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)
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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.



Tunisia Groups Urge Inclusion of Rejected Candidates in Poll

FILE PHOTO: Tunisian President Kais Saied attends a signing ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Pool/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tunisian President Kais Saied attends a signing ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Pool/File Photo/File Photo
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Tunisia Groups Urge Inclusion of Rejected Candidates in Poll

FILE PHOTO: Tunisian President Kais Saied attends a signing ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Pool/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tunisian President Kais Saied attends a signing ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/Pool/File Photo/File Photo

A petition signed by prominent Tunisians and civil society groups was published on Saturday urging that rejected candidates be allowed to stand in the October 6 presidential election, Agence France Presse reported.

Signed by 26 groups including Legal Agenda, Lawyers Without Borders and the Tunisian Human Rights League, it welcomed an administrative court decision this week to reinstate three candidates who had been disqualified.

They are Imed Daimi, who was an adviser to former president Moncef Marzouki, former minister Mondher Zenaidi and opposition party leader Abdellatif Mekki.

The three were among 14 candidates barred by the Tunisian election authority, ISIE, from standing in the election.

If they do take part, they will join former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui and businessman Ayachi Zammel in challenging incumbent President Kais Saied.

Saturday's petition was also signed by more than 180 civil society figures including Wahid Ferchichi, dean of the public law faculty at Carthage University.

It called the administrative court "the only competent authority to adjudicate disputes related to presidential election candidacies.”

The petition referred to statements by ISIE head Farouk Bouasker, who on Thursday indicated that the authority will soon meet to finalize the list of candidates, "taking into consideration judicial judgements already pronounced.”

This has been interpreted as suggesting the ISIE may reject new candidacies if they are the subject of legal proceedings or have convictions.

The administrative court's rulings on appeals "are enforceable and cannot be contested by any means whatsoever,” the petition said.

It called on the electoral authority to "respect the law and avoid any practice that could undermine the transparency and integrity of the electoral process.”