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Freed Gaza hostages recount captivity at Tel Aviv rally

Tek Aviv (Reuters) – Thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday demanding the release of all hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, while some of those freed during a recent ceasefire spoke in videos about the rough conditions of their captivity.

The protesters waved flags and carried pictures of Israelis still in Gaza. One sign held up read: “They trust us to get them out of hell.”

Of the roughly 240 people taken hostage by Hamas during its Oct. 7 killing spree in Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, 137 remain in captivity after others were returned during a truce. Some have been declared dead in absentia by Israeli authorities.

Margalit Moses, 77, in a video testimony told how she tried to take with her a machine that helps her breathe at night, but her captors took it away. Instead she was told to sit and lean her head back against the wall.

“I could breathe that way, but I couldn’t fall asleep,” she said.

Adina Moshe, 72, said close friends were left behind while she was released during the truce after 49 days in Gaza. Her friends are old, she said, with health problems and no access to medicines.

“The food situation there deteriorated; in the end we were eating just rice,” she said.

More than 100 hostages were freed in the week-long truce that ended on Dec. 1. Since then fighting has resumed with Israel pursuing its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

Siblings Maya and Itay Regev, ages 21 and 18, were also among those released.

“Every day there was like hell,” said Maya. “Unreal fear. No sleep at night. The yearnings are crazy and the lack of knowing (what’s happening) is just scary.”

Egyptians head to polls in election overshadowed by Gaza war

Cairo (Reuters) – Egyptians head to the polls on Sunday for a presidential election in which Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is poised to win a third term in power as the country grapples with an economic crisis and a war on its border with Gaza.

Victory would hand Sisi a six-year term in which immediate priorities would be taming near-record inflation, managing a chronic foreign currency shortage and preventing spillover from the conflict between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Voting, which runs from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. (0700-1900 GMT), is spread over three days, with results due to be announced on Dec. 18.

Critics see the election as a sham after a decade-long crackdown on dissent. The government’s media body has called it a step towards political pluralism.

Three candidates qualified to stand against Sisi in the election, none of them high-profile figures. The most prominent potential challenger halted his run in October, saying officials and thugs had targeted his supporters – accusations dismissed by the national election authority.

Authorities and commentators on tightly controlled local media have been urging Egyptians to turn out to vote, though some people said they were unaware when the election was taking place in the days before the poll. Others said voting would make little difference.

“I was aware there are elections happening but I had no idea when. I only knew that because of the massive Sisi campaigns around the streets,” said Aya Mohamed, a 35-year-old marketing executive.

“I feel indifferent about the elections because there will be no real change,” she said.

As army chief, Sisi led the 2013 ouster of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, before being elected to the presidency the following year with 97% of the vote.

Since then he has overseen a crackdown that has swept up liberal and leftist activists as well as Islamists and that rights groups say has seen tens of thousands jailed. He was reelected in 2018, again with 97%.

Sisi and his backers say the crackdown was needed to stabilise Egypt and counter Islamist extremism. He has presented himself as a bulwark of stability as conflict has erupted on Egypt’s borders in Libya, and earlier this year in Sudan and Gaza.

Economic Pressures

But economic pressures have become the dominant issue for Egypt’s fast-growing population of 104 million, with some people complaining that the government has prioritised costly mega-projects while the state takes on more debt and citizens struggle with soaring prices.

“Enough of projects and infrastructure, we want the prices to go down, we want for the impoverished to eat and people to have a living,” said Imad Atef, a vegetable seller in Cairo.

Some analysts say the election, originally expected in early 2024, was brought forward so economic changes – including a devaluation of an already weakened currency – could be implemented after the vote.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday it was in talks with Egypt to agree additional financing under an existing, $3-billion loan programme that had stalled due to delays in sales of state assets and a promised shift towards a more flexible exchange rate.

“All indicators suggest that we’re going to move quite quickly after the election in terms of proceeding with the IMF reform,” said Hany Genena, chief economist at Cairo Financial Holding, an investment bank.

Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah vows more attacks on US forces

Baghdad (Reuters) – Attacks by Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah militia against U.S. interests on Friday are the start of “new rules of engagement,” a security official from the group said in a social media post.

The Iran-aligned group, while not claiming responsibility for a rare attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Friday, claimed the embassy was a forward operating base for planning military operations.

The attack was condemned by the U.S. and by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who said it was an act of terrorism against a diplomatic mission.

But Kataeb Hezbollah (KH) said the facility was a base involved in planning military operations. Those who described it as a diplomatic mission were “subservient” and self-interested, Abu Ali al-Askari, a security official from the group, said in a social media post.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a Friday call with Sudani, singled out KH and another group, Haraket Hezbollah al-Nujaba, for the recent targeting of U.S. personnel and said the U.S. reserved its right to respond.

U.S. officials have reported more than 80 attacks against U.S. interest in Iraq and Syria since mid-October, most claimed by an umbrella-group of Iran-aligned Iraqi militias over Washington’s backing of Israel in its war in Gaza.

The group, which goes by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, claimed 11 attacks against U.S. forces on Friday, the most in a single day since they began in mid-October.

Sudani has ordered security forces to investigate the embassy attack and on Saturday replaced the regiment in charge of security in Baghdad’s highly fortified Green Zone area where the attacks occurred, according to his office.

In an apparent challenge to Sudani, KH said that members of Iraq’s security forces that were cooperating with U.S. forces were “accomplices in its crimes”.

As well as diplomatic staff in Iraq, the United States has about 2,500 troops in the country on a mission it says aims to advise and assist local forces battling remnants of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swathes of both Iraq and Syria before being defeated.

Yemen’s Houthis say they launched ballistic missiles at Israel

Dubai (Reuters) – Yemen’s Houthi group launched several ballistic missiles at military posts in the southern Israeli city of Eilat, the group’s military spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, the Mason, a U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, shot down a drone that originated from a part of Yemen controlled by the Houthi group, a U.S. official said.

There were no injuries or damage and it was not clear what the drone was targeting.

It is the sixth time the U.S. Navy has fired upon drones in the southern Red Sea since war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Oct. 7 and comes amid a series of attacks on commercial vessels in Middle Eastern waters.

The Houthi group’s statement said it would continue to “carry out their military operations against the Israeli enemy, as well as implementing the decision to prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Arab and Red Seas in support of the oppressed Palestinian people.”

The Houthis, an ally of Tehran, have been launching long-range missile and drone salvoes at Israel and Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinian Hamas militants fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Wednesday, Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency and British maritime security company Ambrey reported an incident involving a suspected drone over the Red Sea west of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

UKMTO warned vessels transiting the area to exercise caution.

The U.S. military said on Sunday that three commercial vessels had come under attack in the southern Red Sea.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said the waves of attacks by the Houthi group in Yemen may not be targeting U.S. warships, even though the U.S. Navy has responded by shooting down drone aircraft and missiles.

Yemen’s Houthi group on Sunday claimed drone and missile attacks on two Israeli vessels in the area, saying in a broadcast that the attacks came in response to the demands of Yemenis and calls from Muslim countries to stand with the Palestinian people.

FBI chief to visit India next week after US raised foiled murder plot

New Delhi (Reuters) – FBI Director Christopher Wray will visit India next week, officials said, days after Washington accused an Indian government official of directing an unsuccessful plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil.

India’s government, which has denied any involvement in the plot, sought to distance the visit from the case, saying Wray’s trip had been planned for some time.

The U.S. ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, did not go into any details as he announced the visit at a think tank event in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said last week an Indian national had worked with an unnamed Indian government employee on the plot to assassinate the New York City resident who advocated for a sovereign Sikh state in northern India.

At the time, India expressed concern about the accusations, calling it contrary to government’s policy, and said it would carry out its own investigation.

The target of the assassination plot has been identified as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who says he holds American and Canadian citizenships.

The visit by the FBI Director had “been in the works for some time,” India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday.

“This is part of an ongoing security cooperation,” he added.

India bans onion exports until March 31, 2024

Mumbai (Reuters) – India has imposed a ban on exports of onions until March 31, 2024, according to a government order issued late on Thursday.

India had previously imposed a minimum export price of $800 per metric ton, until Dec. 31, 2023, to discourage exports, in an effort to curb surging local prices.

India’s Anti-Terror Efforts: NIA Raids Expose ISIS Terror Conspiracy, 15 Detained

Pune – India’s premium agency the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids at 41 locations across Maharashtra and Karnataka on Saturday, resulting in the arrest of 15 individuals allegedly linked to the Islamic State (ISIS).

The arrested individuals, all hailing from Pune, were taken into custody as the NIA teams conducted simultaneous searches in various cities. In Karnataka, the raids were underway at several locations, while in Maharashtra, the operation targeted areas in Pune, Thane Rural, Thane City, and Mira Bhayandar.

According to sources within the NIA, the investigation has uncovered a larger conspiracy with international connections, indicating the involvement of foreign-based ISIS handlers in the case. The agency believes that the arrested individuals were part of a complex network dedicated to propagating the extremist ideology of ISIS within India.

The investigation revealed that the network had taken an oath of allegiance, known as Bayath, to the self-styled Khalifa (leader) of ISIS. Moreover, the individuals were found to be involved in the fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The agency suspects that the network had plans to carry out acts of terrorism on Indian soil.

The NIA’s operation underscores the seriousness with which security agencies are approaching the threat of terrorism and the efforts being made to dismantle such networks. The agency’s swift action in apprehending the individuals involved in this ISIS terror conspiracy will undoubtedly serve as a deterrent to others with similar intentions.

The NIA has been at the forefront of counterterrorism efforts in India, consistently working towards identifying and neutralizing threats posed by terrorist organizations. The agency’s focus on uncovering international connections and the involvement of foreign handlers in this case highlights the global nature of the ISIS threat and the need for international cooperation to combat terrorism effectively.

As the investigation progresses, the NIA is expected to gather further evidence and interrogate the arrested individuals to dismantle the entire network and bring all those involved to justice.

Committee Formed by Indian Government to Investigate Alleged Plot to Kill Khalistani Terrorist in the US

New Delhi – External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has informed the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, that the central government has established a committee to investigate inputs received from the United States regarding an alleged plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen, is a leader of the US-based Sikhs for Justice, an organization that India has designated as a terrorist outfit.

In response to a question from a Rajya Sabha member, Jaishankar stated that there would be no equitable treatment given to Canada’s allegations of potential involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, as no specific evidence or inputs were provided to India by Ottawa.

Speaking in Parliament, Jaishankar explained, “Regarding the US, certain inputs were given to us as part of our security cooperation with the United States. Those inputs were of concern to us because they were related to the nexus of organized crime, trafficking, and other matters.”

Nijjar was killed in Canada’s British Columbia province in June of this year.

“Because they have a bearing on our own national security, it was decided to institute an inquiry into the matter, and an inquiry committee has been constituted,” he added.

When asked why there was no equitable treatment regarding the charges made by the Canadian government, Jaishankar responded, “In the case of Canada, no specific evidence or inputs were provided to us. So the question of equitable treatment between two countries, one of whom has provided input and one of whom has not, does not arise.”

It is worth noting that the US Department of Justice has filed charges against an Indian man named Nikhil Gupta for allegedly working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun.

In September, shortly after the G20 Summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an explosive allegation regarding the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar’s killing on Canadian soil on June 18. However, India has strongly rejected these allegations.

Meanwhile, in a press briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi declined to comment on whether this issue would be raised during the upcoming visit of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray to India.

When asked about updates on India’s investigation into Washington’s allegations in the foiled plot case, Bagchi stated that he did not have any information to share.

He also mentioned that India has raised with the US and Canada the recent threats made against India by Pannun.

Saudi Arabia urges US restraint as Houthis attack ships in Red Sea

Riyadh/Dubai (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has asked the United States to show restraint in responding to attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against ships in the Red Sea, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said, as Riyadh seeks to contain spillover from the Hamas-Israel war.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have waded into the conflict that has spread around the Middle East since war erupted on Oct. 7, attacking vessels in vital shipping lanes and firing drones and missiles at Israel itself.

The group which rules much of Yemen says its attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians and has vowed they will continue until Israel stops its offensive on the Gaza Strip – more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in Sanaa.

The Houthis are one of several groups in the Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” which have been attacking Israeli and U.S. targets since the start of the conflict on Oct. 7, when their Palestinian ally Hamas sparked the war by attacking Israel.

Their role has added to the conflict’s regional risks, threatening sea lanes through which much of the world’s oil shipped, and worrying states on the Red Sea as Houthi rockets and drones fly towards Israel.

Riyadh, the world’s top oil exporter, has watched with alarm as Houthi missiles have been fired over its territory.

With the Houthis stepping up attacks on shipping over the past weeks, two sources familiar with Saudi thinking said Riyadh’s message of restraint to Washington aimed to avoid further escalation. Riyadh was so far pleased with the way the United States was handling the situation, the sources added.

“They pressed the Americans about this and why the Gaza conflict should stop,” one of the sources said.

The White House declined to comment.

The Saudi government did not respond to an emailed request for a comment on the discussions.

As Saudi Arabia presses for a ceasefire to halt what it has called a “barbaric war” in Gaza, its diplomacy reflects a wider policy aimed at promoting regional stability after years of confrontation with Iran and its allies.

Focused on expanding and diversifying the Saudi economy, Riyadh this year normalised ties with Tehran and is seeking to exit the war it has been waging with the Houthis in Yemen for nearly nine years.

The sources said Saudi Arabia was seeking to advance the Yemen peace process even as war rages in Gaza, worrying it could be derailed. Yemen has enjoyed more than a year of relative calm amid direct peace talks between Saudi and Houthi officials.

The Houthi attacks during the Hamas-Israel war have elevated their profile in the Iran-aligned camp which also includes Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iran-backed militias in Iraq.

The Houthis have emerged as a major military force in the Arabian Peninsula, with tens of thousands of fighters and a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles and armed drones.

Senior sources in the Iran-aligned camp told Reuters the Houthi attacks were part of an effort to put pressure on Washington to get Israel to halt the Gaza offensive, a goal that Iran shares with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.

One of the sources, who is based in Tehran, said Houthi representatives had discussed their attacks with Iranian officials during a meeting in Tehran in November, agreeing to carry out actions in a “controlled” way that would help force an end to the Gaza war. The source was briefed on the matter.

Another of the sources said Tehran did not seek “all-out war in the region” that would risk drawing it in directly.

A Houthi spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Iran has denied being involved in the attacks. Iranian officials did not respond to a request for comment on the Houthi attacks.

Destroyer Downs Drones

The United States and Britain have condemned the attacks on shipping, blaming Iran for its role in supporting the Houthis. Tehran says its allies make their decisions independently.

In one of the latest incidents, three commercial vessels came under attack in international waters on Sunday. The Houthis said they had fired at what they said were two Israeli vessels. Israel denied any link to the ships.

A U.S. Navy destroyer, the Carney, shot down three drones as it answered distress calls from the vessels, which the U.S. military said were connected to 14 separate nations.

The Pentagon said on Monday the Carney had taken action as a drone was headed in its direction, but that it could not assess if the warship was the intended target.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh stopped short of using language that could suggest any imminent U.S. retaliation against the Houthis. Asked if the United States might retaliate, Singh said: “If we decide to take action against the Houthis, it will of course be at a time and place of our choosing.”

An Iranian diplomat said Tehran and Washington had exchanged messages through intermediaries about Houthi attacks since the start of the Hamas-Israel war. The diplomat, who was involved in exchanging the messages, said both called for restraint.

Iran on Tuesday denied any role in attacks or actions against U.S. forces.

India Responds to Killing of LeT Mastermind in Pakistan

New Delhi – India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has commented on the recent killing of terrorists in Pakistan by “unknown gunmen”, emphasizing that individuals wanted by Indian authorities should come to India and “face the legal system”.

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated, “Those who are wanted in India to face justice for criminal and terrorist activities, we would like them to come to India and face our legal system, but I cannot comment on developments that are taking place in Pakistan”.

The statement came in response to the killing of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Hanzla Adnan in Karachi, Pakistan. Adnan, who masterminded the attack on a Border Security Force (BSF) convoy in Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir, in 2015, was shot outside his house on the nights of December 2 and 3.

India has consistently called for individuals involved in criminal and terrorist activities to be brought to justice. The MEA’s statement reaffirms the country’s stance on addressing such threats through the legal system.

In another matter, when asked about the threat made by Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun regarding an attack on Parliament before December 13, the MEA acknowledged that India takes such threats seriously. However, the ministry expressed its reluctance to give undue attention or credence to extremists who make such threats.

“We do take threats seriously. We are caught in a bind here. I don’t want to amplify or give too much credence to such extremists who make threats. We have taken up this matter with the US and Canadian authorities. Extremists and terrorists have the tendency to want media coverage on an issue,” stated Bagchi.

The MEA spokesperson also addressed the appeal filed against the death sentence given to eight Indians in Qatar. He assured that India is closely monitoring the matter and extending all necessary legal and consular assistance. The Indian ambassador was granted consular access to meet all eight individuals in prison on December 3.

Bagchi acknowledged the sensitivity of the issue and stated that the Indian government will continue to follow the case closely, sharing relevant updates when possible.

India’s firm stance on bringing criminals and terrorists to justice reflects its commitment to maintaining national security and upholding the rule of law. The country continues to engage with international partners and take necessary measures to address threats and protect its citizens.