Israeli strike kills elite Hezbollah unit commander in Lebanon


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An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Monday killed a senior commander in Hezbollah's elite Radwan force.

Wissam Tawil, commonly known as Hajj Jawad, is the highest-level commander to be killed since cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah began.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it mourned Mr Tawil "with great pride and honour".

A security source told Reuters the killing was a "very painful strike". Another security source warned that "things will flare up now".

But a Hezbollah source told The National that while he was "the first commander of his kind to be killed since the war in the south began", his death did not represent a major military loss for the group.

"The resistance is not a list of individuals that can be killed one by one. It’s a comprehensive movement," he said.

Mr Tawil was an adviser to Hezbollah on matters of "military strategy" in southern Lebanon, the source added.

Mr Tawil was from the southern Lebanese town of Khirbet Salam, where he was killed. The Hezbollah source said Mr Tawil's car was struck as he was driving through the town. No one was in the vehicle with him, the source added.

Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil He was killed in his home village of Kherbet Selem in southern Lebanon. AP Photo
Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil He was killed in his home village of Kherbet Selem in southern Lebanon. AP Photo

More than 150 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Israeli strikes since cross-border clashes began after Hamas's attack on October 7.

Hezbollah was quick to act in support of its ally Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, by opening a front against Israel. Since October 8, Hezbollah and its allies have waged a cross-border conflict against Israel to deter its military from its assault on Gaza.

Other Iran-backed groups, including Yemen's Houthi rebels and Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah, have added to those efforts to force Israel out of Gaza.

The fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border has displaced tens of thousands, with neither Israeli or Lebanese able to return to their hometowns.

Hezbollah has repeatedly said it will continue operations along the border until a permanent ceasefire is declared. It has mostly launched its attacks against military installations and appears to be wary of the clashes developing into a full-fledged war.

Israel has intensified its strikes on Lebanon in an attempt to push Hezbollah away from the border, hitting deeper into Lebanese territory with greater regularity.

A banner depicting Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah hangs on the building hit by a drone strike in southern Beirut. The attack killed Hamas deputy Saleh Al Arouri. AFP
A banner depicting Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah hangs on the building hit by a drone strike in southern Beirut. The attack killed Hamas deputy Saleh Al Arouri. AFP

Last week, Hamas deputy Saleh Al Arouri was assassinated by what is thought to be an Israeli drone strike in Dahieh, a suburb of Beirut. Dahieh is also considered to be Hezbollah's seat of power and is where Mr Al Arouri was living.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned that assassinations by Israel in Lebanon would “not be tolerated".

"We will not allow Lebanon to become a new field of assassinations for Israel,” he said.

Mr Tawil's killing comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets regional leaders on a tour of the Middle East. Mr Blinken has spoken of the need to contain the conflict in Gaza and avoid it from escalating into a wider regional war.

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Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana

Rating: 2/5

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Sheikh Zayed's poem

When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

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The seven points are:

Shakhbout bin Sultan Street

Dhafeer Street

Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)

Salama bint Butti Street

Al Dhafra Street

Rabdan Street

Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)

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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

The UN General Assembly President in quotes:

YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”

PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”

OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”

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Francesco Totti's bio

Born September 27, 1976

Position Attacking midifelder

Clubs played for (1) - Roma

Total seasons 24

First season 1992/93

Last season 2016/17

Appearances 786

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Titles (5) - Serie A 1; Italian Cup 2; Italian Supercup 2

WOMAN AND CHILD

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The biog

Age: 59

From: Giza Governorate, Egypt

Family: A daughter, two sons and wife

Favourite tree: Ghaf

Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense 

Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”

Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

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Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
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Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home. 

The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Equinox

Price, base / as tested: Dh76,900 / Dh110,900

Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder

Gearbox: Nine-speed automatic

Power: 252hp @ 5,500rpm

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Fuel economy, combined: 8.5L / 100km

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Updated: January 09, 2024, 7:30 AM`