Latest news with #bombings
ABC News
a day ago
- Politics
- ABC News
The joy of being reunited after fleeing Iran
ARIFA HAKIMI: I was so nervous and very anxious about his safety. I straightaway called him, but he didn't pick up his call. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM, REPORTER: As bombs were falling over Tehran, Arifa Hakimi's heart was breaking. ARIFA HAKIMI: Very stressful time. I couldn't work; I couldn't concentrate. My main focus was just what is happening, what is going on now in Tehran, in Iran. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Nas Rezayee, Arifa's fiancé, had been living in Tehran for four years. Last month, he was caught up in the war that erupted between Israel and Iran. ARIFA HAKIMI: Eventually after nearly 18 hours, I got a very small text message in WhatsApp that he said that 'I'm okay, but I don't have a very good internet connection and there is like a very bad situation going on.' ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: The bombing campaign against Iran lasted 12 days. Nas filmed the attacks which were close to where he lived. He sent these videos to Arifa. ARIFA HAKIMI: He said that during the night it's very hard to go to sleep and because all the missiles and the bombings were mostly happening during the night and the situation was very terrifying. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Arifa and Nas are from Afghanistan; they met in 2019 at a military university in Kabul. She was studying computer science, and he was finishing a Bachelor of Civil Engineering. ARIFA HAKIMI: He asked me if I'm okay, he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. And then I said, 'Let me think about that and then I'll let you know.' So, it didn't take much time. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: After two years of being inseparable, the pair were torn apart in August 2021, when the Taliban took over - both Arifa and Nas fled the country. ARIFA HAKIMI: Our lives were in danger, and we tried to get an Australian visa, but that time I got the visa to come to Australia, but he didn't get the visa. So that was the problem, the main issue that we get separated from each other. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Former Premier of New South Wales Kristina Kenneally helped Arifa get an Australian visa when she escaped Afghanistan. Earlier this year she saw her again at a refugee event in Melbourne. KRISTINA KENEALLY, FORMER NSW PREMIER: Through snatches of conversation at this reception, she told me about the danger that Nas was in, that he had been waiting to get his spouse visa. He was in Iran, he was working, and yet Tehran was being bombed. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: She was so touched by Arifa's plight to bring Nas here, she offered to help. KRISTINA KENEALLY: I'd reached out to some staff I knew working in Canberra just to ensure that the visa application was complete and could go forward for processing. Once it was assessed, it was approved, such relief. I remember the message I got from Arifa. She had received an email from the department saying it had been approved. She was at the gym. ARIFA HAKIMI: I just stopped the treadmill and then go and sit, went and sit on the bench, and then I was not expecting that, but my hands was shaking. I was very excited. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Nas flew out of Tehran just days after hostilities ceased between Iran and Israel. ARIFA HAKIMI: Oh my god. Welcome, how are you. It was very hard, we faced many challenges, and hardships, but it had happened, finally we got a good result which is very good. NAS REZAYEE: It's wonderful to see my partner here in Melbourne… ARIFA HAKIMI: After a long time. NAS REZAYEE: After four years. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Nas, welcome to Australia. NAS REZAYEE: Thank you so much. ARIFA HAKIMI: How are you feeling? NAS REZAYEE: I'm feeling good. Very good. I like Melbourne. It's a good city. Nice people and good environment and lovely beach. I think it's incredible and very, very, very good that I have Arifa and reunited. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: While relieved to be with Arifa, Nas is still haunted by his final days in Iran. NAS REZAYEE: After seven o'clock in the evening the bombing and missiles were starting, and we were waiting to die and just hiding to find a very safe place and apartment because my journey was not finished. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: When you think about what people are going through back there, how do you feel right now? NAS REZAYEE: It's really, really, really good to have people helping me here in Australia and it's really interesting that people is always be smiling and just helping each other. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Arifa is in her third year at Deakin University studying exercise and sports science. Nas was a personal trainer in Tehran. He wants to work as a civil engineer in Australia. NAS REZAYEE: I have a plan to study but in the first time I should stabilise my situation condition in Melbourne. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: Six years after they first met in Kabul, Nas and Arifa can finally begin their life together in Melbourne. They have big plans for later this year. ARIFA HAKIMI: Summer wedding, of course the weather that time is so good. We don't have the exact plan, which location, where, but we are in thinking of that ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: In Australia? ARIFA HAKIMI: Of course, in Australia. ALYSIA THOMAS-SAM: In Melbourne? ARIFA HAKIMI: Yes.
France 24
2 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption
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France 24
2 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
New Benin law offers citizenship to descendants of African slaves
04:44 30/07/2025 Gaza faces famine as Israeli bombings continue 30/07/2025 Tunisia's 'barbechas': the invisible workforce behind recycling 30/07/2025 Kenya: Justice sought for victims of protest crackdowns 30/07/2025 Angola: Deadly protests erupt over fuel price hikes 30/07/2025 Palestinian activist Owdeh Hathaleen killed by Israeli settler in West bank 30/07/2025 Portugal battles three large wildfires 30/07/2025 France: Mine d'Or beach, a summer favourite on the Breton coast 30/07/2025 In Gaza, 'the need to catch up to an enormous lack' of food imposed by the Israelis 30/07/2025 US proposes revoking law regulating gas emissions
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Bus-bombing terrorist arrested after months-long IDF, Shin Bet manhunt
The terrorist behind the Bat Yam and Holon bus bombings was arrested in Nablus after a 19-hour manhunt, with explosives linked to the attack found and destroyed during the operation. The terrorist Abd al-Karim Sanubar, who was responsible for the Bat Yam and Holon bus bombings on February 20, was arrested in a joint operation by the IDF, Shin Bet, and Border Police early on Wednesday. The terrorist was reportedly found dressed as a woman in Nablus, according to Israeli media. Israel's security forces have been following Sanubar for months, and he was apprehended after being injured in an explosion in a building on Tuesday, which the IDF stated he may have caused. The explosion led Israeli forces to his location, and teams began an overnight manhunt that lasted approximately 19 hours. During the search, forces located and destroyed multiple ready-to-use explosives that the terrorist had in the building he bombed, as well as in the surrounding area. Dismantling the explosives cache belonging to the terrorist, July 23 2025 (CREDIT: IDF SPOKESPERSON). 'The arrest represents a significant operational and intelligence achievement, following ongoing intelligence efforts of the IDF and Shin Bet, including a series of operations in the field, and ultimately led to the apprehension of the terrorist,' the military said in a joint statement with the security agency. Sanubar's driver was indicted in March In March, an indictment was filed against R., a 47-year-old resident of Holon, for allegedly transporting Sanubar to the buses. During questioning, R. admitted to transporting the terrorist but claimed he was unaware of his identity. Following the indictment, a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove R. knowingly assisted a terrorist. As a result, he was released under house arrest. An initial assessment of the bombings in February from the security establishment was that the plan for the attack came from Iran, and was carried out by Hamas terrorists from the West Bank. It is unclear if Sanubar is affiliated with Hamas.
Arab News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistani militants use drones to target security forces, officials say
PESHAWAR: Militants in Pakistan have started using commercially acquired quadcopter drones to drop bombs on security forces in the country's northwest, police said, a potentially dangerous development in the volatile region. The use of such drones, which are powered by four rotors allowing for vertical take-off and landing, is worrying the overstretched and under-equipped police force, the frontline against militant attacks, officials said. Two quadcopters sent by the militants targeted a police station earlier this month, killing a woman and injuring three children in a nearby house in Bannu district, said police officer Muhammad Anwar. A drone spotted over another police station on Saturday was shot down with assault rifles, he said. It was armed with a mortar shell, he said. At least eight such drone attacks have targeted police and security forces in Bannu and adjacent areas in the last two and a half months, he said. Regional police chief Sajjad Khan said militants were still trying to master the use of the drones. 'The militants have acquired these modern tools, but they are in the process of experimentation and that's why they can't hit their targets accurately,' he added. The militants are using the quadcopters to drop improvised explosive devices or mortar shells on their targets, five security officials said. They said these explosive devices were packed with ball bearings or pieces of iron. Provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed said the police lacked resources to meet the new challenge. 'We do not have equipment to counter the drones,' he told the local Geo News channel on Sunday. 'The militants are better equipped than we are,' he said. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the drone strikes. The main militant group operating in the northwest is the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban. But they denied using the drones. 'We are trying to acquire this technology,' a TTP spokesman told Reuters. In 2024, militants carried out 335 countrywide attacks, killing 520 people, according to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, an independent organization. In recent weeks, thousands of residents from the border region have staged protests, aimed against both the attacks by militants and what they fear is an offensive planned by the army, according to a statement issued by the demonstrators. They said they feared that a military operation against the militants would displace them from their homes. A sweeping operation against militants in 2014 was preceded by a forced evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents. They spent months, and in many cases years, away from their homes. Pakistan's army did not respond to a request for comment on whether an operation was planned.
