Erdoğan sees Israel as the region’s greatest threat. An air alert was raised in Tel Aviv because of a suspected drone. All developments in the news blog.
1:07 p.m.: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan comments on the recent Israeli attack on the Syrian capital Damascus. “It is important that Russia, Iran and Syria take more effective measures against this situation, which poses the greatest threat to Syria’s territorial integrity,” he told Turkish media. “Israel is the most concrete threat to regional and global peace.” Israel has repeatedly attacked targets in Syria in recent years to combat extremists with ties to Iran.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, such operations have increased. On Tuesday, Syrian state media reported that several civilians were killed and injured in an Israeli airstrike on a suburb of Damascus. Erdoğan has repeatedly criticized Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Turkey, for its part, has repeatedly taken action against Kurdish groups in Syria in recent years.
12:51 p.m.: According to the UN World Food Program (WFP), the situation of the people in the north of the embattled Gaza Strip has continued to worsen. The WFP said no food aid had arrived in the area since October 1 because the most important border crossings to the north of the sealed-off coastal strip were closed. “The north is practically cut off and we can’t work there.”
Food distribution points, kitchens and bakeries had to be closed in the area some time ago. The last food deliveries were distributed to emergency shelters and medical facilities. It is unclear how long these limited food stocks will last, a WFP statement added.
“WFP has been on the ground since the beginning of the war. We are committed to delivering food every day despite the challenges, but without safe and sustained access it is virtually impossible to reach those in need,” says WFP’s Antoine Renard . “People no longer know how to deal with the situation.”
10.20 a.m.: Norway is withdrawing some of its embassy staff from the Lebanese capital Beirut. The background to this is that the situation in the country has continued to deteriorate due to many Israeli attacks, which also hit Beirut and the UN peacekeepers (Unifil), according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Oslo. The ambassador will remain in the country for the time being with a small number of other Norwegian diplomats.
“The security situation in Lebanon remains extremely tense and confusing. There were bomb attacks near the Norwegian embassy in Beirut. Some of the Norwegian diplomats sent are therefore temporarily leaving Lebanon,” the statement said. Norwegian citizens were also asked to leave the country while this was still possible.
US special envoy in Lebanon: US is working “continuously” on a ceasefire
8.48 a.m.: According to its special envoy for Lebanon, Amos Hochstein, the USA is working “continuously” on a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militia. “We want the entire conflict to end,” Hochstein told the Lebanese television station LBC on Friday. “We are working on this non-stop,” he adds.
Against the background of recent incidents in the fighting, in which UN peacekeepers were reportedly injured, Hochstein speaks of “unacceptable” developments. The ongoing Israeli bombing of the Lebanese capital Beirut “must stop,” demands the US special envoy.
8:23 a.m.: Hezbollah in Lebanon says it fired several rockets at an Israeli military base near the coastal city of Haifa. Hezbollah fighters have “targeted the explosives factory there south of Haifa,” explains the Iranian-backed terrorist group. The highest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, also known as the Feast of Atonement, has been celebrated in Israel since Friday evening.
Hezbollah had previously called on residents of northern Israel to stay away from army facilities in residential areas. Alarm sirens sounded in several locations in northern Israel early Saturday morning.
4.40 a.m.: The US is imposing new sanctions against the Islamic Republic in response to the Iranian missile attack on Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken explained that these measures are aimed at cutting off the Iranian government’s revenue for its nuclear program, missile development and support for terrorist organizations.
