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  • Yazidi woman freed from Gaza after decade in captivity

    A 21-year-old woman kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Iraq a decade ago was freed from Gaza this week in a secret operation months in the making that involved Israel, the United States and Iraq, officials said. The woman is a member of the ancient Yazidi religious minority mostly found in Iraq and Syria which saw more than 5,000 members killed and thousands more kidnapped in an IS campaign in 2014 that the U.N. has said constituted genocide. She was freed after more than four months of efforts that involved several attempts that failed due to the difficult security situation resulting from Israel's military offensive in Gaza, Silwan Sinjaree, chief of staff of Iraq's foreign minister, told Reuters.

  • Iran fires at least 180 missiles into Israel as regionwide conflict grows

    JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatens to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.

  • An American bomb from WWII explodes at a Japanese airport, leaving a crater on the taxiway

    TOKYO (AP) — An unexploded U.S. bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights, Japanese officials said.

  • What calculations stand behind Tehran's massive missile strike on Israel?

    Some critics have cynically described Iran’s missile strike as an elaborate, expensive spectacle intended for public consumption. Others are worried this is the final nail in the coffin that will spark the region's biggest war in decades. But why did Tehran choose to escalate now?

  • Israel bars U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from country over response to Iran attack

    Israel Wednesday banned U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres from entering the country because in Israel's opinion he was not sufficiently unequivocal about condemning Iran's missile attack on Israel.

  • Exclusive-Iran's Khamenei warned Nasrallah of Israeli plot to kill him, sources say

    Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Hezbollah leader Syyed Hassan Nasrallah to flee Lebanon days before he was killed in an Israeli strike and is now deeply worried about Israeli infiltration of senior government ranks in Tehran, three Iranian sources said. In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Hezbollah's booby-trapped pagers on Sept. 17, Khamenei sent a message with an envoy to beseech the Hezbollah secretary general to leave for Iran, citing intelligence reports that suggested Israel had operatives within Hezbollah and was planning to kill him, one of the sources, a senior Iranian official, told Reuters.

  • Exclusive-Gulf states sought to reassure Iran of their neutrality in Iran-Israel conflict, sources say

    Gulf Arab states sought to reassure Iran of their neutrality in the conflict between Tehran and Israel in meetings in Doha this week on the back of concerns that a wider escalation in violence could threaten their oil facilities, two sources told Reuters. Ministers from Gulf Arab states and Iran attending a meeting of Asian nations hosted by Qatar centred their conversations around de-escalation, the sources said. The Islamic Republic launched its largest ever assault on Israel on Tuesday in what it said was retaliation for Israel's assassination of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and its operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

  • Macron condemns Iran's attacks, mobilises French military in Middle East

    French President Emmanuel Macron has said he strongly condemns Iran's latest attacks on Israel, adding that France has mobilised military resources in the Middle East.In a statement released Wednesday, Macron reiterated France's demand that the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah cease its terrorist actions against Israel and its population. The French president also insited that Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity be reinstated in strict compliance with United Nations Security Council

  • Israel presses forward on two fronts and reports 8 combat deaths as fears of a wider war mount

    BEIRUT (AP) — Israel pressed forward on two fronts Wednesday, pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah that left eight Israeli soldiers dead and conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. As Israel vowed to retaliate for Iran’s ballistic missile attack a day earlier, the region braced for further escalation.

  • UN calls Israel's ban on its top leader a political statement in long-running rift

    UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations on Wednesday called Israel’s ban on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres entering the country a political statement by its foreign minister and stressed that the world body’s contacts with Israel will continue “because they have to.”

  • Democratic senator worried Netanyahu trying to ‘influence’ US election

    Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) says he’s worried Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be trying to influence the U.S. presidential election by showing little interest in striking a peace deal with Hamas and instead escalating the threat of a broader war in the Middle East by aggressively confronting Hezbollah in Lebanon. Murphy acknowledged that the…

  • US warns Iran at UN: don't target us or Israel

    STORY: :: The U.S. 'strongly' warns Iran notto take further actions against Israel:: October 2, 2024:: Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N."This is a moment for this council to speak out with one voice and condemn Iran for its unprovoked attack against another member state and equally important, to impose serious consequences on the IRGC for its actions.""As President Biden emphasized, following yesterday's attack, the United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel. Our actions have been defensive in nature. Let me be clear. The Iranian regime will be held responsible for its actions, and we strongly warn against Iran or its proxies taking actions against the United States or further actions against Israel."The 15-member council met after Israel killed the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah and began a ground assault against the Iran-backed militant group and Iran attacked Israel in a strike that raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

  • Iranian president, visiting Qatar, aims to rally opposition to Israeli 'crimes'

    DUBAI (Reuters) -Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned of a strong response from Tehran to any further Israeli actions against it and sought to rally Asian countries to its side as he visited Qatar on Wednesday. Pezeshkian arrived in Qatar a day after Iran fired waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, and Israel stepped up its war with Tehran's proxy Hezbollah by sending troops over the border into Lebanon.

  • Javier Bardem on Gaza: ‘We cannot remain indifferent’ in call for hostage release and cease-fire

    Javier Bardem was no longer comfortable being silent on Gaza.

  • Israel could launch a counterattack on Iran within days — but there's a key reason Netanyahu has less to fear this time

    A potential attack comes in the wake of Iran's air assault on Tuesday, in which Tehran reportedly fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel.

  • Gazan buried as only known victim of Iranian barrage against Israel

    JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) -A 38-year-old Gazan, the only known fatality in Iran's missile attack against Israel, was buried on Wednesday. Sameh Khadr Hassan Al-Asali had been staying in a Palestinian security forces compound in the occupied West Bank when he was killed by falling missile debris during Tuesday's attack, which Israel said was largely thwarted by its air defence systems. Around 700 workers from Gaza have been staying in Jericho, in the Jordan Valley, since the start of the war in Gaza almost a year ago.

  • Middle East latest: UN ponders how to calm the conflict as Israel battles militants on two fronts

    The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting Wednesday to address the spiraling conflict in the Middle East.

  • Girl, 9, calls for end to violence from her hospital bed

    Amid Israel's intensifying strikes on Lebanon, the civilian toll keeps rising, with many civilians bearing the brunt of the violence. Nine-year-old Mariam Kashami is among the injured, currently in a hospital in southern Lebanon. Her leg has been shattered, and her arm is supported by metal pins. She recalls the moment an Israeli missile hit her family’s home.

  • US backs Israel's operations in Lebanon despite risk of expanding conflict

    The Biden administration believes it is appropriate for Israel to continue with its ground and air attacks on Hezbollah for now, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday, even as he acknowledged the risk of the operation in Lebanon expanding beyond Israel's current aims. Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday after two weeks of intense airstrikes in a worsening conflict that has drawn in Iran and risks sucking in the United States. Speaking at a regular press briefing, Miller said the nature of all conflicts was "fluid" and "unpredictable" and therefore it was impossible to say how long it would take Israel to achieve its stated goal of clearing Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon, allowing it to return Israelis displaced from their homes across the border by months of rocket fire.

  • Tehran says G7 statement on Iran's missile attack on Israel is 'biased'

    DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran views the Group of Seven (G7) condemnation of its attack on Israel as "biased and irresponsible", Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Thursday. Iran launched more than 180 missiles at Israel on Tuesday in what it said was retaliation for the killings of militant leaders and aggression in Gaza and Lebanon.