Israel on Wednesday declared UN chief Antonio Guterres “persona non grata.” (AFP)
JERUSALEM — Israel declared UN chief Antonio Guterres “persona non grata” on Wednesday, accusing him of failing to specifically condemn Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” said Foreign Minister Israel Katz in a statement.
“This is an anti-Israel Secretary-General who lends support to terrorists, rapists, and murderers,” he said.
Katz added that Guterres, who he said supported the “murderers of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and now Iran, the mothership of global terror, will be remembered as a stain on the history of the UN for generations to come.”
Following Iran’s missile attack on Israel late Tuesday, Guterres condemned the “broadening conflict in the Middle East,” slamming “escalation after escalation” in the region.
“This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire,” said Guterres.
Israel has been a harsh critic of the UN, with ties between the state and the international body souring even more after the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Guterres has repeatedly called for a ceasefire to halt the fighting in both Gaza and Lebanon.
Despite standing at only 311 meters, Taal can be deadly and an eruption in 1911 killed more than 1,300 people.
MANILA — The Philippines’ Taal Volcano near the capital region has erupted, spewing a plume of steam that was more than two kilometers high, the seismology agency said on Wednesday.
Taal, located about 70km south of central Manila, is one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes and some of its previous eruptions have impacted the capital and air travel.
The agency’s chief Teresito Bacolcol described the eruption as phreatomagmatic, where magma interacts with water and produces a plume of steam.
The volcano sits inside a large lake near the town of Tagaytay in Cavite province.
“This phreatomagmatic eruption was limited at the volcano island. We’re looking whether there’s ashfall in the eastern side, but there’s no evacuation yet,” Bacolcol said by phone.
Bacolcol said the alert level remained at the lowest on the scale and there were no immediate reports of injuries.
Despite standing at only 311 meters, it can be deadly and an eruption in 1911 killed more than 1,300 people.
In January 2021, thousands of people were evacuated after it spewed a one-kilometer high plume of gas and steam.
A year earlier, the Taal volcano shot a column of ash and steam as high as 15km into the sky, forcing more than 100,000 people to abandon their homes and triggered widespread disruption in the capital.
STOCKHOLM — Swedish police said Wednesday that a shooting had occurred at the Israeli embassy Stockholm the day before, adding that no-one was hurt and that an investigation had been opened.
Police said they were alerted that “a bang” had been heard on a street near the embassy in central Stockholm just before 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Tuesday.
“We’ve made finds that indicate a shooting at Israel’s embassy, but we don’t want to disclose exactly what finds have been made since there is an ongoing investigation,” Rebecca Landberg, press officer at Stockholm police, told AFP.
The statement came as police in neighboring Denmark said they were investigating two blasts that went off overnight in the “immediate proximity” to the Israeli embassy, also without injuring anyone.
Swedish police said in a statement that information indicated the embassy building had been hit by shots.
Landberg added that no-one was injured and that an investigation has been opened into an aggravated weapons offense, endangerment of others and unlawful threats.
Police had made no arrests, but Landberg said that the area was under heavy surveillance by cameras and police were actively gathering and analizing material.
The shooting came as tensions in the Middle East are spiralling, with Iran firing a barrage of missiles at Israeli territory and Israel vowing to make Iran “pay” for the attack.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden have been reported.
In February, police found a grenade on the grounds of the Israeli embassy compound, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack.
In mid-May, gunshots were fired outside the Israeli embassy, which prompted the country to boost security measures around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions.
The Scandinavian country’s intelligence agency Sapo said in late May that Iran was recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden — a claim Iran denied.
The Nordic country has also reported an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes since the war in Gaza started.
In early June, police said they had found a “suspected explosive object” outside the offices of Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems, known for its unmanned aerial systems, in Sweden’s second-largest city Gothenburg.
MOSCOW —The Kremlin on Wednesday said the situation in the Middle East was developing in an alarming direction and called on all sides to exercise restraint.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia had contacts with all sides in the region and said Moscow condemned any action that caused the death of civilians.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday that regular infantry and armored units were joining ground operations in southern Lebanon, stepping up pressure on Hezbollah, as Israel prepared to retaliate against a barrage of Iranian missile strikes.
“This situation is developing according to the most alarming scenario,” Peskov said.
“We call for restraint by all sides against the backdrop of what is happening. And of course, we condemn any actions which lead to the deaths of civilians.”
Asked what Moscow would do next and whether it would support Iran in the event of Tehran entering a full-scale conflict with Israel, Peskov said: “We have contacts with all sides in this conflict, we continue to have these contacts and call on all sides for restraint.”
Unit artileri bergerak Israel melepaskan tembakan dari utara Israel ke arah Lubnan. (Fail/AP)
BEIRUT — Hizbullah berkata pada Rabu ia bertempur dengan askar Israel yang cuba menyusup masuk ke Lubnan, dan turut menyasarkan tentera Israel merentasi sempadan, menurut kenyataan daripada kumpulan Lubnan yang disokong Iran itu.
Pejuang Hizbullah menghadapi “pasukan infantri musuh Israel yang cuba menyusup masuk ke perkampungan Adaysseh… dan bertempur dengan mereka,” kata satu kenyataan, sambil menambah secara berasingan bahawa pejuang Hizbullah juga menyasarkan tentera Israel di tiga titik berbeza di seberang sempadan dengan roket dan artileri.
Smoke rises over Beirut’s southern suburbs after a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, October 2, 2024. REUTERS
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT — The Israeli military said on Wednesday that regular infantry and armoured units were joining ground operations in southern Lebanon, stepping up pressure on Hezbollah, as Israel prepared to retaliate against a barrage of Iranian missile strikes.
Already battling Hamas in Gaza, Israel is beefing up its presence in south Lebanon in its conflict with Hezbollah a day after it was attacked by Iran, raising fears the oil-producing Middle East could be engulfed in a wider conflict.
The addition of infantry and armoured troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade, suggests that the operation has moved beyond limited commando raids.
The military has said the ground operation is largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no plans for a wider operation targeting Beirut or major cities in southern Lebanon.
Iran said on Wednesday its missile attack on Israel, its biggest military assault on the country, was over, barring further provocation, while Israel and the United States promised to hit back.
Israel will launch a “significant retaliation” within days that could target oil production facilities inside Iran and other strategic sites, U.S. news website Axios reported on Wednesday citing Israeli officials.
Despite calls for a ceasefire from the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, fighting between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah continued on Wednesday.
Israel renewed its bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed group, with at least a dozen airstrikes against what it said were targets belonging to the group.
NEW EVACUATION ORDERS
Large plumes of smoke were seen rising from parts of the suburbs. Israel issued new evacuation orders for the area, which has largely emptied after days of heavy strikes.
Nearly 1,900 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, with the most in the past two weeks, Lebanese government statistics showed on Tuesday.
Hezbollah said it confronted Israeli forces infiltrating the Lebanese town of Adaisseh early on Wednesday and forced them to retreat.
Iran’s missile strikes and Israel’s operations in Lebanon have caused alarm around the world, as Tehran’s Middle East proxies — Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and armed groups in Iraq — launched attacks in support of Hamas.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Iran and Hezbollah to immediately end their attacks on Israel and warned that Iran risks inflaming the entire region.
Japan said it is deeply concerned by the situation. Iran said Tuesday’s assault on Israel was solely aimed at military facilities and was a response to Israeli killings of militant leaders including Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and aggression in Lebanon against the group and in Gaza. Iran’s state news agency said three Israeli military bases had been targeted.
“Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X early on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to strike back, saying Iran will pay a heavy price.
Washington said it would work with longtime ally Israel to ensure Iran faced “severe consequences” for Tuesday’s attack, which Israel said involved more than 180 ballistic missiles.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke to Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant late on Tuesday and said Washington was “well-postured” to defend its interests in the Middle East, the Pentagon said in a statement.
The Pentagon said Tuesday’s airstrikes by Iran were about twice the size of April’s assault by Iran on Israel.
‘THE RESPONSE WILL BE PAINFUL’
Israel activated air defences against Iran’s bombardment on Tuesday and most missiles were intercepted “by Israel and a defensive coalition led by the United States,” Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video on X.
“Iran’s attack is a severe and dangerous escalation,” he added.
In a statement on state media, the general staff of Iran’s armed forces said any Israeli response would be met with “vast destruction” of the latter’s infrastructure.
It also said it would target the regional assets of any Israeli ally that got involved.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met with his national security and economic advisers on Wednesday over the Middle East conflict and called for a swift but measured response to any impact on the country’s energy supply, his office said.
Other attendees at the pro-Palestine protests, which took place in Sydney and Melbourne last week, also waved Hamas flags or placards with slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. (AFP)
SYDNEY — Australian police on Wednesday charged a 19-year-old woman after an investigation into Hezbollah flags flown at a Sydney demonstration.
“She was arrested and charged with cause public display of prohibited terrorists organization symbol,” said New South Wales Police.
Other attendees at the pro-Palestine protests, which took place in Sydney and Melbourne last week, also waved Hamas flags or placards with slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The protest has divided politicians, police and community leaders on what constitutes free speech or illegal activity.
Authorities remain on high alert ahead of two planned protests this week that will mark the one year anniversary since the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel that triggered the Gaza conflict.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday the two protests — set for October 6 and 7 — should not go ahead and that any demonstration would be seen “as incredibly provocative.”
“It would not advance any cause. It would cause a great deal of distress,” he told national broadcaster ABC.
Albanese added he would attend a vigil instead.
Police have indicated they would seek to stop the demonstrations from going ahead.
New South Wales Police said Tuesday despite discussions with organizers, they were “not satisfied that the protest can proceed safely” and had decided to apply to the NSW Supreme court to prohibit them.
The matter will be heard in court later this week.
Protest organizers, the Palestine Action Group Sydney, said the police action was “an attack on fundamental democratic rights.”
“We intend on defending our right to protest and are determined to continue standing for justice for Palestine and Lebanon,” the group said in a statement.
NEW DELHI — A private helicopter crashed in western India on Wednesday, killing three people on board, a fire official said.
The chopper burst into flames in hilly terrain after crashing on the outskirts of Pune city, southeast of financial hub Mumbai, at around 6:45 am (0115 GMT).
Two pilots and an engineer died in the crash, chief fire officer Devendra Potphode told reporters.
“When we reached the spot, we saw that the chopper had crashed and all its parts were scattered,” he said.
“We were able to extract three casualties, and these were handed over to the police.”
The helicopter had been chartered by the opposition Nationalist Congress Party and was headed to Mumbai.
While the cause of the crash has not yet been identified, local media reports said there was dense fog in the area at the time.
TEHRAN — In its second announcement after the missile attack on the Zionist regime, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced that it targeted strategic centers inside the occupied territories with missiles made by sons of Islamic Iran.
The second statement of the IRGC is as follows:
In the name of Allah, the Merciful
The Islamic Ummah of the Great Front of Resistance and the Noble Nation of Islamic Iran following the previous statement, your sons in the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, according to the promises made by the officials of the Islamic Republic and the military commanders; with the help of other armed forces during the Sadeq 2 operation with code Ya Rasulullah.
They targeted strategic centers inside the occupied territories with missiles made by the sons of Islamic Iran.
In this operation, some air force and radar bases; the centers of conspiracy and planning of assassination against the leaders of the resistance, especially the martyr Dr. Ismail Haniyeh and the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and the military commanders of Hezbollah, the Islamic resistance of Palestine, and the commanders of the Revolutionary Guards were hit.
It pointed out despite the fact that this area was protected by the most advanced and large-scale defense systems, 90% of the missiles hit the targets successfully, and the Zionist regime is terrified of the intelligence and operational dominance of the Islamic Republic.
This operation was carried out within the framework of the right of legitimate defense and based on international laws, and any stupidity of the enemy will be answered in a destructive and regrettable manner, the statement added.
Public relations of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
TEHRAN — Witnesses heard several back-to-back explosions in the Israeli regime’s capital of Tel Aviv after Iran fired dozens of missiles at targets in the occupied Palestine.
Palestinian media reports said Israeli air defense systems had failed to intercept some of the missiles fired from Iran, leading to extensive damage to several targets in Tel Aviv.
The Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv was closed while settlers living in the city fled for shelters.
Palestinians in Ramallah and Nablus gathered to celebrate the missile firing at Israeli positions after seeing the successful landing of the rockets at locations in Tel Aviv.
Israeli media said up to 400 missiles had been fired at targets across the occupied Palestine.
The Israeli occupation forces estimated that 200 missiles had been fired in two separate rounds.
TEHRAN — Iran’s Foreign Ministry has issued a statement on an operation by the country’s armed forces against Israel, saying it considers missile strikes on military and security facilities of the Zionist regime were in line with the Islamic Republic’s inherent right of legitimate defense and in response to the aggressive actions of this regime.
According to IRNA, the ministry released the statement following the missile strikes conducted by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on the positions of the Zionist regime in the occupied Palestinians territories on Tuesday evening (October 1).
The statement says that Iran’s armed forces launched a series of missile attacks against the targets and military and security facilities of the regime in line with the implementation of the inherent right of legitimate defense, as stipulated in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, and in response to the aggressive actions of the Zionist regime, including the attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic and the martyrdom of head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement in Tehran, who was the official guest of the Iranian government, as well as the martyrdom of the Secretary General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, a veteran commander and military advisor in Beirut.
The Islamic Republic’s exercise of its right to self-defense, after a long period of restraint, shows Iran’s responsible approach to regional and international peace and security at a time when the illegal and genocidal actions by the apartheid Zionist regime against the Palestinian nation and the repeated military aggression against Lebanon and Syria continue.
Unlike the Zionist regime, which has often considered innocent civilians and critical infrastructure and facilities as its legitimate target for aggression and killing, the Islamic Republic of Iran, based on the moral principles and Islamic teachings and fully adhering to the principle and international humanitarian law, has only targeted the regime’s military and security facilities by its defensive missile attack, statement added.
The ministry also said: The Islamic Republic of Iran, emphasizing the responsibility of those backing the occupying regime with money and arms to stop the crazy actions of the Zionist leaders and warning against any third party’s entry, demands an immediate and meaningful action by the United Nations Security Council to prevent the continuation of the Israeli regime’s threat to regional and international peace and security.
If necessary, the Islamic Republic of Iran is fully prepared to take more defensive measures and has no doubt in this regard in order to protect its legitimate interests and defend Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity against any military aggression and the use of force, statement said further.
PARIS — Israel’s neighbors closed airspace and airline crews skirted an escalating conflict, with many seeking diversions, after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for tracking service FlightRadar24 said flights diverted “anywhere they could,” and a snapshot of traffic in the region showed flights spreading in wide arcs to the north and south, with many converging on Cairo and Istanbul.
FlightRadar24 said Istanbul and Antalya in southern Turkiye were becoming congested, forcing some airlines to divert south.
Iran launched the strikes in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Tehran’s Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and Israel vowed a “painful response” against its enemy.
Eurocontrol, a pan-European air traffic control agency, earlier sent a warning to pilots about the escalating conflict.
“A major missile attack has been launched against Israel in the last few minutes. At present the entire country is under a missile warning,” it said in an urgent navigation bulletin.
Shortly afterwards it announced the closure of Jordanian and Iraqi airspace as well as the closure of a key crossing point into airspace controlled by Cyprus.
An Iraqi pilot bulletin said its Baghdad-controlled airspace was “closed due to security until further notice.”
Iraq’s transport ministry later announced the reopening of Iraqi airspace to incoming and outgoing civilian flights at Iraqi airports.
FlightRadar24 said on X that “it will be a while before flights are active there again.”
Jordan also reopened its airspace after closing it following the volley of Iranian missiles fired toward Israel, the Jordanian state news agency reported.
Lebanon’s airspace will be closed to air traffic for a two-hour period on Tuesday, Transport Minister Ali Hamie said on X.
The latest disruptions are expected to deal a further blow to an industry already facing a host of restrictions due to conflicts between Israel and Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine.
RIYADH — Six people including a local head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed on Tuesday in gun attacks by militant separatists in Iran’s restive southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan.
Town council chief Parviz Kadkhodaei and two volunteer members of the Guards were also among the dead in the first attack at a school ceremony in the small town of Bent, about 1,350 kilometers southeast of Tehran. Two police officers were killed in the second attack in the town of Khash.
Both attacks were carried out by gunmen from Jaish Al-Adl, a militant group based in Pakistan that seeks greater rights for the ethnic Baloch minority.
Sistan-Baluchistan, one of Iran’s poorest regions, is mostly inhabited by the Baloch community.
The province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan has long been plagued by unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and militants.
In September, gunmen from Jaish Al-Adl killed four border guards in the province in two separate attacks.
In January Iran carried out a missile and drone strike against militant groups in Pakistan. Pakistan retaliated with strikes against militants in Iranian territory.
Pakistan’s Balochistan province also suffers from low-level insurgency waged by separatist militants against the government of Pakistan.
These Pakistani Baloch separatist militant groups are allied with Iranian Baloch groups. Iran and Pakistan historically have a strategic alliance fighting these groups.
TEHRAN — Iran’s armed forces warned Wednesday against any direct military intervention in support of Israel in response to Iran’s missile attack.
“In the event of direct intervention by countries supporting the regime (Israel)… their centers and interests in the region will also face a powerful attack by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the armed forces said in a statement quoted by Fars news agency.
JERUSALEM — Depending on where you were in Jerusalem on Tuesday night, Iran’s missile attack on Israel provoked either fervent prayers or cries of joy.
Jewish prayers in an underground car park in west Jerusalem; expressions of joy in Palestinian districts in the Israeli-annexed east of the city.
When the air raid sirens wailed, hundreds of people in the central bus station in the west heeded the military’s calls and headed underground to take shelter.
Some of those who gathered in the car park read from religious texts as others stayed glued to their phones.
The dull sound of explosions came from above as Israeli air defenses intercepted incoming missiles fired from Iran.
Outside in the open, the dark sky was streaked with light trails from the east, amid the boom of blasts echoing over the Holy City.
In a shelter in Musrara district in west Jerusalem, residents called friends and relatives elsewhere in Israel to exchange news of what was happening.
One man who preferred not to be identified by name told AFP: “We can put things into perspective, but the kids can’t.”
He gave out sweets to young ones in the car park, “so they don’t have bad memories” of the situation.
Children were crying, however, and families continued to arrive amid the wave of alerts.
Some even expressed surprise as they had not heard of the threat, despite repeated warnings broadcast by the authorities for more than an hour.
On the other side of Jerusalem is the Palestinian quarter of Silwan in the east of the city, which Israel seized in the 1967 war and later annexed.
One resident told AFP of the reaction in Silwan when the warnings sounded.
“As soon as the Palestinians heard the first sirens, there were whistles and applause, and there were cries of ‘Allahu Akbar!’ (God is Greatest),” said one resident of the moment the streaks of fire appeared in the night sky.
She said people did not go to shelters because they don’t have any. Instead they went out into the streets or onto roofs to see what was happening.
Back in west Jerusalem, after the all clear, 17-year-old Alon returned to his small DIY shop.
“It’s been six months since I’ve heard the alert in Jerusalem,” he said of the first time Israel’s arch-enemy Iran attacked with drones and missiles on the night of April 13-14.
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday called Iran’s massive missile attack on Israel “a big mistake” and vowed to make Tehran “pay for it.”
“Iran made a big mistake tonight and will pay for it,” said Netanyahu hours after the attack, and warned: “Whoever attacks us, we attack them.”
BEIRUT — Over the past 24 hours, Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon have killed 55 people and injured 156 others, said the Lebanese Health Ministry.
According to the ministry, 11 of the fatalities were reported in the Baalbek-Hermel district, 22 in the Nabatieh Governorate, three in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, respectively, and 16 in the South Governorate.
Since Sept. 23, the Israeli army has been conducting an unprecedented, intensive air attack on Lebanon in a dangerous escalation with Hezbollah.
Since Oct. 8, 2023, Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border amid fears of a broader conflict as the war between Hamas and Israel continues in the Gaza Strip.
TUNIS — The death toll from the sinking of a boat carrying undocumented immigrants off the coast of Djerba Island in southeastern Tunisia has risen to 16, the Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP) reported on Tuesday.
The Tunisian coastguard, civil protection, and navy have retrieved 16 bodies of undocumented immigrants from Monday to Tuesday, according to the TAP.
The boat set sail on Monday at around 5:15 a.m. local time (0415 GMT). Most of the immigrants were Tunisian nationals, including three infants, along with two foreign immigrants, said Houcemeddine Jbabli, spokesperson for the Tunisian National Guard, on Monday.
Located in the central Mediterranean, Tunisia is one of the most popular transit points for illegal immigration to Europe.
ADDIS ABABA — At least 45 migrants have died after two boats sank off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday.
“The boats left Yemen with 310 people on board. So far 32 survivors have been rescued,” the IOM said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The United Nations migration agency said it is supporting state emergency services with search and rescue efforts.
NEW YORK — An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 jolted 69 km ENE of Panganiban, Philippines at 21:19:49 GMT on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 14.21 degrees north latitude and 124.85 degrees east longitude.
