Tag: conflict

NATO chief warns of ‘malign’ Russian interference in Bosnia

SARAJEVO, Nov 20, 2023 (AFP) – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Monday of Russia’s “malign” interference in Bosnia, saying Moscow’s actions threatened the stability of the deeply divided Balkan country. Nearly 30 years after the end of its civil war, Bosnia remains fractured along ethnic lines, with NATO troops and later European peacekeepers stationed in the country to help keep the peace. “We are concerned by secessionist and divisive rhetoric as well as […]

Israeli army releases footage it says shows ‘hostages at Gaza hospital’

JERUSALEM, Nov 19, 2023 (AFP) – Israel’s military released security camera footage Sunday it said showed hostages being brought into Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after being kidnapped in the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel. In one of the clips a man is brought in on a gurney by several individuals, at least four of them armed, while in another someone struggles to resist while being forcibly dragged into a building resembing a […]

Kyiv reports increase in Russian overnight drone attacks

KYIV, Ukraine, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Ukraine’s air force said Saturday Russia fired 38 drones at its territory overnight — the highest reported number in more than six weeks. Both Kyiv and Moscow have used attack and reconnaissance drones extensively throughout the 21-month war. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 29 of the 38 Iranian-made Shahed drones — also known as “kamikaze drones” because they are packed with explosives to detonate upon reaching […]

Hundreds flee as Israel orders Gaza’s main hospital evacuated

By Adel Zaanoun GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Hundreds of people fled on foot Saturday after the director of Gaza’s main hospital said Israel’s army ordered evacuation of the facility where more than 2,000 patients, medics and displaced people were trapped by the war between Israel and Hamas. Columns of sick and injured — some of them amputees — displaced people, doctors and nurses, were seen making their way out of […]

41 Thais trapped by Myanmar fighting repatriated: army

BANGKOK, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Forty-one Thais trapped in Myanmar for three weeks by an upsurge in fighting between the junta and an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups returned to the kingdom on Saturday, the Thai army said. Fighting has raged since October 27 across northern Shan state near the Chinese border after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA) launched attacks on the […]

Sudan’s conflict spreads to new regions, UN warns of “humanitarian calamity”

UNITED NATIONS, United States, Nov 17, 2023 (AFP) – The conflict in Sudan, which has left thousands dead and seven million people displaced over seven months, is spreading to new regions of the nation, the UN said Thursday, warning of a mounting “humanitarian calamity.” The deadly unrest includes outbreaks of interethnic violence and attacks against women, according to the global body. The United Nations assistant secretary-general for Africa, Ghanaian diplomat Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, expressed […]

Israel army says body of hostage found near Gaza hospital

JERUSALEM, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli soldiers near Gaza’s largest hospital found the body of a hostage seized by Hamas militants in their attacks on southern Israel on October 7, the army said Thursday. A military spokesman identified the slain woman as Yehudit Weiss, saying she had been “murdered” by militants in the war-torn Palestinian territory. “Yehudit was murdered by the terrorists in the Gaza Strip and we didn’t manage to reach her in […]

Twenty-five Hamas-held Thai hostages are ‘safe’: mediator

BANGKOK, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Thailand’s government has been given assurances by Hamas that 25 of its nationals held hostage by the Palestinian armed group are “safe”, a member of the kingdom’s hostage release negotiating team said Thursday. The hostages could be released in days if a ceasefire is agreed between Israel and Hamas, Thai politician Lepong Syed said. More than 240 people were taken hostage during Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which […]

Myanmar military shells Rakhine town seized by ethnic minority fighters

YANGON, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Myanmar’s military shelled a town in western Rakhine state and used helicopters to attack fighters from an ethnic minority there on Thursday, residents and local media said. Arakan Army (AA) fighters have launched attacks on security forces across Rakhine this week, opening another front as the military battles opponents in the north and east. AA fighters had taken “complete control” of the town of Pauktaw, 25 kilometres (16 miles) […]

Gunmen wound several in attack near Jerusalem: Israeli police

JERUSALEM, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Three gunmen attacked a checkpoint near Jerusalem on Thursday, Israeli police said, wounding several people before the attackers were “neutralised”. Four people suffered gunshot wounds, including one who was critically injured, said the emergency medical service Magen David Adom in a statement, with another two people lightly wounded. All those injured were members of security services, according to police. The attack on a checkpoint guarding access to road tunnels […]

German police raid suspected pro-Hezbollah group

FRANKFURT, Germany, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Hundreds of police Thursday raided properties across Germany over suspected links to the Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah group, authorities said, as Berlin moves to stem a rash of anti-Semitism amid the Israel-Hamas war. The raids targeting 54 sites came after Germany banned Hamas activities and related organisations, in the wake of the deadly October 7 attack carried out by the Islamist group in Israel. “We have the Islamist scene […]

Israel presses Gaza hospital raid

By Mai Yaghi and Adel Zaanoun GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Israel renewed its military operation Thursday at Gaza’s largest hospital, targeting what it said was a Hamas command centre hidden beneath thousands of patients, medics and displaced people. “Tonight we conducted a targeted operation into Shifa hospital,” said Major General Yaron Finkelman, the head of army operations in Gaza. “We continue to move forward.” Both Israel and its top ally […]