Rubble of damaged buildings lies at the site of Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, on Sept. 28, 2024. (Reuters)
GENEVA — The UN refugee chief said Saturday that more than 50,000 people had fled to Syria amid escalating Israeli air strikes on Lebanon.
“More than 50,000 Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon have now crossed into Syria fleeing Israeli air strikes,” Filippo Grandi said on X.
He added that “well over 200,000 people are displaced inside Lebanon.”
A UNHCR spokesman said the total number of displaced in Lebanon had reached 211,319, including 118,000 just since Israel dramatically ramped up its air strikes on Monday.
The remainder had fled their homes since Hezbollah militants in Lebanon began low-intensity cross-border attacks a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has shifted the focus of its operation from Gaza to Lebanon, where heavy bombing has killed more than 700 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, as cross-border exchanges escalated over the past week. Most of those Lebanese deaths came on Monday, the deadliest day of violence since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.
“Relief operations are underway, including by UNHCR, to help all those in need, in coordination with both governments,” Grandi said.
NEW DELHI — A major fire broke out inside an electronics factory in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu on Saturday, with no casualties reported, confirmed a local administration official over phone.
The fire incident took place inside the Tata Electronics Private Limited facility situated in Nagamanglam area of the state’s Krishnagiri district.
According to the official, a small fire first started in the mobile phone accessories painting unit and soon spread to other parts. All employees working at the unit were safely evacuated.
Mayat anggota tentera yang lemas di Tasik Empangan Linggiu di Bandar Tenggara, Kota Tinggi dibawa ke Unit Forensik HKT untuk prosedur siasatan.
KOTA TINGGI — Seorang anggota tentera maut akibat lemas di kawasan Tasik Empangan Linggiu di Bandar Tenggara di sini, awal pagi tadi.
Kejadian berlaku ketika mangsa, 32, menaiki bot bersama tiga anggota yang bertugas di tasik empangan.
Ketua Polis Daerah Kota Tinggi, Superintendan Yusof Othman, berkata ketika kejadian bot terbabit terlanggar objek dipercayai kayu hanyut menyebabkan semua empat anggota terbabit terjatuh.
“Tiga daripada mereka sempat menyelamatkan diri, namun mangsa tidak timbul di permukaan air.
“Usaha mencari mangsa tidak berhasil sebelum kejadian dimaklumkan kepada penyelia bertugas,” katanya memaklumkan laporan polis mengenai kejadian itu turut dibuat jam 2.35 pagi.
Yusof berkata, susulan laporan itu, pegawai dan anggota Balai Polis Bandar Tenggara dibantu Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Kota Tinggi serta Bandar Tenggara dikejarkan ke lokasi untuk operasi mencari dan menyelamat, selain Unit Skuba Bomba.
“Mangsa dijumpai Unit Skuba jam 11.50 pagi pada kedalaman 13 meter, dengan kedudukan kira-kira tujuh meter dari lokasi kejadian.
“Mayat dibawa naik ke permukaan dan dihantar ke Unit Forensik Hospital Kota Tinggi (HKT) untuk tindakan prosedur siasatan,” katanya.
This photo taken on Sept. 28, 2024 shows a flooded neighborhood in Lalitpur, Nepal. Floods and landslides triggered by incessant rainfalls in Nepal have claimed at least 59 lives and injured 36 others by Saturday afternoon, police said. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)
KATHMANDU — Floods and landslides triggered by incessant rainfalls in Nepal have claimed at least 59 lives and injured 36 others by Saturday afternoon, police said.
A total of 44 others had gone missing in the disasters sparked by rainfalls since Friday evening, and the police had rescued 1,252 people from different parts of Nepal, said Dan Bahadur Karki, Nepali Police spokesperson.
“Of the total casualties, 34 deaths were from the three districts in the Kathmandu Valley,” Karki told Xinhua. “At least 17 people were missing while 16 others were injured in the valley.”
According to a police statement, almost all the highways, including those connecting the rest of the country with the capital city of Kathmandu, have been obstructed due to the disasters.
The Nepali government has announced that over 20,000 police officers have been mobilized for the rescue operations.
Nepal has seen more-than-average rainfalls during the monsoon season this year, which started on June 10 and is coming to an end.
CAPE TOWN — South African police have launched an urgent manhunt after 17 people were shot and killed in the Eastern Cape Province of the country, said authorities Saturday.
The Eastern Cape provincial government confirmed in a statement that the “catastrophic incident” occurred in the town of Lusikisiki in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“In one house, 13 people were killed which include 12 women and one man. In another homestead, four people were also killed,” said Athlenda Mathe, the national spokesperson of the South African Police Service (SAPS), in a separate statement.
“The eighteenth victim is in a critical condition in hospital. In total 15 women and two men were killed,” said Mathe. “The South African Police Service has launched an extensive search to bring those responsible for these brutal killings to justice. We are committed to ensuring the safety and security of our communities.”
In addition, the spokesperson told Xinhua that “police have deployed forensic experts and a team of detectives to collect evidence which will assist in cracking the case.”
In the provincial government’s statement, Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane condemned the “senseless acts of violence in the strongest possible terms” in the incident.
“The loss of life on this scale is a devastating blow to our province, and we mourn the passing of these innocent lives. We stand in solidarity with the families and communities affected. The brutal and senseless killing of innocent people is a heinous act that has no place in our society,” said Mabuyane. “We call on all Eastern Cape residents to stand together in condemning violence and work towards creating a safer, more peaceful province.”
MADRID — At least 9 people have died and 48 went missing after an illegal migrant boat capsized off the island of El Hierro on Friday night, Spain’s maritime rescue service confirmed on Saturday.
Another 27 people were rescued, according to the maritime rescue’s X account.
The rescue is still going on with several vessels and a helicopter searching for the missing.
All the occupants on the boat were men, and one of the recovered bodies was that of a teenager aged between 12 and 15, Spanish public TV network RTVE reported.
A total of three migrant boats arrived near the island of El Hierro in the Canary Islands on Friday night, including the one that overturned. A fourth boat is still being searched for, as rescue teams haven’t located it yet.
The two boats that arrived at El Hierro around midnight Friday carried a total of 151 people, including six children and four babies.
Ten people from the three boats were sent to the port of La Restinga in the southern tip of El Hierro for medical care.
Also on Friday night, a boat carrying 57 people was rescued near Lanzarote, another island in the Canary Islands. Enditem.
NEW DELHI, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) — Two militants were killed and five government forces personnel, including a senior police official, were wounded Saturday in a fierce gunfight in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.
The gunfight broke out in Adigam-Devsar village of Kulgam district, about 79 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Police said the identity of the killed militants was being ascertained.
GAZA — Israeli occupation forces committed four massacres against families in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, resulting in the killing of at least 52 Palestinians and the injury of 118 others, according to medical reports.
They said that the Palestinian death toll from the Israel’s ongoing aggression since October 7 has surged to 41,586 reported fatalities, with an additional 96,210 individuals sustaining injuries. The majority of the victims are women and children.
Meanwhile, emergency services are still unable to reach many casualties and dead bodies trapped under the rubble or scattered on roads, as Israeli occupation forces continue to obstruct the movement of ambulance and civil defense crews.
Ukrainian service personnel use searchlights as they search for drones in the sky over the city centre during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine September 28, 2024. (Reuters)
KYIV — Russian forces hit a medical center in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday morning then struck again as the building was being evacuated, killing a total of eight people, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian prosecutors said that at the time of the attacks, 86 patients and 38 staff members were in the hospital.
“The first attack killed one person and damaged the ceilings of several floors of the hospital,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.
As people were being evacuated, the Russians struck again, killing a further five people, he said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky later said eight people were killed and 11 injured.
“Everyone in the world who talks about this war should pay attention to where Russia is hitting. They are fighting hospitals, civilian objects, and people’s lives,” Zelensky said on Telegram.
“Only force can force Russia to peace. Peace through force is the only right way.”
Klymenko did not specify what weapons were used in Saturday’s attacks but the regional administration and air forces said the strike was carried out by drones.
Attacks on Sumy city and the Sumy region have become much more frequent since Ukrainian forces launched an operation in Russia’s Kursk region in August and captured dozens of settlements.
Sumy city is located just 32 km (20 miles) from the Russian border and Russian forces have been attacking the region and the city with drones and guided bombs.
Ukrainian air forces earlier on Saturday said they had shot down 69 of 73 drones during an overnight Russian attack that included two ballistic and two cruise missiles.
About 15 Russian attack drones were destroyed by air defenses in the capital Kyiv and on its outskirts, the military administration there said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier said Israel’s killing of top Hezbollah commanders couldn’t bring the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group to its knees. (File/AFP)
TEHRAN — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslims on Saturday “to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah with whatever means they have and assist them in confronting the … wicked regime (of Israel).”
Khamenei, in a statement after the Israeli army said it had killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, said: “The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront,” state media reported.
He condemned Saturday what he described as Israel’s “short-sighted” policy after strikes on Lebanon that Israel said killed Nasrallah.
“The massacre of the defenseless people in Lebanon once again revealed the ferocity of the Zionist rabid dog to everyone, and proved the short-sighted and stupid policy of the leaders of the usurping regime,” Khamenei said in a statement.
Khamenei’s statement gave no mention of Nasrallah but he said Israel was “too weak to cause significant damage to the solid construction of Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
He called on the “Axis of Resistance”, Iran-aligned armed groups across the Middle East that have targeted Israel and its US ally, to stand with Hezbollah. “Lebanon will make the aggressor and the evil enemy regretful,” said Khamenei.
Reuters earlier reported that Khamenei has been transferred to a secure location inside the country with heightened security measures in place, citing two regional officials briefed by Tehran.
The sources said Iran was in constant contact with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other regional proxy groups to determine the next step after Israel announced that it had killed Nasrallah in a strike on south Beirut on Friday.
BEIRUT — Hezbollah confirmed on Saturday that its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was killed in the Israeli airstrikes targeting the militant group’s command headquarters a day earlier in Dahieh, Beirut’s southern suburbs.
ISLAMABAD — A chartered helicopter crashed in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday afternoon, killing six people on board while injuring ten others, police officials said.
The incident happened at about 1:00 p.m. local time when a helicopter chartered by a private oil exploration and production company Mari Petroleum crashed in the Shewa area of North Waziristan district of the province, District Police Officer Rokhanzeb Khan told Xinhua.
Six people, including two Russian pilots of the aircraft, were killed in the unfortunate incident, said the official, adding that ten others sustained injuries, including staff of the private company.
The incident occurred due to a technical fault in the aircraft immediately after it took off, according to local government officials. The engine of the helicopter caught fire before it hit the ground and crashed, officials added.
The cause of the technical fault is still unknown and is being investigated by the relevant authorities.
Following the incident, rescue teams and security personnel reached the area and cordoned it off.
TASHKENT — A road accident has left four people dead and two others hospitalized in the southeastern Kashkadarya region of Uzbekistan, local media reported on Saturday.
The accident took place in the Kukdala district, where a vehicle lost control and went into the oncoming lane, colliding with another car, said the report, citing the press service of the regional traffic safety department.
An investigation into the accident has been initiated.
NEW DELHI — At least three people, including two women and a child, were charred to death and seven others injured Saturday in an explosion inside an illegally-run firecracker factory in the northern Indian state of Haryana, police said.
The explosion that subsequently triggered a massive fire in the house took place in Ridhau village, Sonipat district of Haryana.
According to officials, the factory was being illegally run from a house in the middle of the residential area of the village.
“We received information that a blast took place inside a house in village Ridhau. On the spot, we found the material that is being used in making firecrackers. A forensic team has been called in. Some people told us that the blast was caused due to the bursting of a cooking gas cylinder. So far we have recovered three bodies that are completely charred and seven people in injured condition have been sent to hospital,” a police official said. “The owner of the house has been rounded up, and we are investigating the matter.”
Following the blast, authorities immediately rushed fire brigade teams to control the blaze and prevent it from spreading in the neighborhood.
Around 10 people were working in the factory at the time of the blast, reports said.
Accidental explosions are common at Indian firecracker factories and shops, as owners usually ignore safety standards.
XINING — Six people were killed and one person injured during a gas leakage incident in Golmud City in northwest China’s Qinghai Province, according to the municipal government on Saturday.
The incident occurred in Yanqiao Village on Tuesday and was caused by toxic and harmful gases that leaked through the households’ sewer pipes.
The injured person has recovered after receiving treatment in hospital and those affected by the incident have been relocated. The cause of the incident is still under investigation while the environment near the incident spot has been deemed safe.
BEIJING — More than 800 people have received criminal punishment and over 200 people have faced administrative penalties for chaotic behavior of “fan circles” this year, according to China’s Ministry of Public Security.
“Fan circles,” or “Fanquan” in Chinese, refer to organized online communities focused on specific celebrities. Originally centered around the entertainment industry, these groups are now common in the sports field as well. Such fan groups often engage in organized activities such as purchasing products endorsed by their idols and upvoting idol-related content online.
In recent years, some fan circles have been criticized for overzealous behavior, which sometimes leads to online conflicts or even cyberbullying, infringing on celebrities’ privacy and inducing excessive consumption.
Since this year, Chinese police have investigated over 700 fan circle-related cases involving illegal and criminal acts such as fake engagement by fan groups on social networks, stalking, selling personal information, and cyberbullying, Shi You, an official with the ministry, said at a press conference on Friday.
During the Paris Olympic Games, the police had taken strong measures to investigate several cyberbullying cases related to fan communities, which garnered widespread attention and support from the public, Shi said.
In August, the ministry published four typical cases of cyberbullying and slandering against Chinese Olympians. Both the Chinese Table Tennis Association and the Chinese Gymnastics Association voiced support for the crackdown and condemned chaotic fan circle behavior that had an “extremely negative influence” on athletes, coaches and other staff members.
Shi said that the ministry will continue cracking down on illegal fan circle activities, and reminded fans to engage in rational and civilized fandom practices.
PADANG TERAP — Mayat remaja orang kurang upaya (OKU) pembelajaran yang dihanyutkan arus deras dalam kejadian banjir di Kampung Tanjung Kanan ditemui lemas petang tadi.
Mayat Muhammad Rosman Rohadi, 19, ditemui anggota Pasukan Penyelamat Di Air (PPDA) Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Kedah yang melakukan pencarian pada jarak kira-kira 150 meter dari lokasi mangsa dihanyutkan arus deras pagi tadi.
Ketua Zon 1 JBPM Kedah, Penguasa Kanan Bomba I Ahmad Aminuddin Abd Rahim, berkata mayat mangsa ditemui jam 5.35 petang ketika operasi mencari dan menyelamat (SAR) dilakukan selama lebih 10 jam di lokasi.
Beliau berkata, mayat mangsa dipercayai tersangkut pada pelepah kelapa sawit di dasar kawasan banjir.
“Bagaimanapun, setakat jam 6 petang tadi operasi SAR mencari ibu mangsa, Salmah Mat Zain, 46, masih diteruskan,” katanya ketika ditemui media di lokasi pencarian.
Terdahulu, Ketua Polis Daerah Padang Terap, Deputi Superintendan Mulkiaman Manzar, berkata penemuan sepasang selipar wanita dan sebelah selipar lelaki dipercayai menjadi petunjuk baharu untuk membantu operasi diteruskan.
Katanya, selipar ibu dan anak itu ditemui anggota pasukan penyelamat jam 3 petang tadi.
“Keadaan air surut membolehkan oerasi pencarian diteruskan sebelum mayat mangsa ditemui tidak lama kemudian.
“Operasi akan diteruskan untuk mencari ibu mangsa di lokasi pencarian sehingga jam 7 malam ini,” katanya.
Mulkiaman berkata, mayat mangsa kemudian dihantar ke Jabatan Forensik Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah (HSB) di Alor Setar.
Media sebelum ini melaporkan, dua beranak dikhuatiri lemas selepas dihanyutkan air deras akibat banjir di Kampung Tanjung Kiri, Jalan Padang Sanai, di sini.
Muhammad Rosman, 19, dan ibunya, Salmah Mat Zain, 46, dipercayai cuba berpaut pada pokok sebelum dihanyutkan air deras di kawasan kampung yang dilanda banjir itu.
Kedua beranak itu dipercayai dihanyutkan arus deras selepas pulang dari membeli nasi lemak.
European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell attends a meeting of foreign ministers from the EU, Indo-Pacific and ASEAN countries, in Brussels, Belgium February 2, 2024. (REUTERS)
UNITED NATIONS, United States — EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell voiced regret Friday that no power, including the United States, can “stop” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he appears determined to crush militants in Gaza and Lebanon.
“What we do is to put all diplomatic pressure to a ceasefire, but nobody seems to be able to stop Netanyahu, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank,” Borrell told a small group of journalists as he attended the UN General Assembly.
Borrell backed an initiative by France and the United States for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon, which Israel has brushed aside as it steps up strikes on Hezbollah targets, in a days-old campaign that has killed hundreds.
Borrell said Netanyahu has made clear that the Israelis “don’t stop until Hezbollah is destroyed,” much as in its nearly year-old campaign in Gaza against fellow Iranian-backed militant group Hamas.
“If the interpretation of being destroyed is the same as with Hamas, then we are going to go for a long war,” Borrell said in English.
The outgoing EU foreign affairs chief again called for diversifying diplomacy from the United States, which has tried for months unsuccessfully to seal a truce in Gaza that would include the release of hostages.
“We cannot rely just on the US. The US tried several times; they didn’t succeed,” he said.
“I don’t see them ready to start again a negotiation process that could lead to another Camp David,” he said, referring to the 2000 talks at the US presidential retreat in which Bill Clinton unsuccessfully sought to broker a landmark deal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Netanyahu in a defiant speech to the United Nations on Friday vowed to achieve Israel’s objectives against Hezbollah, which has sporadically attacked Israel with rockets since Hamas carried out its massive October 7 attack on Israel, which has responded with a relentless military campaign.
Flame rise after an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP)
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Saturday that it killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah militant group, in a strike in Beirut on Friday.
The military said that it carried out a precise airstrike while Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.
Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders, were also killed in the attack, the Israeli military said.
Nasrallah has lead Hezbollah for more than three decades. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
Israel maintained a heavy barrage of airstrikes against Hezbollah on Saturday, as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets toward Israel.
The Israeli military said it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalate with Lebanon.
The military said Saturday morning it was activating three battalions of reserve soldiers, after earlier sending two brigades to northern Israel earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.
On Saturday morning, the Israeli military carried out several strikes in southern Beirut and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles across northern and central Israel and the Israel-occupied West Bank.
In Beirut’s southern suburbs, smoke rose and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes.
Shelters set up in the city center for displaced people were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.
At least six people were killed and 91 were wounded in the strikes against the Hezbollah on Friday, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
It was the biggest blast to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year and appeared likely to push the escalating conflict closer to full-fledged war.
At least 720 people have been killed in Lebanon during the week, according to the Health Ministry.
The death toll is likely to rise significantly as teams comb through the rubble of six buildings.
Israel launched a series of strikes on other areas of the southern suburbs following the initial blast.
Reuters journalists heard more than 20 airstrikes in Beirut before dawn on Saturday and more after sunrise.
Smoke could be seen rising over the city’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, known as the Dahiyeh.
Thousands of people have fled the area since Friday’s attack, congregating in squares, parks and sidewalks in downtown Beirut and seaside areas.
“They want to destroy Dahiyeh, they want to destroy all of us,” said Sari, a man in his 30s who gave only his first name, referring to the suburb he had fled after an Israeli evacuation order.
Nearby, the newly displaced in Beirut’s Martyrs Square rolled mats onto the ground to try to sleep.
The Israeli military said a missile fired at central Israel on Saturday had struck an open area.
Earlier, the military said about 10 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory and that some had been intercepted.
The Israeli military also said it was striking Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley, a region of eastern Lebanon at the Syrian border that it has pounded over the last week.
Israel’s five hours of continuous strikes on Beirut early on Saturday followed Friday’s attack, by far the most powerful by Israel on the city during the conflict with Hezbollah that has played out in parallel to the Gaza war for nearly a year.
The escalation has sharply increased fears the conflict could spiral out of control, potentially drawing in Iran, Hezbollah’s principal backer, as well as the United States.
There was no immediate confirmation of Nasrallah’s fate after Friday’s heavy strikes, but a source close to Hezbollah told Reuters he was not reachable.
Israel has not said whether it tried to hit Nasrallah, but a senior Israeli official said top Hezbollah commanders were targeted.
“I think it’s too early to say… Sometimes they hide the fact when we succeed,” the Israeli official told reporters when asked if the strike on Friday had killed Nasrallah.
Earlier, a source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive. Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported he was safe.
A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Tehran was checking his status.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it had killed the commander of Hezbollah’s missile unit, Muhammad Ali Ismail, and his deputy Hossein Ahmed Ismail.
Israel’s attacks in Lebanon have widened to new areas this week.
On Saturday, an airstrike hit the Lebanese mountain town of Bhamdoun, southeast of Beirut, Lebanese lawmaker for the area Mark Daou told Reuters.
The mayor of Bhamdoun, Walid Khayrallah, told Reuters the strike hit a large empty lot and did not cause any casualties.
DEATH TOLL RISES
Hours before the latest barrage, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the United Nations that his country had a right to continue the campaign.
“As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice, and Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely,” he said.
Several delegations walked out as Netanyahu approached the lectern. He later cut short his New York trip to return to Israel.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television reported seven buildings were destroyed.
Hours later, the Israeli military told residents in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate as it targeted missile launchers and weapons storage sites it said were under civilian housing.
Hezbollah denied any weapons or arms depots were located in buildings that were hit in the Beirut suburbs, the group’s media office said in a statement.
Alaa Al-Din Saeed, a resident of a neighborhood that Israel identified as a target, told Reuters he was fleeing with his wife and three children.
“We found out on the television. There was a huge commotion in the neighborhood,” he said. The family grabbed clothes, identification papers and some cash but were stuck in traffic with others trying to flee.
“We’re going to the mountains. We’ll see how to spend the night — and tomorrow we’ll see what we can do.”
Around 100,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced this week, increasing the number uprooted in the country to well over 200,000.
Israel’s government has said that returning some 70,000 Israeli evacuees to their homes is a war aim.
FEAR THE FIGHTING WILL SPREAD
Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and missiles against targets in Israel, including Tel Aviv.
The group said it fired rockets on Friday at the northern Israeli city of Safed, where a woman was treated for minor injuries.
Israel’s air defense systems have ensured the damage has so far been minimal.
Iran, which said Friday’s attack crossed “red lines,” accused Israel of using US-made “bunker-busting” bombs.
At the UN, where the annual General Assembly met this week, the intensification prompted expressions of concern including by France, which with the US has proposed a 21-day ceasefire.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a New York press conference: “We believe the way forward is through diplomacy, not conflict… We will continue to work intentionally with all parties to urge them to choose that course.”
Hezbollah opened the latest bout in a decades-long conflict with a missile barrage against Israel immediately following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza last year.
PADANG TERAP — Dua beranak dikhuatiri lemas selepas dihanyutkan arus deras akibat banjir di Kampung Tanjung Kiri, Jalan Padang Sanai, di sini, hari ini.
Mangsa, Muhammad Rosman Rohaidi, 19, dan ibunya, Salmah Md Zain, 48, dipercayai cuba berpaut pada pokok sebelum dihanyutkan air deras.
Ketua Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Kuala Nerang, Aminuddin Mad Khozari, berkata pihaknya menerima laporan berhubung kejadian itu jam 8.29 pagi.
Beliau berkata, sepasukan 12 anggota dari BBP Kuala Nerang diketuai Pegawai Bomba Kanan (PBK) II Mohd Faizal Che Mie tiba di lokasi tidak lama kemudian.
“Pusat Gerakan Operasi (PGO) Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Kedah menerima panggilan kecemasan melalui talian MERS 999 memaklumkan dua mangsa dihanyutkan air deras akibat banjir kilat.
“Tindakan yang dilakukan adalah dengan melakukan kerja mencari dan menyelamat (SAR) dengan menggunakan bot aluminium,” katanya dalam kenyataan hari ini.
Aminuddin berkata, maklumat berkaitan mangsa akan dimaklumkan dari semasa ke semasa.
Media sebelum ini melaporkan, beberapa lokasi di daerah ini dilanda banjir kilat susulan hujan lebat lebih dua jam yang melanda malam tadi.
Berikutan itu, pasukan penyelamat seperti Angkatan Pertahanan Awam Daerah (APM) dan Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Kuala Nerang melakukan tinjauan di lokasi yang terjejas dinaiki air dan membantu memindahkan mangsa ke tempat selamat.
Sementara itu, seorang saksi, Mohd Amir Mohd Sougelail, 28, berkata penduduk kampung berteriak memanggil dua beranak itu supaya tidak meredah banjir kerana arus sungai sangat deras tetapi mereka tetap meneruskan perjalanan.
“Saya nampak si ibu sempat berpaut pada pokok getah tetapi anaknya berpatah balik untuk mendapatkan ibunya sebelum kedua-duanya hanyut,” katanya ketika ditemui di lokasi kejadian, hari ini.
Mohd Amir berkata, panggilan orang kampung dijawab wanita itu beberapa kali sebelum keadaan menjadi senyap.
“Air deras kerana kampung ini berdekatan Sungai Padang Terap yang melimpah akibat hujan lebat malam tadi,” katanya.
Dua beranak itu dipercayai pulang daripada membeli nasi lemak dan menunggang motosikal menggunakan laluan sejauh lebih tiga kilometer (km) kerana jalan utama ke rumah dinaiki air.
Mereka kemudian meletakkan motosikal di rumah seorang penduduk dan meredah air di laluan bertar yang ditenggelami sehingga paras dada untuk pulang ke rumah.
Laluan berkenaan dikatakan lebih dekat iaitu kira-kira satu km ke rumah mereka.
Muhammad Rosman yang juga OKU lembam tinggal berdua bersama ibunya di Kampung Tanjung Kanan, di sini.
Ketua Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Kuala Nerang, Penolong Penguasa Bomba Aminuddin Mad Khozali berkata, operasi mencari dan menyelamat (SAR) masih dilakukan sehingga jam 11.45 pagi ini.
Katanya, operasi SAR membabitkan 18 anggota dari BBP Kuala Nerang dan dibantu BBP Pokok Sena bersama agensi lain termasuk polis serta Angkatan Pertahanan Awam (APM) dan penduduk kampung.
