The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Israel

  • Biden directs U.S. forces to aid Israel’s defence against Iran

    Biden directs U.S. forces to aid Israel’s defence against Iran

    The White House in a statement said President Joe Biden has directed U.S. forces to aid Israel’s defence against Iran, which launched missile attacks against the Jewish state.

    Sean Savett, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson said Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris “are monitoring the Iranian attack against Israel from the White House Situation Room & receiving regular updates from their national security team.”

    Read Also: Israeli PM vows retaliation against Iranian missile attack

    Accordinnng to the spokesperson, Biden has “directed the U.S. military to aid Israel’s defence against Iranian attacks & shoot down missiles targeting Israel.”

    The statement came as Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said it had targeted Israel with dozens of ballistic missiles.

    (Xinhua/NAN)

  • Israel launches fresh strikes on Beirut as tension flares

    Israel launches fresh strikes on Beirut as tension flares

    Israel has launched fresh series of attacks on the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Wednesday.

    The army made the announcement on social media platform X, saying it was attacking terrorist targets in Beirut.

    The army issued multiple evacuation orders for people living in several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs in the early hours of Wednesday.

    There were initially no reports of casualties or damage.

    Read Also: Israeli PM vows retaliation against Iranian missile attack

    The strikes came hours after Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel, firing around 180 rockets on Tuesday evening, according to initial estimates by the Israeli army.

    Iran said the attack was in retaliation for the killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.

    It also warned of devastating and destructive attacks if Israel responded.

    Iran’s attack came hours after the Israel Defence Forces began a limited, localised ground operation against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

    The continued escalation has heightened fears that the region is on the brink of all-out regional war. (dpa/NAN)

  • Israeli PM vows retaliation against Iranian missile attack

    Israeli PM vows retaliation against Iranian missile attack

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel would retaliate against Iran’s missile attack, during which 180 missiles were fired toward Israel.

    “Iran made a big mistake, and it will pay for it,” said Netanyahu during a Security Cabinet meeting, which discussed Israel’s ground campaign in Lebanon and possible responses to Iran’s missile attack.

    At a press briefing earlier, the Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari confirmed that several Iranian missiles hit central and southern Israel, and “quite a few” were intercepted by air defence systems.

    A 38-year-old Palestinian was killed as one of the missiles exploded near Jericho city in the occupied West Bank, local Civil Defence said.

    There has been no immediate report of fatalities within Israel yet.

    Read Also: Russia ‘strongly condemns’ Israeli ground operation in Lebanon

    The Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed that it had targeted Israel with dozens of ballistic missiles on Tuesday.

    The IRGC said in a statement that the attacks were in retaliation for Israel’s assassinations of resistance leaders, including Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

    Also for senior IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan, as well as its intensification of “malicious acts” with the U.S. support in its offensives against Lebanese and Palestinian peoples. (Xinhua/NAN)

  • Russia ‘strongly condemns’ Israeli ground operation in Lebanon

    Russia ‘strongly condemns’ Israeli ground operation in Lebanon

    Russia on Tuesday said that it “strongly condemned” Israel’s ground operation in Lebanon, calling on Tel Aviv to immediately cease hostilities and withdraw its troops from the country.

    “Russia strongly condemns the attack on Lebanon and calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately cease hostilities, withdraw troops from Lebanese territory and engage in a genuine search for peaceful ways to resolve the Middle East conflict,” said a Foreign Ministry statement.

    The statement said the “combined nature” of the offensive, which it said was an invasion involving all branches of Israel’s armed forces, suggests that the number of casualties will steadily rise.

    It further said that the offensive will lead to an ever greater escalation of violence in the Middle East.

    “We express solidarity with the leadership and people of friendly Lebanon, which has been subjected to armed aggression. We sincerely send our condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” the statement added.

    Read Also: Iran says no need sending forces to Gaza, Lebanon to confront Israel

    Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 1,000 people and injuring over 2,900 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

    Several Hezbollah leaders have been killed in the assault, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah.

    Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, most of them women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.

    The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.

    Newsnow

  • Israel, Iran, Hezbollah and World War III

    Israel, Iran, Hezbollah and World War III

     In the past few weeks, and up till the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a Beirut strike, Israel has almost completely decapitated the leaderships of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. But in doing so, it has made the imminence of all-out regional war in the Middle East nearly inevitable. Shiites in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza will probably unite against Israel, deploying indiscriminate force. For the Iranian-led axis of resistance, success will, however, be qualified. Iran itself will be more calculating, undoubtedly chastened by how the ’empire’ it was attempting to carve out in the region is being taken apart. If it miscalculates, it could also become a direct victim, particularly its armament programme, including its nuclear bomb project. After the 2006 war with Hezbollah, Israel learnt its lessons from the one-month war and began to prepare for the next conflict in Lebanon they knew would be unavoidable. The effort bore fruits in the manner it penetrated the Hezbollah leadership and dismantled it in a matter of weeks.

    Read Also: Alleged planned attack on University of Abuja campus false – Police

    Iran has sounded the bugle for its regional allies to join forces in eradicating Israel. Only its allies will heed the call, perhaps taking cognisance of the Sunni-Shiite divide. The other powers in the region deeply distrust and loathe Iran’s regional ambition. While they may sound concerned about Israeli aggression, they will only pay lip service to the mustering of a countervailing force. For them, Israel wants to defend its territory, while Iran wants to be the dominant regional power influencing and meddling in Middle Eastern affairs. They will choose carefully, just as they feigned neutrality during the Iran-Iraq war. They are wary enough to know that it’s all about politics, not strictly religion or territorial dispute.

    Could the all-out war in the region lead to World War III? It is unlikely, even if the United States is sucked in. What is happening is that Iran is being baited to be destroyed, particularly if it joins the fray directly. Should it take up the gauntlet, it may in fact take Yemen down with it, but the crisis will in the end be contained. The Israeli-Gaza-West Bank-Hezbollah affair will in the years ahead recrudesce if no solution is found after this round of fighting, while the Middle East, and particularly Lebanon, will change in profound ways reminiscent of the era when the United States blundered into Iraq in the long-running Shiite-Sunni battle for regional supremacy.   

  • Hezbollah launches 85 missiles from Lebanon deep into Israel

    Hezbollah launches 85 missiles from Lebanon deep into Israel

    •Jewish state’s airstrikes continue on terrorist targets

    Hezbollah yesterday launched around 85 missiles from Lebanon into the Haifa area – the deepest into Israel since the beginning of the war in October – with three people injured.

    Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terror group, claimed the rockets were in response to the pager and walkie-talkie blasts in Lebanon last week, which killed more than 30 members of the terror group and wounded thousands of others.

    The attack was attributed to Israel, which has not commented.

    More than 60 Israelis airstrikes have been fired on southern Lebanon since dawn yesterday.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant conducted security consultations with ministers and top defence officials on Saturday night. Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar said the IAF was on the highest level of alert.

    Read Also: Katsina monarch blames weak punishments for rising insecurity

    “If Hezbollah didn’t get the message – I assure you – they will get the message,” Netanyahu said ahead of a government meeting yesterday, “We are determined to return our citizens in the north to their homes safely.”

    Netanyahu has delayed his trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. He plans to leave Friday, an Israeli official told CNN.

    U.S. officials are urging Israel to de-escalate but must defend itself against attacks, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday.

    “We’re watching with concern the escalating tensions in the region and across that border here in the last week or so. And we don’t believe, continue to not believe, that kinetic action, military action, by either side is really in either side’s best interest … There’s a better way forward here,” Kirby said on Fox News yesterday.

  • Israel’s cabinet okays retaliation against Hezbollah

    Israel’s cabinet okays retaliation against Hezbollah

    Israel’s Government is preparing for a retaliatory strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon following the devastating rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where at least 12 children were killed on Saturday.

    The security cabinet authorised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to decide on the manner and timing of action against the terrorist organisation Hezbollah.

    Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday evening after more than four hours of consultations.

    “Earlier he had threatened the pro-Iranian militia, saying they would pay a high price.’’

    As tensions rise and Western leaders warn against an expansion of the Middle East conflict Hezbollah said it is preparing for a possibly severe Israeli attack.

    The Lebanese airline Middle East Airlines announced on Sunday evening that it was postponing the return of some of its flights.

    The Lufthansa Group announced  yesterday that has cancelled its flights to the Lebanese capital Beirut.

    All flights have been suspended up to and including Aug. 5.

    The companies affected were SWISS, Lufthansa and Eurowings.

    Read Also: NCC stops telecom service providers from barring phone lines

    Initially, cancellations had only been planned until this Tuesday.

    Air France also cancelled its flights from Paris to Beirut for  yesterday and Tuesday for safety reasons, the airline announced.

    U.S. officials have reportedly contacted their colleagues in Israel and Lebanon and exchanged messages with Iran in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.

    The Wall Street Journal newspaper cited Arab and European officials familiar with the matter.

    All sides indicated that they are not interested in escalating the conflict, it was reported.

    UK Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden warned that an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah could be much more serious than the war in Gaza, the PA news agency reported,

  • Hezbollah bombs Israel after top commander killed

    Hezbollah bombs Israel after top commander killed

    Hezbollah launched nearly 200 rockets at northern occupied Palestinian territories yesterday, igniting fires in retaliation to the killing of a senior Hezbollah commander in southeastern Lebanon in a strike the previous evening.

    The attacks raise concern that the military confrontation between the Israeli regime and Hezbollah is escalating, with both saying they are prepared for war.

    Read Also: Ex-Senate president Lawan charges Military to stamp out insecurity across Nigeria

    The Israeli military confirmed yesterday it had killed Taleb Abdullah as well as three other Hezbollah fighters in the strike.

    It also said at least 90 rockets were fired from Lebanese territory as sirens sounded in dozens of settlements across the north of the occupied territories.

  • Woe unto Israel!

    Woe unto Israel!

    The Israeli Defence Force slaughtered 274 innocent & defenceless Palestinian civilians in Nuseirat on saturday just to rescue four Jewish hostages in what has been decribed by an eyewitness as a “callous massacre” & “hell on earth”. 

    How can anyone in his right senses justify this madness? How can any sane person rejoice in such mindless savagery & callousness. 

    Would it not have been more humane to get them released through negotiation & a ceasefire? 

    Would you not have got more hostages back that way without taking any innocent lives? 

    Are the babies & infants that you butchered in Nuseirat also members of the Al Qassam Brigade? 

    Did they also participate in the October 7th attack on Israel? 

    Were the four hostages hidden in their baby cots, their prams or their diapers?

    Did you have to murder them too? 

    This degree of depravity beggars belief. 

    It is utterly astounding & totally incomprehensible. It represents a new low in the long & horrific history of Zionist barbarity.   

    Bibi Netanyahu & his supporters should clap for themselves! 

    Yet as they rejoice in their butchery & carnage & their pyrrhic victory let them take note of the following: there is NO glory in murdering women & children. 

    There is NO honor in slaughtering babies & infants & blowing up their little bodies with your sophisticated weapons & precision bombs! 

    There is NO victory in snuffing out their precious young lives & blotting out their shining star! 

    There is NO joy in shattering their dreams & destroying their destinies. 

    Your cruelty is greater than that of Herod, your soul is darker than that of Pharaoh, your boast is greater than that of Sennacherub, your arrogance is greater than that of Nebuchadnezzar, your heart is harder than that of Jezebel, your bloodlust is greater than that of Athalia and your end shall be worse than that of all of them put together. 

    The Lord of Hosts, the Alpha & the Omega, the Ancient of Days, the Man of War, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, the El Shaddai, the Elohim, the Adonai, the Lord of the universe, the God of all flesh, the Avenger of our blood, the Lamb of God, the Blood of the sprinkling, the I AM THAT I AM, He who is high & lifted up whose train fills the Temple & He that they call Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whose name is above all names, who is the author & finisher of our faith & to whom every knee must bow, has seen your wickedness & stands against you. 

    Read Also: Israeli strike on UN school in Gaza reportedly kills at least 35

    From generation to generation you  shall be cursed, your suffering & sorrow shall have no end & a special place in hell has been reserved for you where you shall burn forever. 

    The time for glorifying yourselves will soon be over for the God of the poor, the weak, the oppressed, the vulnerable & the persecuted shall rise up in defence of the women & children of Gaza & avenge them speedily! 

    Even Benny Gantz, the leader of the  opposition & an erstwhile member of your ‘war cabinet’, can no longer bare the stench of blood that trails you & has abandoned your rat-infested ship & sinking Zionist Government.

    Woe unto you Netanyahu and unto Smotrich, Ben Givr, Eliyahu, Gotllieb, Herzog and all the other depraved, bloodthirsty, delusional & insane men & women in your crumbling cabinet & heartless Government.

    Woe unto the people of Israel for choosing you as their leader. 

    Woe unto America for arming, funding & supporting you in your bloody enterprise of mass murder & ethnic cleansing. 

    Woe unto them for being complicit in war crimes, crimes against humanity & genocide.

    Woe unto the rest of the world for refusing to stand up for truth & justice, for refusing to resist you & for refusing to find the courage to march on Tel Aviv & drag you off your blood-soaked throne.

    (FFK)

  • Israel peaceful, safe, says NCPC Boss

    Israel peaceful, safe, says NCPC Boss

    The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Bishop Stephen Adegbite, has assured Nigerians that Israel is peaceful and safe for pilgrims. 

    He gave the assurance during a meeting at the Nigerian Embassy in Tel-Aviv, Israel, as part of a pre-visit and retreat with stakeholders.

    After spending five days in Israel without any incidents, Bishop Adegbite declared: “There is no problem in Israel, no restrictions. Israel is our pilgrimage destination.” 

    He emphasised that if Israel was not peaceful, he would not have led the delegation to the country.

    The NCPC boss commended President Bola Tinubu for entrusting him with the role and for his one year in office, along with the Vice President, First Lady, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation. 

    Read Also: Several killed by suspected Israeli strikes in Syria – Reports

    According to a statement on Wednesday by the Deputy Director and Head, Media and Public Relations, Celestine Toruka, the Nigerian Ambassador to Israel, Mrs. Agatha Afoekelu, assured that Israel is safe and commended President Tinubu for appointing a proactive leader as the NCPC Executive Secretary.

    Mrs. Afoekelu encouraged the Nigerian government to leverage Israeli agricultural technology to equip youths with skills and knowledge, offering scholarships. 

    The NCPC Chairman, Rt. Rev. Prof. Msg. Cletus Gotan, board members, state pilgrimage leaders, and private Christian pilgrimage operators attended the pre-visit and retreat from May 31 to June 6 to chart a new course for the Commission.