Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Israel launches intense attacks on Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s south

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Reports suggest strikes were targeting Hashem Safieddine, seen as most likely candidate to replace Hassan Nasrallah

The Israeli military launched a series of strikes on southern Beirut on Thursday night, in one of the most intense bombardments on the city since the campaign began last week as Hezbollah continued to attack northern Israel.

The raids came as Israel also cut off a key road near to Lebanon’s Masnaa border crossing with Syria that has been used by hundreds of thousands of people to flee Israeli bombardments in recent days.

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UK Palestinians on the nightmare of watching war unfold from afar

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One year on, we speak to those who have lost more than 50 relatives and who call some ministers’ support for the Israeli government ‘shameful’

In September 2023, 45-year-old Mohammed Ghalayini travelled to Gaza from Manchester, where he had lived since 2004, to visit family. He was still there on 7 October when Hamas’s attack on Israel killed 1,200 people. In Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza – which to date has killed more than 41,000 people – he and his family were displaced multiple times, faced shortages of food and water, and endured the relentless sound of drones.

Ghalayini is now back in the north of England, but nearly a year into Israel’s war in Gaza, he says every day still brings bad news – whether from family members in WhatsApp messages, or in updates on Facebook, which has become like an “obituary page”. Ghalayini said he feels helpless.

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West Bank: 18 reported killed in Israeli strike targeting Hamas figure

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Palestinian security services say attack on Tulkarm refugee camp is deadliest in the territory for 24 years

At least 18 people have been killed in the occupied West Bank in an airstrike on a refugee camp in Tulkarm that the Israeli military has claimed killed a local Hamas leader.

Among the dead, according to Palestinan reports, was a family of four including two children, named as Mohammed Abu Zahra, his wife Sajaa, and their two children, Karam and Sham.

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Israel orders evacuation of southern Lebanese city as Beirut strikes continue

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People of Nabatieh are told to leave, adding to mass displacement, and multiple airstrikes are heard in capital

The Israeli military has ordered evacuations of a Lebanese city and other communities north of a UN-declared buffer zone, signalling that it may widen a ground operation launched earlier this week against Hezbollah.

On Thursday, Israel told people to leave Nabatieh, a provincial capital in southern Lebanon, and several towns and villages north of the Litani River, which formed the northern edge of the border zone established by the UN security council after the 2006 war in a resolution that both sides have accused the other of violating.

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Biden says US ‘discussing’ possible Israeli plans to attack Iran’s oil industry

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President’s off-the-cuff remark outside White House over possible retaliation triggers global oil price rise

Joe Biden has said that his administration has been “discussing” possible Israeli plans to attack Iran’s oil industry in retaliation for the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Tuesday.

Biden’s off-the-cuff remark did not make clear whether his administration was holding internal discussions or talking directly to Israel, nor did he clarify what his attitude was to such an attack.

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What are the risks involved in Israeli options for retaliatory strikes on Iran?

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Israel has several possible targets including military, economic or even nuclear sites, but all come with caveats

Israel has several options if its leaders want to launch retaliatory strikes against Iran, and while western leaders have urged restraint, a significant assault is expected. Possibilities could include strikes against military, economic or even nuclear targets, although Joe Biden said he had told Benjamin Netanyahu’s government the US would not support the last option.

Iran has relatively weak air defences and it is expected it would struggle to prevent Israeli missiles or an air force bombing run, as was revealed on 19 April. Then, Israel, responding to Iran’s previous missile barrage, damaged part of Iran’s best air defence system, a Russian S-300, in the military-industrial city of Isfahan. It was a strike intended to showcase to Iran what Israel was capable of.

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Lebanese healthcare workers fearful as growing numbers killed in strikes

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At least 50 paramedics have been killed in Lebanon over the last two weeks

The airstrikes started just before noon. The injured and the dead quickly followed. As the ground in the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun began to shake from the relentless approach of Israeli bombs, Shoshan Mazraani let her muscle memory take over.

As the emergency room director of its public hospital, she was well versed in the grim logistics of the triage procedures that follow a bombing. Then after five hours of gruelling work, the din of the emergency room was interrupted by a long whistle.

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Yazidi woman kidnapped by IS freed from Gaza after decade in captivity

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Officials say US, Israel, Jordan and Iraq involved in rescue of 21-year-old who had been captured in Iraq

A 21-year-old woman kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Iraq more than a decade ago has been freed from Gaza in an operation led by the US.

The operation this week also involved Israel, Jordan and Iraq, according to officials.

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Pro-Palestine rally and standing vigil going ahead in Sydney after protesters and police reach agreement

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Decision reached after police launched supreme court action to have events scheduled for Town Hall on 6 and 7 October ruled unlawful

Pro-Palestine organisers have claimed victory in court, after announcing that both a rally on 6 October and a standing vigil on 7 October will go ahead after a last-minute agreement with New South Wales police.

NSW police this week launched supreme court action to have both events deemed unlawful, citing concerns over expected crowd size and potential hazards including “planter boxes” at Town Hall.

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Gulf leaders support Palestine – but many would not mind seeing Israel challenge Iran

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The escalating Middle East conflict could create a dangerous vacuum – or an opportunity – for several states

The coincidental timing of an emergency meeting of Gulf foreign ministers in Doha with a visit to the same city by the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, for talks with Qatar’s emir raises questions about how the Gulf states will react if Israel pushes ahead with its plan to use its recent military success not just to weaken Iran, but reorder the Middle East.

This Sunni coalition of six Gulf monarchs is not naturally well disposed to Iran or its Shia proxies, and only in 2016 labelled Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation. But they also oppose further Israeli escalation, and believe it is ultimately only Washington that has the means to restrain the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Israeli strikes kill six in central Beirut as blasts heard across Lebanon’s capital

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Strike on medical centre is the second attack on the centre of Lebanon’s capital this week and comes after the IDF suffered their deadliest day against Hezbollah since 8 October

Israeli strikes on a central Beirut medical centre have killed at least six people, after Israel’s military suffered its deadliest day on the Lebanese front in a year of clashes with Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Residents in Beirut heard a missile flying above the city before hearing the sound of the explosion. Videos showed the floor of an apartment building burning. Residents living in nearby areas began to flee, driving away quickly in scooters and cars.

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After a fortnight of military triumph, what is Israel’s endgame?

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Hawks argue Tehran’s missile assault gives legitimacy to a direct attack on Iran – but would ‘wars and wars and wars’ guarantee greater security?

Israel is enjoying a moment of military and intelligence triumph. Over two weeks, it has killed an “archenemy” in his secret bunker, decimated Hezbollah’s leadership, blown up the militant group’s communications networks and parts of its arsenal and humbled its sponsor, Iran.

As its ground troops marched into Lebanon, Israel fended off a large-scale Iranian ballistic missile attack with backing from the US and other allies.

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Eight Israeli soldiers killed in clashes with Hezbollah in Lebanon

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Casualties during heavy fighting in border areas come days after Israel launched ground incursion

Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed and a number of others wounded in three exchanges with Hezbollah in heavy fighting inside Lebanon.

The largest group of soldiers, from the commando brigade and including an officer, was involved in a clash with Hezbollah in a village north of the Israeli border community of Misgav Am, while two other soldiers from the Golani brigade were killed in a separate incident.

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Gulf states call on international community to fulfil responsibilities in the region – as it happened

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Danish police said on Wednesday morning that they were investigating two blasts in the vicinity of Israel’s embassy in Copenhagen.

“No one has been injured, and we are carrying out initial investigations at the scene,” Copenhagen police said in a statement. They said a “possible connection” to the Israeli embassy, which is located in the area, was being investigated.

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US would not support Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, says Biden

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Top Israeli diplomat at UN warns his country’s retaliation for Iranian missile attack will be heavier than Tehran ‘could ever have imagined’

Joe Biden has said he would not support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites, as the US sought to temper Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack on Tuesday and contain a rapidly escalating regional conflict.

Biden’s comments came after the top Israeli diplomat at the UN warned his country’s retaliation for an Iranian salvo of nearly 200 ballistic missiles would be heavier than Tehran “could ever have imagined”.

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UK begins evacuating citizens from Lebanon as Israel’s offensive continues

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First charter flight has left Beirut, says David Lammy, with officials planning ‘sea and air’ rescues if situation worsens

The UK has laid on a charter flight to evacuate Britons from Lebanon and said it is ready to commission more for the 5,000 nationals and their dependants remaining in the country.

Beirut’s international airport remains open but ministers and officials are preparing contingency plans for sea and air rescues via Cyprus should the security situation in Lebanon deteriorate to the point at which commercial flights are stopped.

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Dozens killed in Israeli strikes and ground operations in southern Gaza

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At least 70 dead as Israeli strikes against Hamas continue despite attention shifting to Lebanon and Iran

More than 70 people have been killed in a series of intensive ground operations and airstrikes by the Israel Defense Forces in southern Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said on Wednesday.

Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets across Gaza nearly a year after Hamas’s 7 October attack triggered the war in the territory, and even as attention has shifted to Lebanon and Iran.

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West planned for months to repel long-range Iranian attack – but Israel did not need them

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Most of the defensive effort appears to have been undertaken by Israeli air defence systems

Quiet planning by the US, UK and other allies to help Israel repel an Iranian long-range attack have been going on for several months or more – but most of the defensive effort appears to have been undertaken by Israeli air defence systems.

The only reported military engagements in support of Israel were a dozen interceptors fired by two US warships in the eastern Mediterranean, while Jordan said its own air defence systems and air force were involved in targeting Iranian missiles.

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Israel vows to retaliate after Iran launches unprecedented missile attack

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Iran sends more than 180 ballistic missiles in dramatic escalation of conflict

Israel has vowed to retaliate after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at targets across Israel in a dramatic intensification of a conflict that appeared to be escalating out of control.

“Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it,” Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his security cabinet late on Tuesday. “The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.”

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Iran calls missile attack on Israel ‘legal, rational and legitimate’

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High-risk assault reflects Iranian elite’s belief that restraint after assassination of Ismail Haniyeh was strategic mistake

Iran said its supreme leader made the decision to fire dozens of missiles into Israel as retaliation for the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the recent killings of leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas, two of the main groups in Iran’s so-called axis of resistance.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said the decision had been made by Ali Khamenei with the backing of the supreme national security council (SNSC) and the Iranian defence ministry.

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