The Middle East yesterday was closer to a long-feared regional war the day after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel and Jerusalem said it began limited ground incursions into Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.
Israel said it intercepted many of the missiles, while officials in Washington said US destroyers assisted in Israel’s defense.
Iran said most of its missiles hit their targets.
Photo: AFP
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the strikes, but Israel reported seven people were killed in a shooting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed late on Tuesday to retaliate against Iran, which he said “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it.”
An Iranian commander threatened wider strikes on infrastructure if Israel were to retaliate against Iran’s territory.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The UN Security Council yesterday called an emergency meeting to address the conflict.
However, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz said that he was barring UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering Israel, accusing him of being biased against the country.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since Oct. 8 last year, the day after a Hamas cross-border attack.
Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response.
Israeli police said that seven people were killed in a shooting attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening, minutes before the Iranian missile barrage.
Two Palestinian men from the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Hebron opened fire in the Jaffa neighborhood of Tel Aviv, including shooting into a light-rail car crowded with people that was stopped at a station, police said.
The two had no prior arrests, although one had been involved with disturbing the peace at a demonstration, police said.
The two men were shot and killed by security guards and armed pedestrians, police said, adding that one of the attackers was armed with an M16 rifle and the other with a knife.
In Gaza, the territory’s ministry of health raised the death toll to 51, with at least 82 people wounded, in a large Israeli air and ground operation in the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israel’s military had yet to comment on the operation, which began early yesterday.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry