MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described Israel’s military offensives in Lebanon as an “invasion” on Wednesday, saying that the international community had to act.
“It is clear that there has been an invasion by a third country of a sovereign state such as Lebanon, and therefore the international community cannot remain indifferent,” the Socialist premier told parliament.
“We denounced (this situation) in Ukraine, we also denounce it in Gaza and now we are also denouncing the invasion of Lebanon,” he added.
Having weakened Hamas, whose unprecedented October 2023 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza, the Israeli military is now focused on Hezbollah, the Lebanese ally of the Palestinian Islamist group.
Israel launched ground incursions into southern Lebanon on September 30 where some 10,000 peacekeepers are deployed under the command of a Spanish general.
It says the aim is to keep Hezbollah away from the border areas where the group is established and stop it firing rockets toward northern Israel, so that some 60,000 of its displaced inhabitants can return to the region.
According to official Lebanese figures, nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023, including more than a thousand since the start of Israeli strikes in the south and east of its territory, as well as in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on September 23.
Sanchez is one of the most outspoken critics among European Union leaders of Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023,
He has angered Israel by saying he had “serious doubts that Israel is complying with international humanitarian law” in Gaza and under his watch Madrid in May recognized a Palestinian state.
Sanchez also expressed his regret at the “lack of agreement within the European Union” on the situation in the Middle East.
“I regret this because I believe that on these issues, we should be consistent not with our position, but consistent with the defense of international law and international humanitarian law,” he said.
Spanish PM calls Israeli strikes in Lebanon an ‘invasion’
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Spanish PM calls Israeli strikes in Lebanon an ‘invasion’
- Pedro Sanchez: ‘It is clear that there has been an invasion by a third country of a sovereign state such as Lebanon, and therefore the international community cannot remain indifferent’
- Sanchez: ‘We denounced (this situation) in Ukraine, we also denounce it in Gaza and now we are also denouncing the invasion of Lebanon’
Pakistan says it struck militant hideouts along Afghan border after surge in deadly attacks
- Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP and outlawed Baloch separatist groups
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said early Sunday it carried out strikes along the border with Afghanistan, targeting hideouts of Pakistani militants it blames for recent attacks inside the country.
Islamabad did not say in precisely which areas the strikes were carried out or provide other details. There was no immediate comment from Kabul, and reports on social media suggested the strikes were carried out inside Afghanistan.
In comments before dawn Sunday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the military conducted what he described as “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and its affiliates. He said an affiliate of the Daesh group was also targeted in the border region.
In October, Pakistan also conducted strikes deep inside Afghanistan to target militant hideouts.
Tarar said Pakistan “has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region,” but added that the safety and security of Pakistani citizens remained a top priority.
The latest development came days after a suicide bomber, backed by gunmen, rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of a security post in Bajaur district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The blast caused part of the compound to collapse, killing 11 soldiers and a child, and authorities later said the attacker was an Afghan national.
Hours before the latest border strikes, another suicide bomber targeted a security convoy in the nearby Bannu district in the northwest, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel. After Saturday’s violence, Pakistan’s military had warned that it would not “exercise any restraint” and that operations against those responsible would continue “irrespective of their location,” language that suggested rising tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.
Tarar said Pakistan had “conclusive evidence” that the recent attacks , including a suicide bombing that targeted a Shiite mosque in Islamabad and killed 31 worshippers earlier this month, were carried out by militants acting on the “behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”
He said Pakistan had repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to take verifiable steps to prevent militant groups from using Afghan territory to launch attacks in Pakistan, but alleged that no substantive action had been taken.
He said Pakistan urges the international community to press Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to uphold their commitments under the Doha agreement not to allow their soil to be used against other countries.
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP and outlawed Baloch separatist groups. The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, who returned to power in 2021. Islamabad accuses the TTP of operating from inside Afghanistan, a charge both the group and Kabul deny.
Relations between the neighboring countries have remained tense since October, when deadly border clashes killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. The violence followed explosions in Kabul that Afghan officials blamed on Pakistan.
A Qatar-mediated ceasefire has largely held, but talks in Istanbul failed to produce a formal agreement, and relations remain strained.
