Middle East
- By Lusine Musaelian and
- Frud Bezhan
Lebanon's Armenians Face Painful Choice: Stay And Risk Death Or Flee Their Country
The windows in Zakar Keshishian’s house rattle violently as Israeli air strikes pound Lebanon’s capital, Beirut.
“We don’t know how close the bombs will land from us,” said the 56-year-old. “We have to pray that we stay alive.”
Keshishian lives in Mezher, a small town just outside of Beirut that has been spared the worst of Israel’s devastating aerial bombardment of Lebanon.
Keshishian is a member of Lebanon’s 150,000-strong Armenian Christian community. Many are the descendants of the survivors of the World War I-era mass killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire that dozens of countries consider a genocide.
Now, Israel’s war has left many Lebanese Armenians with a painful choice: stay and risk death or leave behind a country they call home.
"We have at least 100 years of history here,” said Keshisian, a musician born in Beirut. “Letting go of our community, culture, and properties here will be incredibly hard.”
Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon and its ongoing air strikes targeting Hezbollah, an armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, has taken a huge toll on civilians.
Lebanese officials say more than 2,300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since September 23. Over 1.2 million people have been displaced, more than a fifth of the population, in the biggest displacement in the country’s history.
Little of Lebanon, a multiethnic and multireligious country of some 5.5 million people, has been spared. Israeli ground forces have invaded southern Lebanon. Israeli warplanes have carried out thousands of air strikes in Beirut and other major cities.
Keshishian, his wife, and 12-year-old son rarely venture outside their home in Mezher, a predominately Armenian town northeast of Beirut. Keshishian said he spends most of the day consoling his terrified son.
“I try to reassure him that this is temporary and that I went through similar experiences and survived,” said Keshishian. “But, in reality, my fears are eating me up.”
Keshishian says Israel’s war in Lebanon is not just against Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, although the EU has only blacklisted its armed wing.
“We’re all victims -- ordinary people, children, and the elderly,” he said. “We’re all victims of these inhumane actions, and the homes of ordinary citizens are being destroyed.”
'Horror Of War'
Yessayi Havatian thought he was safe in his home in Anjar, a village some 60 kilometers east of Beirut.
The predominately Armenian village even took in hundreds of internally displaced people fleeing Israel’s bombardment of the country’s south.
But the 64-year-old Havatian said the war has now come to the village’s doorstep.
“The reality hit home when the sounds of explosions reached our ears -- much closer than we anticipated -- reminding us of the horror of war,” said the academic.
Anjar, a historic village popular with tourists, lies just a few kilometers from the main border crossing with Syria.
Israeli air strikes on October 4 struck the Masnaa crossing, cutting off the road to traffic. Israel claimed Hezbollah was transporting weapons through the border.
Around 500,000 people have crossed the border in the past three weeks, many on foot carrying their children and belongings, to flee the violence in Lebanon.
Havatian, who was born in Anjar, survived Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 to 1990 and the Israeli-Hezbollah war in 2006. But he says the current conflict is different.
“I have witnessed many wars and armed clashes in Lebanon, but I have never seen such extensive destruction or attacks against the civilian population,” he said.
“The southern regions of Lebanon are completely devastated. It seems like the scenes of Gaza are repeating themselves,” added Havatian, referring to Israel’s ongoing war in the Palestinian enclave.
'Constant State Of Alarm'
In Beirut, Christine Tanielian-Sarkisian coordinates the work of the Jinishian Memorial Program, an NGO that supports disadvantaged members of Lebanon’s Armenian community.
“Over the past few weeks, I have heard many heartbreaking stories from vulnerable families,” said the humanitarian worker.
“Mothers who we have helped told us how their children are suffering from trauma, insomnia, and stress-induced vomiting,” she added.
The 47-year-old lives with her husband and three children in east Beirut, a relatively safe area at the foot of the mountains that flank the city.
But she said Israel’s aerial bombardment of Beirut, a densely populated city of some 2.5 million people, has touched everyone.
“Maybe the war is not directly against us [the Armenian community], and perhaps we aren’t the main targets,” she said.
“But for the past few weeks, we have lived in a constant state of alarm. Our city feels paralyzed, and chaos surrounds us,” she added.
Tanielian-Sarkisian fears that Israel’s escalating war in Lebanon will force her and her family to flee the country. If the family is compelled to evacuate, their destination is Armenia.
“Lebanon is my country, and the Armenian community has fought hard to build our lives here,” she said. “We pray it will not come to that.”
- By RFE/RL
Israel Launches Fresh Strikes On Lebanon After Netanyahu Warning
Israeli forces launched fresh strikes on Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon on October 15 after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed no mercy for the Iran-backed militant group.
Multiple Israeli strikes targeted Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, taking a hospital in the city of Baalbek out of service, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency.
The strikes came as Netanyahu vowed a ruthless response to a Hezbollah drone strike that killed four Israeli soldiers in central Israel on October 13.
Netanyahu, speaking during a visit to the military base where the four soldiers were killed, said Israel would continue to strike the group "without mercy, everywhere in Lebanon -- including Beirut."
Hezbollah -- which is considered a terrorist group by the United States, although the EU has only blacklisted its armed wing, and not the political party -- controls much of southern Lebanon.
The Hezbollah attack on the Israeli army base in the town of Binyamina was one of the bloodiest since October last year and employed a "swarm" of drones that were difficult to locate and destroy by the Israeli air defenses.
Israel's sophisticated air defenses have usually shot down Hezbollah's rockets without problems.
Following the deadly Hezbollah strike, Israeli strikes killed 41 people and injured 124 in Lebanon on October 14, the Health Ministry said. More than half of the victims were killed in the northern village of Aito, which lies outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds.
Israel said it “struck a target belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” but the UN's human rights office in Geneva called for an independent investigation.
“We have real concerns with respect to…the laws of war,” said Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the human rights office. Laurence said the UN had received credible reports that a dozen women and children were among the dead.
In a televised speech on October 15, Hezbollah’s acting leader declared that the group is focused on “hurting the enemy” by targeting Haifa and other parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv. Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy chief, vowed to “defeat our enemies and drive them out of our lands.”
Separately, Netanyahu's office said in a statement on October 15 that he will take into account the position of the United States -- Israel's main ally -- but will have his country's own "national interests" as a top priority as it ponders a response to a massive Iranian attack earlier this month.
"We listen to the opinions of the United States, but we will make our final decisions based on our national interest," his office said in a statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Israel that it must increase the amount of humanitarian aid it is allowing into Gaza within the next 30 days or it could risk losing access to U.S. weapons funding.
The warning came in a letter to their Israeli counterparts dated October 13 that restates U.S. policy toward humanitarian aid and arms transfers.
A senior U.S. defense official said on October 15 that Blinken and Austin sent the letter as they saw a recent decrease in assistance reaching Gaza. The official said a similar letter sent by Blinken in April triggered “concrete measures from the Israelis.”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the latest letter was a way to similarly address the problem.
Fears of an all-out regional war grew as signs indicated Israel could be preparing to launch a direct strike on Iran in retaliation for Tehran's strike on October 1.
U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Netanyahu against striking Iran's nuclear or oil facilities to avoid a further escalation of the conflict.
On October 13, Biden announced that he had ordered the Pentagon to send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and troops to Israel as part of U.S. efforts to defend its ally.
With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
Israel Strikes Southern Lebanon, Fires Missile Interceptor Above Haifa (Video)
The latest news on the Israel-Lebanon war: videos emerged of the devastation of a southern Lebanon marketplace after a new Israeli missile attack. Air raid sirens also went off in the Israeli city of Haifa, as the military said incoming missile strikes from Lebanon were intercepted.
- By RFE/RL
Hezbollah Drone 'Swarm' Kills 4 Israeli Soldiers, Injures Dozens At Army Base
Four Israeli soldiers were killed and dozens were injured, seven critically, when a "swarm" of Hezbollah drones hit an army base near the northern Israeli town of Binyamina in one of the bloodiest attacks on the country since October 2023.
Hezbollah is an armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military early on October 14 said the attack took place at an army base some 60 kilometers north of Tel Aviv. It did not immediately provide further details.
CNN had earlier reported that the United Hatzalah rescue service said it had "provided assistance to over 60 wounded people in various conditions -- some of them in critical, serious, moderate, and light condition."
National emergency service Magen David Adom (AFMDA) said at least 67 people were injured in the attack in Israel's Haifa district.
Hezbollah -- which is considered a terrorist group by the United States, although the EU has only blacklisted its armed wing -- claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had launched a "swarm of attack drones" at a military training camp in Binyamina.
Iran-allied Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones into Israel but, because of Israel's sophisticated air-defense systems, most have been shot down or have caused little damage and few casualties.
Earlier in the day, angry UN peacekeepers said Israeli forces had smashed into a gate of one of their bases in Lebanon, causing about 15 minor injuries.
"At around 4:30 a.m., while peacekeepers were in shelters, two IDF Merkava tanks destroyed the position's main gate and forcibly entered the position in the Ramia area," said the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), adding that the Israeli forces left after about 45 minutes.
Israel later claimed the tanks had come under fire when they crashed into the base gate.
The action came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said UN peacekeepers must "immediately" pull out of the combat zone in southern Lebanon and directly addressed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"The time has come for you to withdraw UNIFIL from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones," Netanyahu said, accusing Guterres of making UNIFIL soldiers "human shields" and "hostages of Hezbollah."
"Mr. Secretary-General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm's way. It should be done right now, immediately," he said.
UNIFIL is a 9,500-strong mission created in 1978 tasked with monitoring a cease-fire that ended a 33-day war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.
Forty nations that contribute to UNIFIL said in a joint statement on October 12 that they "strongly condemn recent attacks" on the peacekeepers. The United States and European leaders have demanded Israel stop firing at the peacekeepers, with U.S. President Joe Biden on October 12 saying he was "absolutely, positively" telling Israel to stop.
Fears of an all-out regional war grew as signs indicated Israel could be preparing to launch a direct strike on Iran in retaliation for Tehran's massive missile strike on Israel on October 1.
Biden on October 13 said he had ordered the Pentagon to send a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery and troops to Israel as part of U.S. efforts "to defend Israel."
Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said the system will help bolster Israel's air defenses following Iran's missile attacks. The THAADs are similar to Patriot missile systems but can cover wider areas and require about 95 soldiers to operate, analysts say.
"It is part of the broader adjustments the U.S. military has made in recent months, to support the defense of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias," Ryder said.
The French presidency on October 13 said President Emmanuel Macron, in a phone call, told his Iranian counterpart, Masud Pezeshkian, it was Tehran's "responsibility" to back efforts to lower tensions in the Middle East. The Iranian presidency also reported the call, saying the sides discuss ways to end the conflict but also using heavily belligerent language toward Israel.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on October 13 said Tehran was prepared for a "war situation," although he stated his government desired peace.
"We are fully prepared for a war situation. We are not afraid of war, but we do not want war. We want peace, and we will work for a just peace in Gaza and Lebanon," he said while on a visit to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Israeli warplanes hit a 100-year-old mosque in a village of Lebanon near the border early on October 13, a day after a marketplace was hit in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, according to Lebanon's official National News Agency.
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported deadly strikes in other areas of the country, including one on a Shi'ite Muslim village in a mostly Christian mountainous area.
Hezbollah said it launched rockets at Israeli forces inside Lebanese territory on October 13 as ground troops conducted incursions into the country's south.
A Hezbollah statement claimed it targeted a "gathering" of Israeli forces in the village of Maroun al-Ras "with artillery shells."
Hezbollah fired hundreds of projectiles from Lebanon into Israel on October 12 as Israelis celebrated Yom Kippur, an important holiday on the Jewish religious calendar.
The escalation comes as Israel is also conducting fresh attacks in Gaza and is expected to strike Iran in retaliation for a missile attack earlier this month.
Palestinian medical officials said on October 13 that an Israeli strike killed a family of eight and wounded seven others in the central Gaza Strip.
The attack late on October 12 hit a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing a couple and their six children, who ranged in age from 8 to 23, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were taken.
Israel continues to strike what it says are militant targets in Gaza nearly every day for more than a year into the war with Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the United States and European Union.
The Israeli Army said in a statement on October 13 that forces operating throughout the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours had attacked about 40 targets and killed dozens of militants.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah are allies of Iran. Israel has repeatedly said it will respond to Iran's missile attack on October 1, which Tehran said was launched in retaliation for Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon and the killings of a string of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
Washington believes Israel has narrowed down targets in its potential response to military and energy infrastructure, NBC reported on October 12, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
There is no indication that Israel will target Iran’s nuclear facilities or carry out assassinations, the NBC report said, adding that Israel has not made final decisions about how and when to act.
Araghchi said there would be "no red line" for Iran in defending its citizens from the potential strikes.
"While we have made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region, I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests," Araghchi wrote in a post on X on October 13.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
- By RFE/RL
Hezbollah Attacks Israeli Base, Tel Aviv Area On Yom Kippur
Hezbollah on October 12 said it had fired a number of missiles and drones at an Israeli military base south of Haifa and at the outskirts of Tel Aviv as Israelis celebrated Yom Kippur, the most important holiday on the Jewish religious calendar.
Hezbollah -- an armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon -- said its forces targeted "the explosives factory there with a salvo of...missiles" in the Haifa region, while it said it sent a swarm of drones toward Tel Aviv, the economic center of the country.
The Israeli military confirmed that Hezbollah fired hundreds of projectiles from Lebanon into Israel over Yom Kippur, which ended at sundown on October 12.
"Throughout the weekend of Yom Kippur, approximately 320 projectiles that were fired by the Hezbollah terrorist organization crossed from Lebanon into Israel," the military said in a statement.
Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the EU blacklists its armed wing but not its political party.
Israel has meanwhiile faced a of barrage of diplomatic criticism over a second strike at a United Nations peacekeeping position in Lebanon.
Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt in the incident, the UNIFIL mission said on October 11.
The Israeli military said it had fired at "an immediate threat" around 50 meters from the UNIFIL post.
On October 10, two Indonesian soldiers were hurt when Israeli tank fire hit a watchtower.
The UN peacekeeping force said in a statement that the incident occurred at its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, adding that Israeli forces also fired on a nearby bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system.
The incidents sparked condemnation from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Israel's Western allies, prompting the Israeli military to pledge to carry out a "thorough review."
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it hit some 280 "terror targets" in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip over the weekend.
"Among these targets were underground terror infrastructure sites, weapons storage facilities, military command centers, terrorist cells, and additional terrorist infrastructure sites," a statement read.
Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on October 12 traveled to Beirut, condemning what he called Israel's "crimes."
He met Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who said his government's priority was "to work toward a cease-fire," according to Lebanon's official National News Agency.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on October 11 that Washington was still working to prevent a larger war in the Middle East and urged Israel to protect civilians after 22 people were killed in strikes on two buildings in central Beirut.
"We continue to engage intensely to prevent broader conflict in the region," Blinken told reporters after an East Asia summit in Laos, adding that it was "vitally important" for Israel to ensure that civilians are protected during the conflict.
Lebanese sources said at least one senior Hezbollah figure was targeted in the attacks, which were the third on Beirut since Israel started a military campaign in southern Lebanon last month against the Iran-allied Hezbollah militia, sparking fears of an all-out regional war.
Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV reported after the strikes that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed. It said that Safa had not been inside either of the targeted buildings.
Safa heads Hezbollah's liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, security sources said.
With reporting by AFP
Russian, Iranian Presidents Meet As War Rages In Middle East
Russian President Vladimir Putin used a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Masud Pezeshkian, to cement their growing bilateral ties that have raised concern in the West as war rages in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The two leaders met in Ashgabat on the sidelines of a conference in the capital of the tightly controlled Central Asian country of Turkmenistan on October 11. It was the first of two meetings between the men, with another scheduled at the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan that runs on October 22-24.
It was the first of two meetings between the two, with another scheduled at the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan that runs on October 22-24.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters ahead of the meeting that while the talks will focus on bilateral relations, "the situation in the Middle East definitely will not be ignored and will also be on the agenda."
The meeting was the first between the two since Pezeshkian assumed office on July 30 after winning an election to succeed his hard-line predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.
Relations between Moscow and Tehran have strengthened since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"Pezeshkian is trying to gauge to what extent Iran can rely on Russia for help," Touraj Atabaki, professor emeritus of Middle East and Central Asia social history at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told Radio Farda.
"Russia wants to stand with Iran due to Iran's support in its war on Ukraine but Moscow doesn't want to darken its relationship with Israel further and cut all ties," he added.
Since the early months of the Ukraine war, Russia has been accused of using Iranian-made Shahed and Mohajer-6 drones, many of which have been found after being shot down over Ukrainian cities and battlefields.
Iran initially denied arming Russia before relenting and admitting that it had supplied a "limited number of drones" to Moscow before the war.
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Tehran continues to deny that its drones are being used by Russia against Ukraine. That has not stopped the United States and the European Union from imposing sanctions on Iran for helping Moscow.
Last month, the EU said it had "credible" information provided by allies suggesting that Iran has supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to help Moscow wage war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East have been heightened since Tehran launched some 200 missiles at Israel on October 1, saying the attack was in response to the killing of Tehran-backed militant leaders and a general from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Israel has vowed to launch a "deadly, precise, and surprising" attack on Iran in retaliation, while it continues to pound targets in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip that it says are aimed at Iran-backed proxies.
At least 30 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded on October 11 by Israeli strikes in Jabalia in northern Gaza, according to the territory's civil-defense agency.
The recent spiral of violence was sparked by the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas that killed around 1,200 people and saw some 250 taken hostage. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
The fighting in Gaza prompted another Iran-backed group, Hezbollah, to fire missiles into Israel in support of Hamas. Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the EU blacklists its armed wing but not its political party.
The Israeli military has launched massive air strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon in response, as well as a ground incursion into southern Lebanon intended to destroy the Iran-allied militant group, whose political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament.
Israel faced condemnation on October 11 after its forces fired at what it said was a threat near a UN peacekeeping position in Lebanon. Israeli soldiers had responded to "an immediate threat" around 50 meters from the UNIFIL post, the military said.
"An initial examination indicates that during the incident, a hit was identified on a UNIFIL post...resulting in the injury of two UNIFIL personnel," the statement added. The army pledged to carry out a "thorough review."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the firing as "intolerable" and "a violation of international humanitarian law," while the British government said it was "appalled" by reports of the injuries.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was "absolutely" asking Israel to stop firing at UN peacekeepers, while the French, Spanish, and Italian leaders issued a joint statement expressing "outrage."
French President Emmanuel Macron renewed his call for an end to exports of weapons used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, while saying the UN peacekeepers had been "deliberately targeted."
In Iran, more than three dozen hard-line lawmakers on October 10 demanded the government revise its nuclear doctrine to pursue atomic weapons.
In a letter to the Supreme National Security Council, they said Western powers could not control Israel, thus making nuclear weapons "Iran's option to create deterrence."
Iran has been hit with waves of crippling economic sanctions for its nuclear program, which has seen a sharp increase in its uranium enrichment capacity after the United States under former President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 landmark deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that restricted Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes, but government officials caused alarm recently by saying it could change its "nuclear doctrine" if it is attacked or its existence is threatened by Israel.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Blinken Tells Israel Protecting Civilians 'Vitally Important' After Deadly Beirut Strikes
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Washington was still working to prevent a larger war in the Middle East and urged Israel to protect civilians after 22 people were killed in strikes on central Beirut.
Blinken spoke a day after Israeli air strikes targeted two buildings in Beirut, one of which completely collapsed.
"We continue to engage intensely to prevent broader conflict in the region," Blinken told reporters after an East Asia Summit in Laos, adding that it was "vitally important" for Israel to ensure that civilians are protected during the conflict.
Lebanese sources said at least one senior Hezbollah figure was targeted in the attacks, which were the third on Beirut since Israel started a military campaign in southern Lebanon last month against the Iran-allied Hezbollah militia, sparking fears of an all-out regional war.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported after the strikes that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed. It said that Safa had not been inside either of the targeted buildings.
Safa heads Hezbollah's liaison and coordination unit responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies, security sources said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah kept up its rocket fire into Israel on October 10, with the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) saying that several drones heading toward Israel had been intercepted.
Earlier on October 10, an Israeli strike on a school in the Gaza Strip killed at least 27 people, Palestinian medical officials said. The Israeli military said it had carried out a "precise strike on terrorists" who had a command-and-control center embedded in the school.
"This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organization's systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law," an Israeli military statement said.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU, has denied such accusations. People who had been sheltering at the school said the strike hit a meeting of aid workers and injured 54 other people.
Israel has continued to strike at what it says are militant targets across Gaza as it battles Hamas militants, even as the war broadened to include Hezbollah in Lebanon amid rising tensions with Iran.
In a separate incident on October 10, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers. The nationality of the injured peacekeepers was not released.
The UN peacekeeping mission -- known as UNIFIL -- said in a statement that Israeli forces also fired on a nearby bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system.
The Italian Defense Ministry summoned Israel's ambassador in protest, and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told a press conference that "hostile acts committed and repeated by Israeli forces against the base...could constitute war crimes."
Crosetto added that Italy has asked for an official explanation "because it was not a mistake."
The French Foreign Ministry said that while no French soldiers were injured in the incident, it also demanded an explanation.
With reporting by Reuters
Living Under The Threat Of Hezbollah Rockets In Northern Israel
The sound of explosions and alarms have become so routine in northern Israel that some locals who remain barely flinch when they hear them.
"It's very, very loud," said David Amzel, a bakery owner at the Gesher Haziv kibbutz located just 5 kilometers from the border with Lebanon. "But to be honest with you, I see people sitting down at the bakery, having their coffee, and then there is a loud BOOM! and people don't even move."
Amzel still gets up at 2:45 a.m. every day to get the bread in the oven, but business has been anything but usual since the unprecedented attack on Israel by the U.S.- and EU-designated Palestinian terrorist group Hamas one year ago.
Israel’s retaliatory war in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip has been met by daily cross-border rocket attacks by Hezbollah, the armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah's attacks led the Israeli government to order the evacuation of everyone within several kilometers of the northern border. The move initially displaced 60,000 people and created a closed military zone that extends 120 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea to the occupied Golan Heights.
While Gesher Haziv kibbutz lies just outside the evacuation zone, many residents voluntarily left the settlement that was once home to about 1,000 people.
Amzel and his family of four were among those who opted to stay, in part to keep his business afloat. But now, after his normal workday ends in the early afternoon, Amzel has additional duties -- guarding the gates of the kibbutz until 6 p.m. as a member of an emergency-response team.
On Guard
The threat of cross-border attacks by Hezbollah -- considered a terrorist group by the United States, although the EU has only blacklisted its armed wing -- continues to loom large.
And since Israel's ground invasion of southern Lebanon early this month and its ongoing air strikes across the country, Hezbollah has stepped up the intensity and range of its rocket attacks, targeting cities as far south as Haifa and displacing tens of thousands more Israelis.
Amzel described the situation in Gesher Haziv -- located along the Mediterranean Sea -- in an October 9 telephone interview in which the sounds of his two children, weapons fired by Israel's navy, and alarms warning of impending strikes were audible in the background.
He said that locals rely heavily on phone apps that signal incoming rocket attacks, and if they are in the line of fire, they run for bomb shelters -- including mobile ones placed on streets -- or safe rooms in homes.
"People don't like to walk, to be outside a lot," he said. "They go to work, they come back, they stay with their kids."
The same day, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack involving some 150 rockets that killed two people who were walking their dog in Kiryat Shmona, a one-hour drive northeast.
Hezbollah rocket attacks have killed dozens of people in northern Israel in the past year, according to Israeli officials.
The city of Kiryat Shmona, which lies inside the evacuation zone, was populated by more than 26,000 people a year ago, according to Maria Gershkovich, who operated a children's theater there until she and her family left for Haifa.
Gershkovich said that Kiryat Shmona was basically a "ghost town," and that only people in some professions live there today. In a video interview with Current Time this week, she said she wants to return but has no plans to do so for now.
"Our return is only possible if I, as a mother, am sure that I can calmly send my child to school," Gershkovich said, adding that it might take a long time before she is assured that it is safe to go back.
Tough Row
Amid the uncertainty of war, few things remain constant in the largely agricultural north. But life goes on.
Most workers and residents have been evacuated from Kibbutz Snir, located 15 minutes northeast of Kiryat Shmona and just 500 meters away from the border with Lebanon.
But someone needs to protect the kibbutz, care for the cattle and chickens, and tend to the fields and avocado groves.
Army reservist Lior Shelef is part of the security team that defends the kibbutz. But the 48-year-old explained that, while the highly trained team patrols and stays at the ready for a possible Hezbollah attack, his job entails much more.
"If there are rocket attacks, we need to make sure there's no damage to any of the houses. If there are brush fires we need to go and fight the fires," Shelef told RFE/RL by phone. "We need to make sure that everything will still be here."
Shelef only occasionally gets to see his wife and three children aged 5 to 10, who were evacuated and have spent much of the last year in a hotel. Shelef says the situation is difficult for people who remain near the border, especially for children who can only attend school online and who suffer from post-traumatic stress.
"At every small noise, they become fearful and want to go and stay in the safe room. The reality here for the kids is very, very hard," Shelef said.
But at the end of the day, he added, the kids know that "this is where their home is. This is where we chose to live our life."
They have no doubt that they will be reunited with their games and their dog at home, Shelef said, "and they are just hoping that it happens as soon as possible."
- By RFE/RL
Israeli Strikes On Beirut, Gaza School Kill Dozens
At least 22 people were killed and 117 others injured in Israeli strikes on Beirut, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported on October 10 after an Israeli strike on a school sheltering Palestinians in Gaza killed dozens of people.
Lebanon's state news agency NNA reported two evening air raids in central Beirut. The first targeted an eight-story building and the second a four-story building that completely collapsed as a result of the strike, NNA said.
A Lebanese security source quoted by Reuters said at least one senior Hezbollah figure was targeted in the attacks, which were the third on Beirut since Israel started a military campaign in southern Lebanon last month targeting the Iran-allied Hezbollah militia and sparking fears of an all-out regional war.
Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported after the strikes that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed. It said that Safa had not been inside of either of the targeted buildings.
Hezbollah kept up rocket fire into Israel on October 10. The military said several drones heading toward Israel were intercepted.
Earlier on October 10 an Israeli strike on a school in the Gaza Strip killed at least 27 people, Palestinian medical officials said, while a separate Israeli strike hit UN peacekeeper headquarters in southern Lebanon, prompting Italy to summon the Israeli ambassador.
The Israeli military said it carried out a "precise strike on terrorists" who had a command and control center embedded in the school.
"This is a further example of the Hamas terrorist organization's systematic abuse of civilian infrastructure in violation of international law," a military statement said.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU, has denied such accusations. People who had been sheltering at the school said the strike hit a meeting of aid workers and injured 54 other people.
Israel has continued to strike at what it says are militant targets across Gaza as it battles Hamas militants even as the war broadened to include Hezbollah in Lebanon amid rising tensions with Iran.
In a separate incident on October 10 the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers. The nationality of the injured peacekeepers was not released.
The UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL said in a statement that Israeli forces also fired on a nearby bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system.
The Italian Defense Ministry summoned Israel's ambassador in protest, and Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told a press conference that "hostile acts committed and repeated by Israeli forces against the base...could constitute war crimes." Crosetto added that Italy has asked for an official explanation "because it was not a mistake."
The French Foreign Ministry said that while no French solider was injured in the incident, it also demanded an explanation.
The Israeli military announced earlier on October 10 that it had eliminated another important Hezbollah member as it kept up its attacks against the Iran-backed group.
Adham Jahout, a member of Hezbollah's Golan Terrorist Network was killed in an air strike in the area of Quneitra in Syria, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Jahout was relaying intelligence from Syrian regime sources to Hezbollah and facilitating operations against Israel in the Golan Heights, the IDF said.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights after capturing them from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war. The annexation has not been recognized by most countries.
Separately, the Israeli military said on October 10 that it had eliminated two Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon and its warplanes attacked munitions depots in the Beirut area and in southern Lebanon. It did not immediately reveal the identities of the two commanders.
Hezbollah, a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its party, which has seats in the Lebanese parliament.
The latest strikes came as the United States, Israel's main ally, warned against bombardments in Lebanon similar to those that caused large-scale destruction in Gaza as Israel retaliated against Hamas following the U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist group's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that left more than 1,100 people dead.
Israel's bombardment of central and northern Gaza in recent days has killed dozens of people and trapped thousands in their homes, Palestinian officials say.
October 7: The Hamas Attack That Changed Israel And Sparked War
"There should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists on October 9.
The warning came after U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized in a call on October 9 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the need for a diplomatic arrangement for the return of both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the border.
The United States warned Israel on October 9 against launching a military action in Lebanon like the one it has conducted in Gaza, and U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the need for a diplomatic arrangement for the return of both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the border.
Biden also condemned Iran's ballistic-missile attack on Israel on October 1, a White House statement said.
Biden "affirmed Israel's right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut," the statement said.
- By Frud Bezhan and
- Zhakfar Ahmadi
FBI's Arrest Of Afghan Underscores Growing Threat Of Islamic State-Khorasan
The FBI's arrest of an Afghan man who allegedly planned a U.S. Election Day attack has underscored the growing threat posed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group to the West.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, an Afghan citizen living in the United States, plotted an attack on November 5 in the name of IS-K, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Based in Afghanistan, IS-K has carried out a series of devastating, high-profile attacks in Russia, Iran, and Tajikistan in recent years.
"IS-K poses a dangerous threat to both the region and the West," said Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based researcher who tracks militancy in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
"IS-K is not confined to Afghanistan alone,” Sayed added. “It operates with a global agenda and has a network functioning both regionally and internationally."
Resilient Force
IS-K is considered the most active and potent of all the regional affiliates of Islamic State (IS), the extremist group that overran large swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014. IS was largely defeated by a U.S.-led coalition.
IS-K was founded in Afghanistan in late 2014 and captured small pockets of territory in the country as part of IS’s broader aim of expansion throughout South and Central Asia.
But it soon came under fire from Afghan and international forces as well as the Taliban, a rival militant group.
The threat posed by IS-K has increased since the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government in 2021, analysts say.
The Taliban, which then seized power, has waged a brutal war against IS-K, killing or capturing its key commanders and hundreds of its fighters. But IS-K has embarked on a strategy of urban warfare and remains a resilient force.
The group's ranks have been boosted by foreign fighters, particularly those from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.
That has allowed IS-K -- which seeks to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, in Khorasan, a historical region that includes parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Central Asia -- to continue its attacks in Afghanistan and conduct complex assaults in the region.
In March, IS-K militants stormed the Crocus City Hall outside Moscow, killing around 140 people, underlining the threat it poses in the region.
Exploiting Grievances
Experts say extremist groups like IS-K have tried to exploit the grievances among Muslims since Israel launched its devastating war in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave.
That came after Hamas, a U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist group, carried out an attack on Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people.
Israel has recently expanded its war by launching a deadly aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, the armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
Lucas Webber, senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism, an UN-backed project that monitors extremism online, says IS-K has been vocal in calling for attacks against the West in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East.
"[IS-K] has a robust, multilingual propaganda apparatus," Webber told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. "They can reach a diverse range of diaspora communities to build support and mobilize supporters to violence."
Webber says IS-K and its recruiters have targeted Europe. Now, he said, "we're starting to see an increase of activity in North America and the United States, specifically."
- By RFE/RL
Biden, Netanyahu Talk As Israel Vows 'Deadly, Precise, Surprising' Response To Iran Attack
U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized the need for a diplomatic arrangement for the return of both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border in a call on October 9 with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said.
Biden also condemned Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1, a White House statement said.
Biden "affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut," the statement said.
Biden spoke with Netanyahu earlier about Israel's plans to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack last week, according to statements from both the White House and the Israeli prime minister's office on October 9.
The White House statement said Biden and Netanyahu "agreed to remain in close contact over the coming days both directly and through their national security teams."
The call comes amid escalating tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, an armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel's expected response to Iran's largely ineffective missile attack, which Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel's escalation in Lebanon, including the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a video published on Israeli media that Israel's response "will be deadly, precise, and above all surprising."
Biden last week said he would not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites as part of its retaliation. He also said that, if he were in Israel's shoes, he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields.
Israel has faced calls by the United States and other allies to accept a cease-fire deal in Gaza and Lebanon but has said it will continue its military operations until Israelis are safe.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller warned on October 9 that Israel must avoid conducting military operations in Lebanon like those it has conducted in Gaza.
"I'm making very clear that there should be no kind of military action in Lebanon that looks anything like Gaza and leaves a result anything like Gaza," Miller told journalists.
The White House statement said Biden and Netanyahu discussed the urgent need to renew diplomacy to release the hostages held by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU. Biden also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the White House said.
Israel’s bombardment of central and northern Gaza in recent days has killed dozens of people and trapped thousands in their homes, Palestinian officials said.
Hezbollah, a group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its party, which has seats in the Lebanese parliament.
The call between Biden and Netanyahu took place as Israeli forces stepped up their ground offensive against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.
On October 9, Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters had used artillery and rockets against Israeli troops near the Lebanese border village of Labbouneh.
In a separate statement, the group said it engaged in combat with Israeli forces as they "attempted to infiltrate the border town of Blida" in southeast Lebanon.
The Israeli Army said early on October 9 that it had intercepted two projectiles fired from Lebanon as air-raid alarms sounded in and around Caesarea, a coastal city south of Haifa.
The latest fighting comes as fears grow of a larger conflict in the region after Israel also claimed that the successor to Nasrallah has likely been "eliminated."
Gallant said on October 8 that Hezbollah was an "organization without a head" and there's no one left to make decisions.
Netanyahu later echoed those comments, saying, "We've degraded Hezbollah's capabilities."
"We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah's replacement, and the replacement of the replacement," Netanyahu said.
Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official and a cousin of Nasrallah, was widely expected to be named to the group's top position, but his whereabouts and condition remain unknown since an October 2 Israeli strike on a suspected Hezbollah leadership meeting.
Hezbollah has not commented on Safieddine's fate, although unidentified members have told various media that the group had lost contact with him since the attack.
Safieddine has been declared a global terrorist by the United States.
Would An All-Out Israel-Iran War Send Oil Prices Skyrocketing?
The prospect of an all-out war in the Middle East increased after Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel on October 1.
Israel has threatened retaliation, fueling concerns of a disruption to the flow of oil and gas from the energy-rich region.
Global oil prices have already soared 9 percent since Iran's attack, which came amid Israel's yearlong war in the Gaza Strip and its invasion of southern Lebanon earlier this month.
A full-scale conflict between Israel and Iran could upend the international energy supply and send shock waves throughout the global economy, experts warn.
"Major disruption of regional oil and gas exports is likely to have a material impact on the global economy," said Farzan Sabet, senior research associate at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
'Act Of Aggression'
Israeli media reports suggest the country could target Iran's nuclear sites or its oil or gas installations.
U.S. President Joe Biden cautioned Israel against hitting oil facilities in Iran, one of the world's biggest producers. Iran has warned that any attack on its infrastructure would "provoke an even stronger response" from Tehran.
If Israel carries out a major attack against Iran's oil or gas facilities, Tehran could "resort to placing pressure on important transit chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz," Sabet said.
Iran has for years threatened to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil supply flows.
"The Strait of Hormuz is critical to the global economy," said Neil Quilliam, an energy policy and geopolitics expert at London's Chatham House think tank.
Qatar, one of the world's biggest producers of natural gas, also uses the Strait of Hormuz for its exports.
There are also concerns that Tehran could target oil installations in neighboring countries if it is attacked by Israel. Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Iran are among the world's top oil-producing states.
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian, during a trip to Qatar last week, met with senior officials from the Gulf Arab states. The officials sought to reassure Iran of their neutrality in the conflict between Tehran and Israel, according to reports.
Sabet said any Iranian retaliation against a possible Israeli attack that affects global energy prices or trade would be "viewed as an act of aggression and lead to further pressure on Iran."
Quilliam said Israel is likely to strike targets that will "hurt the Iranian regime and affect the country's economy" rather than impact global oil markets.
'Feel The Price Hike'
In recent decades, there have been major energy price hikes following the Arab oil embargo in 1973 and the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.
Those events led to major gas shortages in some countries and endless lines for drivers filling up their cars.
But experts said even a major disruption to the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East stemming from an all-out Israel-Iran conflict would not cause the global economy to spiral out of control. That is largely due to the rise of the United States as a major oil and gas supplier as well as the decreasing global reliance on fossil fuels.
"Western consumers will feel the price hike at the pump," Sabet said. "[But] it will be much less than it might have been in a previous era."
He points to how repeated warnings about the disruption of commercial shipping in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen have not resulted in significant consumer inflation in the West.
But Sabet says a major disruption to the flow of oil and gas from the Middle East would have "an outsized effect" on the Chinese economy.
Beijing imports an estimated 1.5 million barrels of oil a day from Iran, accounting for 15 percent of its oil imports from the region.
Sabet said increased energy prices for China would "filter through the supply chain to the manufactured goods the country exports to the United States, Europe, and elsewhere" and potentially result in "more inflation for consumers."
Palestinians Count The Toll Of Israel's Devastating War In Gaza
Muhammad Nasser's life was torn apart after Hamas, the U.S.- and EU-designated Palestinian terrorist group, carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel one year ago.
Within hours of the October 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people, Israel launched one of the deadliest and most destructive bombing campaigns in modern history in the Palestinian enclave.
Nasser was a reporter working for local and international media outlets in Gaza City, the territory's capital. But when Israeli forces launched a ground invasion of Gaza weeks later, he was forced to flee his home and drop his profession.
"We had to evacuate quickly and couldn't take any personal belongings, not even clothes," Nasser, who lived in the city of Beit Lahia, west of Gaza City, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda. "I didn't even have time to get into my car."
Nasser, a father of six, has also lost members of his extended family in the yearlong war.
"My sister and all her children were killed," said Nasser, adding they were taking shelter at a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in northern Gaza when it was targeted by Israeli forces.
Israel's war has taken a huge toll on civilians and infrastructure in Gaza, one of the most densely population areas in the world.
Over 41,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Israel has said it has killed around 17,000 Hamas fighters.
More than 85 percent of Gaza's residents, or over 1.9 million people, are internally displaced in the enclave, the UN estimates. Meanwhile, nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip is facing starvation due to an extreme lack of food.
Nasser and his family have been constantly on the move to evade Israeli forces and air strikes. They now live in a tent in Al-Mawasi, a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea.
But even there, Nasser says he fears they will be targeted by Israeli warplanes, which have hit refugee camps, schools, and hospitals in the past year.
Israel said that it has targeted "terror" infrastructure and buildings in Gaza and has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
"My children, my relatives, and I are in grave danger," said Nasser. "Our relatives are scattered. We can't even gather in one place to meet."
He is not alone.
Hakeem, a civil engineer from Gaza City, has also been internally displaced.
"Our entire focus is on finding a safe place to take refuge," the 41-year-old told Radio Farda. "Where is safer? Where can we get water? This is what our life has become."
There is no end in sight to Israel's war in Gaza, which has also killed at least 346 Israeli soldiers. Hamas has been militarily weakened but is still firing rockets on Israel from the strip.
Israel has expanded its war in recent weeks by invading Lebanon and launching air strikes targeting Hezbollah, the armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
Despite the escalating violence engulfing the region, Hakeem hopes to one day return to his home in Gaza City.
"We dream of being able to rebuild our lives, return to the north, and regain the life we had before October 7," said the father of four.
Written by Kian Sharifi based on reporting by Iliya Jazaeri of RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Israel Says Nasrallah's Successor Likely 'Eliminated'; Harris Blasts Iran
Israel has claimed that the successor to slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has likely been "eliminated," while U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris called Tehran the greatest adversary of the United States.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on October 8 said that Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, was an "organization without a head."
"Nasrallah was eliminated -- his replacement was probably also eliminated," Gallant told officers at the military's northern command center without providing details.
"There's no one to make decisions, no one to act," he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later echoed those comments, saying, "We've degraded Hezbollah's capabilities."
"We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah's replacement, and the replacement of the replacement," Netanyahu said.
Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party. Hezbollah’s political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament.
Hashem Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official and a cousin of Nasrallah, was widely expected to be named to the group's top position, but his whereabouts and condition are a mystery since an Israeli strike hit a suspected Hezbollah leadership meeting on October 2.
Hezbollah has not commented on Safieddine's fate, although unidentified members have told various media that the group had lost contact with him since the attack.
Safieddine has been declared a global terrorist by the United States.
Meanwhile, Harris told CBS TV's 60 Minutes program in an interview that she considered Iran to be the greatest adversary of the United States.
"Iran has American blood on their hands," she said. "And what we saw in terms of just this attack on Israel, 200 ballistic missiles, what we need to do to ensure that Iran never achieves the ability to be a nuclear power -- that is one of my highest priorities."
Harris -- the Democratic presidential nominee who will face Republican Donald Trump in the November 5 election -- declined to speculate on whether the United States would take military action itself should proof be uncovered that Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
Tehran has denied it is building such weapons and says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.
The comments came as the battered and bloodied leadership of Hezbollah suggested it might be ready to negotiate a cease-fire with Israel
Deputy leader Naim Qassem, in a televised speech, for the first time did not suggest that ending the war in Gaza was a precondition to reaching a truce with Israel in Lebanon.
Qassem said the group backed an effort by Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah, to reach a deal to halt the fighting.
Late on October 8, the Syrian government said that seven civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike in Damascus. A war monitor said the strike targeted a building used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah.
Israel did not immediately comment and the reports could not be verified.
The Israeli military said earlier on October 8 that it had killed another senior Hezbollah commander, a day after marking the somber anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people.
Suhail Husseini, who was responsible for overseeing the logistics, budget, and management of Hezbollah, was killed in a targeted attack on October 7, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
"Husseini played a crucial role in weapon transfers between Iran and Hezbollah," the statement said, adding that he was also in charge of distributing advanced weapons to the group's members and for its "most sensitive projects" that included operations against Israel.
The IDF said Husseini was also a member of the Jihad Council, the supreme military body of Hezbollah.
There was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.
The Israeli announcement came after Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets on October 7 into Israel, where President Isaac Herzog led a national moment of silence to mark the start of last year's Hamas attack, which started at Kibbutz Reim in the south of the country.
Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union.
In Washington on October 7, President Joe Biden condemned Hamas on the anniversary, while also stating again the U.S. administration's commitment to reaching cease-fire agreements to end fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon.
"On this solemn anniversary, let us bear witness to the unspeakable brutality of the October 7 attacks but also to the beauty of the lives that were stolen that day," Biden said in a statement.
In Jerusalem, relatives of the some 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity, out of a total of 250, gathered outside Netanyahu's residence and stood in silence as a siren wailed in a gesture of protest against what relatives say is the failure of the government to secure their loved ones' release.
The conflict in Gaza is still raging while Israel is now fighting on a second front in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.
Following the October 7 attack, Israel launched a military assault on Gaza that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas. Some 90 percent of the population of Gaza has been displaced and large areas have been destroyed by Israeli bombardments.
The Israeli military said on October 7 that over the past year it has bombed more than 40,000 targets in Gaza, found 4,700 tunnel shafts and destroyed 1,000 rocket launcher sites.
Israel in recent weeks has been carrying out air strikes across Lebanon, including Beirut, and has staged a ground invasion into south Lebanon in its drive to wipe out Hezbollah's capabilities and leadership.
In the attacks, Israel killed Hezbollah leader Nasrallah and dozens of other leaders of the group.
On October 6, two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters that Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force -- the overseas arm of the IRGC -- had also not been heard from in recent days since traveling to Lebanon.
Tel Aviv’s campaign against Hezbollah prompted Iran to respond by attacking Israel with a large wave of rockets that were largely shot down by Israeli air defenses without causing substantial damage, but the attack renewed fears of a larger regional conflict.
Gallant on October 6 threatened Iran that it might eventually find itself looking like Beirut or Gaza -- which has also been battered over the past year -- if Tehran attempts to further harm Israel.
With reporting by CBS and AP
Israelis Commemorate Anniversary Of Hamas Attack
Israelis gathered on October 7 to remember the victims killed a year ago in the deadly attack by Hamas militants, the Palestinian group designated by the United States and EU as a terrorist organization. Ceremonies started at 6:29 a.m. local time, the moment the attack started. Relatives of hostages still being held in Gaza rallied outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home in Jerusalem as Israeli flags at parliament flew at half-mast. In Tel Aviv, women formed a human chain. And at Kibbutz Reim, electronic music was played to honor those who were killed or abducted at a music festival.
October 7: The Hamas Attack That Changed Israel And Sparked War
A construction vehicle breaks into the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border fence on October 7, 2023. The extremist group Hamas carried out an unprecedented, multi-pronged attack on Israel, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land, and sea and catching the country off-guard on a major holiday. Hamas has been designated by the United States and the EU as terrorist group and is a key member of Iran's axis.
- By RFE/RL
Israel Marks Anniversary Of Hamas Attack As War Rages On In Lebanon, Gaza
Israel on October 7 marked the somber anniversary of the Hamas attack on the Jewish state that killed more than 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages as the Israeli military continued its massive air strikes on Beirut and its incursion in southern Lebanon that aims to destroy the Iran-allied Hezbollah militant group.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog led a national moment of silence at 6:29 a.m., the time the attack started, at Kibbutz Reim, the site of the Nova music festival where hundreds of mostly young revelers were killed by gunmen from Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by both the United States and the European Union.
In Washington, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris condemned Hamas on the anniversary, while also stating again the U.S. administration's commitment to reaching cease-fire agreements to end fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon.
"On this solemn anniversary, let us bear witness to the unspeakable brutality of the October 7 attacks but also to the beauty of the lives that were stolen that day," Biden said in a statement.
The Israeli military said that during the ceremony led by Herzog, four projectiles were launched from Gaza toward the same Israeli communities targeted at the start of last year's attack. The military said the ceremony was not disrupted.
In Jerusalem, relatives of the some 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity, many of whom are believed dead, gathered outside the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and stood in silence as a siren wailed in a gesture of protest against what relatives say is the failure of the government to secure their loved ones' release.
Following the October 7 attack, Israel launched a military assault on Gaza that has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas.
The Israeli military said on October 7 that over the past year, it has bombed more than 40,000 targets in Gaza, found 4,700 tunnel shafts and destroyed 1,000 rocket launcher sites.
The conflict in Gaza is still raging while Israel is now fighting on a second front in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.
Early on October 7, Hezbollah, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, fired rockets into the north Israeli cities of Haifa and Tiberias, causing damage and some minor injuries, Israeli police said.
The European Union has blacklisted Hezbollah's armed wing but not its political unit, which holds seats in the Lebanese parliament.
Amid the military activity at the individual level, the private lives of civilians throughout the region have been disrupted.
In the ancient city of Beersheba in southern Israel, Irena Stein, who left Albania in 1991 to resettle in the country, told RFE/RL's Kosovo Service that life in recent times had been filled with "sadness and pain."
"We had several months of rockets. Then, the number of rockets decreased, and we continued with daily life, like someone who goes on with their life after the seven days of mourning with a great pain in the heart," said Stein, who is in her late 60s.
"There's this feeling like something might happen, that we should be cautious. But I believe you can't live with fear, so we've continued our lives, always praying to God that nothing happens to us."
She said that in Beersheba -- where human activity can be traced to the fourth millennium BC -- things have been calm since rockets were last heard on September 29. But she lamented that throughout Israel, "We suffer from this situation, and the Palestinian people suffer from it, too."
"The Lebanese people also suffer...everyone suffers. But as they say, peace must be decided at the highest level."
Meanwhile, in a Lebanese mountain village southeast of Beirut, local resident Hadi Zahwe told reporters an Israeli strike on October 6 was "terrifying."
"There were children killed, there were children's body parts. This enemy is targeting civilian women and children," he said.
Netanyahu has insisted that Israeli forces are targeting terrorist strongholds and that civilian fatalities have been extremely low in the recent military actions.
Israel in recent weeks has been bombing Beirut's southern suburbs and has staged a ground incursion into south Lebanon in its drive to wipe out Hezbollah's capabilities and leadership.
The Israeli campaign on Hezbollah prompted the group's patron, Iran, to respond by attacking the Jewish state with a large wave of rockets that were largely shot down by Israeli air defenses without causing substantial damage, but the attack renewed fears of a a larger regional conflict.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on October 6 threatened Iran that it might eventually find itself looking like Beirut or Gaza -- which has also been battered over the past year -- if Tehran attempts to further harm Israel.
"The Iranians did not touch the air force's capabilities. No aircraft were damaged, no squadron was taken out of order," Gallant said in reference to the Iranian missile strike, which caused few injuries and slight damage to two air force bases.
"Whoever thinks that a mere attempt to harm us will deter us from taking action should take a look at [Israel’s operations] in Gaza and Beirut."
Israel earlier said it conducted a series of "targeted strikes" on "weapons storage facilities" and infrastructure sites that belong to Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Lebanon's official National News Agency said Hezbollah's stronghold in the area was hit by more than 30 strikes. A petrol station and a medical supplies warehouse were hit by the air raids.
Video footage showed huge flames and plumes of smoke billowing into the night sky as residents fled their homes in panic with explosions echoing in the background.
Many observers said the attacks were the strongest yet of Israel's recent air strikes.
Israel has bombed Beirut's suburbs for days, killing Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and possibly his potential successor, Hashem Safieddine.
Security sources have said Safieddine had been out of contact since October 4 after an Israeli air strike near Beirut's international airport that was reported to have targeted him. Hezbollah has not commented on Safieddine.
Israel says Nasrallah was killed in a strike on the group's central command headquarters in Beirut on September 27.
Two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters on October 6 that Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force -- the overseas arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) -- also had not been heard from in recent days since traveling to Lebanon.
Statements on October 6 out of the United States -- Tel Aviv's most important ally -- indicated some frustrations with the scope of Israel's military action.
"Military pressure can at times enable diplomacy. Of course, military pressure can also lead to miscalculation. It can lead to unintended consequences," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement.
The spokesperson said Washington supported Israeli actions in going after extremist elements but added that U.S. leaders but did not approve of the targeting of civilian infrastructure.
Israel says the attacks on Hezbollah are aimed at enabling the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to homes in northern Israel, bombarded by the group since last October.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Kosovo Service and AP
- By RFE/RL
Israel's Devastating War In Gaza In Numbers
One year ago, Israel launched one of the deadliest and most destructive bombing campaigns in modern history in the Gaza Strip.
It came just hours after Hamas -- the U.S.- and EU-designated Palestinian terrorist group that controls Gaza -- carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, the deadliest in the country’s history.
Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas has taken a huge toll on civilians and infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave, one of most densely populated areas in the world.
Deaths
On October 7, Hamas launched an hourslong multipronged attack on Israel from Gaza. Israel said 1,139 people were killed, including 685 Israeli civilians and 71 foreigners.
Hamas also took 251 Israelis hostages. Nearly half of them have been released, with some rescued and others freed by Hamas. Just over 100 of the hostages are still believed to be in Gaza, while the rest are believed to be dead. Some were inadvertently killed in Israeli strikes.
Israel has said 346 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground invasion of Gaza, which came weeks after the launch of its aerial bombardment of the enclave.
Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Most were believed to be civilians, and a significant number of them children, who account for almost half of Gaza’s population of 2 million people.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in April that “every 10 minutes, a child is killed or wounded” in Gaza. Children, he said, are “disproportionately paying the ultimate price in this war.”
The real death toll is believed to be even higher. Over 10,000 people are believed to be still buried under the rubble of residential buildings in Gaza, according to the UN.
Over 700 Palestinians, including more than 150 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Israeli forces have been accused of unlawfully using lethal force in fatal shootings of Palestinians, including deliberately executing Palestinians who posed no apparent security threat.
Israel also estimates that 17,000 Hamas fighters have been killed in Gaza, a figure rejected by Hamas.
Destruction Of Infrastructure
Israel has destroyed over half of all the structures in Gaza Strip, according to the UN. Another 360,000 residential units have been damaged.
Satellite imagery shows that at least 53 schools have been destroyed since the conflict began, the world body said.
Israel said that it has targeted “terror” infrastructure and buildings in Gaza, and accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
War Injuries
Israel’s ground and air attacks on Gaza has wounded over 95,000 Palestinians, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
At least one-quarter of them face life-changing injuries, with many requiring amputations and major rehabilitation, said WHO.
Media And Relief Workers Killed
At least 116 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
At least five reporters were directly targeted by Israeli forces in what the New York-based media watchdog classified as murders.
That has made Israel’s war in Gaza the deadliest-ever conflict for journalists.
Relief workers have also been killed while working in the field. According to the UN, more than 250 aid workers have lost their lives during the conflict.
Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza
Nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip is facing starvation due to an extreme lack of food, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
Israel has used the starvation of Palestinian civilians as a weapon of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which is a war crime, Human Rights Watch said In December.
Internally Displaced Palestinians
More than 85 percent of Gaza’s residents, or over 1.9 million people, were internally displaced in the enclave by the end of 2023, the UN estimates.
Interview: Israel 'Very Polarized' One Year After October 7 Attack
One year ago, Hamas -- the U.S.- and EU-designated Palestinian terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip -- carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, the deadliest in the country’s history.
In response, Israel launched an aerial bombardment and ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave to destroy Hamas and rescue the 251 hostages taken by the group.
Israel has expanded its war in recent weeks by invading Lebanon and launching air strikes targeting Hezbollah, the armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
RFE/RL spoke to Lior Yohanani, manager of quantitative research at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based independent research center, which on October 7 released a wide-ranging survey of Israeli public opinion after one year of war.
RFE/RL: Can you explain what your study found as to how Israelis view the past year since Hamas's October 7 attack?
Lior Yohanani: Well, I think Israelis still don't see October 7 as an event that's over. Sure, the actual horrific events of that day ended, but Israelis are still living with the consequences.
There are two main aspects to this. First, since October 7, Israel has been in this multifront war that doesn't seem to have an end in sight. And then, of course, there is the issue of the hostages still being held in Gaza. So, we're seeing a sharp drop in people's sense of personal security. Almost three quarters of the public feel less safe compared to before October 7, and that's despite a year of war and some significant military achievements. On the flip side, we're also seeing that most people say their lives have returned to normal when it comes to things like work, media consumption, and family and social gatherings.
Another thing we're noticing is that the Israeli public is giving pretty low marks to all the political and military leaders for the performance since October 7. For example, almost two-thirds of Israelis are rating Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu's performance since then as poor or not good.
RFE/RL: How has Israel's involvement in a two-front conflict, in both Gaza and Lebanon, as well as a confrontation with Iran affected public opinion among Israelis?
Yohanani: It's tough to answer that question, because we're at the point where things could go in a few different directions. In the last few weeks, we've seen a major escalation in the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and just last week, Iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, which Israel is expected to respond to. In a survey we just did recently, we asked whether Israeli society and the military could handle fighting on two or more fronts for an extended period of time, and the results were pretty striking. Over 70 percent believe that yes, both Israeli society and the military can handle that kind of prolonged fighting. So, while the situation is complex and evolving, there seems to be a strong sense of resilience and capability among Israelis, even in the face of these multiple threats. But of course, public opinion could shift depending on how events unfold in the coming weeks or months.
RFE/RL: Is there support for Netanyahu’s response to October 7? Is there debate in Israeli society, as well as political circles, over Netanyahu’s strategic choices?
Yohanani: First of all, it's important to say that the Israeli public has largely supported significant military operation against Hamas in Gaza. That said, the Israeli discourse around the October 7 events, the ongoing war, and especially toward Prime Minister Netanyahu, is very polarized between right-wing supporters on the one hand and left and center supporters on the other.
People are hoping for a future where Israel can exist without constant threats, rather than expecting a harmonious relationship with its neighbors in the near-term."
So, on the left and the center, there is a high level of distrust and suspicion toward Netanyahu and his government. For instance, Netanyahu's apparent reluctance to pursue a deal for returning the hostages in exchange for ending the fighting in Gaza is seen by large parts of the public, even on the right, as resulting from Netanyahu's dependence on far-right, ultranationalist members of his government who refuse any compromise or ceasefire.
Now for a long time, Netanyahu and his ministers argued that only significant military force would lead Hamas to compromise and release the hostages. Now, with military attention and resources shifting to the north, people are asking, where is this massive military force that was supposed to bring the hostages home?
One question we have asked several times since October 7 in our polls is what should be the main goal in Gaza: Dismantling Hamas or bringing back the hostages? And as time goes on, public opinion is increasingly supporting the return of hostages. In our current survey, 62 percent saw bringing the bringing back the hostages as Israel's main goal, while only 29 percent pointed to dismantling Hamas as the primary objective.
RFE/RL: How do ordinary Israelis see the question of the remaining hostages amid the continued protests by the hostages' families?
Yohanani: As I mentioned before, most of the public supports a deal to release the hostages, even if it means ending the war and withdrawing the military forces from Gaza. There's this widespread feeling that we've left the hostages behind, and that's really hitting at our sense of solidarity, which is a deep and fundamental value, I think, in Jewish history in general and in Israel society in particular.
At the same time, the campaign run by the Hostages And Missing Families Forum has become very politicized. Many right-wing supporters see it as weakening Israel. As time goes on, we're seeing more and more harassment of protesters who support bringing the hostages back. There are cases of passersby cursing, even hitting and throwing eggs, at hostages' families. In our latest survey, we asked about the effectiveness of the protests and actions taken by the hostages' families.
Despite most of the public feeling empathetic toward the hostage issue, only less than a third think these actions are actually helping to advance a deal for the hostages' release, while almost 40 percent think they're actually hurting the cause. So, you've got this complex situation where people want the hostages back, but there is disagreement and some backlash about how to make that happen.
RFE/RL: Can you explain the reasons behind the apparent contradiction in views regarding prioritizing a negotiated return of the hostages, or destroying Hamas?
Yohanani: You're right to point out that apparent contradiction. Let me break it down a bit. As I mentioned earlier, a clear majority of the public sees a deal to release the hostages as the main goal. But there is a big gap between political camps on this issue. In the center and left, about 80 percent support the deal for the hostages' release, while the opinions on the right are evenly split. So, for most of the left and center, the fighting in Gaza has run its course. They feel most military objectives have been achieved, and Hamas's military power has been significantly weakened. From their perspective, continuing the fight now only puts the hostages at greater risk.
It's important to know that about half of the right-wing also shares this view of prioritizing the hostages' release, but the other half of those on the far-right thinks dismantling Hamas is more important.
Why? For a couple of reasons.
First, there's a security stance that Hamas must be wiped out and not allowed to recover. There is also a very strong sentiment of revenge, with minimal consideration for the cost, whether it's the lives of the hostages, soldiers, let alone innocent civilians in Gaza. Another significant component openly discussed in religious nationalist circles is the return of Jewish settlement to the Gaza Strip after Israel evacuated Jewish settlements from there in 2005.
RFE/RL: Is there public confidence that Israel will ultimately be able to remove the threat of Hamas and Hezbollah and come out of this conflict with greater prospects for a peaceful and stable near-term future?
Yohanani: Right now, the Israeli public isn't showing a lot of optimism. In our current survey, when we asked people if they're optimistic or pessimistic about Israel's future, we found more pessimists, 48 percent, than optimists, 45 percent.
I also think it's important to note that a peaceful future, as you put it, or peace in general, isn't really a common concept in the current Israeli discourse. I would say the hope of Israelis is that the military actions against Hezbollah and Iran will lead to a situation where Israel's existence isn't in question, and that Israeli military superiority will prevent events like October 7 from happening again. So, it's less about peace in the traditional sense, and more about security and deterrence. People are hoping for a future where Israel can exist without constant threats, rather than expecting a harmonious relationship with its neighbors in the near-term.
How Much Has Hamas's October 7 Attack Damaged Iran And Its Anti-Israel Alliance?
Iran has spent decades assembling its "axis of resistance," a loose network of armed proxies and allies against Israel.
But on October 7, Hamas -- the U.S.- and EU-designated Palestinian terrorist group that is a key member of Iran's axis -- launched a deadly cross-border assault on Israel, killing nearly 1,200 Israelis and taking a further 251 hostages.
One year on, how much has Israel weakened key members of the axis and how near is all-out war with Iran?
'Hezbollah Reduced To Almost Nothing'
Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said that by taking on Iranian proxies Israel has undermined a major component of Tehran's national-security doctrine.
"Iran has seen Lebanese Hezbollah reduced to almost nothing," he said, adding it has greatly limited "what Hezbollah can do for Iran in the short term."
Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group and political party, is the most powerful member of Iran's axis of resistance and has fired thousands of rockets on Israel in the past year in solidarity with Palestinians.
On October 1, Iran launched its biggest-ever missile attack against Israel in what was seen as retaliation for Israel's assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah days earlier.
Alfoneh suggested Iran's attack may have been fueled by concerns that Israel had targeted Hezbollah's missile arsenals that "potentially can deter Israel from targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure."
"If those missiles are no longer there, things look very bleak for Iran," Alfoneh said, adding Iran may have struck Israel in the hope that it could "divert Israeli attention away from Lebanon."
The axis of resistance is key to Iran's attempts to sustain military pressure on Israel and to deter its archenemy from directly attacking the Islamic republic.
Hezbollah has suffered major blowback in recent months. Israeli attacks have decimated its leadership, degraded its fighting capabilities, and compromised its communications.
Huthi Rebels Also Targeted
In Yemen, some 2,000 kilometers to the south, the Huthi rebels began launching advanced missiles and drones at Israel soon after the October 7 attack and targeted international maritime traffic off the coast of Yemen.
The actions landed the Huthis back on the U.S. terror list in January.
In late September, waves of Israeli air strikes hit Huthi targets in Yemen.
Elsewhere, Pro-Iranian militias and members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have also been hit hard by Israeli strikes in Iraq and Syria.
'Down But Not Out'
But some experts are more skeptical of the overall effect of Israel's bombardments against the axis of resistance.
"Hezbollah has definitely taken a hit, but the euphoria that swept Israel and parts of Washington appears premature and exaggerated," said Trita Parsi, co-founder of the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. "The axis may have been down but [is] far from out."
Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International Security Affairs, said Hamas, Iran-backed militias in Syria, and to some extent Hezbollah has been weakened in terms of weaponry and human resources.
But he said that did not apply to the axis of resistance overall.
In the case of Hezbollah, the group has significant manpower totaling around 100,000 fighters, Azizi said.
Hezbollah has also only sparingly used its most powerful ballistic missiles against Israel, Azizi added.
The Huthis, meanwhile, have already unleashed highly capable ballistic missiles and are the least affected by the Israeli strikes.
The biggest impact, Azizi said, has been on the axis of resistance's command and coordination structure, largely due to Israel's assassination of longtime Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, "who was in charge of coordinating all these groups," including training and recruitment efforts.
Israel's war in Gaza has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Israel has said most of those killed were combatants, and estimates it has slain around 17,000 Hamas fighters, a figure rejected by the Palestinian group.
- By RFE/RL
Israel Intensifies Attacks Near Beirut As October 7 Anniversary Looms
Israel stepped up its massive air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs in its drive to wipe out Hezbollah's capabilities and leadership, even as the world awaits with trepidation the October 7 anniversary of the bloody attack on Israel by Hamas -- which, like Hezbollah, is a U.S.-designated terror group with ties to Iran.
Meanwhile, Tehran said it had lifted “all flight restrictions” after earlier announcing it was closing Iranian airports as of 9 p.m. on October 6 until 6 a.m. on October 7, citing "operational restrictions," at a time when Israel is weighing options for its response to Iran's recent massive missile strike on its territory.
State media said the restrictions were lifted “after ensuring favorable and safe conditions.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on October 6 threatened Iran that it might eventually find itself looking like Beirut or Gaza -- which has also been battered over the past year -- if Tehran attempts to further harm Israel.
"The Iranians did not touch the air force's capabilities. No aircraft were damaged, no squadron was taken out of order," Gallant said in reference to the Iranian missile strike, which caused few injuries and slight damage to two air force bases.
"Whoever thinks that a mere attempt to harm us will deter us from taking action should take a look at [Israel’s operations] in Gaza and Beirut,” where Israel is battling fighters of Hamas, which has been deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and EU.
Israel earlier said conducted a series of “targeted strikes” on “weapons storage facilities” and infrastructure sites that belong to Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has been designated by the United States as a terror group, while the European Union has blacklisted its armed wing but not its political unit, which holds seats in the Lebanese parliament.
Lebanon's official National News Agency said Hezbollah's stronghold in the area was hit by more than 30 strikes. A petrol station and a medical supplies warehouse were hit by the air raids.
Video footage showed huge flames and plumes of smoke billowing into the night sky, as residents fled their homes in panic with explosions echoing in the background.
Many observers said the attacks were the strongest yet of Israel's recent air strikes.
"Last night was the most violence of all the previous nights," Hanan Abdullah, a resident of the Burj al-Barajneh area in Beirut's southern suburbs, told Reuters.
"Buildings were shaking around us and at first I thought it was an earthquake. There were dozens of strikes -- we couldn't count them all -- and the sounds were deafening,"
Israel has bombed Beirut suburbs for days, killing Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and possibly his potential successor, Hashem Safieddine.
Security sources have said Safieddine had been out of contact since October 4, after an Israeli air strike near Beirut’s international airport that was reported to have targeted him. Hezbollah has not commented on Safieddine.
Israel says Nasrallah was killed in a strike on the group's central command headquarters in Beirut on September 27.
Two senior Iranian security officials told Reuters on October 6 that Ismail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force -- the overseas arm of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) -- also had not been heard from in recent days since traveling to Lebanon.
Senior Hezbollah member Mahmoud Qmati, when asked about Qaani's whereabouts, told Reuters: "I have no information. We are also searching for the truth of this matter.
Statements on October 6 out of the United States -- Tel Aviv's most important ally -- indicated some frustrations with the scope of Israel's military action.
"Military pressure can at times enable diplomacy. Of course, military pressure can also lead to miscalculation. It can lead to unintended consequences," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said in statement.
The spokesperson said Washington supported Israeli actions in going after extremist elements but added that U.S. leaders but did not approve of the targeting of civilian infrastructure.
"Every civilian casualty is one too many," the spokesperson said.
Israel said on October 5 that its forces had killed 440 Hezbollah fighters in ground operations in southern Lebanon and destroyed 2,000 Hezbollah targets. Nine Israeli soldiers had been killed in southern Lebanon so far, the authorities said.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest conflict, most of them since September 23.
Israel says the attacks on Hezbollah are aimed at enabling the safe return of tens of thousands of citizens to homes in northern Israel, bombarded by the group since last October.
The Israeli forces were on high alert ahead of the first anniversary of an attack on October 7 last year, which sparked the war and was carried out by Hamas.
According to Israel tallies, some 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage in the unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Israeli police on October 6 said several people had been injured in a suspected shooting attack in Beersheba, a city in southern Israel. One attacker was killed, the ambulance service said.
Separately, health officials in Hamas-run Gaza reported on October 6 that at least 41,870 Palestinians have been killed in the territory in the yearlong war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
Palestinian officials said that an Israeli strike on a mosque in Gaza early on October 6 killed at least 19 people who were sheltering after being displaced from their homes near the town of Deir al-Bala.
The Israeli military said the strike was targeting militants. The reports could not immediately be confirmed, but the Associated Press said one of its journalists counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue.
AP also reported that hospital records showed that the fatalities from the mosque strike were all men.
Israel said its forces on October 6 surrounded the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza in response to indications that Hamas was rebuilding “its operational capabilities in the area.”
Israel is also considering a retaliatory strike on Iran, which fired at least 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on October 1.
Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad visited Kharg island on October 6, amid concerns that Israel could target Iran's largest oil terminal there.
"The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] Navy plays an important role in the security of oil and gas facilities," Paknejad was quoted as saying at the facility, from which around 90 percent of Iranian oil exports are shipped.
In Syria, state media and local rights monitors said an Israeli air strike targeted three cars in the city of Homs, although details remained sketchy.
Israeli forces have for years been striking Iran-linked targets in Syria and have intensified such actions since the October 7 attacks.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
- By RFE/RL
Israel Hits Hamas Leaders In Lebanon As World Awaits Potential 'Significant' Strike On Iran
As the world awaits a potentially “significant” Israeli strike against Iran, fighting continued in and around Beirut and throughout Lebanon, with Tehran-backed militant groups acknowledging the deaths of additional leaders from the latest attacks.
An Israeli official told the French news agency AFP on October 5 that the military was "preparing a response" to the massive Iranian missile barrage that struck Israel earlier this week, although most projectiles were shot down and caused few injuries and little property damage.
"The IDF is preparing a response to the unprecedented and unlawful Iranian attack on Israeli civilians and Israel," the military official told AFP, referring to the Israeli Defense Forces.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official did not elaborate on the specifics or timing of any potential action.
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper, citing unnamed military officials, said the response would be "significant."
Meanwhile, Israeli forces targeted several sites late on October 5 and early on October 6 in the suburbs of Beirut after warning people to evacuate five specific buildings.
"For your safety and that of your family members, you must immediately evacuate the designated buildings and those adjacent to them and move away from them at least 500 meters," spokesman Avichay Adraee said.
Earlier, Hamas, the Gaza-based militant group that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU, said an Israeli strike killed one of its commanders in a refugee camp in northern Lebanon on October 5.
"Commander" Saeed Attallah Ali, his wife, and two daughters were killed in a "Zionist bombardment of his house in the Beddawi camp" near the northern city of Tripoli, Hamas said.
It is the first reported occasion that the area has been hit as part of the latest military activity, which began with the militant group’s mass assault into Israel on October 7, 2023. More than 1,200 people were killed and some 250 taken hostage in Hamas's rampage, prompting Israel’s brutal retaliation against the militants in Gaza.
The Israeli military reported on October 5 that Muhammad Hussein Ali al-Mahmoud, who it said was Hamas’s executive authority in Lebanon, was also killed in an air strike.
Over the past several days, Israeli forces have pounded areas near Beirut and southern Lebanon as they targeted Hezbollah strongholds, killing dozens of the militant group’s leaders, including chief Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.
Hezbollah has also been designated by the United States as a terror group, while the European Union has blacklisted its armed wing but not its political unit, which holds seats in the Lebanese parliament. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are considered to be Iranian proxies in the region.
The whereabouts of Nasrallah's likely successor, Hashem Safieddine, who is a cousin of the slain leader, remained unknown on October 5 following the latest Israeli air strike that targeted a meeting of Hezbollah leaders on October 4.
As fears of an all-our war in the Middle East grow, French President Emmanuel Macron on October 5 urged a halt of arms deliveries to Israel, which has faced criticism and street protests abroad over the magnitude of its retaliatory actions in Gaza, which reportedly have killed more than 42,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
"I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza," Macron told French TV. He added that France was not sending weapons to Israel at this time.
He also assailed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his decision to launch the ground operations inside Lebanon despite pleas from Washington and Paris to avoid doing so.
"I regret that Prime Minister Netanyahu has made another choice," Macron said.
Netanyahu lambasted the French leader for urging a halt to arms supplies to Israel.
"As Israel fights the forces of barbarism led by Iran, all civilized countries should be standing firmly by Israel's side. Yet, President Macron and other Western leaders are now calling for arms embargoes against Israel. Shame on them," Netanyahu said.
Israel has claimed the operation in Gaza was necessary to wipe out Hamas militants and to protect its security following the October 7 terror attacks.
On October 4, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used a rare public sermon to defend his country’s October 1 missile attack against Israel, saying it was "legitimate and legal" and that "if needed," Tehran will do it again, prompting fears of further Israeli retaliation.
U.S. President Joe Biden on October 4 said there had been no decision yet on what type of response Israel should mount against Iran but advised against striking Iran's oil facilities.
"If I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields," Biden said in the White House briefing room a day after saying such strikes were being discussed.
Biden also told reporters that Netanyahu should remember U.S. support for Israel when deciding on next steps. He added that he had been trying to rally the world to avoid all-out war in the Middle East.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
- By Frud Bezhan
Who Is Hashem Safieddine, The Senior Hezbollah Leader?
Hashem Safieddine is a cousin and potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader assassinated by Israel.
Safieddine, a senior figure inside Hezbollah, the armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon, was reportedly targeted by Israeli air strikes in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, late on October 3. It was not clear if he had been killed.
A Shi’ite cleric with close ties to Iran, Safieddine joined Hezbollah soon after the group was formed in the 1980s.
Safieddine is widely tipped to succeed Nasrallah, the charismatic and longtime leader of the organization who was killed in Israeli air strikes in Beirut on September 27.
Safieddine heads Hezbollah’s executive branch, which oversees the group's political affairs. He is also a member of the decision-making Shura Council as well as the Jihad Council, which runs the group's military operations.
The United States designated Safieddine a terrorist in 2017. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by Washington, although the European Union has only blacklisted its armed wing.
The bearded and bespectacled Safieddine wears a black turban, like Nasrallah, which denotes descent from Prophet Muhammad.
"As Nasrallah's cousin and longtime presumed successor, he would likely be able to unify Hezbollah ranks around him," said Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"But he lacks Nasrallah's charisma, and he inherits an organization that is a shadow of its former self," added Levitt, the author of Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God.
Israel's killing of Nasrallah was the biggest blow to Hezbollah in its 42-year history. The Shi'ite organization has suffered major setbacks in recent months. Israel has assassinated many members of Hezbollah's leadership, neutralized a significant part of its military arsenal, and disrupted its communications.
In his over 30 years in charge of Hezbollah, Nasrallah forged a close relationship with Shi'a-majority Iran, Hezbollah's key backer. With significant financial and political assistance from Tehran, Nasrallah built Hezbollah into a powerful political and military entity in Lebanon and a major player in the region.
Safieddine, born in southern Lebanon, also has close ties to the Islamic republic. He studied in the holy Shi'ite city of Qom, in central Iran. Safieddine's brother, meanwhile, is Hezbollah's representative to Iran.
Safieddine's son is married to the daughter of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian commander who was assassinated in a U.S. air strike in Iraq in 2020.
U.S. Advises Israel Against Hitting Iranian Oil Fields
U.S. President Joe Biden said on October 4 there had been no decision yet on what type of response Israel should mount against Iran but advised against striking Iran's oil facilities.
"If I were in their shoes, I'd be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields," Biden said in a rare appearance in the White House briefing room a day after saying such strikes were being discussed.
Biden added that the Israelis "have not concluded how they're -- what they're going to do" in retaliation for a massive ballistic-missile attack by Iran on Israel on October 1.
Biden also told reporters that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should remember U.S. support for Israel when deciding on next steps. He added that he had been trying to rally the world to avoid all-out war in the Middle East.
Earlier on October 4, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used a rare public sermon to defend Iran's missile attack against Israel earlier this week, saying it was "legitimate and legal" and that "if needed," Tehran will do it again.
Speaking in both Persian and Arabic during Friday Prayers in central Tehran, Khamenei said Iran and the regional proxies it supports won't back down from Israel as fears of a wider regional conflict grow amid a wave of multiple massive air strikes and a land incursion by Israel into Lebanon.
Iran will not "procrastinate nor act hastily to carry out its duty" in confronting Israel, Khamenei said.
Khamenei's address came hours after huge explosions shot balls of flame high into the sky as Israeli air strikes rocked the suburbs of Beirut, with large blasts just outside Beirut's international airport, which borders Dahieh -- a stronghold in the capital of Hezbollah, a militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military did not comment on the target of the strikes, but some media and analysts speculated that the location, size, and scope indicated that it could be Hashem Safieddine, who is widely considered the front-runner to take over the leadership of Hezbollah. It was not immediately clear whether Safieddine was killed in the strikes.
The group's previous leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed last week in Israeli air strikes on a command center for Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party, which has seats in the Lebanese parliament.
Iran's massive ballistic-missile attack was the largest so far against Israel and came in retaliation for the campaign started by the Jewish state in southern Lebanon against Iran-backed Hezbollah, prompting the U.S. and Israeli warnings of countermeasures.
Khamenei's October 4 appearance was the first time in almost five years that he had delivered a public sermon. The last time he led Friday Prayers was in January 2020 following an Iranian missile attack on a U.S. military base in Iraq in response to the killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. strike in Baghdad.
Mojata Najafi, a Paris-based analyst of Iranian affairs, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda by phone that Khamenei's speech "didn't say anything new" and appeared to be "aimed at lifting the morale of his followers" and "to dispel the fear about a potential act of terror by Israel."
"Even his comments about the Islamic republic not hesitating [to retaliate] while also not rushing is not new. This has been the policy of the Islamic republic in this current crisis from the start, [Tehran] has attempted to avoid falling into an all-out war."
The latest Israeli strike early on October 4 cut off a road near the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria that has been the escape route for hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians fleeing the conflict in recent days, according to Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamieh.
An Israeli strike on an apartment building in downtown Beirut on October 3 killed nine people in what was the first attack on the center of the Lebanese capital since 2006.
Israel said its air strike on Beirut was a precise operation, while a security source said that the target was an apartment building in the capital's central district of Bachoura, near the Lebanese parliament.
A Hezbollah-linked civil-defense group said seven of its members, including two medics, had been killed in the Beirut attack.
In a separate development, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that at least 18 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on the Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on October 3.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the strike killed the head of Hamas's network in Tulkarm, identifying him as Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi, who it accused of participating in numerous attacks.
Hamas's armed wing late on October 4 confirmed the death of the commander in an Israeli strike.
Hamas has been designated a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.
It's attack on Israel on October 7 last year sparked the current wave of fighting. Hamas fighters crossed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people. They also took some 240 people hostage with them as they returned to Gaza.
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