‘Cruel’: Biden administration toughens asylum restrictions at US border
US President Joe Biden’s administration is toughening asylum restrictions at the United States-Mexico border, as the Democrat tries to show voters that his party is taking a harder stance on immigration in the lead-up to November’s election. The new rules announced on Monday, which expand on restrictions announced in June, bar migrants from being granted asylum when US officials deem that the southern border is overwhelmed. “This action has been taken in parallel with other Administration actions that have both increased enforcement and delivered to asylum seekers safe and lawful pathways to humanitarian relief,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. Under the previous rules, the US government could restrict asylum access when the number of migrants and asylum seekers trying to enter the country between official border crossings hit 2,500 per day. The daily numbers had to average below 1,500 per day for a week in order for the restrictions to be lifted. But under the new regulations, which come into effect just after midnight on Tuesday, the daily numbers will have to be below 1,500 for nearly a month before the restrictions can be lifted. The administration also is now counting all children towards that number, whereas previously only migrant children from Mexico were counted. The changes will make it much more difficult to lift the curbs and allow people entering the country between official border crossings to apply for asylum in the US — and Monday’s announcement was slammed by migrant rights advocates. “This policy bolsters xenophobic and racist rhetoric that falsely portrays immigrants as threats. It will also leave a permanent stain on President Biden’s legacy,” said Eleanor Acer, senior director for refugee protection at Human Rights First. Amy Fischer, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International USA, accused the administration of “clinging to policies of cruelty when there are solutions on the table”. “Instead of spending billions of taxpayer dollars to fuel cruel border policies that create heartbreaking human rights and humanitarian crises, the United States must invest in a coordinated welcome and reception system that meets the immediate and long-term needs of people seeking safety,” Fischer said. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also slammed the new rules as illegal. “The asylum law Congress enacted recognizes that people fleeing danger should not be forced to wait and try to secure an appointment to seek asylum. This restrictive rule is not just immoral but illegal,” the group said in a social media post on Monday afternoon. Under US immigration law, any non-citizens on US soil must be granted due process to seek asylum if they fear for their lives or freedom “on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion”. The asylum law Congress enacted recognizes that people fleeing danger should not be forced to wait and try to secure an appointment to seek asylum. This restrictive rule is not just immoral but illegal. https://t.co/zUP4tbnkbl — ACLU (@ACLU) September 30, 2024 Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also issued new legal guidance for countries on the issue of asylum. Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR’s director of legal protection, noted that Article 31 of the UN Refugee Convention states that countries are barred from penalising asylum seekers for entering the country irregularly in search of protection. “That article is there because many people flee life-threatening situations and they have no other choice but to take irregular manners of travel, and they often don’t have the opportunity to obtain a travel document or a visa before they’ve fled their country,” Tan told reporters. Election issue Immigration remains a divisive issue in the US, and it has been used as a way to gain leverage against political opponents. Republicans and right-wing media outlets have routinely accused Democrats of being lax on border security, despite the Biden administration enacting a slew of restrictions such as the asylum curbs. Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump – who pursued stringent, anti-immigration measures while in office – continues to hit out at his Democratic rival, US Vice President Kamala Harris, on immigration ahead of November’s election. Trump and his running mate JD Vance have promised to carry out the largest deportation campaign in US history if elected. They have also amplified and spread false rumours about Haitian migrants, drawing widespread condemnation. Last week, Harris pledged to continue the Biden administration’s crackdown on irregular crossings at the country’s southern border with Mexico. “The United States is a sovereign nation,” Harris said during a visit to Arizona on Friday. “And I believe we have a duty to set rules at our border and to enforce them.” The Biden administration has defended its policies as helping to stem a surge in irregular border crossings. US border authorities have apprehended roughly 54,000 migrants and asylum seekers so far in September, down steeply from a peak of 250,000 in December, a Department of Homeland Security official said. Adblock test (Why?)
Modi’s Kashmir statehood promise. Poll rhetoric or genuine outreach?
Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – As Kashmir gears up for the last phase of local elections due on Tuesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to restore the disputed territory’s “statehood” that was stripped five years ago by his Hindu nationalist government. “We had promised in the parliament that Jammu and Kashmir [official name of Indian-administered Kashmir] will again be a state,” Modi said, addressing a rather dull crowd in Srinagar, the main city in the disputed Muslim-majority territory. Only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) “will fulfil this commitment”, he said without elaborating further. Modi’s latest election pitch comes amid widespread anger in Kashmir at the BJP for scrapping the region’s limited autonomy and demoting it into a federally run territory in 2019. The move is also aimed at blunting attacks from Kashmir-based parties, who have made the restoration of the special status and statehood their main poll agenda. The ghost of New Delhi’s unilateral decision to scrap the region’s special status, aimed at safeguarding local culture and demography, still looms large over the poll campaigns. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the disputed Himalayan region, which has witnessed decades of armed rebellion. India has accused Pakistan of backing rebels – a charge denied by Islamabad. Both the South Asian neighbours claim Kashmir in full but have governed parts of it since their independence from Britain in 1947. So, what will be the nature of the promised state? What powers will the newly elected assembly wield? And can Kashmir’s unionist political parties, technically, deliver on their poll promises? How does India’s federal structure function? Where does Kashmir fit in? Late Professor Kenneth Clinton Wheare, an Australian academic and expert on constitutions of the British Commonwealth, described India as a “quasi-federal” state. “Almost devolutionary in character: a unitary state with subsidiary federal features rather than a federal state with subsidiary unitary features,” he observed, implying that while power is centred in New Delhi, states are allowed to govern and legislate in accordance with regional contexts. The Indian constitution defines the country as a “Union of States”, and then breaks down the power-sharing, legislative structure into three lists: the Union List, including remits such as defence and currency that are exclusive to the parliament; the State List, including powers such as police and public health that can be drafted by the states; and the Concurrent List, including areas such as marriage, education, and forests, which can be legislated by both. But Kashmir’s relationship with New Delhi has been unique and complex as it joined the Indian union in 1947 with a set of conditions, which were enshrined in Article 370. Under the terms of the instrument of accession, Kashmir gave India the power to manage matters of foreign affairs, defence, and communications — and left New Delhi with limited legislative powers. While successive governments in New Delhi gradually eroded those powers, Kashmir still flexed its separate constitution, flag, and freedom to make laws on permanent residency and property ownership, and reserve government-sponsored opportunities exclusively for the state’s subjects. Indian security personnel stand guard as voters queue up to cast their ballots at a polling station during the first phase of assembly elections in Pulwama, south of Srinagar on September 18, 2024. [Tauseef Mustafa/AFP] What happened to special status? On August 5, 2019, the Modi government removed Article 370, fulfilling BJP’s decades-long promise to remove the special status, which it said was responsible for the region’s political crisis and separatism. New Delhi also bifurcated the region into two federally governed territories: Jammu and Kashmir bordering Pakistan in the west, and Ladakh bordering China in the east. On the same day, Amit Shah, India’s home minister and Modi’s confidante, informed the parliament that, unlike Ladakh, “statehood” will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir. To prevent the outbreak of protests, authorities arrested thousands of Kashmiri leaders and activists and imposed a months-long communication blockade – a move denounced by the opposition and international rights observers. The decision was also immediately challenged in India’s top court, which eventually upheld the move in December last year and called for the restoration of the same statehood as any other Indian state – with no separate autonomy rights – “at the earliest and as soon as possible”. But just weeks before the region’s first assembly elections, the Modi government gave its handpicked administrator more powers, further shrinking the scope of the incoming legislature. “For the last five years, all Kashmiris have seen is an arrogant bureaucracy and the important missing layers of a local government,” said Anuradha Bhasin, editor of Kashmir Times and author of A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir after Article 370. “New Delhi has suppressed this area that has a history of turmoil. It has worrying, ominous signs,” she told Al Jazeera. Speaking at a poll rally in the Jammu region, Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition in parliament, took a dig at the local administration saying “non-locals are running Jammu and Kashmir”. “Your democratic right was snatched. We have given priority to the demand for restoration of statehood,” he said, addressing the crowd. “If [the BJP] fails to restore statehood after the elections, we will put pressure on them to ensure it.” What power will the elected government have in Kashmir? Political observers and Kashmiri analysts see the elections as a referendum on the BJP’s controversial decision –– and reflect upon the unchartered duality of running a legislature subservient to the central government. While Kashmir parties have tried to realign their politics along the calls for restoration of special autonomy and “dignity”, experts told Al Jazeera that the newly elected government will have to work at the mercy of the Lieutenant Governor (LG), a constitutional head appointed by New Delhi under the current setup. Under the flipped framework after August 2019, the LG will sway more influence than the elected assembly and will retain control over issues of “public order and police”. The government will also be unable to introduce any financial bill
Punish violent fans and the players inciting them: Atletico manager Simeone
Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone says fans who hurled objects onto the pitch, causing their Spanish football league match against Real Madrid to be suspended for more than 20 minutes, should be punished along with the players who he suggested encourage such action. The city derby was interrupted on Sunday after Atletico fans threw objects onto the field, prompting the referee to stop the game and send the players to the dressing rooms around the 70th minute at the Metropolitano Stadium. While Real players celebrated Eder Militao’s opener in the 64th minute, Atletico ultras Fondo Sur, who are located in the south lower stands, threw objects towards visiting keeper Thibaut Courtois, who alerted the referee, leading to the decision to halt the match. After the delay, Angel Correa equalised deep in added time as the game ended with a 1-1 draw. “My opinion is that people who have committed incidents should be sanctioned by the club. We don’t need these people. We need the people who accompany and support us. They harm the club, but be careful: that does not justify generating situations that we, the protagonists, generate,” Simeone told DAZN Sport. Atletico defender Jose Maria Gimenez and midfielder Koke Resurreccion went to talk to the fans in the section behind Courtois’s goal. Atletico Madrid’s midfielder Koke asks supporters to stop throwing items on the pitch after Eder Militao’s goal at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid [Oscar Del Pozo/AFP] Simeone also asked several times for the fans to behave. “We all have to help,” he said. “The people who have thrown those lighters, it’s not right. But maybe it doesn’t help when us, the protagonists, undermine people, charge against people, provoke people and then people get angry. “People have no other way of doing it, in a bad way, which is not right, but we also have to try to be calm, to understand the situations, that you can celebrate a goal by celebrating it, but not by celebrating it by staring at the stands, charging against the stands, making gestures … because then people get angry. “Of course it’s not justified, but neither is the initial thing justified because otherwise, we’ll always be victims. The one who throws the cigarette lighter should be sanctioned and the one who provokes should also be sanctioned. This way there is no more laughter and things like that, as you are not sanctioned, you are allowed to do things.” Atletico Madrid players leave the pitch after the match was suspended by the referee [Oscar Del Pozo/AFP] A message on the stadium’s loudspeaker said the match was being interrupted for 15 minutes, adding it would be suspended if the problem continued. Atletico Madrid released an official statement in the early hours of Monday saying they had already identified one of the fans who hurled objects onto the pitch and are working with police to identify others, who will be disciplined. “Atletico de Madrid wishes to express their rejection of the throwing of objects from a section of the south stand in the 68th minute of the match against Real Madrid. The club’s security department has been working together with the police to locate those involved, one of whom has already been identified,” the club said in a statement. “The club will apply the internal regime foreseen for very serious cases to the people involved in this incident. These attitudes have no place in football and tarnish the image of a stadium that has experienced a spectacular atmosphere with more than 70,000 spectators in the stands, the vast majority of whom have shown exemplary behaviour.” Atlético de Madrid wishes to express its rejection of the throwing of objects that took place from a section of the south stand in the 68th minute of the match vs Real Madrid. The club’s Security Department has been working with the police to locate those involved, one of whom… pic.twitter.com/bqFaRfoWhe — Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) September 29, 2024 The interruption came a day after the Spanish league said it would ask the police to act against the promoters of a social media campaign that the league said was aimed at promoting racist acts against Vinicius Junior at the derby. The social media campaign was based on a hashtag encouraging Atletico fans to wear face masks, apparently to make it more difficult for authorities to identify individuals who participate in racist chants or insults. Social media videos showed Atletico fans before the match chanting “Vinicius is different”. Adblock test (Why?)
Video: Aftermath of deadly flooding and landslides in Nepal
NewsFeed Rescue teams have been looking for people stuck in their homes or under mud after floods and landslides in Nepal that have killed at least 160 people. Published On 30 Sep 202430 Sep 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
‘We lost a great supporter’: Palestinians in Gaza mourn Hassan Nasrallah
Deir el-Balah, Gaza – In a tattered makeshift tent in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Basma al-Helou and her husband were preparing their morning tea. “We wouldn’t wish this life [in tents] on anyone, let alone our brothers in Lebanon,” the 74-year-old said, her voice filled with sorrow. “War is unbearable, and we have felt its horrors all year. I was devastated when Israel started bombing Lebanon.” Her grief deepened, she said, upon hearing of the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief who was killed on Friday night during a huge Israeli attack on southern Beirut. “I was heartbroken when I heard. Everyone around me, my neighbours – we all hoped it wasn’t true.” As a Palestinian, al-Helou says she will never forget Nasrallah’s unwavering support for her people. “Nasrallah stood with us throughout his life, always defying Israel. I remember his speeches on TV. They were a source of strength. His loss is immense. “We don’t know what they want to stop the war. They killed Ismail Haniyeh, they killed many leading figures.” Now, she says, “We feel that we are alone in the face of a tyrannical war machine.” Basma al-Helou and her husband live in a makeshift tent in Deir el-Balah. Of Nasrallah, she said: ‘His loss is immense’ [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera] ‘Nasrallah was with us’ Zaki Sheikh Khalil, 64, shared similar sentiments. “Nasrallah was with us when others abandoned us,” he said. “Anyone who stood by us, regardless of their nationality or religion, we will mourn their loss or death.” He acknowledged that not everyone in the region feels the same way. “Some say that Nasrallah is Shia, and not Sunni, and that he caused some differences and divisions in Syria, but whatever the differences are, we will continue to remember Nasrallah who stood in the face of Israel as a support for Gaza,” he said. “The enemy is one and Israel is our enemy and Nasrallah’s killing is a victory for it,” he added. Reflecting on Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Khalil, who has been displaced five times, expressed profound sadness. “What’s happening in Lebanon mirrors our suffering in Gaza – bombing, destruction, displacement. Watching them endure what we’ve endured is unbearable. Worse is the world’s indifference. “It is unbearable for us to see a defenceless civilian people subjected to the same calamities that we have been subjected to,” he said. “We are very sad for Lebanon that it is facing the same fate because it stood with Gaza and said ‘no’ to Israel.” Zaki Sheikh Khalil says he would mourn anyone who stood with the Palestinians in Gaza, including Hassan Nasrallah [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera] ‘Numb towards everything’ For Hiba Murad, a 36-year-old mother of five, Nasrallah’s death left her feeling numb. “The war has made my feelings numb towards everything,” she said, smiling broadly. “I have lost my feelings towards many things. My life is unbearable.” Murad stressed that her indifference does not mean that she is not sad about Nasrallah’s death – she is truly sad about everything that is happening around her, she explained – but she has a feeling of helplessness. “I spend my day laughing at everything. Everything around me is ridiculous and pitiful. We live in a world without morals or feelings,” she said. When asked about Israel’s actions, Murad remarked: “They claim to target leaders like Haniyeh and Nasrallah to defeat Hamas and Hezbollah, but they continue attacking civilians. We’re the ones suffering, not just the leaders. “What is left for Israel now? Israel is only using some names and captives in Gaza as an excuse to continue its killing and crimes against people, and in the end, we are the victims.” After Nasrallah’s killing, Murad said she no longer rules out the possibility that Israel knows the location of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, but is delaying targeting him to reap more destruction under the pretext of searching for him. “Unfortunately, Israel enjoys political and international immunity to do anything. We have lost hope in anyone who supports us in Gaza, because the price is known. “Whoever supports Gaza will meet the same fate as Nasrallah and Lebanon.” Hiba Murad said she feels ‘numb’, helpless and sad about Nasrallah’s killing and everything happening around her [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera] Adblock test (Why?)
Former Netanyahu rival Gideon Saar joins Israeli cabinet
The move will boost the prime minister’s governing coalition domestically as Israel attacks countries across the region. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that his former rival Gideon Saar is joining the Israeli cabinet, a move that will boost the government coalition and bolster its support in the country’s parliament. The hawkish Saar will serve as a minister without a portfolio, the prime minister said on Sunday. Saar’s inclusion in the government coalition takes its support in the 120-seat Israeli parliament from 64 to 68, weakening the de facto veto power that far-right parties have over the cabinet. The move comes as Israel intensifies its attacks on Lebanon, Gaza and across the Middle East in what is increasingly looking like a wider regional war. Saar had been one of Netanyahu’s most vocal critics in recent years, but the Israeli prime minister suggested that the two politicians have been on the same page since the start of the war on Gaza. “Gideon accepted my request and agreed to return to the government,” Netanyahu said in a joint statement, as reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “During security cabinet discussions, I was deeply impressed by Saar’s broad vision and his ability to offer creative solutions to complex problems. On more than one occasion, we have seen eye to eye on the necessary actions. It’s no secret that we’ve had our differences in the past, but since October 7, we have both put all past grievances behind us.” For his part, Saar said described the decision to join the government as “the patriotic and right thing to do now”. “At this time, it is crucial to strengthen Israel, its government, and the unity and cohesion within it,” he said. Earlier this month, Israeli media reported that Netanyahu was considering replacing Defence Minister Yoav Gallant with Saar. Haaretz and Ynet also reported that Saar and Netanyahu were jointly going to pick the new Israeli army chief to replace Herzi Halevi. A former lawyer and journalist, Saar was first brought into politics 20 years ago by Netanyahu, who made him his cabinet secretary during his first term in office. He was considered a rising star in Netanyahu’s Likud Party and one of the few independent voices in a party that has largely been synonymous with the prime minister and his policies. Saar defected from Likud after unsuccessfully challenging Netanyahu for the party’s leadership. Late in 2020, Saar formed his own political movement – dubbed New Hope. Expanding the government will likely strengthen Netanyahu by making him less reliant on other members of his coalition. Adblock test (Why?)
What’s behind recent false claims about immigrants and crime in the US?
Sign on to social media these days and you’ll soon find posts warning about the threat of immigrants to your family’s – and your pets’ – safety. Immigrants are eating the dogs, cats and geese in Springfield, Ohio, some posts have claimed. (They’re wrong.) They’re also taking over apartment complexes in Colorado and Chicago, or hijacking school buses in California, others have said. (No, they’re not. That’s false.) Much of the rhetoric about a purported immigrant crime wave has stemmed from or was amplified by former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, his supporters and other high-profile conservatives on social media, such as X owner Elon Musk. Trump has said immigrants “are poisoning the blood” of our country. He recently said in Wednesday’s campaign rally in Mint Hill, North Carolina, if Vice President Kamala Harris had closed the border years ago, “we wouldn’t have hostile takeovers of Springfield, Ohio, Aurora, Colorado, where they’re actually going in with massive machine-gun type equipment. They’re going in with guns that are beyond even military scope.” Violent crimes in which immigrants are suspects have fueled the rhetoric, such as the slaying of Georgia college student Laken Riley, whose death came up in President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech in March. There are also real concerns about a growing presence of Venezuelan gangs in the US, say federal and local law enforcement. But experts told PolitiFact – and crime statistics and studies show – that the rhetoric about immigrants and crime is often exaggerated or false. Such rhetoric is nothing new, especially during a political campaign, experts said. “Ever since the US has had migrants, a subset of them have been vilified,” Alex Piquero, a University of Miami criminology professor and former director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, said. The same thing is happening elsewhere, including the United Kingdom and Sweden, he added. PolitiFact has debunked numerous claims about immigrants and crime: There’s no evidence Haitian immigrants are eating pets, wildlife in Springfield Perhaps no claim about immigrants and crime has garnered more attention than this one. In early September, social media posts flooded the internet with claims that Haitian immigrants, thousands of whom have flocked legally to Springfield in recent years, were eating residents’ pets and ducks and geese at local parks. The claim is baseless, Springfield officials told PolitiFact and have said repeatedly. It stemmed from a fourthhand account in a private Facebook group that went viral after a screenshot of the post was shared by the verified X account End Wokeness, whose post received nearly 5 million views. The Facebook post said a neighbour’s daughter’s friend came home from work to find a pet cat butchered and hanging from a tree in a Haitian neighbour’s yard. The post’s author said Haitians were doing the same to dogs and ducks and geese at a local park. The woman behind the original post later told NBC News she had no firsthand knowledge of immigrants eating pets, and that she regrets the fallout from sharing the post. The neighbour referenced in her post told NewsGuard she also had no proof of the rumour. The claims about eating pets and birds were further amplified on X and in interviews by Ohio Senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate. Trump repeated the baseless claim in his September 10 debate with Harris in Philadelphia, saying “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” The Trump-Vance campaign persisted with their claims, pointing to a Federalist report about a person calling the Clark County Communications Center claiming to have seen four Haitians carrying geese. PolitiFact reported that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources followed up on the report but found no evidence to support the claim. The claims have had a lasting impact on Springfield’s Haitian immigrants, many of whom told PolitiFact that they now fear for their safety. A Venezuelan gang takeover in Aurora, Colorado? City officials, residents say no After surveillance video showing what appears to be armed, Spanish-speaking men entering an Aurora, Colorado apartment complex, fears were stoked online about a Venezuelan gang seizing control of the building. Social media posts said the men were part of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. The claims were amplified on X by Elon Musk and Trump, who said in a September 6 interview that noncitizens “took over buildings” in Aurora. Tren de Aragua formed in the Venezuelan state of Aragua more than a decade ago. It does have a presence in the US, but Aurora city officials and apartment residents at The Edge, the apartment building seen in the video, disputed claims that the gang took over the building, PolitiFact reported. Residents at The Edge blamed poor conditions there on the landlord. Reports about 32 Venezuelan armed migrants taking over a Chicago building are fake As social media posts warning of migrants taking over neighborhoods across the country proliferated online, an audio recording of a police dispatcher in Chicago had high-profile accounts sharing the news that Venezuelan migrants had purportedly taken over a building there. “Caller says 32 Venezuelans are trespassing the building, showing guns in the courtyard,” the dispatcher said. PolitiFact reported that the Chicago Police Department said it received a service call about Venezuelans with guns trespassing, but the incident reported in the call was “not bona fide”. The alderperson who represents the area where the incident was reported said the reports were untrue. So did migrants living in the building and residents in the area. Two school buses filled with children weren’t hijacked by migrants in San Diego Incidents involving two San Diego-area school bus routes sparked misinformation on social media that armed migrants were trying to hijack the buses, PolitiFact reported. In separate incidents, groups of people approached two Jamul-Dulzura Union School District buses on Highway 94 in Dulzura, an unincorporated part of San Diego County. On August 27, three men walked into the
US political leaders rally behind Israel after Nasrallah killing
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris express support despite threat of regional war. Political leaders in the United States have rallied behind Israel after massive Israeli air strikes in Beirut levelled residential buildings and killed the powerful Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris – both Democrats – and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson have expressed support for the Friday attack, despite what is expected to be a substantial civilian death toll. Former Republican President Donald Trump does not appear to have commented yet on the killing of Nasrallah. “Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror,” Biden said in a news release on Saturday. “His death from an Israeli air strike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians.” The Biden administration has called for a lowering of tensions in the region, but shown little interest in using leverage such as the suspension of weapons sales to restrain Israel following a series of increasingly escalatory attacks in Lebanon in recent weeks. Israel has waved aside calls for a diplomatic agreement and pledged to press forward with continued strikes. “President Biden and I do not want to see conflict in the Middle East escalate into a broader regional war,” Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic candidate for president, said in a statement on Saturday. “Diplomacy remains the best path forward to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability in the region.” Israeli attacks inside Lebanon have killed at least 1,030 people since September 16, including 56 women and 87 children. A final death toll from the massive Israeli strikes that killed Nasrallah and destroyed several large residential buildings on Friday is not yet known, as rescue workers try to find bodies in the rubble. The killing of Nasrallah, which follows the killing of a series of senior Hezbollah officials by Israel in recent weeks, is a body blow to the Lebanese group and a network of Iran-backed groups across the region. It remains unclear what response the group and its allies in the region, such as Iran-backed militias in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen, will pursue. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant that the US “remains postured to protect US forces and facilities in the region and committed to the defence of Israel” in a phone call on Friday. The Biden administration has been criticised by activists and analysts who say that his unconditional support for Israel has resulted in a trend of perpetual escalation and Israeli attacks that include large civilian death tolls and violations of international law. While Trump has yet to comment on the killing of Nasrallah, conservative lawmakers have rejected the Biden administration’s call for a ceasefire and urged stronger support for Israel’s campaigns in Lebanon and Gaza. “We call on the Biden-Harris Administration to end its counter-productive calls for a cease-fire and its ongoing diplomatic pressure campaign against Israel,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement on Saturday. Adblock test (Why?)
‘He was like a father to us’: Hezbollah supporters mourn Hassan Nasrallah
Beirut, Lebanon – On Friday evening, Mariam* was in her apartment with her teenage daughter and mother when her building began rumbling and shaking. Agonising screams and the buzzing of Israeli warplanes soon followed. Israel had just launched a major air attack that killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well as an unknown number of civilians in Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Lebanon’s capital Beirut. Shortly after the strike, Israel called on thousands of civilians to “evacuate” from Dahiyeh, claiming they were living near Hezbollah operation centres. Mariam quickly packed a few bags of clothes and fled to downtown Beirut, where she is now sleeping on the steps of a mosque with hundreds of other people displaced from her community. But while Israel has upended her life, she said that nothing compared to the anguish of losing Nasrallah. “When I first heard the news, I thought it was a lie. I thought, ‘It can’t be true’,” she told Al Jazeera, holding back her tears. “Nasrallah was our brother and we always felt safe with him. Now, we don’t know what will be our fate.” A tent installed by the scouts on Beirut’s Ramlet el-Bayda beach hosts people displaced by Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs [Philippe Pernot/Al Jazeera] A brother, a father Nasrallah became Hezbollah’s leader after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi, in 1992. Al-Musawi, his wife and five-year-old son were killed by an air strike on their home. Once Nasrallah took over, he quickly began expanding Hezbollah from a rebel movement to one of the most powerful armed groups in the world as well as a formidable bulwark against Israeli aggression. Under his stewardship, Hezbollah liberated south Lebanon from Israel’s 18-year occupation, lending him the status of a hero throughout the region. His charisma and shrewdness made him one of the most respected – and feared – leaders in the Middle East. He then became a polarising figure – in Lebanon and the region – after Hezbollah intervened in Syria’s civil war to rescue President Bashar al-Assad from a pro-democracy uprising that quickly turned into an armed conflict after al-Assad’s forces turned their guns on protesters, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Throughout the war, the Syrian government and Hezbollah committed atrocities, according to news reports and rights groups. These reports damaged Nasrallah’s popularity across the region but his most fervent supporters stood by him out of fear that nobody else would be able or willing to protect Lebanon from Israel. Many Lebanese Shia Muslims are now mourning a man they call a “brother” and even a “father” to their people. In downtown Beirut, displaced families from Dahiyeh described Nasrallah as a “martyr” who gave his life to stand up to Israel. “I just want to listen to his voice again. He was like a father to us. He wasn’t just a politician,” said Nivine, a Hezbollah supporter and Dahiyeh resident who has been uprooted by the strikes. “But we will continue on [Nasrallah’s path]. We will continue to fight to bring down Israel, which was always his wish,” she told Al Jazeera. Nivine, who has fled Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, distributes Lebanese manakish to other displaced people at Beirut’s central Al-Amin Mosque [Philippe Pernot/Al Jazeera] Lack of protection? With Nasrallah gone and Hezbollah reeling from losing scores of senior commanders in recent days, many Lebanese Shia Muslims fear they have nobody to protect them. “Don’t you see all the crimes of Israel? They are bombing and destroying everything, killing women and children. And no Arabic or Western country is intervening to stop it,” Nivine said. But Nivine, like other residents from Dahiyeh, believes that Hezbollah will ultimately survive the recent blows from Israel. Hassan, 25, spoke matter-of-factly about Nasrallah and the “resistance” – a term commonly referring to Hezbollah and other Iran-aligned armed groups that oppose Israel and the US role in the region. “We will continue and the movement will continue. People will be martyred, but [the resistance] will continue,” he told Al Jazeera. Hassan added that he was particularly upset about Nasrallah’s death because he was such a major symbol of defiance. In his view, Nasrallah was the only world leader to help Palestinians in Gaza by opening a “support front” against Israel from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah has said that its aim is to relieve pressure on Hamas, which is fighting for its survival after launching an attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,139 people. Israel responded by attacking Gaza and killing more than 40,000 people since October. Nasrallah’s decision to support Hamas cost him his life. “He stood up for Gaza,” Hassan said with resignation on the steps of a mosque. “I know he died. But he’s in a better place now than the one we are all living in.” Children play on their family’s luggage in Beirut’s central Al-Amin mosque, where they found refuge from Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs [Philippe Pernot/Al Jazeera] Uncertain future Mohamad, a Syrian national who has been living in Lebanon since 2009, said that he fled from south Lebanon to Dahiyeh after Israel and Hezbollah began to exchange fire on October 8, 2023. He said the bustling neighbourhood welcomed him, his daughter and his wife to the community soon after they arrived. He, too, is mourning Nasrallah. ‘I was in shock when I heard the news. We will remember him as the one that stood up to the Zionists and went to war with Israel,” he told Al Jazeera. “But now that he’s gone, there is fear and uncertainty. We don’t know what will happen. Will there be more bombing now across Beirut? Will the situation get worse? Or will it stop? Nobody knows.” Mariam, who fled with her mother and daughter, expressed the same ambivalence about her life and the fate of Lebanon. Everything dear to her has been torn apart due to Israel’s relentless bombing of Dahiyeh in the last 24 hours, she said.
Is the killing of Hassan Nasrallah a game changer?
Assassination of Hezbollah head is the culmination of a series of major Israeli attacks on the group’s leaders. He led Hezbollah for more than three decades and made it into a military and political force to be reckoned with in the longrunning conflict in the Middle East. Hassan Nasrallah’s killing in a massive Israeli air attack in a southern suburb of Beirut is sure to open a new page in the war. Israel is on high alert and says it is prepared for all options after it announced his death. But will Hezbollah respond – and if so, how? And how will the latest development shape the future of the armed group and its role in the region? Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra Guests Nicholas Noe – Editor-in-chief of Beirut-based Mideastwire.com Stephen Zunes – Professor of politics and founding chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco Gideon Levy – Columnist with the Haaretz Newspaper and author of the book, The Punishment of Gaza Adblock test (Why?)