Latest news with #Al-Kheetan
Al Jazeera
15-04-2025
- Health
- Al Jazeera
Israel has killed at least 71 civilians in Lebanon since ceasefire, UN says
The United Nations says at least 71 civilians have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since a ceasefire was struck at the end of last year. Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said on Tuesday that the death toll included 14 women and nine children. He called for investigations into 'each and every military action where civilians are killed'. OHCHR raised concerns about recent Israeli military operations hitting civilian infrastructure, including a strike on April 3 that destroyed a newly established medical centre run by the Islamic Health Society in the southern city of Naqoura. It also noted that at least five rockets, two mortars and a drone have been launched from Lebanon towards northern Israel, according to the Israeli army, and tens of thousands of Israelis remain displaced from the north. 'The ceasefire must hold, and any escalation is a risk for stability in general in Lebanon, Israel and the whole region,' Al-Kheetan said. Later on Tuesday, Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health reported that an Israeli drone strike on a car in the southern town of Aitaroun killed one person and injured three, including a child. Israel has continued to strike Lebanon, including attacks on the capital, Beirut, since a November 27 ceasefire, which largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war. Under the truce, Hezbollah was to withdraw fighters from south of Lebanon's Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure there while Israel was to pull out all of its forces from southern Lebanon. Lebanon's army has been deploying in the south near the border with Israel as Israeli forces have withdrawn although Israel continues to hold five fortified positions in Lebanon that it deems 'strategic'. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told Al Jazeera on Monday that the army was 'dismantling tunnels and warehouses and confiscating weapons bases' south of the Litani 'without any problem from Hezbollah'. On Thursday, a senior Hezbollah official told the Reuters news agency the group is ready to hold talks with the Lebanese president about its weapons if Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon and stops its strikes.
Asharq Al-Awsat
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
UN Human Rights Office Concerned About Israeli Strikes on Civilians in Lebanon
The United Nations human rights office is concerned about the protection of civilians in Lebanon as Israeli military operations have continued to kill civilians since the ceasefire. "Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians," the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. At least 71 civilians - including 14 women and nine children - have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon, since the ceasefire came into effect on 27 November last year, and 92,000 are still displaced, according to OHCHR. "We are calling for investigations into all allegations of and every military action where civilians are killed must be investigated," Al-Kheetan said. "The ceasefire must hold and any escalation is a risk for stability in general in Lebanon, Israel and the whole region," he added.
Arab News
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
UN human rights office concerned about Israeli strikes on civilians in Lebanon
GENEVA: The United Nations human rights office is concerned about the protection of civilians in Lebanon as Israeli military operations have continued to kill civilians since the ceasefire. 'Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians,' the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. At least 71 civilians — including 14 women and nine children — have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon, since the ceasefire came into effect on 27 November last year, and 92,000 are still displaced, according to OHCHR. 'We are calling for investigations into all allegations of and every military action where civilians are killed must be investigated,' Al-Kheetan said. 'The ceasefire must hold and any escalation is a risk for stability in general in Lebanon, Israel and the whole region,' he added.
Reuters
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
UN human rights office concerned about Israeli strikes on civilians in Lebanon
GENEVA, April 15 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office is concerned about the protection of civilians in Lebanon as Israeli military operations have continued to kill civilians since the ceasefire. "Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians," the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday. At least 71 civilians - including 14 women and nine children - have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon, since the ceasefire came into effect on 27 November last year, and 92,000 are still displaced, according to OHCHR. "We are calling for investigations into all allegations of and every military action where civilians are killed must be investigated," Al-Kheetan said. "The ceasefire must hold and any escalation is a risk for stability in general in Lebanon, Israel and the whole region," he added.
CNN
12-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Entire families killed in Syria sectarian violence, UN says
Armed groups killed entire families, including women and children, during an outbreak of sectarian violence in Syria last week, the United Nations' human rights office said on Tuesday. The bloodshed in the coastal heartland of former ruler Bashar al-Assad saw more than 800 people killed in clashes between armed groups loyal to the toppled dictator and forces loyal to the new Syrian regime, according to a war monitor. Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR) spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said the agency had documented at least 111 killings, though the number was believed to be far higher. 'Some survivors told us that many men were shot dead in front of their families,' Al-Kheetan told a regular press briefing in Geneva, adding that many of the 'summary executions' targeted members of the Alawite minority. The Assad family, which ruled Syria for more than half a century, are members of the minority Shiite Muslim sect, which lives predominantly in Sunni-majority Syria. Al-Kheetan said the killings 'appear to have been carried out on a sectarian basis, in Tartus, Latakia and Hama governorates - reportedly by unidentified armed individuals, members of armed groups allegedly supporting the caretaker authorities' security forces.' 'In a number of extremely disturbing instances, entire families – including women, children and individuals hors de combat - were killed, with predominantly Alawite cities and villages targeted in particular,' he said. The United Kingdom-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said on Tuesday that among the 803 killed, 'non-state armed groups' loyal to Assad were responsible for the deaths of 383 people, including 172 members of state security forces and 211 civilians. Meanwhile, eyewitness testimonies and video verified by CNN showed government loyalists carrying out field executions, with some speaking of 'purifying' the country. Teacher Ahmed Ali Al Mousa was killed by armed men who came to his home in the coastal city of Baniyas last Thursday and asked whether he was Sunni or Alawite, a family member who escaped the violence told CNN. 'By God I will drink your blood,' one of the men said, according to the relative, who CNN is not naming to protect their safety. The men abducted Mousa and he was found five hours later lying in the street with gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen, the relative said. Mousa died in hospital the next day, they said. The same day, Mousa's sister-in-law Itithad Mohammed Kamal Saud and 15-year-old nephew Mudar Safwan Mousa were killed when another armed group entered their apartment and shot them both in the head without warning, family members told CNN. A woman in Latakia, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, told CNN that militants using sectarian slurs broke into her house. Her husband and all the men in her village were killed and the families were not allowed to bury them or retrieve the bodies from the street, she said. Throughout Assad's rule, the Alawite sect became increasingly linked, in the eyes of his opponents, to the atrocities committed by his regime during the Syrian civil war. Interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who once led the al Qaeda-linked group that toppled Assad late last year, has previously promised political equality and representation to the various sects of Syria's diverse ethnic and religious populations. The caretaker authorities announced the end of security operations in the coastal areas on March 10, but intermittent clashes continue to be reported. Sharaa has blamed the violence on the remains of Assad's forces, claiming they were trying to incite sectarian strife. On Sunday, Sharaa said his government would hold accountable anyone involved in the deaths of civilians during the heavy fighting. Sharaa had previously described the violence as 'expected challenges.' Syria's interim government has vowed to form an independent committee to investigate the violence and submit a report to the presidency within 30 days. CNN's Nadeen Ebrahim contributed reporting.
