Page 139 - Latest Updates on West Asia Conflict

Iranian charged by FBI, tasked to target Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka: US

An Iranian national charged by the FBI for plotting assassination on president-elect Donald Trump was tasked by the Iranians to target Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka, the Department of Justice has alleged. Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran was charged Friday in a criminal complaint in connection with their alleged involvement in a plot to murder a Trump. Shakeri is an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) asset, remains at large and is believed to reside in Tehran, Iran. "He was also tasked with targeting Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka, the Department of Justice said. According to documents filed in a federal court, Shakeri was asked by IRGC to target Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka and to plan a mass shooting event in October 2024. On or about October 23, 2024, the governments of the United States and Israel publicly warned travellers about threats of an attack targeting tourist locations in the Arugam Bay area, and, on or about the following day, Sri Lankan authorities reported having ..

US elections: What Trump's win means for Israel-Hamas, Russia-Ukraine wars?

Donald Trump's return to the presidency introduces a shift in US foreign policy, favouring Israel's military objectives and proposing negotiation-focused approaches to the Ukraine conflict

Israel PM Netanyahu dismisses defence minister as wars rage, protests erupt

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region. The move sparked protests across the country. Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival before taking the step as the world's attention was focused on the US presidential election. Netanyahu cited significant gaps and a crisis of trust between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement. In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister, Netanyahu said. Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister. In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to

Red Cross launches international emergency appeal urging aid for Lebanon

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on Tuesday launched an international emergency appeal asking donors to provide resources for Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah war. IFRC also called on all parties to protect paramedics in the conflict that has left thousands of people dead and wounded, many of them over the past six weeks. Jagan Chapagain, the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told The Associated Press in Beirut that needs are just growing so fast. He met with officials and toured shelters housing people displaced by the conflict. The IFRC said its emergency appeal for 100 million Swiss Francs (USD 115.8 million) is aimed at helping Lebanon and the Lebanese Red Cross through the ongoing conflict. The 13-month war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 3,000 people, wounded over 13,000 in Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of the displaced are staying in shelters around the small ..

Israeli strike kills 20 in north Gaza, where Palestinians are without food

An Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza killed at least 20 people, mostly women and children, Palestinian officials said Tuesday, as Palestinians fled Israel's assault. Some said they had hardly eaten, with aid cut off for weeks to the most isolated and heavily destroyed part of the territory. Israel has been waging an offensive in Gaza's northernmost end for weeks, saying it is targeting Hamas militants who regrouped in the area. The UN has said Israel hasn't allowed food and other supplies into the area north of Gaza City since the assault began, even as tens of thousands of people remain there. That has drawn rebukes from the Biden administration, which has warned that US laws might force it to curb military aid to Israel if more aid is not allowed in. The strike late Monday hit a home where several displaced families were sheltering in the town of Beit Lahiya, near the border with Israel, according to Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of the recently raided and barely functioning ..

Israel strikes Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Syria, says IDF

Earlier, Israeli forces had entered Syria to arrest a terror operative who was working with Iranian agents, the IDF disclosed on Sunday evening

Palestinians claim Israel struck Gaza clinic amid polio drive; Army denies

Palestinian officials say an Israeli drone strike on a clinic in northern Gaza where children were being vaccinated for polio wounded six people, including four children. The Israeli military denied responsibility. The alleged strike occurred Saturday in northern Gaza, which has been encircled by Israeli forces and largely isolated for the past year. Israel has been carrying out another offensive there in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands. It was not possible to resolve the conflicting accounts. Israeli forces have repeatedly raided hospitals in Gaza over the course of the war, saying Hamas uses them for militant purposes, allegations denied by Palestinian health officials. Dr. Munir al-Boursh, director general of the Gaza Health Ministry, told The Associated Press that a quadcopter struck the Sheikh Radwan clinic in Gaza City early Saturday afternoon, just a few minutes after a United Nations delegation left the facility. The World He

Iranian-American held in Iran amid high tensions in Middle East, says US

An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a US government-funded broadcaster is believed to be detained by Iran for months now, authorities said Sunday, further raising the stakes as Tehran threatens to retaliate over an Israeli attack on the country. The imprisonment of Reza Valizadeh, acknowledged to The Associated Press by the US State Department, came as Iran marked the 45th anniversary of the American Embassy takeover and hostage crisis on Sunday. It also followed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening both Israel and the US the day before with "a crushing response as long-range B-52 bombers reached the Middle East in an attempt to deter Tehran. Valizadeh had worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that's overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In February, he wrote on the social platform X that his family members had been detained in an effort to see him return to Iran. In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two

Khamenei pledges 'crushing response' to US, Israel for actions against Iran

Sharing a post on X, Iran's supreme leader wrote, 'United States of America and the Zionist regime will definitely get a crushing response for what they do against #Iran and the #Resistance Front'

Israel kills Hezbollah's top commander, captures official in separate ops

Sharing a post on X, the IDF wrote, 'Commander of the Hezbollah Nasser Unit's Missiles and Rockets Array, Jaafar Khader Faour, was eliminated in the area of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon'

Israeli forces capture senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon

An Israeli military official said Saturday that Israeli naval forces captured a senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon. The operation took place in the northern Lebanese town of Batroun, the official said without providing the name of the person they detained. Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said it was investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese sea captain who was taken away by a group of armed men who had landed on the coast of Batroun on Friday. The operative has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated, the official said.

Lebanese ship captain snatched by armed men, officials probe link to Israel

A Lebanese ship captain was taken away by a group of armed men who landed on a coast north of Beirut, authorities said Saturday, adding they were investigating whether Israel was involved. Two Lebanese military officials confirmed to the Associated Press that a naval force landed in Batroun, about 30 kilometres north of Beirut, and abducted a Lebanese citizen. Neither gave the man's identity or said whether he was thought to have links to Lebanon's Hezbollah group. They did not confirm whether the armed men were an Israeli force. Speaking to Lebanon's Al-Jadeed TV, Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamie declined to go into details or answer questions about whether it was thought to be an Israeli operation. Three Lebanese judicial officials told AP the incident occurred at dawn Friday, adding that the captain might have links with Hezbollah. The officials said an investigation is looking into the man is linked to Hezbollah or working for an Israeli spy agency and an Israeli

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Iran's supreme leader threatens Israel and US with 'crushing response'

Iran's supreme leader on Saturday threatened both Israel and the US with a crushing response over attacks on Iran and its allies. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke as Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to launch yet another strike against Israel after its Oct. 26 on the Islamic Republic that targeted military bases and other locations and killed at least five people. Any further attacks from either side could engulf the wider Middle East, already teetering over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel's ground invasion of Lebanon, into a wider regional conflict just head of the US presidential election this Tuesday. The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front," Khamenei said in video released by Iranian state media. The supreme leader did not elaborate on the timing of the attack, nor the scope. The 85-year-old .

Israel's path of destruction in Lebanon raises fears of buffer zone

Perched on a hilltop a short walk from the Israeli border, the tiny southern Lebanese village of Ramyah has almost been wiped off the map. In a neighbouring village, satellite photos show a similar scene: a hill once covered with houses, now reduced to a gray smear of rubble. Israeli warplanes and ground forces have blasted a trail of destruction through southern Lebanon the past month. The aim, Israel says, is to debilitate the Hezbollah militant group, push it away from the border and end more than a year of Hezbollah fire into northern Israel. Even United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanese troops in the south have come under fire from Israeli forces, raising questions over whether they can remain in place. More than 1 million people have fled bombardment, emptying much of the south. Some experts say Israel may be aiming to create a depopulated buffer zone, a strategy it has already deployed along its border with Gaza. Some conditions for such a zone appear already in place, ...

Israel pummels Gaza, Lebanon, killing dozens in latest waves of airstrikes

Israel launched waves of deadly airstrikes across Lebanon and Gaza that killed at least 24 people in Lebanon's northeast on Friday, according to the state-run National News Agency, and transformed once-bustling neighbourhood blocks in Beirut into smoldering ruins. Meanwhile in central Gaza, Palestinians recovered the bodies of 25 people killed in a barrage of Israeli attacks that began Thursday, hospital officials said. Israel said it targeted Hamas infrastructure near the Nuseirat refugee camp. The latest violence comes against the backdrop of the Biden administration's renewed diplomatic push days before the US election to reach temporary cease-fire deals. Israel has stepped up its war against Hamas' remaining fighters in Gaza, pulverizing areas in the north and raising fears of worsening humanitarian conditions for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians still there. Israel has broadened its strikes in Lebanon to bigger urban hubs in recent weeks after initially targeted smalle

Oil climbs more than 2% on reports of Iran preparing strike on Israel

Israeli intelligence suggested that Iran is preparing to attack Israel with a large number of drones and ballistic missiles

US defence secy discusses regional de-escalation with Israeli counterpart

Their conversation highlighted the US' support for Israel's security, particularly in the face of threats from Iran and Iranian proxies

Rocket fire from Lebanon kills 7 in Israel amid US push for ceasefires

Rocket barrages from Lebanon into northern Israel killed four foreign workers and three Israelis on Thursday, Israeli medics said, the deadliest cross-border strikes in Israel since it invaded Lebanon. Israel kept up airstrikes it says targeted Hezbollah militants across Lebanon, where health authorities on Thursday reported 24 people killed. U.S. diplomats were in the region pushing for cease-fires in both Lebanon and Gaza, hoping to wind down the wars in the Middle East as the Biden administration enters its final months. Pressure has been building ahead of the U.S. election next week. In northern Gaza, Israeli forces struck one of the last functioning hospitals, according to the World Heath Organization said, destroying much-needed supplies that the U.N. agency had delivered to the facility. The strikes set off a fire that affected the dialysis unit, destroyed water tanks, damaged the surgery building and injured four medics trying to extinguish the blaze, said the hospital's ...

Israeli military raid in West Bank kills 3 as tensions escalate: Officials

Palestinian officials said Thursday that an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank killed at least three people. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike and third by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military said its forces were targeting militants in the area of the Nur Shams refugee camp, which has seen repeated battles in recent months. The military said it eliminated a Hamas militant in the area who was involved in planning attacks on Israelis. Meanwhile, mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict. Hezbollah's newly named leader, Naim Kassem, said the militant group will keep fighting in its war with Israel until it is offered cease-fire terms it deems acceptable. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Lebanon, according to government estimates. Lebanon's Heath Ministry said more than 2,800 .