on Lebanon,” he said after the talks.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/10/live-israel-kills-medics-in-lebanon-as-siege-on-north-gaza-enters-6th-day

Hamas fighters claim major ambush on Israeli forces in northern Gaza

The armed wing of Hamas says it successfully conducted a “complex ambush” that saw multiple Israeli armoured vehicles and soldiers hit east of besieged Jabalia in northern Gaza.

The Qassam Brigades said a convoy consisting of 12 military vehicles and a truck loaded with soldiers was targeted with multiple explosive devices.

“After that, our fighters advanced towards the ambush area and finished off the remaining soldiers from zero distance with light weapons. They targeted a number of soldiers who fled the area towards a house with an antipersonnel explosive device, killing and wounding them.”

The Israeli military has not commented on the incident yet.

Two UNIFIL peacekeepers injured in Lebanon: Source

A source in UNIFIL forces has told Al Jazeera that two peacekeepers were slightly wounded in the Israeli shelling of a UNIFIL site on Lebanon’s southern border.

The source added that Israeli forces hit a UNIFIL guard tower at the headquarters in the Naqoura area, injuring two soldiers.

We will bring you more details as they come in.

UN peacekeeping bases designed to be highly visible
Imran Khan
Reporting from Hasbaiyya, Lebanon

What we’re hearing from UNIFIL sources is that there was an attack against their base. Israeli soldiers opened fire at three positions held by UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

They told us two of the solders were slightly injured in the Israeli bombardments, one of those took place in Naqoura.

But these bases are all over southern Lebanon… these are high profile bases, they are designed like that. The UN peacekeepers drive around in white military vehicles, they wear blue hats, they are designed to be high visibility.

There is no way the Israelis didn’t know what they were shooting on. This is a very worrying development for the United Nations.

Israeli forces ‘deliberately’ attacked UNIFIL cameras and positions

UNIFIL confirmed two peacekeepers were wounded when an Israeli tank fired at an observation tower at its headquarters in Naqoura, southern Lebanon.

Israeli “soldiers also fired on UN position (UNP) 1-31 in Ras Naqoura, hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system”, it said in a statement, adding an Israeli “drone was observed flying inside the UN position up to the bunker entrance”.

On Wednesday, UNIFIL said Israeli soldiers “deliberately fired at” perimeter-monitoring cameras and disabled them.

“They also deliberately fired on UNP 1-32A, where regular Tripartite meetings were held before the conflict began, damaging lighting and a relay station,” it said. “Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and of Security Council Resolution 1701.”

Israel moves to confiscate UNRWA HQs in occupied East Jerusalem: Reports

Israeli media reports say Israel is moving to confiscate the land of the headquarters of UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem and allocate it for illegal settlements.

The area will be turned into 1,440 housing units and preparations are reportedly under way with an order issued for seizing the land, reports by Israeli Army Radio and Israel Hayom said.

In May, Israeli settlers set fire to the compound of the headquarters amid increasing Israeli rhetoric against the UN agency and efforts to designate it a “terrorist” organisation.

Emergency rescuers face increasing Israeli attacks in south Lebanon
Imran Khan
Reporting from Hasbaiyya, Lebanon

Israel’s air force continues bombarding Lebanon, killing five paramedics recently. We’ve been speaking to several medics who tell us they feel they’re being targeted.

More than 100 medical staff have been killed since October 8 last year, and that number is increasing now. Rescuers say the Israelis know where they are. “We are clearly marked, we’re the first responders, and we’re being targeted.”

This latest is a very serious attack on the Lebanese emergency services, they say.

About 40 front-line medical centres have had to shut down because the Israeli bombing has come too close to the hospitals or the clinics for the staff to feel safe. This is an extremely worrying development for the Lebanese emergency sector.

No justification for ICC arrest warrants delay: Lawyer

It’s been more than four months since the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced he was applying for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as top Hamas leaders.

However, The Hague-based court’s pre-trial chamber is yet to approve the warrants.

“This is in stark contrast to what other chambers have done in other contexts, for instance in Ukraine, by issuing arrest warrants in a very few weeks,” Triestino Mariniello, a law professor at Liverpool John Moores University and a member of the legal Team representing Gaza victims before the ICC since 2020, told Al Jazeera.

“The ICC has so far failed to provide any sort of justice to Palestinian victims and surprisingly is delaying any decision on the issuance of potential arrest warrants enabling states, political bodies to interfere with the work of the court,” he said.

“Just by placing this delay into the wider context we know that the International Criminal Court, as also revealed by investigative journalists, has been under incredible pressure and also threats by different states and also by individuals,” Mariniello added.

He noted that the delay might be “due to this pressure” but stressed that “from a legal perspective at least, there is no justification” for it.

Israeli forces demolish house of Palestinian journalist in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have demolished the home of a Palestinian journalist in the town of Shuyukh al-Arroub, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

The house of journalist Khaled Khanna was destroyed with bulldozers after the family of five who had just moved in were forced to evacuate, according to the Wafa news agency.

Israeli forces had also demolished a house owned by Khanna and his brother Nabil in 2019.

UN inquiry accuses Israel of crime of ‘extermination’

A United Nations inquiry says it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.

A statement by ex-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay released ahead of a full report accused Israel of “relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” in the war.

“Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” said Pillay, whose report will be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 30.

The UN inquiry’s statement also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles and restricting permits for patients to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.

Civil society groups sue Dutch state for ‘failing to prevent genocide in Gaza’

A coalition of Palestinian and Dutch civil society organisations have announced they are suing the Dutch State for “failing to prevent genocide in Gaza and other Israeli violations of international law”.

They said their main request is for the Dutch civil court to include a ban on the export and transit of weapons to Israel and investment relations that “help maintain Israel’s unlawful occupation and colonisation of Palestinian territory”.

They argue that The Netherlands is obliged, as a signatory of the Genocide Convention, to take measures to prevent genocide, whereas it keeps arming Israel and “consistently positioning itself as a political ally of Israel”.

This is happening even though the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in January that Israel is plausibly committing genocide against Palestinians, they said.

https://twitter.com/SOMO/status/1844347168259448848

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/10/live-israel-kills-medics-in-lebanon-as-siege-on-north-gaza-enters-6th-day

>>484872
>Israeli troops open fire at UN peacekeeper positions
>The area has been a demilitarised zone since the end of the war in 2006.
So a few months ago we had an Israeli official shred the UN Charta in front of the UN assembly, and now they are attacking UN bases in a demilitarized zone.

They clearly do not want to be part of the United Nations.

Israel is preparing to invade Lebanon, not to create a buffer zone

Military analyst Elijah Magnier told Al Jazeera that today’s incident is not the first time UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL has been under fire from Israel since it began its presence in Lebanon.

“We’re talking about 1978. In 1982, the UNFIL position came under fire. In 1996, a compound… came under fire” he said, adding the incident resulted in the deaths of 106 civilians.

He said this is happening “because Israel needs to go through the UNIFIL position in Naqoura and start the invasion of Lebanon, and this axis is vital for the Israeli army”.

Magnier said that the number of Israeli troops ready to enter Lebanon is “huge”.

“We’re talking about 70-80,000. This is not to create a small buffer zone,” as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated, Magnier said, adding they are there “to invade Lebanon”.

Israeli strike rocks central Beirut
Dorsa Jabbari
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

We’re about a kilometre and a half (about one mile) away from one of the locations where Israel carried out its air strike.

We felt the impact of the air strike in our office. The building shook where I am standing.

We understand Israel has hit two different buildings in the heart of Beirut and we’re getting reports that they are residential buildings in the heart of the capital.

What we do know is that one of the buildings that was hit is in an area where many displaced people were sheltering nearby.

Italy summons Israeli ambassador after UN peacekeepers wounded: Report

Italy’s defence minister has summoned the Israeli ambassador, a government source told AFP, after the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it had been hit by Israeli tank fire.

The UNIFIL force, which has some 10,000 peacekeepers in south Lebanon, said that Israeli tank fire on its headquarters wounded two members.

EU, Spain condemn Israeli attack on UNIFIL peacekeepers

The Spanish government says it “strongly condemns” the Israeli attack on the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, in southern Lebanon, that wounded two peacekeepers.

In a statement, it said attacks against peacekeeping operations a very serious violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council Resolution 1701. The government also demanded that the safety of UNIFIL peacekeepers is guaranteed.

Separately, the European Union’s foreign policy chief also slammed what he described as “another line” being “dangerously crossed in Lebanon”.

“We condemn this inadmissible act, for which there is no justification,” Josep Borrell wrote on X.

UNICEF: Gaza fighting pauses agreed to for polio vaccinations

Humanitarian pauses have been agreed to allow a second round of polio vaccinations targeting 590,000 children under the age of 10 to start in the Gaza Strip on October 14, according to the head of the UN children’s agency UNICEF.

“Area-specific humanitarian pauses have been agreed. It is critical that these pauses are respected by all parties. Without them, it is impossible to vaccinate the children,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

Israel urges UN peacekeepers in Lebanon to move north after firing on their positions

Israel recommends that the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon move north, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said after Israeli forces fired on several UNIFIL positions today and yesterday.

“Our recommendation is that UNIFIL relocate 5 km (3 miles) north to avoid danger as fighting intensifies and while the situation along the Blue Line remains volatile as a result of Hezbollah’s aggression,” Danon said in a statement.

Thursday’s incident, in which two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured, is the most serious reported by the mission since it said last week it had rejected Israeli demands to “relocate” from some of its positions.

The attacks on UN positions have drawn widespread international condemnation.

France, Italy seeks answers from Israel on UN peacekeepers attack

France and Italy have condemned the targeting of UN troops by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, that resulted in injuries to two peacekeepers at the UNIFIL headquarters.

“France expresses its deep concern following the Israeli shots that hit the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and condemns any attack on the security of UNIFIL,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that none of its 700 troops in the mission had been wounded.

“We await explanations from the Israeli authorities. The protection of peacekeepers is an obligation that applies to all parties to a conflict.”

Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto also expressed concern at a press conference in Rome, saying that the attack could constitute “war crimes”.

“What took place does not have a military justification,” Crosetto said. “We are waiting for a response to understand what led to these actions. These shots were not fired by mistake”.

WFP: Gaza food distribution halted in October

The UN World Food Programme says on X that a lack of supplies forced its teams to stop distributing aid parcels this month.

In the North Gaza governorate, the agency said, the WFP is “no longer able to distribute food in any form”.

It added that in the central and southern Strip, there is currently no aid distribution and bakeries are running out of flour, but hot meal kitchens are still operating in some areas.

Back in July, UN experts said that famine had already arrived in the Gaza Strip.

“Israel’s intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza,” 10 independent UN experts, including the special rapporteur on the right to food and the special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement at the time.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/10/live-israel-kills-medics-in-lebanon-as-siege-on-north-gaza-enters-6th-day

>>484864
>>484866
Update on the Jeremy Loffredo abduction, the regime is accusing him of treason for showing the crater of a missile impact near a Mossad building. The same crater was also filmed by PBS news hour, since the Israeli military censor allowed it. An Israeli judge wanted to release Loffredo but the regime police interfered, so it's clearly political persecution. He was assaulted during the abduction and they are now threatening him with life-imprisonment or death.

If they don't let him go we have to hope for an expedient regime collapse.

>>484875
They also banned the secretary general of the UN from entering Israel like a week ago, too.

>>484903
>get embarrassed by viral video pointing out damage near Mossad HQ
>arrest and torture a journalist

Death toll in the Gaza Strip rises amid ongoing Israeli air strikes

Medical sources have told Al Jazeera that 63 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip today.

Scenes of chaos in central Beirut
Laura Khan
Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon

A huge number of people were injured, well over 100, and they’ve been brought to nearby hospitals in the surrounding neighbourhood.

The hospitals have asked for no one to come and donate blood at the moment because they are already overwhelmed, so having more people come in to donate is just going to push them even further.

I was about a kilometre and a half (about 1 mile) away when the attack occurred. I heard a very deep rumble.

People outside told our colleagues that they saw streaks in the sky and, of course, big explosions.

We know that people were running and screaming in these neighbourhoods, absolutely traumatised.

These are densely packed neighbourhoods anyway, but many people have come from the southern suburbs of Beirut and are sheltering there.

About 700,000 people emptied from these suburbs into these areas, so they’d already been traumatised and moved once.

Of course, they wanted to seek safety, and they certainly did not find that in the centre of Beirut.

Houthis claim to have attacked and hit two ships

The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, says that group conducted two operations today.

The first targeted an American oil tanker called the Olympic Spirit with 11 ballistics missiles and two drones, he said in a televised address.

He said the ship was “directly and severely hit”.

He said the second operation targeted and hit a ship, St John, in the Indian Ocean with a winged missile, according to Saree, but he did not specify where the ship was registered.

The Houthis say their attacks on commercial and military ships with potential Israeli links are “in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese resistances”, and in “retaliation to the American-British aggression” against the group.

There has been no comment yet on these claimed attacks from the US military’s Central Command.

UNIFIL are committed to staying in place despite Israeli attack
Gabriel Elizondo
Reporting from New York, United States

We have heard condemnation from the UN of Israel’s targeting of the UN Interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the last 24 hours or so, calling on it to be protected.

We have heard from the Israeli ambassador to the UN. He repeated calls for UNIFIL troops to move back at least 5 kilometres (3 miles) away from their areas of operation.

That’s something that UNIFIL has said it will not do right now. It says it is fulfilling a UN Security Council mandate in Lebanon, and UNIFIL’s position is we don’t respond to Israel in this way.

So clearly, this is the sort of tone that we’ve been hearing from the Security Council meeting.

The overriding theme from most Security Council members is condemning Israel’s attack on UNIFIL and calling for UNIFIL to be protected, as well as calling for a ceasefire.

Deficit in Israel rises to 8.5 percent of GDP: Report

The Times of Israel, citing preliminary figures released by the Finance Ministry, reports that military and civilian spending on the war on Gaza has pushed Israel’s budget deficit in September to 8.5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

The newspaper said this marks the sixth month that the deficit has been above the government’s annual target of 6.6 percent of GDP.

The Finance Ministry has reiterated the target despite the Israeli military increasing its attacks on Lebanon.

Palestinian activist slams US decision to place him on sanction list

Palestinian activist Majed al-Zeer has slammed the US Department of the Treasury for including him earlier this week on its sanction list, a move he decried as “completely irrational” and illegal.

“I was shocked and deeply astonished to learn from media outlets of a decision that can only be described as unjust and devoid of even the most basic legal standards,” al-Zeer, a British citizen, said in a statement.

“Moreover, the information contained within it is wholly inaccurate and lacks credibility. I unequivocally reject all the details and accusations put forth in this decision,” he said.

Al-Zeer said the accusations are part of a broader alignment with Israel’s agenda to “criminalise anyone who works for the Palestinian cause, advocates for it, and operates within legal frameworks”.

The Palestinian activist said he has begun legal procedures to challenge the allegations.

According to the Treasury Department, al-Zeer, along with other individuals, played “critical roles in external fundraising for Hamas, often under the guise of charitable work, that finance the group’s terrorist activities”.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/10/live-israel-kills-medics-in-lebanon-as-siege-on-north-gaza-enters-6th-day

Iranian Red Crescent says Israel attacked field hospital on Syria-Lebanon border

The director of the organisation said the medical facility, along with equipment, supplies and ambulances were destroyed in the attack.

“Supplies including food, medical items and equipment were stationed there, clearly marked with Red Crescent flags,” said Pir Hossein Kolivand, head of the Iranian Red Crescent.

“It was evident from the air, from the ground, that the location was designated for healthcare services, emergency relief and temporary shelter. Unfortunately, earlier this morning, the site was targeted by the Zionist regime. Everything was destroyed,” he said.

https://twitter.com/Iran_RCS/status/1844459606745243748

Israel says 2 Palestinian fighters killed in drone strike, confiscates remains

The Israeli military has informed Palestinian authorities in the occupied West Bank that they have confiscated the bodies of two men killed in a drone strike on a car east of Tulkarem city on Thursday evening, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report.

Israel’s military said it recovered weapons and ammunition from the car, following the air attack in the Tulkarem area, and claimed it had killed two Palestinian fighters, including the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Nur Shams refugee camp.

Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the slain men as Iyad Muhammad Abdullah, from Nur Shams, and Awad Jamil Saqr Omar from Bal’a town in the Tulkarem governorate.

‘Zero accountability’: CPJ marks year since Israel killed, injured journalists in south Lebanon

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said there has been “zero accountability” a year on from the killing of Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and the wounding of six other reporters when the Israeli military fired two tank shells into southern Lebanon.

The deadly attack on October 13, 2023, which also injured two Al Jazeera reporters, “is part of a pattern of impunity by Israel in journalist killings”, the CPJ said.

“The October 13 targeted attack that killed Issam Abdallah and injured six journalists clearly identifiable as press is a continuation of Israel’s decades-long pattern of targeting journalists with impunity,” CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said.

Hezbollah political official survives Israeli assassination attempt: Report

A senior Hezbollah political official survived an assassination attempt on Thursday night, three anonymous security sources have told the Reuters news agency, as the Israeli military carried out its largest attack yet on central Beirut.

Wafiq Safa, the chief of Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit, which works with Lebanese security agencies, was reportedly the target as Israeli fighter jets bombed a densely-packed neighbourhood in the heart of Beirut, killing at least 22 people and injuring 117 others.

The Israeli military did not issue an evacuation order before carrying out the strike, which was only the third to hit central Beirut since the start of its bombing campaign in late September.

Most Israeli attacks have been concentrated in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, and where the Lebanese armed group has its headquarters.

France, US make call for stronger Lebanese army at UNSC

France and the US called for a strengthened Lebanese army at the UN Security Council, saying the move is crucial to implementing a resolution aiming to keep peace on Lebanon’s border with Israel.

“The solution to this crisis is not a weaker Lebanon. It’s a strong and truly sovereign Lebanon, protected by a legitimate security force, embodied in the Lebanese Armed Forces,” Deputy US Ambassador Robert Wood told a meeting of the 15-member UNSC on Thursday. France’s UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere also called for “heightened support for Lebanese institutions, in particular, the Lebanese Armed Forces”.

“We need the Lebanese Armed Forces to be deployed to the south and do the job,” he told reporters. “What we need to do is to make sure that the Lebanese Armed Forces are properly equipped and trained.”

The UN’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), mandated by resolution 1701 and adopted in 2006, aims to help the Lebanese army keep its southern border with Israel free of weapons or armed personnel, except those from the Lebanese state.

Israeli troops fired on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Thursday, injuring two of them, in actions that have drawn international criticism.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/11/live-israel-hits-centre-of-lebanons-beirut-intensifies-north-gaza-siege

Two wounded in another Israeli attack on UN peacekeepers

Israeli media is reporting that there has been another attack by Israeli forces on the UN peacekeeping forces near the border with Lebanon.

Two people have been wounded.

This comes after UNIFIL said yesterday that two Indonesian peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli attack.

We will bring you more on this as soon as we can.

Several UN peacekeepers injured in new Israeli attack on UNIFIL HQ

Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting that several Sri Lankan peacekeepers have been injured in another Israeli attack targeting the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters in southern Lebanon.

The report said an Israeli Merkava tank targeted one of UNIFIL’s observation towers on the main road connecting Tyre to Naqoura, in front of a Lebanese Army checkpoint, injuring the Sri Lankan contingent stationed there.

It said Israeli artillery fired a shell that struck the main entrance of the UNIFIL command centre in Naqoura, causing damage to the site.

Peacekeepers wounded, Israeli tanks ‘moved in proximity of UN position’: UNIFIL

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) confirms in a statement that its headquarters in southern Lebanon’s Naqoura was hit by explosions for the second time in 48 hours.

“Two peacekeepers were injured after two explosions occurred close to an observation tower. One injured peacekeeper was taken to a hospital in Tyre, while the second is being treated in Naqoura,” it said.

The statement added that multiple walls of the UN position came down after an Israeli military bulldozer hit the perimeter and tanks “moved in the proximity of the UN position”, but peacekeepers remained in position and called in reinforcements.

“Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and Security Council resolution 1701 (2006),” it said, adding that peacekeepers are at serious risk.

UN ‘appalled’ by Israel-Hezbollah war rhetoric

The United Nations says it is “appalled” by inflammatory language surrounding the war between Israel and Hezbollah and asked leaders to end their “bellicose posturing”.

Netanyahu this week urged the Lebanese people to rise up against Hezbollah or risk a similar fate to Hamas-run Gaza.

“We are appalled by sweeping inflammatory language on multiple sides,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva.

“Recent language threatening Lebanese people as a whole and calling on them to either rise up against Hezbollah or face destruction like Gaza, risks being understood as encouraging or accepting violence directed against civilians and civilian objects, in violation of international law.”

She also decried as “unacceptable” the “ongoing denigration of the UN, in particular UNRWA”, the UN agency supporting nearly six million Palestinian refugees spread across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

“This kind of toxic rhetoric, from any source, must stop,” she said.

‘Feels like Israel is going to war with the UN’
Imran Khan
Reporting from Hasbaiyya in southern Lebanon

UN forces are once again in the firing line and this is being taken very seriously.

The UN has sent letters to the Israeli government, saying Israel knows it is a peacekeeping mission and knows its location.

This is the fourth attack in as many days. You can attribute one attack to the fog of war, but four attacks amount to deliberate targeting, according to the people we’ve been talking to.

UNIFIL have an observation tower in this area. One of the reasons for that mission is observation and looking for infractions across the border. They coordinate with Israel and Lebanon, they know where they are and they’re not trying to hide.

So now people are wondering what Israel’s position towards the UN is because this is not happening only here. UNRWA is also under threat. Israel is trying to designate it as a terrorist organisation and trying to turn its headquarters into housing for settlers.

One person from the UN I spoke to said this feels like Israel is going to war with the UN.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/11/live-israel-hits-centre-of-lebanons-beirut-intensifies-north-gaza-siege

Hezbollah claims flurry of attacks on Israel

As we just reported, the Israeli army said it detected 100 projectiles fired from Lebanon towards Israeli territory in the last hour.

On its official Telegram channel, Hezbollah has claimed to have carried out a number of rocket and missile attacks, also in the last hour.

It said that it targeted gatherings of “enemy soldiers” in the Israeli towns of Kiryat Shmona and Kfar Yuval with salvoes of rockets, and bombed the city of Safed with “a large missile salvo”.

Hezbollah also says it attacked soldiers near an Israeli army barracks in the occupied Golan Heights with a rocket salvo.

Hezbollah media chief slams Israeli ‘justifications’ for attacking civilian targets

Hezbollah’s media chief, Mohammed Afif, held a news conference in Beirut, where he railed against Israel for its attacks and criticised local and foreign media that he said are lending credence to the killings.

He confirmed Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers, civilians, residential areas, hospitals and medical staff, and slammed the “excuses” and justifications the Israeli military uses to keep hitting them, including saying they contain weapons and explosives.

“Some media outlets, including global international outlets, cannot dare address the Israelis and tell them openly you are killing unarmed, defenceless innocent civilians,” he said.

He said Israeli claims are part of its “psychological warfare” on Hezbollah and the Lebanese people, and also criticised the government for “not even lifting a finger” amid the Israeli attacks.

“The Israeli army continues to bombard residential areas and kill civilians, under the false pretext that these are weapons depots. The Israelis are even targeting Dahiyeh with bombs saying there are weapons there. Above all, they impede and deny the civil defence and paramedics access to the areas.”

France summons Israeli envoy over attack on Lebanon UN peacekeepers

France says it summoned the Israeli ambassador after UN peacekeepers in Lebanon said Israeli fire on their headquarters wounded two staff.

“These attacks constitute serious violations of international law and must cease immediately. The Israeli authorities must explain themselves,” the French Foreign Ministry said. “France is therefore summoning, today the Israeli ambassador to France.”

Body of Iranian commander killed in Israeli attack found: IRCG

The Public Relations Department of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced that the body of IRGC Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan has been found.

On September 27, Nilforoushan was killed by Israeli strikes in Beirut. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was also killed in the attack.

The assassinations, along with the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, triggered Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel, in which it fired almost 200 ballistic missiles on October 1.

Israel used US-made munition in Beirut deadly strike: Report

A US-made munition was used in an Israeli air strike in a highly densely populated area in Beirut on Thursday which killed at least 22 people, The Guardian has found. The strike in Basra was the single deadliest attack since Hezbollah and Israel started trading fire more than a year ago.

The British newspaper found remnants of a US-manufactured joint direct attack munition (Jdam) amid the debris of a building that was reduced to rubble.

According to the report, “Jdams are guidance kits built by the US aerospace company Boeing that attach to large “dumb bombs” ranging up to 2,000lbs (900kg), converting them into GPS-guided bombs”.

Richard Weir, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch’s conflict and arms division and a former US military bomb technician verified the weapons remnant.

“The bolt pattern, its position and the shape of the of the remnant are consistent with the tail fin of a US-made, Jdam, guidance kit for Mk80 series air-dropped munitions,” Weir was quoted as saying in the report.

After Blinken call, powerful Lebanese Shia politician says Israel committing ‘crimes’

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri – also head of the Amal Movement, Lebanon’s other major Shia political party aside from Hezbollah – has commented on Israel’s attacks on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, saying its actions amount to a “crime”.

These comments come a short time after Berri received a call from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Here are a few of his other key points:

My deepest condolences to all Lebanese, to the families of the martyrs whose blood was shed throughout the south, in the suburbs, the Bekaa, the capital Beirut and Mount Lebanon.
My condolences also go to the Lebanese army, which today offered more sacrifices, martyrs and wounded, in the march of sacrifice and loyalty for the sake of Lebanon’s sovereignty.
What happened yesterday and today in terms of targeting UNIFIL forces and Lebanese army soldiers by Israel and its aggressive machine is a crime and is not only condemned and denounced, but it is also, and before anything else, a clear and explicit aggression and assassination attempt against UN Resolution 1701.
We present it to the international community, which has time to move and wake up to put an end to the war of extermination that Israel is waging against Lebanon, against humanity and against everything related to the rules of ethics, humanity and international legitimacy.
Mercy to the martyrs, civilians and soldiers, and prayers for a speedy recovery for the wounded. May God protect Lebanon.

Spanish PM demands ‘end to all violence’ against UNIFIL

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has demanded an “end to all violence” against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon after Israeli fire wounded two mission members near the Israeli border for the second consecutive day.

“This is absolutely unacceptable. It is totally unacceptable, and we demand an end to all violence, which, unfortunately, the Blue Helmets are suffering,” Sanchez said at a summit of European and Mediterranean leaders in Cyprus.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/11/live-israel-hits-centre-of-lebanons-beirut-intensifies-north-gaza-siege

>>484904
>They also banned the secretary general of the UN from entering Israel like a week ago, too.
So when are they gonna get kicked out the UN ?
Is that their intention ?

>get embarrassed
>arrest and torture a journalist
How can that be fixed ?
Do journalists need an armed protection detail ? So that attacking them has greater cost.

Or do we have to rethink journalism in the sense that it creates high-order organization that is capable of enforcing journalistic freedom by deploying commando-teams that frustrate all this shit.

There used to be this understanding that journalists would not be subjected to harassment, intimidation or worse, because journalistic work ensured decisions of organized power would remain within the boundaries of acceptability. But now it seems that isn't enough anymore. I don't get why, if you don't have free journalism to create political pressure to nudge things back on track, you'll get the brutal retaliation cycles that oscillate across the political spectrum. Have they forgotten how terrible it used to be before ?

Yanis Varufakis speculates that all the escalation that Netanyahu is doing, might be a ruse to divert attention away from Gaza, and they don't really intent to set off a major war with Iran.

Does that hypothesis hold water ?

US expands sanctions on Iran oil industry

The US has imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and petrochemical sectors in response to Tehran’s missile attack on Israel on October 1, the Treasury Department has said.

“Today’s sanctions target Iranian efforts to channel revenues from its energy industry to finance deadly and disruptive activity—including development of its nuclear program, the proliferation of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, and support to regional terrorist proxies—with dangerous consequences for the region and the world,” Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles against Israel in what was the second direct strike on its enemy this year alone. The barrage of rockets was in response to the killing of Iran’s allies and members of its forces, including Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Israel has vowed to respond to Iran’s attack leaving the region on edge. US President Joe Biden said Israel should avoid targeting Iran’s oil field amid fear of petrol price hikes.

Video shows drone in the skies of Tel Aviv

Video posted on X by an Israeli journalist, and verified by Al Jazeera, shows an unmanned aircraft screaming past an apartment building in Israel’s largest city.

Earlier, we reported on an Israeli army statement saying two drones had penetrated the airspace around Tel Aviv, and that one had caused damage to a building in Herzliya in the northern part of the Tel Aviv district.

Local media in Israel is also reporting a power outage in the area.

https://x.com/ItayBlumental/status/1844820684306006172

Translation: This is a psychedelic video. Direct damage to a building in Herzliya, power outages in the area. No casualties are known

Video shows destruction in southern Lebanon after Israeli strike

Video posted on X by local Lebanese media shows large-scale destruction caused by an Israeli airstrike on the town of al-Bisaria, near the major city of Sidon, a short while ago.

This video has been verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking unit

https://x.com/thisislebnews/status/1844811203622920539

Translation: Videos documenting the effects of the violent raid that targeted the town of al-Bisaria.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/11/live-israel-hits-centre-of-lebanons-beirut-intensifies-north-gaza-siege

>>484933
>The US has imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil
>US President Joe Biden said Israel should avoid targeting Iran’s oil field amid fear of petrol price hikes.
Won't the sanctions have the same effect ?
They block oil supply and then the petrol price goes up.

Nicaragua breaks diplomatic ties with ‘fascist’ Israel

The government of Nicaragua has broken diplomatic relations with Israel, with the Central American nation accusing the Israeli government of being “fascist” and “genocidal”.

Nicaragua’s government said the break was due to Israel’s attacks on Palestinian territories, adding the conflict now also “extends against Lebanon and gravely threatens Syria, Yemen and Iran”.

Earlier on Friday, Nicaragua’s congress passed a resolution calling on President Daniel Ortega’s administration, an ally of Iran, to break ties with Israel to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Gaza war.

Lebanese army announces 2 soldiers killed by Israeli forces

The Lebanese military announced on Friday that two soldiers were killed and three others injured after Israeli forces targeted a military centre in the town of Kafra in Bint Jbeil district, southern Lebanon.

At least eight soldiers from Lebanon’s military have now been killed since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel erupted in October 2023.

In response to the Israeli attack, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for a “global stand of conscience to put an end to this aggression”.

“This persistent Israeli crime against Lebanon today did not spare brave soldiers who are carrying out their national duty to protect the land and defend the people,” he said.

Nicaragua cutting ties with Israel latest expression of Palestinian solidarity: Analyst

Danny Shaw, professor of Latin American and Caribbean studies and international affairs analyst, said Nicaragua cutting off diplomatic ties with Israel was not its first show of support for the plight of Palestinians.

Nicaragua’s Vice President Rosario Murillo called the Israeli government “fascist” and “genocidal” on Friday as her government said diplomatic relations were being cut due to Israel’s attacks on Palestinian territory.

“It is not the first time that they have made these international moves. They brought Germany and the other Western supporters of the Israeli genocide to the International Criminal Court a few months ago. In the 1980s, when Nicaragua was subjected to a ‘dirty war’ from the United States, they brought the US as well to the International Court of Justice,” Shaw told Al Jazeera.

“Nicaragua is not alone. We’ve seen the Colombians. The Venezuelans. The Bolivians. The Cubans and many other countries in the Americas break relations with the Israeli government. These are countries that know colonialism and neo-colonialism quite well and that’s why they are showing solidarity with the Palestinians,” Shaw said.

Ireland’s PM tells Israel to ‘stop firing’ at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

Ireland’s Taoiseach Simon Harris has told Israel its forces must stop firing on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

“Israel must stop firing on UN peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL in Lebanon,” the Irish leader said in a statement late on Friday, the latest comments by Ireland on Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon that have ignited a fierce diplomatic backlash against Dublin.

Islamic Resistance in Iraq claims second drone attack on Israel

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq says it used a drone to attack a “vital target” in the occupied Golan Heights.

The umbrella group of Iran-aligned forces also released a video of launching a drone earlier this morning. There have been no reports about potential impact so far.

https://twitter.com/PalinfoAr/status/1844968021451850008

Translation: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq: Scenes from the launch of a drone towards a vital target in the occupied Golan this morning.

Hezbollah says its missiles targeted Israeli military site

Hezbollah says it used “qualitative missiles” to hit an Israeli military base making weapons south of Haifa in its seventh attack on Israeli positions today.

It said the attack took place at 6am (03:00 GMT), adding that it also used artillery shells to hit Israeli soldiers near the Lebanon border, sent a “guided missiles” toward the Ramia site, and directed multiple rocket salvoes at Israeli positions.

https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1844951128951095741

Translation: Hezbollah publishes a video of what it said was targeting a number of settlements in northern occupied Palestine.

Israeli military surrounds foreign activists in building near Nablus

Israeli forces surrounded a building housing 16 foreign activists in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, on Friday night and tried to break down the door, Wafa news agency reported.

The activists were in the town to support residents as part of the “Faz3a” solidarity campaign, which aims to provide international-led protection from Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank.

There are no updates on what happened to the activists following the raid on the building.

Israeli military raids have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank in recent hours. They include:

The town of Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah
A house in the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya. A Palestinian was arrested
Al-Suwaih neighbourhood in the town of Silwan

UN expert says ‘no one takes the Israeli government seriously’: Report

Speaking to Lebanese news outlet Al Mayadeen, Chris Sidoti was reported as saying that “no one takes the Israeli government or its delegation seriously on anything they say, as they lie and their comments on the report are lies”.

Sidoti, speaking ahead of a damning report set to be published by the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, of which he is a member, also accused Israel of “targeting and destroying the healthcare sector and its workers in Gaza”.

Sidoti said the evidence “clearly indicates deliberate, targeted attacks” by Israel on Gaza’s healthcare system, saying this was aimed at “its destruction”. He said these actions amount to “a war crime and a crime against humanity”.

The Commission of Inquiry report will be presented to the UN General Assembly on October 30.

More than 100 states sign letter of support for UN chief after Israeli travel ban

UN member states have signed a letter condemning Israel’s recent declaration of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as “persona non grata”.

In a strong show of support for the UN’s chief, 105 states signed the letter that expresses “deep concern” and condemns the recent announcement by Israel’s foreign minister that Guterres was banned from entering Israel.

“Such actions undermine the United Nations’ ability to carry out its mandate, which includes mediating conflicts and providing humanitarian support,” the signatories said.

“We affirm our full support and confidence in the Secretary-General and his work … As member states of the United Nations, we call for respect for the UN’s leadership and its mission,” they said.

The joint statement, which was spearheaded by Chile, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Uganda, Indonesia, Spain, Guyana and Mexico, follows after the UN Security Council recently expressed backing for the secretary-general.

The 15-member council said in a statement that “any decision not to engage with the UN Secretary-General or the United Nations is counterproductive, especially in the context of escalating tensions in the Middle East”.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/12/live-israel-targets-un-in-south-lebanon-turns-northern-gaza-to-ruins

Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas

Hezbollah has warned Israelis to stay away from Israeli army sites in residential areas in the north of the country, accusing it of operating in civilian areas.

“The Israeli enemy army uses the homes of [Israeli] settlers in some settlements [towns and cities]” in north Israel and has military bases “inside settlement neighbourhoods in major occupied cities such as Haifa, Tiberias, Acre,” it said in a statement in Arabic and Hebrew.

“We warn the settlers from being near these military gatherings in order to preserve their lives.”

This is similar to the rhetoric used by Israel in the near-nightly evacuation orders it issues on areas of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, in which it tells civilians that Hezbollah uses them as human shields.

Berlin demands clarification as Israel kills six in Germany-supported centre

At least six people were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Dar-es-Salaam meeting centre in Lebanon, which is supported by German organisations, Germany’s Foreign Ministry has said.

“We are in contact with the Israeli government and await a full clarification,” it added.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/11/live-israel-hits-centre-of-lebanons-beirut-intensifies-north-gaza-siege

https://x.com/TadhgHickey/status/1845082030968652176
Ireland is protesting the use of their airport by the US to transport weapons to Israel

Israel has carried out ‘massacres’ in Jabalia under US protection

Hamas has accused the Israeli army of committing “massacres” in northern Gaza’s Jabalia region, claiming the attacks were carried out as “retaliation against unarmed civilians under American cover”.

In a statement on Saturday, Hamas condemned what it described as Israeli “Nazi occupation’s massacres” that targeted a residential area in Jabalia late on Friday, killing at least 22 people and wounded more than 90.

“These massacres are a continuation of the ongoing criminal genocide against our people, shielded by American support,” the statement said, adding that these escalated strikes on civilians are an attempt to “punish the population for their resilience and rejection of displacement”.

“The ongoing Nazi terrorist crimes, now in their second year, demonstrate to the world that this rogue, fascist entity is bloodthirsty and seeks revenge through further genocide against our people in Gaza and the Lebanese population.”

Hezbollah claims yesterdays drone attack on Tel Aviv

As we reported yesterday, two drones made their way from Lebanese territory into the airspace around the Israeli city, causing damage to a building and a small power outage.

In a statement published moments ago, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for this attack, saying that it launched a “squadron of suicide drones on the outskirts of Tel Aviv”.

This marks one of the rare instances of Hezbollah weapons penetrating far enough into Israeli territory to threaten its largest city.

UNIFIL says fifth peacekeeper wounded in Lebanon

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says unknown gunfire a day earlier hit a peacekeeper, the fifth wounded in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border in just two days.

“Last night, a peacekeeper at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura was hit by gunfire due to ongoing military activity nearby,” a statement on X said, adding that the peacekeeper was “stable” after having a surgery.

“We do not yet know the origin of the fire,” it added.

Iran’s parliament speaker arrives in Beirut in show of solidarity

Iranian parliament speaker and former military commander Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has arrived in the Lebanese capital to meet his counterpart and Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri.

“I’m here to send a message from the people, supreme leader and the president of Iran to the people of Lebanon that, as always, we stand with the Lebanese people, government and resistance, and will stay by their stand in difficult conditions,” he told Iranian state television after arriving in Beirut.

Ghalibaf is next heading to Geneva to take part in an assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, where he said he will discuss a shared “duty” to help besieged Palestinians and Lebanese people with his counterparts.

Israeli military issues threats to residents of 22 Lebanese towns

The Israeli military has told residents of another 22 towns and villages in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate or risk being killed, ostensibly due to “Hezbollah elements, facilities or weapons” being present in the large areas.

“You are prohibited from heading south, and any movement towards the south poses a danger to your life,” an Israeli army spokesman said on X, adding that residents must move north of al-Awali Sea.

Many of the towns, including Aita al-Shaab, Ramyah and Hanine, have already been extensively bombed by Israeli fighter jets and drones.

Iran says it will send aid to Lebanon if Beirut air corridor can be opened

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has reiterated his promise that Tehran stands by the people, government and resistance forces of Lebanon amid Israeli attacks.

“Iran is ready to help the war-stricken, displaced and wounded people under the supervision of the Lebanese government and send assistance if an air corridor can be opened by the government for Beirut,” he said following a meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker and Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri.

“Iran will certainly continue to support all decisions taken by the people, government and resistance in this period.”

In a symbolic move, the former air force commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personally piloted the plane that got him to the Rafic Hariri International Airport as fires and smoke resulting from the latest Israeli attacks could be seen.

Iran bans pagers, walkie-talkies on flights after Lebanon attacks

Iran has banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all flights, according to local media reports, weeks after deadly sabotage attacks in Lebanon that were blamed on Israel.

“The entry of any electronic communication device, except mobile phones, in flight cabins or … in non-accompanied cargo, has been banned,” semi-official ISNA news agency reported, citing the spokesman for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation, Jafar Yazerlo.

The decision came three weeks after the sabotage attacks targeting members of the Iran-allied Hezbollah group in Lebanon that saw pagers and walkie-talkies explode, killing at least 39 people.

Nearly 3,000 others were wounded in the attack, which Iran and Hezbollah blamed on Israel, including Tehran’s ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani.

Earlier this month, Dubai-based airline Emirates banned pagers and walkie-talkies on board its planes.

Lebanon army to conduct more joint patrols with UNIFIL

A source close to the Lebanese army leadership has told Al Jazeera that:

The deployment of the army in southern Lebanon comes in compliance with resolution 1701 and the army adheres to the decision.
The army’s mission in southern Lebanon is to conduct patrols in coordination with UNIFIL.
The Lebanese army will not allow Israel to storm its positions in southern Lebanon and will defend them.
The army is communicating with friendly armies to obtain funds to increase its resources and equipment in southern Lebanon.
⁠The army seeks to raise the number of its soldiers in southern Lebanon to 10,000.

Director of Gaza Health Ministry: 200 killed so far in Israel’s siege of north Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have interviewed Dr. Mounir al-Bursh, head of Gaza’s Health Ministry, who gave a terrifying picture of Israel’s siege of the northern Strip, which he said has been going for eight days now.

Here are a few of his key points summarised:

The situation at al-Awda Hospital, the Indonesian Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital is catastrophic.
Families are besieged for the eighth day. Many dead bodies are left on the streets
Twenty-two people were killed in Jabalia yesterday. There was another massacre today in central Jabalia.
Two hundred people have been killed in seven days in northern Gaza.
Thirty-two patients are still at the Indonesian Hospital. Two are in intensive care.
At Kamal Awdan Hospital, 177 patients remain.
More than 31 patients at al-Awda Hospital.
More than 240 medical staff are still serving at the three hospitals.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/12/live-israel-targets-un-in-south-lebanon-turns-northern-gaza-to-ruins

Looks like regime change operatives have been boosting the deposed Shah's son (who lives in northern Virginia), calling for "democratic" overthrow of the Islamic Republic. His father, of course, was the recipient of a CIA/MI6 coup to overthrow Iran's parliament and transform his status as constitutional monarch to full-blown dictator. Is there even anyone in Iran today who would sympathize with the fucking Shah?

>>484943
I doubt they would be deluded enough to think it's even remotely possible.

I think this might be a charade to monkey-wrench diplomacy. You know they created a clown-figure that gets promoted as the true-true head-of-state like that guy in Venezuela (Gonzo, Guydoo, or whatever). And then they don't say:
<fuck you, we're not having diplomatic relations with the Iranian government.
Instead they say
<fuck you, that's not the real government of Iran
It's really childish.

>>484943
>Is there even anyone in Iran today who would sympathize with the fucking Shah?
Probably not.
That Shahists, to the extent that any earnest ones exist, are fucking freaks. A lot of Iranians hate the existing government, but not because they miss the Shah. That's something I'm worried about, I hope the younger generation of Iranians understand that the interests pushing from outside do not have their wellbeing in mind and will gladly pick and choose another tyrant as long as it's a pro-western puppet tyrant.

‘Israel is wiping out Jabalia’

Residents in northern Gaza say Israel’s army has isolated the areas of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya from Gaza City, and completed severed access.

Many Jabalia residents are posting about the dire situation on social media with one vowing, “We will not leave, we die and we don’t leave.”

Nasser, a resident of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, said: “As the world is focused on Lebanon and possible Israeli strike against Iran, Israel is wiping out Jabalia.

“The occupation is blowing up roads and destroying residential districts. People also don’t find anything to eat. They are trapped inside their homes, fearing bombs could fall onto their heads.”

US, 40 countries tell Israel to end attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon
Rob Reynolds
Reporting from Washington, DC, United States

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been on the phone with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.

Austin expressed ‘deep concern’ to Gallant over Israel’s continued attacks on UNIFIL, the UN’s peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, as well as over the deaths of two Lebanese armed forces soldiers, according to the Pentagon’s summary of their conversation.

Austin reinforced the need, according to the Pentagon, for Israel to cease its military activities in southern Lebanon and to “pivot”- as the statement put it – towards a diplomatic effort in the region as soon as is feasible.

Austin strongly emphasised the need for Israel to ensure the safety and security of peacekeeping forces, which Israeli army forces have been targeting in recent days and over the past weeks.

Separately, in another effort to apply pressure on Israel in this regard, 40 countries signed a letter to Israel. The 40 countries, which include France, Turkey, Indonesia, Ireland, China and the UK, are all participants in the UNIFIL force and they strongly condemned, according to the letter, continued Israeli army attacks on the peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon and their bases.

As far as we know at this hour, there has been no response from Israel to these joint efforts to pressure it into conforming to international law with respect to not harming peacekeeping forces.

US mulls sending advanced THAAD missile defence to Israel: Report

US officials have told the Associated Press (AP) news agency that the Biden administration is considering the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Israel.

No final decision has been made, one of two defence officials told the AP, though discussions took place late last week about deploying a THAAD to Israel. Deployment of a THAAD to Israel would involve the deployment of US soldiers to operate the complex system.

According to an April report by the US Congressional Research Service, the Army has seven THAAD batteries. Generally, each consists of six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, and radio and radar equipment. It requires 95 soldiers to operate.

The THAAD is considered a complimentary system to the Patriot missile defence, but it can defend a wider area, hitting targets at ranges of 150 to 200km (93 to 124 miles).

Video captures Israeli quadcopter attack on civilians in Gaza’s Jabalia

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have obtained and verified video footage appearing to show an Israeli quadcopter drone dropping explosives on fleeing civilians, including children, in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The video shows people fleeing, including children, at the sound of the approaching quadcopter before a bomb explodes.

Israel’s military launched a ground offensive in the Jabalia area and has laid siege to northern Gaza since last week, trapping tens of thousands of people without access to food and water.

Dr Mounir al-Bursh, head of Gaza’s Health Ministry, said Israel’s siege of the northern part of the Strip has killed at least 200 people over the past week.

https://twitter.com/AJA_Palestine/status/1845298421978235367

Hezbollah says fighters battle Israeli ‘infiltration’ in border village of Ramyah

Hezbollah said its fighters detonated an explosive device and have clashed in gun battles with Israeli forces who tried to infiltrate Ramyah village in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel.

Hezbollah said on social media that it had inflicted casualties on the Israelis and that fighting was continuing around the village.

‘Huge fireball’: Intense Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon overnight
Imran Khan
Reporting from Hasbaiyya, Lebanon

Nabatieh governorate is where I am, and Nabatieh town is just a few kilometres away. It’s one of the towns that we’ve driven through several times. That market, I am actually very familiar with, is now completely destroyed.

The fire was so bad that emergency services were not able to get in and see if there were bodies in the rubble.

But that was not the only major strike in southern Lebanon. We also had an air strike in Aita al-Shaab.

Aita al-Shaab has been under intense bombardment since September 29 when the Israelis announced their ground invasion. But this was the biggest strike that I’ve seen, certainly since September 29.

It was a huge fireball.

Hezbollah claims new attack on Israeli army post in Shebaa Farms

The Lebanese group says it carried out an attack on the Zabadin barracks in the Israeli-occupied territory.

A statement on Telegram said the rocket attack took place at 5:30am local time (02:30 GMT).

Hezbollah has intensified its attacks on Israeli troops during their ongoing incursion into southern Lebanon, with helicopters ferrying the wounded to a hospital in northern Israel on Sunday.

The group’s fighters “targeted at 10:10am [07:10 GMT] … a gathering of Israeli enemy forces in the village of Maroun al-Ras with artillery shells”, Hezbollah said in a statement.

US officials says no indication Israel will target Iran nuclear facilities: Report

US officials believe Israel has narrowed down targets it intends to attack in Iran to military and energy infrastructure, NBC reports.

Citing unnamed US officials, NBC said there is no indication that Israel will target Iran’s nuclear facilities or carry out more assassinations, though Israel has not yet made final decisions about how and when to act.

Iran has warned that it will respond harshly to any further attacks by Israel.

Ex-PM says ‘astonishing’ NZ hasn’t signed letter in support of UN chief

Helen Clark, who was prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, says she was shocked at the lack of support her country was expressing for Antonio Guterres, who she said has “come under severe attack” from the Israeli government “for doing his job”.

“A number of those NZ would normally consider ‘good company’ have signed. Is this a consequence of hard reset of foreign policy?” she asked in a post on X.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday he won’t change his decision to declare the UN secretary-general a “persona non grata” for his failure to “unequivocally condemn” Iran’s missile attack on Israel.

In a joint letter, 104 nations said Guterres had their “full support and confidence” and that Katz’s decision harmed the UN’s “ability to carry out its mandate”.

Israel’s widespread bombing of Lebanon possible attempt to ‘fan sectarian strife’
Imran Khan
Reporting from Hasbaiyya, Lebanon

This is now very concerning to common Lebanese people.

Two things are going on here. Firstly, they are looking at the strikes in the north of the country.

A few days ago, we had a strike against a Palestinian refugee camp just outside the major town of Tripoli in the north. Then this attack in Deir Billa, which is in the Batroun governorate.

These areas are far away from the southern suburbs of Beirut. They are far away from where I am standing right now [in Hasbaiyya].

This is now a concern to the Lebanese people because a lot of people who fled from this place have avoided Beirut, have avoided Tyre governorate, Sidon, and places like that because they were being bombed.

Now they are finding that those other places are being attacked as well.

Israel keeps saying that this is a war against Hezbollah. But it also keeps saying to the Lebanese people – you have to topple Hezbollah.

It’s trying to fan sectarian strife within this country and that may well be why they are hitting farther and farther away.

Israeli attack destroys mosque in southern Lebanon

An early morning attack by an Israeli aircraft has “completely destroyed” an old mosque in the centre of the small town of Kfar Tebnit in southern Lebanon, according to the country’s National News Agency.

In Sidon, Israeli warplanes targeted an apartment in a residential building in Sharhabeel to the northeast, but it is believed to have been empty.

The Israeli military also launched another strike on Nabatieh, which has been pounded multiple times since last night, destroying a building in the town of Roumine, the state-run agency reported.

Israel attempts Jabalia camp takeover after earlier failures: Analyst

Military analyst Elijah Magnier has told Al Jazeera that the Israeli military’s siege of northern Gaza – which has entered its ninth day and resulted in hundreds of Palestinians reported killed so far – is part of the latest attempt by Israel to take control of the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the Strip.

“The Israeli army pushed their tanks to surround the Jabalia camp. This is the third time they are trying to break into the camp after failing the first and the second time,” Magnier said.

“They bombarded and destroyed large parts of it in the previous attempts, causing large numbers of casualties,” he said.

“And their operation now aims at controlling the Jabalia camp, if they can this time. They have not managed that so far,” he added.

Israeli strike wounds 4 Lebanese Red Cross paramedics

Four paramedics with the Lebanese Red Cross have just been injured in southern Lebanon as a result of an Israeli air strike, the organisation said in a statement.

The emergency responders were on a rescue mission to a house in the town of Sarbin that was bombed by the Israeli military this morning and coordinated with UN peacekeepers to search for casualties.

But just as ambulances arrived, a second Israeli air strike hit the area, wounding the paramedics, who were taken to hospital but are not in life-threatening condition. “As the team was searching for casualties to rescue, the house was hit for a second time resulting in concussions to the volunteers and damage to the two ambulances,” it said.

Israel has been steadily ramping up its attacks on medics and civil defence crews in Lebanon, openly threatening to hit ambulances based on the claim they may carry Hezbollah fighters or weapons.

Iran sends 3 tonnes of emergency medical supplies to Lebanon

The Red Crescent Society of Iran announced a fourth aid consignment containing three tonnes of medical supplies arrived in Lebanon.

Babak Mahmoudi, an official with the organisation, told state media the aid delivery includes emergency medicine, including for children.

He also confirmed a previous announcement that the Red Crescent aims to establish a new field hospital on Lebanon’s border with Syria following the Israeli military’s bombing of its hospital there a week ago. The new hospital will be built some 40km (24 miles) from the facility targeted by Israel.

Mahmoudi also said at least 11 Iranian Red Crescent aid workers would be deployed to Lebanon in the coming days.

Iran’s parliament speaker and former air force commander, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who piloted a plane to Beirut on Saturday and visited the site of the latest Israeli air attack on the city, said Tehran is prepared to send more supplies if the Lebanese government can secure an air corridor over the capital.

Funeral to be held for Iran commander killed by Israel

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) plans a funeral procession for one of its most senior commanders killed since the start of the war on Gaza, after finding his body two weeks following his assassination by Israel.

The body of IRGC deputy for operations Abbas Nilforoushan will first be taken to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq on Monday before being transferred to Mashhad in northeastern Iran, it said in a statement.

There will be a procession in Tehran on Tuesday morning before the body is moved to his hometown of Isfahan for a ceremony and burial on Wednesday and Thursday.

Nilforoushan was meeting with Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders in the Lebanese group’s underground headquarters in Beirut on September 27 when they were killed by dozens of bunker-buster munitions dropped by Israeli jets. His body was found on Friday, according to the IRGC.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/13/live-israeli-siege-of-north-gaza-kills-200-lebanon-death-toll-hits-1645

UNIFIL: Israeli forces crossed Blue Line, ‘destroyed’ main base gate

The United Nations says Israeli tanks burst through the gates of its peacekeeping force base in southern Lebanon after three platoons of Israeli soldiers crossed the Blue Line.

The UN peacekeepers said in a statement at 4:30am (01:30 GMT), two Israeli army Merkava tanks “destroyed” their main gate and “forcibly entered the position” while peacekeepers were asleep.

“The tanks left about 45 minutes later after UNIFIL protested through our liaison mechanism, saying [the Israeli military] presence was putting peacekeepers in danger,” it said.

At 6:40am (03:40 GMT), peacekeepers reported several rounds being fired about 100 metres (328 feet) north of their position in what appeared to be an attack with some sort of chemical agent.

“Despite putting on protective masks, 15 peacekeepers suffered effects including skin irritation and gastrointestinal reactions after the smoke entered the camp. The peacekeepers are receiving treatment.”

‘Shocking violations’: UN peacekeepers demand Israel to explain attacks

The Israeli army must obey its “obligation to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property” at the Lebanon border, the force says after the latest attack.

The peacekeepers said in addition to the assault this morning, Israeli forces denied passage of a “critical UNIFIL logistical movement” yesterday.

“Breaching and entering a UN position is a further flagrant violation of international law and Security Council resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said in a statement.

“We have requested an explanation from the [Israeli military] from these shocking violations.”

US ‘putting troops at risk’ by sending them to Israel: Iran

Washington is “putting lives of its troops at risk” by deploying them to Israel in order to operate US missile systems, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned.

“While we have made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region, I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests,” he wrote in a post on X.

Araghchi noted the United States has sent record volumes of arms to Israel during its war on Gaza.

The comments come amid news reports that the US is considering sending its advanced THAAD missile defence system to Israel in order to defend it against a potential Iranian response to a looming Israeli attack on Iran. The system requires US personnel on the ground to operate it.

https://twitter.com/araghchi/status/1845404416855167299

Netanyahu tells UN chief to move peacekeepers in Lebanon ‘immediately’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to remove UN peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon after several were wounded in Israeli attacks.

“Mr Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” Netanyahu said in a video statement issued by his office. At least five UN peacekeepers have been wounded in recent days as Israeli forces fight against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu’s threat to Guterres comes a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) refused to withdraw from the border area, despite five of its members being wounded in Israeli fire in recent days.

Netanyahu, speaking at a cabinet meeting, said Israeli forces asked UNIFIL several times to leave but it “met with repeated refusals” that provided a “human shield to Hezbollah terrorists”.

“Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers. We regret the injuring of UNIFIL soldiers and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injuring. But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone.”

Australian police threaten students with arrest for pro-Palestine posters

A pro-Palestine activist in the Australian city of Sydney documented police threatening to arrest students who placed pro-Palestine posters in the public Hyde Park.

The video clip below, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency, shows police officers stopping the students and confiscating the posters.

The student who filmed the incident commented: “We are protesting a genocide and we are being targeted as criminals. How outrageous!”

Professor summoned after claiming Iran bought exploding pagers

A university professor close to the Iranian establishment has been summoned by the judiciary after alleging on state television that an Iranian intermediary bought the Hezbollah pagers that exploded last month.

Masoud Asadollahi, a professor at the IRGC-affiliated Imam Hussein University, made the comments as an “expert” on a state TV programme. He said an unnamed Iranian company bought 5,000 pagers and 3,000 were handed over to Hezbollah without necessary checks because nobody expected them to explode.

He did not cite a source or elaborate on the origin of the other 2,000 devices used in the attacks.

Asadollahi could potentially face charges relating to publishing misinformation to negatively affect public opinion, or even national security offences, according to the official news outlet of the Iranian judiciary. It said he has since admitted he was mistaken.

This comes a day after the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all commercial flights, according to local media.

Israel accused of using cluster bombs in southern Lebanon

Hezbollah accused Israel of inundating border towns in southern Lebanon with internationally banned cluster munitions.

The Lebanese group said the Israeli military bombed the area between the towns of Hanine and Tayri with rockets loaded with banned cluster bombs.

“We are not surprised at all by the new barbaric crime, which is added to Israel’s record of crimes against the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

The use of cluster munitions in or near populated areas is prohibited under the Geneva Conventions as they pose a threat to the lives of civilians.

Lebanon’s Mikati condemns Netanyahu’s call to move UN peacekeepers

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand for UN chief Antonio Guterres to move UN peacekeepers away from Lebanon’s border.

Beirut “condemns Netanyahu’s position and the Israeli aggression against UNIFIL” peacekeepers, Mikati said.

“The warning that Netanyahu addressed to … Guterres demanding the removal of the UNIFIL represents a new chapter in the enemy’s approach of not complying with international [norms],” he added.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/13/live-israeli-siege-of-north-gaza-kills-200-lebanon-death-toll-hits-1645

>>484948
>The United Nations says Israeli tanks burst through the gates of its peacekeeping force base
The lesson we have learned is that the Bluehelmets need anti-tank weapons, and heavy barricades.

>Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
Netanyahu banned Guterres from entering Israel, is he really expecting to find an ear for his demands ?

>“Mr Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” Netanyahu said
So Netanyahu renamed the IDF into Harm's way.
what a loon

Israel bombs and kills Palestinian children playing football in north Gaza
Hind Khoudary
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza

An Israeli drone attack just targeted children playing football in the al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. At least six Palestinians were killed including five children and a woman. Many wounded were taken to al-Ahli Hospital.

Endless air strikes, explosions, quadcopters – people in northern Gaza say they’re trying to call local and international organisations to rescue the injured from the bombed-out buildings. But it has been extremely difficult for Palestinian Civil Defence workers to reach those trapped.

At least 400,000 Palestinians are stranded in the north during the latest Israeli onslaught. They’re surrounded by Israeli forces and under constant fire daily.

The Israeli military issued orders for people to evacuate, but whoever tries to move is being targeted and shot.

People who were able to leave their houses were blocked by sandbag barricades. It’s been nine days without food, water, electricity. Residents tell us there were many Palestinians shot and their bodies are on the streets with no one able to remove them.

Hezbollah confirms it carried out Binyamina attack

In a statement, the group said it launched a “swarm of drones” on a Golani Brigade camp in Binyamina, south of Haifa that we have been reporting on.

It said that the attack was carried out “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honorable resistance, and in defence of Lebanon and its people”.

Hezbollah says it launched two drone attacks

The group said a suicide drone hit “accurately” a gathering of Israeli forces in the army’s Zar’it barrack in northern Israel.

In a separate statement, it said it targeted the Israeli Tsnobar logistics base in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights with a missile.

As we’ve been reporting, a drone attack has hit northern Israel, south of Haifa, where at least 40 people are now reported to have been injured.

Pentagon confirms anti-missile system being sent to Israel

Following US media reports of anti-missile system being sent to Israel along with US troops to operate it, the Pentagon has confirmed that it will deploy a high-altitude anti-missile system and its US military crew to Israel.

At the direction of President Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “authorised the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and associated crew of US military personnel to Israel to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel on April 13 and again on October 1”, Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder said in a statement.

Israeli Army Radio says three killed in drone attack

This is what the Israeli media is reporting on the Binyamina attack:

Israeli Army Radio says three people dead after the attack. Israeli ambulance service says the number of injured is now at 39.
The drone fired a missile towards the site before exploding.
Israeli Army Radio, quoting a source, said Hezbollah succeeded in deceiving the air defence system and fired a barrage of missiles to cover the drone.

At least 34 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks today

Our colleagues on the ground are reporting, quoting medical sources, that at least 34 people have been killed in Israeli air attacks across Gaza since dawn on Sunday.

This includes five children who were killed when an Israeli drone struck them as they were playing near a cafe in Shati refugee camp.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/13/live-israeli-siege-of-north-gaza-kills-200-lebanon-death-toll-hits-1645

Death toll goes up in Israeli attack on Gaza shelter

Gaza’s Government Media Office is now reporting that the death toll in Israeli attacks on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians has gone up to 22.

Another 80 people were wounded in the attack, it added.

Casualty figure rises in Binyamina attack

Israeli media is now reporting that at least 67 people are now reported injured in the drone attack.

UN chief says attacks on UNIFIL ‘may constitute a war crime’

In a statement, Antonio Guterres stressed that “UNIFIL personnel and its premises must never be targeted”.

“Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law, including international humanitarian law. They may constitute a war crime,” he said, adding that UNIFIL peacekeepers will remain in their positions in southern Lebanon and the UN flag will continue to fly.

His comments came after several attacks against UNIFIL positions, including one earlier today when Israeli forces destroyed one of the mission position’s main gates and forcibly entered its premises.

The Israeli army said its operation was part of a rescue effort following an antitank missile attack.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/13/live-israeli-siege-of-north-gaza-kills-200-lebanon-death-toll-hits-1645

10 killed, at least 30 injured at food distribution centre in Jabalia

Palestinian medics report 10 people were killed and at least 30 wounded in Israeli air attacks on a food distribution centre in the besieged Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Casualties included women and children.

We will bring you more details as we receive them.

Scenes from Israel’s attack on al-Aqsa Hospital

Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad has verified footage from the accounts of Palestinian journalists and activists depicting Israel’s overnight attack on al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza’s city of Deir el-Balah.

Dozens of burn victims are now receiving treatment at the overwhelmed hospital with at least four people killed. The Israeli strike was on a displacement camp where people were sheltering and the tents quickly went up in flames.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBFO0Pbt0iw/

Israel hits Aitou in northern Lebanon for first time: State media

The air attack struck a residential apartment in the village located in the region of Zgharta, according to the official National News Agency.

It is the first time the Christian-majority area has been attacked by Israeli forces in a year of hostilities, it added.

Lebanese Red Cross: 18 killed in Israeli attack on north Lebanon

The strike targeted a residential building in the Christian-majority village of Aito located in the region of Zgharta.

The country’s health ministry earlier reported the death toll as nine. It’s the first time the area was attacked by the Israeli army in a year of hostilities, according to the state media.

The Lebanese Hezbollah group is mainly present in the south of the country and southern suburbs of Beirut. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military and it wasn’t clear what the target was.

The attack that targeted a residential building in the village located in the region of Zgharta has killed at least nine people, according to the initial information shared by the country’s Health Ministry.

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing, it added in a post on X.

Iranian FM meets senior Houthi official: Ministry

Abbas Araghchi has held talks in Muscat with Mohammed Abdelsalam, a senior official from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement, according to his office.

The foreign ministry released pictures of their talks during Araghchi’s visit to the Omani capital, the latest in a series of diplomatic trips in the region following Israel’s vow to retaliate against an Iranian missile attack.

Araghchi held a “meeting and discussion of Mohammad Abdelsalam, the spokesman and chief negotiator of the Yemen National Salvation Government”, read the photo caption, referring to the Houthi administration.

Iran fired about 200 missiles at Israel on October 1 in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Tehran-aligned group leaders in the region and a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Israel has vowed to respond.

Yemen’s Houthis, along with the Palestinian Hamas group in Gaza and Hezbollah, make part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” of groups arrayed against Israel.

Bombed school to have been used as polio vaccination site: UNWRA

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says an Israeli attack on one of its schools sheltering displaced families in central Gaza’s Nuseirat was to be used as a polio vaccination site.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said 22 were killed and 80 wounded in the Nuseirat attack.

The UN agency also condemned Israel’s overnight attack on Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Deir el-Balah that inflicted dozens of casualties when a major fire erupted in a tent encampment.

https://twitter.com/UNRWA/status/1845717936486363330

Israel’s army claims killing of Hezbollah commander

A military statement says Muhammad Kamal Naim, the commander of the antitank system of the group’s elite Radwan Force, has been killed in an air strike.

He was responsible for planning and carrying out many attacks on Israel, including firing an antitank missile, it said.

The army added that there have been no casualties in recent rocket attacks from Lebanon. Some rockets were intercepted while the rest fell in open areas, it said.

Iranian foreign minister says indirect contact with US halted

Abbas Araghchi, who is on a visit to Muscat, has told Iranian state television that indirect contact between Iran and the US through Oman has been halted due to the situation in the region.

The diplomat also said conditions will not be suitable for such communications before the regional crisis is resolved.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/14/live-22-dead-80-wounded-as-israeli-army-shells-gaza-school-shelter

Situation in northern Gaza getting more critical by the hour
Tareq Abu Azzoum
Reporting from Deir el-Balah, central Gaza

Medical sources at Kamal Adwan Hospital say they are running short in terms of medical supplies and essential medical needs, including fuel
that is highly required in order to guarantee that operations can be conducted.

They are also dealing with high rates of casualties among civilians, the people who are getting killed in the north of the Gaza Strip, in their evacuation centres, houses and while walking on the streets of Jabalia by the Israeli drones and quadcopters.

The sources say that lots of patients and injured people are succumbing to their wounds due to the lack of essential medication because the Israeli military is still imposing significant restrictions on the flow of essential medical supplies to the north of Gaza Strip.

The vast majority of neighbourhoods in Gaza’s northern part have been under relentless attacks and now stand in ruins.

People are appealing to the international community, saying that they are getting killed while they are hungry, thirsty and unable to even flee due to the closure of all ways that are leading to Gaza City, which means that they are trapped there in horrific humanitarian conditions.

US embassy in Lebanon tells citizens to leave ‘now’

The United States embassy in Lebanon says its citizens are strongly encouraged to leave the country “now” during intensified Israeli attacks.

Additional flights the embassy organised for US citizens travelling out of Beirut won’t continue indefinitely, it said in a statement.

UK sanctions Iranian military figures after attack on Israel

Britain has imposed sanctions against Iranian individuals and organisations after Tehran’s attack on Israel on October 1.

The sanctions target senior figures in Iran’s army, air force and organisations linked to Iran’s ballistic and cruise missile development, according to the UK’s Foreign Office.

“Despite repeated warnings, the dangerous actions of Iran and its proxies are driving further escalation in the Middle East,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement.

“Following its ballistic missile attack on Israel, we are holding Iran to account and exposing those who facilitated these acts.”

Iran fired about 200 missiles at Israel on October 1 in what it said was retaliation for the killings of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas and a senior general from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

May Israel’s war on Gaza ‘be the last genocide in human history’

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, has reposted a video on X of a pro-Palestine protest outside the New York Stock Exchange, which was also attended by members of Jewish Voices for Peace.

In the post, she wrote: “Each civic action is humanity in action. May the Gaza one be the last genocide in human history. May We the People have the strength to stop it”.

South Africa calls for pressure on Israel to stop attacks in Gaza, Lebanon

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on world leaders to put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks in Gaza and Lebanon.

‘‘We call for the immediate ceasefire in Gaza, release of hostages and also ensure humanitarian assistance does get through to the people,’’ Ramaphosa said in an address to supporters in Johannesburg.

He added that in the next few days, his government will submit its full case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in support of the people of Palestine against the genocide that is being committed.

“Comrades, we are also concerned about the bombings that have been taking place by Israel in nearby countries such as Lebanon,’’ Ramaphosa said.

Protests rock Udine ahead of Italy vs Israel football game

Large pro-Palestine protests have taken place today in the Italian city of Udine as Israel’s football team faces off against Italy in a UEFA Nations League game.

It is the first match Israel has played outside Hungary this year.

The Belgian football federation refused to host Israel last month in the same competition, citing security reasons. Last year, Israel’s football team played in Kosovo and Andorra.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/14/live-22-dead-80-wounded-as-israeli-army-shells-gaza-school-shelter

>>484966
So they're rounding up the Jews who protest against genocide ?
Wow, all the subtlety has gone, they're throwing the fascistic symbolism in people's faces now.

>>484947
>US mulls sending advanced THAAD missile defence to Israel
>>484950
>Pentagon confirms anti-missile system being sent to Israel
Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. I'm noticing a recurring pattern.
Yet another expensive weapons system with scarce ammunition getting shipped off to some battle-zone.
It's probably not going to turn the tide of that particular battle, because there aren't enough THAADs to make a dent into a huge missile barrage.

All those weapons systems are slowly being drained away in lots of little episodes of futility. It feels almost calibrated.

IS this on purpose ?
IS there a method to the madness ?
Some clever scheme to make more profits for the weapons industry ?

>>484969
The big thing is they're sending US troops to man these systems. The US leadership anticipates Israel attacking Iran again, and Iran will respond bigger next time. You're correct to assess that sending the THAAD systems isn't really about defense - the US's current leadership is purposefully sending American soldiers to be sitting ducks so that the US will have a pretext to go to war with Iran soon.

Israeli army planting explosives in northern Gaza

Our colleagues on the ground in Gaza are reporting that the Israeli army is leading a major military attack in Jabalia’s al-Faluja neighbourhood.

There have already been multiple attacks on Jabalia today and now the Israeli army is planting explosives to destroy buildings.

Dozens of families are trapped due to an Israeli siege of northern Gaza and people cannot evacuate the wounded.

Australia urges its citizens to leave Israel

Australia has warned its citizens not to travel to Israel and urged Australians there to leave the country while commercial flights remain available.

“The Australian government has serious concerns the security situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories could deteriorate rapidly,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a post on X.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/14/live-22-dead-80-wounded-as-israeli-army-shells-gaza-school-shelter

Cuban President Diaz-Canel leads pro-Palestinian march in Havana

Thousands of Cubans, led by President Miguel Diaz-Canel and other leaders of the communist-run island, marched in Havana to express their solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and denounce Israel’s military operation.

The demonstrators, including some 250 Palestinian medical students living in Cuba, carried a large banner that read, “Long live free Palestine”, while the president and his allies wore traditional keffiyeh scarves.

“We are here to support the just claim of the Palestinian people, for their sovereignty, their freedom … and against the genocidal crusade that Israel practises towards the Palestinian people,” Michel Marino, a 20-year-old international relations student, told the AFP news agency.

Mohammed Suwan, a Palestinian student in Cuba, addressed the crowd, saying that “the world remains paralysed and unable to stop this tragedy” in Gaza and the West Bank.

The march had been due to take place on October 7, the anniversary of the war in Gaza, but was postponed due to Hurricane Milton, which lashed Cuba and Florida last week.

Australia announces new sanctions on Iran after missile attack on Israel

Australia has imposed sanctions on “five Iranian individuals contributing to Iran’s missile program” after Tehran’s attack on Israel on October 1.

“Iran’s 1 October launch of over 180 ballistic missiles against Israel was a dangerous escalation that increased the risk of a wider regional war,” Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said in a statement.

Iran said it targeted three Israeli military bases with missiles in retaliation for the killings of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas and a senior general from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The new sanctions are in addition to approximately 200 Iran-linked individuals already facing sanctions from Australia, the statement said.

As we reported earlier, the United Kingdom made a similar announcement of new sanctions, also in response to the October 1 attack, on Monday.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/15/live-israeli-army-planting-explosives-in-jabalia-amid-siege-of-north-gaza

>>484972
>purposefully sending American soldiers to be sitting ducks so that the US will have a pretext to go to war with Iran
It is very possible this is the intention. However how that plays out in reality is uncertain. The people in the military definitely will understand that one of theirs was maliciously sacrificed for political intrigue. That is a dangerous path, after-all ordering soldiers into battles they can't possibly win, is how the last Tzar sealed his fate. Also many people in the general public will also interpret this as soldiers being sacrificed on behalf of Israel, which is no longer seen as a worthy cause. So it's not only going to damage troop loyalty but it might also backfire as a propaganda exercise.

Also the generation they would be sending to fight against Iran is the generation that grew up witnessing the results of the last 2 decades of middle-eastern forever-wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, etc. They saw all the money that could have funded nice things like public services being pissed away on pointless warmonger nonsense. Even the fire-power-pride crowd has suffered disillusionment, because US weapons have not lived up to the unstoppable force hype. These people also witnessed the destructive results these wars had on the bodies and minds of veterans that departed as energetic adventurers and returned as broken people. Attacking Iran is not possible without a draft. A draft does not appear to be a wise choice. You know angry young people are at present expressing their hostility towards the neocon policies with angry social media rants, forcing these people put down their digital-rectangles and pick-up projectile-accelerators seems like a recipe for decisive political instability.

https://twitter.com/CAIRNational/status/1846281770725224925
Last night, an American citizen and Virginia man of Palestinian descent informed CAIR that his family home in Gaza was bombed in an Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp. There were reportedly 15 people in the house, seven of them children, including the man’s mother, a lawful permanent resident of the United States.(1/4)

…

In an effort to rescue the survivors, the family contacted Israeli authorities, providing them with the residential address and GPS coordinates of their home to arrange for the safe passage of an ambulance. However, the Israeli military apparently used that information to bomb the house a second time and then targeted the ambulance as it attempted to rescue the survivors, killing the doctor and several children. Only a seven-year-old boy survived the incident.(3/4)

CAIR has contacted the @whitehouse and the @statedept to share details about the murder of the mother, a U.S. resident, and her extended family.(4/4)

Israel-Hezbollah fighting surges after deadly base attack
Imran Khan
Reporting from Hasbaiyya, southern Lebanon

Artillery from Israel keeps coming in as well as air strikes. Rocket launches from southern Lebanon into Israel are also under way.

Last night was some of the most intense cross-border strikes that we’ve seen in the past five days. Israel said it attacked some 200 targets over the last 24 hours and killed “dozens of Hezbollah elements”.

Hezbollah says it clashed with an Israeli infantry force while trying to infiltrate the town of Rab el-Thalathine with fighting ongoing. It’s very much feeling like a real escalation in this southern part of Lebanon.

Israel launches 200 air strikes across Lebanon in 24 hours

The Israeli military says it launched a total of 200 strikes across Lebanon in the last 24 hours as it expanded its targets against Hezbollah.

So far the main focus of Israel’s military operations in Lebanon has been in the Bekaa Valley in the east, the suburbs of Beirut, and in the south, where incidents involving Israeli troops and UN peacekeepers have created tension.

In response, Hezbollah launched counterstrikes, hitting targets in al-Marj inside Lebanon, where Israeli forces are carrying out a military operation. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

According to the Israeli Army Radio, Hezbollah also intensified its use of ballistic missiles, targeting the city of Haifa with two surface-to-surface missiles, forcing thousands of residents in northern Israel to take shelter.

Many victims of Israeli strike on north Lebanon were women and children: UN

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says it has received reports that most of the victims of an Israeli air strike on a building in northern Lebanon were women and children.

Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told a Geneva news briefing that “12 women and two children” were among those killed in the attack in the Christian-majority town of Aitou. At least 21 people were killed in the air strike, Lebanese health officials said.

“We understand it was a four-storey residential building that was struck. With these factors in mind, we have real concerns with respect to IHL [international humanitarian law], so the laws of war and the principles of distinction proportion and proportionality,” he said while calling for an investigation into the incident.

Israel clearing mines on border of occupied Golan Heights: Report

In a sign Israel may expand its ground operations against Hezbollah while bolstering its own defences, its troops have cleared landmines and established new barriers on the frontier between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and a demilitarised strip bordering Syria, security sources and analysts said told Reuters news agency.

The move suggests Israel may seek to strike Hezbollah for the first time from further east along Lebanon’s border, at the same time creating a secure area from which it can freely reconnoitre the armed group and prevent infiltration, Reuters’ sources said.

Hezbollah leader tells Israel ‘ceasefire is the solution’

Naim Qassem says the best possible outcome to the conflict is for Israel to stop attacking Lebanon and Gaza.

“I’m telling the Israelis, the solution is to stop firing. The solution is a ceasefire … After a ceasefire, the [Israeli] settlers can return to the north,” said Qassem.

He said more than two million Israelis in the north will be under constant threat if Israel keeps the war going in Lebanon and Gaza.

“The resistance will never be defeated because they’re the ones that own the land. They will fight and die in dignity. Victory will come with patience.”

Roundup of speech by Hezbollah’s deputy leader

Here are some highlights from Qassem’s televised address:

With Al-Aqsa Flood – the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel – the Palestinians led by Hamas “tried to get rid of the occupier”.
Hamas and the Palestinians said to the world that “75 years have passed and the occupation is still there on our land, killing us.”
''The Palestinians have the right to do something that will “shake the occupation and stop it from expanding”.
Instead of asking why Al-Aqsa Flood happened, one “should ask why the occupation is still there”.''
Hezbollah moved from a supporting role to directly “confronting” Israel after the September 17 pager attacks and September 27 killing of leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The Lebanese group was asked to move 10km (6.2 miles) from the southern border, but it insists on a ceasefire in Gaza before reaching an agreement.
If war continues, the number of evacuated towns in northern Israel will increase significantly.

Arab American PAC rejects both Trump and Harris over Israel support

The Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) has cited the “blind support” of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump for Israel – in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon – for withholding its endorsement.

The November 5 US elections will mark the first time AAPAC has chosen not to endorse a candidate since the group’s 1998 inception. It usually endorses Democrats. Polls show the race between Harris and Trump as tight.

Arab and Muslim Americans overwhelmingly backed President Joe Biden in 2020 but have been vocal opponents of US support for Israel, which has eroded their backing of Democrats, particularly in crucial swing states such as Michigan.

Australian aid group calls for sanctions on Israel

The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) has called on the Australian government to impose sanctions on Israeli officials in response to Israel’s deadly siege on the north of the Gaza Strip.

“Engaging in siege tactics of civilians, sealing people off from humanitarian assistance and causing further starvation are all illegal under the Geneva Conventions,” said Marc Purcell, ACFID’s chief executive officer.

ACFID, which represents dozens of Australian aid organisations, highlighted inconsistencies in sanctions imposed by the Australian government.

As we reported earlier, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced new sanctions on Iranian officials on Tuesday, following Iranian attacks on Israel, which reportedly caused no civilian casualties.

Australian sanctions on Iran ‘hypocritical’: Jewish advocacy group

The Jewish Council of Australia has called on the Australian government to “use all possible pressure to stop Israel committing the crime of genocide”, including through sanctions, after the Australian government announced new sanctions on Iran.

The progressive Jewish group highlighted that more than 400,000 people are at “severe risk of starvation in northern Gaza”, where no food has entered since October 1, according to the World Food Programme.

Australian foreign minister “Penny Wong’s issuing of new sanctions on Iran today is hypocritical in the extreme”, said Max Kaiser, the executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia.

“We are still waiting for the Australian government to take any substantial action against the Israeli government,” Kaiser added.

Iranian state TV shows IRGC Quds Force commander in Tehran

In the footage broadcast on IRIB, Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani was seen attending a ceremony at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport to welcome the remains of IRGC Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut.

Qaani was seen openly sobbing with other Iranian officials as they mourned the killing of Nilforoushan.

Qaani has not been seen in public since the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a huge air strike in late September, leading to speculations that he may have also been eliminated in the attack.

US warships, military bases ‘within range’, warns Iran official

Brigadier-General Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, says any US military support for Israel if it attacks Iran will lead to retaliation.

“The Americans should know that if one day they enter the battlefield and want to take action against the Islamic Iran, their bases, interests and ships will be within the reach of our weapons,” Jabbari told Iran’s Press TV.

The US “is not prepared at all to confront us, the axis of resistance and the Muslim world”, he said. However, Jabbari added, the US was unlikely to take part in such a “foolish act”.

“Although the Americans support Israel, it is unlikely that they will commit a folly and engage in a conflict with Iran. They always advise the [Israeli] regime not to engage in a conflict with the Islamic republic.”

Turkey urges ‘sanctions’ against Israel over Gaza bloodshed: minister

Turkey’s foreign minister has called for sanctions against Israel, urging the international community to cut all support over the conflict in the Middle East.

“We have reached the limit of words, diplomacy and international politics … We must start with sanctions,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told ruling party delegates at a meeting about Palestine, adding: “Israel needs to be boycotted.”

US hands out sanctions to pro-Palestinian group Samidoun

The United States has imposed sanctions on what it says is a key international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The US Treasury Department, in an action taken with Canada, accused the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network of being “a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser” for the PFLP.

Founded by George Habash in 1967, the PFLP is a secular Marxist-Leninist political group and part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It is the second-largest group in the PLO after Fatah.

The group’s armed wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, has fought Israel in Gaza alongside Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

It is designated a “terrorist organisation” by several Western countries, including the US.

The US Treasury said the PFLP uses Samidoun to fundraise in Europe and North America.

Iran summons Hungarian ambassador over EU sanctions

Iran’s foreign ministry has summoned the ambassador of Hungary, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, to condemn the block’s recent sanctions on the Islamic republic.

The ministry announced in a statement Iran’s “strong objection” and said “resorting to illegal and coercive methods such as sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran is not acceptable in any way and will lead nowhere.”

Parliamentarians join walkout against Israel at IPU meeting in Geneva

Members of parliament, including representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, have staged a walkout against Israeli officials during the 149th General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva, Switzerland.

The delegation of Palestine had submitted an emergency item to the IPU assembly titled, “Enforcing UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/24 and ensuring accountability”.

The resolution issued in September formally demanded an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory within 12 months.

Tensions rose when an Israeli official took the floor to speak during the session, chaired by IPU President Tulia Ackson.

In response, representatives from many countries banged their tables in protest and then walked out of the assembly hall.

After the Israeli official’s speech, the protesting representatives returned to the hall to resume the session.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/15/live-israeli-army-planting-explosives-in-jabalia-amid-siege-of-north-gaza

>>484974
I think you underestimate how often this tactic has been used successfully as a pretext for war in US history. From the Lusitania which shouldn't have been carrying arms to that fleet that was sent to Hawaii as bait for Japan to that ship that shouldn't have been in the Gulf of Tonkin, putting US citizens in harm's way is a time tested technique for manufacturing consent for war.

>>484978
<There were reportedly 15 people in the house, seven of them children, including the man’s mother, a lawful permanent resident of the United States.

<In an effort to rescue the survivors, the family contacted Israeli authorities, providing them with the residential address and GPS coordinates of their home to arrange for the safe passage of an ambulance. However, the Israeli military apparently used that information to bomb the house a second time and then targeted the ambulance as it attempted to rescue the survivors, killing the doctor and several children.
They bombed the house a second time to make sure nobody digs out a US passport out of the rubble, also spite.

The moral of the story is that if you give GPS coordinates to the Israeli and tell them a story about people in need, they will bomb those coordinates. That is a critical operational flaw in the Israeli military. Because it means that some random schmuck can direct where they drop bombs. That includes feeding them bogus targets to just make them waste ammo pounding inert rubble.

Blumenthal was right Zionism makes people stupid.

A sophisticated adversary that can coordinate complex operations might be able to manipulate them to bomb their own soldiers. If they pick a real fight with Iran …

>>484980
You are correct in your historical analysis, but the experience of the last 20 years probably has eliminated the possibility of consent for another middle eastern war.

>>484980
Yeah this.

>>484982
They're 100% about to try it and will go through with it within the next year provided they aren't stopped through direct action & mass organization. Propaganda can be very powerful, there will be a lot of people going war-mad over night. It actually will be ill-advised… like, most people still will not want war with Iran, but most people aren't in command of the US military. We're about to see some more really horrible shit going down.

https://twitter.com/simpleesimi/status/1846107815900778924
Snipers on the roof at Israel vs. Italy game.

New thread: >>484995