Hezbollah commander Ali Abd al-Qader Ismail 'killed' in Israeli strikes, claims IDF
The IDF even claimed that Ali Abd al-Qader Ismail was one of the Hezbollah commanders who were involved in efforts to rehabilitate the terrorist organisation in southern Lebanon.
In a post on X, the IDF said, 'ELIMINATED: Ali Abd al-Qader Ismail, a senior Hezbollah commander in the Bint Jbeil sector, involved in efforts to rehabilitate the terrorist organization in southern Lebanon. The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat posed to the State of Israel.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
27 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Ministers gather at UN for delayed meeting on Israel, Palestinians
Dozens of ministers will gather at the United Nations on Monday for a delayed conference to work toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, but the US and Israel are boycotting the event. The 193-member UN General Assembly decided in September last year that such a conference would be held in 2025. Hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, the conference was postponed in June after Israel attacked Iran. The conference aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel's security. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday that he will also use the conference this week to push other countries to join France in recognizing a Palestinian state. France intends to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron said last week. 'We will launch an appeal in New York so that other countries join us to initiate an even more ambitious and demanding dynamic that will culminate on September 21,' Barrot said, adding that he expected Arab countries by then to condemn Palestinian militants Hamas and call for their disarmament. The conference comes as a 22-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza still rages. The war was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. The US will not attend the conference at the United Nations, said a State Department spokesperson, describing it as 'a gift to Hamas, which continues to reject ceasefire proposals accepted by Israel that would lead to the release of hostages and bring calm in Gaza.' The State Department spokesperson added that Washington voted against the General Assembly last year calling for the conference and would 'not support actions that jeopardize the prospect for a long-term, peaceful resolution to the conflict.' Israel is also not taking part in the conference, 'which doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages,' said Jonathan Harounoff, international spokesperson at Israel's UN mission. The UN has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war with neighboring Arab states. The UN General Assembly in May last year overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council 'reconsider the matter favorably.' The resolution garnered 143 votes in favor and nine against. The General Assembly vote was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member – a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state – after the US vetoed it in the UN Security Council several weeks earlier.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Trump to meet UK PM Starmer at Scotland golf course to boost ties
President Donald Trump once suggested his golf course in Scotland furthers" the US-UK relationship. Now he's getting the chance to prove it. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Monday with Trump at a golf property owned by the president's family near Turnberry in southwestern Scotland then later travelling to Abderdeen, on the country's northeast coast, where there's another Trump golf course and a third is opening soon. During his first term in 2019, Trump posted of his Turnberry property, Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers UK relationship! Starmer is not a golfer, but toggling between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name and on golf's ability to shape geopolitics. While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on US goods but has since begun negotiating easing trade tensions, Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach. He's gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May. Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the UK's aerospace sector from US tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25 per cent to 10 per cent while increasing the amount of US beef it pledged to import. The prime minister's office says Monday's meeting will also touch on Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, and that it hopes to welcome the Trump administration working with officials in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire. Starmer plans to stress the urgent need to cease the fighting and work to end starvation and other suffering occurring amid increasingly desperate circumstances in Gaza. Also on the agenda, according to Starmer's office, are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days. Protesters, meanwhile, have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing course, after demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to decry the president's visit. Discussions with Starmer follow Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15 per cent tariffs on most goods from both countries though many major details remain pending. On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen for an official ribbon cutting. It opens to the public on August 13 and tee times are already for sale with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales. There are still lingering US-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning after the previous agreements, including the tariff rates Washington imposes on steel imported from the UK. Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however, Starmer's attempts to stay on Trump's good side appears to be working. The UK is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them that's their ultimate protection, Trump said during the G7. Also likely to improve Trump's mood is the fact that the US ran an USD 11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the UK than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow. The president has for months railed against yawning US trade deficits with key allies and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in hurry. Trump is set to return to Britain in September for an unprecedented second state visit. Trump will be hosted then by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
2 hours ago
- Business Standard
New York to Tokyo: Japan proposes capital for UN office relocation
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has proposed relocating certain functions of the United Nations (UN) to Japan's capital, citing safety, security, and the cost advantages of operating in Tokyo due to the weak yen, according to several Japanese media outlets. Koike met with UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the organisation's headquarters in New York on July 24, where she expressed Tokyo's readiness to support a broader UN presence. The meeting was part of Koike's official visit to the United States. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, she said, 'Life in Tokyo is advantageous in terms of safety and security, and thanks to the weak yen.' Japan currently hosts several UN bodies, such as the United Nations University and an office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Trump admin policies driving cost-cutting and relocation Koike's comments come at a time when the UN is undertaking cost-cutting measures under pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump. Rising expenses in New York have prompted the relocation of parts of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to Nairobi, Kenya, where operational costs are lower. Donald Trump withdraws US from major UN programmes Meanwhile, the United States, under President Trump, has been withdrawing its involvement from several UN programmes. In January, shortly after taking office for his second term, Trump announced the US' withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO). On February 4, Trump signed an executive order pulling the US out of the UN Human Rights Council and cutting funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), citing anti-Israel bias and institutional failure. Last week, he announced the US' formal withdrawal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), effective end-2026. The latest withdrawal was criticised by Unesco Director-General Audrey Azoulay, who stated it contradicts the principles of multilateralism and may impact the agency's partnerships in the US. Several United Nations offices, including UN headquarters, and affiliated agencies operate in the United States, primarily centred in New York City, but also Washington, DC, and other locations. Koike cites weak yen and Tokyo's readiness for UN office relocation Although Koike did not present a specific proposal during the meeting, she had previously suggested transferring functions of UN agencies, including the UN Security Council, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), during a session at the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in June. Guterres responded that the UN has received similar cooperation offers from other parts of the world. Japan has recently made other moves to enhance its global engagement, including a proposal to host an Asian branch of the International Criminal Court in 2023. Koike's push for Tokyo comes as the UN marks its 80th anniversary this year.
