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‘No Excuse for Hitting a Hospital’ in Gaza, Says EU Chief 

People gather at the site of the al-Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza on October 18, 2023 in the aftermath of an overnight blast there. (AFP)
People gather at the site of the al-Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza on October 18, 2023 in the aftermath of an overnight blast there. (AFP)
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‘No Excuse for Hitting a Hospital’ in Gaza, Says EU Chief 

People gather at the site of the al-Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza on October 18, 2023 in the aftermath of an overnight blast there. (AFP)
People gather at the site of the al-Ahli Arab hospital in central Gaza on October 18, 2023 in the aftermath of an overnight blast there. (AFP)

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday there is "no excuse for hitting a hospital full of civilians" in Gaza, but did not apportion blame for the blast.

The European Commission president told EU lawmakers the "facts need to be established" on the overnight strike on the Gaza hospital which killed at least 200.

Israel and Palestinians accuse each other of the blast, which triggered street protests in the Middle East against Israel.

Von der Leyen said "all those responsible must be held accountable".

European Council President Charles Michel posted on social media that there was "no conceivable reason to strike a facility with innocent civilians and medical staff" and said such an attack "is not in line with international law".

He too called for accountability.

Von der Leyen, who visited Israel last Friday in a show of solidarity, has been criticized by some European Union countries for perceived bias in favor of Israel at the expense of Palestinian civilians.

That prompted Michel to host a summit of EU leaders by videoconference late Tuesday which emphasized that Israel has the right to defend itself following Hamas's bloody assault -- but only in line with its commitments under international humanitarian law.

Hamas on October 7 sent fighters through the Gaza Strip's heavily militarized border, killing more than 1,400 people. They also took nearly 200 hostages.

Israel has been relentlessly bombing Gaza in response, killing over 3,000 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.

In her parliamentary address, von der Leyen said Hamas was the underlying reason for the ordeal Palestinians are now going through.

"Hamas are terrorists. And the Palestinian people are also suffering from that terror," she said.

She added that the EU needs to keep supporting the Palestinians, "and there is no contradiction in standing in solidarity with Israel".

"Europe stands with Israel in this dark moment," von der Leyen said, adding that "Israel should act as a democracy, in line with international humanitarian law."

Against 'rules of war'

The EU's top foreign policy official, Josep Borrell, took a sterner view of Israel's reaction, which has resulted in a siege of Gaza and its 2.3 million Palestinians, who are now cut off from water, food, electricity and humanitarian aid.

"Cutting water supplies and food off from civilian populations isn't in line with the rules of law," Borrell told the European Parliament.

"We cannot make the people of Gaza responsible for the terrible actions of Hamas."

The speeches to the parliament, and Tuesday's videoconference EU summit, highlighted divergences within the EU over the Israel-Hamas conflict.

While there has been widespread condemnation of the slaughter by Hamas of Israelis, disagreements over calls to rein in retaliatory strikes on Gaza continue to boil.

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Arab World

Trump Pledges Retaliation After 3 Americans Killed in Syria

Trump Pledges Retaliation After 3 Americans Killed in Syria
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Trump Pledges Retaliation After 3 Americans Killed in Syria

Trump Pledges Retaliation After 3 Americans Killed in Syria

US President Donald Trump said Saturday “there will be very serious retaliation” against ISIS after three Americans, two soldiers and their civilian interpreter, were killed by a single gunman in an ambush targeting a joint US-Syrian government patrol in central Syria.

“We mourn the loss of three great patriots in Syria. We know how it happened, an ambush,” he told reporters at the White House.

Earlier, the Pentagon said initial assessments showed the attack was carried out by ISIS.

However, a Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces who held extremist ideas.

Nour Eddin al-Baba said Syrian forces had issued intelligence warnings to US-led forces and that the assailant was known to authorities ahead of the deadly attack.

He told Syrian state television that leadership in the country’s Internal Security Forces in the Badia region had alerted the US-led international coalition against ISIS in Syria about preliminary information “indicating a possible breach or expected ISIS attacks.”

“However, (coalition) forces did not take the Syrian warnings into account,” al-Baba said.

According to the Pentagon, the attacker was killed by “partner forces,” in a sign to the Syrian government forces.

Syrian state news agency SANA quoted a security source as saying that Syrian service personnel were injured, without providing further details.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on X, “Let it be known, if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.”

The US-led coalition has carried out airstrikes and ground operations in Syria targeting ISIS suspects in recent months, often with the involvement of Syria's security forces. Syria last month also carried out a nationwide campaign arresting more than 70 people accused of links to the group.

The United States has troops stationed in northeastern Syria as part of a decade-long effort to help a Kurdish-led force there.

Arab World

6 Peacekeepers Killed in Drone Strike on UN Facility in Sudan

FILE PHOTO: Sudanese people, who fled the conflict in Geneina in Sudan's Darfur region, receive rice portions from Red Cross volunteers in Ourang on the outskirts of Adre, Chad July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese people, who fled the conflict in Geneina in Sudan's Darfur region, receive rice portions from Red Cross volunteers in Ourang on the outskirts of Adre, Chad July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
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6 Peacekeepers Killed in Drone Strike on UN Facility in Sudan

FILE PHOTO: Sudanese people, who fled the conflict in Geneina in Sudan's Darfur region, receive rice portions from Red Cross volunteers in Ourang on the outskirts of Adre, Chad July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese people, who fled the conflict in Geneina in Sudan's Darfur region, receive rice portions from Red Cross volunteers in Ourang on the outskirts of Adre, Chad July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo

A drone strike hit a United Nations facility in Sudan on Saturday, killing six peacekeepers, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

The strike hit the peacekeeping logistics base in the city of Kadugli, in the central region of Kordofan, Guterres said in a statement.

"Attacks as the one today in South Kordofan against peacekeepers are unjustifiable. There will need to be accountability," he said in a statement.

Eight other peacekeepers were wounded in the strike. All the victims are Bangladeshi nationals, serving in the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei, UNISFA.

“Attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law,” said Guterres.

The Sudanese military blamed the attack on the Rapid Support Forces, RSF.

The attack “clearly reveals the subversive approach of the rebel militia and those behind it,” the military said in a statement.

The military posted a video on social media showing plumes of dense black smoke over what it said was the UN facility.

In a statement, the Sovereignty Council headed by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan called the attack a "dangerous escalation.”

The RSF in a statement on Telegram said it rejected "the claims and allegations... regarding an air attack that targeted the United Nations headquarters in Kadugli, and the accompanying false accusations against our forces of being behind it through the use of a drone.”

Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus in a statement said he was "deeply saddened" by the attack.

He asked the UN to ensure that his country's personnel were offered "any necessary emergency support.”

"The government of Bangladesh will stand by the families in this difficult moment," Yunus added.

Dhaka's foreign ministry said it "strongly condemned" the attack.

Abyei is a disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan, and the UN mission has been deployed there since 2011 when South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan.

Guterres also called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan to allow “a comprehensive, inclusive and Sudanese-owned political process” to settle the conflict in the country.

Sudan was plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country. The conflict has killed over 40,000 people — a figure rights groups consider a significant undercount.

The fighting has recently centered on Kodrofan, particularly since the RSF took control of el-Fasher, the military’s last stronghold in the western region of Darfur.

Arab World

2 US Service Members and One American Civilian Killed in Ambush in Syria, US Central Command Says

Residents ride a motorcycle along a war-damaged street in Palmyra, Syria. (AP)
Residents ride a motorcycle along a war-damaged street in Palmyra, Syria. (AP)
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2 US Service Members and One American Civilian Killed in Ambush in Syria, US Central Command Says

Residents ride a motorcycle along a war-damaged street in Palmyra, Syria. (AP)
Residents ride a motorcycle along a war-damaged street in Palmyra, Syria. (AP)

Two US service members and one American civilian were killed and three other people wounded in an ambush on Saturday by a lone member of the ISIS group in central Syria, the US military’s Central Command said. 

The attack on US troops in Syria is the first to inflict casualties since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad a year ago. 

Central Command said in a post on X that as a matter of respect for the families and in accordance with Department of Defense policy, the identities of the service members will be withheld until 24 hours after their next of kin have been notified. 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: “Let it be known, if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.” 

The shooting took place near historic Palmyra, according to the state-run SANA news agency, which earlier said two members of Syria’s security force and several US service members had been wounded. The casualties were taken by helicopter to the al-Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan. 

SANA said the attacker was killed, without providing further details. 

The US has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the ISIS group. 

Last month, Syria joined the international coalition fighting against the ISIS as Damascus improves its relations with Western countries following the ouster of Assad when opposition factions overthrew his regime in Damascus. 

The US had no diplomatic relations with Syria under Assad, but ties have warmed since the fall of the five-decade Assad family rule. The interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, made a historic visit to Washington last month where he held talks with President Donald Trump. 

ISIS was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in 2019, but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in the country. The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq. 

US troops, which have maintained a presence in different parts of Syria, including al-Tanf garrison in the central province of Homs, to train other forces as part of a broad campaign against ISIS, have been targeted in the past.  

One of the deadliest attacks occurred in 2019 in the northern town of Manbij when a blast killed two US service members and two American civilians, as well as others from Syria while conducting a patrol.