Israel Expands Its Bombardment in Lebanon as Tens of Thousands Flee

Smoke billows amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon October 5, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke billows amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon October 5, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israel Expands Its Bombardment in Lebanon as Tens of Thousands Flee

Smoke billows amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon October 5, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke billows amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, southern Lebanon October 5, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon on Saturday, hitting Beirut’s southern suburbs with a dozen airstrikes and striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.

Tens of thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.

Israel's attack on the Beddawi camp near Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli killed an official with Hamas’ military wing along with his wife and two young daughters, the Palestinian armed group said. Hamas later said another military wing member was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley.

Israel’s military said it killed two senior officials with Hamas’ military wing in Lebanon, where fighting has escalated in recent weeks. Israel has killed several Hamas officials there since the Israel-Hamas war began, in addition to most of the top leadership of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, also including civilians and paramedics, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from homes in less than two weeks.

Plumes of smoke dominated the skyline over Beirut’s densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah commanders and military equipment and aims to drive the group away from shared borders.

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, calling it a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and Israel's military have traded fire almost daily.

Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in the intense ground clashes that Israel says have killed 250 Hezbollah fighters. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006.

Israel's military on Saturday said about 90 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Most were intercepted, but several fell in the northern Arab town of Deir al-Asad, where police said three people were lightly injured.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told reporters in Damascus that “we are trying to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and in Lebanon.” The minister did not name the countries putting forward initiatives, saying they include regional states and some outside the Middle East.

Araghchi spoke a day after the supreme leader of Iran praised its recent missile strikes on Israel and said it was ready to do it again if necessary.

Fleeing Lebanon on foot At least six people were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday, according to the National News Agency, a Lebanese state-run new outlet.

Nearly 375,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria, fleeing Israeli strikes, in less than two weeks, according to a Lebanese government committee.

Associated Press journalists saw thousands of people continuing to cross the Masnaa Border Crossing on foot, crunching over the rubble after Israeli airstrikes left huge craters in the road leading to it on Thursday. Much of Hezbollah’s weaponry is believed to come from Iran through Syria.

Other displaced families now shelter alongside Beirut’s famous seaside Corniche, their wind-flapped tents just steps from luxury homes. “We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu,” said Om Ali Mcheik.

The Israeli military said special forces were carrying out targeted ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, destroying missiles, launchpads and weapons storage facilities. It said troops dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.

More evacuation orders in Gaza Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the Health Ministry there, which does not differentiate between civilian and fighter deaths. Almost 90% of Gaza’s residents are now displaced, amid widespread destruction.

Palestinian medical officials said Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza on Saturday killed at least nine people.

One in the northern town of Beit Hanoun killed at least five people, including two children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Another hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four, the Awda hospital said.

The Israeli military did not have any immediate comment but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas.

An Israeli airstrike killed two children in Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighborhood, according to the civil defense first responders’ group that operates under the Hamas-run government.

Israel's military warned Palestinians to evacuate along the strategic Netzarim corridor in central Gaza, which was at the heart of obstacles to a ceasefire deal. The military told people in parts of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps to evacuate to Muwasi, a coastal area it has designated a humanitarian zone.

It’s unclear how many Palestinians are in the areas ordered evacuated. Israeli forces have often returned to areas in Gaza to target Hamas fighters as they regroup.



Iraqi Officials Debate Country’s Future after Radical Changes in Syria

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with parliament Speaker Dr. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Friday. (Government's press office)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with parliament Speaker Dr. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Friday. (Government's press office)
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Iraqi Officials Debate Country’s Future after Radical Changes in Syria

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with parliament Speaker Dr. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Friday. (Government's press office)
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani meets with parliament Speaker Dr. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Friday. (Government's press office)

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani dismissed on Saturday calls for changing the political system in the country in wake of the radical changes in Syria with the ouster of Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the death of former head of the Supreme Iraqi Council Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim in 2003, Sudani stressed that Iraq had sought to distance itself from the developments in Syria.

“Some parties are using the situation in Syria to attempt to change the system of rule in Iraq. This issue is not up for debate,” he declared, while acknowledging that the region had witnessed in over a year major developments that have resulted in significant political changes.

Iraq is built on a democratic pluralistic system and the peaceful transition of power, he went on to say. It allows reform and correcting any imbalances through the constitution and laws.

“No one has the right to impose change and reforms in any file, whether it is economic or security-related,” he stated, while admitting that reforms are needed in various sectors.

Sudani noted that Iraq has managed in recent months to hold provincial elections and a census and restructured relations with the anti-ISIS coalition.

“These issues were completed at the insistence of our government in achieving full sovereignty and eliminating any restrictions on Iraq’s international activities,” he added.

Moreover, the PM stressed the need to “steer Iraq clear of becoming an arena for war in the coming months. We have consulted with brothers and friends to that end.”

Iraq is ready to help ease the suffering of the people of Gaza and Lebanon, he added.

Meanwhile, parliament Speaker Dr. Mahmoud al-Mashhadan reminded political forces of the “political settlement” document that the main political powers adopted in 2018 and which calls for turning Iraq into a unified state, rather than one formed of various “components”.

Speaking at the same commemoration, he called on the forces opposed to the document to “show some responsibility” and adopt it.

Furthermore, he urged all political powers to support and strengthen the current government because weakening it will weaken the entire political process in the country.

The “political settlement,” he explained, is a “clear roadmap that was handed to head of the Hikma Movement Ammar al-Hakim when he was head of a number of allies Shiite groups.”

Top leaderships and all political groups agreed to the settlement, which was handed to the United Nations. The settlement was supposed to be implemented in 2018, remarked the speaker.

“Had we implemented it, we would have met several demands that were made to us,” he noted.

Hakim, for his part, rejected that Iraq become an arena of “foreign influence.”

“Iraq must be treated as an independent sovereign state,” he stressed at the commemoration

“This is not a choice, but a need imposed by the sacrifices of our people and their right to build their own future,” he said.

He therefore called for launching “comprehensive regional dialogue aimed at setting permanent paths for understanding and cooperation between regional countries.”

“Dialogue is a means to achieve peace and stability,” he underscored.