15/03/2026

theSun on Sunday MAR 15, 2026

WORLD 8

Hamas issues rare appeal to Iran GAZA CITY: Hamas yesterday called on Iran to refrain from targeting neighbouring ‘Stop targeting neighbouring states’ available means in accordance with international norms and laws, the movement calls on the brothers in Iran to avoid targeting neighbouring “He provided all forms of political, diplomatic and military support to our people, our cause, and our resistance,” the movement said soon after the killing of Khamenei. most important backers. Analysts estimate that Iran provided Hamas with tens of millions of dollars annually. salaries, fuel,

and

infrastructure. Critics argue that because Hamas governed all of Gaza until the war began in the Palestinian territory after Oct 7, 2023, some of this assistance indirectly bolstered the group’s political authority. Qatar has also hosted Hamas’s political leadership in Doha, which has allowed the group to maintain international contacts and participate in negotiations and mediation efforts. Turkiye has provided mainly political and diplomatic backing rather than large-scale direct funding. – AFP

Under the late Khamenei, Iran viewed support for Palestinian groups such as Hamas as a central pillar of its regional strategy against Israel and its allies. Several Sunni-majority states have also maintained ties with Hamas, especially Qatar and Turkiye. Qatar has been a key financial supporter linked to Gaza during Hamas’ rule, with much of its funding described as humanitarian or reconstruction aid – covering civil servant

countries,” Hamas said in a statement – its first such public appeal to Tehran. Hamas also called on the international community to “work towards halting” the war immediately. The group previously condemned the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war as a “heinous crime”, openly acknowledging his longstanding support for the Palestinian movement.

Despite facing superior US and Israeli firepower, Iran has retaliated with missile and drone attacks against at least 10 countries. Qatar said it intercepted two missiles yesterday, after blasts were heard in the capital Doha and authorities said they had evacuated some areas. Hamas’s appeal for Iran to stop targeting regional states is notable, given that Tehran has long been one of the group’s

countries, while affirming Tehran’s right to defend itself against Israel and the United States. In a rare appeal, Hamas also urged the international community to work toward ending the war that has gripped the Middle East since it began on Feb 28. “While affirming the right of the Islamic Republic of Iran to respond to this aggression by all

Battery plant woes for Hungary GOD: On the outskirts of God, not far from Budapest, white smoke rises from an electric vehicle battery factory accused of exposing workers to cancer-causing chemicals, with Hungary’s government under attack for failing to shut it down. The allegations revealed by Hungarian news site Telex last month come at a sensitive time for Prime Minister Viktor Orban as he faces an unprecedented challenge to his 16 years in power in elections next month. While Orban and the factory have dismissed the allegations, opposition leader Peter Magyar has said it underlines the corruption he pledges to fight. Samsung established the battery plant in 2017 and it now sprawls over 50ha on the outskirts of God. With Orban promoting Hungary as a hub for electric vehicle manufacturing, the factory has received generous subsidies of more than half a billion euros in taxpayers’ money to build and expand the facility. Telex reported that a 2023 intelligence report by the Hungarian security services found that Samsung has been exposing workers to cancer-inducing chemicals far above legal limits, did nothing to end the problem and deliberately tried to conceal it. The government chose not to seek the plant’s closure, Telex claimed. Instead it gave Samsung a few months to resolve the problems, it added. Citing internal documents, the news site said the issues were still not solved. But Samsung insisted last month that the factory “complies with all environmental and occupational safety regulations and operates transparently.” The plant and others like it, including one by China’s CATL, have repeatedly seen protests over environmental concerns. Tests commissioned by local environmental group God-ERT (founded in 2020 to monitor the battery plant) detected N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone in local wells. The toxic solvent used in battery manufacturing is highly dangerous to pregnant women. The plant, which until 2023 did not need an environmental permit to run, has repeatedly faced fines for occupational, industrial safety and environmental violations. It has violated “all kinds of regulations”, including “deficiencies in environmental protection” and “occupational safety”, said Zsuzsanna Bodnar, a local journalist from investigative outlet Atlatszo and a founding member of God-ERT. – AFP

Lebanese volunteers prepare food packages in the kitchen of a school-turned shelter in Beirut. – REUTERSPIC

23 killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon BEIRUT: At least 23 people, including 12 medical personnel, were killed in Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon since early yesterday.

Levon Ghazalian, 42, who lives in the building next door, said “it’s the first time this happens” in the area, which was spared in the previous conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024. On a visit to Lebanon that began on Friday, UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Israel and Hezbollah to “stop the war” and launched a US$325 million (RM1.3 billion) humanitarian appeal to support Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. The NNA also reported on Friday that Israeli shells hit a United Nations base hosting Nepali peacekeepers in the southern border town of Mais al-Jabal. – Bernama/AFP immediately reconsider this decision”. According to Fars, the US operation “tried to damage the army’s defences, the Joshan naval base, the airport control tower and the helicopter hangar of the Iran Continental Shelf Oil Company”. Kharg Island, a scrubby stretch of land in the northern Gulf around 30km off the Iranian mainland, handles roughly 90% of Iran’s crude exports. – AFP/Reuters

according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Rescue teams are searching for people trapped under the rubble, the ministry said. Seven more people were killed and others injured in another Israeli strike targeting the Al-Rahibat neighbourhood, according to NNA. NNA said “an Israeli strike targeted the Nabaa-Burj Hammoud area for a second day”. The same building had been struck on Friday without causing casualties. Burj Hammoud is a densely populated, mixed area known for its large Armenian Lebanese community. island, a crucial hub for Iran, if Tehran continued to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Iran has, in turn, threatened to target US-linked oil infrastructure. In a post, Trump said US strikes did not target Kharg’s oil infrastructure, but “should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the free and safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will

Four people were killed in the latest strike after an Israeli attack targeted an apartment in Haret Saida in southern Lebanon, National News Agency (NNA) reported. Israeli fighter jets also struck a house in the town of Taybeh, with no injuries reported. In Nabatieh, 12 medical workers, including doctors, paramedics, and nurses, were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a primary health care centre in Burj Qalaouiyah in the district of Bint Jbeil,

No damage to Kharg oil facilities TEHRAN: No oil infrastructure was damaged in US strikes on Kharg Island, Iranian media reported yesterday.

Fars news agency, citing sources on the ground, reported there had been no damage to oil facilities after President Donald Trump said US bombardment of the island had destroyed military targets. Trump had threatened in a social media post to target oil infrastructure on the