02/10/2024

WEDNESDAY | OCT 2, 2024

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Russia will not discuss new nuclear treaty with US MOSCOW: Russia will not discuss signing a new treaty with the United States to replace an agreement limiting each side’s strategic nuclear weapons that expires in 2026 as it needs to be broadened and expanded to cover other states, the Kremlin said yesterday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comments when asked about the fate of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, which is due to run out on Feb 5, 2026. The agreement caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the United States and Russia can deploy, and the deployment of land- and submarine-based missiles and bombers to deliver them. It is the last remaining pillar of nuclear arms control between the United States and Russia. President Vladimir Putin in 2023 suspended Russian participation in the treaty due to US support for Ukraine, although Moscow has kept to the warhead, missile and bomber limits imposed by the agreement, as has the US. Citing an unidentified senior Russian source, Izvestia newspaper reported earlier yesterday that Russia would not sign a new treaty with the US due to Washington’s backing for Ukraine in the war. When asked about the Izvestia report, Peskov said it was broadly consistent with remarks made by Putin. “Earlier this year, he (Putin) said in view of the changed conditions, it is virtually impossible to discuss strategic offensive weapons, arsenals and so on, without taking into account the military nuclear infrastructure in Europe, without including European states in the negotiation process and without touching on other elements of strategic security, and that Russia will not do so,” Peskov told reporters. “We must take a sober look at the situation that has developed and taking into account all the new aspects, organise the negotiation process. “It seems to us that it would be at the very least unreasonable to insist on conducting such negotiations, pretending that nothing has happened. Russia is not going to do that.” Russia and the United States together control 88% of the world’s nuclear warheads. – Reuters BRUSSELS: Nato’s new chief Mark Rutte yesterday downplayed fears over the impact of a potential Donald Trump victory in upcoming US elections and pledged to keep backing Ukraine, as he assumed leadership of the world’s most powerful military alliance. The former Dutch prime minister said: “I’m not worried. I know both candidates very well. I worked for four years with Trump. There can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine.” Rutte said he wanted bring Ukraine closer to Nato. “We must sustain this support into the future, because Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato.” Nato, whose members have supplied 99% of all foreign weaponry to Ukraine, agreed at a summit in July to play a bigger role in delivering such arms. – AFP PUTIN ORDERS CONSCRIPTION OF 133,000 NEW SERVICEMEN MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in Russia’s autumn draft, that started yesterday and goes until the end of the year, according to a Kremlin decree published on Monday. The decree, published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta , calls to carry out the draft of citizens “aged 18 to 30 years, who are not in the reserve and are subject to conscription in accordance with Federal Law ... in the amount of 133,000 people”. Vice-Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky said the terms for the conscript remain the same – 12 months service in military units in Russia. –Reuters NEW NATO CHIEF DISMISSES TRUMP VICTORY FEARS

Residents at the site of an Israeli strike that hit a building yesterday in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp near Sidon. – REUTERSPIC

Ground raids target Hezbollah strongholds

its citizens who fled Hezbollah rockets to safely return to their communities near the northern border. Israel’s strikes have displaced one million Lebanese from their homes and killed more than 1,100 people, said Lebanese authorities. A looming ground offensive has sparked fear and anger in Lebanon. “Not just Hezbollah, all of Lebanon will fight this time. All of Lebanon is determined to fight Israel for the massacres it committed in Gaza and Lebanon,” said Abu Alaa, a resident of the southern port city of Sidon. Iran’s allies – from Hezbollah to Yemen’s Houthis to armed groups in Iraq – have weighed in with attacks in the region in support of Hamas in the Gaza war, raising fears the conflict will engulf the Middle East and suck in the United States and Tehran. Yemen’s Houthi movement targeted Israeli military posts in Tel Aviv and Eilat with drones yesterday, the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised speech. An Israeli strike in Lebanon early yesterday targeted Mounir Maqdah, commander of the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Fatah movement’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, according to two Palestinian security officials. In Syria, three civilians were killed and nine others injured in an Israeli airstrike on the capital Damascus. – Reuters deprived of several things over the past decades, but they have never been deprived of education, and education was essentially their source of pride,” he said. Lazzarini described the situation in the West Bank as a silent tragedy. He said “military operations” against the camps in the West Bank have led to widespread destruction to infrastructure. On developments in Lebanon, he said so far 3,500 people have been hosted in UNRWA shelters at nine locations, including Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese who fled southern Lebanon. – Bernama

to Israeli villages into military bases ready for an attack on Israel,” said military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari. Residents in southern Lebanon fled on Monday and yesterday as Israeli strikes drew nearer, said local sources. Lebanon is facing one of the most dangerous stages in its history, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said yesterday during a meeting with UN organisations and ambassadors of donor countries, in which they made a joint appeal for more than US$400 million (RM1.6 billion) in aid to cope with surging hostilities. Two Lebanese security sources said Israeli units had crossed into Lebanon for reconnaissance and probing operations. Lebanese troops also pulled back from positions along the border, said the source. Hezbollah said it had launched rocket and artillery attacks against Israeli troops at positions within Israel, but made no mention of Israeli forces within Lebanon. The Israeli military issued a warning to citizens not to move in their vehicles from the area north of the Litani river in Lebanon to its south. It has previously said it wants to clear Hezbollah from south of the river. Despite its biggest successes against Hezbollah in decades, Israel has indicated it is primed for a full-fledged invasion of Lebanon with the stated aim of enabling thousands of search of safety that they never found”. According to Lazzarini, 620,000 children live among the rubble of destroyed homes in Gaza. He said during his meetings with UN member states in New York and Geneva, he asked them to make education a collective priority that goes beyond life-saving activities. He said UNRWA had already begun a month ago to return some children to a learning environment, despite the unusual and complex environment. “We must never forget that the only asset that has never been taken away from the Palestinians is education. They have been

o Israeli strike on Damascus kills 3 civilians

BEIRUT: Israel said intense fighting erupted with Hezbollah in south Lebanon yesterday after its paratroopers, commandos and armoured units launched raids at the start of a ground incursion. The operation follows intense airstrikes that have devastated the group’s leadership, including the assassination of its chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week. The Israeli military said the operations in Lebanon began on Monday night and involved the elite 98th division, which was deployed to the northern front two weeks ago from Gaza, where they had been fighting against Hamas for months. It said its air force and artillery supported ground troops engaged in “limited, localised and targeted ground raids” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon villages that posed “an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel”. “Israeli ground raids will target Hezbollah strongholds along the border that threaten Israel, not a war against the Lebanese people,” the military said yesterday. “Hezbollah turned Lebanese villages next

BR I E F S

‘Aggression on Gaza an endless nightmare’ GENEVA: Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip for nearly a year was described as an “endless nightmare” by Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees Philippe Lazzarini.

He was speaking to reporters at the UN office here on Monday, following meetings with representatives of several countries. He said: “Gaza has become uninhabitable, its people face disease, death or hunger on a daily basis.” Lazzarini said “the people of Gaza are trapped in 10% of the land” in the Strip after being in a state of constant movement “in