Israel on Alert After Islamic Jihad Launches Military Exercises in Gaza

Al-Quds Brigades’ maneuvers in Gaza on Tuesday
Al-Quds Brigades’ maneuvers in Gaza on Tuesday
TT

Israel on Alert After Islamic Jihad Launches Military Exercises in Gaza

Al-Quds Brigades’ maneuvers in Gaza on Tuesday
Al-Quds Brigades’ maneuvers in Gaza on Tuesday

The Israeli Army said it raised the state of alert around the Gaza Strip after the Islamic Jihad movement started on Tuesday military exercises in the coastal enclave.

“Due to the presence of increased risks, the Home Front Command has activated the alert for the area around Gaza after the Islamic Jihad movement began offensive drills, including firing a barrage of rockets towards the Mediterranean,” it said.

Al-Quds Brigade, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, announced that its exercise simulated raids on Israeli military sites and fortifications using live ammunition and combined arms, including special forces, rockets, artillery, armor, and intelligence units.

On Tuesday, the exercises activated sirens at the Home Front Command’s internal application after suspicions that one of the rockets launched by Al-Quds Brigade had fell near the Zikim coasts, Israeli media outlets said.

But an Israeli army spokesperson said the rockets were aimed at the sea and did not cross into Israeli territory.



UNAMI: We are Witnessing an Iraq on Rise, Some Challenges Remain

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert - AFP
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert - AFP
TT

UNAMI: We are Witnessing an Iraq on Rise, Some Challenges Remain

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert - AFP
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert - AFP

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said that the country looks different from the one to which the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) was first deployed some 20 years ago.

“We are, so to speak, witnessing an Iraq on the rise,” she said, noting that corruption, factionalism, impunity, undue interference in State functions and armed actors operating outside State control remain.

Her remarks came amid calls from Security Council members to draw down the United Nations mission in Iraq.

"While the government is tackling these scourges, feelings of marginalization and exclusion are spreading in and among certain components, which risk fanning the flames of intra- and inter-community tension. The recent increase in mass unannounced executions of individuals convicted under anti-terrorism laws is a cause for great concern," she added.

On the legislative front, Plasschaert said that despite the successful holding of local elections in 13 of the 15 federal governorates in December 2023, two provinces — Diyala and Kirkuk — remain at an impasse, with no immediate resolution in sight. "And six months of negotiations to replace Iraq’s parliamentary speaker have failed to produce results."

She highlighted that nearly 10 years after ISIS committed a genocide against the Yazidi people, "Sinjar still lies in ruins," expressing hope that the upcoming tenth anniversary will not be wasted but rather used — by all authorities, actors and stakeholders — “to unite and step up to the plate with the sole aim of serving the people of Sinjar”.


Guterres: War in Gaza is an Open Wound

UN Secretary-General António Guterres - AFP
UN Secretary-General António Guterres - AFP
TT

Guterres: War in Gaza is an Open Wound

UN Secretary-General António Guterres - AFP
UN Secretary-General António Guterres - AFP

UN Secretary-General António Guterres repeated his longstanding call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages held in the enclave, and unimpeded access for aid delivery, in remarks to the Summit of the League of Arab States in Bahrain on Thursday.

“The war in Gaza is an open wound that threatens to infect the entire region,” he said.

“In its speed and scale, it is the deadliest conflict in my time as Secretary-General – for civilians, aid workers, journalists, and our own UN colleagues.”

He stressed that nothing can justify the abhorrent 7 October terror attacks by Hamas against Israel, or the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

The Secretary-General warned against an assault on Rafah, which would be “unacceptable” as “it would inflict another surge of pain and misery when we need a surge in life-saving aid.”

He also voiced concern over the tensions in the occupied West Bank, highlighting the spike in illegal Israeli settlements, settler violence and excessive use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces, as well as demolitions and evictions.

The Secretary-General told Arab leaders that the only permanent way to end the cycle of violence and instability between Israelis and Palestinians is through a two-State solution.

“The demographic and historical character of Jerusalem must be preserved."


Saied Blasts Foreign 'Interference' in Tunisian Affairs

A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)
A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)
TT

Saied Blasts Foreign 'Interference' in Tunisian Affairs

A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)
A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)

Tunisian President Kais Saied on Thursday denounced foreign "interference" following international criticism of a recent arrests of political commentators, lawyers and journalists in the North African country.

Saied, who in 2021 orchestrated a sweeping power grab, ordered the foreign ministry to summon diplomats and "inform them that Tunisia is an independent state".

Speaking during a televised meeting, the president told Mounir Ben Rjiba, state secretary to the foreign ministry, to "summon as soon as possible the ambassadors of a number of countries", without specifying which ones.

Ben Rjiba was asked to "strongly object to them that what they are doing is a blatant interference in our internal affairs".

"Inform them that Tunisia is an independent state that adheres to its sovereignty," Saied added, AFP reported.

"We didn't interfere in their affairs when they arrested protesters... who denounced the war of genocide against the Palestinian people," he added, referring to demonstrations on university campuses in the United States and elsewhere over the Israel-Hamas war.

The European Union on Tuesday expressed concern that Tunisian authorities were cracking down on dissenting voices.

France denounced "arrests, in particular of journalists and members of (non-governmental) associations", while the United States said they were "in contradiction" with "the universal rights explicitly guaranteed by the Tunisian Constitution".

The media union said Wednesday that Decree 54 was "a deliberate attack on the essence of press freedom and a vain attempt to intimidate journalists and media employees and sabotage public debate".


US State Dept: Gaza Humanitarian Situation Still Deteriorating

People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
TT

US State Dept: Gaza Humanitarian Situation Still Deteriorating

People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

The United States said on Thursday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate and urged Israel to do more to allow sustained access for aid via southern and northern part of the enclave.
Speaking at a daily news briefing, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Washington continued to remain concerned that both travel and the flow of fuel into Gaza via Rafah crossing has "come to a complete halt."

The Gaza death toll has risen to 35,272, health officials in the Hamas-run coastal enclave said, and malnutrition is widespread with international aid efforts blocked by the violence and Israel's de-facto shutdowns of its Kerem Shalom crossing and the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Israel's tanks pushed into the heart of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Thursday, facing anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, while in the south, its forces pounded Rafah without advancing.


Israel Vows to 'Intensify' Operations in Gaza’s Rafah

Palestinians who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip arrive with their belongings to Khan Yunis on May 15, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip arrive with their belongings to Khan Yunis on May 15, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
TT

Israel Vows to 'Intensify' Operations in Gaza’s Rafah

Palestinians who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip arrive with their belongings to Khan Yunis on May 15, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip arrive with their belongings to Khan Yunis on May 15, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Israel vowed Thursday to "intensify" its ground offensive in Rafah, in defiance of global warnings over the fate of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians sheltering in Gaza's far-southern city.

According to AFP, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said "additional forces will enter" the Rafah area and "this activity will intensify".

"Hundreds of targets have already been struck and our forces are maneuvering in the area," Gallant said following a troop visit on Wednesday.

Israel's top ally the United States has joined other major powers in appealing for it to hold back from a full ground offensive against Hamas in Rafah, the last city in Gaza so far spared heavy urban fighting.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has countered that a ground assault on Rafah is vital to the army's mission of destroying Hamas to prevent any repetition of the October 7 attack that triggered the war.


2 Dead in Strike on Car in South Lebanon

This picture taken from a position near the northern Israeli border with Lebanon shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment in south Lebanon, on May 16, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
This picture taken from a position near the northern Israeli border with Lebanon shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment in south Lebanon, on May 16, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
TT

2 Dead in Strike on Car in South Lebanon

This picture taken from a position near the northern Israeli border with Lebanon shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment in south Lebanon, on May 16, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
This picture taken from a position near the northern Israeli border with Lebanon shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment in south Lebanon, on May 16, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Lebanese state-run media said an Israeli strike on a car in the country's south on Thursday killed two people, with Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers saying at least one of them was a group member.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire since Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, now in its eighth month.

"Two people were martyred in the raid that targeted a car on the Ramadiya-Qana road," the official National News agency (NNA) said, after earlier reporting a drone strike.

A rescuer from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health committee said an Israeli strike on a car in Qana had killed two young men, including a member of the Iran-backed movement.

Hezbollah earlier said it had launched "more than 60" rockets at Israeli military positions in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights in retaliation for overnight strikes that killed a Hezbollah member who Israel said was a field commander.

The strikes were "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks last night on the Bekaa region" in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek area, it said in a statement.

The Israeli army later said it had identified about "40 launches" from Lebanon towards the Golan Heights that caused no injuries before striking back at the sources of the fire.

According to AFP, it reported several more attacks from Lebanon on northern Israel, to which it had also responded with strikes.

Later, the Israeli military said an explosive drone launched from Lebanon hit the Metula area, severely wounding one soldier and lightly wounding two more.

Hezbollah said it had fired an "attack drone carrying two "S5" rockets" that targeted a vehicle at a position in Metula.


Aboul Gheit Emphasizes Arab, Int’l Rejection of Forced Displacement of Palestinians

Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaks during a press conference after the 33rd Arab Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaks during a press conference after the 33rd Arab Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
TT

Aboul Gheit Emphasizes Arab, Int’l Rejection of Forced Displacement of Palestinians

Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaks during a press conference after the 33rd Arab Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaks during a press conference after the 33rd Arab Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

The Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, stressed on Thursday Arab and international rejection of the forced displacement of the Palestinian people, condemning it morally, humanely, and legally.

He called on the international community to hold an international peace conference that embodies the two-state solution, which enjoys global consensus.
In his speech at the 33rd Arab Summit held in Manama, Aboul Gheit noted that peace in the region requires the immediate end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, noting that some Western countries have provided political cover for the Israeli occupation.
The secretary general added that the region's crises "remain unresolved, and the wounds have not healed," highlighting that the most dangerous situation is in Sudan, which threatens the survival of the state and the lives of millions.
He also pointed out that crises in several Arab countries, especially in Yemen and Libya, have exhausted the states and their people, who are still waiting for solutions and settlements that could restore normalcy.
Aboul Gheit reiterated that collective action is the way to achieve prosperity for all, saying that Arabs will only overcome their difficulties through solidarity and will only rise together.


Sisi Says Israel Evades Gaza Ceasefire Efforts

 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, - File Photo by DPA
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, - File Photo by DPA
TT

Sisi Says Israel Evades Gaza Ceasefire Efforts

 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, - File Photo by DPA
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, - File Photo by DPA

Israel continues to evade efforts to reach a ceasefire in its war with Hamas in Gaza, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country has mediated in the conflict, told Arab leaders at a summit in Manama on Thursday.

Sisi added that Israel is pursuing its military operations in Rafah, the southern border city between Egypt and Gaza, and using the city's border crossing from its Palestinian side "to tighten the siege of the enclave."

"We found Israel continuing to escape its responsibilities and evade efforts exerted to reach a ceasefire," Sisi said.

"Those who think that security and military solutions are able to secure interests or achieve security (are) delusional," Sisi stressed.


Jordan King: Gaza War Will Not Bring Stability to the World, but More Violence

Jordan's King Abdullah during the Arab League Summit in Manama - Asharq Al-Awsat
Jordan's King Abdullah during the Arab League Summit in Manama - Asharq Al-Awsat
TT

Jordan King: Gaza War Will Not Bring Stability to the World, but More Violence

Jordan's King Abdullah during the Arab League Summit in Manama - Asharq Al-Awsat
Jordan's King Abdullah during the Arab League Summit in Manama - Asharq Al-Awsat

Jordan's King Abdullah said on Thursday during his speech at the Arab League Summit in Manama that what Gaza went through will not bring stability to the region or the world, but more violence and conflict.

“This war must stop, and the world must shoulder its moral and humanitarian responsibility to end an ongoing conflict that is over seven decades old.”

The King stressed that the destruction that Gaza witnesses today will leave grave consequences in its wake for the generations that have witnessed death and injustice, and Gaza will need years to recover.

He also reiterated the need to maintain support for UNRWA to enable it to provide its humanitarian services.

The Jordanian King highlighted the importance of mobilizing the international community to prevent the separation of the West Bank and Gaza, or the displacement of Palestinians, calling for putting an end to the escalation in the West Bank due to unilateral Israeli measures.


Palestinian President Calls on Arab Countries for Financial Support

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reads a statement as he meets French President Emmanuel Macron, in Ramallah, West Bank, October 24, 2023. Christophe Ena/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reads a statement as he meets French President Emmanuel Macron, in Ramallah, West Bank, October 24, 2023. Christophe Ena/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
TT

Palestinian President Calls on Arab Countries for Financial Support

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reads a statement as he meets French President Emmanuel Macron, in Ramallah, West Bank, October 24, 2023. Christophe Ena/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reads a statement as he meets French President Emmanuel Macron, in Ramallah, West Bank, October 24, 2023. Christophe Ena/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

The Palestinian government has not received the financial support it had expected from international and regional partners, President Mahmoud Abbas said at the Arab League summit in Manama on Thursday.

"It has now become critical to activate the Arab safety net, to boost the resilience of our people and to enable the government to carry out its duties," Abbas said.

Funding of the Palestinian Authority, the body which exercises limited governance of the occupied West Bank, has been severely restricted by a dispute over transferring tax revenue Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians.

Funding from international donors has also been squeezed, falling from 30% of the $6 billion annual budget to around 1%, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has said.