Region

BEIRUT — Hizbollah said on Sunday its fighters had bombarded two army bases in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights within hours, after deadly Israeli strikes on south Lebanon.

Hizbollah, a Hamas ally, has traded regular cross-border fire with Israel since the Palestinian fighter group's October 7 surprise attack on southern Israel which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

The border clashes have intensified, and on Sunday Hizbollah "bombarded... the headquarters of the 210th Golan Division in the Nafah barracks with dozens of Katyusha rockets", the powerful Iran-backed group said in a statement.

It said the attack was in retaliation for Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. A source close to Hizbollah said two fighters were wounded.

The Israeli military said “approximately 15 projectiles” had been fired from Lebanon at the Golan Heights and “fell in open areas”, causing no injuries but starting fires.

The Hizbollah announcement came several hours afer Israeli forces struck the group’s positions in eastern and southern Lebanon.

The state-run National News agency reported that “two civilians were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted their home in the village of Hula”, near Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.

Israeli jets had “struck a Hizbollah military structure in the area of Hula, from which projectiles were fired” at an Israeli village across the border, the military said.

A local official told AFP that the fatalities were “two brothers, shepherds whose house was destroyed”.

Earlier on Sunday Hizbollah said it had launched several attack drones towards an army base in the Golan Heights, hours after Israel targeted the group’s fighters in a remote area of Bekaa Valley, far from the border.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that in response to Hizbollah firing a missile at one of its drones “operating in Lebanese airspace” the day before, its “fighter jets struck a military compound used by the Hizbollah terrorist organisation in the area of Bekaa in Lebanon”.

Since Friday, Israel has been intensely shelling a series of villages in southern Lebanon, where a woman, a Hizbollah-affiliated rescuer and two fighters from the group were killed.

In response, Hizbollah said it launched several attacks on Israeli military targets and shot down an Israeli Hermes 900 drone.

Nearly eight months of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border has left at least 451 people dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including more than 80 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, at least 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed, according to the army.

BEIRUT — Lebanese militant group Hizbollah said it launched a series of attacks on Israeli military positions on Saturday after state media reported Israel had stepped up its own strikes the night before.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on October 7, the Iran-backed Hizbollah has exchanged almost daily fire with the Israeli army in support of its Palestinian ally.

On Saturday morning, the Lebanese Islamist group said it had carried out "an air assault using explosive drones against... the Yiftah barracks, targeting the positions of enemy officers and soldiers".

It said the attack was in retaliation for a drone strike on a motorcycle in Majdal Selm earlier in the day.

The Hizbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee said two people were wounded in the drone strike.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “two Hizbollah terrorists operating in the region of Majdal Selm were struck by an aircraft”.

Later on Saturday, the Lebanese Shiite movement said it had “shot down a Hermes 900 drone which was attacking our people and villages”.

Hizbollah, which has increased its use of drones in recent weeks, has also claimed responsibility for several attacks against Israeli military positions “in response to Israeli aggression against southern localities and civilian homes”.

“The enemy [Israel] intensified its attacks last night,” Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

They included “a series of drone strikes... which resulted in deaths, injuries and extensive damage” in multiple locations near the border, NNA said.

The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday that its fighter jets had struck “significant Hizbollah assets” in several areas of southern Lebanon, including Adloun, 30 kilometres from the border, in response to launches aimed at northern Israel.

On Friday evening, a woman was killed and multiple people wounded in an Israeli drone strike on the outskirts of Adloun that “completely destroyed” a house, NNA reported.

The nearly eight months of violence have left almost 450 people dead in Lebanon, mostly fighters but including at least 80 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Among them are 20 rescuers, including 10 members of the Islamic Health Committee.

On the Israeli side, at least 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the violence, according to Israeli authorities.

UNITED NATIONS, United States — At the request of Baghdad, the UN Security Council unanimously decided on Friday that the United Nations political mission in Iraq would leave the country at the end of 2025 after more than 20 years.

Earlier this month, in a letter to the council, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al Sudani called for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) to be closed.

Sudani said UNAMI had overcome "great and varied challenges" and that "the grounds for having a political mission in Iraq" no longer exist.

The UNSC resolution adopted on Friday extended the mission's mandate for "a final 19-month period until 31 December 2025 after which UNAMI will cease all work and operations".

The mission was established by a UN Security Council resolution in 2003 at the request of the Iraqi government after the US-led invasion and fall of Saddam Hussein.

It advises the government on political dialogue and reconciliation, as well as helping with elections and security sector reform.

During the mission's previous renewal in May 2023, the Council asked the secretary-general to launch a strategic review, which was overseen by German diplomat Volker Perthes.

In a report issued in March, Perthes signalled that an end to the mandate could be appropriate, concluding that "the two-year period identified by the government for the mission's drawdown can be a sufficient time frame to make further progress."

He also said that the period would provide time to reassure reluctant Iraqis that the transition "will not lead to a reversal of democratic gains or threaten peace and security".

Given that UN missions can only operate with the host nation’s consent, Russia, China, Britain and France this month all voiced support for a transition in the partnership between Iraq and the United Nations.

The United States was more vague, with UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield saying UNAMI still had “important work to do”, and making no mention of Baghdad’s request.

She emphasised the mission’s role in organizing elections and promoting human rights, even though Iraq asked that the mission focus more on economic issues.

BAGHDAD — The US ambassador to Iraq denounced attacks on Thursday targeting Western-linked brands in Baghdad this week, as anger grows across the Middle East over Israel's war in Gaza.

A stun bomb exploded at 1:20 am in front of a dealership of the US construction equipment company Caterpillar in the Jadriyah neighbourhood of Baghdad, the Iraqi security forces said.

Ten minutes later, a blast went off in front of the Cambridge Institute in nearby Palestine Street, which a resident identified as a likely Iraqi-owned language learning centre.

On Sunday, a makeshift bomb was thrown at a branch of the US fast-food chain KFC, causing minor damage. The next night, masked men broke into another branch, smashing glass.

“We condemn recent violent attacks against US and international businesses,” the US Ambassador to Baghdad, Alina Romanowski, said on social media platform X.

She urged the Iraqi government to “conduct a thorough investigation, bring to justice those who are responsible, and prevent future attacks”.

“These attacks endanger Iraqi lives and property, and could weaken Iraq’s ability to attract foreign investment,” the US diplomat added.

The Iraqi security forces said Thursday’s attacks, whose motives remained unknown, did not cause any damage or injuries, adding they were a “desperate attempt to harm Iraq’s reputation”.

After the KFC attacks, security forces said they had arrested several suspects.

Since the war in Gaza started in October, a boycott movement spearheaded by pro-Palestinian activists has targeted major Western brands, such as Starbucks and McDonald’s.

Iraq does not recognise Israel’s statehood, and all of its political parties support the Palestinian cause.

Earlier this week, influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada Sadr renewed his calls to close the US embassy in Baghdad “through diplomatic means without bloodshed”, after an Israeli strike killed dozens of civilians in a camp in Gaza.

TEHRAN — Iran on Thursday began the formal registration of presidential candidates ahead of a snap vote next month to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash.

"Candidate registration for the 14th presidential elections began at 8 am (4:30 GMT)... at the interior ministry," the official IRNA news agency said.

Presidential hopefuls will have five days to register, IRNA added.

The elections were originally slated for 2025 but were brought forward following Raisi's unexpected death on May 19.

Raisi and seven members of his entourage, including foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were killed when their aircraft came down on a fog-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran.

The Islamic republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has since assigned vice president Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as caretaker president in accordance with the constitution.

On Thursday, state TV reported that "around 30 people" came forward to submit applications for candidacy, but "none of them met the basic conditions for qualification".

An AFP correspondent later saw former reformist lawmaker Mostafa Kavakebian and incumbent conservative parliamentarian Mohammadreza Sabaghian submitting their applications at the ministry.

Later, state TV showed former deputy foreign minister and nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, known for his inflexible negotiating stance, registering his candidacy.

The ultraconservative Jalili, 58, vehemently denounced a 2015 nuclear deal with global powers saying it "violated the red lines" of the Islamic republic by accepting "unusual inspections" of nuclear sites.

During the 2021 elections, he withdrew from the presidential race and supported Raisi's bid.

Candidates must be between the ages of 40 and 75 and have at least a master’s degree, according to Iran’s electoral law.

As in previous election cycles, the main candidates representing Iran’s leading political camps are expected to submit their applications closer to the end of the registration process.

A final list of candidates will be announced on June 11 by the Guardian Council, a 12-member body of jurists whose members are either appointed or approved by the supreme leader.

The body disqualified multiple reformist and moderate figures ahead of the 2021 presidential elections which brought the ultraconservative Raisi to power.

Those elections had a record low turnout for a presidential poll, at just 48.8 percent.

The June vote will be held during a turbulent time amid continued diplomatic tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme.

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories — Street fighting and Israeli bombardment rocked Rafah in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, residents and officials said, a day after Israeli tanks rolled into the centre of the city near the Egyptian border.

The Israeli forces pushed on with its mission to defeat Hamas in the war raging since October 7, despite a global outcry that intensified after a deadly strike set ablaze a crowded camp on Sunday night.

The UN Security Council was set to meet for a second day of emergency talks after that strike ignited a fire that Gaza officials said killed 45 people and injured about 250.

UN chief Antonio Guterres was among the many leaders to voice revulsion at the bloodshed, demanding that "this horror must stop".

Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said on Wednesday the war could go on until the year's end.

"We may have another seven months of fighting to consolidate our success and achieve what we have defined as the destruction of Hamas's power and military capabilities," Hanegbi said.

But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel needed a post-war plan “as quickly as possible”.

“In the absence of a plan for the day after, there won’t be a day after,” he said.

Fighting has again flared in Rafah, where an AFP reporter said an Israeli helicopter fired guns and missiles at targets in the city centre.

Hamas’ military wing said it was firing rockets at Israeli troops.

AFPTV footage showed Palestinians with bloodied midriffs and bandaged limbs after being wounded in strikes near Khan Yunis, close to Rafah, being taken to the European Hospital on makeshift gurneys.

“The rockets fell directly on us. I was hurled three metres... I don’t know how I managed to get up on my feet,” said one who did not give his name.

The army said three soldiers were killed in Rafah on Tuesday, raising to 292 its death toll in the Gaza campaign since the ground offensive started on October 27.

The United States has been among the countries urging Israel to refrain from a full-scale offensive into Rafah, the last Gaza city to see ground fighting, because of the risk to civilians.

However, the White House said on Tuesday that so far it had not seen Israel cross President Joe Biden’s “red lines”, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying: “We have not seen them smash into Rafah.

“We have not seen them go in with large units, large numbers of troops, in columns and formations in some sort of coordinated manoeuvre against multiple targets on the ground,” Kirby told a media briefing.

A steady stream of civilians has been fleeing Rafah, the new hotspot in the gruelling war, many carrying their belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey-drawn carts.

Before the Rafah offensive began on May 7, the United Nations had warned that up to 1.4 million people were sheltering there. Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sunday’s strike and ensuing fire a “tragic accident”, while the army said it had targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior members of the group.

Israel’s military said it was investigating the strike, and its spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday that “our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size”.

Gaza civil defence agency official Mohammad Al Mughayyir said 21 more people were killed in a similar strike Tuesday “targeting the tents of displaced people” in western Rafah.

The army denied this and said it “did not strike in the humanitarian area in Al Mawasi”, an area it had designated for displaced people from Rafah to shelter.

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,171 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

New fighting also hit other areas of Gaza, a besieged territory of 2.4 million people.

In the north, Israeli military vehicles unleashed intense gunfire east of Gaza City, an AFP reporter said, and residents reported air strikes on parts of Jabalia.

Three bodies were recovered from a house in Khan Yunis after it was shelled, the civil defence agency said.

UN Security Council 

Nearly eight months into the deadliest Gaza war, Israel has faced ever louder opposition and cases before two Netherlands-based international courts.

At the UN Security Council, Algeria has presented a draft resolution that “demands an immediate ceasefire respected by all parties” and the release of all hostages.

Algeria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amar Bendjama, has not specified when he hopes to put the draft to a vote.

Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong expressed hope for a vote this week as President Xi Jinping told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in Beijing he was “deeply pained” by the situation in Gaza.

French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said “It’s high time for this council to take action. This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of emergency.”

US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, when asked about the draft resolution, said: “We’re waiting to see it and then we’ll react to it.”

Brazil, whose ties with Israel have soured over the war, on Wednesday recalled its ambassador, further raising tensions between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the World Central Kitchen nonprofit organisation said it was stopping its operations in Rafah because of “ongoing attacks” in the southern city.