US carries out strike in Iraq as regional tensions worsen

Update Members of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) carry the mock coffins of fellow members of PMF, who were killed by US air strikes on the Syria-Iraq border, during a symbolic funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, June 29, 2021. (REUTERS file photo)
Members of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) carry the mock coffins of fellow members of PMF, who were killed by US air strikes on the Syria-Iraq border, during a symbolic funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, June 29, 2021. (REUTERS file photo)
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Updated 31 July 2024

US carries out strike in Iraq as regional tensions worsen

US carries out strike in Iraq as regional tensions worsen
  • The 150,000-strong Popular Mobilization Forces, a state-sanctioned grouping of Iraqi paramilitaries, is dominated by heavily armed and battle-hardened groups loyal to Iran and with close ties to its Revolutionary Guards
  • The officials added that the strike targeted militants that the US deemed were looking to launch drones and posed a threat to US and coalition forces

BAGHDAD: The United States on Tuesday carried out a strike in Iraq that US officials described as self defense, as regional tensions rose after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut that Israel said killed Hezbollah’s most senior commander.
Iraqi police and medical sources said the strike inside a base south of Baghdad used by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) killed four members of the group that contains several Iran-aligned armed militias, and wounded four others.
In a statement after the blasts, the Popular Mobilization Forces made no accusation about who was responsible.
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States carried out an airstrike in Musayib, located in Babil province, but did not provide more details on the location.
The officials added that the strike targeted militants that the US deemed were looking to launch drones and posed a threat to US and coalition forces.
The officials did not comment on any casualties.
“This action underscores the United States’ commitment to the safety and security of our personnel,” one of the officials said.
Iraq condemned the strike saying the US-led military coalition committed a “heinous crime” by targeting security sites south of Baghdad and said the attacks were a serious violation of the coalition’s mission and mandate, an Iraqi military spokesman said in a statement.
Multiple rockets were launched toward Iraq’s Ain Al-Asad air base housing US-led forces last week, US and Iraqi sources said, with no damage or casualties reported. US officials said none of the rockets hit the base.
Tuesday’s action was the first known US strike in Iraq since February, when the US military launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Iran-aligned militias.
The 150,000-strong Popular Mobilization Forces, a state-sanctioned grouping of Iraqi paramilitaries, is dominated by heavily armed and battle-hardened groups loyal to Iran and with close ties to its Revolutionary Guards.
Iraq, a rare ally of both the US and Iran which hosts 2,500 US troops and has Iran-backed militias linked to its security forces, has witnessed escalating tit-for-tat attacks since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October.
Iraq wants troops from the US-led military coalition to begin withdrawing in September and to formally end the coalition’s work by September 2025, Iraqi sources have said, with some US forces likely to remain in a newly negotiated advisory capacity.
The issue is highly politicized, with mainly Iran-aligned Iraqi political factions looking to show that they are again pushing out the country’s one-time occupier, while US officials want to avoid giving Iran and its allies a win.
US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, toppled former leader Saddam Hussein and then withdrew in 2011, only to return in 2014 to fight Islamic State at the head of a coalition.


Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal

Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal
Updated 7 sec ago

Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal

Trump hosts Netanyahu in push for Gaza deal
  • Netanyahu was more cagey on peace with the Palestinians and ruled out a full Palestinian state, saying that Israel will ‘always’ keep security control over the Gaza Strip
  • The US proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel, two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump hosted Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner at the White House on Monday as he pressed the Israeli prime minister to end the devastating Gaza war.
Netanyahu’s third visit since Trump’s return to power comes at a crucial time, with the US president hoping to capitalize on the momentum from a recent truce between Israel and Iran.
“I don’t think there is a hold up. I think things are going along very well,” Trump told reporters at the start of the dinner when asked what was preventing a peace deal.
Sitting on the opposite side of a long table from the Israeli leader, Trump also voiced confidence that Hamas was willing to end the conflict in Gaza, which is entering its 22nd month.
“They want to meet and they want to have that ceasefire,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if clashes involving Israeli soldiers would derail talks.
The meeting in Washington came as Israel and Hamas held a second day of indirect talks in Qatar on an elusive ceasefire.
Netanyahu meanwhile said he had nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — the US president’s long-held goal — presenting him with a letter he sent to the prize committee.
“He’s forging peace as we speak, in one country, in one region after the other,” Netanyahu said.

But Netanyahu was more cagey on peace with the Palestinians and ruled out a full Palestinian state, saying that Israel will ‘always’ keep security control over the Gaza Strip.
“Now, people will say it’s not a complete state, it’s not a state. We don’t care,” Netanyahu said.
Several dozen protesters gathered near the White House as Trump and Netanyahu met, chanting slogans accusing the Israeli prime minister of “genocide.”
Trump has strongly backed key US ally and fellow conservative Netanyahu, lending US support in Israel’s recent war by bombing Iran’s key nuclear facilities.
But at the same time he has increasingly pushed for an end to what he called the “hell” in Gaza. Trump said on Sunday he believes there is a “good chance” of an agreement this coming week.
“The utmost priority for the president right now in the Middle East is to end the war in Gaza and to return all of the hostages,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Leavitt said Trump wanted Hamas to agree to a US-brokered proposal “right now” after Israel backed the plan for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha, with representatives seated in different rooms in the same building.
Monday’s talks ended with “no breakthrough,” a Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told AFP. The Hamas and Israeli delegations were due to resume talks later.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff was due to join the talks in Doha later this week in an effort to get a ceasefire over the line.
The US proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel, two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP.
The group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system, they said.
In Gaza, the civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people on Monday, including six in a clinic housing people displaced by the war.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the war, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.

 


Trump says Hamas ‘want to have that ceasefire’ in Gaza

Trump says Hamas ‘want to have that ceasefire’ in Gaza
Updated 6 min 11 sec ago

Trump says Hamas ‘want to have that ceasefire’ in Gaza

Trump says Hamas ‘want to have that ceasefire’ in Gaza

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump voiced his confidence Monday that Hamas was willing to agree a truce with Israel, as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to push for an end to the Gaza war.
“They want to meet and they want to have that ceasefire,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if clashes involving Israeli soldiers would derail talks.


Libya authorities intercept over 100 migrants off coast

Libya authorities intercept over 100 migrants off coast
Updated 08 July 2025

Libya authorities intercept over 100 migrants off coast

Libya authorities intercept over 100 migrants off coast
  • Libya has been gripped by unrest since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising

TRIPOLI: Libyan authorities on Monday said they had intercepted 113 migrants off the country’s coast and recovered three bodies in separate operations over three days.
The bodies of three “illegal migrants of African nationalities” were discovered on a beach in Misrata, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Tripoli, the Ministry of Interior said.
Also on Monday, security forces on a speedboat intercepted 54 migrants off Garabulli, 50 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli, the ministry added.
They were brought back to the capital’s port and handed over to the competent authorities, it said.
The day before, “as part of a plan to intensify maritime patrols during the summer,” 20 migrants “of various nationalities” were rescued off Zawiya, 45 kilometers west of Tripoli, the ministry said Sunday.
On Saturday, 39 migrants were intercepted off the eastern coast of Tripoli, the ministry reported, without providing further details about where they were found or their point of departure.
Libya has been gripped by unrest since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.
It has become a hub for tens of thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe, risking their lives at sea.
Migrants intercepted by Libyan authorities — even in international waters before reaching the Italian coast, some 300 kilometers away — are forcibly returned to Libya and held in detention under harsh conditions frequently condemned by the United Nations.
 

 


Ending war in Gaza is ‘Trump’s utmost priority’

Ending war in Gaza is ‘Trump’s utmost priority’
Updated 07 July 2025

Ending war in Gaza is ‘Trump’s utmost priority’

Ending war in Gaza is ‘Trump’s utmost priority’
  • Israel’s refusal to allow free and safe entry of aid is key sticking point in Doha truce talks

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s “utmost priority” is to end the war in Gaza and free hostages held by Hamas, the White House said on Monday before a crucial meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will this week travel to Qatar, where Israel and Hamas are holding indirect talks. Israel’s refusal to allow the free and safe entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza remains the main obstacle to progress in the ceasefire talks in Doha, Palestinian sources said. Mediators hosted two more rounds of discussions on Monday. 

The US-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely.
Hamas has long demanded a final end to the war before it would free remaining hostages, but Israel will not halt fighting until all hostages are free and Hamas dismantled. Trump said last week that he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza deal.
However, Israel has intensified its military campaign in Gaza and sharply restricted food distribution. “God willing, a truce will take place,” Mohammed Al-Sawalheh, 30, from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, said on Monday after another Israeli air strike. “We cannot see a truce while people are dying. We want a truce that will stop this bloodshed.”


Syrian wildfires spread for fifth day due to heavy winds and war remnants

Syrian wildfires spread for fifth day due to heavy winds and war remnants
Updated 07 July 2025

Syrian wildfires spread for fifth day due to heavy winds and war remnants

Syrian wildfires spread for fifth day due to heavy winds and war remnants
  • The fires have proven difficult to bring under control despite reinforcements from Jordan, Turkiye and Lebanon

LATAKIA: Syrian firefighters are facing heavy winds, high temperatures and ordnance left behind from the 13-year civil war as they try to extinguish some of country’s worst wildfires in years for the fifth day, a government minister said Monday.
The fires, which started last week, have proven difficult to bring under control despite reinforcements from Jordan, Turkiye and Lebanon that came to the war-torn country to help Syrian teams fight the blaze.
Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed Al-Saleh said their main challenges are two locations in the coastal province of Latakia that they have been trying to control for two days.
“We have controlled other locations,” Al-Saleh told The Associated Press at the scene.
On the second day of the fire, firefighters managed to get 90 percent of the wildfires under control but explosions of left-over war ordnance and heavy winds helped spread the fires again, Al-Saleh said. He added that 120 teams are fighting the blazes.
On Monday, the Lebanese army said it sent two helicopters to help fight the fires in coordination with Syrian authorities.
Over the weekend, UN teams deployed to the Syrian coast where they are conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the damage and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs.
Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions that then lead to blazes.
Also, below-average rainfall over the winter left Syrians struggling with water shortages this summer, as the springs and rivers that normally supply much of the population with drinking water have gone dry.