Lebanon's President Aoun urges political parties to give up arms
He added that the country would seek $1 billion annually for 10 years to support the army and security forces in Lebanon.
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Trump orders nuclear submarines moved after Russian ‘provocative statements'
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday said he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in 'the appropriate regions' in response to statements from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. 'Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev ... I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,' Trump said in a social media post. He added: 'Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances.' He did not specify what he meant by 'nuclear submarines.' Submarines may be nuclear-powered, or armed with nuclear missiles. It is extremely rare for the US military to discuss the deployment and location of US submarines given their sensitive mission in nuclear deterrence. The US Navy declined comment. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump and Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, have traded taunts in recent days after Trump on Tuesday said Russia had '10 days from today' to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or be hit with tariffs, along with its oil buyers. Medvedev on Thursday said Trump should remember that Moscow possessed Soviet-era nuclear strike capabilities of last resort, after Trump told Medvedev to 'watch his words.' Moscow, which has set out its own terms for peace in Ukraine, has given no indication that it will comply with Trump's deadline of August 8. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow hoped for more peace talks with Ukraine but that the momentum of the war was in its favor. He made no reference to the deadline. Trump, who in the past touted good relations with Putin, has expressed mounting frustration with the Russian leader, accusing him of 'bullshit' and describing Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine as disgusting. Medvedev has emerged as one of the Kremlin's most outspoken anti-Western hawks since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022. Kremlin critics deride him as an irresponsible loose cannon, though some Western diplomats say his statements illustrate the thinking in senior Kremlin policy-making circles. Trump also rebuked Medvedev in July, accusing him of throwing around the 'N (nuclear) word' after the Russian official criticized US strikes on Iran and said 'a number of countries' were ready to supply Iran with nuclear warheads. 'I guess that's why Putin's 'THE BOSS',' Trump said at the time. The US president took office in January having promised to end the Ukraine war on Day One, but has not been able to get Moscow to agree to a ceasefire. Only six countries operate nuclear-powered submarines: the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and India. The US Navy has 71 commissioned submarines including 53 fast attack submarines, 14 ballistic-missile submarines, and four guided-missile submarines. All of them are nuclear-powered, but only some carry nuclear weapon-tipped missiles.
Arab News
2 hours ago
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Human Rights Watch condemns Gaza aid centers as ‘death traps'
JERUSALEM: Human Rights Watch on Friday accused Israeli forces operating outside US-backed aid centers in war-torn Gaza of routinely killing Palestinian civilians seeking food, as well as using starvation as a weapon of war. 'US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarized aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths,' said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. After nearly 22 months of war in Gaza between Israeli forces and Hamas, the Palestinian territory is slipping into famine, and civilians are starving to death, according to a UN-mandated expert report. After nearly 22 months of war in Gaza between Israeli forces and Hamas, the Palestinian territory is slipping into famine, and civilians are starving to death, according to a UN-mandated expert report. Israel and the US have backed a private aid operation run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation at four sites inside Gaza, protected by US military contractors and the Israeli army. GHF launched its operations in late May, sidelining the longstanding UN-led humanitarian system just as Israel was beginning to ease a more than two-month aid blockade that led to dire shortages of food and other essentials. Since then, witnesses, the civil defense agency, and AFP correspondents inside Gaza have reported frequent incidents in which Israeli troops have opened fire on crowds of desperate Palestinian civilians approaching GHF centers seeking food. At least 859 Palestinians were killed while attempting to obtain aid at GHF sites between May 27 and July 31 — most by the Israeli military — according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 'Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families,' HRW's Wille said in a statement. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff promised a plan to deliver more food to Gaza after inspecting the US-backed distribution center on Friday. Witkoff said he had spent more than five hours inside Gaza, in a post accompanied by a photograph of himself wearing a protective vest and meeting staff at a GHF distribution center. The foundation said it had delivered its 100 millionth meal in Gaza during the visit by Witkoff and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee to Gaza. President Donald Trump 'understands the stakes in Gaza and that feeding civilians, not Hamas, must be the priority. Today he sent his envoy to serve as his eyes and ears on the ground, reflecting his deep concern and commitment to doing what's right,' GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay said. Gaza's civil defense agency said 22 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and air strikes on Friday, including eight who were waiting to collect food aid.
Arab News
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Israel intercepts Houthi missile fired from Yemen
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Friday, which the Iran-backed Houthi militants said they had launched. 'Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted,' the Israeli military said. The Houthis targeted Israel's Ben Gurion airport 'using a 'Palestine 2' hypersonic ballistic missile,' their military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement. The militants have launched repeated missile and drone attacks against Israel since their Palestinian ally Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war. The Houthis, who say they are acting in support of the Palestinians, paused their attacks during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza that ended in March, but renewed them after Israel resumed major operations. Israel has carried out several retaliatory strikes in Yemen, targeting Houthi-held ports and the airport in the militant-held capital Sanaa.`
