Hezbollah is firing rockets at northern Israel. According to the Taiwanese government, pager components were not manufactured in the country. All developments in the news blog.
13:46: According to Israeli military reports, numerous rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel. The army reported that it registered around 140 missiles. Warning sirens sounded in northern Israel. According to Israeli media, fires broke out as a result of the shelling. There were initially no reports of injuries.
The Lebanese Hezbollah claimed responsibility for several attacks. In some cases, the terror group spoke of “salvos of Katyusha rockets” that it fired towards Israel. Residents in numerous places in northern Israel are being urged to stay close to shelters.
12.19 pm: CDU foreign policy expert Johann Wadephul has described the current Israeli approach to the conflicts in the region as difficult to understand. The situation of Israel, which is defending itself against terrorists in the Gaza Strip and in neighboring southern Lebanon, is existential, Wadephul said on rbb Inforadio. “But what this government is currently doing there is a policy that is really difficult for us to understand.” Questions have been asked of Israel as to whether all possibilities for a peaceful settlement of both conflicts have really been exhausted.
With regard to Israel’s war with the Islamist Hamas, he says that there is no real determination on the part of the Israeli government to end the conflict as quickly and effectively as possible and to free the hostages. “We would like to see more action and more openness from the Israeli government.”
The Union parliamentary group vice-chairman refers to the chronology of events. The attack on Hamas foreign chief Ismail Haniya in Iran and the recent wave of explosions in Lebanon took place at times when one could have hoped that negotiations with Hamas would be successful. This is striking. “We see too few steps towards de-escalation,” says Wadephul. Israel will always have the support of Germany and the USA. “But Israel should also take its friends along the path it is taking in the region.”
9.44 am: Iran’s religious leader Ali Khamenei has pardoned almost 3,000 prisoners. The move was made following a written request from the head of the judiciary, Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejehi, as reported by the Iranian news agency Tasnim. The pardons also included reduced sentences and were made on the occasion of the birthdays of the Islamic prophet Mohammed and Shiite scholar Jafar Sadik.
According to the state news agency Irna, the death sentences of 59 convicts were also commuted to prison terms. Of the total of 2,887 amnesties, most convictions came from the general and revolutionary courts. In 1,291 cases, the prisoners are to be released, and 1,596 other prisoners will receive reduced sentences. 40 foreigners were also pardoned.
Head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei regularly pardons prisoners, often around Islamic holidays. According to the religious leadership, this is intended to show leniency. After the nationwide protests in autumn 2022, the religious leader pardoned tens of thousands of prisoners. At the time, activists criticized the amnesties as a diversionary tactic from the repressive government course.
9.32 am: Israel’s army is investigating an incident in which soldiers in the West Bank pushed the bodies of suspected Palestinian militants off a roof. The military spoke of a “serious incident” that was not consistent with the values of the Israeli army and the expectations of its soldiers.
Videos circulating on social media and Israeli media show three soldiers throwing or kicking people killed in an army operation near Jenin on Thursday from a roof. The footage also caused horror in Israel.
