United States
Reuters: US Tells Israel To Improve Gaza Humanitarian Situation Or Risk Military Aid
“The United States has told Israel it must take steps in the next month to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on U.S. military aid, U.S. officials said, in the strongest such warning since Israel's war with Hamas began a year ago. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote to Israeli officials on Sunday demanding concrete measures to address the worsening situation in the Palestinian enclave amid a renewed Israeli offensive in northern Gaza, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. Failure to do so could impact U.S. policy, said the letter, which was first reported by Israeli News 12. "We are particularly concerned that recent actions by the Israeli government ... are contributing to an accelerated deterioration in the conditions in Gaza," said a copy of the letter posted by an Axios reporter on X.”
Iran
Reuters: Iran Says Attack On Nuclear Sites Improbable
“The probability of an attack on Iran's nuclear sites remains low but any potential damage would be "quickly compensated", state atomic energy agency spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Wednesday, according to semi-official Nournews. After Iran's missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1, there has been speculation that Israel could strike Iran's nuclear facilities, as it has long threatened to do. "We have always taken these threats seriously," Kamalvandi said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Tuesday that Israel would listen to the United States but would decide its actions according to its own national interest. The statement was attached to a Washington Post article which said Netanyahu had told President Joe Biden's administration that Israel would strike Iranian military targets, not nuclear or oil targets.”
Reuters: Iran Summons Hungarian Ambassador, Condemns EU And UK Sanctions
“Iran's foreign ministry summoned Hungary's ambassador on Tuesday to protest against new European Union sanctions on Tehran, and denied Western allegations that it has transferred ballistic missiles to Russia, Iranian state media reported. The EU agreed on Monday to impose sanctions on seven people and seven organisations, including airline Iran Air, for alleged links to Iranian transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia. Britain, which is not in the EU, also imposed new sanctions. Hungary's ambassador was summoned because Budapest holds the 27-nation EU's rotating presidency. "In addition to voicing the Islamic Republic's strong protest against the EU's recent decision, the meeting helped stress that resorting to illegal and coercive methods like sanctions against Iran is unacceptable and will lead nowhere," the official IRNA news agency said.”
Yemen
Associated Press: UN Says Yemen Risks Being Dragged Into Mideast Conflict That Could Spiral Out Of Control
“Yemen risks being dragged further into the military escalation in the Middle East that keeps intensifying and could spiral out of control, the U.N. special envoy for the Arab world’s poorest nation said Tuesday. Hans Grundberg told the U.N. Security Council that regrettably Yemen is part of the escalation — and he warned that repeated attacks on international shipping by its Houthi rebels “have significantly increased the risk of an environment disaster” in the Red Sea. Both Grundberg and the U.N.’s acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya urged the Iranian-backed Houthis to halt their attacks on international shipping, which the rebel group began to support fellow Iranian-backed militant group Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack in Israel that sparked Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.”
Lebanon
Associated Press: Middle East Latest: Hezbollah’s Acting Leader Says The Group Is Focused On Hurting Israel
“Hezbollah’s acting leader declared Tuesday that the Lebanese militant group is focused on “hurting the enemy” by targeting Haifa and other parts of Israel, including Tel Aviv. Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s deputy chief, vowed in a televised speech to “defeat our enemies and drive them out of our lands.” It was his third appearance since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a southern suburb of Beirut. The United Nations human rights office meanwhile called for an independent probe into an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment block in Aito in northern Lebanon, killing at least 22 people, including 12 women and two children. Israeli strikes continued in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least 15 people overnight, including six children and two women, Palestinian medical officials said Tuesday.”
Associated Press: Israeli Strikes Kill At Least 15 In Qana, A Lebanese Town With A Dark History Of Civilian Deaths
“Israeli strikes have killed at least 15 people in the southern Lebanese town of Qana, which has long been associated with civilian deaths after Israeli strikes during previous conflicts with Hezbollah. Israel meanwhile struck Beirut’s southern suburbs early Wednesday for the first time in nearly a week. Israel also carried out a wave of airstrikes on the southern city of Nabatiyeh, targeting what it said were Hezbollah militant sites embedded among civilians, without providing evidence. The strikes killed at least five people and destroyed a municipality building, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The city’s mayor, Ahmad Kahil, was among the dead, provincial governor Huwaida Turk told The Associated Press. Earlier this week, Israeli airstrikes destroyed Nabatiyeh’s century-old market area.”
Associated Press: Hezbollah Vows To Expand Attacks In Israel After Deadly Strike In Lebanon’s Christian Heartland
“The day after a deadly Israeli airstrike in northern Lebanon – far from Hezbollah’s main area of influence – the militant group’s acting leader said it would aim rockets into more areas of Israel. Naim Kassem said Hezbollah is focused on “hurting the enemy,” and he signaled it would ramp up attacks further south in Israel. He mentioned the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa, which have already been targets of attacks. His comments in a pre-recorded, televised speech were delivered on the same day the United States said it sent a small team of troops to Israel to support an American-made missile-defense system. The Biden administration has also sent a warning to Israel: Increase the amount of humanitarian aid it allows into Gaza within the next 30 days or risk losing access to U.S. weapons funding. Hezbollah has fired an estimated 13,000 rockets into Israel over the past year in support of Hamas’ war with Israel in Gaza.”
Middle East
Reuters: Israeli Strike Hits Municipal Building In South Lebanon, Mayor And Five Others Killed
“An Israeli air strike on Wednesday on the municipal building in Nabatieh, a major town in southern Lebanon, which serves as a provincial capital, killed the mayor Ahmed Kahil and at least five others, two security sources said. The strike came despite U.S. concerns about rising death tolls and fears of all-out war in the region as Israel battles Iran-backed Hezbollah in south Lebanon and in the capital Beirut and the Palestinian militants Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli military said it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in the Nabatieh area and dismantled underground infrastructure. Israeli navy forces, meanwhile, have struck dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, in cooperation with troops on the ground, Israel's military said on Wednesday. Hours earlier at least one Israeli strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs, Reuters witnesses said, after the U.S. said it opposed the scope of Israeli attacks in Lebanon's capital.”
CBS News: U.S. Raises Concern With Israel As Gaza Hospital Strike Appears To Leave "Displaced Civilians Burning Alive"
“At least 15 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the enclave's Hamas-run health ministry said, as the Israeli military continued its fight against the Iranian-backed group there, and against Hezbollah in Lebanon, with no end in sight on either front. The White House criticized one of the Israeli strikes carried out in Gaza on Monday after videos posted online appeared to show at least one person on the ground shaking as they were engulfed in flames. The strike hit the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, where many displaced Palestinians have taken shelter in a makeshift tent camp. The Hamas-run health ministry said four people were killed. "The images and video of what appear to be displaced civilians burning alive following an Israeli air strike are deeply disturbing and we have made our concerns clear to the Israeli government," a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council told CBS News in a statement Monday night."
United Kingdom
Politico: UK Leans Against Proscribing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
“The U.K. government is set to ignore calls to designate a key wing of Iran’s military as a terrorist group amid fears of a diplomatic breakdown between London and Tehran. Government figures have told POLITICO that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is leaning against proscribing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group — despite the governing Labour Party’s having called for this when in opposition. The IRGC — designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada and Sweden — has an estimated strength of 125,000 soldiers and is tasked with upholding the Iranian regime’s theocratic Islamic system domestically. Its overseas wing, the Quds Force, is accused of managing Iranian proxies including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — both proscribed as terrorist groups by the U.K. government.:
Europe
Reuters: EU Won't Pull Back UN Troops From South Lebanon, Austrian Minister Says
“European Union countries that contribute to U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL in Lebanon have no intention of pulling back from the south of the country despite Israeli calls to do so, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said. Since an Israeli ground operation against Hezbollah militants began on Oct. 1, UNIFIL positions have come under fire and two Israeli tanks burst through the gates of one of its bases, the U.N. says. Five peacekeepers have been injured. Sixteen EU countries, including Austria, contribute to UNIFIL and the recent incidents have sparked widespread alarm among European governments. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the U.N. to withdraw UNIFIL "from Hezbollah strongholds and from the combat zones".”
Reuters: Italy's PM To Visit Lebanon, Says U.N. Mission Should Not Be Withdrawn
“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday she plans to visit Lebanon on Oct. 18, just days after Israeli forces attacked U.N. bases in the country, drawing anger from many EU capitals, including Rome. The U.N. peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel -- an area that has seen serious clashes this month between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters. Israel has demanded the withdrawal of the UNIFIL forces, which include just over 1,000 Italian troops, but contributor nations have refused and angrily denounced repeated Israeli strikes against the bases that have injured some peacekeepers.”
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