Israeli planes dropped thousands of leaflets denouncing Hezbollah guerrillas over the Lebanese capital of Beirut and its suburbs early yesterday, two days after some of the worst border clashes in southern Lebanon for several years.
Lebanese security officials said the roar of jets was heard over the city before dawn, after which thousands of leaflets were dropped. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.
"To the Lebanese citizens, who protects Lebanon?" read the small paper leaflet written in Arabic.
"Who is lying to you? Who is sending your children to a battle they are not ready for? Who wishes the return of the destruction? Who is the tool in the hand of his Syrian and Iranian masters?" the leaflet read.
Then in bold letters, it said: "Hezbollah is causing enormous harm to Lebanon," adding that Israel was determined to protect its citizens.
The note was signed "The State of Israel."
The Israeli army confirmed that its planes had dropped the leaflets over Beirut and its suburbs. It was the first time in many years that Israeli planes dropped leaflets over the Lebanese capital.
The move follows some of the worst fighting in at least three years that saw Islamic militant Hezbollah guerrillas attacking Israeli military outposts, and Israel pounding guerrilla positions and hideouts with artillery and missiles fired from warplanes. Four guerrillas were killed and 11 Israeli soldiers were wounded in the clashes in a disputed area of land near the border.
Hezbollah, the militant Shiite Muslim group, is a close ally of Syria and is backed by Iran. The fighting may have been ignited to take off the pressure on Syria, which is facing an international probe into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri.
Israel, under military pressure from Hezbollah, withdrew its army from a border buffer zone in southern Lebanon in 2000, ending 18 years of occupation. Clashes have occasionally erupted since then.
X-37B COMPARISON: China’s spaceplane is most likely testing technology, much like US’ vehicle, said Victoria Samson, an official at the Secure World Foundation China’s shadowy, uncrewed reusable spacecraft, which launches atop a rocket booster and lands at a secretive military airfield, is most likely testing technology, but could also be used for manipulating or retrieving satellites, experts said. The spacecraft, on its third mission, was last month observed releasing an object, moving several kilometers away and then maneuvering back to within a few hundred meters of it. “It’s obvious that it has a military application, including, for example, closely inspecting objects of the enemy or disabling them, but it also has non-military applications,” said Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in optical space situational awareness at Delft
Malaysia yesterday installed a motorcycle-riding billionaire sultan as its new king in lavish ceremonies for a post seen as a ballast in times of political crises. The coronation ceremony for Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim, 65, at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur followed his oath-taking in January as the country’s 17th monarch. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement that sees the throne change hands every five years between the rulers of nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty. While chiefly ceremonial, the position of king has in the past few years played an increasingly important role. Royal intervention was
The Philippine Air Force must ramp up pilot training if it is to buy 20 or more multirole fighter jets as it modernizes and expands joint operations with its navy, a commander said yesterday. A day earlier US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US “will do what is necessary” to see that the Philippines is able to resupply a ship on the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) that Manila uses to reinforce its claims to the atoll. Sullivan said the US would prefer that the Philippines conducts the resupplies of the small crew on the warship Sierra Madre,
AIRLINES RECOVERING: Two-thirds of the flights canceled on Saturday due to the faulty CrowdStrike update that hit 8.5 million devices worldwide occurred in the US As the world continues to recover from massive business and travel disruptions caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, malicious actors are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain. Government cybersecurity agencies across the globe and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are warning businesses and individuals around the world about new phishing schemes that involve malicious actors posing as CrowdStrike employees or other tech specialists offering to assist those recovering from the outage. “We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” Kurtz said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant