Israeli commando unit abducts Lebanese maritime student – Newstrends
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Israeli commando unit abducts Lebanese maritime student

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Lebanese soldiers inspect the beach at a reported landing site for a "naval commando force" which abducted a Lebanese mariner according to a military source, in the northern coastal town of Batroun on November 2, 2024. (AFP)

Israeli commando unit abducts Lebanese maritime student

BEIRUT: A Lebanese maritime student was abducted in Batroun, northern Lebanon, by Israeli commandos, authorities said on Saturday

 

Axios news portal reported that “the abductee was taken to be questioned on Hezbollah’s naval activities,” citing an Israeli official.

 

Leaked information identified the abductee as Imad Amhaz, a student at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute in Batroun, who was in his parents’ house at the time of the incident.

 

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said an “unidentified military force carried out a sea landing on the shore of Batroun, went with all its weapons and equipment to a chalet near the beach, and kidnapped a Lebanese man.”

 

According to a Lebanese military source and based on shared CCTV footage, the operation involved 20 to 25 commandos.

 

Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transportation Ali Hamieh said that “the sea is under supervision, and we are waiting for the outcome of the investigations.”

 

Hamieh added that the Lebanese government will contact UNIFIL to know whether the operation was carried out in cooperation with the UN peacekeeping force.

 

A UNIFIL spokesperson said the force “has not been involved in facilitating any kidnapping or other violation of Lebanese sovereignty. Disinformation and false rumors are irresponsible and put peacekeepers at risk.”

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An Israeli official told Axios that “the Israeli Navy SEALs captured Imad Amhaz — a senior member of Hezbollah’s naval force — in an operation in northern Lebanon.”

Lebanon accused Israel of carrying out the operation and violating Lebanese territorial waters, despite the presence of a UNIFIL maritime task force.

 

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and 15 others were wounded on Saturday in an Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s southern Beirut stronghold.

 

The ministry announcement came as the official National News Agency said the “Israeli enemy launched a raid near Karout Mall … in the southern suburbs of Beirut.”

 

A residential building was hit near the Galerie Semaan crossroads in Beirut’s southern suburb — an area struck for the first time.

 

Elsewhere, Israeli planes raided several buildings and apartments near the Imam Hussein Complex in Tyre, destroying them completely and injuring civilians.

 

Raids also targeted a house in Tebnine, near the governmental hospital, killing two people, severely injuring others, and significantly damaging the hospital and nearby buildings.

 

In Bekaa, the raids carried out by the Israeli military on Baalbek and its surroundings in the last 48 hours damaged the Roman wall outside the Temple of Baalbek, near the Gouraud Barracks, causing about 30 meters of the wall to collapse and severely damaging the historical monument.

 

Israel’s Channel 13 reported that “around 180 missiles have been launched from Lebanon toward the Galilee, Haifa and Acre since Saturday morning.”

 

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee claimed on X that Israel eliminated Mueen Moussa Ezzeddin, the commander of the coastal sector of Hezbollah, and Hassan Majid Dhiab, the artillery commander in the area, who was responsible for the launches toward the outskirts of Haifa on Thursday. He accused both of being “responsible for firing over 400 rocket shells toward Israeli territory over the past month.”

 

Adraee reported that “over the past 24 hours, (Israeli forces) targeted anti-tank missile launch sites, terrorists, military buildings, weapons depots, and Hezbollah command centers deep in and south of Lebanon.”

 

Israeli reconnaissance aircraft consistently operated in Lebanese airspace, particularly over Beirut, the southern suburbs, the southern region, Bekaa, and extending to the north.

 

The Israeli military reiterated its warnings to displaced individuals against returning to their homes.

 

The death toll resulting from Israeli attacks on Lebanon reached 2,897 with 13,150 injured as of Friday.

 

Additional raids targeted once again the Al-Qaa to Jousieh border crossing, which connects Lebanon to Syria, putting it completely out of service.

 

The crossing is among six legal crossings that connect Lebanon to Syria, and leads to the Al-Qusayr district in western Homs on the Syrian side.

 

The crossing had been previously put out of service about a week ago, when Israeli raids targeted it from the Syrian side, killing four members of the Syrian military intelligence.

 

Israel claims that it is bombing border crossings “because Hezbollah is using them to transport weapons from Syria to Lebanon.”

 

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “Israeli targets included most illegal land crossings to prevent the entry of supplies to Lebanon.

 

“There is ongoing Israeli aerial surveillance of crossings and the border area closely.”

 

The observatory said that since Sep. 26, “Israel has targeted the Syrian-Lebanese border with 31 raids, destroying many sites, putting several legal and illegal crossings out of service, and killing 28 people, including four Hezbollah members and four Syrians working with the militant party.”

 

It noted that “the Israeli raids put the main Masnaah-Jdeidet Yabous crossing between both countries out of service, as it was targeted twice,” adding that “the crossing is currently limited to pedestrians.”

 

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said the group targeted “the city of Safed and the Glilot base associated with Military Intelligence Unit 8200 in the outskirts of Tel Aviv, as well as the settlements of Dalton, Be’er Ya’akov, Sha’al, Yesud HaMa’ala, Bar Yohai (Safsaf), and the Kiryot area north of Haifa.”

 

Hezbollah announced that it launched “an aerial assault with a fleet of attack drones on the Palmachim Airbase, south of Tel Aviv.”

 

Additionally, it targeted “the Zevulon military industries base north of Haifa with qualitative missile salvo twice in a row, and it conducted an aerial attack with a squadron of attack drones on the Shraga base north of the city of Acre.”

 

Sirens sounded in 20 towns in northern Israel following a missile barrage from southern Lebanon.

 

The Israeli military announced that it “detected 15 missile launches from southern Lebanon and successfully intercepted the majority of them.”

 

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported “explosions heard in Acre, Nahariya, the Haifa Bay, and several towns in Galilee.”

 

The Israeli Air Force said it was “pursuing several drones that breached the airspace from Lebanon.”

 

Israeli media reported that the “David’s Sling system was activated to intercept missiles launched from Lebanon toward the Tel Aviv area.”

 

Hezbollah rockets targeted a building in the Arab town of Al-Tira, located approximately 25 km northeast of Tel Aviv, resulting in injuries to 19 individuals on Friday night.

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Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

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Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

BEIRUT: Israeli strikes pounded a densely-populated part of the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs on Tuesday, hours ahead of an anticipated announcement of a ceasefire ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

A strike on Beirut hit the Noueiri district with no evacuation warning and killed at least one person, Lebanon’s health ministry said in a preliminary toll.

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Minutes later, at least 10 Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs. They began approximately 30 minutes after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for 20 locations in the area, the largest such warning yet.

As the strikes were under way, Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the air force was conducting a “widespread attack” on Hezbollah targets across the city.

 

Israeli strikes pound central Beirut, suburbs

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Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

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President-elect Donald Trump

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has fiercely criticised the legal cases brought against him, calling them “empty and lawless”.

He accused Democrats of weaponising the judicial system to target him as a political opponent.

In a strongly worded statement, Trump alleged that over $100 million in taxpayer money had been wasted in what he described as a politically driven effort to undermine his influence.

“Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before,” he said, pointing to high-profile prosecutors, including Georgia’s Fani Willis and New York Attorney General Letitia James, as key figures in what he called a “political hijacking.”

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Trump also accused Willis of colluding with Nathan Wade, whom he described as “her lover” and lacking the experience to handle such cases.

He claimed Wade was paid “millions,” allegedly enabling lavish trips and cruises.

Letitia James, who is pursuing a civil fraud case against Trump, was also criticised.

He claimed she had campaigned on a promise to “get Trump” in her bid for office, an action he labelled “unethical” and “probably illegal.”

Trump also mentioned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, alleging that Bragg initially resisted prosecuting him but was pressured into action by the Justice Department and the Democratic Party.

Describing the series of legal actions as a “low point in the history of our Country,” Trump maintained his resolve, declaring: “I persevered, against all odds, and WON.”

 

Over $100m wasted, Trump mocks Democrats for targeting him

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US-based Nigerians get 30-year sentence over $3.5m romance scam

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US-based Nigerians get 30-year sentence over $3.5m romance scam

A United States federal jury sentenced two Nigerians, Anthony Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu, to 30 years in prison for scamming certain US citizens $3,500,000.

This was mentioned in a news statement made public on the US Department of Justice website on Monday.

According to the statement, the Nigerians, Ibekie and Aniukwu mislead their victims by informing them that they had received big inheritances that required payment to claim.

The couple would then ask their victims to transfer money, promising to refund them after the inheritances were claimed.

It also stated that the duo carried out romance scams by establishing romantic relationships with their victims and demanding them to send money after they had built trust in their victims.

It read, “An undercover law enforcement investigation has resulted in federal prison sentences for two Nigerian nationals residing in the Chicago suburbs who conducted online inheritance scams and other fraud schemes.

“Using aliases, Anthony Emeka Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu communicated with victims throughout the United States, convincing them they had received substantial inheritances and needed to send money to individuals associated with the defendants in order to claim it.

“In addition to the inheritance scam, the pair carried out an online romance scam that involved communicating with victims via social media and dating websites, building trust with the victims through a purported online romance, and convincing them to send money to a predetermined recipient. Aniukwu and Ibekie also orchestrated a ‘business email compromise’ scam that targeted corporate email accounts.

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“The fraud schemes were uncovered by a covert law enforcement investigation. The scams resulted in losses to victims of at least $3.5 million.”

According to the statement, after being arraigned on 14 charges, the duo pleaded guilty to their different alterations.

Following their guilty pleas, Ibekie was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday, and Aniukwu was sentenced to 10 years in prison on November 8.

The statement continued, “A federal jury earlier this year convicted Ibekie, 59, of Oswego, Illinois, on all 14 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements to a bank, and passport fraud. U.S. District Judge Steven C. Seeger on Thursday sentenced Ibekie to 20 years in federal prison.

“Aniukwu, 50, of Romeoville, Illinois, pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud and money laundering charges. Judge Seeger on Nov. 8, 2024, sentenced Aniukwu to 10 years in prison.”

Meanwhile, Jennifer Gosha, an accomplice of the Nigerians and a US citizen, is expected to be sentenced on December 18 after pleading guilty.

“A third defendant, Jennifer Gosha, 52, a U.S. citizen from Oak Park, Ill., pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of wire fraud and making false statements to a federal agent. Gosha is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Seeger on December 18, 2024,” the statement concluded.

 

US-based Nigerians get 30-year sentence over $3.5m romance scam

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