Lebanese displaced by Israeli strikes shelter in abandoned hotel
NewsFeed Nearly twenty years after its last paying guests checked out, this abandoned hotel in southern Lebanon is now home to dozens of families displaced by Israeli attacks against Hezbollah. Published On 18 Mar 202418 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Cubans stage rare protests amid persisting economic crisis
President points finger at US after hundreds of people demonstrate against food shortages and blackouts. Rare protests have taken place in Cuba as the island nation’s economic crisis persists. President Miguel Diaz-Canel called on Monday for calm, and hit out at the United States after hundreds of people gathered in Santiago the previous day to demonstrate against power blackouts and food shortages. Social media videos showed crowds in the communist-governed country’s second-largest city chanting, “Power and food”. A wave of blackouts has recently seen power supplies cut for up to 18 hours or more in a day. That has helped jeopardise food supplies and economic activity in the cash-strapped country. Long stymied by US trade embargoes and more recently sanctions imposed during Donald Trump’s presidency, Cuba is battling its worst economic crisis in decades, caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw the flow of much-needed tourism dollars plunge. Diaz-Canel called for dialogue and “peace”. “Several people have expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation of electrical service and food distribution,” he wrote on X. “The disposition of the authorities of the party, the state and the government is to attend to the complaints of our people, listen, dialogue, explain the numerous efforts that are being carried out to improve the situation, always in an atmosphere of tranquility and peace,” he added. Varias personas han expresado su inconformidad con la situación del servicio eléctrico y la distribución de alimentos. Este contexto se intenta aprovechar por los enemigos de la Revolución, con fines desestabilizadores. — Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) March 18, 2024 The president blamed government “enemies” and “mediocre politicians and terrorists” in the US for trying to hijack the protests. The US embassy in Havana said in a post on X that it had also received reports of protests in Bayamo, Granma and other locations. It urged the government “to respect the human rights of the protesters and address the legitimate needs of the Cuban people”. The protests in Santiago were peaceful as demonstrators shouted, “Down with communism. Down with Diaz-Canal.” Videos on social media showed no signs of scuffles or arrests as the protests were watched by a large number of state security forces. However, internet services were throttled late on Sunday until early Monday, according to some reports. We’re seeing a five-hour dip in traffic to #Cuba coinciding with reports of a disruption in mobile service following protests in Santiago de Cuba earlier today. Dip in traffic begins at 19:20 UTC (3:20pm ET) and lasted until 00:30 UTC (8:30pm ET). pic.twitter.com/hXAlmwswm3 — Doug Madory (@DougMadory) March 18, 2024 Havana cracked down heavily on large protests in July 2021, the widest demonstrations seen in Cuba since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. The response was criticised by the international community. Since 1960, the US has maintained an economic embargo on Cuba, which restricts trade between the countries. For the first time, Cuba turned to the UN’s World Food Programme in February, requesting help in supplying milk to children, the organisation said. Adblock test (Why?)
The West is giving Israel weapons while discussing delivering aid to Gaza
As lawmakers across much of the West debate the extent to which Israel may be hampering the passage of lifesaving aid into Gaza, the weapons exports that underpin much of Israel’s war on the besieged enclave continue to flow. Since the war began, the volume of weapons entering Israel has increased as huge volumes of ordinance are used to flatten areas of Gaza as well as kill, maim and displace its civilian population. “On the one hand, we have this dire humanitarian need, on the other hand, we have this continual supply of weapons to the country Israel, [which is] creating that need,” Akshaya Kumar, the director of crisis advocacy at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said. International law When it comes to arming another country, international law has rules and conventions to control who arms whom and what the weapons are used for. Under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in January may plausibly be under way in Gaza – states are legally bound to prevent genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The United States declined to sign the convention until 1988. Under the terms of the internationally binding Arms Trade Treaty – to which the US is not a signatory – a country is prohibited from exporting weapons to any state it suspects might use them for “genocide, crimes against humanity… attacks directed against civilian objects or civilians protected as such”. More than 31,000 Palestinians have died due to Israel’s war on Gaza so far, mostly women and children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, and some 73,000 have been injured. Health facilities, also under attack and siege, ceased being able to deal with the wounded and the dying months ago. The enclave is teetering on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe. The European Union’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that Israel is using hunger as a weapon of war and manufacturing disaster by stopping aid from entering. Israel has also shot at people gathering to get what little aid is allowed in. While “Western states have recently been going to great lengths to have Israel recognise its role in creating the suffering we’re seeing in Gaza,” HRW’s Kumar said, “we’re not seeing any corresponding reduction in the flow of weapons from states such as the US, Germany and beyond”. Israel’s principal arms suppliers have focused on getting aid into Gaza to reach the Palestinians being attacked with many of the weapons they sold to Israel. US President Joe Biden used his State of the Union address this year to announce the creation of a maritime corridor by which he claims it would be possible to bypass Israel and deliver aid to Gaza. [embedded content] Reality on the ground While some countries have suspended arms exports to Israel in light of its war on Gaza, some significant suppliers remain. The US’s annual contribution of about $3.8bn to Israel’s military budget has continued, on top of which is a further $14bn for Israel the US approved in February, reportedly with an eye to preparing Israel for a “multi-front war” – which many read as opening another front against the armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to the Stockholm Institute for Peace, the US provides 69 percent of Israel’s arms imports but recent confidential briefings to the US Congress, reported on by the Washington Post, suggest this may not be the full picture. A legal loophole in the US Arms Export Control Act – which governs the export and end-use of weapons shipped from the US – means only packages of a certain value need Congressional oversight, meaning “bundled packages” below that value are being slipped through regularly. So far, it was reported, about 100 arms shipments have taken place without any public record, causing an uproar among civil society groups. “With under-threshold sales and arms transfers, we have little insight into what munitions are being shipped – it’s a black hole,” Ari Tolany, the director of the Security Assistance Monitor at the US-based Center for International Policy said. “Similarly, while the Israeli government claims they can assure Biden these arms are used in compliance with IHL [international humanitarian law], evidence from Gaza shows that’s not the case.” The US maintains it is acting within the provisions of the law. Germany’s arms exports to Israel have increased too, with Berlin shipping some $350m worth of weaponry, a tenfold increase on 2022 exports, most of which was approved after the Hamas attack on Israel. Other countries, such as Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom, were all named in a UN report in February as maintaining their supplies. In response to a query by Al Jazeera as to the responsibility attached to arming Israel as it devastates Gaza, a US State Department spokesperson wrote that there “has been no determination that Israel has committed genocide, including in the ICJ”. In recent weeks, the UK and others are understood to have adopted a similar position over the well-reported and mounting humanitarian crisis in Gaza, maintaining business as usual while expressing concern that the weapons they continue to supply may be used in an impending assault on Rafah, where 1.4 million civilians are sheltering. [embedded content] Pushing back However, while many countries in the West continue to provide Israel with weapons, other former exporters appear alive to the legal hazards of licencing weapons to a state the ICJ has found may plausibly be committing genocide. In addition to the Antwerp police being condemned by Belgium’s Labour Party for its decision to import antiriot weapons from Israel, there are wider, longstanding bans on weapons sales to Israel. Shortly after the assault on Gaza began in October, Italy and Spain halted arms shipments to Israel, though the latter continues to provide ammunition for “display”. Belgium’s Walloon regional government, as well as the Japanese Itochu Corporation, have also announced that
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 164
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the raid on the hospital – Israel’s fourth since October – has resulted in deaths and injuries. Here’s how things stand on Monday, March 18, 2024: Fighting and humanitarian crisis Israeli forces stormed Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, with a military spokesman claiming Hamas fighters have regrouped inside the medical facility. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said the raid on the hospital – Israel’s fourth since October – has resulted in deaths and injuries. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, some 30,000 people – including displaced civilians, wounded patients and medical staff – are trapped inside the hospital amid Israel’s onslaught. Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to go ahead with a ground assault on Rafah in Gaza after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned against it. In Gaza, 19 aid trucks arrived safely in Jabalia as the first convoys to travel from the south to the north of the Gaza Strip without incident in four months bring desperately needed aid. Israel’s air and ground campaign since October has killed more than 31,600 people, Gaza health authorities said. It has also driven most of the population from their homes, and brought people to the brink of famine, aid agencies added. Diplomacy and regional tensions The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of pro-Iran armed groups, has said it launched a drone attack at an Israeli airbase in the occupied Golan Heights. Meanwhile, the Jordanian army has announced detecting suspicious aerial movements from an unknown source along the border with Syria, according to the Reuters news agency. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Israel’s Netanyahu on Sunday against his plans for a ground offensive in Rafah, while EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed his sentiments during a visit to Cairo. Violence in the occupied West Bank The Wafa news agency is reporting that Israeli forces detained at least 25 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, including a woman from Gaza, a child and former prisoners. The woman from Gaza has cancer and was arrested as she was heading to Jerusalem to complete her treatment, the agency said, citing a joint statement from the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees. Adblock test (Why?)
Tensions high after Pakistan launches cross-border attacks into Afghanistan
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has launched overnight air attacks inside Afghanistan, while the Taliban claimed hours later to have fired across the border. Tensions flared on Monday between Islamabad and Kabul following the overnight raids. Pakistan said the attack had targeted armed groups hiding out in border regions. The Taliban said eight women and children were killed. The Afghan defence ministry claimed later on Monday to have fired across the border at Pakistan positions. Islamabad has not yet commented on the claim. Pakistani military and foreign ministry sources confirmed to Al Jazeera that the “retaliatory” attacks had targeted the hideouts of commanders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, due to “terrorist activities being sponsored and conducted from across border”. They offered few details. However, on Saturday, a group of suicide bombers targeted a military check post in Pakistan’s North Waziristan district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which neighbours Afghanistan, killing seven soldiers. Afghanistan’s interim government said the Pakistani jets had hit the houses of “ordinary people” in Paktika and Khost provinces. They reported that at least eight people were killed; five women and three children. In a statement issued on X, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the individual Pakistan claimed to have targeted continues to live in Pakistan. Kabul “strongly condemns” the “reckless action” which is a violation of Afghanistan territory, he continued. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which has a long experience of freedom struggle against the superpowers of the world, does not allow anyone to invade its territory,” the post read. په افغانستان باندې د پاکستاني الوتکو د تجاوز په اړه د اسلامي امارت د ویاند څرګندونې https://t.co/pbCqKiJF36 pic.twitter.com/OZYsWWojLh — Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) March 18, 2024 Tension has risen between Pakistan and Afghanistan since the Taliban government seized power in 2021. Islamabad claims that hostile armed groups carry out regular attacks from across the border. Afghanistan reported in April 2022 that Pakistani air strikes in the east of the country killed 47 people. Analysts suggest that Monday’s strike can be linked to the suicide attack two days ago, which was claimed by a newly formed group, Jaish-e-Fursan-e-Muhammad, which is led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, leader of a Pakistani Taliban faction based in North Waziristan. In response, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif repeated the claim that armed groups are using Afghan soil from which to launch terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. “Terrorism against us is mostly being conducted from Afghanistan,” he said on Sunday. It’s a charge the Afghan Taliban has repeatedly denied. “We reject the presence of any … foreign groups in Afghanistan and they are not allowed to operate on Afghan soil. In this regard, we have made our utmost effort and continue to do so; but one thing we must accept is that Afghanistan shares a very long border area with Pakistan, and there are places with rugged terrain including mountains and forests, and places that might be out of our control,” Mujahid said in response. Bloody year Last year was bloody in Pakistan, with more than 650 attacks reported across the country, resulting in the deaths of nearly 1,000 people, most of whom were security personnel. Most attacks targeted the western provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which border Afghanistan. While there have been various armed groups which have conducted acts of violence in Pakistan, the state’s main adversary has been the TTP, which is ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban. Since its founding in 2007, the TTP has targeted civilians and law enforcement personnel in Pakistan, resulting in thousands of deaths. The group demands the imposition of their hardline interpretation of Islamic laws, as well as a reversal of Pakistan’s decision to merge their tribal areas with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based researcher on armed groups in South and Central Asia, says Pakistan’s air strikes on Monday appear to be a response to the suicide attack two days previously. “The attack in North Waziristan was extraordinarily large, reportedly involving six suicide bombers and a large truck bomb. The presence of top Pakistani officials, including the president and army chief, at the funerals, suggested potential future cross-border actions by Pakistan,” he told Al Jazeera. Muhammad Amir Rana, an Islamabad-based security analyst and director of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS) says it is not unusual for the TTP or other armed groups to launch attacks during the month of Ramadan. “The state institutions have now adopted a tit-for-tat response to any threats. The Taliban are known to support the TTP, and there have been instances of their own members being involved in attacks in Pakistan,” he told Al Jazeera. It has also been noted that the sharp response of Pakistan against targets in Afghanistan is similar in nature to its reaction to January’s cross-border attacks by Iran. However, Rana suggests that the possibility of retaliatory attacks on targets in Pakistan following Monday’s air raids cannot be dismissed. “Unless diplomatic channels are activated, tensions between the two countries are likely to escalate in the coming weeks,” he cautioned. Adblock test (Why?)
Spanish protesters’ tribute to Gaza war victims
NewsFeed Hundreds of protesters in Spain’s San Sebastian lay together on the ground in a tribute to victims of Israel’s war on Gaza, next to a banner inspired by Picasso’s famous anti-war painting ‘Guernica’. Published On 18 Mar 202418 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Scottie Scheffler closes with a 64 to repeat at The Players Championship
The world number one becomes the first player in tournament’s 50-year history to win at TPC Sawgrass in consecutive years. Already the best in the world, Scottie Scheffler added another layer to his legend on Sunday. The American became the first player to win back-to-back in 50 years of The Players Championship by matching the biggest comeback and the lowest closing round by a winner. Scheffler holed out for eagle from the fourth fairway and had four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn, sending him to an 8-under 64 and a one-shot victory that was not decided until the final putt. Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark all had a chance to force a playoff with a birdie on the daunting 18th hole at the TPC Sawgrass. Clark had the last shot, a putt just inside 18 feet that dipped into the cup on the left side and came out on the right side, leaving him stunned as he placed his hand over his mouth. “I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in,” Clark said. “Even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in. I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in.” Scheffler, who started the final round five shots behind, was on the practice range preparing for a three-hole playoff when he got the word and showed more emotion than usual for someone who is getting used to winning. “It’s tough enough to win one Players,” Scheffler said. “So, to have it back-to-back is extremely special. Yeah, really thankful.” Scheffler finished at 20-under 268 and won $4.5m, pushing the 27-year-old from Dallas over the $50m mark in his career. His 64 matched the lowest final round by a Players champion, last done by Davis Love III in 2003, and he tied Justin Leonard (1998) with his five-shot comeback. The Players Championship, despite not being a major, has been promoted by the PGA Tour as golf’s “fifth major” due to its reputation as the next most prestigious tournament in golf and lucrative $25m prize purse. Adblock test (Why?)
Israeli forces storm Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital
Gaza officials report mounting casualties; Israeli military claims Hamas using medical complex to plan attacks. Israel’s military forces have stormed al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City with tanks and heavy gunfire, resulting in deaths and injuries, Palestinian officials have said. The Israeli military said in a statement on Monday that it is conducting a “precise operation” at the medical facility. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said about 30,000 people, including displaced civilians, wounded patients and medical staff are trapped inside the complex. Israel, which wound down many of its operations in northern Gaza some weeks ago claiming to have destroyed Hamas’s military infrastructure, said in the statement that Hamas – which governs the enclave – has “regrouped” inside al-Shifa and is “using it to command attacks against Israel”. In a message in English on Telegram, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said anyone “who tries to move is targeted by sniper bullets and quadcopter”. It added that the raid, which began at 2am (00:00 GMT), has resulted in a “number of martyrs and wounded”. Al Jazeera Arabic reported that the hospital’s surgical building was on fire following the Israeli bombing. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a video posted earlier on X that the Israeli military would be conducting a “humanitarian effort” during the assault, providing food and water. He also insisted that there is “no obligation” for patients and medical staff to evacuate the hospital. However, Al Jazeera Arabic correspondents on the ground reported that Israeli forces used loudspeakers to order hundreds of people sheltering at the hospital to evacuate. Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit shows dozens of Palestinians fleeing the hospital as Israeli forces launched operations in the area. الجيش الإسرائيلي يجبر مئات العائلات على النزوح من مجمع الشفاء الطبي غربي مدينة غزة #حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/yxK9KQi2my — الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) March 18, 2024 Translation: The Israeli army forces hundreds of families to flee al-Shifa Hospital, west of Gaza City. Palestinian journalist Wadea Abu Alsoud, trapped inside the medical complex, described the situation in the facility as “catastrophic” and reported “intense clashes”, in a video posted to Instagram. “This might be my last video,” he said. “We’re now besieged inside al-Shifa Hospital. We’re being heavily shot at. The occupation suddenly raided the hospital and its vicinity. As you can hear now, there are intense clashes in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital. We’re hearing sounds coming from the gate. There is shrapnel falling over the hospital’s yard.” Al Jazeera’s Willem Marx, in occupied East Jerusalem, quoted an Israeli statement saying its forces “encountered fire inside the hospital, responded with live fire and individuals were hit”. Marx noted that this is the fourth Israeli raid on al-Shifa since October 7. A long siege of the facility in November earned Israel an international outcry. The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the operation, calling the attack a “war crime”. “The Israeli occupation is still using its fabricated narratives to deceive the world and justify the storming of al-Shifa,” it said in a statement. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of running military operations from hospitals and other medical centres, claims the group denies. The Health Ministry said it had received calls from people in the area around the hospital claiming there were dozens of casualties. “No one could transport them to the hospital due to the intensity of gunfire and artillery shelling,” the ministry said. According to the UN, 155 health facilities in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the war began. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 753
As the war enters its 753rd day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Sunday, March 17, 2024. Fighting One person was killed and another injured in the Velykopysarivska community of Ukraine’s Sumy region, which borders Russia, according to the region’s military administration. The attack was one of 60 reported shelling incidents of border territories and settlements, which damaged buildings including a hospital, kindergarten, library and a gas pipeline, Sumy officials said. Earlier on Sunday, one man was killed and at least eight people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv, Ukrainian officials said, after an overnight strike on the port city of Odesa. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said his armed forces in Ukraine were “just tearing them – the enemy – apart right now”, after Russia claimed to have captured a string of towns and villages in the east of Ukraine. Ukrainian shelling in the southern Russian city of Belgorod killed two people and injured eleven others, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. Five people were also wounded when a Ukrainian drone hit a car in the village of Glotovo, some 2km (1.25 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Gladkov said. The attack on Belgorod was one of many over several days of Ukrainian strikes that Moscow described as election sabotage. A Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at a Russian oil refinery on Saturday, which burned for hours before it was brought under control. Politics and diplomacy President Putin has claimed victory after early election results in Russia showed he was heading for another six-year term with some 87 percent of the vote. Responding to the results, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Putin a “dictator”, “sick from power” and “doing everything he can to rule forever”. Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in a Russian prison colony last month, said, “Obviously I wrote Navalny’s name” on the ballot, after she voted in the Russian Embassy in Berlin. Rights group Amnesty International has decried Russia’s attempts “to alter the ethnic makeup” of Crimea by suppressing Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar identities. “These policies appear to be a blueprint for Russia’s designs on other areas of Ukraine it occupies,” Amnesty said. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Adblock test (Why?)
North Korea fires ballistic missiles as Blinken visits Seoul
Launches come days after South Korea and the US wrapped up military drills Pyongyang sees as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles towards its eastern waters as United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to open a democracy summit in neighbouring South Korea, officials have said. “North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea,” the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. Japan’s Coast Guard, which confirmed the launches, said the objects appeared to have already fallen. The launches come days after the US and South Korea wrapped up 11 days of so-called Freedom Shield joint military drills. North Korea has long condemned joint US-South Korea military drills, calling them rehearsals for an invasion. Pyongyang earlier this month warned that Seoul and Washington would pay a “dear price” for this year’s Freedom Shield drills, which involved twice as many troops as last year. About 27,000 US soldiers are stationed in South Korea, where the drills took place. South Korea recently wrapped up joint military drills with the United States [Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters] North Korea’s test on Monday was the latest in a series of weapons demonstrations this year, including a missile tipped with a manoeuvrable hypersonic warhead on January 14. Democracy Summit Shortly after the missile launches, Blinken and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol took to the stage at the opening of the Summit for Democracy, which is this year being hosted by South Korea. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned of the risks technology poses to democracy [Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/Reuters] Both Blinken and Yoon spoke about how technology could be used to encourage democracy, but also to undermine it. Blinken’s comments came after the US House of Representatives last week passed a bill that could see the popular social media app TikTok, which is owned by Chinese developer ByteDance, banned. The democracy summit, an initiative of US President Joe Biden, has attracted criticism in past years due to its selective invitation list, with countries including Thailand and Turkey reportedly excluded. Adblock test (Why?)