Tag: conflict

Sunak, Biden to mark 25 years since N.Irish peace deal

  London, United Kingdom | AFP | Monday 4/10/2023 by Joe JACKSON Northern Ireland on Monday marks the 25th anniversary of its landmark 1998 peace accords, with the UK province mired in political dysfunction and security concerns that threaten to overshadow the milestone. No major public events are planned for the day itself, but British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden will arrive Tuesday to launch several days of high-profile commemorations. The […]

Moscow-backed official claims visit to frontline city Bakhmut

  Moscow, Russia | AFP | Monday 4/10/2023 A Moscow-backed official announced Monday that he had visited the frontline city of Bakhmut in Ukraine, suggesting that Russia’s forces have made significant gains there. The battle for Bakhmut is the longest and bloodiest of Russia’s offensive, and the city has taken on huge symbolic importance even though analysts say it has little strategic value. Denis Pushilin, the Russia-installed head of the eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region, posted […]

US assessing how documents leak could affect national security

  Washington, United States | AFP | Monday 4/10/2023 The United States is assessing how the apparent leak of a trove of highly classified documents could impact national security, the Pentagon said on Sunday. The breach — which is being investigated by the Justice Department — appears to include assessments and secret intelligence reports that touch not only on Ukraine and Russia but also highly sensitive analyses of US allies. While the Defense Department is […]

Israeli forces kill Palestinian teen in West Bank raid: Palestinian ministry

Jericho, Palestinian Territories | AFP | Monday 4/10/2023 Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager and injured two other people in the West Bank Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said, in what the army described as a raid to arrest a “terror suspect”. It comes amid surging violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent days, coinciding with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Jewish Passover and Catholic Easter. Mohammed Fayez Balhan, 15, was killed after being […]

Israel starts calling up reservists after deadly attacks

  by Claire Gounon Israel began calling up police and army reservists Saturday after separate attacks killed three people, including an Italian tourist, in Tel Aviv and the occupied West Bank. Despite appeals for restraint, violence has surged since Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque on Wednesday, with Israel bombarding both Gaza and Lebanon in response to rocket fire by Palestinian militants. The Italian was killed and seven other tourists wounded when an […]

Violent explosions in Tyre in southern Lebanon: AFP

TYRE, Lebanon (AFP) — At least three explosions were heard in southern Lebanon’s Tyre region at dawn on Friday, according to AFP reporters, as Israel announced it was carrying out strikes in response to rocket fire. “At least two shells fell near” a Palestinian refugee camp near Tyre city, said camp resident Abu Ahmad, who told AFP he “heard explosions”. A missile fell on a farmer’s house near the camp, causing material damage, an AFP […]

Israel strikes Gaza after rocket salvo from Lebanese soil

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Israel launched air strikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip late Thursday after vowing retaliation for a barrage of cross-border rockets fired from Lebanon, which it blamed on Palestinian groups. Tensions have soared between Israel and Palestinians during what is both the Jewish Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, prompting condemnations and calls for restraint from abroad. The latest flare-up of violence comes after Israeli police clashed […]

Concern, criticism after Israel police storm Jerusalem mosque

by Ahmad GHARABLI with Mai YAGHI in Gaza Agence France-Presse JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Global criticism and concern mounted Wednesday after Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Islam’s third-holiest site, sparking a military exchange of rockets and air strikes, with fears of further escalation. Two more rockets were fired late Wednesday from the Israel-blockaded Gaza Strip towards Israel, the army and witnesses said, and fresh altercations broke out at Al-Aqsa mosque during the Jewish Passover […]

France’s Macron begins China trip with Ukraine, trade on agenda

BEIJING, China (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron was due in Beijing on Wednesday for a visit in which he hopes to dissuade China from supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while also forging closer ties with a crucial trade partner. Macron will look to stand firm on Ukraine during talks with his counterpart Xi Jinping and offer “another path” from the directly confrontational tone often heard from Washington, an official from his office told reporters […]

Clashes inside Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Clashes erupted inside the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem early Wednesday as Israeli police said they had entered to dislodge “agitators”, in a move denounced as an “unprecedented crime” by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called on Palestinians in the West Bank “to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa mosque to defend it”. Israeli police said they had entered the mosque to dislodge “agitators” who had […]

Finland in NATO: strategic shift with material gain

Paris, France | AFP | Tuesday 4/4/2023 by Daphne Benoit and Didier Lauras Finland on Tuesday becoming the 31st member of NATO is a strategic step that doubles the military alliance’s border with Russia and provides the coalition with additional military capacity. Here are the key facts: – Russia ‘more vulnerable’ – Finland broke with decades of non-alignment to ask to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbour Ukraine in […]

Finland joins NATO, drawing warning from Moscow

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Tuesday 4/4/2023  by Max DELANY Finland became the 31st member of NATO on Tuesday, in a historic realignment of Europe’s defences that drew an angry warning of “countermeasures” from the Kremlin. Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine last year upended Europe’s security landscape and prompted Finland — and its neighbour Sweden — to drop decades of military non-alignment. Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto formally wrapped up the process by handing Helsinki’s […]