Hezbollah deputy chief gives speech

Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem has started his address.

Main talking points from Hezbollah deputy chief’s speech:

Hezbollah says structure intact despite serious blows

This is the first time we are seeing a high-ranking Hezbollah official since Nasrallah’s assassination.

The message from the armed group is “we have not been defeated” while acknowledging that the group has suffered serious blows. There were setbacks for the group but the structure is still intact and this is something that Naim Qassem made clear.

He said they have still not decided on Nasrallah’s replacement and that there is a process. He did not mention the funeral, a question that a lot of people here have been asking. Will there be a funeral for Nasrallah – a father figure, especially for his supporters?

Qassem had words of assurance for Hezbollah supporters who are asking a lot of questions. We’ve been in the streets of this city and in the southern suburbs of Beirut and people are concerned. They feel that Hezbollah was protecting them.

He was trying to reassure his people that Hezbollah still has the military capabilities to fight, telling Israel it’s not ready to surrender.

Lebanon PM ready to implement 2006 deal on Hezbollah armed presence

The Lebanese government is also ready to fully implement the UNSC Resolution 1701 of 2006 that aimed to end Hezbollah’s armed presence south of the Litani River as part of an agreement to stop war with Israel, Mikati said.

“We in Lebanon are ready to implement 1701, and immediately upon the implementation of the ceasefire, Lebanon is ready to send the Lebanese army to the area south of the Litani River and to carry out its full duties,” Mikati told journalists.

Resolution 1701 ended the monthlong Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006 and called for a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, with only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers maintaining a presence there.

The Litani lies about 30km (about 20 miles) from Lebanon’s southern border.

Lebanese soldier killed in Israeli attack in southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s National News Agency is reporting that a Lebanese army soldier has been killed after he was wounded in an Israeli drone attack on a checkpoint in Wazzani, southern Lebanon.

The army said the Israeli strike targeted a motorcycle he was riding as it went through an army checkpoint in south Lebanon near the border.

“A soldier was killed when a drone belonging to the Israeli enemy targeted a motorcycle as it was passing through … the Lebanese army checkpoint” in the Wazzani area close to the Israeli border, a statement on X said.

It is the first soldier announced killed since Israel began bombing Lebanon heavily last week.

At least 45 people killed in Israeli attack on southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the death toll from an Israeli raid on the southern town of Ain al-Delb, east of Sidon, has risen to 45.

At least 75 people have been wounded.

Separately, the ministry said 12 people were killed and 20 wounded after an Israeli raid on Bekaa town on Sunday night.

Germany justifies Nasrallah’s killing, says every civilian death is ‘one too many’

Amid the growing death toll in Lebanon due to Israel’s intense bombardment, a spokesperson for Germany’s Foreign Ministry says every civilian death is “one civilian death too many”.

Of Nasrallah’s killing, the spokesperson said the attack constituted Israel’s right to defend itself, adding that “Hezbollah is of course a terrorist organisation and it was obviously a meeting of the top leadership of Hezbollah”.

“From which one can assume, even from a distance, that they were planning their further operations,” the spokesperson said.

The ferocious Israeli attack that killed Nasrallah on Friday reduced several residential buildings to rubble in a densely populated civilian area of Beirut’s southern suburbs. The series of massive explosions were the biggest to hit the Lebanese capital in the past year.

So by that logic, it would be justified for Lebanon to flatten the apartment block Ben-Gvir lives in? (National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was convicted of inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization in 2008) Selectively applying international law means there is no international law.

EU foreign ministers to hold emergency meeting over Lebanon

EU foreign ministers will hold emergency talks today to discuss the situation in Lebanon as Israel continues its attacks across the country. A spokesman said the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, will convene a video meeting at 15:00 GMT “to discuss the EU’s response to the latest escalation in Lebanon”.

So far, the 27-nation bloc has struggled to speak with one voice to curb the violence in the region over the past year.

Yeah because part of Western Europe is defending / supporting the ongoing genocide.

UK calls on all sides to ‘step back from the brink’ in Lebanon

The UK says all sides should seek de-escalation and a ceasefire after Israel hit targets in Lebanon with air raids, reiterating that those involved in the conflict “should step back from the brink”.

A spokesperson for PM Starmer said the UK’s support for Israel’s right to self-defence was “ironclad” but that only a ceasefire could restore stability and security to the region.

Translation: We support the continued massacres of civilians, but we'll pretend to want a ceasefire for PR reasons.

Indian writer turns down USAID-funded award in solidarity with Gaza

Jacinta Kerketta, a poet and writer from India, has refused to accept a USAID-funded award in protest against Israel’s war on Gaza, local media reported.

The poet was awarded the 2024 “Room to Read Young Author Award”, jointly funded by USAID and an organisation called the Room to Read India Trust, for her children’s poetry collection titled Jirhul.

She called attention to USAID’s links to arms companies and its role in the war on Gaza.

“I saw that Room to Read India Trust is also associated with Boeing for children’s education. How can [they have ties to the] arms business and care for children continue simultaneously when the world of children is being destroyed by the same weapons,” Indian media outlet The Wire quoted Kerketta as saying.

“Books for children are important, but adults have not been able to save children – thousands of whom are being killed in Palestine,” she added.

British-American author Jhumpa Lahiri, who has Indian origins, recently turned down an award from New York’s Noguchi Museum, citing the firing of employees who wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves in solidarity with people in Gaza.

Death toll rises in Deir el-Balah

At least four people are now confirmed killed following an Israeli strike on the al-Adini family home in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, according to local media reports.

Earlier, we reported that a woman and her child were killed in the attack, which took place in the Hakr al-Jami area of the city.

Two people killed in Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya

At least two people have been killed after an Israeli warplane bombed a school housing displaced people west of Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip, Wafa reports.

Four people were killed in an Israeli attack on a school-turned-shelter yesterday in northern Gaza.

‘Funeral after funeral in the halls of the hospital’

The situation remains difficult and tragic as a result of Israeli attacks overnight and this morning.

More people are being killed in record numbers. Since this morning, we’ve been seeing funeral after funeral in the halls of the hospital. There are more bodies in the morgue as officials wait for family members to arrive and take them for burial.

Additionally, more shelters have been attacked by Israel, deepening the trauma as it plays out this psychological warfare. The Palestinians’ sense of safety is shattered by these attacks.

Palestinian journalist killed by Israeli attack in Deir el-Balah

Palestinian journalist Wafa al-Udaini has been killed following an Israeli air attack on her family’s home in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza. Al-Udaini was killed along with three family members, including two children.

At least 130 journalists and media workers have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, according to Reporters Without Borders.

BREAKING: Journalist Wafa al-Udaini has been killed along with three family members, including two children, in an Israeli airstrike targeting her family's home in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza. Updates will follow. pic.twitter.com/xNsxGpGj5G

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) September 30, 2024

Gaza’s healthcare situation ‘getting worse and worse’

Gaza’s “healthcare sector is still gradually deteriorating” nearly a year on since the war started, according to Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, the deputy medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza.

“Some hospitals are partially damaged. Number of patients is huge. There’s a big issue with medical supplies. All international medical NGOs are suffering from delays in supplies entering Gaza. The situation is getting worse and worse,” he said.

“We have three hospitals partially functioning in the south of the Gaza Strip which are overwhelmed with trauma patients as well as normal patients,” he said.

“There is one hospital in the middle area which is run by the government and serves more than one million people who are sheltering there [in central Gaza]. In the pediatric ward, for example, there are 40 beds for 200 children who are lying on the floor.”

With the world’s attention now shifting to the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, he said he expects the situation to get even more difficult in Gaza.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed 41,615 Palestinians, health ministry say

As Israel expands its war on multiple fronts in the region, strikes in Gaza have shown little sign of abating.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed at least 20 Palestinians and injured another 108 people in the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health there. In total, at least 41,615 Palestinians have been killed and another 96,359 people wounded, the ministry reported on Monday.

The ministry said a number of victims are still under debris and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them. At least 10,000 people are missing and believed to be entombed under rubble in Gaza, according to the Government Media Office there.

Relief workers previously told CNN that damaged roads from Israeli strikes have impeded attempts to reach survivors.

_{Palestinians inspect a vehicle destroyed following an Israeli attack in Khan Younis, Gaza on September 30}

Israeli forces arrest 5 Palestinians in Nablus, storm Qalandiya camp

The Israeli military stormed the eastern and western areas of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, as well as the old Askar camp to the east, where clashes erupted, Wafa reports.

Israeli forces arrested three men in Nablus, while two brothers were arrested after their homes were raided in the camp, it said.

Israeli forces have arrested two men from the Qalandiya camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, while they have also stormed the nearby Shu’fat camp area and begun demolishing structures.

US Embassy in Beirut working to help citizens leave Lebanon

The US Embassy in Beirut says it is working with airlines “to address US citizens’ requests to depart Lebanon by providing additional flights with seats for personal purchase”.

The announcement came on X, and the embassy’s website published a form for the citizens to seek information on the possible assistance. This comes two days after the US Department of State ordered some employees at its embassy in Beirut and family members to leave Lebanon.

The State Department also urged Americans in the country to leave, warning the currently limited options to depart might become unavailable if the security situation worsens.

British base in Cyprus prepares for potential evacuations from Lebanon

Yesterday, pro-Palestinian campaigners protested at the gates of British base Akrotiri, accusing the UK of tacitly supporting Israel’s war in Gaza and bombardment of Lebanon.

The same base has been bolstered in anticipation of any potential evacuation of British nationals from the region, the Reuters news agency reported today. The UK has two military bases in Cyprus, a former British colony. RAF Akrotiri has been used in the past as a staging point for air attacks against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other government ministers have also called on British nationals to leave Lebanon on commercial flights while it is possible. Last week, the UK sent additional troops to Cyprus to assist with potential evacuation of nationals trapped in Lebanon.

‘Israel stands with you’: Netanyahu in video address to Iranians

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a new video addressing Iranians in which he says the Iranian establishment “plunges our region deeper into darkness and deeper into war”.

“Every day, their puppets are eliminated. Ask [Hamas commander] Mohammed Deif, ask [Hezbollah’s Hassan] Nasrallah. There is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach. There is nowhere we will not go to protect our people and protect our country,” Netanyahu said in the video he posted on X.

“With every passing moment, the regime is bringing you – the noble Persian people – closer to the abyss. The vast majority of Iranians know their regime doesn’t care a whit about them,” he said.

Netanyahu added that when Iran is “finally free”, Israel and Iran will be at “peace”, with tourism and technological advancements benefitting both countries.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Muslims around the world to unite and “stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah”, following reports of the killing of the Lebanese group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli air strike on Friday.

In a statement on Saturday, Khamenei condemned Israel’s “criminal” attacks on Lebanon and described its policy as “short-sighted”.

Does he actually believe that or just another provocation. Imagine Putin saying that to Nato countries.
Iran needs reforms, but that's not going to happen under constant threats. China is doing a much better job in that regard.

Israel dragged region into escalation to cover its failures: Syria’s top diplomat

Bassam Sabbagh, Syria’s foreign minister, has told the UN General Assembly in New York that “in an attempt to cover the failure of its war against the Palestinian people”, Israel has chosen to drag the whole region into a serious escalation by attacking Lebanon.

Israel is “benefitting from immunity, impunity and unlimited support provided by certain countries, in particular the United States, in a clear case of hypocrisy and double standards”, he said.

Sabbagh also said the Israeli military operation to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was “cowardly” and “traitorous”.

Lebanon coordinates DNA tests to identify missing in Israel raids

Lebanese authorities have urged the families of people who went missing in Israeli raids to submit their DNA samples at specialised centres to identify the remains of their loved ones.

“To help families of those who went missing following the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and to make the process of identifying victims and their remains smoother,” families should head to centres affiliated with the judicial police “to conduct DNA tests”, the police said in a statement.

For the past week, Israel has heavily bombed the country’s east, south and southern Beirut suburbs, killing hundreds of people and displacing up to one million. On Saturday, Lebanon’s Health Minister Firass Abiad said bodies and body parts were still under the rubble.

Social media users have, meanwhile, called for help to find missing relatives.

Israel’s Gallant says ‘next phase in war against Hezbollah to begin soon’

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has further indicated that Israel is expected to launch a ground offensive in Lebanon. “The next phase in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon,” Gallant told mayors of Israeli northern border communities.

“It will be a significant factor in changing the security situation and will allow us to complete the important [mission] of returning the residents to their homes,” he said.

Death toll in yesterday’s Israeli attacks on Yemen rises

Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports, citing Yemen’s Houthis, that six people were killed and 57 others wounded when Israelis bombed Hodeidah and Ras Isa yesterday.

The previous death toll stood at four.

In a statement yesterday afternoon, the Israeli army said dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, attacked power plants and sea port facilities at the Ras Isa and Hodeidah ports.

_{A large fire and plume of smoke are visible in the port city of Hodeidah, Yemen, on Sunday, September 29}

_{A photographer documents damage to a building that was hit by an Israeli air strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs, in Lebanon on Monday, September 30}

Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel’s Gesher Haziv settlement

The Lebanese armed group says its fighters targeted northern Israel’s Gesher Haziv settlement with a “salvo of rockets”. Earlier, Hezbollah said it had also fired rockets at the northern Israeli town of Safed.

Biden calls for ceasefire amid reports Israel plans to invade Lebanon

Τhe US president has called for a ceasefire when asked about reports that Israel is preparing for a “limited” ground invasion of Lebanon. Joe Biden, asked if he was comfortable with Israel’s plan, replied: “I’m comfortable with them stopping.”

He did not elaborate on how the US plans to halt the conflict, or on the fact that it continues to provide Israel with weapons and billions of dollars in aid.

Blinken declares his support for diplomacy and Nasrallah assassination

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has described the Hezbollah leader as a “brutal terrorist”, saying “the region, the world are safer without him”. His remarks came together with his insistence that “diplomacy remains the best and only path to achieving greater stability in the Middle East.”

He promised the United States would continue working “urgently” to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Pentagon says US still discussing ‘best way forward’ with Israel

The United States and Israel are still in discussions “about the best way forward”, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters, as she referred them to Israel for questions about whether it was planning a ground offensive in Lebanon.

“We’re continuing to engage with them, trying to learn more. We continue discussions on the best way forward,” Singh said at a news briefing. She said the US will send a “few thousand” additional troops to the region to boost security and defend Israel if needed.

The additional troops include squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle, F-16, A-10 and F-22 fighter jets and the personnel needed to support them, Singh said. The jets were supposed to rotate in and replace the squadrons already there. Instead, both the existing and new squadrons will remain in place to double the airpower on hand.

The jets are not there to assist in an evacuation, Singh said, but “are there for the protection of US forces”.

US envoy to UN: We want de-escalation in Middle East

The United States does not want to see violence spread in the Middle East and wants to see a de-escalation, the US envoy to the United Nations has said.

“We want to find a path to peace, so that Palestinians and Israelis have safety and Lebanese and Israelis living on the northern border find security and safety as well,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters.

However, the administration of US President Joe Biden has been approving billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and military aid to Israel.

Critics have called on the US to cut off weapons transfers to Israel, alleging that they make the US complicit in the destruction of Gaza and bombardment of Lebanon.

Actions speak louder than words...


Talks of unlikely truce gives Netanyahu time for more aggression

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, says a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon seems impossible at the moment.

“We can be delusional about it. We can maintain the wishful thinking. We can insist again and again, in order to keep up the appearance of wanting a ceasefire, in order to avoid speaking about a real issue here – aggression, war, violence, genocide,” he said.

He explained that talking of an unlikely truce gives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu time to carry out his ever-changing plans in Lebanon and Gaza.

“Israeli demands grow by the hour. They feel empowered because of the assassination attempts that succeeded, because of the detonation of communication devices that thousands upon thousands of Lebanese people, including many Hezbollah members,” Bishara concluded.