Israel Says Stopped Surface-to-air Missile Launched from Lebanon

A picture taken from Lebanese town of Marjeyoun shows smoke billowing in the contested border area of Shebaa Farms on October 14, 2023, during a cross-border exchange between Lebanon and Israel. (AFP)
A picture taken from Lebanese town of Marjeyoun shows smoke billowing in the contested border area of Shebaa Farms on October 14, 2023, during a cross-border exchange between Lebanon and Israel. (AFP)
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Israel Says Stopped Surface-to-air Missile Launched from Lebanon

A picture taken from Lebanese town of Marjeyoun shows smoke billowing in the contested border area of Shebaa Farms on October 14, 2023, during a cross-border exchange between Lebanon and Israel. (AFP)
A picture taken from Lebanese town of Marjeyoun shows smoke billowing in the contested border area of Shebaa Farms on October 14, 2023, during a cross-border exchange between Lebanon and Israel. (AFP)

Israel's military said on Saturday it had stopped a surface-to-air missile fired from Lebanon at one of its drones.

The Israeli army and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon have exchanged fire on a daily basis since the start of the Gaza conflict three weeks ago, the biggest flare-up on the Lebanese-Israeli frontier since the two sides fought a war in 2006.

Israel's military said on Saturday it had "thwarted a surface-to-air missile that was fired from Lebanon" towards an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It said the military had responded by "striking the origin of the missile's fire".

According to Reuters, there was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, which has said that, as of Friday, 47 of its fighters had been killed in clashes along the frontier.

Israel's army said earlier this week seven of its soldiers had been killed since the Oct. 7, when Palestinian group Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israeli soil and Israel responded with heavy strikes on Gaza.



Sudan Government Rejects UN-backed Famine Declaration

FILE PHOTO: A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Sudan, November 12, 2024. WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Sudan, November 12, 2024. WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via REUTERS
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Sudan Government Rejects UN-backed Famine Declaration

FILE PHOTO: A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Sudan, November 12, 2024. WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Sudan, November 12, 2024. WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via REUTERS

The Sudanese government rejected on Sunday a report backed by the United Nations which determined that famine had spread to five areas of the war-torn country.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review, which UN agencies use, said last week that the war between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces had created famine conditions for 638,000 people, with a further 8.1 million on the brink of mass starvation.

The army-aligned government "categorically rejects the IPC's description of the situation in Sudan as a famine", the foreign ministry said in a statement, AFP reported.

The statement called the report "essentially speculative" and accused the IPC of procedural and transparency failings.

They said the team did not have access to updated field data and had not consulted with the government's technical team on the final version before publication.

The Sudanese government, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has been based in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan since the capital Khartoum became a warzone in April 2023.

It has repeatedly been accused of stonewalling international efforts to assess the food security situation in the war-torn country.

The authorities have also been accused of creating bureaucratic hurdles to humanitarian work and blocking visas for foreign teams.

The International Rescue Committee said the army was "leveraging its status as the internationally recognised government (and blocking) the UN and other agencies from reaching RSF-controlled areas".

Both the army and the RSF have been accused of using starvation as a weapon of war.

The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted over 12 million people, including millions who face dire food insecurity in army-controlled areas.

Across the country, more than 24.6 million people -- around half the population -- face high levels of acute food insecurity.