Tunisia’s Ghannouchi Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison

Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi. Reuters file photo
Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi. Reuters file photo
TT

Tunisia’s Ghannouchi Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison

Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi. Reuters file photo
Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi. Reuters file photo

A Tunisian judge on Thursday sentenced opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi, a fierce critic of President Kais Saied, to three years in prison on charges of accepting external financing, his lawyer Monia Bouali told Reuters.
Ghannouchi, 82, head of the Ennahda main opposition party, has been in prison since April. Last year he was sentenced to a year in prison on charges of incitement against police.
Bouali added that the court also imprisoned Ghannouchi’s son-in-law Rafik Abdessalem who is a senior Ennahda official, to three years in prison in the same case, in addition to fining the party $1.1 million.
Last year, Tunisian authorities banned meetings at all Ennahda offices and police closed the headquarters of the Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition, in what rights groups called a de facto ban.



Israel Says it Killed Hezbollah Drone Commander in Airstrike

A damaged building in the southern suburb of Beirut following an Israeli raid, in Beirut, Lebanon, 26 September 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
A damaged building in the southern suburb of Beirut following an Israeli raid, in Beirut, Lebanon, 26 September 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
TT

Israel Says it Killed Hezbollah Drone Commander in Airstrike

A damaged building in the southern suburb of Beirut following an Israeli raid, in Beirut, Lebanon, 26 September 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
A damaged building in the southern suburb of Beirut following an Israeli raid, in Beirut, Lebanon, 26 September 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

The Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah drone commander in an airstrike on an apartment building in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Hezbollah did not immediately comment on Israel's claim that Mohammed Hussein Surour was dead.

"Following precise intelligence guidance from the Air Force and the Intelligence Division, fighter jets targeted and eliminated (Srour), the commander of Hezbollah's air unit, in Beirut," a military statement said.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said two people were killed and 15 wounded in the strike.

"The Israeli enemy strike on Beirut's southern suburbs killed two people and wounded 15, including a woman in critical condition," a ministry statement said.

The strike came two days after a similar attack killed a senior Hezbollah military commander with the group’s missile unit.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 630 people in Lebanon since Monday, about a quarter of them women and children. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of projectiles towards Israel over the past week, including a surface-to-surface missile toward Tel Aviv that was intercepted Wednesday.