GAZA STRIP — After a career in the shadows, spent in Israeli prisons and the internal security apparatus of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar has emerged as leader of the Palestinian group in the middle of a full-blown war. Sinwar, who until now was the movement’s Gaza chief, replaces Ismail Haniyeh, whose killing in Tehran last week […]
JERUSALEM — A senior Muslim cleric was detained on suspicion of inciting “terrorism” on Friday after he mourned slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque, his lawyer told. Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, 85, the former grand mufti of Jerusalem and current head of its Supreme Islamic Council, called Haniyeh a “martyr” in his […]
ANKARA — Turkey has blocked access to social media platform Instagram, the infotech regulator said on Friday, without stating a reason or duration for the ban, which also left the platform’s mobile app inaccessible. The move follows comments on Wednesday by Turkish communications official Fahrettin Altun, criticising the platform for what he called its decision […]
BEIRUT — Hezbollah said it launched rockets at northern Israel Thursday “in response” to a deadly Israeli strike in south Lebanon — the group’s first attack after Israel killed a top commander earlier this week. The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it “launched dozens of Katyusha rockets… in response to the Israeli enemy’s […]
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan said Wednesday the killing of Hamas’s political leader in an air strike in neighbouring Iran blamed on Israel was a “reckless act”, while hundreds of supporters of an Islamist party held a symbolic funeral near Islamabad. Describing the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh as “terrorism”, Islamabad’s foreign ministry said in a statement that […]
GAZA — The Israeli army has bombed the central Gazan refugee camp of Nuseirat 63 times in seven days, killing 91 Palestinians and injuring 251 others, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said. The Gaza-ruling faction on Sunday held the Israeli and the US administrations “fully responsible” for continued killings in the refugee camp, which […]
DUBAI — Shaikha Mahra Bint Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the daughter of Dubai’s ruler, has publicly declared “divorce” from her husband, Sheikh Mana Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid bin Mana Al Maktoum, on Instagram. The announcement comes just over two months after the couple welcomed their first child. “Dear Husband,” the Dubai princess began. “As […]
GAZA — At least 40 Palestinians were killed in two attacks by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the Hamas-run media office said in a statement. One attack in the UN-affiliated Al-Razi School in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed 23 Palestinians, with 73 others injured, the statement said. The […]
BEIRUT — Hezbollah attacked a new Israeli division with assault drones in Illit in response to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon’s southern villages. “In response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks … the fighters of the Islamic Resistance launched an air attack with a squadron of assault drones on the headquarters Command of the newly created 91st […]
JERUSALEM — Israeli security forces have confirmed that they killed Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip late last week. In a statement, the Israeli military and Shin Bet internal security agency said on Sunday that Salameh was killed in the area of Khan Younis, Xinhua news […]