Kamis, 18 Januari 2024

Middle East crisis live: Pakistan carries out retaliatory strikes on militants in Iran; US hits Houthi missile sites in Yemen - The Guardian

Pakistan has launched retaliatory strikes against militants in Iran, in an apparent response to attacks by Tehran two days ago targeting sites within Pakistan’s borders belonging to a Sunni separatist militant group.

Pakistan had already condemned Tuesday’s attacks, which killed and injured at least six people, as “illegal” and had warned Tehran of “serious consequences”. Pakistan also downgraded its diplomatic relations with Iran, recalling its ambassador from Tehran and expelled the Iranian envoy in Islamabad

A statement by Pakistan’s foreign office early Thursday confirmed that Pakistan had undertaken “a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran. A number of terrorists were killed during the Intelligence-based operation – codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’.”

The missile and drone strikes by Iran were in response to a suicide bombing carried out by Isis-K, the Afghan branch of Islamic State, which killed 85 Iranians in the south-eastern city of Kerman on 3 January. Iran had also carried out strikes against Syria, Iraq and Kurdistan.

Iran has long accused Pakistan of allowing separatist terrorists to hide out in the border region of Balochistan, which was targeted in the strikes.

Pakistan’s decision to respond with retaliatory strikes raises concern of further escalation of the tensions and violence that have been spreading across the Middle East and Asia since the 7 October attacks by Hamas and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that the death toll from an Israeli airstrike on Rafah has risen to 19. It describes the victims as “mostly children and women”.

In Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports that two Palestinians have been injured by live fire from Israeli forces, which it says “searched and inspected a Red Crescent vehicle during the raid”.

Associated Press reports that the Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist group, said in a statement the strikes by Pakistan inside Iran targeted and killed its people.

“Pakistan will have to pay a price for it,” the group warned. “Now the Baloch Liberation Army will not remain silent. We will avenge it and we announce war on the state of Pakistan.”

A deputy governor of Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province, Ali Reza Marhamati, said the dead included three women and four children, and were not Iranian citizens.

Several insurgent groups operate in Iran and Pakistan. They all have a common goal of an independent Balochistan for ethnic Baloch areas in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.

Iran and Pakistan share a 900km (560 mile) border.

Israeli media is reporting that France’s ambassador to Israel, Frédéric Journès, has been speaking on the radio in Israel, and has said he has hopes that the deal to allow medicine into the Gaza Strip, some of it for hostages being held by Hamas, might lead to a renewal of hostage releases.

He told Kan radio:

In a process like this there is a first humanitarian step, and then it can advance us toward a deal. This is also the first sign since the end of the earlier deal that something is possible in the issue of the hostages.

About 132 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza of the estimated 240 seized on 7 October. About 27 of those being held are believed to have been killed.

Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah for Al Jazeera, has described “another night of death and destruction”. He writes for the news network:

Rafah is becoming increasingly dangerous. We’re looking at overcrowded evacuation centres and overcrowded homes. People are everywhere – on the sidewalks and in tents – trying to get away from the horror of the bombs and missiles. Because Rafah is so overcrowded, a single missile can kill a large number of people. This is why we are seeing so many casualties from every airstrike. Most of the victims are women and children.

Reuters has a quick snap that Iran has summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires in Tehran. Pakistan withdrew its ambassador from Iran yesterday.

In its latest operational update, issued vis the Telegram messaging app, Israel’s military has claimed “over the past day approximately 60 terrorists were killed” by its “operations in the Gaza Strip against terrorist operatives and infrastructure”.

It specifically claims to have killed “approximately 40 terrorists” in Khan Younis, where, it says, “grenades, AK-47 rifles, military equipment, and technological assets were located”.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Fears are growing that Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, the largest hospital still partly functioning in Gaza, may be forced to close due to Israeli attacks.

Palestinian health officials have said seven people were killed by Israeli airstrikes on homes near the hospital overnight to Wednesday.

The aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said Israeli forces had “heavily bombed the area close to the hospital with no prior evacuation order, causing patients and many of the thousands of displaced civilians, who had sought refuge in Nasser, to flee in a panic”.

The UN agency OCHA said that Israeli forces withdrew from the area at around 7am on Wednesday and that initial reports and video footage showed that the nearby Al Namsawi cemetery had been destroyed and some graves empty, with bodies reportedly missing.

Palestinians wounded in Israeli attacks, including children, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis on Monday.

In a statement the Israeli army claimed that it had come under fire from the area, according to AFP.

The MSF’s head of mission for Palestine, Léo Cans, said during a visit to the hospital on Tuesday:

The fighting is very close. We hear bombings around and a lot of shooting. Yesterday [Monday], there was an airstrike 150 metres from the entrance of the hospital that killed eight people and injured more than 80 people. Among those were two boys, four years old and five years old who got killed.

He said the hospital was operating at 300% capacity, adding: “the situation is catastrophic. There are way too many patients for the staff to handle.”

US secretary of state Antony Blinken told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there is no military solution to Hamas and that the Israeli leader needs to recognize that or history will repeat itself during his last trip to the Middle East, the US broadcaster NBC has reported citing anonymous US officials.

Netanyahu was reportedly unmoved. He also rejected an offer by Saudi Arabia to normalise relations as part of a Gaza reconstruction agreement if Israel agrees to provide Palestinians with a pathway to statehood, the officials said.

The Biden administration is reportedly increasingly frustrated with the Israeli prime minister and is laying the groundwork for a post-Netanyahu government with other Israeli and civil society leaders.

As part of that strategy and in an attempt to work around Netanyahu, Blinken met individually with members of his war cabinet and other Israeli leaders, including opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid, the officials told NBC.

The broadcaster wrote further:

The United States is now following up with Arab leaders on Blinken’s discussions, but the senior administration officials acknowledged that Biden’s lofty hopes of reshaping the Middle East are now inextricably linked to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

As a result, one senior administration official conceded, the president’s aspirations for a durable regional peace may have to await a post-Netanyahu government.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken (L) meets Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv last week.

While Iran has taken low-level action against Balochistan in the past, Tuesday’s strikes were unusually heavy-handed and Thursday’s retaliatory bombings were the first time that Pakistan has responded with comprehensive military action against its neighbour.

Sources in Islamabad said the decision was taken after heavy political and military pressure on the top army leadership to show strength against Tehran.

The military’s decision to respond to Iran with retaliatory strikes raises concern of further escalation in the tensions that have been spreading across the Middle East and beyond since the 7 October attacks by Hamas and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza.

In Gaza, where a communications blackout has entered a seventh day, Al Jazeera is reporting that 16 people including small children have been killed in Israeli shelling in Rafah.

The broadcaster said it had verified footage showing the bodies of three children killed in the shelling of a house east of Rafah arriving at Abu Youssef Al Najjar hospital.

Here are some of the latest images sent to us by wires in Gaza, where there has been no let-up in Israeli attacks.

Smoke rises after Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza on Wednesday.
A Palestinian boy injured in Israeli air strikes is treated at Kuwait hospital in Rafah, on Wednesday.
Palestinians inspect graves damaged graves after a raid by Israeli tanks on a cemetery in Khan Younis on Wednesday.
Palestinian children injured in Israeli attacks on Deir al-Balah, central Gaza at al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital on Tuesday.
Al-Nusairat refugee camp in southern Gaza pictured on Wednesday.

A deadly Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Tulkarem has continued into a second day, Al Jazeera is reporting, with the UN saying at least seven people – including two children – have been killed.

The broadcaster said residents of the occupied city were still reporting the sounds of explosions and gunfire early on Thursday, and that the Israeli army had blocked off all entrances to the refugee camp and positioned snipers on rooftops.

Raids were also carried out on other areas of the West Bank, including the cities of Hebron and Ramallah overnight and five Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli strike near Balata refugee camp on Wednesday, the UN and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party, said.

An Israeli military vehicle stops a Palestinian Red Cross ambulance at the entrance of the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, on Wednesday.

Forty-six people were arrested from one family alone in Tkoo’ village in Bethlehem, Al Jazeera reported, while arrests were also made in the towns of Balaa, Beit Rima, Kafr ad-Dik, and al-Jalama.

In its daily update on hostilities the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA on Wednesday said two paramedics had also been injured and another two detained in the Israeli raid on Tulkarem. It reported:

In the early morning, Israeli forces raided the camp, where clashes erupted between Israeli forces and Palestinians, including an exchange of gunfire and the use of explosive devices by the latter was reported.

Subsequently, an Israeli airstrike targeted a group of Palestinians, killing four, including two children.

During the operation, seven Palestinians, including two PCRS paramedics, and one Israeli soldier had been injured.

An ambulance was severely damaged by shrapnel and two Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) paramedics were detained by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military confirmed it carried out an air strike during the Tulkarem raid, adding that “a number of terrorists were killed in the strike”.

As of Wednesday, Israeli forces and settlers had killed 355 Palestinians including 90 children since Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel, according to OCHA.

If you’re looking for a bit of background to the strikes launched on Iranian territory by Pakistan, it’s worth looking back to some of our earlier coverage, including this piece by our diplomatic correspondent Patrick Wintour. He covered Tuesday’s attack by Iran on what it said was a militant group in Pakistan. Here’s a snippet:

Iran said its attack mounted on Tuesday using “precision missile and drone strikes”, destroyed two strongholds of the Sunni militant group Jaish al-Adl in the Koh-e-Sabz area of Pakistan’s south-west Balochistan province.

The missile strikes were part of Iran’s sweeping reprisals across Syria, Iraqi Kurdistan and Pakistan, designed to exact revenge for a suicide bombing mounted by Isis-K, the Afghan branch of Islamic State, that killed 85 Iranians in the south-eastern city of Kerman on 3 January.

Tuesday’s strike into Pakistan was the first time Iran had struck so severely inside the nation’s sovereign territory. Ironically, the strike came as Pakistan and Iran’s naval forces were in the midst of a joint exercise designed to underscore the close security cooperation between the two countries.

Pakistan recalled its ambassador from Iran on Wednesday, with the foreign ministry describing the airstrike as an “unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran … inside Pakistani territory”.

“It is even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran,” the ministry said.

The Iranian charge d’affairs was summoned to give an explanation.

The US military has fired another wave of missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites, marking the fourth time in a week that it has directly targeted the group in Yemen.

The strikes were launched from the Red Sea, hitting more than a dozen sites – the officials told the AP news agency – and came after a drone launched from areas controlled by the Houthis hit a US-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthi-controlled Saba news agency said that the areas targeted were Hodeidah, Taiz, Dhamar, al Bayda and Saada. The media group claimed that UK aircraft were also involved in the strikes but the Guardian was not able to verify those claims.

The US military said that its forces conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles that were loaded to be fired from Yemen, and that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region.

Since November, attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militia on ships in the region have slowed trade between Asia and Europe and alarmed major powers. The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Wednesday’s attack on Red Sea shipping saw a drone launched by the Houthis smash into the Genco Picardy bulk carrier, causing a fire that was soon extinguished, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations organisation. The vessel and its crew were said to be safe and proceeding to their next port of call.

More from the Pakistani foreign ministry statement, which justifies this morning’s strikes on Iranian territory by saying that they were taken “in light of credible intelligence of impending large-scale terrorist activities.” The statement says:

Over the last several years, in our engagements with Iran, Pakistan has consistently shared its serious concerns about the safe havens and sanctuaries enjoyed by Pakistani origin terrorists calling themselves “Sarmachars” on the ungoverned spaces inside Iran.

Pakistan also shared multiple dossiers with concrete evidence of the presence and activities of these terrorists.

However, because of lack of action on our serious concerns, these so-called Sarmachars continued to spill the blood of innocent Pakistanis with impunity.

It continued:

Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The sole objective of today’s act was in pursuit of Pakistan’s own security and national interest which is paramount and cannot be compromised.

At least three women and four children have been killed in Pakistan’s retaliatory strikes on militants in Iran, Reuters has reported.

Several missiles hit a border village in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province, a local security official told Iranian state media, the news wire reported.

The official added that none of the women and children were Iranian nationals.

Iran’s official Irna news agency meanwhile reported that “several explosions have been heard in several areas around the city of Saravan”, quoting a provincial official.

Pakistan has launched retaliatory strikes against militants in Iran, in an apparent response to attacks by Tehran two days ago targeting sites within Pakistan’s borders belonging to a Sunni separatist militant group.

Pakistan had already condemned Tuesday’s attacks, which killed and injured at least six people, as “illegal” and had warned Tehran of “serious consequences”. Pakistan also downgraded its diplomatic relations with Iran, recalling its ambassador from Tehran and expelled the Iranian envoy in Islamabad

A statement by Pakistan’s foreign office early Thursday confirmed that Pakistan had undertaken “a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran. A number of terrorists were killed during the Intelligence-based operation – codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’.”

The missile and drone strikes by Iran were in response to a suicide bombing carried out by Isis-K, the Afghan branch of Islamic State, which killed 85 Iranians in the south-eastern city of Kerman on 3 January. Iran had also carried out strikes against Syria, Iraq and Kurdistan.

Iran has long accused Pakistan of allowing separatist terrorists to hide out in the border region of Balochistan, which was targeted in the strikes.

Pakistan’s decision to respond with retaliatory strikes raises concern of further escalation of the tensions and violence that have been spreading across the Middle East and Asia since the 7 October attacks by Hamas and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Middle East crisis with me, Helen Livingstone.

Pakistan has carried out a retaliatory strike on militants in Iran, the foreign ministry in Islamabad has said, two days after two children were killed in an Iranian strike on what Tehran claimed were bases belonging to a Sunni militant group, Jaish al-Adl.

At least three women and four children were killed when several missiles hit a border village in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province, a security official from the province said on Thursday according to the semi-official Young Journalist Club news agency.

Reports of the attack came hours after the US military said it had launched a fourth round of strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, after a drone launched by the rebel group hit a US-owned cargo ship in the Red Sea.

The US conducted strikes on 14 Houthi missiles that were loaded and ready to be fired from Yemen, US Central Command said, adding that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region.

More on that soon. In other key developments:

  • At least 24,448 Palestinians have been killed and 61,504 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since the war began on 7 October, according to the latest figures by the territory’s health ministry on Wednesday. Another 355 Palestinians, including 90 children, have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank.

  • Eleven people including two children were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian officials and the UN said. The UN agency OCHA said six people were killed, including two children, in an airstrike on Tulkarem refugee camp. A separate Israeli airstrike near Balata refugee camp, east of the city of Nablus, killed five fighters with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party, it said.

  • There were fears that Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, the largest hospital still partially functioning in Gaza, may be forced to close due to Israeli attacks. The aid agency Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) said overnight to Wednesday Israeli forces had “heavily bombed the area close to the hospital with no prior evacuation order, causing patients and many of the thousands of displaced civilians, who had sought refuge in Nasser, to flee in a panic.”

An unexploded Israeli missile stuck between two houses of Al Nusairat refugee camp, central Gaza on Wednesday.
  • A shipment of medicine for Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians entered Gaza on Wednesday, a Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson has confirmed, under a deal mediated by Qatar and France. The agreement marks the first significant progress in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas since December, when a short-lived ceasefire collapsed.

  • The likelihood of a war in Lebanon is “higher than before”, the head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said. Speaking to troops in northern Israel on Wednesday, IDF chief of staff Lt Gen Herzi Halevi said Israel’s military is “increasing readiness for fighting in Lebanon”.

  • A telecommunications blackout in the Gaza Strip entered its sixth day on Wednesday, the longest continuous outage since the war began, according to the internet monitoring group NetBlocks. Internet and telephone services collapsed across Gaza on Friday, marking the ninth blackout the territory has endured since 7 October.

  • Doctors have been instructed by Israel’s health ministry not to speak with UN representatives investigating the Hamas attacks on 7 October. Members of the UN independent international commission of inquiry, in areas including East Jerusalem and Israel, had been contacting senior physicians and hospital staff who treated the 7 October victims, requesting information and interviews for its investigation into potential war crimes committed since 7 October.

  • The Jordanian army has said its military field hospital in the city of Khan Younis in Gaza was badly damaged as a result of Israeli shelling in the vicinity. In a statement on Wednesday, the army said it held Israel responsible for a “flagrant breach of international law”.

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Prosecutor investigating Ecuador TV station attack shot dead - Sky News

A prosecutor investigating the storming of an Ecuadorian TV station by gang members has been shot dead.

Cesar Suarez was killed on Wednesday as he was driving to court in Guayaquil, the country's most dangerous city.

Police are treating it as an assassination and say he was shot multiple times.

Mr Suarez was probing last week's attack on TC Television, when gang members broke into a studio during a live broadcast and held staff at gunpoint.

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Hooded gunmen storm live TV set

Thirteen people, including two minors, have been arrested over the attack.

It happened shortly after a notorious gang boss escaped from prison, triggering a national state of emergency and night-time curfew.

Ecuador has seen a surge in violence recently, including explosions in some cities, the kidnapping of police officers and prison staff being held hostage.

More on Ecuador

Twenty-two criminal gangs have been designated terrorist organisations as President Daniel Noboa tries to quash the unrest linked to the drugs trade.

Read more:
Journalist held at gunpoint live on air speaks to Sky News

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How Ecuador became a drug gang war zone

Mr Suarez had previously worked on other organised crime cases in Guayas province.

He was also leading a case involving a drug lord who allegedly received favourable treatment from police, prosecutors and judges.

"The criminals, the terrorists, will not hold back our commitment to Ecuadorean society," said attorney general Diana Salazar in a social media video.

"We call on the forces of order to guarantee the security of those who are carrying out their duties."

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US launches fourth round of strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen - BBC

Houthi fighters in YemenGetty Images

The US has carried out a fourth round of strikes on Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, Pentagon officials confirmed on Wednesday night.

Some 14 Houthi missiles, which the US says may have been intended for attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, were targeted by American forces.

Centcom - the US Middle East command - said the sites were struck by Tomahawk missiles fired from US Navy vessels.

The strikes come as the US designated the Houthis as "global terrorists".

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the move, which reversed a decision to remove the designation in the early days of the Biden administration, was in response to the militants' ongoing attacks on commercial shipping in the region.

The Houthis began attacking merchant vessels in November, saying they were responding to Israel's military operation in Gaza. Since then, the group has launched dozens of attacks on commercial tankers passing through the Red Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

In response, the US and UK launched a wave of air strikes against dozens of Houthi targets on 11 January. The strikes - supported by Australia, Bahrain, the Netherlands and Canada - began after Houthi forces ignored an ultimatum to cease their attacks in the region.

Wednesday's strikes on Houthi targets followed further attacks on commercial shipping. Hours earlier, the group struck a US owned and operated vessel for the second time this week.

The rebels used a one-way drone to target the M/V Genco Picardy in the Gulf of Aden, Centcom said. The ship suffered some damage, but no crew members were injured in the attack.

On Monday, the Houthis hit another US vessel with a ballistic missile, in what appeared to be the group's first successful attack on an American ship since their campaign began.

US officials said Wednesday's strikes were pre-emptive, and destroyed weapons which were due to be fired imminently by the militants.

"These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time, prompting US forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves," Centcom said in a statement.

"These strikes, along with other actions we have taken, will degrade the Houthi's capabilities to continue their reckless attacks on international and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden," the statement added.

The UK's ministry of defence told the BBC that it was not involved in the latest wave of strikes.

Centcom's commander, Gen Micheal Kurilla, said the US would continue to take action against the Houthis as long as its fighters "continue to endanger international mariners and disrupt the commercial shipping lanes in the Southern Red Sea and adjacent waterways".

Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that escalated in 2015, when the Houthis seized control of large parts of the west of the country from the internationally recognised government and a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an effort to restore its rule.

The fighting has reportedly left more than 160,000 people dead and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with two thirds of the population - 21 million people - in need of some form of aid.

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Rabu, 17 Januari 2024

Middle East crisis live: Pakistan recalls ambassador from Iran and bars Iranian counterpart after missile strike - The Guardian

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said it had struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Wednesday morning in retaliation to what it claims was a missile launch.

In a statement on Telegram, the IDF said: “An anti-tank missile launch from Lebanon toward the area of Gladiola was identified. In response, the IDF struck the sources of the fire.

“Since this morning, the IDF struck targets in Lebanon.

“A short while ago, IAF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and military compounds in the area of Hula in Lebanon.

“In addition, IDF tanks fired in order to remove a threat in the area of Ayta ash Shab in Lebanon. In addition, IDF artillery fired toward the area of Al Dahra in order to remove a threat.

“Furthermore, a terrorist cell that was identified in a compound in the area of Marwahin was struck by the IDF.”

The Palestinian Wafa news agency is reporting that one member of staff and a Palestinian patient in the intensive care unit were inured in the Jordanian field hospital in Khan Younis.

Earlier the Jordanian army said its military field hospital was badly damaged as a result of Israeli shelling in the vicinity. The army said it held Israel responsible for a “flagrant breach of international law”.

Citing a military source from the Jordanian armed forces, Wafa reports the injuries were sustained “in clashes near the hospital in the past few hours”.

Wafa said the staff member had “moderate injuries” and would be airlifted to Jordan for medical attention. The patient was reported to be “injured by shrapnel and a bullet”.

The news agency reported: “Despite significant material damage due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment in the vicinity, which started yesterday and continued into Wednesday morning, the hospital remains committed to fulfilling its medical and humanitarian duties to the residents of the Gaza Strip.”

India is engaged in diplomatic negotiations with Iran on the attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Houthi movement, an Indian government source told Reuters on Wednesday.

It has just gone 2pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut, 3.30pm in Tehran, and 5pm in Islamabad. Here are the headlines …

  • Israel claims that it has killed a Hamas member who it believes was “responsible for interrogating individuals suspected of espionage” in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said: “IAF aircraft eliminated Bilal Nofal, who was responsible for interrogating individuals suspected of carrying out espionage activities against the terrorist organisation in the southern Gaza Strip.”

  • Israel has killed several people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including, it claimed, the “head of terrorist infrastructure” in the Balata camp in the Israeli-occupied city of Nablus. The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that four Palestinians had been killed “due to the occupation’s bombardment” of Tulkarm refugee camp. It also said its ambulances were prevented from assisting at the scene of a strike near Nablus by Israeli forces. Palestinian news agency Wafa reported 85 Palestinians were detained overnight. Israel has detained about 6,000 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 7 October.

  • The Jordanian army said on Wednesday its military field hospital in the city of Khan Younis in Gaza was badly damaged as a result of Israeli shelling in the vicinity. In a statement, the army said it held Israel responsible for a “flagrant breach of international law”. 24,448 Palestinians have been killed and 61,504 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

  • Pakistan has recalled its ambassador from Iran after Iran launched airstrikes on Pakistan territory, apparently aimed at a Sunni militant group. Pakistan’s foreign ministry said two children were killed and three others were injured in what it called an “illegal” airstrike and “unprovoked violation of its airspace”. Militant group Jaish al-Adl, which has claimed bombings and kidnapped Iranian border police in the past, acknowledged the assault in a statement shared online.

  • António Guterres has repeated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, and a process that leads to sustained peace for Israelis and Palestinians, based on a two-state solution. Speaking at Davos, the UN secretary general said: “This is the only way to stem the suffering and prevent a spillover that could send the entire region up in flames.”

  • The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has described the situation in Gaza as gut-wrenching, saying: “The suffering among innocent men, women and children breaks my heart.” Speaking at Davos he insisted the US had pressed Israel about its responsibilities every step of the way, meaning there were “several dogs that did not bark”. Blinken said a reformed Palestinian Authority must be part of any solution in the region, but it will need to operate with the support of Israel, not its opposition.

  • Relatives of Israeli hostage Kfir Bibas have this week held a first birthday celebration for the baby who was snatched on 7 October and abducted into Gaza during the Hamas attack inside southern Israel. The youngest hostage to be kidnapped would be celebrating the milestone on Thursday. In November, Hamas broadcast a video announcing the death of the baby, his brother and mother, saying they had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. But there has been no confirmation from Israeli officials, and relatives have since clung to the hope that they are not dead. About 132 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza, including at least 27 believed to have been killed.

  • A deal to allow the delivery of medicines to hostages in Gaza and aid into the territory has been agreed after mediation by Doha and Paris. In a statement Doha announced a deal “where medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in Gaza … in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza”.

  • American forces have destroyed four anti-ship missiles in Yemen. The US said the missiles threatened civilian and military vessels. The latest attack on Red Sea shipping saw the Houthis hit a Greek-owned cargo ship with a missile off the coast of Yemen as it headed to the Suez canal. No injuries were reported and the vessel remained navigable.

Pakistan has recalled its ambassador from Iran and the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan – who is at the moment visiting Iran – will not be allowed to come back, Reuters reports Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Here are some of the latest images from Gaza, Israel and the occupied West Bank sent to us over the news wires.

Palestinians wait to receive food amid a shortages of food supplies in Rafah.
Israeli army vehicles move in the Gaza Strip near the Israeli-Gaza border as seen from southern Israel.
Israeli security forces look out of a window of a building as they conduct a military raid in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm.
Palestinians check damaged graves at a cemetery after an Israeli raid in Khan Younis on 17 January.

Relatives of Israeli hostage Kfir Bibas have this week held a first birthday celebration for the baby who was snatched on 7 October and abducted into Gaza during the Hamas attack inside southern Israel.

The youngest hostage to be kidnapped would be celebrating the milestone tomorrow. AFP reports his family are marking the occasion with a cake and candles at kibbutz Nir Oz.

Birthday decorations and a cake with a picture of Kfir Bibas, the youngest hostage to be kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, are on display in kibbutz Nir Oz.

In November, Hamas broadcast a video announcing the death of the baby, his brother and mother, saying they had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. But there has been no confirmation from Israeli officials, and relatives have since clung to the hope that they are not dead.

Out of the roughly 400 inhabitants of kibbutz Nir Oz, about one in four was either killed or kidnapped on 7 October. Kfir was abducted along with his four-year-old brother Ariel and their parents Yarden and Shiri Bibas.

Yossi Schneider, cousin of the baby’s mother Shiri Bibas, said they are “doing things that are related to a birthday – but the birthday kid is not here.”

Sharon Aloni-Cunio, an Israeli hostage who was taken during the 7 October attack by Hamas and later released, talks to the media inside her damaged house in kibbutz Nir Oz during a press visit yesterday.

The press visit to the kibbutz was organised by “Bring them home now”, a group of families of the hostages who have continued to campaign for their release after now being held in captivity for over 100 days.

The Jordanian army said on Wednesday its military field hospital in the city of Khan Younis in Gaza was badly damaged as a result of Israeli shelling in the vicinity.

In a statement, the army said it held Israel responsible for a “flagrant breach of international law”.

Jordan and the United Arab Emirates set up field hospitals inside Gaza several weeks into Israel’s bombardment of the territory.

This picture from November 2023 shows an aid convoy transporting a Jordanian field hospital parked upon arrival in Khan Younis.

An official at Tulkarm refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has told the AFP news agency that “the camp is besieged by aircraft and heavy numbers of the Israeli army, and tanks”.

Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that four Palestinians had been killed “due to the occupation’s bombardment”.

Since the 7 October surprise attack inside southern Israel launched from Gaza by Hamas, an AFP tally has counted about 350 people killed by Israeli army raids and attacks by settlers inside the occupied West Bank. About 6,000 people have been detained by Israel during the same period.

Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during an Israeli military raid in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem and its camp on 17 January.

Al Jazeera is carrying quotes from senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk about the deal brokered by Qatar and France to deliver medicine into the Gaza Strip, some of which is destined for Israeli hostages who have been held captive for over 100 days.

It quotes him saying that for every one box of medicine destined for hostages, 1,000 boxes for Palestinians will be included.

Al Jazeera goes on to report:

Abu Marzouk says Israeli authorities will not have the chance to inspect the shipments. He says Hamas insisted Qatar provide the medication and not France because of the European country’s support for Israel.

About 132 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza, including at least 27 believed to have been killed. Forty-five hostages are expected to receive medication under the agreement, according to the French presidency. The deliveries will go on for three months under the deal.

A senior Pakistani security official, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to reporters, told the news agency Iran had shared no information with Pakistan prior to the strike inside its borders. Iran appears to have been targeting the Jaish al-Adl group.

The security official said Pakistan reserved the right to respond at a time and place of the country’s choosing and such a strike would be measured and in line with public expectations.

“The dangerous precedent set by Iran is destabilizing and has reciprocal implications,” the official said.

Jan Achakzai, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Balochistan province, also condemned the attack. “Pakistan has always sought cooperation from all the countries of region – including Iran – to combat terrorism.”

“This is unacceptable and Pakistan has a right to respond to any aggression committed against its sovereignty.”

António Guterres has repeated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, and a process that leads to sustained peace for Israelis and Palestinians, based on a two-state solution.

Speaking at Davos, the UN secretary general said:

This is the only way to stem the suffering and prevent a spillover that could send the entire region up in flames.

Reuters also reports that at Davos, the UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Otto Pedersen, said the world needs a quick end to the Gaza war.

Speaking at the Word Economic Forum, Pedersen said he was extremely worried about the conflict because the “war is spreading and there have been escalations”.

Graeme Wearden is in Davos for the Guardian

Asked at Davos whether Jewish lives are more valuable than Muslim and Palestinian Christian lives, given the asymmetry in casualties in the Israel-Hamas war, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said “No. Period.”

The 7 October attack inside southern Israel killed an estimated 1,200 people. Since then, authorities in Gaza have said that nearly 25,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military response.

Blinken said that for him, and for so many of us, what we are seeing nearly every day in Gaza is gut-wrenching, adding: “The suffering among innocent men, women and children breaks my heart.”

He insisted that the US had pressed Israel about its responsibilities every step of the way, meaning there were “several dogs that did not bark”, but added: “That in no way takes away from the tragedy we have seen and continue to see.”

Blinken said that no country would accept a repeat of the surprise 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel, and that it is hard to overstate the psychological impact on Israel of what happened on that day.

The biggest poison we face around the world is dehumanisation, he continued, saying “the inability to see the humanity in the other” was the issue.

We need to remove that poison, he said, which means having leaders around the world who see that, and are prepared to act on it.

My colleague Graeme Wearden is in Davos for the Guardian, and has been watching US secretary of state Antony Blinken speak:

Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, has said he feels a “fierce urgency” to make progress towards peace in the Middle East region, but that Israel needs to be integrated and feel secure, and there must also be a pathway to a Palestinian state.

In conversation with WEF founder Klaus Schwab, and commentator Thomas Friedman, Blinken said a reformed Palestinian Authority can deliver better for their people and must be part of the solution, but it will need to operate with the support of Israel, not its opposition.

Blinken said “even the most effective” Palestinian Authority will struggle if it has the active opposition of the Israeli government.

Asked whether this is the worst time to be US secretary of state, or just in the top five, Blinken argues that the US is in a “renewed position of strength” under Joe Biden.

He said Biden asked him to reengage with international partners, and that has happened. It means that when dealing with China, and Russia, the world has more convergence than before, he argues.

Antony Blinken gestures during his speech at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In the Middle East, we have a profound and gut-wrenching challenge, Blinken continued. He said of what he sees in Gaza “the suffering breaks my heart”.

He said he is hearing from nearly every country that they want the US at the table, and without US leadership, you risk being left with a vacuum, Blinken argued. He said vacuums tend to be filled by bad actors.

Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned the Iranian missile attack on the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, and urged all parties to avoid an escalation of conflicts in the Middle East.

“I express my closeness and solidarity with the victims, all civilians, of the missile attack that hit an urban area of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan,” Reuters reports the pope said during his weekly audience at the Vatican.

“Good relations between neighbours are not built with similar actions, but with dialogue and collaboration. I ask everyone to avoid any step that fuels tension in the Middle East and other war scenarios,” he added.

Pope Francis gestures during the weekly general audience at the Vatican on 17 January.

Francis called for prayers for the “many victims of war”, mentioning specifically Ukraine, Gaza, Palestinian territory, and Israel.

Britain’s foreign minister, David Cameron, will meet the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and other leaders at the Word Economic Forum in Davos, the British government said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

However, Masrour Barzani, prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, has reportedly cancelled a planned meeting there with Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in protest over Iranian airstrikes.

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US launches new airstrikes against Houthis in Yemen targeting 'anti-ship missiles' - The Independent

The US military carried out further airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen on Tuesday, targeting what it characterised as anti-ship ballistic missiles.

The action followed dozens of strikes against the Iran-backed rebels across Yemen in recent days as the US and UK seek to halt attacks by the group on cargo ships in the Red Sea, which were launched in response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

Two US officials told Reuters that Tuesday’s strikes were targeted at four anti-ship missiles.

The US and UK airstrikes began on Friday, when more than 60 targets in 25 locations were hit. On Saturday, the Pentagon said a Tomahawk missile fired from the Navy destroyer USS Carney hit a Houthi radar site.

The strikes come as the Pentagon announced on Tuesday that two US Navy SEALs were lost at sea in a mission targeting Iranian weapons deliveries to the Houthis.

The night-time mission ended with the seizure of a small sailing boat that was transporting “advanced lethal aid” to the Houthis as part of the group’s “campaign of attacks against international merchant shipping,” the Pentagon said in a statement on Tuesday.

The SEALs had been reported missing in the days following the mission, which took place on 11 January, but its purpose had not been revealed. The two SEALs were still missing as of Tuesday morning.

“We are conducting an exhaustive search for our missing teammates,” said General Michael Erik Kurilla, USCENTCOM commander.

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Russia protest: Crowds clash with riot police as activist jailed - BBC

Demonstration in Baymak, still from videoReuters

Russian riot police fired tear gas and hit protesters with batons in Bashkortostan on Wednesday after a rights activist was sentenced to four years in a penal colony.

Footage showed supporters of Fail Alsynov clashing with police - some throwing snowballs - near the court.

Alsynov was jailed for inciting ethnic hatred, which he denies.

One protester had a "smashed head", and dozens were detained and injured, monitoring group OVD-Info said.

The trial, and protests, took place in Baymak in southern Russia, near the border with Kazakhstan.

Authorities have opened a investigation against some of those demonstrating under "mass rioting" charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

"I advise you to come to your senses and not ruin your life," Bashkortostan's Interior Minister Rafail Divayev warned protesters.

Some reports say there were a few thousand people at the demonstration, which went on for several days in temperatures of around -20C.

Protesters were seen shouting their support for Alsynov, and there are reports that some tried to block the courthouse entrance after the sentence was announced.

Tear gas was reportedly fired and protesters were seen throwing snowballs at ranks of police behind riot shields.

The activist has now been driven away from the court to applause from supporters, who have started to disperse, OVD-Info said.

Alsynov is accused of insulting migrants at a demonstration against plans to mine for gold, but supporters said it was delayed revenge for his activism in preventing soda mining in what locals consider a sacred place.

He is said to have called Central Asians and Caucasians, who make up most of Russia's migrant population, "black people", considered a derogatory term in Russian.

But he insists the words he used in the Bashkir language mean "poor people" and were mistranslated into Russian. He intends to appeal against the verdict.

Alsynov has also in the past criticised military mobilisation in the region as "genocide" of the Bashkir people, a Turkic race closely related to the Tatars which inhabits the southern Ural mountains.

There have been long-running claims that a disproportionately high number of ethnic minorities in Russia are being sent to fight in Ukraine.

Alsynov was a leader of Bashkort, a grassroots movement set up to preserve the ethnic identity of the Bashkirs which was banned as extremist in 2020.

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Selasa, 16 Januari 2024

US condemns Iran for 'reckless' missile strikes on northern Iraq - BBC

Damaged building in Irbil, northern Iraq, following overnight Iranian ballistic missile strikes (16 January 2024)AFP

The US has condemned Iran over ballistic missile strikes on Iraq's northern city of Irbil on Monday night, calling them "reckless and imprecise".

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they struck what they claimed were an Israeli "spy headquarters" in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.

Four civilians were killed and six hurt in the attack, local authorities said.

Iraq recalled its ambassador from Tehran, condemning the strikes as a "blatant violation" of sovereignty.

There has been no comment from Israel.

The Revolutionary Guards also said they carried out missile strikes on "terrorist bases" in Syria in response to a recent suicide bombing in Iran claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

In a separate development on Tuesday morning, Kurdish counter-terrorism forces said they had shot three armed drones flying over Irbil's airport, where US and international forces are stationed, Reuters news agency reported.

There was no immediate claim, but an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has said it was behind similar attacks.

The Iranian strikes come amid heightened tensions across the Middle East since the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas began on 7 October.

Iran has declared that it does not want to get involved in a wider conflict, but groups in its so-called "Axis of Resistance" have been carrying out attacks on Israel and its allies to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement has exchanged cross-border fire with Israeli forces; Shia militias have launched drones and missiles at US forces in Iraq and Syria; and Yemen's Houthi rebels have attacked ships in the Red Sea.

Israel has reportedly carried out strikes that killed a Hamas leader in Lebanon and a Revolutionary Guards commander in Syria, while the US has killed an Iraqi militia leader in an air strike in Iraq and bombed Houthi targets in Yemen.

First responders search through the rubble of a damaged building in Irbil, northern Iraq, following overnight Iranian ballistic missile strikes (16 January 2024)
Anadolu

The Kurdistan Region Security Council said multiple ballistic missiles launched by the Revolutionary Guards struck civilian-populated areas of Irbil around 23:30 local time (20:30 GMT) on Monday.

Local news outlet Rudaw reported that loud explosions shook the city and that several residential buildings on the road between Irbil and the north-eastern suburb of Pirmam were damaged heavily.

Peshraw Dizayee, a multimillionaire real estate magnate, was killed when a missile hit his home, the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party said.

An 11-month-old baby was also among the dead, according to Rudaw.

The Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that the missile strikes were a "response to the recent evil acts of the Zionist regime in martyring [Revolutionary Guards] and resistance commanders".

The missiles "destroyed one of the main headquarters of Israel's spy agency Mossad in Iraq's Kurdistan Region", which had been used to "develop espionage operations and plan acts of terrorism", they claimed.

However, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said it categorically rejected "this unfounded pretext" and accused the Revolutionary Guards of frequently employing "baseless pretexts for assaulting Irbil" when it posed no threat.

The Kurdistan Region's Prime Minister, Masrour Barzani, condemned the "cowardly attack" and urged the federal government in Baghdad to "to take a principled position against the flagrant violation of Iraq's and the Kurdistan Region's sovereignty".

The Iraqi foreign ministry said the government "strongly denounced the Iranian aggression on Irbil" and would "take all legal measures against it", including filing a complaint to the UN Security Council. It also announced the formation of an investigative committee to "prove the falsity" of Iran's claims.

Later, the ministry recalled the Iraqi ambassador from Tehran for consultations and summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Baghdad to protest.

Map showing Iraq, Syria and Iran

"We will continue to assess the situation, but initial indications are that this was a reckless and imprecise set of strikes," Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement.

"The United States supports the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Iraq," she said, adding that no US personnel or facilities were targeted.

The UN mission in Iraq said: "Attacks, by any side, violating Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity must stop. Security concerns must be addressed through dialogue, not strikes."

The Iranian foreign ministry said it respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries but was using its "legitimate and legal right to deter national security threats".

In 2022, the Revolutionary Guards carried out a similar missile attack on what it claimed was an Israeli "strategic centre" in Irbil following an air strike in Syria that killed two senior Iranian officers. Later in the year, they hit what they said were the bases of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the region.

The Revolutionary Guards also said they had targeted the positions of IS and other "terrorist groups" in Syria's opposition-controlled Idlib province on Monday night.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said it was not clear where the missiles landed. Four explosions were heard south-east of the city of Aleppo, within areas controlled by Iran-backed militias, and one blast was heard near the city of Idlib, it added.

White Helmets first responders said a non-functioning medical clinic in the village of Taltita in Idlib province had been destroyed by explosions of unknown origin. Two people suffered minor injuries, they added.

That attack in Kerman in southern Iran killed at least 94 people.

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