Israel Stages Heavy Airstrikes in Lebanon as Hezbollah Launches Drone Attack

23 August 2024, Lebanon, Qliyaa: Heavy black smoke from an Israeli airstrike billows from the Lebanese southern border town of Khiam. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
23 August 2024, Lebanon, Qliyaa: Heavy black smoke from an Israeli airstrike billows from the Lebanese southern border town of Khiam. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Israel Stages Heavy Airstrikes in Lebanon as Hezbollah Launches Drone Attack

23 August 2024, Lebanon, Qliyaa: Heavy black smoke from an Israeli airstrike billows from the Lebanese southern border town of Khiam. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
23 August 2024, Lebanon, Qliyaa: Heavy black smoke from an Israeli airstrike billows from the Lebanese southern border town of Khiam. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israel launched a series of intense airstrikes in southern Lebanon early Sunday in what it said was a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah.
The army said Hezbollah was planning to launch a heavy barrage of rockets and missiles toward Israel. The group had been promising to retaliate for Israel's assassination of Fouad Shukr, a top commander late last month.
Air raid sirens were reported throughout northern Israel, and Israel's Ben-Gurion international airport began diverting incoming flights and delaying takeoffs.
Soon afterwards, Hezbollah announced it had launched an attack on Israel with a “large number of drones” as an initial response to Shukr’s killing in a strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs last month.

Shukr's death in the airstrike was quickly followed by the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which led to vows of reprisal against Israel by Iran.

Hezbollah said Sunday’s attack was targeting “a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later” as well as “targeting a number of enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome platforms.”

Last week, Israel’s defense minister said he was moving more troops toward the Lebanese border in anticipation of possible fighting with the Iranian-backed group.

Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said early Sunday: “‏In a self-defense act to remove these threats, the (Israeli military) is striking terror targets in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah was planning to launch their attacks on Israeli civilians.”

“We can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians," he added, without providing details. ”‏We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm’s way immediately for their own safety,” he added.

Israeli media cited the Israel Airports Authority for news of the flight cancellations. Flight-tracking data showed at least two El Al flights swinging far south and diverting after the announcement.

Israel's cabinet was to meet at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel almost immediately after the war with Hamas erupted on Oct. 7 with a Hamas cross-border attack. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire nearly daily, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border and raising fears that the fighting could escalate into all-out war. But until Sunday, both sides have been careful to avoid a broader conflagration.



Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.