Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Six In The Morning Tuesday 10 October 2023

 


Hamas fires rockets at southern Israeli city of Ashkelon

What's been going on?

It's been another day with updates coming in very quickly. Here are the key things you need to know to get up to speed...

  • Hamas militants warned Israeli residents to leave the city of Ashkelon by 17:00 local time (15:00 BST), and shortly after that time passed, rocket fire was heard in the city
  • Relatives of missing US nationals have given a press conference in Tel Aviv detailing the harrowing moments they last heard from their family members
  • The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes since Saturday has risen to 830 people
  • Israel's embassy to the US says the death toll on the Israeli side has now risen to at least 1,008 people
  • Hamas said it would not negotiate on hostages until the "end of the battle". Between 100-150 Israelis are currently believed to be hostages, according to Israel's ambassador to the United Nations

Air strikes are continuing both in Gaza and Israel, and we'll continue bringing you the latest right here.


Syria accused of ‘pervasive’ torture in first global case over civil war

International court of justice asked to make urgent ruling against regime for ‘abhorrent treatment’ of its people

Syria has tortured tens of thousands of its people and maintains a “widespread and pervasive” system of “abhorrent treatment”, world court judges have heard at the first international case related to the civil war in the country.

Canada and the Netherlands have brought Syria before the international court of justice (ICJ), seeking urgent measures to stop the mistreatment of thousands of people still in detention.

“Every day counts,” René Lefeber, the top representative for the Netherlands, told the court. “Persons in Syria who are currently detained or at risk of being detained cannot afford to wait any longer.”



Myanmar junta accused of deadly attack on refugee camp

The attack in Myanmar's Kachin state is one of the deadliest attacks targeting civilians since 2021's military takeover. It has claimed the lives of at least 29 people, including women and children.


Myanmar's junta has been accused of launching an attack on a refugee camp in which at least 29 people were killed, according to local media reports.

The alleged artillery strike, which hit a refugee camp in the northern state of Kachin late Monday, is one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since the military coup of 2021.

"We found 29 dead bodies including children and older people... 56 people were wounded," Colonel Naw Bu of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) told French news agency AFP.


France turns a page as troops begin leaving coup-hit Niger

The French army said Tuesday it had begun withdrawing troops from Niger after being ordered out by the leaders of a coup that ousted the president and Paris ally.

The move kicks off a complex and fraught process that Paris expects to be completed by the end of the year, drawing the curtain on another French anti-jihadist operation in Africa.

"The first troops have left," the spokesman for the French chief of staff told AFP, confirming an announcement Monday by Niger's military leadership, which said the 1,400-strong French contingent would start leaving Tuesday.

A convoy of soldiers with trucks transporting equipment and armoured vehicles from western Niger arrived in the capital Niamey around midday on Tuesday, an AFP journalist saw.

A French defence source said a first group of soldiers considered a priority for evacuation for health or humanitarian reasons flew out of Niger on Monday


Seoul urged to boost readiness against Hamas-like NK ambush

S. Korean defense minister seeks to ditch inter-Korean military accord

By Lee Hyo-jin

The recent surprise attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel has prompted South Korea to reassess its deterrence strategy against a potential North Korean invasion. Analysts highlighted the need for Seoul to prepare for multi-front attacks by Pyongyang, a tactic used by the Hamas militant group.

Hamas launched thousands of rockets from the blockaded Gaza Strip into Israel, Saturday, while employing guerrilla tactics that involved hundreds of gunmen infiltrating the country via land, sea, and air, some using paragliders. The unprecedented scale of attacks, which caught Israeli security forces off guard, has raised concerns of simliar assaults by North Korea against the South.

"The Hamas attack showed that a country relying heavily on advanced military hardware could fail to defend itself in the case of sudden attacks," said Yang Uk, a senior fellow at the Asan Insitute for Policy Studies, pointing to the failure of Israel's Iron Dome, which is regarded as the world’s leading air defense system.

Israel’s war with Hamas will cause deep and wide political shockwaves

 
Cataclysmic events like the Hamas onslaught on Israel trigger profound political shocks and strategic transformations that no one could predict at the time.

The rocket attacks, hostage takings and mass killings inside Israel came as the global order was already at a pivot point, with the post-Cold War era swept away by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s superpower ascent.
The raw shock over what just happened – the scenes of gunned down civilians at an Israeli music festival, the wrenching accounts of families torn apart and the fierce first burst of Israeli reprisal attacks on Gaza – are transfixing the world.

 

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