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Explosions have been reported at an event near the tomb of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general Qassem Soleimani. At least 20 people have been reported killed at the event marking the fourth anniversary of Soleimani’s death. Videos show ambulances arriving at the scene and taking away the injured on stretchers. Blasts ‘were caused by terrorist attacks’ Iranian state media, quoting a local official in the Kerman province, said the blasts “were caused by terrorist attacks”. Earlier, the semi-official Nournews said that “several gas canisters exploded on the road leading to the cemetery”. Click here to share on social media At least 20 killed in twin explosions Explosions have been reported in the vicinity of the cemetery in the Iranian city of Kerman during a ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone strike. At least 20 people are reported to have been killed with many others wounded. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/1/3/iran-blasts-live-deadly-explosions-target-soleimani-killing-anniversary

Israel’s military says it is on “high readiness for any scenario” after the assassination of Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri and six others in Lebanon. Al-Arouri was killed in a drone strike in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Israeli has not claimed responsibility. Hezbollah says the attack “will not pass without punishment”. At least 22,313 people have been killed and at least 57,296 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll from Hamas’ October 7 attack in Israel stands at 1,139. Yemen’s Houthis claim to target Israel-bound ship Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group targeted the CMA CGM Tage container ship, claiming it was headed for Israel. Sarea also warned the US, which leads a naval coalition patrolling the waters, against interfering, saying any US attack “will not pass without a response or punishment”. The statement comes three days after US naval forces killed 10 Houthi fighters and sunk three Houthi boats while they said they were responding to the group’s attack on a separate container ship — the Maersk Hangzhou. Click Sisi tells US Congress delegation the priority is to secure a ceasefire in Gaza Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has told a delegation from US Congress that the current priority is to secure a ceasefire in Gaza. In a presidency statement, Sisi stressed the importance of “responsible action” to avoid widening the conflict in the region. Click here to share on social media Unclear if Hezbollah ‘willing to drag Lebanon into major conflict’ Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati says the killing of Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri “aims to draw Lebanon” deeper into the Gaza war. During the almost three-month-old war, Israel has traded almost daily cross-border fire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah – an Iranian-backed ally of Hamas – while so far avoiding a full-scale war. But after the assassination in Beirut, which Israel has not claimed, all eyes are on what happens next. Al-Arouri’s killing is “a significant escalation”, says Maha Yahya from the Carnegie Middle East Center. “[But] I don’t think Hezbollah will be willing to drag Lebanon into a major conflict at this particular moment and time, given the situation regionally,” Yahya added. Israel has also labelled Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar a “dead man walking” and promised to kill other commanders. Hezbollah fighters in Aaramta, bordering Israel [Anwar Amro/AFP] Click Israel’s government shows it will target Hamas leaders ‘no matter where’ Sara Khairat After Saleh al-Arouri’s killing, Israel’s government has made it clear that it will go after Hamas leaders no matter where they are. It wants to show that it is taking this war seriously at a time when the public still supports it. The government also aims to ensure Hamas never returns, either militarily or politically. Hezbollah has made it clear it will retaliate. The group has already been carrying out strikes on Israel’s northern border daily since the war started. We’ve seen some of the group’s mortar attacks this morning on the northern border. Hezbollah has stronger capabilities than Hamas and they have grown in recent years. They now have long-range missiles that can hit here in Tel Aviv as well as other areas in Haifa. We haven’t seen a major escalation yet and when that could happen is still unclear. Click here to share on social media Palestinian prisoners group: 11,000 arrested in 2023 The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) says that 11,000 Palestinians were arrested in 2023, including 1,085 children and 300 women. The numbers of those detained are similar to those detentions that took place in the early years of the second Intifada in 2001-2002, the PPS said. At least 5,500 Palestinians were arrested after October 7, including 355 children and 184 women. Currently, there are 8,800 Palestinians in Israeli jails, including 3,291 Palestinians detained without charges. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/1/3/israel-hamas-war-live-hezbollah-vows-revenge-for-israeli-strike-on-beirut

Pakistani security forces on Sunday killed three terrorists trying to infiltrate the Pak-Af­ghan border in Bajaur district of Khyber-Pak­htunkhwa, said the me­dia wing of the military. The ISPR said that on 31 December 2023, movement of three ter­rorists, who were trying to infiltrate the Pak-Af­ghan border, was picked up by the security forces in general area Batwar of Bajaur District in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. “After fire exchange, all three terrorists were sent to hell,” said the ISPR and added that weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the killed terrorists. In another incident on night between 30/31 December, according to the ISPR, terrorists from inside Afghani­stan, opened fire on a Pakistani Border Post in general area Spin­wam, North Waziristan District. The Pakistani troops responded in a befitting manner caus­ing considerable loss to the terrorists. However, during the exchange of fire, Naik Abdul Rauf (31), resident of district Rahim Yar Khan, having fought gallantly, got mar­tyred. Pakistan has consis­tently been asking the in­terim Afghan government to ensure effective border management on their side of the border. The Afghan gov­ernment is expected to fulfil its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by terror­ists for perpetuating acts of terrorism against Pakistan, the ISPR concluded. Source:https://www.nation.com.pk/01-Jan-2024/pak-security-forces-kill-3-terrorists-at-afghan-border

Hundreds have been evacuated from a Japan Airlines plane after it burst into flames at Tokyo International Airport, also known as Haneda. The plane was reportedly involved in a collision with another aircraft after landing on Tuesday, according to local news reports. NHK TV reported that all passengers on board, believed to have been about 400 people, got out safely. end of list Japan Airlines (JAL) said it believed its plane was hit by another aircraft, possibly a Japan Coast Guard plane. A spokesperson for the airport said all runways were currently closed. Local TV video showed a large eruption of fire and smoke from the side of the Japan Airlines plane as it taxied on a runway. The area around the wing then caught fire. Passengers were then shown leaving the aircraft via an emergency chute. Later video showed fire crews working to put out the blaze with streams of water. The flames had spread to much of the plane. An explosive fireball could then be seen with the aircraft badly damaged. There was initially no information about possible casualties. A spokesperson at JAL said the aircraft originated from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido. The airline later confirmed that 379 passengers and crew had safely evacuated. Advertisement AD Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays. Japan’s Coast Guard said it is checking reports about a collision between its aircraft and the JAL flight. It had no further details. Citing local news outlet Nippon TV, journalist Patrick Fok told Al Jazeera that the coast guard plane was in the middle of sending aid to Niigata, a city on the west coast, as part of rescue efforts following Monday’s earthquake. “This really has been a troubling two days and the start of the year for people in Japan,” he added. Alex Macheras, an aviation analyst, said it was still “very early” in terms of trying to grasp what exactly happened. “As is often the case with such incidents, what it appears [to be the case] in the first couple of minutes and hours, can be very different to what actually happened, and what we learn later in the investigation process,” he told Al Jazeera. SOurceL Hundreds have been evacuated from a Japan Airlines plane after it burst into flames at Tokyo International Airport, also known as Haneda. The plane was reportedly involved in a collision with another aircraft after landing on Tuesday, according to local news reports. NHK TV reported that all passengers on board, believed to have been about 400 people, got out safely. end of list Japan Airlines (JAL) said it believed its plane was hit by another aircraft, possibly a Japan Coast Guard plane. A spokesperson for the airport said all runways were currently closed. Local TV video showed a large eruption of fire and smoke from the side of the Japan Airlines plane as it taxied on a runway. The area around the wing then caught fire. Passengers were then shown leaving the aircraft via an emergency chute. Later video showed fire crews working to put out the blaze with streams of water. The flames had spread to much of the plane. An explosive fireball could then be seen with the aircraft badly damaged. There was initially no information about possible casualties. A spokesperson at JAL said the aircraft originated from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido. The airline later confirmed that 379 passengers and crew had safely evacuated. Advertisement AD Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays. Japan’s Coast Guard said it is checking reports about a collision between its aircraft and the JAL flight. It had no further details. Citing local news outlet Nippon TV, journalist Patrick Fok told Al Jazeera that the coast guard plane was in the middle of sending aid to Niigata, a city on the west coast, as part of rescue efforts following Monday’s earthquake. “This really has been a troubling two days and the start of the year for people in Japan,” he added. Alex Macheras, an aviation analyst, said it was still “very early” in terms of trying to grasp what exactly happened. “As is often the case with such incidents, what it appears [to be the case] in the first couple of minutes and hours, can be very different to what actually happened, and what we learn later in the investigation process,” he told Al Jazeera. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/2/plane-catches-fire-on-runway-at-japans-haneda-airport

Fifteen people were killed in an Israeli strike on a home in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. At least five Palestinians killed as Israeli raids continue across occupied West Bank. A Palestinian prisoner becomes the seventh to die in an Israeli jail since October 7; Palestinian groups slam the death as an “assassination”. At least 22,185 people killed and at least 57,000 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll from the October 7 attack in Israel stands at 1,139. Israel loses ‘carte blanche’ on Gaza carnage With at least 22,000 Palestinians massacred in Gaza, Israel has lost its “carte blanche” from Western allies, according to Adel Abdel Ghafar, a senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. “As scenes of carnage, displaced populations, dead children and starvation fill our screens, the tide is really shifting,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that massive pro-Palestinian rallies across Europe and the US have exerted pressure on politicians, with some European countries like Belgium changing their tone on Gaza and calling for a ceasefire, something Israel has firmly rejected. “It’s also very interesting to keep an eye on US politics given that this is an election year and Biden’s ratings are down. This will factor into his calculus in this new year.” Click here to share on social media Field executions of Palestinians ‘the act of gangs’: Ministry The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has condemned the Israeli field executions of Palestinians as “the act of gangs, not a state claiming democracy”. In a statement, it called on Israel to promptly reveal undisclosed detention facilities and give information on the identities and wellbeing of individuals captured from the Gaza Strip. “The behaviour of the [Israeli] occupation soldiers reflects the nature of instructions and facilities by the Israeli political and military levels to shoot at Palestinians, commit massacres and mass murder by bombing and starvation in the Gaza Strip for the 88th consecutive day,” the ministry said. Click here to share on social media Photos: Palestinian man loses wife, children and grandchildren in Israeli attack Palestinian man Hamada Abu Sleyma lost his wife, all his six children and two grandchildren in an Israeli attack that destroyed his house in Rafah, southern Gaza. [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Click here to share on social media Hamas targets Israeli army in Bureij refugee camp The Qassam Brigades says its fighters clashed with an Israeli force on foot from a close distance, east of Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, and “eliminated” it. Earlier, the Qassam Brigades also said that it had targeted an Israeli Merkava tank with a Yassin 105 shell east of the Bureij camp. Click At least 200 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in last 24 hours Israeli forces carried out 15 attacks and killed 207 Palestinians in the past 24 hours in Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said while adding that 338 people were also wounded. The total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since October 7 now stands at 22,185. At least 57,000 have been wounded. Additionally, more than 320 Palestinians have also been killed across the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers since October 7. A Palestinian child looks at the graves of people killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and buried inside al-Shifa Hospital grounds in Gaza City [Mohammed Hajjar/AP Photo] Click Latest casualty figures Gaza Killed: 22,185 Wounded: 57,035 Occupied West Bank Killed: 324 Wounded: 3,800 Israel Killed on October 7: 1,139 (revised down from 1,400) Soldiers killed since the ground invasion: 173 Wounded: 965 Israeli army confirms strikes in Syria and Lebanon The Israeli military has confirmed that it has struck targets in Syria and Lebanon. In a post on X, it said it struck “military infrastructure belonging to the Syrian army” and used its jets to target infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah in Lebanon. The army promised it “will continue to operate against any threat to Israel’s sovereignty”. Gaza can be divided into areas ruled by tribes or clans: Report A post-war scenario in Gaza has come to light, according to which the Israeli army could divide the coastal enclave into areas ruled by Palestinian tribes or clans rather than a single political entity, Israeli public broadcaster KAN 11 reported. According to the plan, the clans would be tasked with the civil administration of the Gaza Strip and would oversee the distribution of humanitarian aid for a temporary period. According to KAN 11, the plan was devised by the Israeli army and is expected to be presented to the war cabinet later today. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/1/2/israel-hamas-war-live-almost-22000-palestinians-killed-by-israel-in-gaza

At least 65 people were nabbed for aerial firing on New Year’s night in Karachi as 30 people got injured from stray bullets with the majority of the incidents taking place in the district central, Geo News reported Monday. According to hospital sources, women and kids also received bullet injuries on Sunday night. Meanwhile, most of the wounded were transferred to public hospitals including the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medical aid. A day earlier, Additional Inspector General Karachi Khadim Hussain Rind had banned aerial firing and warned the netizens that charges of attempted murder would be added to the first information reports filed against the violators. The firing incidents were reported in North Nazimabad, Liaquatabad C-I Area, Rizvia Society, Hussainabad, Bahadurabad, Shah Faisal Colony, Keamari, Native Jetty Bridge, Lyari, Ranchorr Line, Clifton Baldia Town, North Karachi, Sea View, Korangi, Dalmia, Gulshan-e-Iqbal 13-D, Lines Area, Mehmoodabad, PIB Colony, and Malir. A video of a woman firing a gun at a Malir farmhouse last night is also doing rounds on social media. A child was injured by a stray bullet in Korangi No 1 while four suspects were arrested in Keamari, Korangi and PIB Colony. Four people were injured in Lyari Daryabad, Ranchorr Line, Dalmia and Clifton and two others got wounded in the Gulshan’s 13-D area. 18 suspects were arrested from district central. On August 14, at least two people lost their lives while over 80 were wounded because of aerial firing in various areas of Karachi during the Independence Day celebrations this year. In view of New Year’s Eve, AIG Rind had also ordered Karachi traffic police chief DIG Iqbal Dara to arrest those driving recklessly or under the influence of alcohol, The News reported. Moreover, a ban had also been ordered on the carrying and display of weapons throughout the city, as well as directives for arresting those involved in conducting aerial firing. Source:https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1143771-karachi-police-arrest-65-violators-for-aerial-firing-on-new-year

Fierce ground fighting is ongoing in the centre of Khan Younis, reports Al Jazeera’s Wael Dahdouh, as Palestinians start 2024 sheltering from Israeli shelling. Israel says it will withdraw reservists from its Gaza ground invasion so troops can “gain strength” for future battles. The US army has attacked three Houthi boats in the Red Sea, killing at least 10 fighters. At least 21,822 people have been killed and 56,451 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll from the October 7 attack in Israel stands at 1,139. Biden faces pressure to strike Houthis inside Yemen: Report The New York Times newspaper has reported that US President Joe Biden is facing increasing pressure to directly strike the Houthi armed group in Yemen amid their continued Red Sea attacks. It said US military officials have prepared plans to strike missile and drone bases in Yemen, but the Biden administration is hesitant to use them, as it remains concerned the strikes could inadvertently benefit Iran, while also jeopardising a delicate truce between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Retired Fifth Fleet commander Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan warned in the report that if the US did not respond to the Houthi threat it would invite more attacks as enemy groups start believing that “attacking a US ship carries a low risk of retaliation”. Click here to share on social media Qassam Brigades claims staging deadly ambush against Israeli troops in Bureij Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, has said its fighters had ambushed Israel’s troops in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, claiming to have killed unidentified number of the occupation forces killed and injured. Click here to share on social media Advertisement AD 27m ago  (11:05 GMT) Three killed in Israel’s air attack on Maghazi refugee camp At least three people have been killed and several others injured after Israel’s air attack on a residential building in the Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera’s team on the ground. Click here to share on social media Iran calls on Security Council to act against Israel’s attacks on Syria Iran’s Foreign Ministry has called on the UN Security Council to take action after Israel’s killing of a top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander in Syria last week. “Through Iran’s representative office, we communicated with the UN secretary-general [Antonio Guterres] and called on the Security Council to commit to its duty of maintaining international peace and preventing regional peace from being compromised,” spokesman Nasser Kanani said in his weekly news conference. Kanani described the assassination of Razi Mousavi as a “blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and said both countries reserve the right to respond at a time of their choosing. Friendly fire killed 29 Israeli ground troops in Gaza: Army The Israeli army has confirmed that out of the 170 ground troops it says it has lost in Gaza since launching its land offensive in late October, a considerable 29 were killed in instances of friendly fire. It said in a report that two soldiers were killed by gunfire that was not intended to hit them, and nine were killed in accidents, including unintentional weapon discharges, being run over by armoured vehicles, and being hit by shrapnel from controlled demolitions. The military’s cited reasons behind the self-inflicted deaths are also interesting, and include the presence of a large number of forces operating in Gaza, communication issues between forces, and soldiers being exhausted and not paying attention to regulations. An Israeli soldier operates in the Gaza Strip [Handout/Israel army via Reuters] Click Israel claims killing of Hamas commander Adil Mismah The Israeli army has claimed to have killed Adil Mismah, a Hamas commander in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, saying he took part in the October 7 attack on southern Israel. The military also said in a statement on X that it struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City, claiming to have “located large amounts of weapons” there. It said a Palestinian group that it claimed attacked Israeli troops with mortar shells was destroyed, and a Hamas fighter launching rockets in Khan Younis was killed. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/1/1/israel-hamas-war-live-new-year-in-gaza-under-non-stop-israeli-bombardment

RAWALPINDI: In an intelligence-based operation (IBO), security forces have wiped out five terrorists in the Mir Ali area, North Waziristan, the military’s media wing said on Saturday. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a terrorist commander was also included in the slain militants who were “sent to hell”. It said security forces conducted the IBO on December 29, 2023, on the reported presence of terrorists. “During the conduct of the operation, after intense fire exchange, five terrorists, including Terrorist Commander Rahzaib aka Khuray, were sent to hell. The killed terrorists remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against security forces as well as extortion and target killings of innocent civilians. Weapons and ammunition were also recovered during the operation,” the ISPR said. The ISPR said locals of the area appreciated the operation, adding that a sanitisation operation was being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area. “The security forces are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” said the statement. Source:https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1143162-security-forces-kill-five-terrorists-in-mir-ali-ibo-ispr

At least 14 people, including two children, have been killed and 108 injured following a Ukrainian attack on the centre of the Russian provincial capital of Belgorod, the Russian Emergencies Ministry has said. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Saturday that the attack on Belgorod, about 30km (19 miles) from the border with Ukraine, had hit a residential area. In a Telegram post, he urged all residents to move to air raid shelters as sirens sounded. end of list Belgorod borders Ukraine’s Luhansk, Sumy and Kharkiv regions, some of which were hit by Russian air raids on Ukraine on Friday, in what was one of the deadliest attacks since the war began in February 2022. The death toll has risen to 39 from those attacks. Belgorod is about 600km (373 miles) from the Russian capital, Moscow, and has been a front-line region, serving as a vital base for the Kremlin’s armed forces to launch attacks towards Ukraine. Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement the attack would “not go unpunished”. The ministry said its anti-aircraft units had destroyed 13 Ukrainian rockets over the Belgorod region on Friday. And Russian forces shot down 32 Ukrainian drones across the country, Moscow officials said earlier on Saturday. Drones were seen in the skies over Moscow, Bryansk, Oryol, and Kursk regions, the ministry said in a statement. All the drones had been destroyed by air defences, it added. Advertisement AD Cities across western Russia have come under regular attack from drones since May, with Russian officials blaming Kyiv. Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the Crimean Peninsula. However, larger aerial attacks against Russia have previously followed heavy assaults on Ukrainian cities. Day of mourning Russian drone attacks against Ukraine continued on Saturday, with the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reporting that 10 Iranian-made Shahed drones had been shot down across the Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, and Mykolaiv regions. On Friday, Moscow’s forces launched more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones across Ukraine, an onslaught described by one air force official as the biggest aerial barrage of the war. The attack damaged a maternity hospital, apartment blocks, and schools, with rescuers continuing to search through the rubble. Advertisement AD “Relief operations in the aftermath of yesterday’s Russian attack continue. Almost 120 cities and villages have been affected, with hundreds of civilian objects damaged,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X on Saturday. “Russian attack affected a total of 159 people. As of now, unfortunately, there are 39 fatalities … Those injured have received all the necessary assistance,” he added. January 1 will be declared a day of mourning in Kyiv, where at least 16 people were killed, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. The United Nations Security Council criticised Russia for carrying out its massive air assault at a meeting on Friday. But Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said Moscow had “exclusively only targeted military infrastructure in Ukraine”. Fighting along the front line is largely bogged down by winter weather after Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive failed to make a significant breakthrough along the roughly 1,000km (620-mile) line of contact. Russia’s continuing aerial attacks have also generated concern among Ukraine’s neighbours. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/30/russia-says-two-children-killed-in-ukrainian-strike-on-belgorod