IDF's massive blow
Israel launches strike on Hezbollah's underground project in Lebanon; watch (ET Online)
IDF's massive blow
02:10 Min | June 27, 2025, 11:08 PM IST
Smoke billowed from Nabatieh district in southern Lebanon on Friday (June 27) following Israeli strikes. According to a post on X written by the Israeli army's spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted a site used by Hezbollah to manage fire control and defence systems. 'This site is part of an underground project that was taken out of service as a result of IDF raids in the area', he said, adding that the IDF detected attempts to rebuild it. Lebanese president Joseph Aoun condemned the strikes in a statement published on his X account, denouncing what he called 'Israel's continued violation of Lebanon's sovereignty and the November ceasefire agreement.' A US-brokered truce in November ended a year-long war between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah.
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News18
28 minutes ago
- News18
BJP National President Announcement Likely Soon, But Uttar Pradesh Chief To Be Finalised First
June has largely been dedicated to Modi government events marking one year of its third term and 11 years of 'seva'. However, organisational activity has now picked up pace After a brief lull due to the Pakistan-backed terror attack in Pahalgam and the subsequent Operation Sindoor, the Bharatiya Janata Party has resumed focus on pending organisational elections. Key among these is the appointment of the party's national president, expected soon, but not before Uttar Pradesh gets its new state unit chief. Given Uttar Pradesh's political significance and the upcoming state elections in two years, the BJP is prioritising the appointment of a new president there, setting the tone for the national leadership transition. Other major states are also in focus. Gujarat, home to both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah, is due for a leadership change. Currently, CR Patil holds the post but he now serves as a union cabinet minister. Madhya Pradesh—considered the BJP's oldest organisational stronghold—also awaits a new state president, as BD Sharma's term has ended. June has largely been dedicated to Modi government events marking one year of its third term and 11 years of 'seva". However, organisational activity has now picked up pace. On Friday, the BJP appointed central observers for organisational elections in three key states. In Maharashtra, union minister Kiren Rijiju will oversee proceedings. Ravindra Chavan, currently working president after Chandrakant Patil joined the state cabinet, is expected to take full charge. In Uttarakhand, union minister Harsh Malhotra has been tasked with finalising the new state president. In West Bengal, former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has been assigned as current state president Sukanta Majumdar, now also a union minister, may be replaced. With West Bengal headed to polls next year, there is speculation that the BJP may appoint a woman as state president. Agnimitra Paul and former MP Locket Chatterjee are seen as strong contenders. Organisational elections in other states are being scheduled. Tripura elections will be held on June 29, with former union minister Pratima Bhowmik in contention. Andhra Pradesh elections are set for July 1, as current president D Purandeswari remains in contention along with BJP Lok Sabha MP CM Ramesh. Sources have said that in Telangana, a new state president is likely to be announced in the coming week. In Karnataka, sources suggest that BY Vijayendra—son of veteran leader BS Yediyurappa and current state president—may continue for another term, especially given the political instability facing the Congress government in the state. Out of 36 states and union territories, the BJP has successfully concluded elections in 14. As per party norms, 51% of state units must complete their organisational polls before the national president is elected. Incumbent national president JP Nadda, appointed in January 2020, has already completed his full term. He was granted extensions to lead the party through key events, including the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP is now expected to move swiftly on completing the remaining state-level appointments before naming its next national president. First Published: June 27, 2025, 19:14 IST

The Hindu
43 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Operation Sindhu: Fear, flight, and an uncertain future
In New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, Suhail Qadri, 57, paces nervously in front of an 'arrivals' gate as he waits for his two children — Imroz Qadri, 20, and Raiban Qadri, 23 — to land from conflict-torn Iran. When he finally sees them, quietly exiting from another gate to avoid the glare of cameras, his face lights up with relief. The brother and sister drop their luggage and run into his arms in a dimly lit corner. Imroz and Raiban are students of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in the capital of Iran. Suhail, a resident of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), says he had lost touch with them from the fifth day of the conflict that broke out between Israel and Iran on June 13. 'For the last two days, I have been glued to my phone, waiting for an international number to pop up on my screen. I was hoping that the caller would either be my children or an embassy official telling me where they are,' he says. In J&K, every fifth house has a child pursuing an MMBS degree in Iran, explains Suhail. When news first broke about heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, Suhail and some of his neighbours quickly reached out to their children. The students were not perturbed at first. They became alarmed only when they began to spot missiles. 'Imroz called to say Israeli bombs had hit Tehran on June 13,' he says. 'They saw many missiles and got messages on WhatsApp that two Kashmiri students were hurt.' On June 13, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) instructed people in Tehran's District 18, which includes military buildings and residential neighbourhoods, to evacuate. When the IDF launched the attack on Iran's capital, several residential buildings and university complexes were impacted. Following this, the Indian Embassy in Iran posted on X that Indian students had been moved out of Tehran. The Embassy requested other residents with access to transportation to leave the capital too. On June 18, the Indian government launched Operation Sindhu to evacuate Indian nationals first from Iran and then from Israel as well. Imroz and Raiban were two of the 160 people evacuated and flown directly to India on June 20. So far, under the mission, India has evacuated more than 1,400 Indian nationals from Iran and more than 1,100 from Israel. Missiles in Iran When the attack began, Imroz recalls sitting inside the women's dormitory room with her friends. 'We were having a sleepover when we heard a thud. We thought crackers were being burst. But when the noise continued, we realised that there was an attack,'she says. Also read: 'There were sounds of sirens and distant explosions every day' Minutes later, Imroz and her friends, who had been following the news on the tense situation in West Asia, realised that the street in front of their dormitory had been bombed by the Israelis. Panic stricken, they rushed to the basement and huddled around the guards trying to understand what they should be doing next. Hania, 23, a fourth year MBBS student at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, saw the Israeli air strikes hit the university complex. 'The bomb dropped on the men's dormitory and the glass windows broke. Shards of glass injured at least two Indian students in the dorm,' she says over a call from Qom, about 160 kilometres away from Tehran, while waiting to be evacuated. Hania says the Indian Embassy contacted Indian students in Tehran and asked them to relocate to Qom, a relatively safer city. Many students chose to move out in buses provided by colleges. Some, like Hania, booked private cabs. 'There was no time to pack properly, so I left with my documents, some clothes, food, and some cash lying around,' says Hania, who is also from J&K. Tamheed Mughal, a third year student at the same university, says he has lived in a conflict zone (J&K). 'But when I found myself in another country hearing the incessant sound of bombing, I began palpitating. My anxiety got worse when the U.S. entered the war,' he says. Some of his peers have heard that the university will be holding a meeting on June 30. This, he thinks, may help him decide his future course. Tamheed is keen to go back and complete his degree. Iran's Health Ministry claims that 224 people have been killed so far in the conflict. Accustomed to conflict Indian nationals enrolled as students in Israeli universities say they had become accustomed to the stress of being at the centre of a conflict zone even before the latest round of attacks began between Iran and Israel. Sreyashi Bhowmick, 31, a postdoctoral student enrolled with the Tel Aviv University, says, 'Whenever Israel senses an attack coming its way, the civil defence force warns us of a possible attack from another country. The sirens then go off and we are expected to rush to the nearest bunkers or bomb shelters.' Sreyashi had earlier been evacuated in October 2023, under India's Operation Ajay, launched in response to the conflict between Israel and Gaza. She went back in February 2024, to continue work at the Geological Survey of Israel. 'It is exhausting to be on alert always,' says Sreyashi. 'It is bound to take a toll on your mental health, especially when you are living on your own, but the government here is very organised regarding wartime protocol,' she adds. Also read: Operation Sindhu: Special flights bring more Indians home from Iran and Israel On the evening of Israel's attack, when Iran hit back, Sreyashi was alone in her apartment. 'It was the middle of the night when messages started coming in, asking us to move to bunkers and bomb shelters. But to do that, I had to step out alone and walk to my landlady's house, since my apartment does not have any bunkers. So I decided to stay put,' says the student, who hails from Kolkata in West Bengal. Sreyashi, who is still in Israel, says, 'If something drastic happens, the Indian Embassy will arrange for our evacuation.' Another postdoctoral student from Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, about 20 km from Tel Aviv, says panic had not set in until missiles hit his university. 'Everyone living here told me that they had seen missiles being constantly launched and intercepted. Only when my university was hit did I realise that I was living in a conflict zone,' he says. He has been living in Rehovot for more than a year. About his decision to study in Israel, which is already at war with Gaza, he says, 'I was aware that Israel was at the centre of a geopolitical conflict, but since it is so invested in scientific research, it seemed like a good choice.' He reached Delhi after U.S. President Donald Trump declared a ceasefire on June 23 between the warring nations and is now home in Kolkata. Living with worry During the early hours of June 19, a flight with 110 students from Iran's Urmia University landed in New Delhi. Like many others, Nargis, 22, a resident of Mumbai, Maharashtra, was in the midst of her semester exams when she was given a few hours' notice to leave. With just a cabin-sized bag, she travelled from Urmia to Qom and then to Yerevan in Armenia and then to Doha before finally reaching home. After spending 52 hours in transit, Nargis is elated to be in India, but she is also worried. Wiping beads of sweat off her forehead, the second year MBBS students says with a faint smile that she is hoping for stability in Iran soon. 'I took a loan to pursue an MBBS degree there,' she says. 'Many of us chose to pursue an MBBS degree in Iran because the tuition fees is far lower than in private medical colleges in India. A mediocre private medical college in India costs a minimum of ₹1 crore. In Iran, we can complete the same degree by paying ₹30 lakh without compromising on the rigour of education.' Editorial | Strategic misfire: On the Israel-Iran conflict Sitting inside an apartment in a colony in Sultanpuri, Delhi, Aman, 21, a first-generation medical student in his family, is anxious. 'Going by conversations on WhatsApp groups, several universities in Iran might open up for local students in a couple of weeks, but the university is yet to share any information with international students,' he says. Aman says if he is unable to go back, he may not be able to complete his foundational degree. 'Universities in Iran have tie-ups with other foreign universities, but the National Medical Council of India does not take cognisance of medical degrees from every other country. This degree is the only way my family and I can climb the societal and financial ladder,' he adds. Imroz left Iran during her semester exams. She spends all her time chatting with worried friends on WhatsApp and following the news. 'We have not received a single notification from our university about when our classes will resume, so my brother and I have no clue what lies ahead,' she says. Imroz has left all her books and notes in Iran, so even if she is asked to study online, she believes it is going to be a challenge. The parents of these students are equally worried. Md. Kachakkarel, 55, from Malappuram in Kerala, has spent nearly all his savings to educate his youngest daughter. 'I have spent more than ₹45 lakh for her degree and stay in Iran,' he says. 'If she cannot complete her degree, what was the point of my working in the Gulf for 25 years?' Kachakkarel went to work at construction sites in Saudi Arabia to save enough to fund the education of his three daughters. 'I saved every penny doing manual labour to ensure that my children could pursue higher education, which I could not. My youngest daughter has come back from Iran. The older two had to live through extreme stress while pursuing medical degrees from Russia, which is at war with Ukraine,' he says. While Indian students from Iran are unsure about when they can go back, those studying in Israel are more certain that they will be able to go back soon. The postdoctoral student studying in Israel says considering how prepared the country seems to be in dealing with emergencies, he is certain that things will get better soon and he will be able to resume his research. A sense of déjà vu Reports and videos of students deplaning after being evacuated from Iran and Israel with nothing but backpacks and small trolleys brought back many unhappy memories for Dr. Jeetender Gaurav. The 30-year-old resident of Patna, Bihar, was one of the many students evacuated from Ukraine in 2022. He was relieved then, but that warm feeling quickly turned into fear as the situation in Ukraine worsened with time. When war broke out between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, nearly 18,000 Indian medical students were evacuated from Ukraine under the Indian government's Operation Ganga. Among them were several students pursuing an MBBS degree. Following petitions from the students who had returned, the Central government committee recommended to the Supreme Court that the medical students be allowed to take the final MBBS exams in two attempts, according to the existing National Medical Council syllabus and guidelines. The Court agreed. Once they passed the exams, the students were required to complete a compulsory rotatory internship. The government clarified that this was an exception and would not set a precedent for the future. Those who had not finished their five-year course and chose to stay in India had to either take the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test to redo their medical degrees or explore other career options. Ukraine universities also offered to help students migrate to other foreign universities to complete their degrees. Some Indian students went back to Ukraine to finish their medical degrees. Jeetender, who had been pursuing a degree from Ternopil National Medical University and was in his third year, was one of them. He says his university was offering a transfer to universities in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Georgia. But since a medical degree from these countries was not valid in India, many students waited and eventually went back to Ukraine. But on reaching Ukraine, the students realised that the situation was much worse than what they had imagined. After nearly eight months of continuous conflict, they were hit by skyrocketing inflation. Electricity supply, too, was limited. 'Russia had hit most of the major power grids, so we would get only two hours of electricity a day. For the rest of the day, we had to manage with candles. Our phone batteries would die often,' recalls Dr. Jeetender. While those like him, who went back and completed their degree, are now expected to clear the Foreign Medical Graduate exam and complete a year's internship, many who chose to pursue the last leg of their degree online are expected to take the same exam and follow it up with at at least two or three years of internship before getting a licence to practise. Dr. Jeetender says that unless the universities in Iran open their doors again for students, the road ahead will be as rocky as it was for him and his peers. 'The low availability of seats in Indian medical colleges makes it impossible for stranded students to be absorbed in,' he says. (With inputs from Bindu Shajan Perappadan)


The Hindu
43 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Saved Khamenei from ugly death, says Trump; warns further attacks by U.S. or Israel
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday (June 27, 2025) scoffed at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's heated warning to the U.S. not to launch future strikes on Iran, as well as the Iranian supreme leader's assertion that Tehran 'won the war' with Israel. Mr. Trump, in remarks to reporters and later in an extended statement on social media, said Khamenei's comments defied reality after 12 days of Israeli strikes and the U.S. bombardment of three key nuclear sites inflicted severe damage on the country's nuclear programme. The President suggested Mr. Khamenei's comments were unbecoming of Iran's most powerful political and religious figure. 'Look, you're a man of great faith. A man who's highly respected in his country. You have to tell the truth,' Mr. Trump said of Mr. Khamenei. 'You got beat to hell.' The U.S. President spoke out a day after Mr. Khamenei insisted Tehran had delivered a 'slap to America's face' by striking a U.S. air base in Qatar and warned against further attacks by the U.S. or Israel on Iran. Mr. Khamenei's pre-recorded statement, which aired on Iranian state television, was the first time that Iranians had heard directly from the supreme leader in days. The heated rhetoric from Mr. Trump and Mr. Khamenei continued as both leaders face difficult questions about the impact of the strikes. Mr. Trump and his aides have pushed back vociferously after an early damage assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency became public and indicated that the U.S. bombardment likely only set back Tehran's nuclear programme by months. Eighty-six-year-old Khamenei, the most powerful figure in Iran's theocracy, meanwhile, has appeared intent on demonstrating his authority and vigour amid speculation about his health and how involved he was in making Iran's wartime decisions through the 12-day conflict. In a social media post Friday (June 27, 2025), Mr. Trump also appeared to refer to a plan presented to the White House by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in the first days of the Israel-Iran conflict to try to kill Mr. Khamenei. Mr. Trump vetoed that plan, according to a U.S. official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. 'His Country was decimated, his three evil Nuclear Sites were Obliterated, and I knew exactly where he was sheltered and would not let Israel or the U.S. Armed Forces, by far the greatest and most powerful in the world, terminate his life,' Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. 'I saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death, and he does not have to say, 'Thank you, President Trump!' ' wrote Mr. Trump, after the U.S. airstrikes, sending warnings via social media to Mr. Khamenei that the U.S. knew where he was but had no plans to kill him, 'at least for now.' Editorial | Strategic misfire: On the Israel-Iran conflict After launching the U.S. strikes — including with U.S.-made bunker-buster bombs — Mr. Trump has been insistent that Iran's nuclear sites have been 'obliterated'. Administration officials have not disputed the contents of the DIA report but have sought to focus on a CIA statement and other intelligence assessments, including those out of Iran and Israel, that said the strikes severely damaged the nuclear sites and rendered an enrichment facility inoperable. Mr. Trump also said that he expects Iran to open itself to international inspection to verify it doesn't restart its nuclear programme. Asked if he would demand during expected talks with Iran that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or some other organisation be authorised to conduct inspections, Mr. Trump told reporters the Islamic Republic would have to cooperate with the IAEA 'or somebody that we respect, including ourselves.' White House officials have said they expect to restart talks soon with Iran, though nothing has been scheduled. U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff earlier this week said there has been direct and indirect communication between the countries. A sixth round of US-Iran negotiations was scheduled for earlier this month in Oman but was cancelled after Israel attacked Iran. Mr. Trump expressed confidence that Iran's nuclear ambition has faded. 'Can I tell you, they're exhausted. And Israel's exhausted, too,' Mr. Trump said. He added, 'The last thing they're thinking right now is nuclear.'