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Hamas on Saturday released footage of an apparently injured Israeli-Russian hostage held in Gaza as 11 Palestinians, including three infants, were killed in a strike on the territory, its civil defence agency said. Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted the war sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 2,396 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll from the war to 52,495.Gaza militants still hold 58 hostages, 34 of whom the army says are dead. Hamas is also holding the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a previous war in Gaza in 2014.The militant group’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, released a video on Saturday showing a hostage AFP and Israeli media identified as Russian-Israeli Maxim Herkin.In the undated four-minute video, Herkin, who turns 37 at he end of May, was shown wearing bandages on his head and left arm.Speaking in Hebrew in the video, which his family urged media to to disseminate, he implied he had been wounded in a recent Israeli bombardment and referred to himself only as “Prisoner 24”.- ‘Coming home’ -AFP was unable to determine the health of Herkin, who gave a similar message to other hostages shown in videos released by Hamas, urging pressure on the Israeli government to free the remaining captives.Herkin also appeared in a previous video released by Hamas in early April. In that video, he appeared alongside a second hostage Israeli media identified as soldier Bar Kuperstein. Both men were abducted by Palestinian militants from the Nova music festival during the Hamas attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Herkin, had emigrated to Israel from Ukraine with his mother.Before being abducted, the father of one had written to his mother: “All is well. I’m coming home.” Several thousand Israelis demonstrated outside the defence ministry in Tel Aviv on Saturday, demanding action from the government to secure the hostages’ release.  The government says its renewed offensive is aimed at forcing Hamas to free its remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.Since the end of the truce, Hamas has released several videos of hostages. The latest images come as efforts by mediators to broker a new truce have stalled.- ‘Bright light’ -In Gaza, the civil defence agency said on Saturday that an overnight Israeli strike on the Khan Yunis refugee camp killed at least 11 people, including three infants aged one or less.Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal say they were killed in the “bombardment of the Al-Bayram family home in Khan Yunis camp” at around 3:00 am (0000 GMT).Bassal told AFP that eight of the dead had been identified and were all from the same extended family, including a boy and girl, both one, and a month-old baby.An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed the strike, saying it targeted a “Hamas member”.Rescue workers and residents combed the rubble for survivors with their bare hands, under the light of hand-held torches, an AFP journalist reported.Neighbour Fayka Abu Hatab said she “saw a bright light, then there was an explosion, and dust covered the entire area”.”We couldn’t see anything, it all went dark,” she said.Israel has blocked all aid deliveries to Gaza since March 2, prompting dire warnings from UN agencies of impending humanitarian disaster.

Al Ahli were crowned champions of Asia at the third attempt after the Saudi Arabian side overpowered Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 in Jeddah on Saturday.The Jeddah club, runners-up in 1986 and 2012, triumphed at their King Abdullah Sports City Stadium thanks to two goals in seven minutes towards the end of the first half from Brazilian Galeno and Ivory Coast captain Franck Kessie. The Asian Champions League’s latter stages have all taken place in Jeddah.With the win, Roberto Firmino, Edouard Mendy and Riyad Mahrez become the first players to capture both Asian club football’s premier title and its European equivalent. The trio won the Champions League with Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City respectively.”We are so proud,” Al Ahli goalkeeper Mendy said. “Once we knew that the final eight would be in Jeddah, it was our goal to be champions in front of our fans. Since I came here 18 months ago, they supported us so much.”As I said when I signed here, it’s to make history, to continue to win trophies and make this club as big as it was before.”The secret is the team effort. If someone makes the effort it will make it easier for the one next to him. We just played like this; you saw the fire, you saw the spirit.”Al Ahli, who are majority-owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, are awarded $10 million for clinching the title.Matthias Jaissle’s side went unbeaten through all 13 matches of the campaign.Frontale, meanwhile, were contesting the final for the first time having never previously been beyond the last eight.- Al Ahli too strong -Al Ahli began on the front foot, summer signing Ivan Toney stinging the palms of Louis Yamaguchi on five minutes before the Frontale goalkeeper then saved Ziyad Al Johani’s close-range effort from the resultant corner.At the other end, Frontale’s Brazilian forward Marcinho showed some fast feet down his side’s left, before sending his effort inches past Mendy’s far post.Yet Al Ahli always looked the more dangerous. Toney lashed wide on the half-volley, defender Roger Ibanez curled narrowly off target and Firmino sent a volley straight at Yamaguchi.However, on 35 minutes, Firmino rolled a pass to winger Galeno, who curled a spectacular effort from 25 yards into the top corner. Galeno, a winter signing from Porto for a reported 50 million euros ($56 million), has actually taken Firmino’s spot in Al Ahli’s Saudi Pro League squad, meaning the former Liverpool forward is not registered to play in the domestic league.Three minutes before half-time, Firmino floated a cross into the Frontale six-yard box for Kessie to power home his header and double Al Ahli’s advantage. The assist lifted Firmino, the club captain, to seven in this season’s Champions League – and to one behind Mahrez at the top of the tournament’s assist charts.Frontale, who defeated Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr in the semi-final, did not have a shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.In the second half, Firmino and Mahrez each flashed efforts well wide, with the former substituted on 74 minutes to rapturous applause. Not long after, Frontale substitute Tatsuya Ito fired two shots in quick succession inches off target.In the end, Al Ahli celebrated becoming only the third Saudi club to win the Champions League, after record four-time winners Al Hilal and two-time champions Al Ittihad.

The premier of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, former diplomat and foreign minister Ahmed Bin Mubarak, announced his resignation on Saturday saying he was unable to fully exercise his powers.Bitter disputes had for months opposed Bin Mubarak and Rashad al-Alimi, who heads the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), two ministers and a member of the PLC told AFP.They requested anonymity in order to speak freely.After Iran-backed Huthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, Yemen’s government withdrew to Aden in the south.The rebels went on to control most population centres in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country.A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in support of beleaguered government forces in 2015, but with little success.On Saturday, Bin Mubarak posted on X that he had met the PLC’s Alimi and resigned.He also shared his resignation letter in which he said: “I could not exercise my constitutional powers and take the necessary decisions to reform government institutions or implement rightful governmental changes.” His move comes as the Huthis wage a campaign of missile attacks on Israel and target shipping in key waterways in what they say is a show of solidarity with Palestinians over the war in Gaza.Bin Mubarak said that despite the obstacles he had managed to achieve “many successes in a short space of time”, citing fiscal and administrative reforms and an anti-corruption drive.However, analyst Mohammed Albasha, of the US-based Basha Report Risk Advisory, told AFP Bin Mubarak had been “in constant friction with the Presidential Leadership Council”.”Bin Mubarak wanted to be more than Prime Minister — he wanted the powers of the presidency. That aspiration isolated him politically,” Albasha said.- ‘Power struggle’ -The Yemeni official sources who spoke to AFP said Bin Mubarak had suspended the budgets of several ministries including defence, citing corruption, further fuelling tensions.”His drive for greater power — viewed by many as fuelled by personal ambition — led to repeated confrontations with key ministers and most Council members,” Albasha said.”Over time, this power struggle eroded trust.”Bin Mubarak, Yemen’s former ambassador to the United States, is a staunch adversary of the Huthis, who abducted him in 2015 and held him for several days.Previously he was chief of staff of the presidential office and Yemen’s envoy to the United Nations.He was appointed foreign minister in 2018 and prime minister on February 5, 2024.His departure should “ease internal tensions and reduce the deep divisions that have plagued Yemen’s internationally recognised government — a necessary and positive step toward restoring cohesion,” Albasha said.The war in Yemen has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, although the fighting decreased significantly after a UN-negotiated six-month truce in 2022.Since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out in October 2023 after Hamas attacked Israel, the Huthis have repeatedly targeted Israel and ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that they say are linked to it.The Huthis paused their attacks during a two-month Gaza ceasefire, but in March a threat to resume attacks over Israel’s Gaza aid blockade triggered a renewed and sustained US air campaign targeting areas in Yemen they control.

Australia’s left-leaning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese triumphed Saturday in national elections, crushing his conservative rival in a contest swayed by economic upheaval and US President Donald Trump. Albanese’s slow-but-steady leadership resonated at a time of global tumult, analysts said, with voters deserting hard-nosed opposition leader Peter Dutton in droves.Not only was Albanese’s Labor Party on track …

Left-leaning PM Albanese triumphs in Australian election Read More »

United Nations special envoy Geir Pedersen urged Israel Saturday to halt its attacks on Syria “at once”, after it carried out multiple air strikes targeting the Islamist-led authorities following sectarian violence this week.Fresh Israeli raids were reported overnight, after Israel said repeatedly that its forces stood ready to protect the Druze minority after sectarian clashes killed 119 people, mostly Druze fighters, according to a Britain-based war monitor.Since ousting longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Syria’s new authorities — who have roots in Al-Qaeda — have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country, but they must also contend with pressure from radical Islamists in their ranks.”I strongly condemn Israel’s continued and escalating violations of Syria’s sovereignty, including multiple air strikes in Damascus and other cities,” Pedersen said in a post on X, calling “for these attacks to cease at once”.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 20 strikes hit military targets across Syria late Friday, in the “heaviest” assault carried out by Israel on its neighbour this year.Syria’s state news agency SANA reported strikes near Damascus and in the country’s centre, west and south, saying one civilian was killed.An Israeli military statement said its forces “struck a military site, anti-aircraft cannons and surface-to-air missile infrastructure in Syria”. It did not give further details.Firas Aabdeen, 32, a member of the security forces in Harasta near Damascus where one of the attacks hit, said he heard several “very loud” strikes and that a largely disused Assad-era military barracks was targeted.The barrage followed an Israeli attack near the presidential palace in Damascus early on Friday, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz called a “clear message” to Syria’s new rulers.”We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community,” they said.Israeli foe Iran, which propped up the now ousted Assad government, condemned the strikes, accusing Israel of seeking to “destroy and annihilate the defence, economic and infrastructure capabilities of Syria as an independent country”.Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group, also an Assad ally, said that the attacks were “a clear attempt to undermine” and weaken Syria.- Israel army ‘deployed’ in south -The Israeli military said it was “deployed in southern Syria” and “prepared to prevent the entry of hostile forces into the area of Druze villages”.Since the collapse of the Assad government late last year, Israeli troops have entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights and have carried out incursions deeper into southern Syria.It was not immediately clear whether the Israeli army was speaking of a new deployment or how many troops were involved.A Druze official in the community’s heartland in Sweida province, said there had been “no deployment of Israeli soldiers” there.This week, Druze clerics and armed factions reaffirmed their loyalty to a united Syria, following clashes between Druze fighters and loyalists of the new government.The unrest in Sweida and the southern suburbs of the capital was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous. AFP was unable to confirm its authenticity.- ‘Directly interfering’ -The Observatory and Druze residents said forces affiliated with the new government attacked the towns of Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus and clashed with Druze gunmen.The government blamed “outlaw groups” for the violence.A de-escalation deal saw government troop deploy in Sahnaya and tighter security around Jaramana.Israel’s military said “five Syrian Druze citizens were evacuated to receive medical treatment in Israel overnight” after sustaining injuries in Syria.The Druze official in Sweida said they were wounded “in clashes in Sahnaya” and feared being detained if they sought treatment in Damascus.Middle East analyst Andreas Krieg said Israel was “directly interfering in the transition process in Syria”.Israel is using the Druze issue “as some sort of pretext to justify their military occupation” of parts of Syria, he told AFP.burs-lar/lg/kir