LIMA — A three-vehicle collision on Sunday night left at least nine people dead and 16 others injured on the Costanera Highway in the southern region of Tacna in Peru, local media reported Monday.
The crash occurred at kilometer 31, near a curve known as “El Chasqui” in the La Yarada-Los Palos district, involving a bus from the Vilca transport company, a private car, and a truck carrying Andean products and sheep, according to the state news agency Andina.
Several bus passengers and the truck driver were trapped in the wreckage after the crash, while the occupants of the private car reportedly fled the scene.
Witnesses stated that the private car crossed into the wrong lane, triggering the accident. Beer cans found inside the car raised suspicions that the driver may have been intoxicated.
Emergency services, including firefighters and multiple ambulances from the Emergency Medical Service (SAMU) and local health facilities, responded to the scene.
Eddy Vicente Choque, director of Hipolito Unanue Regional Hospital, confirmed that 16 injured victims were admitted on Sunday night. By Monday morning, six had been discharged, with 10 still hospitalized.
BEIRUT — Pencerobohan darat Israel yang dijangka secara meluas ke atas Lubnan nampaknya sedang dijalankan awal pada Selasa apabila tenteranya berkata tentera telah memulakan serbuan ‘terhad’ terhadap sasaran Hizbullah di kawasan sempadan.
Tentera berkata dalam satu kenyataan bahawa sasarannya terletak di kampung berhampiran sempadan yang menimbulkan “ancaman segera kepada masyarakat Israel di utara Israel.”
Ia berkata tentera udara dan artileri menyokong pasukan darat dengan “serangan tepat”.
Penduduk tempatan di bandar sempadan Lebanon, Aita al-Shaab melaporkan tembakan hebat dan bunyi helikopter dan dron di atas kepala.
Pada Isnin, Menteri Pertahanan Israel Yoav Gallant telah memberitahu ketua majlis tempatan di utara Israel bahawa fasa seterusnya perang di sepanjang sempadan selatan Lubnan akan bermula tidak lama lagi, dan akan menyokong tujuan membawa pulang warga Israel yang melarikan diri dari roket Hizbullah selama hampir setahun peperangan sempadan.
Ketua Hizbullah Hassan Nasrallah – pemimpin paling berkuasa dalam “Paksi Penentangan” Tehran terhadap kepentingan Israel dan AS (Amerika Syarikat) di Timur Tengah – telah dibunuh oleh Israel pada Jumaat, memberikan salah satu tamparan paling teruk dalam beberapa dekad kepada kedua-dua Hizbullah dan penyokongnya, Iran.
Ia menyusuli serangan udara intensif selama dua minggu yang telah menghapuskan beberapa komander Hizbullah tetapi turut membunuh kira-kira 1,000 orang awam dan memaksa satu juta meninggalkan rumah mereka, menurut kerajaan Lubnan.
Sekurang-kurangnya 95 orang terbunuh dan 172 cedera dalam serangan Israel ke atas wilayah selatan Lubnan, timur Lembah Bekaa, dan Beirut dalam tempoh 24 jam lalu, kata kementerian kesihatan Lubnan awal Selasa.
Timbalan pemimpin Hizbullah Naim Qassem, dalam ucapan awam pertama pada Isnin sejak kematian Nasrallah, berkata bahawa “pasukan penentangan bersedia untuk penglibatan darat.”
Serangan Israel ke atas sasaran militan di Lubnan adalah sebahagian daripada konflik yang menjangkau dari wilayah Palestin di Gaza dan Tebing Barat yang diduduki kepada kumpulan yang disokong Iran di Yaman dan Iraq.
Peningkatan itu telah menimbulkan kebimbangan bahawa Amerika Syarikat dan Iran akan disedut ke dalam konflik.
Asap mengepul di pinggir selatan Beirut selepas serangan, di tengah-tengah permusuhan berterusan antara Hizbullah dan tentera Israel, seperti yang dilihat dari Sin El Fil, Lubnan, 1 Oktober 2024. REUTERS
BEIRUT — Sekurang-kurangnya dua serangan Israel melanda pinggir bandar selatan Beirut lewat Isnin, kata sumber keselamatan, dengan wartawan Reuters melihat dua pancaran cahaya dan mendengar letupan kuat datang dari kawasan kejiranan.
Tentera Israel telah memberi amaran sejam sebelum itu bahawa ia akan menyerang bangunan tertentu di pinggir bandar selatan yang biasanya padat penduduk, mengatakan kumpulan bersenjata Hizbullah menggunakannya sebagai kemudahan dan memberitahu penduduk untuk pergi.
Ramai penduduk telah meninggalkan kawasan itu sejak beberapa hari kebelakangan ini selepas serangan Israel meningkat, tetapi akhirnya tidur di jalan-jalan di bandar itu kerana tempat perlindungan penuh.
Keluarga telah memberitahu Reuters bahawa mereka telah bergelut untuk mencari teksi untuk membawa mereka keluar dari daerah itu dengan pantas.
Kebimbangan mengenai pencerobohan darat telah meningkat pada Isnin, dengan tentera Lubnan berundur dari sempadan dengan Israel dan seorang pegawai AS berkata askar Israel kelihatan bersedia untuk memasuki Lubnan.
Anggota tentera Israel berdiri di sebelah kenderaan berperisai, di tengah-tengah permusuhan rentas sempadan antara Hizbullah dan Israel, di utara Israel, 30 September 2024. REUTERS
WASHINGTON/BEIRUT/JERUSALEM — Tentera Lubnan berundur dari sempadan dengan Israel lewat Isnin ketika pencerobohan darat oleh Israel nampaknya akan berlaku, hanya beberapa hari selepas Israel membunuh ketua kumpulan bersenjata Lubnan Hizbullah dalam peningkatan ketegangan serantau.
Seorang pegawai AS yang bercakap dengan syarat tidak mahu namanya disiarkan memberitahu Reuters bahawa kedudukan tentera Israel mencadangkan pencerobohan darat mungkin berlaku.
Menteri Pertahanan Israel Yoav Gallant memberitahu ketua majlis tempatan di utara Israel bahawa fasa seterusnya peperangan di sepanjang sempadan selatan Lubnan akan bermula tidak lama lagi, dan menyokong tujuan membawa pulang warga Israel yang melarikan diri dari roket Hizbullah selama hampir setahun perang sempadan.
Dia juga memberitahu tentera: “Kita akan menggunakan semua cara yang mungkin diperlukan – pasukan anda, pasukan lain, dari udara, dari laut, dan di darat. Semoga berjaya.”
Tentera Lubnan berundur dari kedudukan di sepanjang sempadan selatan Lubnan dengan Israel ke kira-kira lima kilometer (3 batu) di utara sempadan, sumber keselamatan Lubnan memberitahu Reuters.
Jurucakap tentera Lubnan tidak mengesahkan atau menafikan pergerakan itu.
Amal Al-Hourani, datuk bandar Jdeidet Marjayoun, sebuah perkampungan Lubnan majoriti Kristian kurang daripada 10 km dari sempadan, memberitahu Reuters bahawa dua penduduk tempatan telah menerima panggilan nampaknya daripada tentera Israel memberitahu mereka untuk mengosongkan kawasan itu secepat mungkin.
Tentera Israel mengisytiharkan kawasan sekitar komuniti Metula, Misgav Am, dan Kfar Giladi di utara Israel berhampiran sempadan dengan Lubnan sebagai zon tentera tertutup dan berkata kemasukan ke kawasan itu dilarang.
Pembunuhan Hassan Nasrallah pada Jumaat – pemimpin paling berkuasa dalam “Paksi Penentangan” Tehran terhadap kepentingan Israel dan AS di Timur Tengah – merupakan salah satu tamparan paling teruk dalam beberapa dekad kepada kedua-dua, Hizbullah dan Iran.
Selepas dua minggu serangan udara intensif dan rentetan pembunuhan komander Hizbullah, Israel telah mencadangkan dengan lebih kuat bahawa pencerobohan darat semakin hampir.
Washington Post memetik seorang pegawai AS yang tidak dikenali sebagai berkata Israel telah memberitahu AS bahawa operasi itu akan menjadi lebih kecil daripada perang 2006 menentang Hizbullah dan memberi tumpuan kepada keselamatan sempadan.
Jurucakap Jabatan Negara Matthew Miller berkata Israel telah memberitahu AS ia menjalankan operasi darat terhad yang tertumpu pada infrastruktur Hizbullah di Lubnan berhampiran sempadan.
Israel minggu lalu menolak cadangan AS dan Perancis yang menggesa gencatan senjata selama 21 hari bagi memberi masa bagi penyelesaian diplomatik yang membolehkan orang awam kehilangan tempat tinggal di kedua-dua pihak pulang ke tanah air.
Presiden AS Joe Biden, yang setakat ini tidak berjaya menggesa Israel untuk mengekang serangannya ke atas Hizbullah atau ke atas militia Hamas di Gaza, menggesa gencatan senjata.
“Saya lebih bimbang daripada yang anda mungkin tahu dan saya selesa dengan mereka berhenti,” kata Biden kepada pemberita apabila ditanya sama ada dia selesa dengan rancangan Israel untuk pencerobohan rentas sempadan.
“Kita sepatutnya mengadakan gencatan senjata sekarang.”
HEZBOLLAH KATA SUDAH BERSEDIA HADAPI PENCEROBOHAN DARAT
Timbalan pemimpin Hizbullah Naim Qassem, dalam ucapan awam pertama sejak serangan udara Israel membunuh Nasrallah, berkata bahawa “pasukan penentangan bersedia untuk pertempuran darat”.
Semasa dia bercakap, serangan udara Israel di Beirut dan tempat lain di Lubnan berterusan, melanjutkan kempen yang telah menghapuskan beberapa komander Hizbullah tetapi juga membunuh kira-kira 1,000 orang awam dan memaksa satu juta untuk meninggalkan rumah mereka, menurut kerajaan Lubnan.
Angka kematian akibat serangan Israel ke atas bandar Ain Deleb di selatan Lubnan meningkat kepada 45 orang, kata kementerian kesihatan Lubnan pada Isnin.
Anggota penyelamat berdiri di atas bangunan rata. “Kami menyelamatkan orang-orang ini, menarik keluar yang hidup, yang terkoyak, dan para syuhada,” kata seorang, Mazin al-Khatib.
Pembunuhan Nasrallah, bersama-sama dengan pembunuhan dan serangan sistematik ke atas peranti komunikasi kumpulan itu, merupakan tamparan terbesar kepada gerakan Syiah sejak Iran menciptanya pada 1982 untuk memerangi Israel.
Nasrallah membina Hizbullah menjadi pasukan tentera dan politik yang paling berkuasa di Lubnan, dengan jangkauan luas di seluruh Timur Tengah.
Kini ia mesti menggantikan seorang pemimpin yang berkarisma dan tinggi yang dicap oleh Barat sebagai dalang pengganas tetapi bagi jutaan penyokong adalah seorang wira yang menentang Israel.
Qassem berkata ia akan “memilih setiausaha agung parti pada peluang paling awal”.
Beliau berkata Hizbullah terus melancarkan roket sedalam 150 km (93 batu) ke dalam wilayah Israel.
“Kami tahu bahawa pertempuran mungkin panjang,” katanya.
“Kami akan menang seperti yang kami menang dalam pembebasan 2006,” tambahnya, merujuk kepada konflik besar terakhir antara kedua-dua musuh.
Tetapi Perdana Menteri Israel Benjamin Netanyahu memberi amaran kepada penyokong utama Hizbullah, Iran, bahawa “tidak ada tempat yang kami tidak akan pergi untuk melindungi rakyat kami dan melindungi negara kami”.
Dalam klip video tiga minit dalam bahasa Inggeris yang ditujukannya kepada rakyat Iran, dia menuduh kerajaan mereka menjerumuskan Timur Tengah “lebih dalam ke dalam peperangan” dengan mengorbankan rakyatnya sendiri, yang ia membawa “lebih dekat ke jurang”.
PEMBUNUHAN PEMIMPIN MILITAN PALESTIN
Israel juga telah membunuh pemimpin kumpulan militan Palestin, Hamas yang disokong Iran dalam perang Gaza, salah seorang daripada mereka – pemimpin politiknya Ismail Haniyeh – ketika dia melawat ibu negara Iran pada Julai.
Beberapa jam sebelum Qassem bercakap, Hamas berkata serangan udara Israel telah membunuh pemimpinnya di Lubnan, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, bersama isteri, anak lelaki dan anak perempuannya di bandar Tyre.
Abu el-Amin telah bekerja untuk agensi pelarian Palestin PBB, UNRWA sebelum digantung pada Mac.
Ketua UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini memberitahu pemberita ia tidak mengetahui yang dikatakan peranannya (dalam) Hamas.
Satu lagi puak, Barisan Popular untuk Pembebasan Palestin, berkata tiga daripada pemimpinnya telah mati dalam serangan di daerah Kola di Beirut, serangan Israel pertama yang begitu dekat dengan pusat bandar.
Serangan Israel ke atas sasaran militan di Lubnan adalah sebahagian daripada konflik yang menjangkau dari wilayah Palestin di Gaza dan Tebing Barat yang diduduki kepada kumpulan yang disokong Iran di Yaman dan Iraq.
Peningkatan itu telah menimbulkan kebimbangan bahawa AS dan Iran akan disedut ke dalam konflik itu.
Jurucakap Kementerian Luar Iran, Nasser Kanaani berkata Tehran tidak akan membiarkan mana-mana “tindakan jenayah” Israel tidak dijawab, merujuk kepada pembunuhan Nasrallah dan timbalan komander Kor Pengawal Revolusi Iran yang meninggal dunia dalam serangan yang sama.
BEIRUT — Israel pada Isnin mengisytiharkan tiga komuniti di sepanjang sempadan utaranya sebagai “zon tentera tertutup,” dalam kemungkinan pelopor kepada pencerobohan darat ke atas Lubnan.
Perintah itu mengehadkan masuk dan keluar dari komuniti kepada pasukan tentera sahaja.
Pekan itu ialah Metula, Misgav Am dan Kfar Giladi.
Perintah itu tidak semestinya bermakna tentera Israel akan menyerang Lubnan serta-merta. Kawasan juga boleh diisytiharkan sebagai zon tentera tertutup jika ancaman yang akan berlaku dikesan.
Tetapi tentera Israel telah meningkatkan kekuatan di sepanjang sempadan dengan Lubnan sejak beberapa hari kebelakangan ini, dan komander berkata mereka bersedia untuk menghantar tentera jika kerajaan memberi arahan.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in Beirut, Lebanon September 17, 2024. REUTERS/File Photo
GENEVA — The chief of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) on Monday denied knowing that its employee Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was a Hamas commander in Lebanon and called on states to push back against Israeli attacks on the agency.
The head of Hamas’ Lebanon branch, Abu el-Amin was killed along with family members in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, the group said on Monday.
He was placed under investigation and suspended from his job at UNRWA in March following allegations concerning his politics, Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Geneva.
“The specific allegation at the time was that (he was) a part of the local leadership…I never heard the word commander before,” he said.
“What’s obvious for you today, was not obvious yesterday.”
Lazzarini, who briefed press after meeting with U.N. member states earlier on Monday, said he asked them to “push back on all the reputational attacks on the agency and the ongoing drafting of bills which could be adopted in Jerusalem.”
He was referring to a move by Israeli parliament to declare the organisation a “terrorist body” which has already received preliminary approval. Such a move would be “absolutely unconscionable”, he added.
He also referred to attacks against the agency in the nearly year-long Gaza war that have killed 223 staff and damaged or destroyed around two-thirds of its facilities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for years called for UNRWA to be dismantled, accusing it of anti-Israeli incitement.
Previous Israeli allegations of staff ties to Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 led some countries to freeze funding earlier this year, although many of these have now been reversed with the exception of major donor the United States.
The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the attacks and fired them.
Lazzarini said UNRWA faces an $80 million funding shortfall for this year and 2025 is looking “a little bit grim” as some European countries seek to cut aid budgets.
UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) was established in 1949 and provides relief to Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, including in Lebanon where it says up to 250,000 reside.
Lazzarini said it was using existing shelters for Palestinian refugees to house some of the 1 million people displaced within Lebanon following two weeks of intensive Israeli strikes against Hezbollah.
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM — Israel warned Iran on Monday that nowhere in the Middle East was beyond its reach and hinted at a land invasion of Lebanon after assassinating the leader of the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group, one of its biggest adversaries, in a Beirut suburb last week.
“There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a three-minute video clip in English that he addressed to the Iranian people.
Friday’s assassination of Nasrallah – the most powerful leader in Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance” against Israeli and U.S. interests in the Middle East – was one of the heaviest blows in decades to both Hezbollah and Iran.
After two weeks of intensive airstrikes and a string of assassinations of Hezbollah commanders, Israel, which has been training its troops for a ground invasion, indicated that a land invasion was an option in Lebanon.
Speaking to troops deployed along Israel’s northern border, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel would do whatever it takes to ensure the return of citizens who have fled Hezbollah rockets during nearly a year of border warfare.
“We will use all the means that may be required – your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and on land. Good luck,” said Gallant, who was briefed by commanders.
“The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one. In order to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities, we will employ all of our capabilities, and this includes you.”
The Washington Post cited an unidentified U.S. official as saying Israel had already told the U.S. it was planning a ground operation that may start imminently.
The operation would be smaller than Israel’s 2006 war against Hezbollah and focus on security for border communities, the official said. Asked about the reports, U.S. President Joe Biden, who has so far had little success urging Israel to rein in its campaigns, called for a ceasefire, telling reporters: “I’m comfortable with them stopping.”
The Pentagon referred reporters to Israel for questions on any land offensive.
HEZBOLLAH SAYS IT IS READY FOR INVASION
In his first public speech since Israeli airstrikes killed Nasrallah last week, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said his fighters were primed to confront a ground invasion and thwart its aims.
“The resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement,” he said in an address from an undisclosed location.
As he spoke, Israeli airstrikes in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon continued, extending a two-week-old campaign that has eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about 1,000 civilians and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.
The death toll from an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Ain Deleb rose to 45, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Monday.
Rescuers stood on a flattened building.
“We are rescuing these people, pulling out the living, the torn apart, and the martyrs,” said one, Mazin al-Khatib.
Nasrallah’s killing, along with the assassinations and systematic attacks on the group’s communications devices, constitute the biggest blow to the Shi’ite movement since Iran created it in 1982 to fight Israel.
Nasrallah built Hezbollah up into Lebanon’s most powerful military and political force, with a wide reach across the Middle East.
Now it must replace a charismatic, towering leader who was a hero to millions of supporters because he stood up to Israel – even though the West branded him a terrorist mastermind.
Qassem said it would “choose a secretary-general for the party at the earliest opportunity … and fill the leadership and positions on a permanent basis”.
He said Hezbollah had continued to fire rockets as deep as 150 km (93 miles) into Israeli territory.
“What we are doing is the bare minimum … We know that the battle may be long,” he said.
“We will win as we won in the liberation of 2006,” he added, referring to the last big conflict between the two foes.
Israel, which has also assassinated leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza war, says it will do whatever it takes to return its citizens to evacuated communities on its northern border safely.
CONFLICT STRETCHES FROM GAZA TO YEMEN AND IRAQ
Hours before Qassem spoke, Hamas said an Israeli airstrike had killed its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin, along with his wife, son and daughter in the city of Tyre on Monday.
Another faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said three of its leaders had died in a strike in Beirut’s Kola district, the first strike so close to the city centre.
The Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict also stretching from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank to Iranian-backed groups in Yemen and Iraq.
The escalation has raised fears that the United States and Iran will be sucked into the conflict.
The latest actions indicated Israel had no plans to slow down its advanced military machine even after eliminating Nasrallah.
Netanyahu accused the Iranian government of plunging the Middle East “deeper into war” at the expense of its own people, whom it was bringing “closer to the abyss”.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Tehran would not let any of Israel’s “criminal acts” go unanswered, referring to the killings of Nasrallah and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, who died in the same strikes.
Israel’s closest ally, the United States, has not wavered in its support despite concerns over heavy civilian casualties.
And while Arab states have condemned Israel’s actions, none have taken concrete steps to pressure it to rein in its warplanes, angering Beirut residents like Abou Imad.
“You are watching as they (Israel) take over all the Arab countries and take us all,” he said. “This indifference is shameful, for the Lebanese and Palestinian people.”
KADUNA, Nigeria — At least 24 people were killed by an airstrike on a village in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna state, residents and a local councillor said on Monday, after an Air Force operation targeting armed gangs and their hideout.
The Sept. 27 incident is the latest in a pattern of deadly aerial assaults by the military that have killed civilians, a subject covered in a special Reuters report in June 2023.
Nigeria’s military, backed by international allies, has been conducting aggressive campaigns against Islamist insurgents and armed kidnapping gangs.
The Air Force said in a statement it was investigating the Kaduna allegations but added that the airstrike was based on “credible intelligence” from numerous reliable sources and “confirmatory surveillance of the target area” before the strike.
Muhammad Hussaini, a resident, said the airstrike on Jika da Kolo community in Giwa local government area of Kaduna hit a local mosque instead of the intended armed gangs in the area.
The councillor representing the area, Abdullahi Ismail, confirmed the incident saying many people had died.
“They struck residents sitting close to the mosque, killing at least 24 innocent people,” Hussaini told Reuters by phone.
“We can’t deny the fact that bandits have taken charge of almost half of our village. But where the military fighter jet struck is a community where there was no presence of bandits,” he added.
Another resident, Danlami Sale, said the strike had disfigured most of those killed, who were buried on Sunday.
The military said it was looking into exactly what had happened.
“The Nigeria Air Force is not taking these allegations lightly, and so a thorough investigation is in progress to ascertain the facts and properly inform the public in due course,” spokesperson Group Captain Kabiru Ali said.
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — At least four people were killed and six others missing after a boat carrying 14 people capsized in a river in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, a local official confirmed to Xinhua on Monday.
The accident occurred on Monday afternoon when the boat sank during a river crossing on the outskirts of the province’s Kuz Kunar district, said Quraishi Badloon, head of the provincial information department.
Four people were rescued, while six others remained missing. Women and children were among the passengers, Badloon added.
In June, eight people lost their lives, and five others were missing after a boat carrying 26 people capsized in a river in the province.
KATHMANDU — The Nepali government decided on Monday evening to provide 200,000 Nepali rupees (1,497 U.S. dollars) in compensation to each of the bereaved families, as the death toll from monsoon rain-induced floods and landslides hit 205.
A three-day national mourning starting from Tuesday was also announced following a cabinet meeting.
“The national flag will be lowered to half-mast during the mourning period,” said Minister for Communication and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson.
He told the press that families who have members missing for more than 10 days in the disasters spelt by incessant rainfalls on Friday and Saturday shall receive the same amount of compensation.
The cabinet decided to allocate 1 billion rupees (7.48 million dollars) to the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund, noted Gurung.
By Monday evening, 24 people remained missing and 130 others were injured, Nepal Police said in a statement, adding “the rescue efforts are ongoing.”
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said ground forces could be used against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. (File/AFP)
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said ground forces could be used against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, adding military operations will go on despite the killing of the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Gallant made the comments while speaking to Israeli troops deployed to the northern border where cross-border fire with Hezbollah continued for nearly a year but escalated this month.
“We will use all the means that may be required — your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and on land,” Gallant said.
“The elimination of Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one.”
Israel killed Nasrallah on Friday in an air strike on the Iran-backed group’s southern Beirut stronghold.
Israel had intensified air raids against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon from September 23, when Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 558 people were killed, in the deadliest day of violence since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.
Israeli officials have been hinting at a potential ground invasion into Lebanon, following attacks which decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and communications this month.
After Hamas Palestinian militants’ unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that triggered war in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing at Israeli military positions and communities along the border, in what it called “support” for Hamas.
Fighting had been relatively contained until the current escalation.
Tens of thousands of Israeli residents were evacuated from their country’s northern border area nearly a year ago.
“Our goal is to ensure the (safe) return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes. We are prepared to make every effort necessary to accomplish this mission,” said Gallant.
Israel said earlier this month that it was shifting its focus from Gaza to securing the northern border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said Monday the movement was ready to face any Israeli ground operation, and warned that the battle could last a long time.
This aerial drone view shows damaged homes and a vehicle collapsed into water after storm surge from Hurricane Helene, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Madeira Beach, Fla. (Luis Santana/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A crisis unfolded in western North Carolina as officials rushed to get more water, food and other supplies to flood-stricken areas without power and cellular service Monday, three days after Hurricane Helene ripped across the U.S. Southeast. The death toll from the storm reached the triple digits.
At least 107 people in six states were killed. A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed. Georgia’s death count was raised Monday from 17 to 25.
North Carolina’s governor, Roy Cooper, predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.
Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city of Asheville. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water to the city by Monday.
“We hear you. We need food and we need water,” Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. “My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and we’ve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close.”
Asheville’s water system was severely damaged. Residents walked with buckets to a creek to get water to flush toilets, carefully watching their steps where a wall of water three days before ripped away all of the trees and ground, leaving only mud.
Neighbors shared food and water and comforted each other. “That’s the blessing so far in this,” Sommerville Johnston said outside her home.
Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast.
Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, raised that state’s death toll Monday to 25, telling reporters that the storm “literally spared no one.” Most people in and around Augusta, a city of about 200,000 people near the South Carolina border, were still without power Monday, and Kemp and other officials tried to reassure residents that they felt their misery.
Deaths also were reported in Florida, South Carolina and Virginia.
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said Monday that hundreds of roads were closed across western North Carolina and that shelters across the area were housing more than 1,000 people.
Cooper implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people.
One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said.
Video showed a mass of debris, including overturned pontoon boats and splintered wooden docks, covering the surface of Lake Lure, a picturesque spot tucked between the mountains outside Asheville.
President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as “stunning” and said he would visit the area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work. In a brief exchange with reporters, he said the administration is giving states “everything we have” to help with their response to the storm.
Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph (225 kph) winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams.
There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday.
More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. South Carolina had the most outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles.
“We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time,” McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County.
KUNAK — Seorang pekerja ladang dikhuatiri maut selepas disambar buaya ketika sedang memasang pukat di sungai berhampiran Ladang KLK Jatika, dekat sini, pagi tadi.
Ketua Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Kunak, Mohammad Omarbatha berkata, pihaknya menerima panggilan kecemasan berhubung kejadian itu pada 11.18 pagi sebelum sepasukan enam anggota bergegas ke lokasi kejadian untuk operasi mencari dan menyelamat (SAR).
Beliau berkata, berdasarkan maklumat awal daripada saksi, mangsa dikenali sebagai Ridwan Nawir, 50, sedang memasang pukat secara melintang dari tebing sungai sebelum secara tiba-tiba disambar reptilia itu.
“Pemantauan awal di lokasi mendapati jasad mangsa dilihat masih di dalam mulut reptilia itu yang muncul di permukaan air sebelum tenggelam menghilangkan diri ke dalam sungai berkenaan.
“Setakat ini, mangsa belum ditemui dan operasi SAR akan disambung semula esok,” katanya ketika dihubungi.
Menurutnya lagi, selain anggota polis operasi SAR turut membabitkan Jabatan Hidupan Liar (JHL) dan penduduk setempat yang ketika ini sedang giat memburu reptilia itu.
In this aerial image of the Kathmandu valley, Bagmati River is seen flooded due to heavy rains in Kathmandu, Nepal, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gopen Rai)
KATHMANDU, Nepal — The number of people killed in Nepal by flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall over the weekend reached 193 while recovery and rescue work stepped up on Monday.
Many of the deaths were in the capital, Kathmandu, which got heavy rainfall, and much of southern part of the city was flooded. Police said in a statement that 31 people were still reported missing and 96 people were injured across the Himalayan nation.
A landslide killed three dozen people on a blocked highway about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Kathmandu. The landslide buried at least three buses and other vehicles where people were sleeping because the highway was blocked.
Kathmandu had remained cut off all weekend as the three highways out of the city were blocked by landslides. Workers were able to temporarily open up the key Prithvi highway, removing rocks, mud and trees that had been washed from the mountains.
The home minister announced temporary shelters would be built for people who lost their homes and monetary help would be available for the families of those killed and to the people who were injured by the flooding and landslides.
Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli was returning home Monday from attending the U.N. General Assembly meeting and has called an emergency meeting, his office said.
Improved weather has allowed rescue and recovery work to be stepped up.
Residents in the southern part of Kathmandu, which was inundated on Saturday, were cleaning up houses as water levels began to recede. At least 34 people were killed in Kathmandu, which was the hardest hit by flooding.
Police and soldiers were assisting with rescue efforts, while heavy equipment was used to clear the landslides from the roads. The government announced it was closing schools and colleges across Nepal for the next three days.
The monsoon season began in June and usually ends by mid-September.
Meanwhile, in northern Bangladesh, about 60,000 people were affected by flooding in low-lying areas because of rains and rising water from upstream India.
People have taken shelter on roads and flood protection embankments in Lalmonirhat and Kurigram districts, the English-language Daily Star reported.
The River Teesta that crosses the border was overflowing at some points and the Dharala and Dudhkumar rivers in the Rangpur region were rising but remained below danger levels, the Dhaka-based Flood Forecasting and Warning Center said Monday. Waters could start receding in a day or two, it said.
Bangladesh is a low-lying delta nation crisscrossed by about 230 rivers, including more than 50 that cross borders.
KUALA TERENGGANU — Tujuh beranak tinggal sehelai sepinggang apabila rumah didiami mereka di Kampung Pengadang Baru, di sini,hangus dalam kebakaran, 5 petang tadi.
Mangsa, Muhammad Saiful Hanafi Ghazali, 25, berkata, ketika kejadian dia berada di beranda rumah sedang bersembang bersama adik-beradik.
Katanya, ketika bersembang, dia naik ke tingkat atas untuk mengambil telefon bimbit yang sedang dicas dalam bilik tidurnya.
Dia terkejut melihat api yang ketika itu sudah membakar bahagian dinding bilik tidur kakaknya sebelum memberitahu adik-beradiknya yang berada di beranda rumah.
“Saya kemudian segera mengambil air untuk cuba memadamkan api yang membakar bahagian dinding dan siling.
“Bimbang terperangkap saya segera turun ke bawah selepas melihat bara api bertaburan seperti hujan dalam bilik tidur kakak selain berlaku beberapa letupan kecil.
“Saya segera meminta kakak menghubungi bomba,” katanya ketika ditemui di lokasi kejadian.
Kejadian jam 5 petang itu menyebabkan keluarga terbabit kerugian sebanyak RM200,000 apabila semua barangan dalam rumah termasuk pakaian, perabut dan barangan elektrik serta sebuah motosikal hangus.
Sementara itu, ibu Muhammad Saiful Hanafi, Meriam Mat Zain, 69, berkata, ketika kejadian dia berada di bandar kerana menemani cucu membuat urusan di sebuah bank.
“Saya keluar rumah jam 3.50 petang. Selepas selesai urusan bank, saya singgah di rumah kawan di Kampung Losong, di sini, sebelum anak telefon memberitahu rumah terbakar.
“Saya segera pulang dan sedih melihat rumah pusaka mentua yang kami duduk sejak 1983 hangus sekelip mata.
“Kini kami tinggal sehelai sepinggang, namun bersyukur kerana anak dan cucu selamat yang mana ketika kejadian mereka berada di luar rumah,” katanya.
Sementara itu, Ketua Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Kuala Terengganu, Rozizah Abni Hajar berkata, sujurus menerima panggilan kebakaran, seramai 22 anggota dikejarkan ke lokasi kejadian.
“Sebaik tiba mendapati kebakaran membabitkan sebuah rumah dua tingkat separuh kekal yang sudah hangus 80 peratus.
“Anggota terus melakukan pemadaman bagi menyelamatkan empat buah rumah berhampiran daripada terbakar,” katanya.
Beliau berkata, punca kebakaran dan kerugian masih dalam siasatan.
PEKAN — Seorang lelaki dikhuatiri lemas ketika menjaring ikan bersama dua rakan di Sungai Lepar, berhampiran Ladang LKPP Jalan Gemuruh, di sini hari ini.
Pegawai Perhubungan Awam, Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Pahang, Zulfadli Zakaria, berkata mangsa dikenali Muhamad Saifol Azmi Adiauddin, 33.
Katanya, berdasarkan laporan, pihaknya menerima panggilan berhubung kejadian itu pada jam 1.19 petang.
“Seramai tujuh anggota dari Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Peramu dan lima anggota Pasukan Penyelamat di Air (PPDA) BBP Pekan bergegas ke lokasi kejadian.
“Berdasarkan maklumat, seorang lelaki dikhuatiri lemas manakala dua lelaki yang juga rakan mangsa selamat dikatakan sedang melakukan aktiviti menjaring ikan di sungai bersama-sama,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan hari ini.
Zulfadli berkata, anggota bomba melakukan pencarian di sekitar sungai tetapi mangsa belum ditemukan.
Police officers work at the site of an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Kola, central Beirut, Lebanon September 30, 2024. REUTERS
BEIRUT — Hezbollah fighters are ready to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, the group’s, opens new tab deputy leader Naim Qassem said on Monday in his first public address since Israel killed its chief Hassan Nasrallah last week.
Israel will not achieve its goals, he said.
“We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement,” he said in an address from an undisclosed location.
He was speaking as Israeli airstrikes on targets in Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon continued, extending a two-week long wave of attacks that has eliminated several Hezbollah commanders but also killed about a 1,000 Lebanese and forced one million to flee their homes, according to the Lebanese government.
The losses were Hezbollah’s heaviest since Iran’s Revolutionary Guards created the group in 1982 to counter an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Nasrallah had built it up into Lebanon’s most powerful military and political force, with wide sway in the Middle East.
Now it faces the challenge of replacing a towering leader who was a hero to supporters because he stood up to Israel even though the West branded him a terrorist mastermind.
“We will choose a secretary-general for the party at the earliest opportunity…and we will fill the leadership and positions on a permanent basis,” Qassem said.
Qassem said Hezbollah’s fighters had continued to fire rockets as deep as 150 km (93 miles) into Israeli territory and were ready to face any possible Israeli ground incursion.
“What we are doing is the bare minimum…We know that the battle may be long,” he said. “We will win as we won in the liberation of 2006 in the face of the Israeli enemy,” he added, referring to the last big conflict between the two foes.
The possibility that Israel’s next move might be to send ground troops and tanks over the border is on many minds and it has given no indication it will rein in the most powerful and technologically advanced military in the region.
Israel says it will do what ever it takes to return its citizens to evacuated communities on its northern border safely. It has not ruled out a ground invasion and its troops have been training for it.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday his government was ready to fully implement a U.N. resolution that had aimed to end Hezbollah’s armed presence south of the Litani River as part of an agreement to stop the war with Israel.
Mikati said the Lebanese army could deploy south of the river, which lies about 30 km from the country’s southern border.
OTHER MILITANTS HIT
Hours before Hezbollah’s Qassem spoke, the Palestinian militant group Hamas said an Israeli airstrike killed its leader in Lebanon in the southern city of Tyre on Monday. Another Palestinian organisation said three of its leaders died in a strike in central Beirut – the first such hit inside the capital’s limits.
The wave of Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon are part of a conflict also stretching from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, to Yemen, and within Israel itself.
Hamas said its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was killed along with his wife, son and daughter, in a strike on their house in a refugee camp in Tyre in the early hours of Monday.
Another group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said three of its leaders were killed in a strike on Beirut’s Kola district.
The attack against the PFLP was the first time Israel had struck Beirut beyond its southern suburbs. It hit the upper floor of an apartment building, Reuters witnesses said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
MULTIPLE FRONTS
The latest actions indicated Israel has no intention of slowing down its offensive on multiple fronts even after eliminating Nasrallah, who was Iran’s most powerful ally in its “Axis of Resistance” against Israeli and U.S. influence in the region.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Tehran would not leave any of Israel’s “criminal acts” go unanswered. He was referring to the killing of Nasrallah and an Iranian Guard deputy commander, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, who died in the same strikes on Friday.
Russia said Nasrallah’s death had led to a serious destabilisation in the broader region.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the bombing of residential areas in Lebanon had caused heavy casualties and would create a humanitarian catastrophe akin to the one in Gaza, where tens of thousands of people have died in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry says more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without specifying how many were civilians. One million people – a fifth of the population – have fled their homes, the government says.
The escalation has put Beirut on edge, with Lebanese fearful that Israel will expand its military campaign.
“There is nothing else to say or add, except God save Lebanon,” Beirut resident Nawel said. “What will happen to me is the same as what can happen to anyone.”
TEHRAN — Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem says the resistance movement will continue to fight Israel and support Gaza despite the regime’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon.
“Despite losing a number of commanders and attacks by the Zionist enemy against civilians across Lebanon, we will never back down an iota from our goals and positions and will continue to confront the Zionist regime and support the Gaza Strip”, the senior Hezbollah official said on Monday in his first public speech since the movement’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was martyred in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday.
Sheikh Qassem added that Hezbollah has continued and intensified its attacks on Zionist cities and settlements after the martyrdom of Nasrallah and Hezbollah commanders.
“After the martyrdom of the commanders and Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, we continued and intensified our attacks on Zionist cities and settlements, including Tel Aviv and Haifa. Yesterday, Israel announced that Hezbollah had sent one million Zionists to shelters with a missile.”
Qassem stressed that the Israeli regime will not achieve its goals and Hezbollah will emerge victorious in this battle, adding that the movement is large in terms of military might and manpower and is fully ready to continue fighting.
“Israel has not been able to cause harm to our military power”, he noted, stressing that Lebanon will achieve victory as it did in its previous wars with Israel.
He also said that Hezbollah is full ready in case that the regime launches a ground offensive against Lebanon.
Sheikh Qassem further said that the Israeli regime has attacked civilians and health centers, killing the innocent people, adding that the US is complicit in these crimes as it gives its unlimited political and military support to the regime.
The Hezbollah official hailed Nasrallah for taking the path of Supreme Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, saying that Nasrallah continued fighting until the last moment of his life.
Sheikh Qassem also said that Hezbollah will choose a new secretary general within the shortest possible time.
