The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s events as they unfolded.

1:57 pm

IS says it fired rockets into Israel

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for two rockets fired from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula into southern Israel.

The strikes hit the Eshkol region close to the border late Sunday without causing injury or significant damage, the army said.

A rocket that was fired from the Sinai Peninsula and landed in an open field in the Eshkol region on October 15, 2017. (Israel Defense Forces)

The jihadist group claimed responsibility in a statement on its Amaq propaganda agency, saying the attack “targeted a Jewish community (Eshkol) with two Grad missiles.”

IS-affiliated jihadists in the Sinai have been fighting an intense insurgency against Egyptian forces, with hundreds of troops and policemen killed since the army ousted Egypt’s elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

— AFP

1:59 pm

Death toll in Mogadishu bombing over 300

The death toll from Saturday’s truck bombing in Somalia’s capital is now over 300, the director of an ambulance service says, as the country reels from the deadliest single attack it’s ever experienced.

More people have died of their wounds in the past few hours, says Dr. Abdulkadir Adam of Aamin Ambulance. Funerals have continued and the government said the death toll is expected to rise.

A picture taken on October 15, 2017 shows a general view of the scene of the explosion of a truck bomb in the center of Mogadishu. (AFP/ Mohamed ABDIWAHAB)

Saturday’s truck bombing targeted a crowded street in Mogadishu, and about 300 others were injured. Somalia’s government is blaming the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab extremist group, which has not commented.

More than 70 critically injured people are being airlifted to Turkey for treatment as international aid begins to arrive, say officials.

Overwhelmed hospitals in Mogadishu are struggling to assist other badly wounded victims, many burned beyond recognition.

— AP

2:06 pm

Spain leader gives Catalans until Thursday to walk back secession bid

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has given Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont until Thursday morning to fall in line amid uncertainty over whether the territory is declaring independence.

Rajoy said Puigdemont faces the possibility of Spain activating Article 155 of the Constitution, which would allow the central government to rescind some of the powers that Catalonia has to govern itself.

The wealthy northeast region, which includes Barcelona, is home to 7.5 million people and contributes a fifth of Spain’s 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.3 trillion) economy. Polls have shown about half of the people there don’t want to secede.

Catalan regional government president Carles Puigdemont delivers a speech on the sidelines of a wreath-laying ceremony commemorating the 77th anniversary of the death of Catalan leader Lluis Companys at the Montjuic Cemetery in Barcelona, October 15, 2017. (AFP/PAU BARRENA)

“To extend this situation of uncertainty is only favoring those who are trying to destroy civic concord and impose a radical and impoverishing project in Catalonia,” Rajoy wrote in a letter after Puigdemont asked for two months of negotiations and mediation.

“It wasn’t very difficult to say yes or no,” Rajoy’s number 2, deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, tells reporters in Madrid. “That was the question that was asked and the response shouldn’t be complicated.”

— with AP

2:17 pm

Sarona shooters and driver found guilty of murder over 2016 attack

Three Palestinians have been found guilty by a Tel Aviv court of carrying out a deadly terror attack in June 2016 in which four people were killed.

Shooters Khalid Muhamra and Muhammad Muhamra, along with Younis Ayash Musa Zayn, who is accused of helping the two, were found guilty of four counts of murder and 41 counts of attempted murder over the attack at the popular Sarona Market in central Tel Aviv.

Israeli security forces at the scene of a deadly shooting attack at the Sarona Market shopping center in Tel Aviv, June 8, 2016. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

The two shooters were captured alive immediately after the attack and Zayn, who drove them to a storage unit where they prepared the attack, was arrested shortly after.

Khalid Muhamra, left, Younis Ayash Musa Zayn, center, and Muhammad Muhamra, right, sit behind a glass window during their indictment in a Tel Aviv District Court on July 4, 2016. The three Palestinian men have been charged with murder in connection with the June 8 terror attack at the Sarona Market in central Tel Aviv in which four Israelis were killed. (Flash90)

According to a joint investigation by the Shin Bet, IDF and Border Police, the Muhamra cousins, from the West Bank town of Yatta, left their village just south of Hebron on June 8, 2016, and made their way to the Israeli town of Meitar through a wide gap in the security barrier.

The two were already armed, having purchased their weapons — Carl Gustav automatic firearms — in their hometown through an intermediary.

2:27 pm

At least 10 Kurds dead in Kirkuk clashes with Iraq over independence

At least 10 Kurdish fighters were killed and 27 wounded during fighting overnight with Iraqi pro-government paramilitary forces in disputed Kirkuk province, a Kurdish official says.

Sherzad Hassan, deputy director of health in the Chamchamal region, said the toll covered only hospitals in his area.

According to Kurdish officials, dozens more peshmerga fighters were missing after Iraqi military forces launched operations against the Kurds following a standoff over a controversial independence referendum.

Iraqis gather as Iraqi forces arrive in the first neighborhood on the southern outskirts of Kirkuk on October 16, 2017. (AFP/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

Thousands of residents are fleeing Kirkuk for fear of fresh clashes.

The exodus in buses and cars towards Irbil and Sulaimaniyah, the two main cities of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, created traffic jams on roads leading out of Kirkuk.

— AFP

2:32 pm

Kurds abandon posts in Kirkuk as Iraqi troops move in

Kurdish forces are falling back from their positions around Kirkuk as federal forces advance on the city and take up posts inside the disputed northern city.

Sporadic gunfire can be heard inside Kirkuk. Police at a checkpoint to the north said Kurdish families are leaving to Irbil, in the nearby autonomous Kurdish region, fearing attacks by the PMF.

The mostly Shiite Arab militias, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, are viewed with deep suspicion by the city’s Kurdish community.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had previously vowed they would remain outside the city.

An Associated Press reporter on Monday saw the militiamen at posts in Turkmen areas on the western side of the city that had been abandoned by Kurdish forces.

Iraq’s military says it has seized two major oil fields outside the disputed city of Kirkuk from Kurdish forces.

The military says in a statement that federal forces are now in control of the North Oil Company and Baba Gurgur fields.

— AP

3:08 pm

US says Kirkuk clashes between Kurds, Iraqis a ‘misunderstanding’

The US military says a deadly exchange of fire between Iraqi and Kurdish forces in Kirkuk is a “misunderstanding,” urging both sides to cease hostilities and focus on fighting the Islamic State group.

“ISIS remains the true enemy of Iraq and we urge all parties to remain focused on finishing the liberation of their country from this menace,” a statement from the US mission in Baghdad reads.

Iraqi forces seized a key military base, an airport and oil fields from Kurdish fighters in disputed Kirkuk province in a major operation launched on Sunday night, and Kurds reported at least 10 of their fighters dead in clashes.

Kurdish forces seized control of Kirkuk in the summer of 2014, when Islamic State militants swept across northern Iraq and the country’s armed forces crumbled. The Kurds claim Kirkuk, even though it is outside their autonomous region.

The central government has long demanded the Kurds withdraw, and appears to have decided to act in the wake of last month’s Kurdish vote for independence, which was rejected as unconstitutional by Baghdad.

— Agencies

3:09 pm

One killed, five injured in car crash in Jerusalem

One man dies and five more are injured in a car crash in Jerusalem.

Two of them suffered serious injuries, while the rest were lightly to moderately wounded, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

The crash — between a car and a motor scooter — occurred at the Nayot Junction in central Jerusalem, near the Israel Museum.

The emergency service said the man who died was in his 30s. He was the driver of the motor scooter. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene, according to MDA.

The five wounded people have been taken to area hospitals for treatment.

— Judah Ari Gross

3:18 pm

US-led coalition downplays Kirkuk clashes

The US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group says it is monitoring federal and Kurdish military vehicles and believes they are “coordinated movements, not attacks.”

It said it was aware of reports of a “limited exchange of fire during predawn hours of darkness,” but “we believe the engagement this morning was a misunderstanding and not deliberate as two elements attempted to link up under limited visibility conditions.”

A member of the Iraqi forces holds up a Kurdish flag as they advance towards the city of Kirkuk during an operation against Kurdish fighters on October 16, 2017. (AFP/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

The US has armed, trained and provided vital air support to both federal and Kurdish forces as part of the war against IS. It has urged both sides to remain focused on the extremists.

Maj. Gen. Robert White, commander of coalition ground forces, says: “We continue to advocate dialogue between Iraqi and Kurdish authorities. All parties must remain focused on the defeat of our common enemy,” the Islamic State group.

— AP

3:43 pm

EU backs Iran deal after Trump bashes pact

European Union foreign ministers are backing the Iran nuclear agreement, saying the accord is working and is a key part of non-proliferation efforts despite US President Donald Trump withdrawing his support for it.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, whose team has been a key player in drawing up the deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions, suggests that domestic US politics was at play in Trump’s decision.

She says she will visit Washington early next month to urge US lawmakers not to pull out of the landmark 2015 deal curbing Tehran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of punitive sanctions.

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini arrives for a EU Foreign Affairs meeting in Luxembourg on October 16, 2017. (AFP/JOHN THYS)

Trump “decertified” the deal Friday, angrily accusing Iran of violating the 2015 international nuclear accord, and directed the US Congress to make it more stringent. But he did not pull the US out or re-impose nuclear sanctions.

“The EU is committed to the continued full and effective implementation of all parts” of the agreement, the European ministers say in a statement.

“At a time of acute nuclear threat the EU is determined to preserve the (agreement) as a key pillar of the international non-proliferation architecture,” they say, underlining that they saw Trump’s move “as being in the context of an internal US process.”

— Agencies

4:08 pm

Trump takes on Schumer for Iran deal flip-flop

US President Donald Trump is combining two of his classic targets of ire during a morning tweetstorm, going after both New York Senator Chuck Schumer and the Iran nuclear deal.

“Dem Senator Schumer hated the Iran deal made by President Obama, but now that I am involved, he is OK with it. Tell that to Israel, Chuck!”

Schumer had been one of a handful of Democrats to vote against the Iran deal in 2015, but on Sunday said he wanted to give the much-maligned pact a chance to work.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is seen ahead of a news conference in Washington, DC, on September 26, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP)

“I had a great deal of misgivings about the Iran nuclear deal. I voted against it but now we ought to see, give it time to work,” he said at a press conference.

4:32 pm

DMZ likely off itinerary as Trump plans Asia trip to push allies on N. Korea

US President Donald Trump will ask US allies to pressure North Korea on its nuclear program in an upcoming trip to the Asia-Pacific region.

The White House says Trump will travel in November to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines from November 3 to November 14. Trump will also stop in Hawaii.

The White House said that in South Korea, Trump will meet with President Moon Jae-in and “call on the international community to join together in maximizing pressure on North Korea.”

Though an early draft of the itinerary reportedly contained a stop at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported Monday it would likely be skipped because of security concerns. The paper said officials in the Washington and Seoul fear the president could become a target of North Korean cannons if he visits the heavily fortified frontier.

Tensions between the US and North Korea have ratcheted up in recent months, with the US threatening to hit Pyongyang following missile tests and Trump insulting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “little rocket man.” Kim has also slinged epithets at Trump.

In Japan, Trump will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and participate in a meeting with families of “Japanese citizens abducted by the North Korean regime.”

Trump will also meet with leaders of China, Vietnam and the Philippines and attend two trade summits.

— with AP

4:51 pm

Syria threatens Israel after planes take out air defense battery

The Syrian military is threatening Israel with “dangerous consequences” after Israeli Air Force jets bombed an anti-aircraft battery near Damascus earlier in the day.

On Monday morning, a Syrian air defense battery near Damascus fired an interceptor missile at Israeli reconnaissance planes during a “routine flight” over Lebanon, the Israeli military said.

In a statement, the Syrian military claims the IAF aircraft entered its airspace, which is what prompted the response. But the IDF maintains that the planes stayed over Lebanon.

The Syrian military also claims one Israeli plane was “directly hit” and “forced to flee,” though Israel says its reconnaissance planes were not struck by the interceptor missile.

In response to the anti-aircraft missile, the IAF sent out a second sortie, which targeted the anti-aircraft system and “incapacitated” the offending battery, the IDF said.

Smoke billows from buildings following a reported air strike on Ain Tarma in the Eastern Ghouta area, a rebel stronghold east of the Syrian capital, on October 16, 2017. (AFP/ AMER ALMOHIBANY)

In its statement, the Syrian military warned Israel of “dangerous consequences for its repeated attempts of aggression.”

According to the Syrian statement, the anti-aircraft battery targeted the Israeli planes at approximately 8:51 a.m., and the IAF retaliated a few hours later — essentially confirming the timeline described by the Israeli military.

— Judah Ari Gross

5:02 pm

Israel okays 31 settlement homes in Hebron, in first since 2002

Authorities have approved permits for 31 settler homes in Hebron in the West Bank, the first such approvals for the flashpoint city since 2002, the Peace Now NGO says.

Israeli border police seen evacuating the Machpela House in Hebron on April 4, 2012. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

An Israeli committee approved construction permits for the 31 units, Anat Ben Nun of Peace Now tells AFP. Several hundred Israeli settlers live in the heart of Hebron under heavy military guard among some 200,000 Palestinians.

— AFP

5:17 pm

Iraqis celebrate retaking of Kirkuk as Kurdish forces pull back

Videos are showing people waving flags, dancing and celebrating as Iraqi forces take the disputed city of Kirkuk, as Kurdish fighters leave the city without putting up a fight.

Kurdish officials had accused the Iraqi army of carrying out a “major, multi-prong attack” in moving in on the city Sunday night and reported heavy clashes on the city’s outskirts, but a spokesman for Iraq’s state-backed militias says they encountered little resistance.

By midday, federal forces had moved into several major oil fields north of the city, as well as its airport and an important military base, according to Iraqi commanders. Kurdish party headquarters inside Kirkuk have been abandoned.

Iraqis wave to Iraqi forces as they arrive in the first neighbourhood on the southern outskirts of Kirkuk on October 16, 2017.
(AFP/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

After initial reports of clashes in and around the city, it appeared by the afternoon as though the vastly outnumbered Kurdish forces, known as the peshmerga, were pulling out with hardly a fight.

Local police have stayed in place in Kirkuk as Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi called on civil servants to remain at their posts to serve the city.

Kirkuk, home to some 1 million Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians, has been at the heart of a long-running dispute between the autonomous Kurdish region and the central government in Baghdad. Both are close allies of the US.

— with AP

5:40 pm

Scientists excitedly unveil findings after star crash witnessed

Scientists have for the first time witnessed the crash of two ultra-dense neutron stars, cataclysmic events now known to have generated at least half the gold in the universe, excited research teams revealed Monday.

Shockwaves and light flashes emitted by the cosmic fireball traveled some 130 million light-years to be captured by Earthly detectors on August 17, they revealed at simultaneous press conferences around the globe as a dozen science papers were published in top academic journals.

“We witnessed history unfolding in front of our eyes: two neutron stars drawing closer, closer… turning faster and faster around each other, then colliding and scattering debris all over the place,” co-discoverer Benoit Mours of France’s CNRS research institute tells AFP.

The groundbreaking observation has solved a number of physics riddles and sent ripples of anticipation through the scientific community.

Most jaw-dropping for many, the data finally reveals where much of the gold, platinum, mercury and other heavy elements in the universe came from.

— AFP

6:03 pm

Weinstein Co. may be up for sale

The Weinstein Co., mired in a sex scandal, may be putting itself up for sale.
The company said Monday that it will receive an immediate cash infusion from Colony Capital and is in negotiations for the potential sale of all or a significant portion of the company responsible for producing films such as “Django Unchained,” ”The Hateful Eight” and “Lion.”

Co-founder Harvey Weinstein was fired by the company last week following allegations of sexual harassment and assault. The allegations span decades.

The fallout has been swift after Weinstein issued a lengthy and seemingly tone-deaf apology. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revoked his membership, as has the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Amazon Studios, the growing film arm of Amazon, cut ties with the Weinstein company last week. Showtime has threatened to pull out of an Oliver Stone drama in development, “Guantanamo,” because Weinstein Co. is a producer.

Law enforcement in the US and Europe are taking a new look at past allegations.
Word of a potential sale comes just three days after Bob Weinstein, Harvey’s brother, said that selling the company was not an option.

— AP

6:04 pm

Netanyahu: Bombing of Syria battery was necessary for Israel’s security

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will continue to strike “when necessary” after Israeli jets destroyed a Syrian anti-aircraft battery that fired on a reconnaissance plane.

“Our policy is clear: Anyone who tries to hurt us, we will hurt them,” he says in a statement. “Today, they tried to hit our planes — this is not acceptable.”

An SA-5 interceptor missile on display at the Ukrainian Air Force Museum. (George Chernilevsky/Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0)

“The air force acted with precision, swiftness and destroyed what needed to be destroyed. We will continue to act in the arena as much as needed to defend Israel’s security.”

Syria earlier warned of “dangerous consequences” after the attack. Russia, a powerful backer of the Syrian regime, has not commented, but reportedly was kept up to date by Israel before it carried out the sortie.

6:49 pm

Police commish backs force after PM’s attack

Police chief Roni Alsheich backs law enforcement personnel, responding publicly for the first time since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a scathing attack on him and the force for allegedly leaking details of graft investigations.

Alsheich tells a meeting of police officials that he has “complete faith in the way they are carrying out sensitive police work,” and says he backs them 100 percent, according to Channel 2 news.

On Saturday night, Netanyahu accused Alsheich of being behind leaks of information regarding two separate police investigations into possible corruption by the prime minister.

Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich speaking during a Rosh Hashanah reception at police headquarters in Jerusalem, September 18, 2017. (Israel Police)

“The illegal leaks have become a tsunami,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

The attack came after Channel 2 news reported that Netanyahu would be called to testify to investigators again regarding the two cases. Alsheich said the fact was not secret and expressed bafflement at Netanyahu’s move.

“The information had been previously reported and so the attack on the police is not clear. There’s no body dealing with law enforcement that is doing what the police have done to deal with leaks. We will protect the sterility of the investigations and keep our hands clean, do our work … without bias and give full backing to whoever is doing fieldwork,” he says.

6:49 pm

Russian defense minister greeted in Tel Aviv

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has arrived at the IDF’s Tel Aviv headquarters, known as the Kirya, where he is welcomed with an honor guard.

This is Shoigu’s first official visit to Israel, and the first visit by any Russian defense minister in several years.

Avigdor Liberman, right, and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu shaking hands with veterans at the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv on October 16, 2017. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

During his trip, Shoigu will be the guest of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. He will also meet with IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and other senior members of Israel’s security forces.

Shoigu and his entourage are expected to discuss with their Israeli counterparts the overall situation in Syria, where Russian troops are allied with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, and specifically the role of Iran in the war-torn country.

Shoigu’s trip got off to a rocky start, coming just hours after Israeli jets bombed a Syrian military anti-aircraft battery that had earlier fired an interceptor missile at an Israeli reconnaissance plane. Russia had reportedly been informed of the airstrike in real time.

— Judah Ari Gross

7:06 pm

New Jersey man convicted for Manhattan bombing

New Jersey man Ahmad Khan Rahimi has been convicted of planting two pressure-cooker bombs on New York City streets, including one that injured 30 people with a rain of shrapnel when it detonated in a bustling neighborhood one weekend night last summer.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, the man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York in September is led into court in Elizabeth, NJ, December 20, 2016. (AP/Mel Evans)

The verdict in Manhattan comes after the two-week trial of 29-year-old Rahimi, an Afghanistan-born man living in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place, carry a maximum punishment of life in prison.

Prosecutors say Rahimi considered himself “a soldier in a holy war against Americans” and was inspired by the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda to carry out the late summer attacks in New York and New Jersey.

Rahimi’s defense vows to appeal. Sentencing is scheduled for January 18.

Crime scene investigators work at the scene of Saturday’s explosion in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, in New York, September 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

— AP

7:21 pm

Three dead as freak Ophelia storm bashes Ireland

Three people have been killed in Ireland on Monday as high winds and heavy rains from Storm Ophelia hit the country, police say.

One woman has died when a tree apparently toppled onto her car, a man is killed in an accident while trying to clear a fallen tree with a chainsaw, and a second man is killed by a tree falling onto his vehicle.

— AFP

7:37 pm

Trump: Total termination of nuke deal a real possibility

US President Donald Trump says a “total termination” of the Iran nuclear deal remains possible, after refusing to certify the 2015 accord and leaving its fate to Congress.

US President Donald Trump speaks, center, during a Cabinet Meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, October 16, 2017. (AFP/ SAUL LOEB)

Speaking to reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting, he says, “I feel strongly about what I did. I’m tired of being taken advantage of.”

“It might be total termination, that’s a real possibility, some would say that’s a greater possibility.”

— AFP

7:38 pm

US ready to up military support for Somalia after bomb

The US military says it is ready to boost its support for the Somali government after some 300 people were killed in a massive truck bomb in Mogadishu.

“We will be prepared to support the government of Somalia when they ask,” a Pentagon spokesperson says. “We are planning what we can provide.”

The US military already has 400 troops on the ground in Somalia providing training and advice for the Somali military and also logistical support.

The US supports the country’s fight against the Shabaab jihadist rebel group, which is believed to have been behind the explosion on Saturday.

No Americans have been identified among the victims of the blast, which took place at a junction in Hodan, a busy commercial district in northwestern Mogadishu that has many shops, hotels and other businesses.

— AFP

8:15 pm

Labor head Gabbay: We don’t need to evacuate settlements

Labor party leader Avi Gabbay tells Channel 2 news he is not necessarily in favor of evacuating West Bank settlements as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians, a statement that seems to augur a sharp right-wing turn for the new head of the dovish faction.

“I wouldn’t evacuate settlements as part of a deal,” he says in a preview of an interview to be aired Tuesday. “If you make a deal you can find solutions that don’t include evacuation.”

When told he is not being realistic about trying to reach peace with the Palestinians, he responds sharply that at least he is trying, saying those who agree with Netanyahu’s method of saying there is no chance for a peace deal should vote for him instead.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are built on land Palestinians claim for a state of their own and removing settlements is a basic demand of Palestinians. Netanyahu has toyed with the idea of leaving the settlements in place if Israel should pull out of the West Bank, but has never detailed his plan and most do not regard it as a serious proposal.

Gabbay, a political neophyte who managed to take the opposition-leading party from the outside, despite formerly serving as a non MK minister in Netanyahu’s cabinet. During the campaign for the party’s leadership, he hewed closely to the party’s line of showing support only for settlements in major blocs thought likely to remain part of Israel for land swaps in a future deal.

He had called for Israel to invest in towns in Israel proper and not settlements, under the slogan “Dimona, not Amona,” referring to an illegal outpost that was razed.

On Saturday, Gabbay made headlines for telling an event in Beersheba he would not invite the Joint List of Arab parties to sit in a government he led.

8:37 pm

Liberman tells Russians Israel won’t allow Iran to run riot in Syria

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman tells his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, that Israel will take military action against Iran and its proxies if they attempt to entrench themselves along the Syrian border with Israel.

“We will not get involved in internal matters in Syria, but, on the other hand, we will not allow Iran and Hezbollah to turn Syrian territory into a forward operating base against Israel,” Liberman tells Shoigu. “We also will not allow the transfer of advanced weaponry by Iran, through Syria to Lebanon.”

The comments come hours after Israel bombed a Russian-made anti-aircraft battery near Damascus, in a move liable to anger Moscow, one of Bashar Assad’s biggest backers. Russia has not responded to the attack and was reportedly kept informed by Israel during the sortie.

An SA-5 interceptor missile on display at the Ukrainian Air Force Museum. (George Chernilevsky/Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0)

Liberman tells the Russian defense minister that Israel is “operating responsibly and with determination” in Syria, during a meeting as part of Shoigu’s first ever visit to Israel since taking his position in 2012.

After an initial meeting between the two of them, Liberman and Shoigu were joined by the IDF chief of staff, the head of IDF Military Intelligence and the head of the powerful political-security affairs bureau of the Defense Ministry.

— Judah Ari Gross

8:56 pm

Toddler killed after fall from bike

A 2-year-old boy was killed in the central Israel town of Baka al-Gharbiya after he fell off a bike he was riding the yard of his family home.

The boy suffered a serious head wound from the fall, according to first responders.

Paramedics rushed him to an area hospital, but he was declared dead upon arrival, police said. An investigation was opened.

9:19 pm

Netanyahu reminds new Austrian leader of fight against anti-Semitism

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken with new Austrian leader Sebastian Kurz, reminding the right-wing leader of Vienna’s efforts to commemorate the Holocaust and combat hatred of Jews.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu praised Kurz for his elections victory and said that Austria has done much in recent years to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and fight anti-Semitism,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office reads.

Kurz’s People’s Party (OeVP) was projected to have won Sunday’s vote with 31.7 percent, ahead of the Social Democrats (SPOe) of incumbent Chancellor Christian Kern, who got 26.9%.

Snapping at their heels with 26% was the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe), a party founded by Nazis and widely seen as harboring xenophobic and anti-Semitic elements.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz in Jerusalem on May 16, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Kurz has to form a coalition, and his most likely partner is seen as the FPOe and not a repeat of the acrimonious outgoing “grand coalition” with Kern’s SPOe.

Media reports indicate the two are already engaged in intensive behind-the-scene talks, with FPOe leader Heinz-Christian Strache, 48, demanding key ministerial positions.

Kurz told Netanyahu he looked forward to fostering ties with Israel. That task, though, may be complicated by FPOe’s presence in the government. Jerusalem has in the past boycotted FPOe officials who visit the country and recalled its ambassador the last time FPOe held a top government spot.

Netanyahu brought up “Iranian aggression” according to his office, and invited Kurz to visit, which the Austrian chancellor-to-be said he would do soon.

— with AFP

9:35 pm

Egypt says 3,200-year-old temple unearthed near Cairo

Egypt’s antiquities agency says archaeologists have unearthed remains of a temple belonging to King Ramses II southwest of Cairo, which may shed light on the life of the 19th Dynasty pharaoh, over 3,200 years ago.

Mustafa Waziri, the head of agency, tells The Associated Press that the discovery was made by an Egyptian-Czech mission in the village of Abusir near the step pyramid of Saqqara.

In a statement on Sunday, Miroslav Barta, the head of the Czech team, said the temple is the only evidence of the presence of Ramses II in the Badrashin area in Giza, part of Greater Cairo.

He said the discovery confirms the continued worship of the sun god Ra in Abusir, which started in the 5th Dynasty, over 4,500 years ago.

— AP

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