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Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, minister says

Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, minister says
A demobilized officer said that he had spent days demolishing houses in Gaza to clear more ground for military bases in Gaza’s Netzarim corridor. (AFP)
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Updated 30 November 2024

Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, minister says

Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, minister says
  • Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,200 people and displaced nearly all the territory’s population at least once, Gaza officials say. Most victims are civilians.

LONDON: Israel’s food minister, Avi Dichter, said that the Israeli military would remain in Gaza for many years to fight against Hamas recruits, the British national daily The Guardian reported on Friday.

“I think that we are going to stay in Gaza for a long time. I think most people understand that (Israel) will be years in some kind of West Bank situation where you go in and out and maybe you remain along Netzarim (corridor),” Dichter said.

Israeli reservists who recently served in Gaza described to The Guardian the scale of the new military infrastructure built in the territory by Israel. This includes extensive new camps and roads across a swath of northern and central Gaza.

A demobilized officer said that he had spent days demolishing houses in Gaza to clear more ground for military bases in Gaza’s Netzarim corridor.

“That was the only mission. There was not a single construction left that was taller than my waist anywhere (in the corridor), except our bases and observation towers,” he said.

Israeli military strikes killed at least 21 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, as tanks pushed deeper into the north and south of the territory.

The escalation came a day after Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah began a ceasefire in Lebanon, halting more than a year of hostilities and raising hopes among many Palestinians in Gaza for a similar deal with Hamas, which ruled the territory from 2007 until the current conflict.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has repeatedly said that Hamas must be completely destroyed and Israel must retain lasting control over parts of Gaza.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,200 people and displaced nearly all the territory’s population at least once, Gaza officials say. Most victims are civilians.


Jordanian Armed Forces bring down drug-laden balloons on eastern border

Jordanian Armed Forces bring down drug-laden balloons on eastern border
Updated 4 sec ago

Jordanian Armed Forces bring down drug-laden balloons on eastern border

Jordanian Armed Forces bring down drug-laden balloons on eastern border
  • Border Guard forces detect, seize items
  • Jordan is known as transit point for drug smuggling in Middle East, criminals using drones alongside conventional methods to smuggle narcotics

LONDON: Security forces in Jordan’s Eastern Military Zone foiled a drug smuggling attempt early on Sunday along the country’s eastern border, as part of efforts to protect national security.

Authorities reported that smugglers used balloons guided by rudimentary devices to transport narcotics into Jordan.

Border Guard forces, in coordination with security agencies, detected and brought down the balloons and seized them. The materials have been turned over to the authorities for legal action, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Jordan is known as a transit point for drug smuggling in the Middle East, with criminals using drones alongside conventional methods to smuggle narcotics into the country from neighboring Syria and Iraq.

The Jordanian Armed Forces intercepted on average 51 drones each month from January to July, nearly two per day, all carrying narcotics destined for Jordanian territory, according to an investigative report by Petra.


Saudi energy delegation visits major oil refineries in Syria

Saudi energy delegation visits major oil refineries in Syria
Updated 24 min 35 sec ago

Saudi energy delegation visits major oil refineries in Syria

Saudi energy delegation visits major oil refineries in Syria
  • Syrian officials briefed their Saudi counterparts about capabilities at the Baniyas and Homs refineries
  • In June, Syria resumed exports from the country's largest refinery

LONDON: A Saudi energy delegation visited the oil refineries in Baniyas and Homs, two cities in the northwest of the Syrian Arab Republic, as part of cooperation between the two countries in the oil sector.

Syrian officials briefed their Saudi counterparts from the Ministry of Energy about the technical and technological capabilities at the Baniyas refinery on the Mediterranean coast and in Homs. They discussed cooperation in the oil industry, the Syrian News Agency reported.

The delegation held a video conference with the Syrian Oil Transport Company in Baniyas to review the company’s operations and plans for improving the transport system and production, the SANA added.

In June, Syria resumed exports from the Baniyas refinery, sending an initial shipment of 30,000 tonnes of non-crude petroleum products to international markets.

Baniyas, 35 km north of Tartus, is Syria’s largest refinery with a specialized oil port. Since the fall of the Assad regime in December, the new administration in Damascus has been in talks with neighboring countries to support its energy sector.

The cooperation between Syria and Ƶ has progressed rapidly since then, especially in the energy and investment sectors, the SANA added.


Baghdad clashes kill six, including four police: ministry

Baghdad clashes kill six, including four police: ministry
Updated 07 September 2025

Baghdad clashes kill six, including four police: ministry

Baghdad clashes kill six, including four police: ministry
  • Clashes between members of two local tribes in Iraq’s capital Baghdad have killed at least six people, including four policemen who intervened in the violence, the interior ministry said on Sunday
  • Iraqi security officials said that the clashes late Saturday erupted over increased fees for a private power generator

BAGHDAD: Clashes between members of two local tribes in Iraq’s capital Baghdad have killed at least six people, including four policemen who intervened in the violence, the interior ministry said on Sunday.
Iraqi security officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that the clashes late Saturday erupted over increased fees for a private power generator.
The vast majority of Iraqis rely on private generators to compensate for daily long power cuts to public electricity.
The violence Saturday in Baghdad’s Saada area resulted in the deaths of four police officers, two of them commanders, after they had intervened to disperse a “tribal dispute,” the interior ministry said, revising an earlier toll.
A security official, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said the toll was updated after two policemen succumbed to their injuries.
Another nine officers were wounded, the ministry said.
It said the force was attacked by “those who started the clashes,” and returned fire that killed two people.
Five of those involved in the clashes were wounded and several arrested, the ministry said.
Tribal feuds are common in Iraq, a war-scarred country awash with weapons, where the pettiest row can turn into deadly tribal clashes.
Tribes wield significant influence and often operate under their own moral and judicial codes, and they possess huge caches of arms.
Iraq has only recently begun to regain a sense of stability after decades of violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted long-time ruler Saddam Hussein.


Drone attack from Yemen injures man at Israeli airport: army, medics

Israel’s Airports Authority said on Sunday that a drone launched from Yemen struck the arrivals hall at Ramon Airport.
Israel’s Airports Authority said on Sunday that a drone launched from Yemen struck the arrivals hall at Ramon Airport.
Updated 19 min 55 sec ago

Drone attack from Yemen injures man at Israeli airport: army, medics

Israel’s Airports Authority said on Sunday that a drone launched from Yemen struck the arrivals hall at Ramon Airport.
  • “Paramedics are providing medical treatment... to a 63-year-old male in mild condition, fully conscious, with shrapnel injuries to his limbs,” statement said

JERUSALEM: A drone launched from Yemen injured a man when it fell on Ramon airport in southern Israel on Sunday, Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said.
“Paramedics are providing medical treatment... to a 63-year-old male in mild condition, fully conscious, with shrapnel injuries to his limbs,” the service said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Israel’s airports authority said the drone “hit the arrivals hall” and that operations at Ramon airport had been halted.
The Israeli military said the drone was the fourth launched from Yemen within minutes of each other on Sunday.
In an earlier statement, it reported intercepting three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) en route from Yemen, two of them before they crossed into Israeli airspace. It did not specify what happened to the third.
It later confirmed that an additional UAV “fell in the Ramon airport area,” adding that no sirens were sounded and the incident was under review.
The attack came after the Iran-backed Houthis vowed to avenge the killing of their prime minister in an Israeli air strike last month.
Following the launches, Hizam Assad, a member of the Houthi political bureau, posted on X, “The real revenge hasn’t even started yet... What awaits you will be much worse.”
Israel assassinated the head of the Iran-backed Houthi government together with 11 other senior officials in air strikes two weeks ago.
Sunday’s attack was the first strike by Houthis on an Israeli strategic target since a ballistic missile from Yemen hit Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport in May.
Since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, the Houthis have declared their support for the Palestinians and have launched regular drone and missile attacks against Israel in solidarity.
In response, Israel has carried out several rounds of retaliatory strikes in Yemen, targeting ports, power stations and the international airport in Sanaa, the Houthi-held capital.
Last week, amid the ongoing escalation, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to inflict the biblical 10 plagues of Egypt on the Houthis


Two killed after bridge collapses in Iraq: rescuers

Two killed after bridge collapses in Iraq: rescuers
Updated 07 September 2025

Two killed after bridge collapses in Iraq: rescuers

Two killed after bridge collapses in Iraq: rescuers
  • Two people were killed and several injured when a section of a bridge under construction collapsed in southern Iraq, local authorities said Sunday.

KARBALA: Two people were killed and several injured when a section of a bridge under construction collapsed in southern Iraq, local authorities said Sunday.
The collapse took place late Saturday, with the rescue operation lasting more than 13 hours.
An AFP photographer reported that rescue workers labored until morning to free those trapped in their vehicles under the twisted wreckage of the bridge on the main Karbala-Baghdad road.
Karbala’s civil defense agency said they had “rescued seven people and recovered two bodies” from under the collapsed structure.
A health official in Karbala told AFP late Saturday that at least six people were injured, some of them from Syria and Afghanistan.
All the injured were transported to the nearest hospital in Karbala, where Shiite pilgrims from other countries often travel to visit holy shrines.
The health official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the “pillars of the bridge collapsed while several vehicles were passing underneath it.”
As Iraq regains a semblance of stability after decades of conflict, many areas, particularly Baghdad, are witnessing a surge in construction and infrastructure projects, including the development of new bridges.
But safety standards in the construction sector are often neglected, and the country has experienced several accidents and fires.
In July, more than 60 people lost their lives when a fire tore through a newly opened shopping mall in the eastern city of Kut.