Defense official to Israeli TV: Syrian troops in buffer zone will be targets

Scuffles break out at West Bank Bedouin village slated for demolition

Scuffles break out as Israeli authorities pave an access road to enable the demolition of a Bedouin village in the West Bank.

Residents of Khan al-Ahmar and protesters try to block the construction equipment from advancing, with a number of people climbing onto a bulldozer.

Police say a riot broke out near the site and that the rocks were thrown at officers. There were no injuries or damage and two people were arrested, police say.

The village last night was declared a closed military zone and residents were ordered to evacuate.

In May, the Supreme Court approved the demolition of the village. Israel says the structures at the site were built illegally.

Islamic State says leader’s son killed in Syria

BEIRUT — The Islamic State jihadist group says the son of its leader has been killed fighting Syrian government forces.

The announcement of the death of the young son of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared on the group’s social media accounts late Tuesday. It includes a picture of a young boy carrying a rifle and identified him as Huthaifa al-Badri.

The statement, dated this month, says he was an elite fighter, known as an “inghimasi,” who was killed while fighting Syrian and Russia troops at a power station in the central Homs province. It does not specify when he was killed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, says the most recent IS operations in the area were in the first two weeks of June.

Al-Baghdadi has been reported killed or wounded on a number of occasions but is widely believed to still be alive. Little is known about al-Baghdadi’s family, but a woman and a child who were said to be his wife and daughter were detained in Lebanon in 2014.

— AP

Iran accuses opposition group over Paris rally bomb plot

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran accuses an exiled opposition group of orchestrating an alleged plot to bomb one of its own rallies near Paris and says a couple arrested in Belgium were actually members of the group.

Belgium, France and Germany detained six people over the alleged plan to bomb a weekend rally of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran in the Paris suburb of Villepinte.

Tehran has dismissed accusations it was behind the plot. In a fresh statement, the foreign ministry says it was the People’s Mujahedeen itself that was behind the “scenario.”

“Based on the information available, the individuals arrested in Belgium are among the … notorious and operational elements” of the People’s Mujahedeen, the ministry says on its website.

“Relevant Iranian authorities are prepared to offer the necessary cooperation by presenting the required documents and evidence to shed light on the real dimensions of this pre-planned scenario orchestrated by the terrorist group,” it says.

French and Belgian authorities said on Monday a Belgian couple of Iranian origin had been arrested in Belgium on suspicion of planning the attack. The others arrested included a Vienna-based Iranian diplomat.

— AFP

People hold pictures of relatives killed by the Iranian regime during the “Free Iran 2018 – the Alternative” event on June 30, 2018, in Villepinte, north of Paris. (AFP Photo/Zakaria Abdelkafi)

Rouhani in Vienna as Austria removes diplomat’s immunity over ties to bomb plot

VIENNA — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday begins the second leg of his European tour seeking assurances over the 2015 nuclear deal, a trip clouded by the arrest of a Tehran diplomat over an alleged bomb plot against opposition exiles in Paris.

Rouhani first met President Alexander Van der Bellen on Wednesday and was later meeting with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Rouhani’s visit follows reports of the Iranian diplomat’s arrest along with five others over a purported foiled attack on a rally of thousands of Iranian opposition supporters in Paris.

Rouhani has not changed his program over what his foreign minister dismissed as a “false flag ploy” designed as a distraction.

Just hours before welcoming Rouhani to Austria, Vienna summoned Iran’s ambassador and announced that the unnamed diplomat’s status would be withdrawn.

The diplomat attached to the Iranian embassy in Austria, who was detained in Germany, was believed to be a contact of a couple at the centre of the alleged plot.

He may soon be extradited to Belgium, which is spearheading a probe into the alleged bomb plot, prosecutors told the German news agency DPA.

— AFP

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) are seen before a meeting at the Chancellery in Vienna on July 4, 2018. (AFP Photo/APA/Robert Jaeger)

Russia says complete Iran pullout from Syria ‘absolutely unrealistic’

Russia says demands for Iran’s complete withdrawal from Syria are “unrealistic.”

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Wednesday after meeting with his Jordanian counterpart that Iran is one of the key powers in the region, and that it would be “absolutely unrealistic” to expect it to abandon its interests. He says regional powers should discuss mutual complaints and negotiate a compromise.

Russia and Iran have provided crucial military support to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces, helping them turn the tide in the civil war.

Israel has said it will not tolerate an Iranian military presence in Syria and has launched military strikes against Iranian targets there in recent months.

Lavrov says Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump would discuss the situation in southern Syria, where government forces are waging a new offensive, at their July 16 summit. He says a ceasefire in the region brokered by Russia, Jordan and the US had envisioned the withdrawal of non-Syrian forces and the deployment of Syrian troops along the frontier with Israel.

— AP

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) shows the way to his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi during a meeting in Moscow on July 4, 2018. (AFP Photo/Vasily Maximov)

Top Iran general backs Rouhani’s threat to disrupt oil supplies over US sanctions

A top Iranian general who oversees the Islamic Republic’s overseas military efforts throws his support behind President Hassan Rouhani’s threat to disrupt oil shipments from Middle East countries if the US implements a total ban on Iran’s oil exports.

“I kiss your (Rouhani’s) hand for expressing such wise and timely comments, and I am at your service to implement any policy that serves the Islamic Republic,” Qassem Soleimani writes in a letter published by the official IRNA news agency, according to Radio Farda.

Soleimani heads the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unit tasked with providing aid and materiel to regional militias and terror groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards al-Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.(YouTube screenshot)

Polish priest set for sainthood criticized for anti-Semitism

WARSAW, Poland — Pope Francis’ decision to move the World War II-era head of Poland’s Catholic Church a step closer to possible sainthood has hit a stumbling block, with two leading Jewish organizations and even Polish Catholic publications calling him out for anti-Semitic views.

Cardinal August Hlond, born July 5, 1881, was the highest-ranking church official in Poland from 1926 to his death in 1948. He is highly respected in this overwhelmingly Catholic country for having rejected Nazi Germany’s proposals for a collaborative government, and for protecting the church’s independence during the first years of communism.

In its protest, the American Jewish Committee points to a passage in a 1936 pastoral letter by Hlond, who was Poland’s primate then, that showed his attitude toward Jews and echoed the general line of the Catholic Church of the time.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Nazi-hunting body, says making Hlond a saint would “further embolden” Poland’s right-wing government in its “headlong efforts to selectively rewrite Polish activities from that tragic era.”

The disputed passage in Hlond’s letter reads: “It is a fact that the Jews are fighting against the Catholic Church, persisting in free thinking, and are the vanguard of godlessness, Bolshevism and subversion.”

— AP

Prosecutors release indictment of ex-minister accused of spying for Iran

A heavily redacted version of the indictment against Gonen Segev, a former minister turned alleged spy for Iran, is released by the prosecution, including a number of details not before released to the public.

Segev was indicted in a Jerusalem court last month, but the specific charges were not released at the time. Only a general description of his alleged crimes was offered.

According to the newly released charge sheet, Segev is accused of “aggravated espionage” — a more severe form of the crime of espionage — as well as assisting the enemy in wartime, attempted aggravated espionage and dozens of counts of attempting to provide information to the enemy.

In the indictment, the prosecution also says the disgraced former minister, who once served time in prison for smuggling ecstasy into Israel, acted “with the intention of damaging the security of the state.”

Segev has denied that he worked against the interests of Israel, saying he was trying to act as a double agent against Iran.

Following requests from the media, the state prosecutor’s office has released the charge sheet against Segev, but with much of the information about his alleged crimes removed from the document as many details of the case remain under a gag order.

According to the Shin Bet security service, Segev met with Iranian intelligence officials repeatedly over the past six years, including twice in Tehran, having traveled to the Islamic Republic on a non-Israeli passport.

Segev was extradited to Israel from Equatorial Guinea in May, after he tried to travel there from his home in Nigeria.

— Judah Ari Gross

Former energy minister Gonen Segev seen at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem during an appeal hearing on August 18, 2006. (Flash90)

Red Crescent: 35 injured in clashes at West Bank Bedouin village

The Palestinian Red Crescent says 35 people were injured during clashes at a West Bank Bedouin village set to be demolished.

It says four of those injured at Khan al-Ahmar were hospitalized, while the rest were treated at the scene.

Army top brass tours Syrian border as fighting rages next door

IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot and other top military officers traveled to the Syrian border in order to hear updated assessments from soldiers in the field about the battle raging next door between Syrian dictator Bashar Assad’s forces and rebel groups in the Daraa province, the army says.

“During the visit, the IDF chief of staff held a situational assessment about the fighting in Syria and the preparedness of the Northern Command,” the army says in a statement.

Eisenkot heard from the head of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Yoel Strick, and Brig. Gen. Amit Fisher, who commands the 210th Bashan Division, which guards the Syrian border.

“The IDF is tracking what is happening in Syria and is prepared for a variety of scenarios in order to protect the security situation along the border. The IDF will continue to provide humanitarian aid to residents of the area in Syrian territory, and will also prevent the entrance of refugees into the territory of the State of Israel,” the army says.

Eisenkot was joined on his visit by the head of the IDF Operations Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, the head of the IDF Planning Directorate Maj. Gen. Amir Abulafiya and the head of the Military Intelligence’s Research Division Brig. Gen. Dror Shalom.

— Judah Ari Gross

UK counterterrorism police probing incident near poisoned Russian spy’s home

AMESBURY, England — British counterterrorism police are investigating Wednesday after two people were left in critical condition, exposed to an unknown substance a few miles from where a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent.

The Wiltshire Police force declares a “major incident” after a man and a woman in their 40s were hospitalized after being found unconscious Saturday at a residential building in Amesbury, eight miles (13 kilometers) from Salisbury, where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned on March 4.

London’s Metropolitan Police force says “given the recent events in Salisbury,” counterterrorism officers are working with local police on the investigation. British media reports that samples of the mystery substance had been sent to the Portdon Down defense research laboratory for testing.

Police cordon off a home and other places the two people visited before falling ill, including a nearby church and a pharmacy, but health officials say there was not believed to be a wider risk to the public.

A major incident is a designation allowing British authorities to mobilize more than one emergency agency.

The emergency services’ response echoes that in the case of the Skripals, whose illness initially baffled doctors after they were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury. Scientists at Porton Down concluded they had been poisoned with Novichok, a type of nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

— AP

US vows to keep Persian Gulf waterway open amid Iran threats

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The US military is reiterating a promise to keep Persian Gulf waterways open to oil tankers as Iran renewed threats to close off the region.

Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for the US military’s Central Command, tells The Associated Press on Wednesday that American sailors and its regional allies “stand ready to ensure the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce wherever international law allows.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday suggested Iran could halt regional exports if it is stopped from exporting oil after America pulled out of the nuclear deal with world powers.

Meanwhile, Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani reportedly sent a letter to Rouhani applauding his stance.

Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ expeditionary Quds Force, said his forces were “ready for any policy.”

— AP

Report: Israel in talks with UN on setting up safe zone in southern Syria

Israel is in talks with the United Nations on setting up a safe zone in southern Syria for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing a regime offensive, the Walla news site reports.

According to Walla, the establishment of the safe zone is aimed at preventing the haphazard establishment of tents by Syrians escaping the fighting.

The United Nations says some 300,000 Syrians have fled toward the Israeli and Jordanian borders since mid-June to escape the regime bombardment of Daraa province.

Both Jordan and Israel have insisted they will not open their borders to refugees, though Israel has provided aid and brought Syrians to its territory for medical treatment.

Poll: Plurality of Palestinians want Barghouti to succeed Abbas

Palestinians would pick Marwan Barghouti to succeed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas if fresh elections were held, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Barghouti, a member of Abbas’s Fatah party who is serving five life sentences in Israel for terror convictions, would win 39 percent of the vote, Reuters reported the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research as saying.

Following Barghouti is Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas terror group, who would pick up 23% of the vote.

Additionally, 48% of respondents said rival Palestinian groups would agree to hold elections after Abbas goes, while 41% percent said they do not believe this will be the case.

A Palestinian runs past a poster bearing a portrait of convicted terrorist and prominent Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti in the West Bank city of Ramallah on May 3, 2017. (AFP/Abbas Momani)

Turkey’s election board confirms Erdogan victory

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s highest electoral body on Wednesday certifies the results of last month’s parliamentary and presidential elections, paving the way for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to continue his 15-year rule with expanded powers.

The Supreme Electoral Council confirms Erdogan’s victory in the June 24 presidential race, declaring that he won 52.59 percent of the votes. His closest rival, Muharrem Ince of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, gained 30.64 percent, while the imprisoned, pro-Kurdish candidate, Selahattin Demirtas, garnered 8.40 percent, the council confirms.

According to the official result, Erdogan’s conservative Justice and Development Party won 42.56 percent of the votes in the parliamentary ballot. The CHP’s votes stood at 22.65 percent.

Erdogan, who is scheduled to be sworn into his new, five-year term on Monday, is set to rule with substantially expanded powers, in line with constitutional changes that were narrowly approved in a referendum last year.

— AP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech in Istanbul on June 24, 2018, after initial results of Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections. (AFP Photo/Bulent Kilic)

Syrian rebels say talks with Russia on surrendering turf in south fail

BEIRUT — Syrian rebels say Wednesday that talks with regime ally Russia on handing over their remaining territory in the southern province of Daraa have failed as they oppose giving up their heavy arms.

“Negotiations with the Russian enemy in Busra al-Sham have failed, after they insisted on the surrender of heavy weapons,” the rebels’ Central Operations Room in the South says in a tweet.

“This round of negotiations didn’t produce any results… The session ended and no future meetings have been set,” spokesman Ibrahim Jabbawi says.

— AFP

Austria’s Kurz: ‘Absolutely unacceptable’ to question Israel’s right to exist

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz says he considers it “absolutely unacceptable” to question the right of Israel to exist or call for the state’s destruction.

He makes the comment at a joint press conference in Vienna alongside Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani. Iran’s leaders regularly rail against Israel’s existence and call for the Jewish state’s destruction.

— with AFP

Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (L) give a joint press conference at the Chancellery in Vienna on July 4, 2018. (AFP Photo/Alex Halada)

J Street: Israel using July 4 as cover for West Bank village demolition

J Street is “outraged” over the planned demolition of a Bedouin village in the West Bank and accuses Israel of using America’s Independence Day as cover to begin work.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government seems intent on using the July 4th holiday as cover to move forward with demolition plans that have been opposed by dozens of US lawmakers, hundreds of rabbis and thousands of pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans,” J Street head Jeremy Ben-Ami says in a statement.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government should know: Even on July 4th, Americans are watching their destructive actions in the West Bank, with deep frustration and concern for the damage they are doing to the future of both Israelis and Palestinians,” Ben-Ami adds.

Israeli bulldozers began paving an access road to Khan al-Ammar earlier today, setting off clashes with residents and protesters. Police said 11 people were arrested in the scuffles, while the Palestinian Red Crescent said 35 people were injured.

Arab MK: Demolition of West Bank village a ‘war crime’

The leader of the Joint (Arab) List party calls the upcoming demolition of a Bedouin village in the West Bank a “war crime.”

“The removal of Khan al-Ahmar is a war crime that will leave entire families without a roof over their heads,” tweets MK Ayman Odeh.

He also claims the planned demolition of the village is meant to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank.

“This is not only a human injustice, [the families] are falling victim to a comprehensive plan of the government to separate the Arab villages in Area C, to expand settlements and annex. In other words, to prevent any chance of peace,” says Odeh.

Demonstrators wave Palestinian flags as they protest against the upcoming demolition of the West Bank Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar on July 4, 2018. (AFP Photo/Abbas Momani)

Ex-PM Barak brushes off concerns for his safety

Former prime minister Ehud Barak dismisses fears for his safety after an Israeli TV report said he met with the head of the Shin Bet security agency amid concerns Iran may try to target prominent Israelis overseas.

In an interview with Hadashot TV news, which first reported the meeting between Barak and Nadav Argaman, the former premier says, “I can’t talk about this issue, I don’t think it is that important.”

“Just as I got by for 76 years I will manage for the next 45 years,” adds Barak, who was also IDF chief of staff and defense minister.

Former prime minister Ehud Barak attends a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War, at the Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem on June 5, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Report: Liberman, Shin Bet head engage in heated shouting match

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Shin Bet head Nadav Argaman engaged in a heated shouting match earlier today over the reunification of Arab Israeli and Palestinian families, Hadashot TV news reports.

According to the network, Liberman lashed out at Argaman during a meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office after learning he sent a letter to COGAT, Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians, requesting the reunification of some 100 families, mainly from the Gaza Strip.

“You crossed all the red lines,” Liberman was quoted as yelling at Argaman.” You can’t reach out directly to COGAT without updating me or talking to me. This is like me calling the head of your operations department and instructing him to go on mission — this is unacceptable.”

Liberman continued: “As long as I am defense minister there won’t be one case of family reunification… they want to be reunited, they can reunite in Gaza. Family reunification is the realization of the right of return.”

Hadashot reports Argaman didn’t take well to Liberman’s shouts, yelling back “I don’t work for you.”

Defense official to Israeli TV: Syrian troops in buffer zone will be targets

In a message to Syria’s President Bashar Assad, an Israeli defense official tells Channel 10 Israel considers any Syrian forces who enter the demilitarized buffer zone between the countries will be considered a legitimate target.

The official says Israel has placed units from the Combat Intelligence Corps near the border to track Syrian forces as they return to the area as part of the regime offensive to retake rebel-held territory in southern Syria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called yesterday for upholding the 1974 UN ceasefire agreement, which established the buffer zone.

Report: Syria rebuffed UN request to place early warning systems in buffer zone

The UN force tasked with overseeing the 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria recently approached the two countries about placing early warning systems in the buffer zone separating them, Channel 10 reports.

Israel gave the OK for the UN to install the equipment, the report says, but Syria rejected the request, apparently due to concerns the technology could be used to track regime troops and their allies as they return to the border area.

The report says the equipment included radar systems that could detect the entry of unauthorized forces to the buffer zone, as well as technology that could detect and warn of explosive devices.

Netanyahu to Europe: Stop funding Iranian ‘terror regime’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls on European countries to cut financial ties with Iran following the exposure of an alleged Iranian plot to bomb a meeting of an opposition group in Paris.

“Here is an example of the endless hypocrisy and chutzpah of Iran: The week Iran’s president meets with European leaders to try and overcome President Trump’s sanctions regime… Iran plans a terror attack on French soil,” says Netanyahu at an event marking the Acre prison break.

“I call on European leaders: Stop financing the terror regime that organizes terror against you on your soil. Enough of the policy of appeasement and weakness with Iran,” he adds.