Israel strikes Lebanon after Hezbollah hits Shebaa Farms

Israel fired barrages of artillery into southern Lebanon on Sunday after Hezbollah targeted three Israeli military positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms. (AFP)
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Updated 09 October 2023
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Israel strikes Lebanon after Hezbollah hits Shebaa Farms

  • Israeli military: Artillery into an area of Lebanon where cross-border mortar fire was launched
  • Hezbollah earlier fired guided rockets and artillery onto three Israeli posts in disputed Shebaa Farms

Israel fired barrages of artillery into southern Lebanon on Sunday after Hezbollah targeted three Israeli military positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
On Saturday, the most serious attack in years by Palestinian gunmen on Israeli towns left at least 250 Israelis dead, with another 230 Gazans killed in Israel’s retaliatory bombardment.
Hezbollah, a powerful armed party backed by Iran, said it had launched guided rockets and artillery onto three posts in the Shebaa Farms “in solidarity” with the Palestinian people.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it fired artillery into an area of Lebanon where cross-border mortar fire was launched. “IDF (Israel Defense Forces) artillery is currently striking the area in Lebanon from where a shooting was carried out,” it said.

Israel’s military said one of its drones struck a Hezbollah post in the area of Har Dov, an area in Shebaa.
“At this point, there is no further threat in Har Dov or the northern arena,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in televised remarks, adding that the military remained on high alert.
Israel has held the Shebaa Farms, a 15-square-mile (39-square-km) patch of land, since 1967. Both Syria and Lebanon claim the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, said it had “detected several rockets fired from southeast Lebanon toward Israeli-occupied territory” as well as artillery fire from Israel into Lebanon in response.
“We are in contact with authorities on both sides of the Blue Line, at all levels, to contain the situation and avoid a more serious escalation,” spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said.
The Blue Line is the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, marking where Israeli forces withdrew when they left south Lebanon in 2000.
On Saturday, UNIFIL said it had enhanced its presence in southern Lebanon following developments in Israel and Gaza, including its operations to counter rocket launches.
The UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka said on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that she was “deeply concerned” by the exchange of fire and urged parties to “shield Lebanon and its people from further conflagration.”
Hezbollah, which effectively controls southern Lebanon, said on Saturday it was in “direct contact” with leaders of Palestinian “resistance” groups and that it saw Palestinian attacks on Israel as a “decisive response to Israel’s continued occupation and a message to those seeking normalization with Israel.”


Trial opens in Tunisia of NGO workers accused of aiding migrants

Updated 15 December 2025
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Trial opens in Tunisia of NGO workers accused of aiding migrants

  • Aid workers accused of assisting irregular migration to Tunisia went on trial on Monday, as Amnesty International criticized what it called “the relentless criminalization of civil society”

TUNIS: Aid workers accused of assisting irregular migration to Tunisia went on trial on Monday, as Amnesty International criticized what it called “the relentless criminalization of civil society” in the country.
Six staff members of the Tunisian branch of the France Terre d’Asile aid group, along with 17 municipal workers from the eastern city of Sousse, face charges of sheltering migrants and facilitating their “illegal entry and residence.”
If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison.
Migration is a sensitive issue in Tunisia, a key transit point for tens of thousands of people seeking to reach Europe each year.
A former head of Terre d’Asile Tunisie, Sherifa Riahi, is among the accused and has been detained for more than 19 months, according to her lawyer Abdellah Ben Meftah.
He told AFP that the accused had carried out their work as part of a project approved by the state and in “direct coordination” with the government.
Amnesty denounced what it described as a “bogus criminal trial” and called on Tunisian authorities to drop the charges.
“They are being prosecuted simply for their legitimate work providing vital assistance and protection to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in precarious situations,” Sara Hashash, Amnesty’s deputy MENA chief, said in the statement.
The defendants were arrested in May 2024 along with about a dozen humanitarian workers, including anti-racism pioneer Saadia Mosbah, whose trial is set to start later this month.
In February 2023, President Kais Saied said “hordes of illegal migrants,” many from sub-Saharan Africa, posed a demographic threat to the Arab-majority country.
His speech triggered a series of racially motivated attacks as thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia were pushed out of their homes and jobs.
Thousands were repatriated or attempted to cross the Mediterranean, while others were expelled to the desert borders with Algeria and Libya, where at least a hundred died that summer.
This came as the European Union boosted efforts to curb arrivals on its southern shores, including a 255-million-euro ($290-million) deal with Tunis.