Hezbollah Fires Rockets Into Israel After Deadly Strikes

Hezbollah members prepare a Katyusha rocket launcher (Capture from Hezbollah video)
Hezbollah members prepare a Katyusha rocket launcher (Capture from Hezbollah video)
TT

Hezbollah Fires Rockets Into Israel After Deadly Strikes

Hezbollah members prepare a Katyusha rocket launcher (Capture from Hezbollah video)
Hezbollah members prepare a Katyusha rocket launcher (Capture from Hezbollah video)

Lebanon's Hezbollah on Sunday said it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel after Israeli strikes the day before left five dead in southern Lebanon, including three of the group's members.

Hamas ally Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.

Hezbollah said it had launched "dozens of katyusha-type rockets" in the morning on the Israeli village of Meron, eight kilometres (five miles) from the border.

Meron is home to a major air control base that the Iran-backed group has targeted several times since the start of the year.

Hezbollah said it had acted "in response to Israeli attacks against villages in the south and the homes of civilians", particularly the targeting of the home of a fighter in Kherbet Selm the day before, AFP reported.

A woman and another person were also killed in the same strike, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency.

"Following the sirens that sounded in northern Israel, approximately 35 launches from Lebanon toward Israeli territory were identified, a number of which were intercepted," the Israeli army said on Sunday.

The statement added that the Israeli air force struck Hezbollah infrastructure during the night, including a "military structure in which Hezbollah militants were identified in the area of Khirbet Selm".

At least 312 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of cross-border violence on October 8, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including 53 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed, according to the latest official figures.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting on both sides of the border.

Strikes have largely remained confined to border regions for the moment, but several have hit Hezbollah positions further north in recent weeks, raising fears of a full-blown conflict.

The group has repeatedly said that it will only stop its attacks on Israel with a ceasefire in Gaza.

But Israeli Defene Minister Yoav Gallant said recently that any truce in Gaza would not change Israel's goal of pushing Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, by force or diplomacy.



Ex-Tunisian Minister Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Former Environment Minister Riadh Mouakher (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Former Environment Minister Riadh Mouakher (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT

Ex-Tunisian Minister Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Former Environment Minister Riadh Mouakher (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Former Environment Minister Riadh Mouakher (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Criminal Chamber specialized in financial corruption cases at the Court of First Instance of Tunis, sentenced on Friday former Environment Minister Riadh Mouakher to three years in prison, the Tunisian official news agency, TAP, reported.
The ruling is part of a corruption case related to breaches in a transaction carried out by the former minister for the purchase of several vehicles.
Investigation showed that the tender conditions were allegedly manipulated in favor of one particulate supplier.
In addition to Mouakher, the Chamber condemned a civil protection executive, seconded to the Environment Ministry, to two years in prison.
The two defendants are found guilty of abusing their functions to obtain an undue advantage, and therefore causing harm to the administration and contravening the regulations in force.
On Thursday, the Criminal Chamber specialized in corruption cases at the Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced a security officer to three years in prison and four others to four years in prison on charges of abusing their functions to obtain an undue advantage and harm others.
The five security officers had formed a group for the purpose of attacking property and exploiting a public employee.
According to documents related to the case, surveillance activities revealed that the five defendants, who work at a central department, were involved in seizing private funds, giving night jobs to some department agents, and transferring the profits to their personal accounts.
Their case was first examined by the Financial Chamber, which decided to sentence the five security guards to prison.
The case was later referred to the Criminal Chamber that examines financial corruption cases. The chamber had earlier kept the five defendants at liberty, before issuing late on Thursday the prison sentences.