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15 injured in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza

May 26, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Gaza, May 26 (DPA) Israeli warplanes rocketed two targets at midnight in Gaza Strip, leaving at least 15 people lightly wounded, witnesses and medical sources said.

The witnesses said that Israeli F-16s carried out four successive airstrikes on Gaza’s inoperative airport in the southern Gaza Strip, and two other airstrikes on a Hamas training camp in the northern part of the territory.

Medical sources in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Islamic Hamas movement, said that civilians and police officers were among those wounded in the airstrike on the training camp.

The sources said no injuries were reported when missiles were fired into Gaza Airport east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. The airport has been inoperative since the beginning of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israel in 2000.

Gaza Airport was built by the Palestinian Authority in 1998.

The witnesses, who live close to the airport, said they saw warplanes cirling over the area before hearing four successive explosions.

Residents of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun described two explosions in the area as a result of F-16 strikes on the training camp of al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing.

The Israeli airstrikes were a response to earlier homemade rockets fired toward southern Israel. No injuries or damage were reported, where Israel vowed retaliation to the rockets attack.

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Taliban now terrorise 80% of Afghanistan after eight years of war: Report

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul, Sep. 11 (ANI): Almost eight years after the war began in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the 9/11 carnage, the Taliban insurgency has spread across 80 percent of the country.

The violent incidents this week have drawn attention to the deteriorating security situation of northern Afghanistan, which had largely remained peaceful so far, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

The northern provinces are facing difficult times as heavy insurgent activity has spread to 80 percent of the country – up from 54 percent two years ago, the report says.

The militants’ focus has shifted to northern parts following continuous pressure from their Pakistani counterparts to attack NATO’s second supply route situated here, it adds.

“[Militants] have been trying to widen the ground for the insurgency in Afghanistan and now they have got momentum. The militants are eager to target this route to prevent a smooth supply chain from northern Afghanistan,” the report quoted Waliullah Rahmani, executive director of the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies, as saying.

Last week’s airstrike targeted two fuel tankers headed to supply NATO troops in Kabul that had been hijacked by the Taliban.

Although the increase in violence is only a recent phenomenon, the conditions had worsened long ago, the report says.

The violence can be linked to districts with large Pashtun populations, whose grievances the government has failed to address – making them sympathetic to the Taliban, who share their ethnicity and language, it adds.

“The districts which are turning violent are those which have had a very recent history of abuses against the Pashtuns.

The government has allowed these conditions to go unaddressed and this is now being addressed by the population by giving shelter to the Taliban and other insurgents,”the report quoted Prakhar Sharma, the head of research at the Center for Conflict and Peace Studies, as saying.(ANI)

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Taliban rejects reports about Fazlullah being on ‘death bed’

July 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, July 12 (ANI): The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has rejected government claims about Mullah Fazlullah fighting for life.

TTP spokesperson Maulvi Umar said over the phone that all reports about Fazlullah were false and ‘baseless’.

He claimed that Fazlullah was safe and that the Taliban leadership had gone underground in Buner, Dir and Swat as part of a long term strategy.

He also denied reports about top commander Shah Duran being killed in an airstrike.

Earlier, the Daily times quoted the Army as claiming that Fazlullah was hit, but that it could not confirm the report.

“Maulana Fazlullah has been hurt in an airstrike.But we cannot confirm his exact condition at the moment,” ISPR spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas said.

The BBC reported that he (Fazlullah) had been seriously injured in the ongoing military offensive, and was on his ‘death bed’.

“Maulana Fazlullah was actually hit in two airstrikes, and is critically wounded. He is now stranded in Imam Dehri without any access to medical assistance and is close to death,” the BBC quoted Mingora resident Wasif Ali, as saying. (ANI)

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US military: 29 suspected insurgents killed in eastern Afghanistan

May 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul- US and Afghan troops killed 29 suspected militants, including six wound-be suicide bombers, in a clash and airstrike in south-eastern Afghanistan, the US military said Thursday.

The operation in Paktika province’s Wor Mamay district began when the joint forces targeted a compound used by a “senior” militant leader identified only as Sangeen, the US military said in a statement. It accused him of operating the compound as a staging area for future attacks in the province.

Several militants were killed in face-to-face combat as well as from their own explosives while the rest were killed when the US-Afghan forces called in an airstrike against the militants’ firing positions, it said.

“During the assault, at least six enemies detonated suicide vests, killing only themselves,” it said, adding that one coalition soldier received minor wounds in a blast.

The statement did not say whether Sangeen, who is also known as Fateh and is accused of involvement in numerous attacks in eastern Afghanistan, was among those killed in the operation.

Hamidullah Zewak, a spokesman for Paktika’s governor, confirmed the incident but gave a higher death toll for the militants. He said 34 insurgents were killed and their bodies were still lying on the battlefield.

Because of remoteness of the area and security concerns in the district that borders neighbouring Pakistan, it was difficult to verify the death toll independently.

The US military statement also said weapons caches containing rocket-propelled grenade launchers, ammunition, AK-47 assault rifles, heavy machine guns and suicide vests were discovered at the targeted compound while Zewak said four vehicles and 25 motorbikes were also seized.

Taliban-led violence is on the rise in Afghanistan despite the presence of more than 70,000 international troops deployed from 42 nations.

The US military, which already provides more than half the foreign forces in the country, has ordered the deployment of 21,000 additional forces this summer. (dpa)

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Civilian killed in new US air attack in Afghanistan

May 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul – A US air attack in Afghanistan has killed a civilian, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed on Sunday.

Contrary to earlier reports, the victim had not been attempting to plant a booby trap bomb at a roadside.

ISAF said it was launching an investigation into the incident, which occurred on Wednesday in the south east province of Paktia.

The US air force launched the air attack at the request of ISAF. The civilian was taken to hospital but died of his injuries.

Last week an ISAF airstrike in Helmand province, south Afghanistan, killed eight civilians, the most recent in a series of such incidents.

At the start of the month the Afghan government accused the US military of killing 140 civilians in an air raid. The US insisted that the May 4 attack killed around 60-65 Taliban fighters, plus 25- 30 bystanders. (dpa)

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US, Taliban engaged in public relations one upmanship, says CSM report

May 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 14 (ANI): The US administration is using another medium to hit back at the Taliban – public relations.

According to a Christian Science Monitor (CSM) report, more than a week has passed since a United States bombardment killed civilians in western Afghanistan, but the battle between coalition forces and the Taliban has only intensified on another front: public relations.

Civilian deaths caused by US, NATO, and Afghan operations – which, according to the United Nations, topped 800 last year – have long provoked public fury that the Taliban can exploit. But in response, the US has also begun to control the message, often by providing a counter-narrative or admitting responsibility.

Last Monday’s controversial airstrike in Farah Province killed some 140 villagers, according to Afghan officials. If correct, that would constitute the largest case of civilian deaths since 2001. The attack provoked outbursts of street violence and chants of anti-American slogans.

But the US countered that a “number” of people had died in the engagement – and it blamed the Taliban for using people as human shields.

The controversy then worsened when it emerged over the weekend that chemical weapons may have been used in the clash. The US military rejected that claim and went on the offensive Monday, when Col. Greg Julian, the top spokesman in Afghanistan, alleged that Taliban militants have employed white phosphorus – a highly flammable material that causes severe burns – at least four times in Afghanistan over the past two years.

Just hours later, another spokesperson highlighted 44 documented cases where militants in Afghanistan may have used the chemical in mortar attacks and homemade bombs, most recently in an attack last Thursday on a NATO outpost in Logar Province just south of Kabul.

One component of this strategy, according to British defense analyst Tim Foxley, is “to challenge the Taliban to explain their actions and intent,” while promoting a grassroots discussion of “the Taliban’s legitimacy, their interpretation of Islam, what constitutes a jihad, and the morality of killing civilians.”

The Pentagon has reportedly launched a broad “psychological operations” campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan to take down insurgent-run websites and the jam radio stations dominate the airwaves in backcountry areas.

The Army is also rewriting its information operations manual. The new document, set to be released later this year, will give greater authority to battlefield commanders to make communications decisions on the spot – rather than senior officers far from the action – to counter Taliban attempts to stage deaths and then circulate fabricated videos.

The coalition forces have a weekly call-in radio program, “Ask ISAF,” where Afghans can directly present their questions and concerns to officers.

The Afghan government, meanwhile, has opened a 1.2 million dollar media center staffed by Western-trained PR specialists. The facility includes a hi-tech media monitoring wing and an outreach department to build better working relations with journalists. (ANI)

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Foreign al Qaeda leaders using turmoil to strengthen Pak militant groups

May 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 11 (ANI): American and Pakistani intelligence officials have said that foreign operatives of al Qaeda, who had focused on plotting attacks against the West, are capitalising on the turmoil to sow chaos in the country and strengthen the hand of the militant Islamist groups there, a leading US based daily has reported.

The New York Times reports that indication came on April 19, when a truck parked inside a Qaeda compound in South Waziristan erupted in a fireball when a C.I.A. missile struck it.

American intelligence officials say that the truck had been loaded with high explosives, apparently to be used as a bomb, which would have been more devastating than the suicide bombing that killed more than 50 people at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.

Al Qaeda’s leaders are a predominantly Arab group of Egyptians, Saudis and Yemenis, as well as other nationalities like Uzbeks and for years they have nurtured ties to Pakistani militant groups like the Taliban operating in the mountains of Pakistan.

The foreign operatives have set their sights on targets bigger than those selected by the local militant groups, aiming for spectacular attacks against the West, but they may see new opportunity in the recent violence.

Intelligence officials say the Taliban advances in Swat and Buner, which are closer to Islamabad than to the tribal areas, have already helped al Qaeda in its recruiting efforts.

The officials say the group’s recruiting campaign is currently aimed at young fighters across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia who are less inclined to plan and carry out far-reaching global attacks and who have focused their energies on more immediate targets, the NYT reports.

“They smell blood, and they are intoxicated by the idea of a jihadist takeover in Pakistan,” said Bruce O. Riedel, a former analyst for the CIA, who recently led the Obama Administration’s policy review of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

American government officials and terrorism experts said that Al Qaeda’s increasing focus on a local strategy was partly born from necessity, as the CIA’s intensifying airstrikes have reduced the group’s ability to hit targets in the West.

The United States has conducted 16 drone strikes so far this year, according to American officials, compared with 36 strikes in all of 2008.

According to a Pakistani intelligence assessment provided, al Qaeda has adapted to the deaths of its leaders by shifting “to conduct decentralized operations under small but well-organized regional groups” within Pakistan and Afghanistan.

At the same time, the group has intensified its recruiting, to replace its airstrike casualties.

One of Al Qaeda’s main goals in Pakistan, the assessment said, was to “stage major terrorist attacks to create a feeling of insecurity, embarrass the government and retard economic development and political progress,” the paper says. (ANI)

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NATO admits killing six civilians in eastern Afghanistan

April 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul – NATO said Thursday that its forces killed six civilians in an airstrike in eastern Afghanistan while the military alliance’s top commander in the country said that more efforts would be made to avoid such killings in the future.

Six people, including a woman and children, were killed and 14 were wounded in Monday’s airstrike in Kunar province.

In its initial reporting of the incident, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the operation resulted in the deaths only of Taliban insurgents.

But the Afghan presidential palace said in a statement Thursday that NATO’s top commander in Afghanistan, US General David McKiernan, admitted to President Hamid Karzai that “despite repeated efforts by NATO and coalition forces, civilians sustained casualties in Khost and Kunar provinces.”

“A joint investigation by the Afghan government and ISAF determined that four enemy fighters and six Afghan civilians were killed during the [Kunar] operation,” NATO said in a separate statement.

“Four civilians were seriously injured, 10 received minor injuries and a local home was damaged,” the statement said.

The presidential statement also said that McKiernan assured Karzai that the alliance would work more closely with Afghan security forces to avoid such incidents.

The NATO forces apologized for the loss of life and offered assistance to the families affected by the operation, the statement said.

During operations in the east-central province of Khost on April 8, five civilians, including two women and a 7-day-old child, were killed. The ISAF had earlier admitted those killings and apologized.

Civilian casualties have become a delicate issue in Afghanistan. Karzai has repeatedly pleaded with international forces to avoid civilian killings during their anti-insurgent operations.

Afghan civilians have borne the brunt of the conflict in the seven years following the fall of the Taliban regime. More than 2,100 civilians were killed in the conflict last year, the United Nations said.

Meanwhile, an ISAF soldier was killed Wednesday in a roadside bombing in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement Thursday.

The statement did not disclose the nationality of the deceased, but most of the troops stationed in the eastern region of the country are from the United States.

Nearly 60,000 troops are serving under the command of NATO-led ISAF forces in Afghanistan. The US government has planned to send 21,000 additional combat troops and military advisers to the country before August’s presidential election.(dpa)

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Afghan, NATO dispute civilian casualties in airstrike

April 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul – An Afghan district chief said Monday that a NATO airstrike killed six civilians and wounded more than a dozen others, but the alliance said that “multiple intelligence sources” suggested that four to eight insurgents were killed in the air raid. Zelmai Yousifzai, the district chief of Watapur district in the eastern province of Kunar claimed that six civilians, including two children, one woman and three men, were killed when their house was bombed by an aircraft under NATO command.

Yousifzai said that 14 other civilians were wounded in the raid that took place in the area soon after midnight.

However, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) claimed in a statement that they had credible intelligence information that four to eight insurgents had assembled in the area in the Watapur valley.

“Intelligence intercepts indicated the hostile intent of the enemy to attack ISAF posts,” the statement said, adding, “Due to the remote location, ISAF called in close-air support and eliminated the enemy threat.”

“Though the enemy assembly area was remotely located and no apparent civilian structures or personnel were detected prior to the strike, ISAF is investigating the possibility that non-combatants may have been injured.”

“We deeply regret any possible civilian injuries caused by our operations against the enemy,” Captain Mark Durkin, an ISAF spokesman, said in a statement.

“We will thoroughly investigate the allegations of civilian injuries and, if found true, provide assistance to support the law-abiding people affected,” he said.

Civilian casualties have become a delicate issue in Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly pleaded with the international forces to avoid civilian killings during their anti-insurgent operations.

Last week five civilians including two women and two children, one of them only seven days old, were killed in a US-led operation in the south-eastern province of Khost. The US military confirmed that civilians were killed in that incident and apologized.

Afghan civilians have borne the brunt of anti-terrorism war in Afghanistan in the past seven years following the fall of the Taliban regime. More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan violence last year, according to the United Nations. (dpa)

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NATO trooper, 47 Taliban killed in Afghanistan

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul, April 5 (DPA) At least 47 suspected Taliban militants were killed in clases with the Afghan and international forces across Afghanistan, the military said Saturday.

In southern Helmand province, Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed 15 militants in an operation in Kajaki district Saturday, the US military said in statement.

The compounds where the militants were targeted were used for weapons and bomb-making, materials trafficking, and as a safe-haven for insurgent fighters moving between Helmand and Oruzgan provinces, it said.

Also in Kajaki district, the combined forces killed 20 other suspected insurgents in another operation Friday, a separate US military statement said.

The militants were killed by small arms fire and airstrike after they attacked the combined forces who were conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol in the areas, the statement said, adding that six Taliban fighting positions were also destroyed.

Kajaki district, where the largest hydro-power plant in the region is located, has witnessed a series of clashes between Taliban insurgents and Afghan forces backed by international troops.

In the past five days more than 100 insurgents were killed in separate clash in Kajaki and in the neighbouring province of Uruzgan, according to military sources.

‘Militants in the Kajaki district are known to be heavily involved in bomb-making, weapons smuggling, drug activity, direct attacks on Afghan and Coalition forces and intimidation of the local people,’ the military statement said.

Separately, Afghan and NATO-led ISAF forces killed 12 suspected insurgents during a gun-battle in Baraki Rajan area of Baraki Barak district of central Logar province, ISAF said in separate statement. A woman was also killed in the cross fire, it said.

The firefight began after the combined forces pinpointed a group of insurgents trying to plant a roadside bomb, it said, adding that the militants retreated to a compound and then the shootout started when they refused to surrender peacefully.

Five suspected militants were detained by joint forces, it said, but did not say if there were any casualties on the side of the combined forces.

Meanwhile, a trooper of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), who was injured in a roadside bomb blast in the southern region, died of his injuries, the ISAF said in a statement.

The statement did not reveal the nationality of the soldier, nor did it say where exactly in southern region the incident took place. Most of the soldiers serving under the banner of ISAF are from Canada, Britain, Netherlands and the US.

Around 170,000 Afghan security forces are also battling the resurgent Taliban alongside their international partners. The US, meanwhile, is planning to send 17,000 additional combat forces and 4,000 military advisors and trainers to Afghanistan this year to contain the insurgency.

With new US forces, there will be more than 90,000 international forces in Afghanistan deployed from 42 nations.

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Blast kills 7 Afghan forces, Karzai condemns killing of journalist

March 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul – A remote-controlled roadside bomb killed seven Afghan security forces Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan, while Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing of an Afghan journalist, who was shot dead by unknown assailants in southern region.

Seven Afghan security forces were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a remote-controlled roadside bomb in Lakan area of south- eastern province of Khost on Wednesday morning, General Najeeb Nuhzad, an army commander in the province said.

Following the blast, four wounded attackers were detained by the combined Afghan and US-led coalition forces after they were targeted by a coalition’s airstrike, said Nuhzad, who is the director for a Provincial Coordination Committee, an entity that coordinates Afghan and foreign military operations in the province.

He said the dead security forces were part of a unit which assisted the international troops in the province in their military operations.

Meanwhile, Karzai condemned Wednesday the death of an Afghan journalist, Jawid Ahmad Kakar, who was shot dead in southern city of Kandahar by two unknown assailants on Tuesday.

Kakar, who worked with Press TV, an Iranian TV channel, in southern Kandahar province, was killed by two attackers riding on motorbike as he stepped out of his car near his house in the provincial capital, a provincial spokesman said.

It was “inhumane and barbaric” attack, Karzai said in a statement issued by his office, adding, “The enemies of Afghanistan can not hamper the process of democracy and freedom of media in the country by killing the reporters.

“We call on the Afghan government to launch an immediate investigation so that the killers can be quickly identified and brought to trial,” the organizatoin for Reporters Without Borders said a statement.

Kakar had worked for several Canadian media outlets in Kandahar province before was arrested by US military forces in country on charges of having contacted Taliban leaders and possessing their phone numbers.

“How can you work as a reporter in southern Afghanistan without contacting the Taliban?” he told Reporters Without Borders after he was released, adding, “It is normal and it is my right.”

He was released late last year after spending 11 months in US detention centre in Bagram airfield and had planned to write a book about his ordeal in the detention centre, the statement said.

Prior to his imprisonment, Kakar worked for years with US Special Forces in country, following the ouster of Taliban regime in late 2001.

It was not immediately known that who was behind his killing, but Zalmay Ayubi, spokesman for the provincial governor of Kandahar blamed “enemies of peace and stability” for the attack, a term often used by Afghan officials to describe Taliban insurgents. (dpa)

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Pakistan kills 24 militants in north-west

January 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad – Pakistani security forces attacked hostile targets in the Mohmand tribal region on Tuesday, killing at least two dozen militants, an official said.

Jet aircraft attacked militant positions in Kandharo village before ground troops moved in to clear the area, which islocated close to the Afghan border.

“The airstrike inflicted heavy casualties on the insurgents. At least 24 militants were confirmed killed in the offensive,” an official of the Frontier Corps paramilitary force said on condition of anonymity.

Several other rebels were also injured, he said without giving any figures. The casualty toll could not be confirmed independently.

“Our soldiers have secured vast swathes of land after the assault,” the official said.

Mohmand borders the Bajaur tribal district where government troops, backed by tanks, artillery pieces and helicopter gunships, began a major offensive in August against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, who crossed into the region from Afghanistan to escape the coalition forces.

Militant activity in Mohmand surged after the Bajaur operation in which the military had so far claimed to have killed more than 1,500 fighters.

The US and other western forces hailed the intense offensive, saying it helped reduce cross-border attacks on the international troops fighting the Taliban.

Tuesday’s assault in Mohmand came as US Central Command chief General David Petraeus arrived in Islamabad for talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

Petraeus said he had “very good” meetings and both sides discussed actions taken by Pakistan in the aftermath of the November 26 Mumbai attacks as well as the country’s counter-terrorism initiatives in the north-west.

“It is clearly in the interest of all countries involved that Pakistan succeeds in dealing with its internal problems,” Petraeus told reporters.

The US general said Washington would increase its support for Pakistan to fight militancy in its north-western regions, adding that more focus would be put on coordination between military commanders on both sides of the Afghan border.

Petraeus, who came to Pakistan hours before the inauguration of Barack Obama in Washington, hoped that “the new administration in the United States will bring progress in our mutual efforts to counter extremism.”

He was due to fly to Kabul in the evening for security talks with Afghan officials. (dpa)

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Majority of Israelis behind Israeli offensive

January 5, 2009 By Rajiv Gupta Leave a Comment

Tel Aviv – Most Israelis strongly support their country’s deadly and destructive offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli campaign against the radical Islamic movement ruling the strip, as well as its reprisal rocket attacks against southern Israeli cities such as Ashkelon, Ashdod and Beersheba, are at the forefront of the Israeli media’s reporting.

The large number of Palestinian civilian casualties, while mentioned, are pushed to the background.

Some critical voices can be heard, but they are a marginal minority.

According to an opinion poll published Friday in Israel’s Ma’ariv daily, over 93 per cent of Israelis support the Gaza offensive, while only 2.2 per cent “fairly” oppose it and another 1.7 per cent are “very much” against it.

Backing for its ground component is less broad: Under 42 per cent of Israelis support it, according to the Ma’ariv poll.

As past experience teaches, public opinion could well turn around, if the ground invasion – begun Saturday after more than a week of relentless airstrikes – starts taking a high toll among Israeli soldiers.

While the Palestinian toll stands at well over 500 dead and at least 2,500 injured, the Israeli toll has so far been minimal – four Israelis died in rocket attacks and one soldier died in the ground fighting by Monday afternoon. Dozens were wounded.

Both the Palestinian and Israeli media focus all but exclusively on the casualties and suffering on their own respective sides, with Israeli television channels broadcasting exhaustively about the impact of each rocket which lands in the south of the country.

The grisly footage shot for example by the Palestinian Ramattan news agency of Saturday afternoon’s deadly airstrike at a mosque in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya was aired also on Israeli television, but only briefly and in between lengthy reports about the Palestinian rocket attacks and analyses by Israeli experts commenting on the offensive.

Israelis widely feel the Gaza assault is justified: Israel did not want this war, but Hamas asked for it. Gaza’s civilian population are now also paying the price for voting the radical Islamic movement into power, is a much-heard opinion.

After Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the strip could have had a flourishing seaport, as well as an airport. Instead, its militants fired rockets and mortar shells into Israel on an almost daily basis and as a result brought a paralyzing economic blockade on themselves and the entire strip, many argue when asked.

Gaza’s former Jewish settlements could have seen high-rise residential buildings providing housing for many of the densely-populated strip, but are instead used as training camps and rocket launching sites by Hamas, they point out.

Former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon would turn in his hospital bed if he knew what was going on, decries one Israeli in Tel Aviv, Yaffa Uriel: “He gave Gaza back without taking anything in return. ‘Here, take,’ he just told them. And what did we get? Rockets.”

She continues angrily: “The world shouldn’t only watch when Israel attacks. The world should have watched also when for eight years the residents (of southern Israel) suffered.

“I do feel sorry about the innocent civilians,” she acknowledges, speaking from her office supplies store. “They are the ones who suffer in the end. Under conditions like those in Gaza, it is almost impossible not to harm them – out of a lack of choice, not because we want it. It’s so crowded there.”

Efi Sharabin, 37, agrees. “It’s good that (Israel) is doing this. It had to be done.” He speaks from a nearby fast food restaurant, whose owner, Aviv Shalabi, plunges into the discussion uninvited:

If Israel did not do it today, it would have had to do it tomorrow, argues the 49-year-old. “It is about time they (the army) went in and crushed them (Hamas).”

At least it will buy us a few years quiet, he sighs, arguing that if left unchallenged, Hamas could have acquired rockets reaching as far as Tel Aviv. “They are already reaching 40 kilometres into Israel. It’s just another 20 kilometres.”

Some criticism can nevertheless be heard. Reporters Gideon Levy and Amira Hass of the left-liberal Ha’aretz daily are among the few who report extensively about the Palestinian suffering, with Levy accusing the Israeli media of providing disinformation.

“The media is failing abysmally,” says Levy. “It has enlisted voluntarily to brain wash and to hide what needs to be hidden. They systematically show how once again we are the only victims.”

On Saturday night, some 1,000 Israelis – waving both Israeli and Palestinian flags and some of them wearing Arab head scarfs – attended a protest on Tel Aviv’s central Rabin square, organized by Hadash, the only mixed Arab-Jewish party in Israel’s parliament. Some 600 people attended a counter-demonstration nearby, waving Israeli flags and chanting slogans in support of the Israeli military. (dpa)

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Israeli military denies renewal of targeted killings

January 2, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

Tel Aviv – The Israeli military denied Friday that it had renewed Israel’s policy of targeted killings of top Hamas political leaders, saying the target of the airstrike that killed Nizar Rayan had been his house, which stored “large amounts of rockets and explosives.”

Rayan’s entire family was nearly wiped out when the Israel Air Force bombed his house Thursday in the crowded refugee camp of Jabaliya, north of Gaza City.

The Hamas leader, as well as all of his four wives and 11 of his 12 children were killed, Hamas said. The four-storey house was reduced to its bare concrete core, its front and top floors completely ripped off, leaving gaping holes that exposed the inside of those lower-level rooms still standing.

Rayan belonged to Hamas’ top five leaders and was the highest- ranking political leader killed by Israel since 2004. Israel assassinated Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in March of that year, and his successor Abdel Aziz Ranteesi in April, also 2004, as part of a series of targeted killings of Hamas leaders.

An Israeli military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv said Israel was targeting the houses of Hamas activists as part of its assault against the movement’s infrastructure, insisting many of them stored weapons or rockets or were used for planning militant activity.

Regarding Rayan’s home, she said “the people in the house had been warned,” but would give no details as to how they had been given prior notice of the airstrike.

Israeli media claimed an Israel Defence Forces officer had made a telephone call, but there were conflicting reports as to whether this was made to the home of Rayan or that of his neighbour. Israel has used that tactic of telephone warnings in the past.

Most Hamas leaders have vacated their homes and gone underground since the Israeli offensive against Gaza began one week ago, but Rayan had refused to do so, in defiance of Israel.

Rayan, in his 50s, was close to Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades and led it in opposition to several Israeli forays into the Gaza Strip in the past. (dpa)

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