Latest news with #MustafaAbuGaneyeh
RNZ News
04-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Missile fired by Yemen's Houthis lands near Israel's main airport
By Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh , Reuters Israeli emergency services clear a road outside Israel's Ben Gurion airport after a missile launched from Yemen struck near the facility on May 4, 2025. Photo: JACK GUEZ / AFP A missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels towards Israel on Sunday landed near the country's main international airport, causing panic among passengers and drawing threats of retaliation against the group and Iran. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for the missile strike that struck near Ben Gurion Airport, the latest in a string of attacks, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate. "Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran. Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters," Netanyahu said on X. President Trump is absolutely right! Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran. Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters. In a separate video issued by his office, Netanyahu said: "We will do what we need to do to take care of our security, to respond effectively, and to give Iran due warning that this cannot continue." Most attacks from Yemen have been intercepted by Israel's missile defence systems, though a drone strike hit Tel Aviv last year. Sunday's missile was the only one of a series launched since March that was not intercepted. The Israeli military said it was investigating. A Reuters reporter at the airport heard sirens and saw passengers running towards safe rooms. Several people posted videos showing a plume of black smoke visible behind parked aircraft and airport buildings. Pictures showed a nearby road scattered with dust and debris. The Israeli ambulance service said eight people were taken to hospital for mild to moderate injuries. An Israeli police commander, Yair Hetzroni, showed reporters a crater caused by the impact of the missile, which airport authorities said landed beside a road near a Terminal 3 parking lot. The airport lies near the major city of Tel Aviv. "You can see the scene right behind us here, a hole that opened up with a diameter of tens of metres and also tens of metres deep," Hetzroni said, adding that there was no significant damage. Claiming responsibility, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Israel's main airport was "no longer safe for air travel". The Israel Airports Authority said normal operations had resumed, after reports of air traffic being halted and access routes to the airport being blocked. However, a string of airlines including Lufthansa, Delta, ITA Airways and Air France said they had cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv, some of which had been scheduled for Monday or Tuesday. Sunday's strike came as Israeli ministers were reported to be close to signing off on plans to expand the military operation in Gaza, which resumed in March following a two-month truce, prompting the Houthis to hit Israel with more missiles. Efforts to revive the ceasefire have faltered, and US President Donald Trump in March ordered large-scale strikes against the Houthis to reduce their capabilities and deter them from targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The strikes have killed hundreds of people in Yemen. The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, began targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping in late 2023, during the early days of the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip. The war was triggered by Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, 2023, in which 1200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Israel's offensive on Gaza has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians and destroyed much of the enclave. - Reuters
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Druze religious elders from Syria make historic visit to Israel
By Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh JULIS, Israel (Reuters) - A delegation of Druze religious elders from Syria crossed into Israel on Friday for the first such visit in more than 50 years, underscoring Israel's backing for the community amid growing tensions with the new government in Damascus. Around 100 Druze sheikhs from villages on the slope of Mount Hermon in Syria, overlooked by the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, are due to visit shrines including sites held to be the tomb of prophet Shuayb, west of Tiberias, in the Lower Galilee. After entering the Golan Heights, cheered by Druze in traditional black clothes and white and red head dress, some waving the white, blue, yellow, red and green flag of the Druze, they travelled by bus to the town of Julis in Israel to meet Mowafaq Tarif, spritual leader of the group in Israel. "Feeling proud and honoured to visit here. We are one family and brothers," said Nazeh Rakab, from Hadar in Syria, as he watched the welcome ceremony in Julis, where hundreds gathered to greet the delegation waving Druze flags, with some firing into the air from the rooftops in celebration. The Druze, an Arab minority who practise a religion originally derived from Islam, live in an area straddling Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Golan Heights, connected across the borders by a web of kinship ties. In Israel, many serve in the military and police, including during the war in Gaza, and some have reached high rank. Friday's visit is intended to be a purely religious occasion but its political significance was underscored by Israeli airstrikes on what Israel described as command centres of the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad movement in Damascus a day earlier. Israeli ministers have expressed deep misgivings about the new government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, describing his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham movement as a Jihadist group. The group was formerly affiliated with Al Qaeda but later renounced the connection. On Thursday, Israel, which has been urging support for the Druze following the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December, sent truckloads of aid including oil, flour, salt and sugar, most to the southern province of Suwayda. Earlier this week, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Syrian Druze would be allowed to enter and work in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war, and Israel has also said it would protect Druze in Syria if needed. (Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
