Israeli planes dropped thousands of leaflets denouncing Hezbollah guerrillas over the Lebanese capital of Beirut and its suburbs early yesterday, two days after some of the worst border clashes in southern Lebanon for several years.
Lebanese security officials said the roar of jets was heard over the city before dawn, after which thousands of leaflets were dropped. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.
"To the Lebanese citizens, who protects Lebanon?" read the small paper leaflet written in Arabic.
"Who is lying to you? Who is sending your children to a battle they are not ready for? Who wishes the return of the destruction? Who is the tool in the hand of his Syrian and Iranian masters?" the leaflet read.
Then in bold letters, it said: "Hezbollah is causing enormous harm to Lebanon," adding that Israel was determined to protect its citizens.
The note was signed "The State of Israel."
The Israeli army confirmed that its planes had dropped the leaflets over Beirut and its suburbs. It was the first time in many years that Israeli planes dropped leaflets over the Lebanese capital.
The move follows some of the worst fighting in at least three years that saw Islamic militant Hezbollah guerrillas attacking Israeli military outposts, and Israel pounding guerrilla positions and hideouts with artillery and missiles fired from warplanes. Four guerrillas were killed and 11 Israeli soldiers were wounded in the clashes in a disputed area of land near the border.
Hezbollah, the militant Shiite Muslim group, is a close ally of Syria and is backed by Iran. The fighting may have been ignited to take off the pressure on Syria, which is facing an international probe into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri.
Israel, under military pressure from Hezbollah, withdrew its army from a border buffer zone in southern Lebanon in 2000, ending 18 years of occupation. Clashes have occasionally erupted since then.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS