UN Security Council to Meet Sunday over US Strikes on Iran
The United Nations Security Council is due to meet later on Sunday, diplomats said, after the United States joined Israel's assault on Iran and hit the country's main nuclear sites overnight in strikes with massive bunker-busting bombs, Reuters reported.
Iran requested the meeting, calling on the 15-member body "to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms."
Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the US and Israel "do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place."
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Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid killed in airstrike
TEL AVIV: At least four Palestinians were killed on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike and 22 were wounded while waiting for humanitarian aid, according to a local hospital. The airstrike targeted the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to Al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were brought. It said another 22 people were wounded while waiting for aid trucks. Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds seeking desperately needed food, killing hundreds of people in recent weeks. The military says it has fired warning shots at people it said suspiciously approached its forces. Separately, World Central Kitchen, the charity run by celebrity chef Jose Andres, said it had resumed the distribution of hot meals in Gaza for the first time in six weeks after shutting down because of Israel's blockade, which was loosened last month amid fears of famine. Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said that it had recovered the remains of three hostages held in the Gaza Strip. The military identified the remains as those of Yonatan Samerano, 21; Ofra Keidar, 70; and Shay Levinson, 19. All three were killed during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel that ignited the ongoing war. Hamas is still holding 50 hostages, fewer than half of them believed to be alive. The military did not provide any details about the recovery operation, and it was unclear if the airstrike was related to it. 'The campaign to return the hostages continues consistently and is happening alongside the campaign against Iran,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. Kobi Samerano said in a Facebook post that his son's remains were returned on what would have been Yonatan's 23rd birthday. Militants killed some 1,200 people, and abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attack. More than half the hostages have been returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals, eight have been rescued alive, and Israeli forces have recovered dozens of bodies. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said that women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The Hostages Families Forum, the main organization representing families of the hostages, has repeatedly called for a deal to release the remaining captives. 'Particularly against the backdrop of current military developments, we want to emphasize that bringing back the remaining 50 hostages is the key to achieving any sort of victory,' it said in a statement on Sunday. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire, and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying Israel will continue the war until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile. Even then, he has said Israel will maintain lasting control over Gaza and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population, plans the Palestinians and others view as forcible expulsion. The US, Qatar, and Egypt have been trying to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release after Israel ended a truce in March with a surprise wave of airstrikes. Those talks appear to have made little progress as Israel has expanded its air and ground offensive.
Arab News
an hour ago
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Twenty killed in suicide bombing at Damascus church
At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Syria's capital Damascus on Sunday, health authorities and security sources said. It was the first suicide bombing in Damascus since Bashar Assad was toppled in December. Syria's interior ministry said the suicide bomber was a member of Daesh (Islamic State). He entered the church, opened fire and then detonated his explosive vest, a ministry statement added. A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two men were involved in the attack, including the one who blew himself up. Daesh has been behind several attempted attacks on churches in Syria since Assad's fall, but this was the first to succeed, another security source told Reuters. Syria's state news agency cited the health ministry as saying that 52 people were also injured in the blast. A livestream from the site by Syria's civil defense, the White Helmets, showed scenes of destruction from inside the church, including a bloodied floor and shattered pews and masonry. Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who led the offensive against Assad before taking over in January for a transitional phase, has repeatedly said he will protect minorities. 'We unequivocally condemn the abhorrent terrorist suicide bombing at the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus, Syria,' the Greek foreign ministry said in a statement. 'We demand that the Syrian transitional authorities take immediate action to hold those involved accountable and implement measures to guarantee the safety of Christian communities and all religious groups, allowing them to live without fear.' Daesh had previously targeted religious minorities, including a major attack on Shiite pilgrims in Sayeda Zainab in 2016 — one of the most notorious bombings during Assad's rule. The latest assault underscores the group's continued ability to exploit security gaps despite the collapse of its territorial control and years of counterterrorism efforts.
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Conflict provides no honor or glory, just remorse
Tens of thousands of civilians are being killed because they were born in the wrong place and simply have the 'wrong' passport. Few people would choose to live in a state of war, or in a place where they are denied freedoms other countries provide. That is not to say that people do not want to be from the countries they live in, but they want their children to be educated and they want their families to be fed, safe and sheltered. According to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, 'an estimated over 940,000 people were killed by direct post-9/11 war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan between 2001-2023. Of these, more than 432,000 were civilians.' Since this report was released in 2023, there have been at least two major conflicts in Sudan and Gaza, in which tens of thousands more civilians have been killed, bringing that total to more than 500,000 — there are cities with smaller populations than that. Who knows what the situation between Iran and Israel will bring? Civilians overall do not appear to choose to go to war — some support it, others do not. But it is those in government, the people in charge, that make the decision to go to fight. None of us chose to be born where we were — that is up to nature. If we are lucky, nature puts us in a country that feels like home and provides peace and security. But around the world, there are many places where people are not so fortunate. They may love their nationality, but do so in the face of oppressive dictatorships or neighbors determined to shift the boundaries. On more than one occasion, I have heard Westerners ask why people living under oppressive regimes appear to simply sit back and take it. It is easy to ask such questions when you live in a house with clean running water, a door that locks and a reliable power source; where you can speak freely and generally live without fear of retribution. These people asking for such courage are often the same people who get angry when their city's streets are blocked by a peaceful demonstration, where protesters are not confronted with a volley of live bullets. It would be reasonable to draw the conclusion that children who grow up in war zones, or under the rule of oppressive regimes, are more inclined to take up arms later in life — indeed there is evidence that shows this to be the case. But in 2016, I went to Lebanon to see the work being done to help educate Syrian schoolchildren who had fled their country with their parents after the civil war began. I spoke to several children about what they thought their futures held for them and not one of them said they wanted to take up arms and fight. There was no talk of revenge. They aspired to be doctors, teachers, engineers — the list was endless. Several of the children said they wanted to be able to return to Syria and help rebuild their country. I have not met many people who want to go to war. If we are lucky, nature puts us in a country that feels like home and provides peace and security. Peter Harrison There was a time when dying for your country was seen as honorable. Most now accept that they can help more when alive, rather than dead. In 2007, I was at the Kajaki hydroelectric plant in Afghanistan working for a regional newspaper from southwest Britain. A worker asked why I was there. I told him I was there as a newspaper journalist working as the defense reporter. He said that one after another, people from the West (generally), be they politicians or media, would arrive, take photos, ask him the same questions about how he felt about the Taliban and the International Security Assistance Force, and then leave. 'But nothing ever changes,' he said. Of course, he was right to say this. Did I seriously believe it would make any difference for me to report on what I saw was happening in his country? Of course not. Like every other, I would write my story, leave and work on the next one. In Afghanistan, there were many 'hearts and minds' projects aimed at creating a community. Market stall areas were created and police stations were painted pink to make them 'more inviting' — usually ideas cultivated by foreign nongovernmental organizations. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the Afghanistan war — military and civilians — and this man's country was eventually handed back to the Taliban, who brought back their highly restrictive form of rule. I have no clue what happened to him. My hope is that, rather than being seen as someone who might have collaborated with Western forces, he was seen as an essential worker at the power plant, providing electricity to all. History is littered with wars largely started as the result of one ideology or another, often under the claim of fighting terror or another force of evil — but most trace back to an ideology that favors the few. We live in a time where narcissism and gaslighting have never seemed more apparent, whether at home, in the workplace or among world leaders. It is not a new phenomenon, but social media and the acceptance of its unsolicited, often unverified, content has become an enabler of these people's toxicity. And while, on a personal level, this can seem miserable and debilitating at first, it is something most people eventually shake off. At a global level, it can prove to be deadly. The millions in Tehran being told to evacuate their homes do not want their neighborhoods to be flattened or their friends and family to be killed — no one wants that. When, in Gaza in 2023, Khaled Nabhan held the lifeless body of his three-year-old granddaughter Reem, he did not speak of revenge or anger, just anguish, the loss of his grandchildren in an Israeli attack and, more importantly, of love.
