Bilad al-Sham بلاد الشام
An Israeli security official told AFP on Thursday that the military was conducting a DNA test on a militant's body to confirm whether it was Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar.
A German warship deployed as part of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in Lebanon has shot down a drone off the Lebanese coast, the German army said Thursday.
"An unidentifiable unmanned aerial vehicle was detected in the vicinity" of the "Ludwigshafen am Rhein" corvette and was "brought down in a controlled manner", an army spokesman said. The drone’s explosive load detonated in the process.
The military said it did not know where the drone came from. The military didn’t specify the location of the ship at the time of the incident.
The Ludwigshafen am Rhein is currently participating in the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon. Germany also has soldiers at the mission’s headquarters in Naqoura.
https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/308703-german-unifil-warship-intercepts-drone-off-lebanon
Avichay Adraee, spokesperson for the Israeli army, shared the details on X, claiming: "Both the army and the Shabak are examining the possibility that one of the killed militants is named Yahya Sinwar. At this stage, it cannot be definitively confirmed who the militants are."
The Israeli army has issued a new urgent warning to residents of Harouf in the Nabatieh Governorate region of southern Lebanon, specifically targeting those in a building marked on a shared map and the surrounding structures.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Thursday that the Israeli army is not in full control of "any village" in south Lebanon.
"They thought that by assassinating our leader and committing crimes against our people they would achieve what they want, and some rushed to reap the results, but the resistance has begun a new phase of resisting the aggression," Fadlallah said.
The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah - announced on Thursday that its fighters directly targeted two Israeli Merkava tanks in the al-Labbouneh heights with guided missiles, resulting in their destruction and their crew members killed and wounded.
This raises the number of destroyed Merkavas in the same location to four in a single day. At 12:50 a.m. and 2:00 a.m., two guided missiles launched by Hezbollah struck two other tanks, causing fires and confirmed casualties and injuries among Israeli ranks.
"As a result of fierce fighting that lasted over five hours, several Israeli officers and soldiers were killed or wounded. Hezbollah fighters attempted to retrieve the bodies or wounded personnel, but heavy gunfire prevented them from doing so. Meanwhile, the Israeli army managed to recover the bodies and injured soldiers and transport them into Israeli territory."
Hezbollah fighters have continued to deal heavy blows against Israeli forces infiltrating southern Lebanon, targeting and setting ablaze several Merkava tanks on 17 October.
“The Islamic Resistance fighters targeted, at 09:00 am on Thursday 10-17-2024, two Merkava tanks on the Labbouneh Heights with guided missiles, which led to their burning and the deaths and injuries of their crews,” Hezbollah said on Thursday.
Hezbollah announced hours before, during the early hours of 17 October, that it hit a “second Merkava tank on the Labbouneh heights with a guided missile, burning it and killing and injuring its crew.”
Video footage from early Thursday showed a large blaze in the distance and clouds of smoke from the targeted Merkava.
The Israeli aggression on Lebanon continues expanding and intensifying, particularly targeting the Lebanese South and Bekaa, while the occupation forces commit the most horrific massacres against Lebanese civilians.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in the south reported that the occupation forces detonated a religious shrine in the town of Mhaibib before withdrawing from the area, noting that the town is only 2.3 kilometers from the Lebanese border.
It is worth mentioning that the shrine destroyed was that of Prophet Benjamin, the son of Prophet Jacob, which dates back over 2000 years.
A video has circulated on social media showing the moment the occupation forces detonated explosive-laden buildings in the town, located in the Marjayoun district in southern Lebanon, including the shrine, as part of the systematic destruction of religious and cultural heritage sites.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a French newspaper that Israeli forces had found "state-of-the-art" Russian weapons in searches of Hezbollah bases in south Lebanon.
Netanyahu highlighted to Le Figaro newspaper, in an interview released Wednesday, that under a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution only the Lebanese army was allowed to have weapons south of the country's key Litani river.
"However, in this area, Hezbollah has dug hundreds of tunnels and caches, where we have just found a quantity of state-of-the-art Russian weapons," the French article quoted Netanyahu as saying.
The Washington Post, quoting Israeli officials, has reported that Russian and Chinese anti-tank weapons had been found in Israel's raids inside Lebanon since it escalated its conflict with Hezbollah last month.
The Israeli army did not immediately respond to an AFP question about the prime minister's comments.
https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/308696-netanyahu-says-civil-war-in-lebanon-not-israel-s-aim
According to Hezbollah, the strike resulted in casualties among the tank crews, with some members killed and others wounded.
The mayor of Nabatiyeh Ahmad Kahil was among sixteen people killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes on the municipality of the southern Lebanese city.
"The mayor of Nabatiyeh, among others... was martyred. It's a massacre," Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk told AFP, adding he had been in the municipality building.
Four members of a relief team were killed in the strike on the municipality building.
U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza on Wednesday said the strikes were "devastating".
"This morning a devastating attack claimed the lives of yet more civilians and local authorities working to provide relief," Riza said, adding that he mourns four "members of a relief team with whom the U.N. and humanitarian partners have been working for more than a year".
Israel carried out Wednesday 11 air strikes on Nabatiyeh and surrounding areas in south Lebanon, days after strikes destroyed the southern city's marketplace.
"For now, 11 strikes have mainly hit Nabatiyeh but also its surroundings," Nabatiyeh governor Howaida Turk told AFP, adding that the intense raids "formed a kind of belt of fire" in the area.
https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/308665-16-dead-in-new-toll-for-israel-strikes-on-nabatiyeh
The risk of cholera spreading in Lebanon is "very high", the World Health Organization warned Wednesday, after a case of the acute and potentially deadly diarrheal infection was detected in the conflict-hit country.
The WHO highlighted the risk of cholera spreading among hundreds of thousands of people displaced since Israel escalated an air campaign against Hezbollah and launched a ground offensive intended to push the group back from its northern border with Lebanon.
"If the cholera outbreak … spreads to the new displaced people, it might spread very fast," Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO's representative in Lebanon, told reporters in an online news conference.
Lebanon's health ministry said a cholera case had been confirmed in a Lebanese national who went to hospital on Monday suffering from watery diarrhea and dehydration.
The patient, from Ammouniyeh in northern Lebanon, had no history of travel, the ministry said.
Lebanon suffered its first cholera outbreak in 30 years between 2022 and 2023, mainly in the north of the country.
The disease, which causes severe diarrhea, vomiting and muscle cramps, generally arises from eating or drinking food or water that is contaminated with the bacterium, according to the WHO.
https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/308693-cholera-confirmed-in-lebanon-risk-of-spread-very-high
Hezbollah said Thursday it has destroyed two Israeli tanks near the Lebanese border with "guided missiles", after close combat with Israeli troops staging incursions in the area.
The group targeted two Merkava tanks in Labbouneh near the coastal border town of al-Naqoura, as attacks escalated after Israel intensified bombing of the country last month. The attacks burned the tanks and caused casualties, Hezbollah said.
Hezbollah later targeted a group of soldiers between Kfarkila and Odaisseh.
The group also targeted Thursday Kfar Vradim and Misgav Am in northern Israel.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah fired "a salvo of rockets" at the northern Israeli town of Safed, in "defense of Lebanon and its people." It was the third such attack in 24 hours.
https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/308690-hezbollah-destroys-more-israeli-tanks-near-lebanon-border
Israel's army raided Thursday the towns of Tamnnine, Saraaine and Sefri in the Bekaa region.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee had ordered residents of the Bekaa towns to leave, warning that the area would again be targeted by Israeli forces.
"Urgent warning to the residents of the Bekaa region, specifically those located in the building marked on the map," Adraee said on X. "You are located near facilities and interests that belong to Hezbollah, which will be targeted by the Defense Forces (army) in the near future."
In south Lebanon, Israel bombed several towns including Houla, Zawtar, Arnoun, Aita al-Shaab, Anqoun, al-Rihan, Arab Salim, Kounine, Hanine, Ramia, Kfarkila, Kfarshouba, Shebaa and Siddiqine.
https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/308686-israel-strikes-east-and-south-lebanon
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq continues to support Palestine, Lebanon, and their respective Resistance movements by carrying out significant operations against Israeli strongholds in occupied lands.
On Thursday, and in a first operation, the Iraqi Resistance struck a vital target in Umm al-Rashrash [Eilat] using drones.
The operation came as continuation of their pledge to resist the occupation and in response to the massacres it continues committing against children, women, and the elderly, they indicated.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iraqi-resistance-steadfast--drone-strikes-eilat
Beyaz Saray dün yaptığı açıklamada, ABD'nin Beyrut'ta nüfusun yoğun olduğu bölgelere neredeyse her gün yapılan saldırılara karşı olduğunu ve operasyonlarını sivillerin hayatını tehdit etmeyecek şekilde yürütmesi gerektiğini İsrail'e bildirdiğini duyurdu.
Şarku’l Avsat’ın Reuters'ten aktardığına göre resmi sözcü Karine Jean-Pierre'in açıklamaları, İsrail'in Beyrut'a yönelik saldırıları devam ederken günlük basın toplantısında geldi.
ABD Dışişleri Bakanlığı sözcüsü Matthew Miller ise yaptığı açıklamada, ABD'nin Lübnan'da sivil binaların tahrip edilmesini istemediğini belirterek, Washington'un bugün Lübnan'ın güneyindeki Nabatiye'de belediye başkanlığı binasının tahrip edildiği hava saldırısı nedeniyle İsrail hükümetiyle temas halinde olduğunu kaydetti. Miller düzenlediği basın brifinginde, İsrail'in belirli bir saldırısının arkasındaki niyetleri hakkında konuşamayacağını, ancak Hizbullah'ın bazen sivillere ait evlerin altında faaliyet gösterdiğine dikkat çekti.
Following sirens blaring across northern Israel during the early hours of Thursday morning, Magen David Adom was called out to a case in the lower Galilee.
A woman, while rushing to a shelter, fell and injured her head.
Fighters from the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon engaged in intense confrontations with Israeli occupation forces near the town of al-Qawzah at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Military Media.
Hezbollah fought at close range, using various types of machine guns, resulting in several deaths and injuries among the occupation forces.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in South Lebanon confirmed that Hezbollah had ambushed an Israeli force in al-Qawzah, causing casualties among its soldiers.
At 5:40 pm, Hezbollah also announced that they targeted a gathering of Israeli occupation soldiers between the towns of Odeisseh and Markaba with a rocket salvo.
Simultaneously, the correspondent reported that confrontations continued near the Ayta al-Shaab-Ramyah-al-Qawzah triangle, with Israeli helicopters conducting extensive flights over the area.
At least seven Israeli forces have reportedly been killed during clashes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement on the country’s southern border with the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli media outlets said the fatalities were caused during the clashes that took place near the Lebanese villages of Aita al-Shaab and Ramia on the border on Wednesday.
Scores of other troops were wounded, some 17 of them seriously, during the confrontation that followed an ambush by Hezbollah, the outlets noted amid reported tight censorship being imposed around the incident by the Israeli military.
Earlier, reports indicated that at least 49 wounded troops had been evacuated to hospitals in the occupied territories following the incident.
Some 44 of the wounded were flown to hospitals in the city of Haifa in the northern part of the territories.
Rambam Hospital in the city declared a mass casualty event and called for additional medical staff after eight helicopters landed there bearing the casualties.
According to Hezbollah, the confrontation saw the group’s fighters “engaging in violent clashes with the Israeli forces from zero distance with various types of machineguns.”
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/10/16/735400/Lebanon-Israel-seven-forces-killed-clashes-Hezbollah