17/09/2025

WEDNESDAY | SEPT 17, 2025

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Qatar asked to stay as mediator after Israeli strike

Moscow expands re-education programme: Yale RIVNE: US-funded research has identified more than 210 sites where Ukrainian children have been taken for military training, drone manufacturing and other forced re-education by Russia, as part of a large-scale deportation programme. Yale’s School of Public Health said in a report published yesterday more than 150 new locations have been discovered since it published findings last year, when it alleged that Russian presidential aircraft had been used to transport children. Ukraine says Russia has illegally deported or forcibly displaced more than 19,500 children to Russia and Belarus, in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Russia denies it is taking children against their will and says it has been evacuating people voluntarily to remove them from the war zone. The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest report. Yale researchers “can conclude that Russia is operating a potentially unprecedented system of large-scale re-education, military training and dormitory facilities capable of holding tens of thousands of children from Ukraine for long periods of time”, the report said. – Reuters KYIV: Russian strikes in Ukraine killed two people and wounded at least nine others, Ukrainian officials said yesterday. Hopes of reaching a truce have dimmed since US President Donald Trump held high-profile talks separately with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky last month. Tensions have risen further since Poland and Romania accused Russia of sending drones into their airspace, ostensibly as part of its attacks on Ukraine. The alleged incursions prompted both countries to scramble fighter jets and Poland to close its border with Belarus, Moscow’s staunch ally, while Minsk held military drills alongside Russian troops. Moscow said neither Poland nor Romania have presented convincing evidence that the drones were Russian, calling the latter incident a “provocation” by Ukraine. – AFP STRIKERS CAMP NEAR ISRAELI PM’S HOME MOSCOW: Protesters against the Israeli army’s offensive on Gaza City have set up tents outside the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Sputnik/RIA Novosti reported, citing the Ynet portal. Police have cordoned off a 300m radius from the Israeli prime minister’s home. Earlier, the Axios portal reported that the Israeli army had begun an offensive on Gaza City with the aim of occupying it. Ynet reported, citing the Palestinian press, that Israel launched 37 strikes on Gaza City in 20 minutes, including from helicopters. City residents say the Israeli army has deployed explosive-laden robots in some areas while Apache helicopters are circling over the city, firing periodically. – Bernama-Sputnik/ Ria Novosti RUSSIAN STRIKES KILL TWO IN UKRAINE

have immunity”. He compared the strike to how the American military acted “very boldly” after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, with its war on Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and the 2011 raid into Pakistan that killed attack mastermind Osama bin Laden. In 2012, Qatar agreed to host the Hamas political bureau with US blessing. The United States and Israel viewed Qatar, with its close relationship with Washington, as a better place to keep an eye on Hamas and prevent the militants from basing themselves in Iran, whose clerical state openly backs the group. Rubio visited Doha a day after Arab and Islamic leaders meeting in Qatar called on countries to “review” Israel ties and urged US pressure to rein in its ally. The emir told the meeting that Israel’s attack was an attempt to “thwart the negotiations” to end the Gaza war. – AFP

Rubio backed Israel’s new offensive on Gaza City and its stated goal of eradicating Hamas, casting doubt on whether a diplomatic solution was on the cards. Following his meetings with Netanyahu, Israel launched a heavy overnight bombardment of Gaza City, witnesses told AFP yesterday. Qatar is home to the largest US air base in the Middle East and is the forward base of Central Command, the US military command responsible for the region. The tiny energy-rich monarchy is classified by Washington as a major non-Nato ally and has assiduously courted Trump, including gifting him a luxury airplane. But few countries are closer to the United States than Israel, which has enjoyed support from Washington. Netanyahu said his government assumes “full responsibility” for the attack on Doha “because we believe that terrorists should not be given a haven and the people who planned the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust cannot

work with Qatar to finalise a defence agreement soon despite the Israeli military action. US President Donald Trump told reporters in Washington that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not be hitting” Qatar again. Rubio made no such comments in Israel and was reticent on praising Qatar, saying only that it was important to look forward after the strike. In language also not used publicly in Israel, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Rubio in Doha “would reaffirm America’s full support for Qatar’s security and sovereignty following Israel’s strike”. The department said Rubio would meet Qatar’s emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Qatar has been at the centre of diplomacy to broker an end to the nearly two-year Gaza war, and Israel struck as Hamas leaders were gathering to discuss a new US ceasefire proposal.

DOHA: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio headed to Qatar yesterday to ask it to stay on as mediator in Gaza, hoping to reassure the Gulf partner a week after Israeli air strikes there against Hamas leaders. Rubio was pessimistic about a ceasefire deal but said Qatar uniquely could help. “We are going to ask Qatar to continue to do what they have done, that is to play a constructive role in trying to bring this to an end. “Obviously they have to decide if they want to do that after last week or not, but we want them to know that if there is any country in the world that could help end this through a negotiation, it is Qatar.” He said the United States would heavily bombarded Gaza City yesterday after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new offensive there and its stated goal of eradicating Hamas, witnesses told AFP. Rubio showed no daylight between himself and Netanyahu on a visit to Jerusalem on Monday, saying Israel could “count on our unwavering support” for its military push in the Palestinian territory. Hours later, witnesses told AFP that there was “heavy, relentless bombing on Gaza City”, which levelled homes and left people trapped under rubble. Israel has launched a major new military campaign aimed at seizing Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban centre, where the United Nations (UN) determined last month that a million people are facing famine. Israel rejects this finding. Gaza civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said the “bombing is ongoing heavily across Gaza City, and the number of deaths and injuries continues to rise”. He said the Israeli military also targeted the southern city of Khan Younis, after the civil defence agency reported Israeli strikes killing 49 people on Monday. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean that AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military. Rubio’s visit comes a week before France is to lead a UN summit in which a number of US allies, angered by what they see as Israeli intransigence, plan to recognise a Palestinian state. Rubio called statehood recognition “largely symbolic” while Netanyahu said his country may take unspecified “unilateral steps” o If any country can help end the war, it is them: Rubio JERUSALEM: Israel

Heavy bombing in Gaza after US voices support

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Smoke rising from the evacuated Al-Ghefari tower as it collapses after it was hit by Israeli air strikes in Gaza. – REUTERSPIC

“Instead with international law, the United States is going the way of extremists and the far right, and ignoring our history.” Rubio began his visit on Sunday in the Old City of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, joining Netanyahu at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray, and calling Jerusalem the “eternal capital” of Israel. Until Trump’s first term, US leaders had shied away from such overt statements backing Israeli sovereignty over contested Jerusalem, which is also holy to Muslims and Christians. – AFP of siding

deserve a better future.” “But that better future cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated,” he said at a joint press conference. In a highly symbolic step, Rubio on Monday attended the inauguration of a tunnel for religious tourists that goes underneath the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan to the holy sites. Community spokesperson Fakhri Abu Diab, 63, in Silwan said Rubio should instead come to see homes, such as his own, that have been demolished by Israel in what Palestinians charge is a targeted campaign to erase them.

in response. Far-right members of Netanyahu’s Cabinet have called for annexation of the occupied West Bank to preclude a state, triggering protests by the United Arab Emirates, which took the landmark step of recognising Israel five years ago. Netanyahu said Rubio’s visit is a “clear message” that the United States stands with Israel, and called US President Donald Trump “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had”. Washington’s top diplomat, standing alongside the Israeli premier, said: “The people of Gaza