Author: Anadolu Agency
There has been “significant progress” in efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah, but more work remains before a pact can be sealed, the White House said Monday. “We have clearly made significant progress, however, we’re not there yet,” a National Security Council spokesperson told Anadolu. “We continue to work to reach a diplomatic resolution to allow civilians on both sides of the Blue Line to be able to safely return to their homes,” he added, referring to the de facto Israeli-Lebanese border. The White House comment comes after multiple Israeli media reports suggested a cease-fire deal…
US President Joe Biden pardoned Monday a pair of turkeys named “Peach” and “Blossom” in the president’s last annual pre-Thanksgiving White House tradition. Biden reflected on his four years in the White House, saying it has been “the honor of my life” to serve as president, adding he is “forever grateful” to have had the opportunity to be commander-in-chief. Still, he joked whimsically when issuing the pardons as roughly 2,500 people gathered on the South Lawn. “Fellas, your prayers are gonna be answered today. Based on your temperament and commitment to being productive members of society, I hereby pardon Peach…
The US on Monday expressed concern over the increasing violence by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. “The United States remains opposed to proposals to annex the West Bank or construct Israeli settlements in Gaza, which, if implemented, would be inconsistent with international law, sow the seeds for further instability and create new obstacles to Israel’s full integration into the region,” said US deputy envoy to UN Robert Wood at UN Security Council. “We are also deeply concerned by increasing extremist settler violence in the West Bank,” said Wood, adding that Israeli government “must deter extremist settler violence…
An Israeli airstrike on Monday evening killed at least four Palestinians and injured several others in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of northern Gaza City, sources reported. A medical source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Anadolu that the airstrike targeted a home belonging to the Harb family. Several injured individuals were pulled from the rubble, though the exact number of casualties remains unclear, witnesses reported to Anadolu. Israeli airstrikes continue to target various areas across the Gaza Strip, with simultaneous demolitions of homes and residential buildings in both the northern and southern regions, including Rafah. Israel has launched a genocidal…
The ancient Kestros Fountain, built in the second century under Roman Emperor Hadrian and restored to its former glory, now flows again after 1,800 years. Restoration of the Kestros Fountain, located in Perge, a historic city near Antalya, southwestern Türkiye’s renowned resort city, began two years ago to revive its grandeur. Now, 1,800 years later, water flows again from the fountain, originally fed by the Kestros River, the modern-day Aksu stream via an intricate canal system. Aytaç Dönmez, deputy head of Perge excavations, explained that the fountain’s water flows through a luxurious 700-meter (2,297-foot) long channel into a pool. He…
At least one civilian was killed on Sunday in a rocket attack launched by the YPG/PKK terror group in the Al-Bab district of northern Syria. Terrorists positioned from the west of the district targeted the center of Al-Bab with multiple rockets. A total of 14 civilians were injured in the attack, according to initial reports. The injured have been taken to local health centers for treatment. The region was cleared of Daesh/ISIS terrorists in February 2017 during Türkiye’s Euphrates Shield Operation. The PKK/YPG terrorists, who attempt to enter the operation zone frequently, target civilian houses. Since 2016, Ankara has launched…
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced Sunday that it clashed with Israeli soldiers, many of whom were killed or injured, in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Fighters “engaged” with an infantry Zionist force of 10 soldiers from point-blank range in the Al-Janina neighborhood, the military wing said in a statement. In separate statement, it said fighters “targeted a military vehicle with a Yassin 105 missile north of Awad Tower in Rafah.” Israel began a military operation in Rafah on May 6, 2024, taking control of the Rafah Crossing despite international warnings about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences…
Türkiye, the Arab world, most European countries as well as international rights groups have welcomed the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC accused Netanyahu and Gallant of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. The court said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the two bear criminal responsibility for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.” Israel has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, most of them women…
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Sunday said France would implement international law in relation to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “France is committed to international justice and its independence,” Barrot said in an interview for France 3 TV channel. “We have been saying from the very beginning that Israel has the right to defend itself within the framework of respect for international law.” “Each time Israel violates international law, blocking access to aid, bombing civilians, forcibly displacing them, establishing colonies in the West Bank.” He added they “strongly” condemn these actions.…
Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz called on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to bomb government facilities in Beirut amid deadly attacks on Lebanon. In a post on X, Gantz urged the government to target Lebanese governmental facilities, which so far have been spared from the ongoing Israeli bombardment. The Israeli army has launched almost daily airstrikes across Lebanon since late September against what it claims are Hezbollah targets, in an escalation of year-long warfare between Tel Aviv and the Lebanese group since the start of the Gaza war. Avi Ashkenazi, a military analyst for Maariv newspaper,…