World urges restraint after Iran strikes Israel

People stand on top of the remains of an Iranian missile in the Negev desert near Arad, on Oct. 2, 2024, in the aftermath of an Iranian missile attack on Israel. (AFP)
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Updated 02 October 2024
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World urges restraint after Iran strikes Israel

  • “The Chinese side calls on the international community … to truly play a constructive role and prevent the situation from further deteriorating,” said a foreign ministry spokesman
  • “This situation is developing by the most worrying scenario,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

PARIS: World leaders called on Iran and Israel to step back from the brink after Tehran fired a barrage of rockets at its arch-rival.
Tehran said Tuesday’s attack — launched as Israel said it was mounting a ground offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon — was in response to the killings of Iran-backed militant leaders.
“The Chinese side calls on the international community, especially major influential powers, to truly play a constructive role and prevent the situation from further deteriorating,” said a foreign ministry spokesman in a statement published online.
“This situation is developing by the most worrying scenario,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
“We call all sides toward restraint ... and we condemn any acts that could lead to the death of the civilian population.”
Hours earlier, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced what she said was the “complete failure” of US President Joe Biden’s approach.
“The White House’s incomprehensible statements demonstrate its complete helplessness in resolving crises,” she posted on Telegram.
Pope Francis called for a day of prayer for peace on October 7, the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Biden ordered the US military to “aid Israel’s defense against Iranian attacks and shoot down missiles that are targeting Israel.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the attack was “totally unacceptable.”
“Initial reports suggest that Israel, with the active support of the United States and other partners, effectively defeated this attack,” Blinken said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the “broadening conflict in the Middle East.”
With Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah broadening alongside its ongoing war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza, Guterres slammed “escalation after escalation” in the region.
“This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire.”
Israel vowed to retaliate in the wake of Iran’s attack.
“This attack will have consequences. We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide,” said Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
On Wednesday, it declared Guterres “persona non grata,” banning the UN chief from entering the country for failing to condemn Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
Hamas said the attack was retaliation for killings including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Hamas “blesses the heroic rocket launches carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran against wide areas of our occupied lands,” adding it was “in revenge for the blood of our heroic martyrs.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the Iranian strikes and called for an end to the “spiral of violence” blighting the Middle East.
Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Madrid was issuing “a new call to all the actors, obviously including Israel, to show restraint and not escalation.”
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Iran’s attacks against Israel “in the strongest possible terms,” adding that France had “mobilized” its military resources in the Middle East to counter Tehran.
Macron also demanded that “Hezbollah cease its terrorist actions against Israel and its population,” while asking Israel to “put an end to their military operations as soon as possible.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned Iran’s attack “in the strongest terms.”
During a call with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, Starmer also “expressed the UK’s steadfast commitment to Israeli security and the protection of civilians.”
Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said missile attacks by Iran on Israel were “unacceptable.”
“We will condemn this strongly. But at the same time, we would like to cooperate (with the United States) to defuse the situation and prevent it from escalating into a full-on war,” he said.


Trump says Israel should ‘hit’ Iran’s nuclear facilities

Updated 13 sec ago
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Trump says Israel should ‘hit’ Iran’s nuclear facilities

  • “When they asked him that question, the answer should have been, hit the nuclear first, and worry about the rest later,” Trump said

WASHINGTON: Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump said Friday he believes Israel should strike Iran’s nuclear facilities in response to the Islamic republic’s recent missile barrage.
The former president, speaking at a campaign event in North Carolina, referred to a question posed to Democratic President Joe Biden this week about the possibility of Israel targeting Iran’s nuclear program.
“When they asked him that question, the answer should have been, hit the nuclear first, and worry about the rest later,” Trump said.
 

 


American killed in Lebanon was a US citizen, State Dept says

Kamel Ahmad Jawad. (Courtesy Jawad Family)
Updated 05 October 2024
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American killed in Lebanon was a US citizen, State Dept says

  • State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller earlier this week said it was Washington’s understanding that Jawad was a legal permanent resident, not an American citizen. On Friday, the department said that he was a US citizen

WASHINGTON: An American killed in Lebanon this week was a US citizen, a State Department spokesperson said on Friday, adding that Washington was working to understand the circumstances of the incident.
Kamel Ahmad Jawad, from Dearborn, Michigan, was killed in Lebanon in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday, according to his daughter, a friend and the US congresswoman representing his district.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller earlier this week said it was Washington’s understanding that Jawad was a legal permanent resident, not an American citizen. On Friday, the department said that he was a US citizen.
“We are aware and alarmed of reports of the death of Kamel Jawad, who we have confirmed is a US citizen,” the spokesperson said.
“As we have noted repeatedly, it is a moral and strategic imperative that Israel take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Any loss of civilian life is a tragedy.”
Israel says it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, who have been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began a year ago.
Its recent military campaign in Lebanon has killed hundreds and wounded thousands, according to the Lebanese government, which has not said how many of the casualties were civilians versus Hezbollah members. The Israeli bombardment has also driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes.
The governor of Michigan has urged the US government to do more to rescue Americans stuck in Lebanon, many of them from Michigan, during Israel’s military offensive in the country.

 


Tunisians protest against President Saied two days before presidential vote

Updated 05 October 2024
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Tunisians protest against President Saied two days before presidential vote

  • The opposition’s anger flared after presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel was handed down three prison sentences totalling 14 years

TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisians marched in the capital on Friday, escalating protests against President Kais Saied, two days before what they say is an unfair presidential vote in which Saied has removed most other candidates to remain in power.
Protesters, who held up banners reading “Farce elections” and “Freedoms, not a lifelong presidency,” marched to Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the main thoroughfare in Tunis and a focus point in 2011 protests that toppled former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Political tensions in the North African country have risen since an electoral commission named by Saied disqualified three other prominent candidates, and an independent court has been stripped of authority to adjudicate on election disputes by the parliament.
The opposition’s anger flared after presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel was handed down three prison sentences totalling 14 years.
He has been in jail since he was arrested a month ago on charges of forging electoral documents.
Saied now faces just two rival candidates, Zammel and Zouhair Maghzaoui, who was a former Saied ally and then turned critic.
Protesters chanted slogans against Saied: “The people want the fall of the regime” and Dictator Saied ... your turn has come.”
“Tunisians are not accustomed to such an election. In 2011, 2014 and 2019 they expressed their opinions freely, but this election does not allow them the right to choose their destiny,” said Zied Ghanney, an opposition figure.

 


Hamas counters abduction claim, says Yazidi woman’s Gaza departure was voluntary

Updated 05 October 2024
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Hamas counters abduction claim, says Yazidi woman’s Gaza departure was voluntary

  • “The Yazidi woman left the government facility to the crossing on her own, with the knowledge of her deceased husband’s family and the Palestinian government
  • A US defense official said on Thursday the American military did not have a role in the evacuation

CAIRO: The Islamist group Hamas rejected what it called “a false narrative and fabricated story” about a Yazidi woman Israel said was freed in Gaza in a secret operation involving Israel, the United States and Iraq.
The woman, whom Israeli officials have said was taken captive when she was 11 years old and sold to a Hamas member, had never been abducted or sold, and was able to leave Gaza with the knowledge of the Hamas authorities, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Friday.
It said the 25-year old woman, identified as Fawzia Sido, was married to a Palestinian who fought alongside the Syrian opposition forces before he was killed. She later moved to live with his mother in Turkiye before traveling to Egypt, where she continued to live with her mother-in-law and later crossed into Gaza legally.
Years after she moved to live in Gaza, she married her husband’s brother before he was killed during the ongoing Israeli military offensive, Hamas said.
“She requested to contact her family because she felt increasingly unsafe in Gaza amid the intense bombing and brutal attacks by the Israeli occupation. She asked for evacuation, especially after her husband was martyred,” the Gaza government media office said.
“The Yazidi woman left the government facility to the crossing on her own, with the knowledge of her deceased husband’s family and the Palestinian government. The occupation did not ‘rescue’ her, as falsely claimed in its statement aimed at misleading public opinion,” it added.
Reuters could not reach the woman directly for comment on Thursday, with Iraqi officials saying she was resting after having been reunited with her family in northern Iraq.
On Thursday, the Israeli military said it had coordinated with the US Embassy in Jerusalem and “other international actors” in the operation to free Sido.
It said in a statement her captor had been killed during the Gaza war, presumably by an Israeli strike, and she then fled to a hideout inside the Gaza Strip.
“In a complex operation coordinated between Israel, the United States, and other international actors, she was recently rescued in a secret mission from the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom Crossing,” it said.
A US defense official said on Thursday the American military did not have a role in the evacuation.
She was freed after more than four months of efforts that involved several attempts that failed due to the difficult security situation resulting from Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, Silwan Sinjaree, chief of staff of Iraq’s foreign minister, told Reuters on Thursday.
Iraq and Israel do not have any diplomatic ties.
“The narrative the occupation attempted to promote is entirely false. The woman traveled to Gaza through multiple airports and official border crossings,” the Hamas statement said.
“How could she pass through all these checkpoints without security noticing, only for the occupation to later claim she was kidnapped?” it added.

 


Egypt’s plan to save some dough: cut the wheat in bread

Updated 05 October 2024
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Egypt’s plan to save some dough: cut the wheat in bread

  • But bakers, millers and consumers fear the product will smell and taste different

RIYADH: Egypt plans to save millions of dollars in import costs by replacing a fifth of the wheatflour in the nation’s bread with cheaper ingredients such as corn or sorghum, industry sources said on Friday.
But bakers and millers reacted with anger when the plan was put to them by the Supply Ministry, and consumers fear their bread will taste different. “The change could be unpopular, producing bread with a different texture and smell,” said Hesham Soliman, a trader in Cairo.

Bakeries oppose the plan because coarser flour requires lengthier baking and would increase labor costs. Mills are also opposed because they are paid based on how much wheat they process, which would be reduced.

Egypt has tried wheat substitution to reduce imports before. Corn was used for several years two decades ago before campaigning by industry groups pushed the government to abandon it.

In another money-saving move, the government raised the price of subsidised bread this year for the first time in decades.

Egypt needs about 8.25 million tonnes of wheat a year to make subsidised bread available to more than 70 million people. It is one of the world’s largest wheat importers, mostly from Russia, at a cost of more than $2 billion a year.