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Bulgarian firm not linked to deadly devices sent to Hezbollah, says government
Bulgarian authorities said on Friday a company based in Sofia had nothing to do with the delivery of exploding communications devices to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies detonated across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people, injuring nearly 3,000 and generating panic.
Hezbollah and several international media organisations have blamed Israel for sabotaging the electronic devices. Israel has not made any public comment.
“Following verifications, it has been indisputably established that no communication equipment corresponding to those that exploded on 17 September was imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria,” the National Security Agency (SANS) said.
The SANS said on Thursday it had launched an investigation after Hungarian website Telex said Norta Global – a company registered in Sofia by a Norwegian, had imported the devices and then delivered them to Hezbollah.
According to the AFP, On Friday the SANS said the company and its owner had “not carried out any transactions linked to the sale or purchase of the merchandise” or that “fall under laws on terrorism financing”.
Norta Global, which was founded in April 2022 by Rinson Jose, last year declared revenue of €650,000 ($725,000) for consulting activities outside the EU, reports the AFP.
Top officials in Taiwan have insisted the communications devices, which carried the brand name of local company Gold Apollo, were not from there (see 6.59am BST).
Gold Apollo head Hsu Ching-kuang instead pointed the finger at Hungary-based partner BAC Consulting KFT, which Gold Apollo had allowed to use its trademark.
But a Hungarian government spokesperson said BAC Consulting KFT was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary”.
Key events
25 organisations have sent a joint letter to the UK government calling on it to suspend its trade agreement with Israel and ongoing negotiations around a deeper free trade agreement, pending the outcome of a review.
Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, said “the UK’s ‘business as usual’ approach to trade relations with Israel has emboldened Israel to repeatedly cross legal and ethical boundaries in its illegal occupation of Palestinian land, its system of apartheid, and its war crimes and possible genocide in Gaza.”
Israel’s foreign ministry has shared footage of “northern Israel right now following intensive Hezbollah rocket fire from Lebanon towards Israel.”
“Make no mistake: those who harm the people of Israel will pay the price,” it said.
This is northern Israel right now following intensive Hezbollah rocket fire from Lebanon towards Israel.
Make no mistake: those who harm the people of Israel will pay the price. pic.twitter.com/dtXqXlL4Ub
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 20, 2024
The batteries of the walkie-talkies used by Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that blew up this week were laced with a highly explosive compound known as PETN, a Lebanese source familiar with the device’s components told Reuters.
The way the explosive material was integrated into the battery pack made it extremely difficult to detect, the source said.
Hundreds of walkie-talkies used by the group exploded on Wednesday, a day after thousands of Hezbollah’s pagers detonated across the group’s strongholds in Lebanon.
Pictures of the walkie-talkies that had exploded showed labels reading “ICOM” and “made in Japan”. Icom has said it halted production a decade ago of the radio models identified in the attack, and that most of those still on sale were counterfeit, reports Reuters.
Yoshiki Enomoto, the general manager of Icom’s security and trade division, told Reuters it was possible that an older Icom device had been modified to make a bomb.
It would be difficult to insert an explosive device into the main compartment of the walkie-talkie because its electronics are tightly packed, so it was more likely to have been in the detachable battery pack, Enomoto told the Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV.
The Lebanese source told Reuters that the explosions had occurred even in cases where the battery pack was separated from the rest of the device.
A Lebanese security source had earlier told Reuters that the pagers had been implanted with explosives that were difficult to detect.
Another security source told Reuters that up to three grams (0.11 ounce) of explosives had been hidden in the new pagers, apparently months before the blasts.
Iraq militant killed in Syria strike blamed on Israel
A militant from Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades armed group was killed Friday in a strike targeting pro-Iran factions in Syria, a group member said, blaming Israel for the attack.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said a Hezbollah Brigades member was killed, but was unable to verify the strike itself, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The UK-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground in Syria, said the member’s burned-out vehicle was found about 10 kilometres (six miles) from Damascus airport.
AFP reports that the Hezbollah Brigades member said the Israeli raid hit one of the group’s premises, killing Abu Haidar al-Khafaji, a senior member of the group. Another member was reportedly injured in the attack.
The Observatory said the strike occurred about five kilometres from Sayeda Zeinab, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital.
Its director, Rami Abdel Rahman, said a militant was killed but yet to be identified, and the burnt vehicle was found at dawn near the targeted site.
Footage of an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank showed a soldier pushing an apparently dead man off a rooftop, in what the army described on Friday as a “serious incident”, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
AFPTV footage of the operation in the town of Qabatiyah, near Jenin, on Thursday showed an Israeli soldier using his foot to roll the body towards the edge of the roof and then pushing him over, while at least two other soldiers looked on.
Qabatiyah is located in the northern West Bank, where the military has been carrying out large-scale raids since late August that the Palestinian health ministry say has left dozens dead.
The military said in a statement on Friday that four militants were killed “in an exchange of fire” in Qabatiyah, while three were killed in an airstrike on a vehicle.
According to AFP, when asked about the footage showing a soldier pushing a body off a rooftop, the military said the action conflicted with its values.
“This is a serious incident that does not coincide with (Israel Defense Forces) values and the expectations from IDF soldiers. The incident is under review,” it said.
The military said that one of those killed in Qabatiyah was Shadi Zakarneh, who it identified as “responsible for directing and carrying out attacks in the northern West Bank area”. It said he was “the head of the terrorist organisation” in Qabatiyah but did not specify which group he belonged to.
IRC warn that escalating violence in West Bank threatens to collapse health system
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) have warned that escalating violence in the West Bank threatens to collapse the health system.
According to the statement, IRC’s partners are surging medical supplies to the impacted hospitals, but some have been forced to halt their work.
Bart Witteveen, IRC’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said:
Rising violence is undermining the health system in the West Bank, as hospitals are not prepared to handle mass casualty incidents, nor withstand continued attacks on facilities and personnel …
Recently, IRC and its partners launched a programme to enhance emergency preparedness for health services in the West Bank, focusing on Tulkarm and Hebron, some of the areas worst hit by violence in the last year.
We are working to prepare hospitals and communities by surging necessary supplies and training staff personnel to handle increased demand for life-saving services during emergencies via new trauma care protocols as well as first aid training for community volunteers.
Our ultimate goal is to work with our Palestinian partners to strengthen the health system’s capacity and maintain critical health services during crises, saving as many lives as possible.”
The IRC says in its statement:
The fighting is taking place close to hospitals and is obstructing ambulances – which restricts Palestinians’ access to urgent medical care.
The UN reports that in both Tulkarm and Jenin, Israeli Forces surrounded hospitals and obstructed access to patients. The WHO has reported that such attacks on healthcare have increased throughout 2024.”
It also highlights, in its statement, that the West Bank is facing the worst violence since the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) records began in 2005.
Bulgarian firm not linked to deadly devices sent to Hezbollah, says government
Bulgarian authorities said on Friday a company based in Sofia had nothing to do with the delivery of exploding communications devices to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies detonated across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 37 people, injuring nearly 3,000 and generating panic.
Hezbollah and several international media organisations have blamed Israel for sabotaging the electronic devices. Israel has not made any public comment.
“Following verifications, it has been indisputably established that no communication equipment corresponding to those that exploded on 17 September was imported, exported or manufactured in Bulgaria,” the National Security Agency (SANS) said.
The SANS said on Thursday it had launched an investigation after Hungarian website Telex said Norta Global – a company registered in Sofia by a Norwegian, had imported the devices and then delivered them to Hezbollah.
According to the AFP, On Friday the SANS said the company and its owner had “not carried out any transactions linked to the sale or purchase of the merchandise” or that “fall under laws on terrorism financing”.
Norta Global, which was founded in April 2022 by Rinson Jose, last year declared revenue of €650,000 ($725,000) for consulting activities outside the EU, reports the AFP.
Top officials in Taiwan have insisted the communications devices, which carried the brand name of local company Gold Apollo, were not from there (see 6.59am BST).
Gold Apollo head Hsu Ching-kuang instead pointed the finger at Hungary-based partner BAC Consulting KFT, which Gold Apollo had allowed to use its trademark.
But a Hungarian government spokesperson said BAC Consulting KFT was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary”.
In a new challenge to Palestinians displaced in the Al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza, many were concerned about the danger of high waves, reports Reuters. Some tents put up close to the beach flooded last week.
“Enough, enough, enough. We were pushed by the occupation [Israel] to the sea, where we believed it was safe, last week the sea flooded and washed away some tents, and that could happen again, where would we go?” Shaban, 47, an electrical engineer displaced from Gaza City, told Reuters.
Israeli forces killed at least 14 Palestinians in tank and airstrikes across Gaza on Friday, say medics
Israeli forces killed at least 14 Palestinians in tank and airstrikes on north and central areas of the Gaza Strip on Friday, medics said, as tanks advanced further into northwest Rafah near the border with Egypt.
The unrelenting fighting between the Israelis and Hamas militants in the territory carried on even as a parallel conflict in the Lebanon-Israel border area involving Hamas’s allies Hezbollah intensified, reports Reuters.
Meanwhile, according to reporting by Reuters, some Palestinians displaced by the Israeli assault on Gaza said they feared their temporary beachside camp would be inundated by high waves.
Palestinian health officials said shelling by Israeli tanks killed eight people and injured several others in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central area of Gaza, and six others were killed in an airstrike on a house in Gaza City.
In the northern town of Beit Hanoun, an Israeli strike on a car killed and injured several Palestinians, medics said. Reuters reports that it was not clear how many of the casualties were combatants and how many were civilians.
In the southern city of Rafah, where the Israeli army has been operating since May, tanks advanced further to the north-west area backed by aircraft, residents said.
They also reported heavy fire and explosions echoing in the eastern areas of the city, where Israeli forces blew up several houses, according to residents and Hamas media.
“Our fighters are engaged in fierce gunbattles against Israeli fores, who advanced into Tanour neighbourhood in Rafah,” Hamas armed wing said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The Israeli military has said that forces operating in Rafah had in past weeks killed hundreds of Palestinian militants, located tunnels and explosives and destroyed military infrastructure.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has shared an update on talks on the Middle East hosted by France that he attended on Thursday.
Blinken wrote on X:
Productive meeting with officials from Italy, Germany, France, and the UK. We discussed the importance of achieving a ceasefire in Gaza, sustained support for Ukraine, and decisive action on Iran. We’re united in our commitment to these critical issues.”
Productive meeting with officials from Italy, Germany, France, and the UK. We discussed the importance of achieving a ceasefire in Gaza, sustained support for Ukraine, and decisive action on Iran. We’re united in our commitment to these critical issues. pic.twitter.com/hG6IGxrE2O
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 20, 2024
No 10 fears ICC will ask UK to sign Benjamin Netanyahu arrest warrant
Patrick Wintour
Downing Street fears it is to be asked to support the issue of an international criminal court (ICC) arrest warrant for the Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Such support would have to be given at a time when it has not proscribed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in the UK. There are concerns among some Foreign Office officials whether the position is politically sustainable.
No 10 is said to have been on alert for more than a week about an imminent statement from the ICC that its pre-trial chamber judges have accepted the request of the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, to issue arrest warrants for war crimes committed in Gaza.
The request for arrest warrants was issued on 20 May against Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, as well as three Hamas leaders, including Yawar Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, the now-deceased head of the Hamas political bureau.
In the short term, No 10 is said to be most concerned by the explosive political fallout if the ICC issues an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, especially at such a moment of extreme tension in the Middle East.
Khan told the ICC pre-trial chamber the issue of the arrest warrant was of the utmost urgency nearly a month ago. The chamber of judges has taken much longer to reach a decision than the three weeks it required to accept Khan’s request for an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, over his role in orchestrating the abduction of children from Ukraine.
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