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Thailand Says Hezbollah Rocket Fire Killed Four Nationals, Israel Expresses Condolences
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand Maris Sangiampongsa addresses the “Summit of the Future” in the General Assembly hall at United Nations headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
Four Thai nationals were killed and one was injured in northern Israel by rocket fire from the terrorist group Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said on Friday.
“I am deeply saddened to learn about the four Thais killed and one injured from rocket fire close to the town of Metula near the Israeli-Lebanese border,” Maris wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “I instructed our Embassy in Tel Aviv last night to extend every and all assistance to the injured and families of the deceased, and extend my profound condolences to them for their immense loss.”
On Thursday, rocket barrages from Iran-backed Hezbollah into northern Israel killed seven people and wounded several more. One incident in Metula, which is largely evacuated due to the ongoing conflict, killed farmer Omer Weinstein and four of his foreign workers. According to Israeli media, the workers were identified as Kawisak Papanang, Akaphon Wanasai, Thana Tijantak, and Prayat Pilatram.
In a second incident on Thursday, a 60-year-old and her 30-year-old son were killed in an olive grove near Shfaram from a Hezbollah rocket.
Thursday was not the first that Thai nationals have been hurt by Iran-backed terrorists’ war against Israel.
Last year, 46 Thais were among the 1,200 people killed when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists perpetrated their Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel from neighboring Gaza, according to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Among the more than 250 people kidnapped as hostages by Hamas terrorists during their onslaught, 30 were Thai nationals. Six are believed to still be in captivity, according to Thai authorities.
About 30,000 Thai nationals worked in Israel before the conflict, mostly in the agriculture sector. They made up one of the largest groups of migrant workers in the Jewish state.
Israel responded to the Hamas-led attack with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza.
In recent months, however, the Israeli military has turned more of its attention northward to Hezbollah, which over the past year, since Hamas’s invasion, has been firing drones, missiles, and rockets at northern Israel almost daily from its stronghold in Lebanon.
About 70,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate their homes amid the relentless Hezbollah attacks. Israel has vowed to do whatever is necessary, including military action, to ensure its displaced citizens can return to their communities. In recent weeks, Israel has significantly degraded Hezbollah’s rocket and missile stockpiles and killed much of its leadership.
“Thailand continues to strongly urge all parties to return to the path of peace, in the name of the innocent civilians gravely impacted by this prolonged and deepening conflict,” Maris wrote in his social media post.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz extended his condolences to Thailand for the killing of four of its nationals, adding that Israel was determined to combat Hezbollah and its chief backers in Iran.
“I wish to extend my personal and heartfelt condolences to the Government of Thailand, to the Thai people, and especially to the families of the four workers from Thailand who were brutally murdered yesterday by the Hezbollah terror organization near the northern Israeli town of Metula,” Katz posted on X/Twitter.
“Hezbollah-Iranian terrorism knows no limits and harms Israelis and civilians from all over the world alike,” he added. “Israel will continue to fight the world’s fight against Iranian-led terrorism and Israel will win it.”
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US to Deploy B-52s, Warships to Middle East as Aircraft Carrier Departs
Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jets escort a US Air Force B-52 bomber through Israeli airspace on March 7, 2021. Photo: IDF Twitter.
The United States said on Friday it will deploy B-52 bombers, fighter jets, refueling aircraft and Navy destroyers to the Middle East, in a readjustment of military assets as the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group prepares to leave the region.
The Pentagon said in a statement that deployments would take place in the coming months and demonstrated the flexibility of the U.S. military movements around the world.
“Should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every measure necessary to defend our people,” Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said in a statement.
The United States has had as many as two aircraft carriers in the Middle East during the past year of soaring tensions since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Oct. 2023.
The Lincoln’s withdrawal will create an aircraft carrier gap until another is cycled into the Middle East.
The latest adjustment in US forces in the region follows direct exchanges of fire in October between Israel and Iran. Israel is also fighting Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and has carried out strikes in Yemen after coming under attack from Iran-aligned Houthi terrorists.
The United States has pledged to help defend Israel against attack and to safeguard US forces in the Middle East, who have been attacked by Iran-backed groups in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and off the coast of Yemen.
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Delayed Gaza Polio Vaccinations to Resume on Saturday, Agencies Say
Palestinian child is vaccinated against polio during the second round of a vaccination campaign, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, October 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The third phase of a delayed polio vaccination campaign in Gaza will begin on Saturday, aid organizations said on Friday.
The polio campaign began on Sept. 1 after the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed in August that a baby was partially paralyzed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.
The humanitarian pause to conduct the campaign had been agreed but WHO and the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said the area covered by the agreement had been substantially reduced from the previous pause in September, and would now cover only Gaza City.
The final phase of the campaign had aimed to reach an estimated 119,000 children under 10 years old in northern Gaza with a second dose of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2). However, achieving this target is now unlikely due to access constraints, the statement said.
COGAT, the Israeli army’s Palestinian civilian affairs agency, said it was helping to coordinate the three-day campaign and once it was complete, there would be an assessment to decide whether the schedule would be extended.
“This coordination will ensure that the population can safely reach medical centers where the vaccines will be administered,” it said in a statement.
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Rockets from Lebanon Wound 11 in Israel
A view of a house that was hit, following a projectiles attack from Lebanon towards Israel, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in the central Israeli town of Tira, November 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rami Amichay
Rockets fired from Lebanon wounded 11 people in central Israel on Saturday, Israeli emergency services said, after one of them hit a house, as prospects for a ceasefire dimmed.
Fighting has escalated between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group since September, and hopes that a US push this week for a ceasefire have faded.
“We went out and saw dust, children screaming, women screaming and everyone went to the house that was struck,” said Qasim Mohab, a resident of Tira, where the rocket hit. “We were able to evacuate and rescue those who were inside the house, and thank God we were blessed that there was no one killed.”
Around the time the rockets hit, Hezbollah said it had targeted a military base on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Israel’s ambulance service said that 11 people were hurt by shrapnel. Air raid sirens continued to sound in northern Israel as rocket fire and drone attacks from Lebanon continued, the military said.
On Friday, Lebanon’s health ministry said 52 people were killed in Israeli strikes on more than a dozen towns in the Baalbek region, which has UNESCO-listed Roman ruins.
The Israeli military said on Saturday it had killed two Hezbollah commanders in the area of Tyre on Friday. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.
Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas a day after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
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