Region

BEIRUT — An Israeli helicopter strike in Syria killed five members of Lebanon's Hizbollah movement including the son of group's late military leader Imad Moughniyah, sources close to Hizbollah said, in an attack that has the potential to trigger reprisals.

Israel's military declined to comment, but Israel's Ynet news Website quoted an Israeli military source as saying the attack had targeted "terrorists who intended to attack Israel".

The missile strike hit Jihad Moughniyah's convoy in the Syrian province of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Lebanese sources said.

The strike comes three days after Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said he considered frequent Israeli strikes in Syria as a major aggression, and that Syria and its allies had the right to respond. Hizbollah has been fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria's nearly four-year-old civil war.

The Hizbollah-run Al Manar news channel did not mention Moughniyah but said Hizbollah had confirmed that a group of its fighters were killed when they were checking an area in Quneitra.

It said Hizbollah would announce the names of the dead later on Sunday.

Quneitra has seen heavy fighting between forces loyal to Assad and rebels including fighters linked to Al Qaeda.

"An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles on Amal Farms in Quneitra," the Lebanese news channel said earlier, adding that two reconnaissance planes had also been seen flying over the area.

Israel has struck Syria several times since the start of the war, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for Hizbollah, Israel's long-time foe in neighbouring Lebanon.

Syria said last month that Israeli jets had bombed areas near Damascus international airport and in the town of Dimas, near the border with Lebanon.

Imad Moughniyah, who was on the United States' most wanted list for attacks on Israeli and Western targets, was assassinated in Damascus in 2008.

OCCUPIED Jerusalem — Israel on Sunday laid charges against seven Arab Israelis over allegations they set up a militant cell linked to the Islamic State group, the Shin Bet internal security agency said.

The seven, who all come from Israel's northern Galilee region, were all arrested in November and December and indicted at Haifa District Court on Sunday. They are aged between 22 and 40. 

Shin Bet said they were indicted on charges of "membership of, and activity within an illegal organisation, support for a terror organisation and attempts to make contact with an enemy agent".

In September, Israel outlawed both IS and Al Qaeda affiliated Abdullah Azzam Brigades as "illegal organisations", allowing for legal measures to be taken against them or anyone supporting or financing them.

In a statement, Shin Bet identified the ringleader as 40-year-old Adnan Alaaeddin and said the group met frequently with a radical Salafist cleric.

"Adnan presented himself to the other members as a senior commander within the Islamic State group in Palestine and he was a dominant figure among the activists. During their meetings, Adnan would urge them to carry out military operations and attacks on Jews," it said. 

Another suspect, Karim Abu Salah, 22, was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv as he was heading to Syria to join the ranks of the jihadists, it said. 

During his interrogation, he admitted buying weapons to carry out a shooting attack against Israel security forces and members of the Druze minority who serve in the police and army, the agency said. 

Although Israel has previously arrested individuals for travelling to Syria to join jihadist groups, this was the first cell uncovered inside Israel, the agency said.

Shin Bet said this month it had arrested three IS-inspired militants in the southern West Bank in what was the first known such cell to be uncovered in Israel and the Palestinian territories. 

Last year, Israeli officials said they knew some 30 Arab Israelis had made their way to Syria to fight for jihadist groups, but said only a few had joined the IS group.

Israel’s 1.3 million Arab citizens, who make up just over 20 per cent of the population, are the descendents of 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land when the state of Israel was established in 1948.

BEIRUT — Miss Universe contestants are keen to proclaim their desire for world peace, but this year's Miss Lebanon has declared war after claiming Miss Israel muscled in uninvited during a group “selfie”.

Saly Greige took to her Facebook page to declare that Israel's Doron Matalon had pushed her way into a now widely circulated photo showing the Middle Eastern beauties with Miss Japan and Miss Slovenia.

"Since the first day of my arrival to participate to Miss Universe, I was very cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel [that tried several times to have a photo with me]," Greige wrote in English on her page.

"I was having a photo with Miss Japan, Miss Slovenia and myself, suddenly Miss Israel jumped in, took a selfie, and put it on her social media."

The offending photo, taken in Miami where the Miss Universe pageant is staged, appeared on Matalon's Instagram account on January 11.

It shows Miss Israel with a beaming Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan, and Miss Lebanon, who appears to be gritting her teeth.

Matalon responded to the controversy herself on Sunday, saying it made her "sad".

"It doesn't surprise me, but it still makes me sad. Too bad you can not put the hostility out of the game," she wrote in English and Hebrew.

Lebanese media picked up the story, running Greige's allegations that Matalon had "photobombed" the selfie, and local social media users both defended and attacked their beauty queen for the picture.

Israel occupied parts of Lebanon for 22 years until 2000, but the two countries are still technically at war and their armies occasionally skirmish along the UN-designated withdrawal line.

Israel fought a bloody war against Lebanon's Hezbollah in 2006, which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/AMSTERDAM — Israel is lobbying member-states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to cut funding for the tribunal in response to its launch of an inquiry into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories, the country's foreign minister said on Sunday.

The ICC did not immediately respond to the news, but experts thought it unlikely that the lobbying effort was likely to persuade the countries that contribute most to the court to reduce their funding.

Israel, which like the United States does not belong to the ICC, hopes to dent funding for the court that is drawn from the 122 member-states in accordance with the size of their economies, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

"We will demand of our friends in Canada, in Australia and in Germany simply to stop funding it," he told Israel Radio. Officials told Reuters the lobbying effort would also target Japan, whose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting Israel.

"This body represents no one. It is a political body," Lieberman said, adding that he would raise the matter with visiting Canadian counterpart John Baird on Sunday.

A loss of funding would exacerbate the court's already serious financing problems. Last week, Reuters reported that the unexpected arrival of an indicted defector from Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda would put prosecutors under severe financial strain.

The overwhelming bulk of the court's funding comes from the advanced economies of Europe and North Asia. Japan is the largest contributor, giving 20.4 million euros in 2014, followed by Germany which gave 13.5 million.

France, Britain and Italy are also major contributors to the ICC's budget, which will rise 7 per cent to 141 million euros in 2015. Canada contributed 5.6 million.

But even countries that were traditionally close to Israel were unlikely to renege on their treaty commitments to fund the ICC, said Kevin Jon Heller, professor of law at London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

"Germany is probably the least likely country in the world to go against the ICC no matter how supportive of Israel it has traditionally been," he added. "It was one of the very leading states in the creation of the ICC."

ICC prosecutors said on Friday they would examine "in full independence and impartiality" crimes that may have occurred in the Palestinian territories since June 13 last year. This allows the court to delve into the war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza in July-August 2014 that killed more than 2,100 Palestinians and 70 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Islamist group Hamas, which is deemed a terrorist group by Israel and the West, on Saturday welcomed the ICC inquiry and said it was prepared to provide material for complaints against Israel.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Canada's top diplomat denounced Sunday the International Criminal Court (ICC) for opening a preliminary probe into possible war crimes by Israel, which counts on his country as one of its staunchest allies.

In a brief statement to reporters, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said the ICC's decision was "deeply regretable" and would feature in his meetings with Israeli officials.

"We look forward to discussing a range of issues, from trade to security, to the deeply regretable decision at the ICC," he said before meeting Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman.

The ICC said on Friday it was opening "a preliminary examination" into Israel's actions, which will cover a period including last summer's war in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the move as "scandalous" and Washington said it was a "tragic irony" that Israel, which had been hit by "thousands of terrorist rockets... is now being scrutinised by the ICC".

Canada played a central role in establishing the ICC and is a key supporter of the court — a fact which was not lost on Israel.

"We think it is completely unacceptable that a terrorist organisation like Hamas will be able to file a lawsuit against Israel," Lieberman said, standing at Baird's side.

"It's making a mockery of international law and the opposition of one of the founders of the ICC is very important, maybe crucial," he said.

"If we don't see a real dramatic change in [the Palestinians'] position, we will ask all our friends to stop any funding for the ICC," he said.

Japan, whose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is also currently visiting Israel, is the biggest financial backer of the ICC, contributing 20.4 million euros ($23.6 million) in 2014, according to figures up to June 30.

Canada contributed 5.6 million euros ($6.5 million) to the court's annual budget.

Earlier, during talks in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Malki, Baird warned against pursuing a diplomatic agenda that could prejudice the outcome of any future talks with Israel.

"I asked that the minister strongly reconsider the consequences of moving forward with any action that may be counterproductive to a negotiated solution with the state of Israel," Baird said in a statement.

As he left Ramallah for Jerusalem, angry young Palestinian protestors were seen hurling eggs at his motorcade.

Hearing of Baird's Ramallah incident, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin broke from protocol and left his residence to greet Baird by his vehicle at the beginning of their meeting.

Rivlin described the ICC's decision to investigate Israel as "blasphemy against international law", and Baird assured the Israeli leader Canada would assist Israel in its legal battle.

"In the court of international opinion, Israel already has one hand tied firmly behind its back, and we will not allow the international community to tie the other hand as well," Baird said, according to a statement from Rivlin's office.

Canada is a steadfast ally of Israel, and was one of the few countries that opposed a successful Palestinian bid to win upgraded status at the United Nations in 2012.

During last summer's 50-day war in Gaza, which left nearly 2,200 Palestinians dead and drew sharp international condemnation, Canada said Israel had the right to defend itself and blamed the bloodshed on Hamas.

In 2013, Baird angered the Palestinians by meeting an Israeli official in occupied east Jerusalem.

Such a move is routinely avoided by visiting diplomats because it could be seen as legitimising Israel's annexation of the eastern sector of the city following the 1967 war.

The annexation was not recognised internationally.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who did not meet with Baird, expressed anger over Canada's support for Israel and its attempts to block Palestinian diplomatic initiatives aimed at securing statehood.

"We regret the Canadian government's decision to stand on the wrong side of history by blindly supporting the Israeli occupation and its apartheid policies," he said in a statement.

RIYADH — A delegation of US senators led by John McCain have met separately with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Salman and Qatar's emir, part of a regional tour focused on training Syrian rebels. As they met, hundreds of civilians fled rebel-held areas near Damascus that had been blockaded for over a year.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar are staunch supporters of Syria's opposition, which is mired in a nearly four-year war to oust President Bashar Assad. The meetings took place Saturday, a day after the Pentagon said that as many as 1,000 US troops and support personnel would be sent to Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to help train vetted Syrian rebels.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said the training by a mix of US special and conventional forces could begin as early as this spring.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who accompanied McCain, told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the rebels would be unable to defeat the Islamic State group without a no-fly zone to protect them from government aircraft.

"The current strategy is failing. Everybody has told us on this trip that if you don't have a no-fly zone, the people we're trying, the Free Syrian Army that we're training, is going to go back into Syria and get slaughtered by Assad."

A message on the official Twitter feed for McCain, R-Arizona, said the US delegation met with the commander of Saudi Arabia's training and equipment programme and with Ahmed Al Jarba, whom it identified as the president of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition. Jarba stepped down as SNC president in July 2014. The current SNC president is Khaled Khoja. The reason for the discrepancy in McCain's tweet was not immediately clear.

The US senators also met in neighbouring Qatar with Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the country's emir. The delegation included Graham, R-South Carolina, Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, Angus King, I-Maine, and Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, the state news agency reported. All sit on the Senate's Armed Services Committee, which McCain chairs.

In Syria, meanwhile, hundreds of civilians fled from rebel-held towns east of Damascus that had been blockaded for at least 18 months.

Hundreds of women and children could be seen in footage aired by the Lebanese channel Al Mayadeen sitting in what appeared to be a large courtyard.

One of the women said rebel fighters seized men fleeing with them. "As soon as you leave, they'll start hitting us," she said they told the group, referring to government forces.

The woman, who did not give her name, said they had been eating stale cracked wheat and barley to survive.

Activists in those areas had said that they were mostly living without power for months, including during a snowy winter, and had only sparse food supplies.

Both government forces and rebels use blockades to pressure their foes to surrender, often causing widespread suffering for civilians.

State-run media said some 2,000 civilians fled, including over 1,000 children and 350 gunmen who surrendered. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, estimated the number at 1,200 people.

It was not immediately clear why Syrian authorities allowed the people to flee. The area has long been held by armed groups fighting Assad's rule.

In recent months, more moderate rebel groups have increasingly clashed with jihadi organisations, including the Islamic State group and Al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, Al Nusra Front.

A military cargo aircraft laden with ammunition and food crashed late Saturday in the country's north, killing at least 35 pro-government forces.

Al Nusra Front said on its Twitter feed Sunday that its fighters shot down the aircraft overnight near the Duhour Air Base and killed 37 men — Syrian soldiers and Shiite fighters of the Lebanese group Hizbollah.

The observatory said the plane crashed after it became entangled in electrical cables, killing 35 men. The observatory obtains its information from a network of activists on the ground.

Syria's state-run media said the plane crashed while trying to land in poor weather on Friday evening, killing the entire crew.

Syrian rebels have shot down government aircraft in the past.

Western nations have been reluctant to provide anti-aircraft weapons to rebels, fearing that they could fall into the hands of extremists.

But more moderate groups have said they need the weapons to counter government air strikes, which have killed thousands of people and forced tens of thousands to flee opposition-held areas.

SANAA — Shiite militiamen in control of Yemen's capital seized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's chief of staff Saturday in a new challenge to his leadership of the violence-plagued country.

The abduction of Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, who heads a "national dialogue" on Yemen's political transition, came shortly before he was to attend a meeting on a proposed new constitution opposed by the Houthi militia.

Yemen has been dogged by instability since the ouster in 2012 of strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, with the Houthis and Al Qaeda seeking to fill the power vacuum.

The Houthis are widely believed to be backed by Saleh.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) also has a record of acting well beyond its Yemeni base, and claimed responsibility for the January 7 attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people.

Yemeni authorities said Saturday they had arrested two Frenchmen for questioning over suspected Al Qaeda links.

The Charlie Hebdo attackers, French brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, are known to have trained with Al Qaeda in Yemen.

“There are around 1,000 Al Qaeda militants in Yemen from 11 Arab and non-Arab countries,” national security service chief, General Mohammed Al Ahmadi, told reporters.

Mubarak and several companions in his armoured car were stopped by militiamen in Houthi tribal clothes in the southern Hada district, a witness said.

He was seized and driven to an unknown location, an official from the national dialogue secretariat told AFP.

Ahmadi said talks were under way to secure his release.

In a statement, the militia said Mubarak’s detention was necessary to prevent a UN-brokered agreement between the presidency and them in September “from being broken,” without clarifying Mubarak’s role.

The “national peace and partnership agreement” was signed in September as the Houthis overran Sanaa.

It called for forming a new government and appointing Houthi advisers to Hadi, and for Shiites to withdraw from key state institutions they had seized.

Mubarak’s kidnap came just before a meeting of the national dialogue secretariat to present a draft constitution that stipulates dividing Yemen into a six-region federation, which the Houthis  oppose.

Political sources told AFP representatives of the Houthis and Saleh’s General People’s Congress Party walked out of a meeting headed by Hadi on Saturday to discuss the political process, including the constitution.

The Houthi statement warned Hadi of an unspecified “series of special measures” they are planning, adding that “President Hadi must not cover up corruption”.

Hadi has struggled to assert his authority since the Houthis  seized Sanaa.

‘Foreign orders’ 

In a speech published by state news agency Saba, Hadi said “our problems must be solved by wisdom and common sense, and without resorting to violence such as kidnappings and killings”.

“Those who are attempting to hamper [the political process] must realise that we are on the right path and they cannot hamper this national process,” saying that such parties could be receiving “foreign orders”.

Yemen has repeatedly accused Shiite-dominated Iran of backing the Houthis.

Dozens protested in Sanaa and other cities Saturday against the Houthis and against Al Qaeda.

“Hadi you traitor. You have sold Yemen to Iran,” they chanted. “Revolt, revolt youth against Houthis and terrorism.”

Mubarak, a southerner, was one of the representatives in the dialogue of the Southern Movement, which seeks autonomy or secession for the formerly independent south.

Hadi named him as prime minister in October, but he turned down the job following strong opposition from the Houthis and from Saleh’s party.

Hours after his kidnap, leading southern political, tribal and media figures threat after a meeting in Sanaa to suspend their membership in “all [state] institutions” if Mubarak is not released “within 24 hours”.

Mubarak’s abduction comes a day after one of two Houthis appointed by Hadi as advisers last year announced he was quitting because his advice had been spurned.

Since their takeover of the capital, the Houthis have pressed their advance into mainly Sunni areas south of Sanaa, where they have met deadly resistance from Sunnis, including Al Qaeda loyalists.

The turmoil has raised fears that Yemen, which neighbours oil rich Saudi Arabia and lies on the key shipping route from the Suez Canal to the Gulf, may become a failed state similar to Somalia.

GAZA — The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas said on Saturday it welcomed a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an inquiry into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories.

ICC prosecutors said on Friday the preliminary examination would scrutinise "in full independence and impartiality" crimes that may have occurred since June 13 last year, opening a path to possible charges against Israelis or Palestinians.

The court's decision came after Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a rival to Hamas, requested ICC membership, against strong opposition from Israel and the United States.

Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip, said on Saturday the Islamist group appreciated the move.

"What is needed now is to quickly take practical steps in this direction and we are ready to provide [the court] with thousands of reports and documents that confirm the Zionist enemy has committed horrible crimes against Gaza and against our people," he said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday rejected the ICC move as absurd.

"Here's the ultimate folly of this decision — it is the democracy of Israel, a world leader in fighting terrorism, which is to be hauled to the dock in The Hague, while the terrorist war criminals of Hamas are the ones who are going to be pressing the charges," he said.

"I won't be surprised if ISIS, Al Qaeda and Hizbollah follow suit."

The US State Department said on Friday it was "a tragic irony that Israel, which has withstood thousands of terrorist rockets fired at its civilians and its neighbourhoods, is now being scrutinised by the ICC".

The June 13 date would allow the court to look at the war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza in July-August 2014 during which more than 2,100 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed, mostly soldiers.

It would, however, put the June 12 kidnapping and killing of three Israeli settlers in the West Bank by Hamas outside the time frame. That attack set off a chain of events that culminated in the Gaza war.

Prosecutors will assess evidence of alleged crimes and determine if they are of sufficient gravity and scale to warrant charges against individuals on either side.

Israel in 2005 pulled its settlers and troops out of Gaza, which remains under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade. Palestinians seek statehood in Gaza and the West Bank.

GENEVA — A top Iranian negotiator voiced optimism Saturday that talks with the United States seeking to nail down a complex nuclear deal could succeed if Washington showed "goodwill".

"We remain hopeful and I think that if the other side has the necessary good will and determination, it will be possible to reach a deal," Iran's deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told the Fars news agency.

His comments came on a third day of talks with senior US officials in Geneva aimed at accelerating progress towards a comprehensive deal which would rein in Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for relief from a tight network of global sanctions.

Iranian negotiators were also set to meet with Russian officials later in the day, before full negotiations on Sunday with the so-called P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.

Following an interim accord in November 2013, two deadlines for a final deal have been missed, and now a third one is looming on July 1.

"The negotiations are continuing in a completely serious atmosphere and both parties want to reach an agreement, but problems, chasms and differences also exist," Araghchi acknowledged.

A Western source close to the talks, meanwhile, said they did not seem to be moving forward significantly and that the biggest stumbling block was on the Iranian side.

"The Iranians have not yet made enough gestures to enable us to reach a good deal that would ensure a substantial reduction of their residual [uranium] enrichment capacity, so we collectively can be assured they don't have the technical capacity to rapidly develop a nuclear bomb," he told AFP.

Avoiding a 'disastrous' deal 

The source argued that any deal needed to ensure that Iran's "breakout capacity" for making a nuclear bomb was at least one year to give the international community time enough to act.

If the global powers go along with "a weak deal, that would send a disastrous signal to the rest of the world on the issue of proliferation”, he said.

Iran insists it is only interested in nuclear energy and adamantly denies it is pursuing atomic weapons.

Among issues complicating negotiations are hardliners on both sides who appear willing to torpedo the efforts.

The new Republican-controlled US Congress is considering a fresh sanctions bill, despite strong opposition from President Barack Obama, who has threatened to veto any such legislation that lands on his desk

If a sanctions bill does go through, some Iranian lawmakers hinted this week they could push to resume unlimited uranium enrichment.

There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in the lead-up to Sunday’s talks in a bid to break the stalemate.

US Secretary of State John Kerry met his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif for a marathon six-hour round in Geneva Wednesday, and again in Paris on Friday.

Zarif also went to Berlin this week to meet German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who stressed that the negotiations had entered a “decisive phase” and urged all parties to “leave nothing undone to reach the solution that has eluded us in recent years”.

Iran’s top diplomat also met in Paris with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius, who raised “the significant questions that remain to be solved”, the French foreign ministry said.

BAGHDAD — A series of bombings targeting busy markets killed 18 people in and around the capital, Baghdad, on Saturday, said Iraqi officials.

Police officials said the deadliest attack took place Saturday night when a motorcycle bomb exploded near a line of cell phone shops in Baghdad's Shiite district of Sadr City, killing nine people and wounding 25 others.

Several shops and cars were damaged in the attack. Police sealed off the area as ambulances evacuated the wounded to nearby hospitals.

Earlier in the day, a bomb blast in a vegetable wholesale market in a village near the town of Iskandariyah killed four people and wounded 14. Iskandariyah lies 50 kilometres south of Baghdad.

Elsewhere police say a bomb exploded at another market, killing five people and wounding 14, in the Shiite village of Sabaa Al Bour, about 30 kilometres north of Baghdad. Hospital officials confirmed the casualty toll from all attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release details to journalists.

Iraq sees near-daily bombings and other attacks mainly targeting Shiite neighbourhoods and security forces. The attacks are often claimed by the Sunni extremist Islamic State group which seized much of northern and western Iraq in a summer offensive.