ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT: Pope Francis, asked on Sunday about Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as well as non-combatants, criticized military attacks that he said go “beyond morality.”
On the flight back to Rome from Belgium, the pontiff said countries cannot go “over the top” in using their military forces. “Even in war there is a morality to safeguard,” he said. “War is immoral. But the rules of war give it some morality.”
Responding to a question during an in-flight press conference about Israel’s latest strikes, the 87-year-old pope said: “Defense must always be proportionate to the attack. When there is something disproportionate, you see a tendency to dominate that goes beyond morality.”
Francis, as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, often makes calls for an end to violent conflicts, but is usually cautious about appearing to determine the aggressors. He has spoken more openly in recent weeks about Israel’s military actions in its nearly year-long war against Hamas.
Last week, the pope said Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon were “unacceptable” and urged the international community to do everything possible to halt the fighting. In a Sept. 28 press conference, he decried the deaths of Palestinian children in Israeli strikes in Gaza.
Francis said on Sunday he speaks on the phone with members of a Catholic parish in Gaza “every day.” He said the parishioners tell him about conditions on the ground, and “also the cruelty that is happening there.”
Pope Francis, asked about Israeli strikes, slams attacks that go ‘beyond morality’
https://arab.news/zscbt
Pope Francis, asked about Israeli strikes, slams attacks that go ‘beyond morality’
- Pontiff said countries cannot go “over the top” in using their military forces
- “War is immoral. But the rules of war give it some morality,” he said
UN-sanctioned migrant smuggler killed in western Libya
- Libyan authorities report that a notorious militia leader, Ahmed Oumar Al-Fitouri Al-Dabbashi, was killed in a raid by security forces on Friday
- In 2018, the UN and US sanctioned him for controlling migrant departure areas and exposing migrants to fatal conditions
CAIRO: A notorious militia leader in Libya, sanctioned by the UN for migrant trafficking across the Mediterranean Sea, was killed on Friday in a raid by security forces in the west of the country, according to Libyan authorities.
Ahmed Oumar Al-Fitouri Al-Dabbashi, nicknamed Ammu, was killed in the western city of Sabratha when security forces raided his hideout. The raid came in response to an attack on a security outpost by Al-Dabbashi’s militia, which left six members of the security forces severely wounded, according to a statement issued by the Security Threat Enforcement Agency, a security entity affiliated with Libya’s western government.
Al-Dabbashi, who was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for trafficking, was the leader of a powerful militia, the “Brigade of the Martyr Anas Al-Dabbashi,” in Sabratha, the biggest launching point in Libya for Europe-bound African migrants.
Al-Dabbashi’s brother Saleh Al-Dabbashi, another alleged trafficker, was arrested in the same raid, added the statement.
In June 2018, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Al-Dabbashi, along with another five Libyan traffickers. At the time, the UN report said that there was enough evidence that Al-Dabbashi’s militia controlled departure areas for migrants, camps, safe houses and boats.
Al-Dabbashi himself exposed migrants, including children, to “fatal circumstances” on land and at sea, and of threatening peace and stability in Libya and neighboring countries, according to the same report.
Al-Dabbashi was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for the same reason.
Libya has been a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The country was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The country has been fragmented for years between rival administrations based in the east and the west of Libya, each backed by various armed militias and foreign governments.
