Middle East & North Africa

UAE: Iran says at least 103 people killed, 188 wounded in bombing at ceremony honoring slain general

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two bombs exploded minutes apart Wednesday at a commemoration for a prominent Iranian general slain in a U.S. drone strike in 2020, officials in Iran said, killing at least 103 people and wounding at least 188 as the Middle East remains on edge over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Lebanon: Apparent Israeli strike kills senior Hamas figure in Beirut and raises fears conflict could expand

BEIRUT (AP) — An apparent Israeli strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut killed Hamas’ No. 2 political leader Tuesday, marking a potentially significant escalation of Israel’s war against the militant group and heightening the risk of a wider Middle East conflict.

Saleh Arouri, who was the most senior Hamas figure killed since the war with Israel began, was also a founder of the group’s military wing. His death could provoke major retaliation by Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah militia.

Iran Says It Reserves Right To Respond To IRGC Commander’s Assassination

TEHRAN, Jan 2 (NNN-IRNA) – Iran said yesterday, it would reserve the right to respond to the recent assassination of a veteran Iranian commander in Syria “at the appropriate place and time.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, at a weekly press conference in the capital Tehran, condemned Israel for attacking a commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), who was in Damascus to fight terrorism, at the request of the Syrian government.

Only 15% of Israelis want Netanyahu to keep job after Gaza war, poll finds

JERUSALEM, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Only 15% of Israelis want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stay in office after the war on Hamas in Gaza ends, though many more still support his strategy of crushing the militants in the Palestinian enclave, according to a poll published on Tuesday.

Netanyahu promised to crush Hamas after its Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 240 abducted to Gaza. Israeli forces have laid much of Gaza to waste in their nearly three-month retalitory offensive.

Israel to appear before ICJ to counter South Africa's Gaza case

JERUSALEM, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague to contest South Africa's genocide accusations over the war with Hamas in Gaza, an Israeli government spokesman said on Tuesday.

South Africa asked the ICJ on Friday for an urgent order declaring that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its crackdown against Hamas.

Palestinian death toll in Gaza exceeds 22,000: ministry

GAZA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of Palestinians has exceeded 22,000 after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry said in a press statement that the Israeli army killed 207 Palestinians and wounded 338 others in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours.

The new causalities bring the number of Palestinian deaths to 22,185 and injuries to 57,035 since Oct. 7, according to the statement.

Turkey detains 33 people suspected of spying for Israel

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish authorities have detained 33 people suspected of spying for Israel, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported on Tuesday.

Authorities were still searching for 13 others believed to have links to Israel’s Mossad security service, the Anadolu Agency reported.

The suspects were detained in raids in Istanbul and seven other provinces for allegedly planning to carry out activities that included “reconnaissance” and “pursuing, assaulting and kidnapping” foreign nationals living in Turkey, the agency reported.

Lebanon: Hezbollah’s TV station says top Hamas official Saleh Arouri has been killed in a Beirut-area blast

BEIRUT (AP) — The TV station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group says top Hamas official Saleh Arouri was killed Tuesday in an explosion in a southern Beirut suburb.

Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, had headed the group’s presence in the West Bank. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before the Hamas-Israel war began on Oct. 7.

Israeli officials declined to comment.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the blast killed four people and was carried out by an Israeli drone.

Israel: IDF eliminates over 100 militants in 7 days — Netanyahu

TEL AVIV, December 31. /TASS/: In the past 7 days, the Israeli forces eliminated over 100 armed Palestinian radicals in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during the government meeting.

"We completely support our troops. They do a great job fighting this difficult war. In the past week, they eliminated 100 terrorists. It happens every day. Dozens of terrorists are being eliminated every day, sometimes even more. We see this morale, we will destroy Hamas, bring our hostages back and we will win this war," the Prime Minister said.

Egyptian Navy Receives German-Made MEKO-A200 Frigate

CAIRO, Jan 1 (NNN-MENA) – The Egyptian naval forces received yesterday, a new German-made MEKO-A200 frigate, at a base in the coastal province of Alexandria, the Egyptian military said, in a statement.

Built by Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), the frigate delivery procedures were already completed in Bremerhaven, Germany, in mid-Dec, before the warship headed to Egypt.

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