Yesterday, Israel bombed the southern suburb of Beirut and announced that it had hit 300 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, in an all-out war that the United States (US) urged to end “as soon as possible.”
In addition, The Israeli Army reported that Hezbollah yesterday fired 170 projectiles from Lebanon towards Israelwhile the pro-Iran Lebanese militia said it had attacked an Israeli intelligence base near Tel Aviv.
In this regard, the official Lebanese news agency (Ani) reported 13 bombings in the southern suburbs of Beirut last night after after the Army urged residents of several districts to evacuate the areas.
Rescuers linked to Hezbollah told a news agency that at least three people died in the Ouzai neighborhood and that they were searching for survivors. “He left no room for people to escape. The attack occurred shortly after the warning,” declared one of them. Four other people, including a child, were killed in another bombing near Lebanon’s largest public hospital, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
This source had previously reported six deaths, including another child, in the city of Baalbek, in the east of the country, in addition to four rescuers killed in the last 24 hours in the South in Israeli bombings.
Blinken’s new tour
On a visit to Beirut, US envoy Amos Hochstein stated that Washington is working to end the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah “as soon as possible.” Hochstein assured that UN resolution 1701, which ended the war between Israel and Hezbollahshould be the basis for a new ceasefire, but that neither party “did anything to implement it.”
According to resolution 1701, only the Lebanese Army and the UN peacekeeping force, Finul, can be deployed in areas south of the Lebanese Litani river, near the Israeli border.
Despite that resolution, Hezbollah remains present in South Lebanon, and Israel—in parallel to its war against the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip—launched a ground offensive on September 30, a week after beginning massive bombings. against the Lebanese formation.
In this context, the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony The blinkwill begin today a new tour in the Middle East to try re-impulse negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza and containing a regional escalationafter Israel promised to respond to an attack by Iran with missiles against its territory on October 1.
Blinken left yesterday for Israel and will visit Jordan tomorrow with the aim of promoting a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, after the death of the Hamas leader; He will also talk to Jordanians about humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
It should be noted that on his most recent trip to Israel, in August, Blinken had already warned that the parties were facing a “last opportunity” to reach a ceasefire under the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States. At that time the attempt failed and since then the conflict has intensified and even spread to Lebanon against the pro-Iranian Islamist group Hezbollah, close to Hamas.
Thus, in his new journey, will last until Friday, Blinken “will discuss the importance of ending the war in Gaza, ensuring the release of all hostages and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people”indicated the State Department.
The blink It will also discuss the delicate post-war agreements and will try to seek a “diplomatic resolution” for Lebanon, where Washington has not called for an immediate ceasefire.
Blinken’s trip comes days after he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Israel that the United States could withhold some of its billions of dollars in military aid if more humanitarian aid is not allowed into Gaza. . There, according to the UN, more than 1.8 million people face “extreme hunger.”
Agencies
Considerable damage
Among the attacks carried out yesterday by the Israeli Army, there is also the hit on 30 targets related to the financial organization Al-Qard Al-Hassanlinked to Hezbollahwhich Israel accuses of financing the group’s weapons and being responsible for paying the salaries of its fighters. Among those targets was a bunker containing “tens of millions of dollars” in cash and gold.
It should be noted that this institution is sanctioned by the United States, which accuses Hezbollah of using it as a cover for the group’s financial activities and accessing the international financial system.
Regarding this attack, military spokesman Daniel Hagari noted that one of the “priority targets” of Israeli “precision bombing” was this “underground vault containing tens of millions of dollars in cash and gold.”
Likewise, the Army assured that its attacks are aimed at “degrading” the Shiite group and preventing it from rebuilding, after a month of intense attacks in Lebanon that have left more than a thousand dead.
In addition to the bombings, Israeli troops continued their invasion of southern Lebanon, where yesterday they located and dismantled the Shiite group’s weapons stored along the border, such as rocket launchers and explosives, and killed several combatants “including commanders” of the militia. supported by Iran.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the “considerable damage to civilian facilities” due to these bombings against Al Qard Al Hasan.
After these attacks, the Israeli Army reported that it continued its ground operations in South Lebanon, with the aim of allowing some 60,000 Israelis displaced by projectile fire from the Shiite group to return to their homes.
At least 1,489 people have died in Lebanon since September 23, according to a count based on official data. In mid-October, the UN counted nearly 700,000 displaced people.
People inspect damage at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike that targeted a subsidiary of the Al-Qard Al-Hassan financial group in Lebanon. AFP
Nicaragua rejects being a “base of terrorism”
Yesterday, Nicaragua rejected the statements of the Israeli ambassador and consul in Costa Rica, Washed Gur Aryehy Amir Rockmanrespectively, who accuse the Government chaired by Daniel Ortega of installing, together with Iran, “a terrorism base in Central America” in the country.
“In these statements, Israeli officials affirm that in Nicaragua there is now a terrorist base that is used as a platform for terrorism in the region,” reproached the Permanent Mission of Nicaragua to the United Nations in a note sent to the Secretary’s office. General of the UN and read in Managua by the vice president of the country, Rosario Murillo.
“In this regard, Nicaragua rejects such statements, which have the objective of diverting attention from the genocide that Israel is carrying out in the occupied Palestinian territories, the flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, as well as the systematic crimes against humanity and war crimes. that are the result of a policy of State terrorism,” indicated the Nicaraguan authorities. Rosario Murillo also explained that, “in firm compliance with its international obligations, it has broken relations with the State of Israel, just as it has requested its intervention in the case initiated by the Republic of South Africa for violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment.” of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip.”
He added, “it is taking other legal actions that contribute to stopping the genocide of the Palestinian people and ending Israel’s illegal occupation, as has been confirmed by the International Court of Justice in its two advisory opinions.”
Ortega supports the Iranian nuclear program
It should be noted that Ortega is one of Iran’s main allies in Latin America and on January 10, 2012, when he was sworn in for his third and second consecutive five-year term, he supported the Iranian nuclear program and asked Israel to “disarm” to avoid a conflict. warlike. In February 2023, the Governments of both countries signed a memorandum on cooperation and public consultations in Managua during the visit of the Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, to the Central American country. That was the second visit by a representative of the Iranian Government to Nicaragua since January 2022, when Tehran sent Mohsen Rezai, one of those charged by the Argentine Justice for the 1994 attack against Ortega, to the ceremony of Ortega’s last investiture as president. the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) of Buenos Aires.
The third visit to Managua was made by the late president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisí, in mid-June 2023, when he highlighted that the links with the Central American country are strategic. Relations between Iran and Nicaragua have been very close since Ortega, one of Tehran’s main allies in Latin America, returned to power in January 2007.
The Sandinistas – the left-wing Nicaraguan political movement – have broken relations with Israel on three occasions: the first during their first government (1979-1990), and the other two in 2010 and now in 2024.
President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega. AFP
“We will die of hunger”
Clashes on both sides of the Lebanese border began after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to a count based on official Israeli figures and including the hostages who died in captivity in Gaza.
Of the 251 people kidnapped during the attack, 97 remain captive in Gaza, of whom 34 were declared dead by the Army.
The attack triggered the war in Gaza that has killed 42,603 people, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the territory run by Hamasfigures that the UN considers reliable.
On October 6, Israel launched a major air and ground campaign in the north of the Palestinian territory with the objective, according to its army, of preventing Hamas fighters from regrouping.
According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, at least 400,000 people are trapped in the north of the Palestinian territory.
“If we don’t die from shelling and shooting, we will starve,” declared Umm Firas Shamiyah, a 42-year-old displaced resident, demanding that aid be sent to the North.
CT