US military confirms Houthi attacks on vessels in Red Sea – Arab News

• Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in its northern neighbor, has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges them

Updated 16 July 2024

AP

July 16, 2024 01:18

BEIRUT: An Israeli drone strike on a car Monday near the Lebanon-Syria border killed a prominent Syrian businessman who was sanctioned by the United States and had close ties to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to pro-government media and an official from an Iran-backed group.
Mohammed Baraa Katerji was killed when a drone strike hit his car near the area of Saboura, a few kilometers or miles inside Syria after apparently crossing from Lebanon. Israel’s air force has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in recent years, mainly targeting members of Iran-backed groups and Syria’s military. But it has been rare to hit personalities from within the government.
The strike also came as Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group have been exchanging fire on an almost daily basis since early October, after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
An official from an Iran-backed group said that Katerji was killed instantly while in his SUV on the highway linking Lebanon with Syria. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.
The pro-government Al-Watan daily quoted unnamed “sources” as saying that Katerji, 48, was killed in a “Zionist drone strike on his car.” It gave no further details.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that Katerji was killed while in a car with Lebanese license plates, adding that he was apparently targeted because he used to fund the “Syrian resistance” against Israel in the Golan Heights, as well as his links to Iran-backed groups in Syria.
Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in its northern neighbor, has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges them.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, sanctioned Katerji in 2018 as Assad’s middleman to trade oil with the Daesh group and for facilitating weapons shipments from Iraq to Syria.
The US Treasury declined Associated Press requests for comment. The sanctions imposed on Katerji were authorized under an Obama-era executive order issued in 2011 that prohibits certain transactions with Syria. A search of the OFAC database indicates that the sanctions were still in effect against Katerji and his firm at the time of his death.
OFAC said in 2018 that Katerji was responsible for import and export activities in Syria and assisted with transporting weapons and ammunition under the pretext of importing and exporting food items. These shipments were overseen by the US­ designated Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, according to OFAC.
It added that the Syria-based Katerji Company is a trucking company that has also shipped weapons from Iraq to Syria. Additionally, in a 2016 trade deal between the government of Syria and IS, the Katerji Company was identified as the exclusive agent for providing supplies to IS-controlled areas, including oil and other commodities.
Katerji and his brother, Hussam — widely referred to in Syria as the “Katerji brothers” — got involved in oil business a few years after the country’s conflict began in March 2011. Hussam Katerji is a former member of Syria’s parliament.
 

• Accounts of alleged mistreatment including torture, rape and other sexual abuses in Israeli jails have all been denied by Israeli authorities

Updated 16 July 2024

AFP

July 16, 2024 00:40

• The visit comes several few days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address the US Congress on July 24
• Israel has killed at least 38,584 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Gaza health ministry

Updated 16 July 2024

AFP

July 16, 2024 00:44

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with two senior Israeli officials Monday and voiced worry over recent deadly strikes by Israel in the Gaza Strip, his spokesman said.
The Israeli army has launched several deadly attacks in recent days including on a refugee camp and a UN-run school that was being used as a shelter. In response, Hamas said it was pulling out of ceasefire negotiations, causing prospects for a truce and hostage release deal to dwindle.
Blinken received Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi “to express our serious concern about the recent civilian casualties in Gaza,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
On Saturday, Israeli strikes killed more than 90 people in the Al-Mawasi camp near Khan Yunis, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said. In May, the camp was declared a safe humanitarian zone by the Israeli military, which told civilians to evacuate to it.
Israel said it had been targeting Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, one of Israel’s most wanted men for decades, and Rafa Salama, the Islamist movement’s commander in Khan Yunis, believed by Israel to be one of the masterminds of the October 7 attack that triggered the current war.
A Hamas official said Sunday that Deif was “well and directly overseeing” operations, though doubts remained. The two Israeli officials told Blinken that “they do not have certainty yet” about Deif’s fate, according to Miller.
The discussions also focused on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, humanitarian aid for Gaza and post-war plans, he said.
The visit comes several few days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address the US Congress on July 24.
“We continue to hear from Israel directly that they want to reach a ceasefire and that they’re committed to the proposal that they put forward,” Miller said.
The United States has strongly defended Israel’s right to defend itself after the October 7 attacks by Hamas, in which 1,195 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
During the attack, Hamas militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza including 42 the military says are dead.
But Biden has been under mounting political pressure over the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 38,584 people, also mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Gaza health ministry.
 

• The airline flew “hundreds of people from east Asian countries without taking into account the obligations of the air carrier” and migration legislation, as well as international treaties ratified by Libya, the statement said

Updated 16 July 2024

AFP

July 16, 2024 00:07

TRIPOLI: A Libyan airline’s commercial director has been arrested in an investigation into flying illegal migrants who intended to enter the United States to Nicaragua, the attorney general’s office said.
The case concerns flights organized by private airline Ghadames Air, the office said in a statement published overnight Sunday-Monday.
It said the airline flew “hundreds of people wishing to enter the territory of the United States through the territory of the Republic of Nicaragua, in violation of applicable immigration rules.”
Authorities ordered “the imprisonment of the commercial director of Ghadames Airlines for committing activity harmful to the country’s interests,” it said.
The airline flew “hundreds of people from east Asian countries without taking into account the obligations of the air carrier” and migration legislation, as well as international treaties ratified by Libya, the statement said.
It added that violation of “the protocol to combat the smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air” was of particular concern.
An investigation published in late May by Le Monde newspaper said several Ghadames Air charter flights took hundreds of Asian migrants to the Nicaraguan capital Managua from Benghazi and Tripoli.
Like most Libyan airlines, Ghadames Air is banned from entering European Union airspace for security reasons.
Libya has been wracked by division and unrest since the 2011 NATO-backed overthrow of former dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
The North African country is divided between two rival administrations, and has become a hub for tens of thousands of migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea.
According to the International Organization for Migration, there are more than 700,000 migrants in Libya, largely Nigerians and Egyptians.
However on July 10, Imad Trabelsi, interior minister in the Tripoli-based administration, said “there are approximately 2.5 million foreigners in Libya.”
He added that “70 to 80 percent of them entered the country illegally.”
 

• Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the OPEC cartel, but despite having immense oil and gas reserves, it remains dependent on imports to meet its energy needs
• Many households have just a few hours of mains electricity per day, and those who can afford it use private generators to keep fridges and air conditioners running

Updated 16 July 2024

AFP

July 15, 2024 23:58

DIWANIYAH, Iraq: Hundreds of Iraqis in the southern province of Diwaniyah protested on Monday against power cuts and water shortages during the extreme heat of summer, an AFP correspondent said.
Decades of war have left the country’s infrastructure in a pitiful state, with power cuts worsening the blistering summer when temperatures often reach 50 Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) mostly in southern provinces.
Dozens of villages in Diwaniyah have also suffered for years from water shortages because of a four-year-long drought and reduced river flows.
On Monday, around 500 angry protesters encircled the municipality building in Shafeiya village, burning tires and chanting for better services.
“We don’t have electricity. We used to get it for only two hours (per day), but now it is only one hour and 15 minutes,” said protester Youssef Kamel.
“We don’t have water or agriculture,” he said, adding that “everyone has left to look for jobs” as laborers in the cities.
Last week, hundreds of people also protested outside electricity department offices in Ghamas district, blocking roads and burning tires.
On Saturday, police used tear gas to disperse protesters, and dozens were briefly detained.
Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the OPEC cartel, but despite having immense oil and gas reserves, it remains dependent on imports to meet its energy needs.
Neighbouring Iran supplies about a third of its power sector requirements.
Many households have just a few hours of mains electricity per day, and those who can afford it use private generators to keep fridges and air conditioners running.
Anger over corruption, unemployment and blackouts helped to fuel deadly protests from late 2019 to mid-2020.
The protests morphed into an unprecedented anti-government movement, mostly across southern Iraq and in Baghdad, before a security crackdown killed more than 600 people.