Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his pledge to the US not to harm Palestinian President Yasser Arafat no longer holds, declaring that Arafat and the head of Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas are potential targets for assassination.
In an interview set for broadcast yesterday by Israeli Army Radio, Sharon said that three years ago he promised US President George W. Bush that Israel would not harm Arafat, but since then circumstances have changed.
"Arafat was given red carpet treatment everywhere in the world. Today it is clear to the US and to everyone just who Arafat is," Sharon said. Israel and the US are boycotting Arafat, charging that he is responsible for Palestinian violence.
On March 22, Israel assassinated Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the violent Islamic Hamas movement, and officials said Israeli forces would mete out similar treatment to others involved in the organization or execution of attacks against Israel.
Asked by the Army Radio interviewer if that meant Arafat and Hezbollah's Sheik Hassan Nasrallah were targets, Sharon replied, "Whoever aims to kill Jews, whoever sends murderers to kill Jews, is marked for death."
Israel accuses Arafat of not only ignoring violent groups operating from his territory under his control, but also actively encouraging attacks against Israelis. Nasrallah said earlier this week that his militant Shiite Muslim Lebanese group will help Hamas avenge Yassin's death.
Hezbollah and Israel fought a bloody 18-year guerrilla war in south Lebanon before Israel's withdrawal in 2000, and the two remain bitter enemies.
Sharon said he had not sought US approval for any strike against Arafat or Nasrallah.
"I didn't ask permission from anyone," he said.
"I want to emphasize again that anyone who kills Jews because they are Jews is marked for death," he said.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for suicide bomb attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis during more than three years of conflict.
Sharon made similar threats in other interviews ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday.
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also