Israel assassinates second senior Hezbollah commander

Update Israel assassinates second senior Hezbollah commander
A senior field commander in Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli strike on Wednesday outside of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, two security sources told Reuters. (X/@bas_irra)
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Updated 03 July 2024
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Israel assassinates second senior Hezbollah commander

Israel assassinates second senior Hezbollah commander
  • Mohammed Naameh Nasser, known as Abu Naameh, was the commander of the Aziz Unit which is responsible for the western sector of southern Lebanon
  • The intensity of Israeli attacks has fluctuated over the past few days

BEIRUT: An Israeli drone targeted a car east of the city of Tyre on Wednesday, killing a senior Hezbollah commander and severely injuring a second man who later died as a result.
Mohammed Naameh Nasser, known as Abu Naameh, was the commander of the Aziz Unit which is responsible for the western sector of southern Lebanon.
He held a position equal to that of Taleb Sami Abdullah, known as Abu Taleb, who was assassinated two weeks ago.
Abu Taleb, commander of the Nasr Unit, was the first senior field commander to be killed in the ongoing conflict with the Israeli army for eight months. He died in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house in the town of Jouaiyya, about 15 km from the southern border. Three Hezbollah cadres were killed alongside him.
The intensity of Israeli attacks has fluctuated over the past few days. Attacks began on Wednesday morning with a combat drone shelling the town square in Taybeh. The border town of Kfarkela was subjected to Israeli artillery shelling at dawn, with an Israeli Merkava tank targeting a house near the border wall.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said: “The Israeli attacks on the south and the deliberate killing of its people, the destruction of towns, and the burning of crops, are terrorist aggression; the international community must put an end to its persistence and crimes.”
He reiterated his question to “international stakeholders involved in initiatives” about “the steps taken to maintain calm, exercise restraint on the southern border, curb the enemy, and stop the approach of killing and destruction,” noting “the escalating Israeli violations of national sovereignty and its ongoing and extensive breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.”
Mikati added: “Lebanon’s choice has always been and still is peace. Our culture is one of peace built on rights, justice, and international law, especially Resolution 1701. But we are a people who will not accept attacks on our sovereignty, national dignity, and the safety of our lands and civilians, especially children and women.
“Violations of all agreements and genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza must not go unnoticed by the world, which is passively watching the ongoing aggression.”
He added: “The essence of peace is for the Palestinian people to live on their land in a free and independent state, and any attempt to bypass these principles will lead to further crises in the Middle East and the world.”
Lebanon is counting on the American-French initiative to prevent further escalation in the south of the country.
A meeting is scheduled between Jean-Yves le Drian, the French envoy to Lebanon, and American envoy Amos Hochstein. This will focus on de-escalation as a solution to repatriating displaced persons on both sides of the Blue Line.
On the eve of Hochstein’s arrival in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron stressed in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the absolute importance” of preventing an escalation of the situation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A statement from the Elysee Palace said that Macron emphasized “the urgent need for all parties to move quickly toward a diplomatic solution and stressed the necessity of exercising the utmost restraint.” It added that during the phone call the two leaders discussed ongoing diplomatic efforts.
In Beirut, the deputy head of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, told the Associated Press that “the only confirmed way to achieve a ceasefire on the Lebanese border is through a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza.”
He described Hezbollah’s participation in supporting Gaza as a “front of support for the steadfast Palestinian people and their valiant resistance.”
He added: “If the war stops, this military support will no longer exist,” and continued: “If Israel reduces its military operations without a formal ceasefire agreement and complete withdrawal from Gaza, the implications of the border conflict between Lebanon and Israel will be less clear.
“If what will happen in Gaza is a combination between a ceasefire and no ceasefire, war and no war, then we cannot answer what our reaction will be now, because we do not know its form, results and effects.”
Qassem warned that if Israel intended to launch a limited operation in Lebanon that did not amount to a comprehensive war, it should not expect the fighting to remain limited.
“It should expect that our response and resistance will not be within the ceiling and rules of engagement determined by Israel,” he said.
Tehran heightened its support for Hezbollah in the face of a potential Israeli attack.
Kamal Kharazi, the foreign affairs adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, told the Financial Times that “in the event of a broad Israeli offensive against Hezbollah, there is a risk of sparking a regional conflict where Tehran and the resistance axis will back Hezbollah fully.”
However, he emphasized that “Iran does not seek a regional war and that expanding the conflict is not beneficial to anyone.”


Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general

Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general
Updated 23 May 2025
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Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general

Israel PM names new security chief, defying attorney general

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday his pick for the next head of the Shin Bet domestic security agency, defying the country’s attorney general and a significant segment of the public.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu announced this evening his decision to appoint Major General David Zini as the next head of the Shin Bet,” a statement from the premier’s office said.
The decision is the latest development in a long-running controversy surrounding the role, which has seen mass protests against the incumbent chief’s dismissal, as well as against moves pushed by Netanyahu’s government to expand elected officials’ power to appoint judges.
The supreme court on Wednesday ruled the government’s decision to fire current domestic security chief Ronen Bar was “improper and unlawful.”
Netanyahu’s move to tap Zini to replace Bar directly defied Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who had said that, given the court ruling, the premier “must refrain from any action related to the appointment of a new head of the Shin Bet.”
Netanyahu immediately responded in a rare press conference that his government would make an appointment despite Baharav-Miara’s stance.
Following Thursday’s announcement, the attorney general released a statement saying that the prime minister was acting “contrary to legal guidance.”
“There is serious concern that he acted while in a conflict of interest, and the appointment process is flawed,” the statement said.
Zini, the son of immigrants from France and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, has held “many” operational and command positions in the Israeli military, Thursday’s announcement said, including for some elite units and combat brigades.
The announcement comes after more than two months of political and legal wrangling over who should head the powerful agency.
In March, Netanyahu said that he was dismissing Bar due to “ongoing lack of trust.”


Israel issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza

Israel issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza
Updated 22 May 2025
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Israel issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza

Israel issues evacuation warning for parts of Gaza

GAZA CITY: The Israeli army issued an evacuation warning on Thursday for 14 neighborhoods of northern Gaza, as it pressed a renewed offensive that has drawn international condemnation.

The warning came hours after the UN said it had collected and begun distributing around 90 truckloads of aid in Gaza, the first such delivery since Israel imposed a total blockade on the territory on March 2.

Under global pressure for an end to the blockade and the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was open to a “temporary ceasefire” in Gaza, but reaffirmed the military aimed to bring the entire territory under its control.

In an Arabic-language statement on Thursday, the military said it was “operating with intense force” in 14 areas in the northern Gaza Strip, accusing “terrorist organizations” of operating there.

The army issued a similar warning for northern Gaza on Wednesday evening in what the army said was a response to rocket fire.

It later announced three more launches from northern Gaza, but said the projectiles had fallen inside the Palestinian territory.

Netanyahu said it was necessary to “avoid a humanitarian crisis in order to preserve our freedom of operational action” in Gaza.

Palestinians have been scrambling for basic supplies, with Israel’s blockade leading to critical food and medicine shortages.

Israel has meanwhile kept up its bombardment, with Gaza’s civil defense agency reporting at least 19 people had been killed in Israeli attacks on Thursday.

Umm Talal Al-Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, described the situation as “unbearable.”

“No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven’t received anything,” she said.

“We barely manage to prepare one meal a day.”

UN agencies have said that the amount of aid entering Gaza falls far short of what is required to ease the crisis.

“I am tormented for my children,” said Hossam Abu Aida, another resident of the Gaza Strip.

“For them, I fear hunger and disease more than I do Israeli bombardment,” the 38-year-old added. The army stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.

Israel has faced mounting pressure, including from traditional allies, to halt its expanded offensive and allow aid into Gaza.

EU foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to review the bloc’s cooperation accord with Israel.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has said the EU action “reflects a total misunderstanding of the complex reality Israel is facing.”

Sweden said it would press the 27-nation bloc to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.

There has been a global spike in anti-Semitic attacks since the Hamas attack in 2023, with a gunman shooting dead two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.

Britain, France, Germany, the US, and other countries around the world all condemned the shooting.


British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ‘slaughterhouse’

British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ‘slaughterhouse’
Updated 22 May 2025
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British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ‘slaughterhouse’

British doctors working in Gaza describe territory as a ‘slaughterhouse’
  • ‘There’s no food getting in so people are starving,’ surgeon Tom Potokar says
  • World leaders urged to ‘stop talking and do something’

LONDON: British doctors working in Gaza have described the territory as a “slaughterhouse,” where the patients they are treating are severely malnourished.

Plastic surgeons and orthopedic specialists from the UK are based at the Amal and Nasser hospitals in Khan Younis in the south of the territory.

Dr. Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon specializing in burn injuries, has worked in Gaza 16 times but said this mission had revealed a level of destruction far greater than his last visit in 2023, Sky News reported.

“What can you say, it’s horrific, it’s a slaughterhouse,” Potokar said after operating on a badly injured Palestinian woman whose husband and children were killed in an Israeli attack.

He urged world leaders to “stop talking and do something.”

 

 

Potokar moved to Amal hospital last week after the nearby European hospital where he had been working was hit by Israeli missiles and forced to close.

Gaza’s health care is in a state of collapse, with hospitals being repeatedly targeted by Israel since the war started in October 2023.

The relentless airstrikes and bombings have killed more than 53,000 people and hospitals are full of Palestinians with blast-related injuries.

A blockade of humanitarian aid since March has further strained hospitals, leaving doctors with limited supplies to treat the injured.

“The difference this time I think is the intensity,” Potokar said. “Back in October to December 2023 was the last time I was here, there was a lot of wounded and it was very intense as well.

“I think the difference this time is, because of the blockade there’s so little stuff getting in, there’s no food getting in so people are starving. There’s very little medical supplies coming in but also the other very noticeable thing is the massive extent of destruction. I mean, Khan Younis looks like Stalingrad.”

The report showed the chaos of the hospital’s emergency rooms, with badly injured children being brought in for initial treatment before being sent for surgery with the British medics.

Most of the injuries are blast wounds and the patients are malnourished.

In Nasser hospital, a baby arrived with chest and back burns, while another lay silent having suffered shrapnel wounds and was unable to see from one eye.

Dr. Victoria Rose, a British plastic surgeon working at the hospital, showed the inside of the burns unit, which was shut down after being hit by Israeli missiles.

Israel this week ordered residents to evacuate Khan Younis, leading to several of the hospital’s staff being unable to get to work, Rose said.

“My anesthetic nurse and Graeme’s orthopedic colleague had to leave us mid-case to go and evacuate their families to an area of safety,” she said.

Dr. Graeme Groom, a surgeon working alongside Rose, praised his Palestinian colleagues.

“These are people just like you and me, they have their homes, their families, they live normal lives. Many are very impressive people and without notice they have to pick up a grab bag and leave, look for food, look for water, look for shelter, but turn up at work each day,” he said.

The surgeons fear that the hospitals may have to be evacuated as Israel expands its military operation in the area as part of a plan to take complete control of the territory.


Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed

Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed
Updated 22 May 2025
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Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed

Israel strikes south Lebanon, army says Hezbollah fighter killed
  • The Israeli military said its forces had carried out several strikes targeting Hezbollah sites and killed one militant
  • The “urgent warning” was accompanied by a map showing a structure and the 500-meter radius around it marked in red

BEIRUT: Lebanese state media said an Israeli air strike hit a building in southern Lebanon on Thursday after Israel’s military issued an evacuation call warning of imminent action against Hezbollah militants.

Israel has kept up its air strikes in neighboring Lebanon despite a November truce aimed at halting more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah that included two months of full-blown war.

Without confirming the reported attack on the southern town of Toul, the Israeli military said its forces had carried out several strikes targeting Hezbollah sites and killed one militant.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said that “the Israeli enemy” struck a building in Toul, where the army had warned residents to evacuate the area around a building it said was used by Hezbollah militants.

The “urgent warning” was accompanied by a map showing a structure and the 500-meter (0.3-mile) radius around it marked in red.

“You are located near facilities belonging to the terrorist (group) Hezbollah,” the statement said in Arabic, urging people “to evacuate these buildings immediately and move away from them.”

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Toul.

In a separate statement, the military said it had “struck and eliminated a Hezbollah Radwan Force terrorist in the area of Rab El Thalathine,” about 17 kilometers (10 miles) to the southeast.

The NNA reported a “martyr” in an air strike in the same area, without identifying them.

The Israeli military said its forces also “struck a Hezbollah military site containing rocket launchers and weapons” in the Bekaa Valley as well as “terrorist infrastructure sites and rocket launchers belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization... in southern Lebanon.”

A military statement said that “the presence of weapons in the area and Hezbollah activities at the site constitute blatant violations of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon” under the November ceasefire agreement.

Israel will “continue to operate to remove any threat... and will prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to re-establish its terror capabilities,” it said.

Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah fighters were to pull back north of the Litani River and dismantle military infrastructure south of it.

Israel was to withdraw all forces from Lebanon, but it has kept troops in five areas that it deems “strategic.”

The Lebanese army has deployed in the south and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.

The truce was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only people to bear arms in south Lebanon, and calls for the disarmament of all non-state groups.


Egyptian president, UK prime minister discuss Gaza ceasefire, humanitarian aid

Egyptian president, UK prime minister discuss Gaza ceasefire, humanitarian aid
Updated 22 May 2025
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Egyptian president, UK prime minister discuss Gaza ceasefire, humanitarian aid

Egyptian president, UK prime minister discuss Gaza ceasefire, humanitarian aid
  • Leaders discussed Egyptian, Qatari, and US efforts to enforce ceasefire in the Palestinian coastal enclave
  • Abdul Fatah El-Sisi praised ‘positive’ UK position on Gaza, agreed with Sir Keir Starmer on continuing coordination

LONDON: Egyptian President Abdul Fatah El-Sisi praised the UK’s “positive position” on developments in Gaza during a phone call with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.

The Egyptian Presidency said El-Sisi and Sir Keir discussed strengthening cooperation in the economic, trade, and investment sectors while continuing political consultations on various topics.

Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy, the presidential spokesman, said the two leaders discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip and Egyptian, Qatari, and US efforts to enforce a ceasefire in the Palestinian coastal enclave and ensure the flow of humanitarian aid.

The Egyptian president emphasized Cairo’s rejection of displacing Palestinians and expressed support for the Arab-Islamic plan to rebuild Gaza following a ceasefire.

El-Sisi praised the “positive” UK position regarding the situation in Gaza and agreed with the prime minister on continuing coordination to address regional and international developments.

The UK announced on Tuesday that it will stop free-trade negotiations with Israel and has summoned the Israeli ambassador to the Foreign Office in response to Tel Aviv’s expansion of military operations in Gaza.