Middle Eastern Headlines at 3:46 a.m. GMT

Associated Press
Updated

Israelis stage heavy airstrikes in Lebanon and Hezbollah launches drone attack on Israel

Latest Stories

  • How defeat in Mali raises doubts about Russia's Wagner in Africa

    STORY: At the end of July, the bodies of dozens of mercenaries from Russia's Wagner group lay in the sand of Mali's desert.:: Near Tinzaouaten, MaliThey were killed in a battle with Tuareg rebels during a sandstorm near the town of Tinzaouaten on the Algerian border.It was a heavy defeat, which analysis has now revealed involved seasoned Russian war veterans.:: Near Aguelhok, Mali:: July 2024That shines a spotlight on the dangers for Russian mercenaries who may have thought that an Africa posting was an easy assignment.And it also casts doubt, analysts say, on Moscow's ability to do any better against separatists and powerful offshoots of Al Qaeda and Islamic State than the Western powers recently expelled by juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.:: Bamako, Mali:: FileJedrzej Czerep, an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, described the defeat as the biggest Wagner has ever suffered in Africa."They were still under the impression that it was essentially an easy fight. They captured Kidal, the northern town in Mali, last year with no fight actually, so they underestimated the quality of the Tuareg fighters that they were facing.":: Near Tinzaouaten, MaliNow, through a combination of publicly available information, interviews with relatives and facial recognition software, Reuters has identified 23 fighters missing in action and two now held in Tuareg captivity.Among them are veterans who had toured in Ukraine, Libya and Syria.Several had survived the siege of Bakhmut in Ukraine, which Wagner's late founder Yevgeny Prigozhin called a "meat grinder." :: PMC Wagner via Telegram:: FileAfter Prigozhin died in August last year, Wagner employees were invited to join a new group.:: Bangui, Central African Republic:: FileIn the Africa Corps, under the defense ministry, recruits could, quote, "fight for justice and the interests of Russia."Wagner's enterprises on the continent have previously involved protecting coup leaders, fighting jihadists and gold mining.Ladd Serwat, an Africa specialist at the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, said civilian fatalities since Wagner formally became Africa Corps have been "incredibly high.""Those have escalated in Mali beyond those that we saw under the leadership of Prigozhin's.":: Niamey, Niger:: FileACLED data shows violent events linked to Russian mercenaries rose 81% and reported civilian fatalities rose 65% over the past year, compared to the year before Prigozhin's death.Czerep says Africa Corps has also conducted a "massive" recruitment drive."And that created this feeling that this was the best opportunity that mercenaries have to be on the safe side, to earn some money, and also to experience this tropical adventure. It may be ironic, but it seems like it's a holiday type of experience.":: FileTuareg rebels, who are fighting for an independent homeland, say they killed 84 Russians and 47 members of Mali's armed forces in the Battle of Tinzaouaten.Grisly footage of dead fighters has since circulated online.Some relatives say the bodies of their husbands and sons have been abandoned in the desert.Lyubov Bazhenova said she was angry with Wagner for sharing no information about the fate of her son Vladimir Akimov, or the whereabouts of his body.Margarita Goncharova said her son, Vadim Evsiukov had served in Ukraine, but had struggled with survivor's guilt and secretly travelled to Africa in April to join his former commander.One of the most experienced men was Alexander Lazarev, who served in wars against Chechen separatists in the 1990s and 2000s according to his wife's posts in a Wagner channel on the social media app Telegram.:: Tabankort, Mali:: FileWagner has acknowledged heavy losses in the Mali ambush but gave no figure. The Malian army also did not give a death toll. The Russian Ministry of Defense, Foreign Ministry and Wagner, did not respond to requests for comment for this story.A spokesman for the Tuareg rebels said their aim is not to harm anyone and that they don't have a problem with Russia, but that it is Russia that has "invited itself into problems that don't concern it."

  • Zelenskiy says Kyiv anticipated Russian counterattack in Kursk

    KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had anticipated Moscow's counteroffensive in the Russian region of Kursk, his first comments on the pushback this week more than a month after Ukraine's cross-border incursion. Ukraine's troops captured an enclave of western Russian territory in a surprise raid that began in early August, a move aimed at wresting the battlefield initiative from Russia including by diverting Moscow's forces from the eastern front. Its forces made rapid initial gains before stalling, while the situation around the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, which has been the focus of Russia's main offensive operations in recent weeks, remained perilous.

  • Israeli official proposes ‘safe passage’ for Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar: Report

    Israel has proposed giving safe passage out of the Gaza Strip to Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar in exchange for freeing hostages it kidnapped from Israel during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack and giving up control of the strip, a senior Israeli official told Bloomberg News on Tuesday. Israel’s hostage envoy, Gal Hirsch, told the media…

  • Hamas says ready to implement ceasefire without new conditions

    The Palestinian Hamas group said on Wednesday that its negotiators reiterated its readiness to implement an "immediate" ceasefire with Israel in Gaza based on a previous U.S. proposal without new conditions from any party. The Palestinian group said in a statement that their negotiation team, led by senior official Khalil al-Hayya, met mediators on Wednesday including Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in Doha to discuss the latest developments in Gaza. Lingering issue include control of the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow stretch of land on Gaza's border with Egypt, persisting.

  • Israel launches multiple airstrikes on southern Lebanon, killing Hezbollah special forces commander

    Israel has launched multiple strikes on southern Lebanon over the last day, including one which killed a senior Hezbollah commander.

  • World must pressure Hamas on Gaza deal, Netanyahu says after group's statement

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that more pressure should be put on Hamas to accept a new Gaza deal proposal, after the Palestinian militant group said it was only willing to implement a ceasefire free of new conditions. The chief U.S. negotiator, CIA head William Burns, said on Saturday that a more detailed ceasefire proposal would be made within several days. On Wednesday, Hamas' negotiation team met the Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Doha and reiterated their readiness to implement an "immediate" ceasefire with Israel in Gaza based on a previous U.S. proposal without new conditions from any party, the group said in a statement.

  • Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian territories kill dozens more

    Israeli airstrikes across Gaza killed dozens more Palestinians on Wednesday, according to local officials. They said strikes on a U.N. school being used as a shelter and two homes killed at least 34 people, including 19 women and children.

  • Spain to host meeting of European and Muslim countries on Palestinian statehood

    The foreign ministers of several Muslim and European countries will meet in Madrid on Friday to discuss how to implement a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Spanish and Norwegian governments said. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares will host the meeting, which will be attended by his European counterparts, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, and members of the Arab-Islamic Contact Group for Gaza.

  • Israel’s crackdown on West Bank insurgency is killing Palestinian youths

    More than 150 teens and children 17 or younger have been killed in the West Bank since Hamas’ brutal attack on communities in southern Israel set off the war last October. Most died in nearly daily raids by the Israeli army that Amnesty International says have used disproportionate and unlawful force.

  • The US-Russia battle for influence in Africa plays out in Central African Republic

    BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Hours after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin rebelled against his country’s top military leaders, his private army’s biggest client in Africa panicked, turning for help to his foe in the West.

  • Gaza carpenter crafts wooden sandals for daughters as war rages

    Twelve-year-old Heba Dawas lost her footwear in the chaos while fleeing Israel's military offensive in Gaza. So her carpenter father made wooden-soled sandals for her so she can tread more safely through the tonnes of rubble, hot sand and twisted metal of the besieged Palestinian enclave. "When we were displaced, we started running and the sandals broke," said Heba, who lives in a tent camp with her family in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

  • Opinion - A cease-fire and hostage deal in Gaza will require a change of framework

    The negotiated deal’s framework allows Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who does not want the war to end, to sabotage it every step of the way.

  • Dozens arrested as Melbourne anti-war protests turn violent

    SYDNEY (Reuters) -Anti-war protesters and police clashed outside a defence exhibition in Australia's second-largest city of Melbourne on Wednesday, with dozens arrested as police used sponge grenades, flash-bang devices and irritant sprays to control parts of the hostile crowd. Two dozen police officers required medical treatment and 39 people had been arrested for offences including assaulting, obstructing or hindering police, arson and blocking roads, Shane Patton Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police told a press conference. Protesters lit fires in the street, disrupted traffic and public transport, while missiles were thrown at several police horses but no serious injuries were reported, police said.

  • As war rages in Gaza, Israel’s crackdown on West Bank insurgency is killing Palestinian youths

    JENIN, West Bank (AP) — In the web of battered, sun-baked streets winding up the hillside, bloodshed is as unrelenting as the heat. So it is not hard to see why, when raid sirens and gunfire erupted yet again on a morning in late May, 15-year-old Mahmoud Hamadneh turned his bike down an alley that held out the promise of refuge.

  • Russia pushes back Ukrainian troops in some areas of Kursk, commander says

    MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian forces have begun a significant counter-offensive against Ukrainian troops who smashed their way into western Russia last month, and have taken some territory back, pro-Moscow war bloggers and a senior Russian commander said. Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two, bursting through the border into the region of Kursk with thousands of troops supported by swarms of drones and heavy weaponry, including Western-made arms. Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya's Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control of about 10 settlements in Kursk, TASS reported.

  • EU top diplomat urges Lebanon and Israel to ease tensions along their border

    BEIRUT (AP) — The European Union’s top diplomat on Thursday urged Lebanon and Israel to work on deescalating tensions along the border, saying that since his last trip to the region in January “the drums of war have not stopped pounding.”

  • 'Simply unconscionable' UK still delivers arms to Israel, says Palestine ambassador

    Palestine's ambassador to the UK has said it is "simply unconscionable" the country continues to deliver arms to Israel. Dr Husam Zomlot, speaking at the TUC conference in Brighton, said Palestine welcomed the UK government's decision to suspend 30 out of 350 arms sale export licences to Israel this week.

  • Israel Needs More Soldiers as Reservists Tire of Constant War

    (Bloomberg) -- Yoav Adomi has spent almost six months on army reserve duty since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, leaving behind his wife, children and insurance-technology job in Tel Aviv.Most Read from BloombergHousing’s Worst Crisis in Decades Reverberates Through 2024 RaceHow Americans Voted Their Way Into a Housing CrisisFor Tenants, AI-Powered Screening Can Be a New Barrier to HousingAfter a Record Hot Summer, Pressure Grows for A/C MandatesFrom Louisville, a Push to Plant Trees for P

  • Israel's 5th strike on same Gaza school 'totally unacceptable,' UN says

    The Al-Jaouni School in Nuseirat in central Gaza was hit by Israeli forces for the fifth time in 11 months on Wednesday night, prompting furious complaints by United Nations leaders. At least 17 people -- including six employees with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as UNRWA -- were killed in the latest strike, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense and UNRWA. Al-Jaouni School -- like many others in the devastated territory -- doubles as a shelter for displaced Palestinians, and according to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres was housing around 12,000 people when it was bombed.

  • Irish premier condemns Israeli attack on aid workers

    Since last October, more than 220 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza.