International

US urges citizens to leave Lebanon on ‘any available ticket’

Published

1 month ago

August 4, 2024

US urges citizens to leave Lebanon on ‘any available ticket’

The US embassy in Beirut has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon on “any ticket available”, amid soaring tensions in the Middle East.

The advisory follows a similar warning from UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said the regional situation “could deteriorate rapidly”.

Iran has vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel, which it blames for the death of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. His assassination came hours after Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

It is feared that Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, could play a heavy role in any such retaliation, which in turn could spark a serious Israeli response.

Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at the town of Beit Hillel in northern Israel at around 00:25 local time on Sunday (22:25 BST Saturday) .

Footage posted on social media showed Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system intercepting the rockets. There have been no reports of casualties.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry has also issued advice to its citizens, telling those in Lebanon to leave immediately and warning others not to travel there.

Canada has warned its nationals to avoid travel to Israel, on top of existing advice against going to Lebanon, because the “situation can deteriorate further without warning” in the region.

The US embassy stated on Saturday that those who choose to stay in Lebanon should “prepare contingency plans” and be prepared to “shelter in place for an extended period of time”.

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It said that several airlines have suspended and cancelled flights, and many have sold out, but “commercial transportation options to leave Lebanon remain available”.

The Pentagon said it was deploying additional warships and fighter jets to the region to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies.

The UK said it was sending extra military personnel, consular staff and border force officials to help with any evacuations – but urged UK citizens to leave Lebanon “while commercial flights are running”.

Two British military ships are already in the region and the Royal Air Force has put transport helicopters on standby.

Mr Lammy said it was “in no-one’s interest for this conflict to spread across the region”.

Meanwhile in Gaza, at least 17 people in a school sheltering displaced persons were killed by an Israeli strike, the Hamas-run authorities said on Saturday.

The Israeli military says the Hamama school in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood was being used as a command centre for militants. Hamas has denied it operates from civilian facilities.

Israeli ministers were sent home this weekend with satellite phones in case of an attack on the country’s communication infrastructure.

In April, Iran launched an air attack on Israel using 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles and at least 110 ballistic missiles.

That was in retaliation for the Israeli bombing of an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria.

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Many fear Iran’s retaliation on this occasion could take a similar form.

In a phone call with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell on Friday, Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Baqeri Kani said Iran would “undoubtedly use its inherent and legitimate right” to “punish” Israel.

On Friday, an announcer on Iran’s state TV warned “the world would witness extraordinary scenes”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Israelis that “challenging days lie ahead… We have heard threats from all sides. We are prepared for any scenario”.

Tensions between Israel and Iran initially escalated with the killing of 12 children and teenagers in a strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel accused Hezbollah and vowed “severe” retaliation, though Hezbollah denied it was involved.

Days later, senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in a targeted Israeli air strike in Beirut. Four others, including two children, were also killed.

Hours after that, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran, Hamas’s main backer. He was visiting to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

At a funeral ceremony for Haniyeh in Tehran on Thursday, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the prayers. He had earlier vowed that Israel would suffer a “harsh punishment” for the killing.

US urges citizens to leave Lebanon on ‘any available ticket’

BBC

International

Nurse escapes gang-rape attempt in Indian hospital, cuts doctor’s private parts with blade

Published

6 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Trends Admin

Nurse escapes gang-rape attempt in Indian hospital, cuts doctor’s private parts with blade

A month after a trainee doctor was raped and m8rdered in Kolkata, India, sparking anger and protests nationwide, a gang-rape attempt was made on a nurse at a private hospital in Bihar.

Police said one of the assaulters is a doctor who is also the administrator of the institution. However, the nurse managed to escape after inflicting a cut on his private parts with a blade.

The nurse was wrapping up work at the RBS Health Care Centre in Gangapur under the Musrighararari police station limits in Samastipur district on Wednesday night when hospital administrator Dr Sanjay Kumar (pictured) and two of his associates – all of whom were drunk – tried to r@pr her.

Trying to free herself from the clutches of Dr Kumar and the others, the nurse used a blade to slash at the doctor’s genitals.

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She managed to escape and dial the police after hiding in a field outside the hospital

Deputy Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar Pandey said a team was rushed to the hospital and, after making sure that the nurse was safe, three people were arrested, including the doctor. The other two accused have been identified as Sunil Kumar Gupta and Awadhesh Kumar.

Mr Pandey said the men had locked the hospital from the inside and turned off the CCTV cameras before trying to s3xually ass@ult the nurse.

“The presence of mind and courage shown by the survivor is praiseworthy,” he said.

The police have recovered half a bottle of liquor, the blade used by the nurse, blood-stained clothes and three cellphones.

Officials said the three men had been drinking before trying to assault the nurse and they will also be charged under prohibition laws because Bihar is a dry state.

Doctor Sanjay is also the organization minister of Hindu Samaj Party.

Nurse escapes gang-rape attempt in Indian hospital, cuts doctor’s private parts with blade

International

Israeli leaflets tell south Lebanon residents to evacuate

Published

11 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Trends Admin

Lebanon's Hezbollah has traded near-daily fire with Israeli forces in support of ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack triggered war in the Gaza Strip. (File/AFP)

Israeli leaflets tell south Lebanon residents to evacuate

BEIRUT: Israel dropped leaflets over a Lebanon border village Sunday urging residents to leave, state-run media said, but Israel’s military told AFP a brigade had taken the initiative without approval.

It was the first time Israelis had told residents of south Lebanon to evacuate in 11 months of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israel over the Gaza war, triggered by Hezbollah ally Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

“The Israeli enemy dropped leaflets over Wazzani calling on those in the area and its surroundings to evacuate,” the official National News Agency said, referring to a southern border village.

Wazzani mayor Ahmed Al-Mohammed shared with AFP a picture of the leaflets that showed a map of the region with the areas marked for evacuation marked in red.

The leaflet read in Arabic: “To all residents and refugees living in the area of the camps, Hezbollah is firing from your region. You must immediately leave your homes and head north of the Khiam region before 04:00 p.m. (1300 GMT). Do not return to this area until the end of the war.”

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It added: “Anyone present in this area after this time will be considered a terrorist.”

Wazzani is an agricultural region where Syrians are often hired to work the land.

Asked about the incident, an Israeli military spokeswoman said the leaflets had been dropped by drone in an area from which rockets had been fired into northern Israel.

“This was an initiative of the 769 Brigade, it was not approved by the Northern Command. An investigation has been opened,” she added.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli aircraft regularly drop leaflets urging residents to evacuate before an attack.

On Saturday, Hezbollah’s second-in-command Naim Qassem warned that an all-out war by Israel aimed at returning 100,000 displaced people to their homes in areas near the Lebanon border would displace “hundreds of thousands” more Israelis.

The cross-border violence since early October has killed 623 people in Lebanon, mostly fighters but also including at least 141 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.

Israeli leaflets tell south Lebanon residents to evacuate

ARAB NEWS

International

Deadly floods hit Central, Eastern Europe

Published

12 hours ago

September 16, 2024

Trends Admin

Deadly floods hit Central, Eastern Europe

A firefighter died during a flood rescue in Austria and one person drowned in Poland, as torrential rain caused by Storm Boris continued to wreak havoc across Central and Eastern Europe.

In Romania, five people have died, while several remain unaccounted for in the Czech Republic.

The Austrian province surrounding Vienna has been declared a disaster area, with its leaders speaking of “an unprecedented extreme situation”.

Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk declared a state of natural disaster.

Some of the worst rainfall has been in the Czech Republic, where some areas have seen around three months’ rainfall in just three days.

Evacuations are under way and four people remain missing – three in a car which disappeared into a river in North Moravia, and one man who was swept into a flooded stream in South Moravia.

Marek Joch, a resident of Lipov in the southeast, said the town was “closed from all sides” and the “next wave” of the flood is still to come.

“Now everyone is trying to clean up as quickly as possible to prevent further large spills from the river. Unfortunately, no one knows when the water will recede.

“We still have to survive until Tuesday, this is not the end.”

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Jesenik, a town located in the Jeseniky mountains, is described as completely cut off, with roads and rail lines underwater.

Around 17,000 people in the Kłodzko area alone are without power, and internet and mobile telephone connections are down.

Several dozen police and firefighters in Prague were called to rescue a man who went swimming in the flooded Vltava at 7am on Sunday.

On Saturday, police in North Moravia were called after three men were spotted wading into the flooded River Odra on paddleboards.

The mayor of Slobozia Conachi, a village in Romania’s south-eastern Galati region, said 700 homes had been flooded.

“This is a catastrophe of epic proportions,” Emil Dragomir said.

Four people were killed in Galati on Saturday, with a fifth death confirmed on Sunday.

In Austria, governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner said a firefighter had died while pumping out a flooded cellar.

She said the whole of the Lower Austria province has been declared a catastrophe zone.

Multiple trains have been cancelled, parts of the Vienna underground have been closed, and at least one motorway has flooded.

In a post on X, Austria‘s Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the storm situation had “worsened” and was “very serious.”

In the Polish town of Stronie Slaskie, a dam has been breached, releasing a torrent of water that has destroyed at least one house, the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management said.

In the same town a bridge collapsed, funnelling water through the streets.

“Soldiers supporting the local population are cut off from their land route back,” the Polish Ministry of Defence said.

“Many residents have to be evacuated from the roofs of their homes.”

In Glucholazy, in the southwest, the mayor of the town said the local river had overflowed its banks and was flooding the town.

A resident of the town, Zofia Owsiaka, said everyone was “scared” and there seemed to be “no hope of the rain stopping”.

In Krakow, Poland’s second largest city, residents have been offered sandbags for flood protection.

Speaking from the town of Klodzko, one of the worst-affected areas, Tusk said 1600 people in the district had been evacuated.

A total of 17,000 people in the area are without power, he said, and in parts Starlink satellites links are being used to maintain mobile phone signal and internet connections.

He added that a helicopter had been sent to help with rescue efforts in regional capital Wroclaw.

On Sunday, the mayor of Klodzko announced that his town had “lost the battle” against the floods, and that the situation had become “critical”.

Why has Storm Boris been so devastating?

Storm Boris has already brought extreme amounts of rain across central and eastern Europe, with more downpours forecast until at least the end of Monday.

The storm has been so devastating for two reasons.

Firstly, cold air from the north has mixed with moisture drawn up from the unusually warm waters of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Secondly, an area of low pressure has been stuck in a blocked weather pattern, meaning it is trapped between high pressure to both the west and east.

Following extreme flooding in 2021, the World Weather Attribution Network concluded that the warming climate meant the likelihood and intensity of such events in Europe was increasing.