Israel strikes Gaza, Lebanon overnight; Netanyahu convenes generals

GAZA/JERUSALEM : Israel bombarded Gaza with air strikes early on Monday and its aircraft struck southern Lebanon overnight, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of his top generals and his war cabinet to assess the escalating conflict.
Israel’s attacks concentrated on the Gaza Strip’s center and north, Palestinian media reported. A strike on a house near the Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza, killed several Palestinians and wounded others, according to media reports.



Dispute between Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga turns deadly, killing 4

BAGHDAD: The Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga forces briefly clashed Sunday in a dispute over control of a strategic military post, resulting in four deaths, Iraq’s military spokesperson and a military source said.

The dispute was over who controls three vacated posts previously in the hands of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants. It marked further tension in a fragile alliance between the Iraqi military and Kurdish Peshmerga forces of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region inside federal Iraq.




PM Shtayyeh calls for united front against Israeli blitz

RAMALLAH, SARAJEVO: Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on Sunday on the international community to create “united front” to stop Israel’s attacks in the Gaza Strip.

“We place at the top of our priorities stopping the Israeli aggression  and bringing in medical and relief aid to prevent a major humanitarian catastrophe,” Shtayyeh said during a meeting with 25 ambassadors, representatives and consuls.




Gaza violence heaps pressure on unpopular President Abbas

RAMALLAH: The widely unpopular Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is facing growing anger on the streets of the occupied West Bank as Israel wages its war against Hamas in Gaza.

He is seen as out of touch with the increasing desperation of the Palestinian people and Israel’s furious response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas has only exacerbated their discontent.




Hospitalized Iranian teen likely ‘brain dead’: media

TEHRAN: An Iranian teen who was left in a coma after an alleged assault on the Tehran metro by female police officers is likely to be brain dead, Iranian media reported Sunday.
The condition of Armita Garawand, 16, was first reported on October 3 by a Kurdish-focused rights group Hengaw, which said she had been critically wounded during an incident on the metro.