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Iraq

US Ship With Equipment for Building a Pier Is on Its Way to Gaza

Voice of America - Sun, 03/10/2024 - 11:55
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — A U.S. Army vessel carrying equipment for building a temporary pier in Gaza was on its way to the Mediterranean on Sunday, three days after U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans to ramp up aid deliveries by sea to the besieged enclave where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been going hungry. The opening of the sea corridor, along with airdrops by the U.S., Jordan and others, showed increasing alarm over Gaza's humanitarian crisis and a new...
Categories: Iraq

Will Angry Arab American Voters Swing Michigan Away from Biden?

Voice of America - Sun, 03/10/2024 - 11:14
Michigan has the largest Arab American community in the country, and they’re furious with the president’s handling of Israel’s war in Gaza
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Israeli Strike on Lebanese House Kills 5, State Media Says

Voice of America - Sun, 03/10/2024 - 05:15
Beirut, Lebanon — At least five people were killed Saturday, four from the same family, and nine wounded in an Israeli strike on a house in southern Lebanon, the country's official National News Agency reported. Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and Israel have traded deadly cross-border fire on a near-daily basis since war broke out in October between Israel and the Gaza militant group Hamas, a Hezbollah ally. "The attack against a house in the Khirbet Selm area...
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Thousands of Israelis Rally for Hostages’ Release, Netanyahu’s Ouster

Voice of America - Sun, 03/10/2024 - 04:44
Tel Aviv, Israel — Shouting "Elections now!" and "Bring back the hostages now!" thousands of Israeli demonstrators gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand the departure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after five months of war in Gaza. With T-shirts and banners featuring the names and pictures of hostages seized during Hamas's October 7 attack, the crowd demanded swift action to rescue the remaining captives. The attack on southern Israel that triggered the...
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Biden: Netanyahu 'Hurting Israel' By Not Preventing Civilian Deaths in Gaza

Voice of America - Sun, 03/10/2024 - 04:41
Wilmington, delaware — U.S. President Joe Biden said Saturday that he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "hurting Israel more than helping Israel" in how he is approaching its war against Hamas in Gaza. Biden expressed support for Israel's right to pursue Hamas after the October 7 terror attack but said Netanyahu "must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken." For months, Biden has warned that...
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UNRWA Chief 'Cautiously Optimistic' Donors Will Return

Voice of America - Sun, 03/10/2024 - 03:11
geneva — The head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency said he was cautiously optimistic some donors would start funding it again within weeks, warning it was "at risk of death" after Israel alleged some of its staff took part in the October 7 Hamas terror attack.  An independent review of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been launched under French former Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, and her final...
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On Eve of Ramadan, Jerusalem's Old City Offers Little Festivity as Gaza War Rages

Voice of America - Sat, 03/09/2024 - 22:20
JERUSALEM — On the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Jerusalem's Old City bears few of its usual hallmarks of festivity. Nearly half of the grotto-shaped gift shops are sealed behind metal shutters. The narrow streets that run toward Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, are eerily empty. Absent are the fairy lights and shining lanterns that would usually dangle above hurried worshippers. Ramadan preparations in Jerusalem, the spiritual heart of the decades-old...
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Lawmakers: Is US Doing Enough to Deter Iran, Houthi Attacks in Red Sea?

Voice of America - Sat, 03/09/2024 - 19:06
The commander overseeing U.S. military operations in the Middle East is warning that deterrence of Iranian proxies is temporary and that Iran is not paying the price for its role in violence across the Middle East. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb has details.
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UN: Iran Responsible for 'Physical Violence' That Killed Mahsa Amini

Voice of America - Sat, 03/09/2024 - 19:01
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran is responsible for the “physical violence” that led to the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 and sparked nationwide protests of the country's mandatory headscarf, or hijab, laws and its ruling theocracy, a United Nations fact-finding mission said Friday. The stark pronouncement came in a wide-ranging initial report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council by the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran that concluded Tehran committed “crimes against...
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US Treasury Official Pushes Lebanon to Halt the Flow of Funding to Hamas

Voice of America - Sat, 03/09/2024 - 18:02
BEIRUT — A top U.S. Treasury official visiting Beirut this week pressed Lebanese authorities to prevent funds from being funneled to Hamas by way of Lebanon, officials said. Jesse Baker, deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for Asia and the Middle East, met with Lebanese politicians and officials from the financial sector Thursday and Friday. His visit came as negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip appear to have stalled. Should the war continue...
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Aid Ship Set to Sail from Cyprus to Gaza on New Corridor, Charity Says

Voice of America - Sat, 03/09/2024 - 13:49
Nicosia, Cyprus — A U.S. charity said it was loading aid for Gaza onto a boat in Cyprus, the first shipment to the war-ravaged territory along a maritime corridor the EU Commission hopes will open this weekend. The Spanish-flagged vessel Open Arms docked three weeks ago in the port of Larnaca in Cyprus, the closest European Union country to the Gaza Strip. "World Central Kitchen teams are in Cyprus loading pallets of humanitarian aid onto a boat headed to northern Gaza," the...
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US-Led Coalition Shoots Down 15 Yemen Rebel Drones, CENTCOM Says

Voice of America - Sat, 03/09/2024 - 13:29
Dubai, UAE — U.S. and allied forces shot down 15 one-way attack drones fired by Iran-backed Yemeni rebels into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden on Saturday, the U.S. military said. Shortly afterwards, the rebels claimed the attack, saying they had fired missiles at an "American" commercial ship and launched drones at U.S. warships in "the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden." It was one of the Houthi’s largest attacks since November, when they began a campaign of drone and missile...
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UN Mission: Iran Protests Crackdown Sparked 'Crimes Against Humanity'

Voice of America - Sat, 03/09/2024 - 04:00
Geneva — Tehran's violent crackdown on peaceful protests and discrimination against women and girls triggered serious rights violations, many amounting to crimes against humanity, a U.N. fact-finding mission concluded Friday. Iran was rocked by widespread demonstrations sparked by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress rule for women based on Islamic law. Anger over her death rapidly expanded...
Categories: Iraq