Israel Determined to ‘Change Security Reality’ with Lebanon

An Israeli artillery battery stationed near the border with Lebanon (AP)
An Israeli artillery battery stationed near the border with Lebanon (AP)
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Israel Determined to ‘Change Security Reality’ with Lebanon

An Israeli artillery battery stationed near the border with Lebanon (AP)
An Israeli artillery battery stationed near the border with Lebanon (AP)

Amid continuous violations of the rules of engagement, Israeli drones on Friday, and for the second day in a row, targeted the vicinity of the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh.
Meanwhile, the commander of the northern region in the Israeli army, Ori Gordin, announced that Israel aims to change the security situation in the north, near the border with Lebanon, in a way that allows “the safe return of residents.”
Army spokesman Avichay Adraee, on his account on X platform, quoted Gordin as saying that Israel was determined to change the security reality, as it continues “to prepare to expand the scope of the war.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that on Friday, an Israeli drone launched a raid on a deserted house in the Al-Sokra neighborhood at the northern entrance to the town of Yahmar Al-Shaqif in Nabatieh, and fired two missiles in two batches that penetrated the roof of the house, causing significant damage.
Later on Friday, Lebanese media reported a second raid targeting a site between the towns of Arnoun and Yahmar in Nabatieh.
Yahmar, which is about 8 km away from the city of Nabatieh, was subjected, for the first time on Thursday, to an Israeli drone strike that hit a car in what Israeli media claimed was an assassination attempt of a Hezbollah military official.
Artillery shelling also hit the town of Kafr Kila, located in the Marjayoun District, while Israeli warplanes carried out a raid on the Hamul area in Naqoura, south of Tyre. The bombing targeted the outskirts of the town of Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil District and the vicinity of Ali Al-Taher Hill.
Hezbollah, for its part, announced the targeting of spying equipment in Israel’s Dovev Barracks, as well as in the vicinity of the Al-Malikiyah site and the Ramta site.
The head of Hezbollah’s Sharia Committee, Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek, said that the “Islamic Resistance on our front in the south has recorded successive achievements in striking the Zionist enemy.”
Yazbek said during the Friday prayers: “The envoys will only hear one word; the beginning of the solution starts from Gaza, and threats will not work.”

 

 

 

 

 

 



Iraq Reports 19 Congo Fever Deaths Already This Year

A general view of Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)
A general view of Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)
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Iraq Reports 19 Congo Fever Deaths Already This Year

A general view of Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)
A general view of Baghdad, Iraq. (Reuters file photo)

Iraq said Thursday it has recorded 19 deaths from Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever already this year and urged farmers and abattoir workers to step up precautions when handling livestock.

A total of 123 cases have been recorded nationwide, health ministry spokesman Saif al-Badr said in a statement, adding that 36 of them were reported in the poor southern province of Dhi Qar, which is heavily dependent on livestock farming.

Congo fever is a viral disease which is transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during or immediately after slaughter, according to the World Health Organization, AFP reported.

It has a fatality rate of between 10 and 40 percent, and most cases have been reported in the livestock industry.

A previous surge in infections in Iraq in 2022 saw at least 27 deaths, compared with just six cases for the two decades from 1989 to 2009.

The WHO attributed that flare-up to a rise in the tick population resulting from the failure to carry out pesticide spraying campaigns in 2020 and 2021.