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Borrell warns Middle East headed for ‘full-blown war’ as Israel strikes southern Beirut

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The EU’s Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell has warned the Middle East is heading towards “full-blown war” on the same evening as Israel launched air strikes on Hezbollah’s headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Speaking to reporters in New York following a UN Security Council session on Gaza, Borrell said he regretted that no power seemed able to “stop” Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that Israel’s prime minister appeared to be determined to crush militants in Lebanon and Gaza at all costs.

“If the interpretation of being destroyed is the same as with Hamas, then we are going to go for a long war,” he was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Those comments come after the Israeli military announced on Friday night that it hit Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs with “very accurate” strikes.

At least two people were killed and dozens were injured in the strike, which sent clouds of orange and black smoke into the sky.

“This targeting confirms one thing. Today all Lebanese people are targeted. The Israeli enemy is not differentiating between military personnel and a civilian,” said local resident, Jad Fayyad.

US media claim that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of the strike, but this has not been confirmed by Israeli officials.

Nasrallah has been in hiding for years, very rarely appearing in public with his speeches usually made by video from unknown locations. It is not known if he was in the building at the time of the attack.

Iran’s embassy in Beirut condemned the strikes, saying they “represent a serious escalation that changes the rules of the game”.

It also said that Israel would be “punished appropriately”.

But in New York during a visit to the United Nations earlier this week, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian appeared to suggest Tehran was not interested in escalation, saying a wider war in the Middle East “will not benefit anyone”.

In a sign of the significance of the strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cut short a visit to the United States — deciding to return to Israel immediately instead of waiting until the end of Sabbath on Saturday evening as was originally planned.

Israeli politicians do not normally travel on the Sabbath except for matters of great importance.

Rescuers arrive at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs, September 27, 2024 Bilal Hussein/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved

 

Hours earlier, Netanyahu vowed that Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah would continue, dashing hopes for an internationally backed cease-fire.

To a degree unseen in past conflicts, Israel this past week has aimed to eliminate Hezbollah’s senior leadership with Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari openly saying the strikes pummelling Lebanon’s capital were targeted towards the main Hezbollah headquarters, located beneath residential buildings.

Israel dramatically intensified its airstrikes in Lebanon this week claiming that it was ending the 11 months of Hezbollah fire into its territory.

We’ll continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met.

Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister of Israel

Israel and Hezbollah have traded almost daily cross-border fire since the war in Gaza started in October last year. Hezbollah says its attacks on Israel will stop when a ceasefire with Hamas is reached.

Although the precise scope of Israel’s operation remains unclear, officials have said a ground invasion to push the militant group away from the border is a possibility.

Adding to this, Israel has moved thousands of troops toward the border this week in preparation.

Israel’s strikes this week have killed more than 720 people in Lebanon, including dozens of women and children, according to statistics collected by the Health Ministry.

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THERE IS NO VACUUM IN LEADERSHIP AS THE PRESIDENT AND VP ARE OUT OF THE COUNTRY – PRESIDENCY

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Following enquiries by journalists as to who is in charge of our country as the President and Vice President are out of the country, we want to clarify:

 

1. It is important to note that the President and Vice President are fully engaged with the nation’s affairs, even while they are away. There is no leadership vacuum in the country.

 

2. President Tinubu left the country on 3 October and is on a two-week working vacation. During this time, he has been busy answering phones and issuing directives on matters of state. He will soon return to the country before the vacation officially expires.

3. The vice president departed the country Wednesday for Sweden on an official visit, working for Nigeria.

4. All state organs are functioning as usual. The Senate President, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ministers, and Service Chiefs are all in their respective positions, ensuring the smooth operation of the government.

5. We had a similar situation in 2022 when former President Buhari and former Vice President Osinbajo were found to be simultaneously out of the country. President Buhari attended UNGA 77, while Osinbajo participated in the burial of Queen Elizabeth ll.

6. We have also experienced it during this administration. Between late April and early May this year, while President Tinubu was in London, after visiting the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia, where he attended the World Economic Forum, Vice President Shettima left Nigeria, first of all for Nairobi to attend the International Development Association (IDA21) Heads of State Summit. After returning, he left for Dallas, Texas, to attend the US-Africa Business Summit organised by the Corporate Council on Africa. President Tinubu returned home on 8 May. During this time, the government’s machinery did not halt.

7. The Constitution, a testament to our adaptability in the virtual age, does not explicitly require the physical presence of either the president or the vice president in the country at all times to fulfil his duties.

Bayo Onanuga

Special Adviser to the President

(Information and Strategy)

October 16, 2024

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Trump says ‘obnoxious’ tariffs will bring factories to US

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pushed back at arguments that tariffs would hike costs for consumers. Photo: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP Source: AFP
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US Republican candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday said that companies will drop plans to build factories overseas when faced with the threat of high tariffs on shipping goods to the United States.

“The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States,” the former president Trump told an audience at the Economic Club of Chicago.

“You make it so high, so horrible, so obnoxious” companies will “come right away,” he added.

The economy has emerged as one of the main issues ahead of the November 5 US election, where Trump is in a dead heat with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to polls.

The former president has vowed a 10 percent to 20 percent across-the-board tariff on imports and a 60 percent rate on Chinese goods — and more recently threatened a 200 percent levy on automobiles made in Mexico.

During the hour-long interview, Trump pushed back at arguments that tariffs would hike costs for consumers and punish businesses faced with higher-priced imports.

“To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff,” Trump said.

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Zelensky rules out ceding Ukrainian land in Victory Plan, urges NATO invite

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses members of the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv to announce details of his Victory Plan to end the war in his country. Photo: Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP Source: AFP
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday unveiled his long-awaited Victory Plan to end Russia’s invasion, rejecting any territorial concessions and urging ramped-up Western backing, including an invitation to join NATO.

After pushing back Russian troops at the start of the invasion in February 2022, Kyiv is now facing mounting pressure to find an exit strategy as its troops suffer battlefield losses and Moscow intensifies its strikes on infrastructure.

Russia has seized around a fifth of Ukraine’s territory since the invasion began, reducing towns and cities to rubble and killing thousands of civilians.

Ukraine: position of military forces. Photo: Valentin RAKOVSKY, Sophie RAMIS, Cléa PECULIER / AFP Source: AFP

 

But in his address to lawmakers in Kyiv on Wednesday, the 46-year-old leader ruled out the possibility that Ukraine could cede some territory to secure peace and also dismissed any pause in the conflict.

“Russia must lose the war against Ukraine. And this does not mean a freeze (in fighting) and it does not mean any trade in Ukraine’s territory or sovereignty,” Zelensky said in his speech to lawmakers, flanked by European Union and Ukrainian flags.

The number one priority in the five-part so-called Victory Plan, the Ukrainian leader said, was closer integration with the US-led NATO defence alliance.

“The first point is an invitation to NATO, now,” Zelensky said, claiming that Moscow had been undermining security in Europe for decades because Kyiv was not a member.

Kremlin derides ‘futile’ plan

Zelensky also said that his country’s Western allies should lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons so Kyiv can target Russian military sites on occupied Ukrainian territory and also within Russia.

The Kremlin immediately dismissed Zelensky’s roadmap to end the grinding conflict, describing it as “some ephemeral peace plan”.

“The only peace plan there can be is for the Kyiv regime to realise the futility of the policy it is pursuing and understand the need to sober up,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Ukrainian servicemen prepare to board an armoured vehicle to go to the front, near the town of Kurakhove in the eastern Donetsk region. Photo: Roman PILIPEY / AFP Source: AFP

 

Russia has demanded Kyiv abandon territory it already controls in the east and south of Ukraine as a precondition for peace talks.

The Russian military announced during Zelensky’s address to lawmakers that its forces had captured two more villages in eastern Ukraine, where its forces are steadily advancing.

The ministry said the villages of Nevske and Krasnyi Yar had been “liberated”, publishing a video of destroyed buildings in Nevske with Russian flags flying from two of them.

‘Coalition of criminals’

In his address, Zelensky criticised China, Iran and North Korea for their support for Moscow, renewing accusations that Pyongyang was sending its citizens to work in Russian factories and fight alongside Russian forces.

“The coalition of criminals along with Putin already includes North Korea,” Zelensky told lawmakers. “Everyone sees the Iranian regime’s assistance to Putin, and also China’s cooperation with Russia.”

An elderly woman walks past damaged buildings in the town of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region. Photo: Roman PILIPEY / AFP Source: AFP

 

Kyiv has dismissed any rival plans to end the war, including those put forward by Brazil and China, saying they lack guarantees for Ukraine’s security or the war-battered country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Unlike Zelensky’s “Peace Formula,” an agenda that stipulates Russia must withdraw all its troops from Ukraine’s internationally-recognised borders, the Ukrainian leader had until Wednesday given few details about his “Victory Plan.”

He visited European leaders last week in a bid to promote the plan and secure as much aid as possible, as future backing from Washington hinges on the outcome of presidential elections next month.

On Wednesday, he said he had discussed a secret annex to the “Victory Plan” with the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Germany to deploy on Ukrainian territory a “non-nuclear strategic deterrence package” that would discourage future Russian attacks after the war.

He also said he would present his Victory Plan in full at an EU summit on Thursday, urging more Western support and an invitation to NATO.

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