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CRY FREEDOM.net
formerly known as
Women's Liberation Front
MORE INSIGHT MORE LIFE
Welcome to cryfreedom.net,
formerly known as Womens
Liberation Front.
A website
that hopes to draw and keeps your attention for both the global 21th. century 3rd. feminist revolution as well
as especially for the Zan, Zendegi, Azadi uprising in Iran and the
struggles of our sisters in other parts of the Middle East. This online magazine
that started December 2019 will
be published every week. Thank you for your time and interest.
Gino d'Artali
indept investigative
journalist
radical feminist and women's rights activist
'WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM'
You are now at the section on what is happening in the rest of the Middle
east
(Updates
Oct. 1, 2024)
For the
Iran 'Woman, Life, Freedom' Iran news
Updated
Sept 27, 2024
For the 'Women's Arab Spring 1.2' Revolt
news
Updated Sept. 28, 2024
CLICK HERE ON HOW TO READ
ALL ON THIS PAGE
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SPECIAL
REPORTS
Oct wk1 --
Sept wk4 P3 --
Sept wk4 P2 --
Sept wk4 --
Sept wk3 P3 --
Sept wk 3 P2
--
--
Click here for an overview by week in 2024
|
October 1 - September 29, 2024
<<As war expands, Israel
sees opportunity to 'clean slate of everyone,
everything' they deem a threat...
but
Food for thought:
who threatens world-peace most?
and more actual news |
September 27 - 26, 2024
Food for thought: 'The pot (israel) blames the kettle (usa)
about the latters' <flat earth policy>.
Ok, agreed. But which of the two are then to blame for
the 'scorched earth genocide strategy'?
and more actual news
Click here to go throughout
September
and earler, 2024 |
Additional
stories of utmost interest:
August 28, 2024:
<<Creating hope for Gaza's student
doctors amid Israeli bombardment...
August 20, 2024:
<<Palestinians are being
dehumanised to justify occupation and genocide...
and
August 18, 2024
<<Solidarity with Palestine must
be about decolonisation, not just ceasefire...
|
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi
figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da
qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so
called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.
Tamara El-Haddad
Jinha - Womens News Agency - Oct. 1 , 2024 - by RAFIF ESLEEM
<<'Thousands of children in Gaza need medical care and vaccinations'
The ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have deepened the
humanitarian crisis, said Tamara El-Haddad, a writer and researcher in
Gaza, stressing that thousands of children and pregnant women need
urgent medical care and vaccinations.
Gaza- NuJINHA spoke to Tamara El-Haddad, a writer and researcher in
Gaza, about the consequences of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since
October 7, 2023. "Thousands of children in Gaza have died from
malnutrition and dehydration due to the war in Gaza," she said. "The
winter is coming and displaced people will not be able to protect
themselves from cold weather. The current tents cannot protect them from
snow, rain, mud and wind. People may die from exposure to cold weather."
'Israeli rejects cease-fire proposals'
In the Gaza Strip, humanitarian aid is first delivered to civilians,
said Tamara El-Haddad. "In Gaza, critical infrastructure, buildings and
streets are in ruin. Humanitarian aid cannot be delivered to people.
Israel rejects all cease-fire proposals because it sees a possible
cease-fire as an opportunity for Palestinian armed groups to reorganize
themselves. The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, does not care about
the needs of civilians. Therefore, the war will continue despite the
efforts of international and humanitarian organizations."
'Thousands of children need medical care'
Many women have lost their husbands due to the war, Tamara El-Haddad
stressed, adding, "Now, they have become the only breadwinners of their
families. In Gaza, thousands of children and pregnant women need medical
care and vaccinations. The Israeli forces conduct raids on crowded
areas. Women and children suffer from psychological problems due to the
sounds of bombs and bullets. The drones flying over Gaza at night cause
panic among people."
'Access to basic necessities is becoming more difficult'
Thousands of children have been deprived of education in Gaza, Tamara
El-Haddad noted. "Israeli forces have already targeted schools and
universities. An urgent ceasefire is needed so that children will be
able to continue their education. Before the war, 600 trucks used to
enter Gaza on a daily basis. Today, only 10 or 26 trucks enter Gaza on a
daily basis. Access to basic necessities such as clothes, shoes and food
is becoming more difficult for people." At the end of her speech, Tamara
El-Haddad said that everything that "Israel has been doing since the
beginning of the war is a violation of international law and
conventions. Israel has committed a genocide in the Gaza Strip by
targeting civilians, blocking the entry of humanitarian aid and
rejecting cease-fire proposals." >>
Source incl. video:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/thousands-of-children-in-gaza-need-medical-care-and-vaccinations-35754?page=1
BBC - Sept 30, 2024
<<After months of waiting, Gaza girls make it to Italy for burns
treatment
Zeina is one of the few injured Gazans who have been evacuated for
medical treatment abroad recently
"Higher," the little girl demands, her eyes bright with excitement.
"Higher, higher"
Zeina's being pushed on a swing in a small playground in the suburbs of
the northern Italian city of Padua.
A normal scene anywhere in the world.
But Zeina, two, can't move her head properly. And the right side of her
face, neck and scalp are marked with deep, still angry, scars. Right
now, though, she's safe and fed. And she feels like she's flying. Zeina
is one of the 5,000 people who have been allowed to leave Gaza for
specialist treatment abroad since the war broke out in the aftermath of
the Hamas attacks on 7 October in southern Israel. The World Health
Organization says more than 22,000 Gazans have suffered life-changing
injuries as a result of the conflict - but very few have been allowed to
leave the strip since the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was closed in
May. The two-year-old girl was severely burned by a pot of hot soup when
running away from the sounds of an air strike. "It was a day of
nightmares," says Zeina's mother, Shaimaa, describing the moments
leading up to her daughter's injury as she was playing in their family's
tent in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, on 17 March. The family had already
fled twice from their home in Khan Younis, first to Rafah and then to
the sprawling <humanitarian zone> in al-Mawasi, where they thought they
would be safe. Zeina and her four-year-old sister Lana had been playing
together, hugging and telling each other "I love you, I love you" -
Shaimaa recalls - when there was a huge air strike nearby. Zeina,
terrified, ran clutching at her mother, who was holding a pot of boiling
soup which spilled all over her daughter. "Her face and skin were
melting in front of me," Shaimaa says. "I picked her up and went
barefoot into the street." Medical services were stretched, she says,
but Zeina was eventually treated by Red Cross doctors at Gaza's European
hospital, where she underwent a skin graft from her father's leg,
followed by a more successful graft from the skin on her own leg after
she reached Egypt.
Earlier this month she was flown from Egypt to Italy to access more
specialised treatment.
Doctors in Italy have told Alaa, 17, she will never be able to walk
properly again
Zeina was joined by Alaa, a 17-year-old who was severely injured in an
air strike on her home in Gaza City late last year. When the two girls
met, they formed a bond straight away. "I took to her immediately," Alaa
says. "She's endured so much pain for such a small child. I'm older and
sometimes the pain was too much for me. So what about her?" Alaa was
trapped for 16 hours under rubble and, when she was rescued, she
discovered her father, a tailor, was dead. So too were her brothers,
Nael, who was a university student, and Wael, a nurse. Their bodies have
never been recovered from the ruins of their four-storey building. "I
was awake the whole time under the rubble," she tells me. "I couldn't
breathe properly because of the weight on my chest and body. I couldn't
move. I was just thinking about the rest of my family and what had
happened to them."
As well as her father and brothers, she also lost her grandparents and
an aunt. She says they had nothing to do with Hamas.
"I lost the people most precious to my heart," she says. "I'm happy to
be in Italy for treatment but inside I'm sad for Gaza and its people."
In a statement to the BBC, the Israel Defense Forces has denied
targeting civilians and says it takes <feasible precautions to mitigate
civilian harm> in its operation to dismantle Hamas military
capabilities.
More than 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the conflict
began nearly a year ago, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The
World Health Organization has repeatedly called for "multiple medical
evacuation corridors" for injured Palestinians. It says that only 219
patients have been allowed to leave since May. Zeina and Alaa were
evacuated thanks to the persistence of a British-based charity, Save a
Child, and the US-based Kinder Relief. They worked for months to get
them out - petitioning Israel, Egypt and the US state department for
help. "If I'm being honest, Zeina and Alaa are amongst the lucky ones
who got out," says Nadia Ali of Kinder Relief, who accompanied the girls
from Egypt to Italy. "We have children who were referred to us who have
died waiting to leave."
It's hard to speak of luck when you realise the repercussions of their
injuries.
Zeina giggles with her mother
Zeina's mother, Shaimaa, says the war in Gaza has cost her "so much"
after her own mother died from cancer that was unchecked and untreated.
Dr Bruno Azzena is kind and gentle with them, but he has to break to
them the most brutal of news - that the burns on Alaa's legs are so deep
that she will never walk normally again. And the hair on Zeina's scarred
scalp will not grow back. Her mum, Shaimaa, is devastated. She had left
Gaza hoping for a miracle. Zeina has started to realise she is different
from her sisters. And, when she asks Shaimaa to tie up her hair for her,
like other girls, her mother doesn't know what to do or say. Looking
after her girls alone - her husband wasn't authorised for evacuation
with them - is tough, physically and emotionally. But Shaimaa dotes on
Zeina, calling her "princess," hiding her tears - and her fears for the
future - from her. She is also grieving for her own mother who died of
cancer which had spread, unchecked and untreated, through her body in
the months after the war.
"The war has cost me so much," she says. "Thank God we were able to
leave. We left by a miracle. I hope that other injured Palestinians can
leave for treatment. I always pray for God to protect them and the war
to stop." >>
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevyx3x8dr8o
Safaa Ahmed
Jinha - Womens News Agency - Oct. 1 , 2024
<<Israeli strikes on Damascus kill three civilians, including journalist
Israeli strikes on Syrian capital Damascus killed three civilians,
including journalist Safaa Ahmed, before dawn on Tuesday.
News Center- Israeli fighter jets bombed the Syrian capital Damascus
before dawn on Tuesday, state-run media has reported.
Three civilians, including Safaa Ahmed, a well-known Syrian television
anchor, were killed and nine others injured in Israeli airstrikes on Al
Mazzeh, a municipality in Damascus, according to local reports.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/israeli-strikes-on-damascus-kill-three-civilians-including-journalist-35755?page=1
Al Jazeera - October 1, 2024
<<Israeli strike hits Lebanon's Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp
The Israeli military conducted a strike on the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian
refugee camp in Sidon, Lebanon. At least five people were killed in the
attack reportedly targeting the home of a brigadier general in the Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigade in Lebanon.>>
Source incl. video:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/10/1/israeli-strike-hits-lebanons-ain-al-hilweh-palestinian-refugee-camp
360th day of Israeli attacks
Jinha - Womens News Agency - Sept 30 , 2024
<<360th day of Israeli attacks on Gaza
At least 41,615 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the
Gaza Strip since October 7,2023, the Gaza's health ministry said in a
statement on Monday.
News Center- The Gaza's health ministry has released a statement on the
360th day of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
At least 41,615 Palestinians have been killed, 96,359 others injured in
Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, the ministry
said, adding that at least 20 Palestinians were killed and 108 others
injured in the last 24 hours.
Israeli attacks continue
Two civilians were killed and other injured in Israeli airstrikes on a
school housing displaced persons west of Beit Lahia city, north of the
Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported on Monday. In the
early morning of Monday, an Israeli airstrike targeting a house in the
city of Deir al-Balah, northern Gaza, killed a Palestinian woman and her
child, according to the news agency. Three people were killed in an
Israeli drone strike targeting a vehicle northwest of Khan Younis on
Monday, according to local sources. A mother, husband, and two children
were killed and several people injured when Israeli warplanes targeted a
house in the city of Beir al-Balah on Monday.
Another journalist killed in Israeli attack
An Israeli airstrike in central Gaza killed journalist Wafa Aludaini,
her husband, and two children in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza early on
Monday.
The number of journalists killed in Israeli attacks since October 7,2023
has risen to 174, the government media office said on Monday.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency.com/en/actual/360th-day-of-israeli-attacks-on-gaza-35749?page=1
Le Monde - Sept 30, 2024
<<Hamas leader in Lebanon killed in air strike
The Palestinian militant group reported that Fatah Sharif Abu al-Amine
died in a strike on the Al-Buss refugee camp near the southern city of
Tyre.
Palestinian militant group Hamas said its leader in Lebanon was killed
on Monday, September 30, in a strike on the country's south, as official
media reported a strike on a Palestinian refugee camp. "Fatah Sharif Abu
al-Amine, the leader of Hamas (...) in Lebanon and member of the
movement's leadership abroad" was killed in an air strike on his "home
in the Al-Buss camp in south Lebanon," a Hamas statement said. It said
he was killed with his wife, son and daughter in a "terrorist and
criminal assassination." The official National News Agency reported an
air strike on Al-Buss near the city of Tyre, saying it was the "first
time" the camp had been targeted. The statement came hours after the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a secular
left-wing group, said three of its members were killed in a strike on
Beirut's Kola district early Monday.
Confirmation from Israel
The Israeli army confirmed the killing on Monday, writing in a statement
that <overnight (...) the IAF [air force] struck and eliminated the
terrorist Fatah Sharif, head of the Lebanon branch in the Hamas
terrorist organization.> According to the same statement, Sharif <was
responsible for coordinating Hamas' terror activities in Lebanon with
Hezbollah operatives. He was also responsible for Hamas' efforts in
Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons.> Israel has
repeatedly targeted Hamas officials in Lebanon since the Gaza war
erupted almost a year ago. A strike in January, which a US defense
official said was carried out by Israel, killed Hamas deputy leader
Saleh al-Arouri and six other militants in Hezbollah's south Beirut
stronghold. In August, an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south
Lebanon city of Sidon killed Hamas commander Samer al-Hajj. Lebanon's
official Palestinian refugee camps were created for Palestinians who
were driven out or fled during the 1948 war at the time of Israel's
creation. By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army stays out of the
camps and leaves the Palestinian factions to handle security.
Le Monde with AFP>>
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/09/30/hamas-says-its-leader-in-lebanon-killed-in-air-strike_6727738_4.html
Le Monde - Sept 30, 2024 - COLUMN auteur Jean-Pierre Filiu Historian and
professor at Sciences Po Paris
<<The terrible cost to Israel of marginalizing the PLO
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is waging a relentless war
against opponents who only emerged as a result of the weakening of the
Palestine Liberation Organization, expelled from Lebanon by Israel to
the benefit of Hezbollah and marginalized in Gaza, which has become a
Hamas stronghold. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his
ministers and his supporters are hammering home the existential nature
of Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and against Hezbollah
in Lebanon. It is all the more important to remember that these two
militias simply would not exist if the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) had not been expelled from Lebanon by Israel in 1982, allowing
Hezbollah to establish itself in the space thereby left vacant. And if
the PLO had been able to bring the peace process with Israel that began
in 1993 to a successful conclusion, as the collapse of this process
paved the way for Hamas before offering it the keys to Gaza in 2007.
Such a historical reminder puts into perspective the significance of
Israel's military successes, however spectacular they may be, since the
elimination of the enemy of the moment often facilitates the emergence
of an even more formidable adversary in the end. The only lasting
victory for Israel, especially given the current overwhelming balance of
power in its favor, can only be a political one, even if it is hard for
such evidence to assert itself in the face of the current escalation.
PLO expelled from Lebanon to the benefit of Hezbollah
Beginning in 1969, PLO leader Yasser Arafat organized his fedayeen's
raids into Israeli territory from Lebanon, in the name of the armed
struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Regular bombardments by the
Israeli army did not prevent the PLO from establishing a veritable state
within a state in Lebanon and developing its diplomatic activities from
Beirut.
In March 1978, the PLO's deadliest attack on Israel (38 civilians
killed) led to a first invasion of Lebanon by the Israeli army, which
was forced to withdraw under pressure from the United States. In June
1982, Prime Minister Menachem Begin and his defense minister, Ariel
Sharon, launched an invasion, this time on a large scale, with the aim
of eliminating Arafat and the fedayeen, under siege in Beirut for many
weeks. But the PLO leader and thousands of his fighters were evacuated
from Lebanon under the joint protection of France and the US, while
Arafat chose to settle in faraway Tunisia, which was then the
headquarters of the Arab League. The expulsion of the PLO left the way
clear for Hezbollah, literally the "Party of God," established
clandestinely in Lebanon in the summer of 1982 under the aegis of Syrian
intelligence from the Assad regime and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Although Hezbollah operated secretly under different names before
formalizing its existence in 1985, it immediately recruited from the
mass of Shiite militiamen trained by and, until then, paid by the PLO.>>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/09/30/the-terrible-cost-to-israel-of-marginalizing-the-plo_6727728_4.html
France 24 - Sept 30, 2024 - Video by: Eve IRVINE
<<As war expands, Israel sees opportunity to 'clean slate of everyone,
everything' they deem a threat
The first apparent Israeli airstrike on central Beirut in nearly a year
of conflict leveled an apartment building. It came after Israel hit
targets across Lebanon and killed dozens of people, as Hezbollah
sustained heavy blows to its command structure, including the killing of
its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. For in-depth analysis and a deeper
perspective on the escalating war that has shifted to Israel's northern
front, threatening an all-out regional conflict, FRANCE 24 is joined by
Dr. Rouzbeh Parsi, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at
The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI).>>
Source incl. video:
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20240930-as-war-expands-israel-sees-opportunity-to-clean-slate-of-everyone-everything-they-deem-a-threat
Le Monde - Sept 29, 2024 - EDITORIAL
<<War in the Middle East: Beyond the clash of arms
The history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shows that military
victories have never been a substitute for a lack of vision, which is
now more glaring than ever. By killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
in Beirut on September 27 in a massive strike that also claimed civilian
lives, Israel completed its months-long, dogged effort to decapitate the
Shiite militia. It is probably premature to know whether its firepower,
combined with the penetration of its intelligence services, has signed
the death certificate of Iran's armed wing in Lebanon. It is
nevertheless considerably diminished, and probably for a long time to
come. From his Gaza hideout, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar can see the
calculations that led him to launch the October 7 attack, the worst
massacre of Israelis in the history of the Jewish state, collapse. His
militia was largely crushed by an Israeli offensive of unprecedented
brutality, in defiance of humanitarian law and at the cost of tens of
thousands of Palestinian civilian lives. It has turned the narrow strip
of land into a field of ruins. The anti-Israeli <axis of resistance> on
which Sinwar was counting is weaker than ever. The Israeli society has
not been broken by its divisions, notably over the urgent need to
conclude a ceasefire to free the last hostages still being held in Gaza.
An opportunity
At a time when a ground offensive can still be averted, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has the power to present himself, for now,
as the winner of this showdown, without ever having had to account for
the choices that led to the tragedy of October 7. The history of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict shows, however, that military victories
have never been a substitute for a lack of vision, which is at this
point more glaring than ever. Four decades ago, the Israeli army had
already succeeded in driving a militia out of southern Lebanon, that of
the Palestine Liberation Organization. We know what happened next. The
current war in Gaza, by far the deadliest and most devastating in the
territory's history, is the fifteenth waged by Israel since 1948. The
weakening of the militias that vow Israel's doom offers an opportunity
to finally take into account the Palestinians' legitimate rights to
self-determination, without immediately denying it in the name of
threats presented or felt as existential. Hamas must answer for the
choices that precipitated disaster and death in Gaza; the head of the
Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, tragically mute during his
people's worst hours, must step aside. Israel's ruling coalition is
incapable of taking this path. Israel's allies must draw the necessary
conclusions, and stop treating it as a partner from whom nothing should
ever be demanded. Finally, Israelis must realize what normalization with
their Arab neighbors - and not just with the brutal, authoritarian
regimes that claim to represent them - would mean, and what territorial
compromise would make that normalization possible. For decades, both
sides have accused each other of never losing an opportunity... to lose
an opportunity. Who will dare break this curse?
Source: Le Monde>>
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/09/29/war-in-the-middle-east-beyond-the-clash-of-arms_6727673_4.html
Al Jazeera - September 29, 2024
<<A Palestinian doctor tries to save severely malnourished children amid
Israel's US-backed illegal siege on Gaza.>>
Read more and view video here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/fault-lines/2024/9/29/starving-gaza
Le Monde - Sept 29, 2024 - OP-ED Dominique Edde - Writer
<<Lebanese writer Dominique Edde: 'Benjamin Netanyahu has taken time
hostage'
Edde argues that Israel's 'military intoxication' and the prime
minister's vision are destined to fail. She calls on Western powers to
stop blindly supporting him. For a year, the United States has supported
the unbearable: the methodical destruction of Gaza, life by life, house
by house, as a logical response to the bloody madness of October 7,
2023. Everything was destroyed: schools, hospitals, refugee camps,
mosques, churches, archaeological sites, cemeteries. And while tens of
thousands of children were left amputated, orphaned, or killed, and
Israeli hostages suffered under constant bombardment, we were told it
wasn't over as long as Hamas still existed. Now, it is in Lebanon that
Israel is sowing untold death, under the pretext of putting an end to
Hezbollah. But what have we witnessed in recent weeks, after 11 months
of carnage? A relentless series of assassinations targeting political
and military leaders from both Hamas and Hezbollah. One, Ismail Haniyeh,
Hamas' political leader, the very man who negotiated the Gaza ceasefire,
was blown up in his Tehran hotel room; the other, Fouad Shukur,
Hezbollah's top commander, as he briefly entered his office in Beirut's
southern suburbs. Everything was carried out and sealed off to the
second, with no regard, of course, for the dozens of dead and hundreds
of wounded among the civilian population. Other officials were killed or
disabled en masse, in the spectacular explosion of thousands of wireless
communication devices. Some cried out for a miracle. Some were at the
movies while others were in the hospital. In other words, the Mossad
[Israel's foreign intelligence service] lived up to its fearsome
reputation: they can kill whenever they want, wherever they want. It
means that we have every right to wonder why the Netanyahu regime
preferred to annihilate the civilian population of Gaza and pursue the
annexation of the West Bank, before taking the life of its greatest
enemy: Hamas' military leader, now also its political leader, Yahya
Sinwar. The goal is becoming increasingly clear: to do everything
possible to preserve a distorted narrative, to sideline the issue of
Palestine in order to erase it, and to recast it as a conflict between
the West and "bearded men." This way, Western nations are left with no
choice but to blindly align themselves with Israel, standing in
unwavering support. Benjamin Netanyahu has taken time hostage,
manipulating our shared destiny with a diabolical bad faith. The
agonizing hours feel the same for everyone – the survivors of Gaza, the
Israeli hostages, the residents of northern Israel, southern Lebanon,
Beirut and the Bekaa - whether they are Jews, Christians, Muslims or
those who cling to humanism in the face of death. Time has the same name
in Arabic and Hebrew: zaman.>>
Read more here:
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2024/09/29/benjamin-netanyahu-has-taken-time-hostage_6727655_23.html
BBC - Sept 29, 2024
<<'We just had to flee': Fear and tension in Lebanon under deadly
Israeli bombardment
Across southern Lebanon, families scrambled together belongings and
headed north in cars and trucks and on motorcycles as the Israeli
military struck targets it said were linked to the Lebanese Shia armed
group Hezbollah. Some residents reported receiving warnings in the form
of text messages and voice recordings from the Israeli military to leave
areas near the Iran-backed group's positions.
Zahra Sawli, a student in the southern town of Nabatieh told the BBC's
Newshour programme the bombardment was intense.
"I woke up at 6am to the sound of bombing. By noon it started to get
really intense and I saw a lot of strikes in my area. I heard a lot of
glass shattering." Unlike many, she and those she was with did not leave
the house - they didn't dare, she said. "Where are we supposed to go? A
lot of people are still stuck on the streets. A lot of my friends are
still stuck in traffic because a lot of people are trying to flee," she
said. By the middle of the day roads north towards Beirut were clogged
with traffic, with vehicles heading towards the capital on both sides of
a six-lane coastal highway.
Other images showed people walking along the beach in the southern city
of Tyre as smoke rose from air strikes in the countryside inland.
The BBC spoke to one family of five who had arrived in Beirut on a
single motorbike. From a village in the south, they were heading to
Tripoli in the north. They were exhausted. "What do you want us to say?
We just had to flee," the father said. "What do you want us to say? We
just had to flee," this man told the BBC
By Monday evening the Lebanese health ministry reported that 492 people
had been killed and more than 1,600 injured in the bombardment. It said
at least 35 children were among those killed. The Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) said it had carried out 1,100 strikes over the previous 24 hours.
That included an air strike in southern Beirut that the IDF said had
targeted a senior Hezbollah commander. In Beirut too there was
widespread anxiety. As people from the south arrived in the capital in
cars with suitcases strapped to the top, some of the city's residents
were themselves leaving. Israel has warned people to evacuate areas
where it says Hezbollah is storing weapons - but it also sent recorded
warnings to people in Beirut districts not considered Hezbollah
strongholds including Hamra, an area home to government ministries,
banks and universities. Parents rushed to pick up their children from
school after receiving more warnings to leave the area. One father, Issa,
took his son out of school, telling Reuters news agency: "[We're here]
because of the phone calls. "They're calling everyone and threatening
people by phone. So we're here to take my boy from school. The situation
is not reassuring," he said. Mohammed, a Palestinian man on the road
with his wife, spoke to the BBC on the way out of Beirut. When asked if
he would stay in the capital he said: "In Lebanon nowhere is safe,
Israel is saying they are going to bombard everywhere. Now they
threatened this neighbourhood, so where should we go? It's scary, I
don't know what to do - work, go home, no idea what to do."
Meanwhile as a BBC crew set up on one side of the road, a taxi driver
called out asking if they knew of a fuel crisis unfolding. "Too many
people are coming to Beirut," he said. Schools have been hastily
converted into shelters for the streams of evacuees coming from the
south. On a government order, schools in Beirut and Tripoli as well as
eastern Lebanon were established as shelters. The BBC was at a classroom
at a public school in Bir Hasan, west Beirut on Monday which was being
prepared for people coming from the Bekaa Valley - a Hezbollah
stronghold in north-eastern Lebanon which Israel said it was targeting
too. The classrooms were stacked with mattresses but would be fully
occupied by the end of the day, workers said.
Meanwhile Lebanon’s hospitals were also ordered to cancel all elective
surgeries on Monday as physicians braced for a wave of casualties and
injuries. Despite the tense and uncertain atmosphere in Beirut, some
people were defiant. "If a total war happens, we should stand as
Lebanese people together regardless of our political affiliations
because at the end of the day, our country is getting bombed," one man
told the BBC.
Others were simply resigned to the violence.
"If they want war, what can we do? It was imposed on us. We cannot do
anything," shop owner Mohammed Sibai told Reuters.
Mohammed, a 57-year-old in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieyh -
Hezbollah's main power base in the capital - told the BBC he had
"survived all the wars since 1975" so "it's normal for me".
"I will not leave, I will be in my house," he said.>>
Source:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crl8xw7ww70o
Al Jazeera - September 29, 2024
<<In Pictures Gallery|
Worldwide protests against Israel's war on Lebanon, Gaza
Thousands of people have rallied across the world, calling on Israel to
end its war on Gaza and Lebanon.
People have rallied around the world in response to Israel’s deadly
military offensive in Lebanon and Gaza. Solidarity protests have also
been organised against the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Demonstrators expressed outrage and demanded an end to the Israeli
violence in Gaza, describing the situation as "genocide" and insisting
on global action.
Israel has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians since it launched its
offensive in October 2023. Israel launched the war after more than 1,100
people were killed in an attack by Palestinian groups led by Hamas.
Palestinians have been fighting against Israeli occupation of their land
for decades. Earlier this month, the United Nations General Assembly
passed a resolution calling on Israel to end the occupation. The
resolution came months after the International Court of Justice ruled
that Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory
is unlawful and should swiftly be brought to an end. Hundreds marched
from Odenplan to the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, waving Palestinian
and Lebanese flags. "Hands off Lebanon" and "Free Palestine" filled the
air. Swedish artist and activist Samuel Girma called Israel "a terrorist
state" and urged a boycott of trade with Israel following "terror
attacks on Beirut and Lebanon". Swedish doctor Uno Horn condemned
Israel's operations. "They are killing children," said Horn. "It's not
war; it's a terror attack." Similar protests unfolded in Helsinki, where
demonstrators demanded an immediate end to Israeli operations in
Lebanon.
In Paris, protesters gathered near the Innocents Fountain, holding
banners that read "End the genocide in Gaza" and "Boycott Israel". Many
wore keffiyehs and carried images of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu
Akleh, who was killed by Israeli forces in 2022.
PIC
Shireen Abu Akleh
Alongside, organised by the Palestinian Action Committee, protesters
marched from the Levent Metro Station to the Israeli Consulate in
Istanbul, chanting: "Murderer Israel, get out of Palestine" and
"Murderer Israel, get out of Lebanon". Carrying a large Palestinian
flag, they unfurled a banner that read: "Genocidal Israel will be held
accountable, the resisting peoples of Palestine and Lebanon will win."
Protests were also organised in Indian-administered Kashmir against the
killing of Hezbollah leader.
Protesters encouraged their governments to halt arms deals with Israel
and to stand against the escalating violence.>>
View the photos here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/9/29/worldwide-protests-against-israels-war-on-lebanon-gaza
France 24 - Sept 29, 2024
<<Death of Hezbollah chief Nasrallah raises question of what comes next
The death of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is prompting speculation
over the future of the militant group and what it will mean for Lebanon
as well as for the broader Middle East. Attention is also turning to the
man widely regarded as Nasrallah's heir apparent, Hashem Safieddine.
As Lebanon reels from news of the death of longtime Hezbollah chief
Hassan Nasrallah, questions are being raised over what his death will
mean for the armed group, for Lebanese politics and for tensions in the
region. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who is returning from New
York where he was attending the UN General Assembly planned an
exceptional cabinet meeting evening focused on Nasrallah's death "as
soon as he lands", FRANCE 24’s Rawad Taha reported on Saturday. The
official stance of the Lebanese government has been to seek a
de-escalation and the full implementation of a ceasefire between
Hezbollah and Israel, which has been warning of a possible ground
offensive into Lebanon. But Nasrallah's death and the continued
bombardment of Beirut - the most severe of the past year - is fueling
fears that cross-border tensions are on the verge of exploding into a
wider conflict. The Lebanese population is sharply divided on the role
Hezbollah plays in their politics, with only some 30 percent of the
population professing significant "trust" in the movement and others
deeply resentful, wanting a Lebanon free from sectarian conflict. Most
would agree, however, that Nasrallah was the "glue" holding the group
together, with his death opening up a new, as-yet-unwritten chapter. As
an organization, Hezbollah has in recent months been "significantly
downgraded in terms of reputation, military capability, leadership",
Mohanad Hage Ali, of the Carnegie Middle East Center, told Reuters. "I
think the ability to spring back and stand on their feet has been
significantly diminished."
"Nasrallah was basically keeping them together. It was the glue of the
organization," he said. And while many might have agreed with the
group's criticisms of Israeli actions in Gaza, Iran-backed Hezbollah did
not enjoy support among Iran's regional rivals. There is even a sense of
"relief" in some capitals following news of Nasrallah's death, with
Hezbollah viewed as a destabilizing force by many. "There's a mixture of
apprehension in the region's Arab capitals, and also a sense of joy -
hidden joy - because, as you know, none of the conservative Arab states
have been particularly fond of Hezbollah," said Mehran Kamrava,
professor of government at Georgetown University's campus in Qatar.
Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian, a specialist in Gulf-Israeli relations,
agreed. "There is clearly no love lost between Saudi Arabia and
Hezbollah. They find Hezbollah very disruptive in the region."
View from Tehran
Iran, for its part, has announced five days of national mourning
following Nasrallah's death. <[Nasrallah] was not an individual. He was
a path and a school of thought and the path will be continued,> Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei said in the statement on state television, adding
that the death of the Hezbollah leader <will not go unavenged>.
Complicating matters, a prominent member of Iran's paramilitary
Revolutionary Guard, General Abbas Nilforushan, died in the same
airstrike that killed Nasrallah. Iran's options for any kind of
retaliation, however, "range from unattractive to unpalatable",
according to Ali Vaez, Iran research programme director at the
International Crisis Group. Hezbollah was meant to be the "shield" that
protected Iran from Israeli and US aggression, Vaez said. If it now acts
to preserve what is left of Hezbollah, it risks coming into direct
conflict with more powerful armies. Georgetown's Kamrava predicted that
Iran would not react forcefully to recent events, citing Tehran's
doctrine of <strategic patience, whereby they play the long game>. "And
I think that doctrine will continue," Kamrava said. "They are reluctant
to engage Israel in any direct way." But no reaction also risks
undermining Iranian credibility as an "Axis of Resistance" power and a
deterrence against Israel, noted Danny Citrinowicz, a member of the
Atlantic Council’s Iran Strategy Project working group, in a reaction
piece on Nasrallah's death. "In any scenario, Tehran will seek to
restabilize Hezbollah and rebuild its force," he wrote. "But without
Nasrallah, it will be extremely complex." His death also reveals the
group's deep vulnerabilities, to enemies and allies alike. "Nasrallah's
killing is a significant setback for Hezbollah, not only because of the
pivotal role he played in Hezbollah's strategy, but also because his
elimination reveals the extent of the group's vulnerability vis-a-vis
Israel," said Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at the Chatham House
think tank. "This will shake the confidence of Hezbollah's Iran-backed
allies across the Arab world, from the Houthis in Yemen to the Popular
Mobilization Forces in Iraq, as well as Iran itself, sparking a tectonic
shift in Iran’s network of influence in the Middle East," she predicted.
An heir apparent
Hezbollah now faces the challenge of choosing a new leader after
suffering the heaviest losses of its 42-year history. The killing of
Nasrallah, who led the group for 32 years, has put the spotlight on the
man widely regarded as his successor, Hashem Safieddine, a cousin of
Nasrallah's and - like him - a cleric who wears the black turban
denoting a descendent of the Prophet Mohammed. As head of the group's
executive council, Safieddine oversees Hezbollah's political affairs. He
also sits on the Jihad Council, which manages military operations.
Safieddine's public statements often reflect Hezbollah’s militant stance
and its alignment with the Palestinian cause. "Our history, our guns and
our rockets are with you," he said, in a show of solidarity with
Palestinian fighters at a recent event in Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah
stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs.
The US State Department designated Safieddine a terrorist in 2017.
He may have been Nasrallah's chosen heir, with the late leader
"tailoring positions for him within a variety of different councils
within Lebanese Hezbollah" and even having him go out to speak, said
Philip Smyth, an expert who studies Iran-backed Shiite militias.
Safieddine's family ties and physical resemblance to Nasrallah, as well
as his religious status as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, could
all count in his favor as a potential successor. The group's Shura
Council will have to meet in the coming days or weeks to choose its new
leadership. But whoever ends up replacing Nasrallah will have to contend
with a weakened fighting force that is also facing growing anger and
frustration on the home front.
'It will not take Hezbollah very long to appoint a replacement for
Nasrallah"
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AP) >>
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240928-death-hezbollah-chief-raises-questions-what-comes-next-nasrallah-lebanon-israel-mideast-crisis-safieddine
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