Source: Asharq Al-Awsat
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Saturday 11 May 2024 11:50:32
Pyongyang to Deploy New Multiple Rocket Launcher This Year
North Korea will equip its military with a new 240mm multiple rocket launcher starting this year, state media said Saturday, adding a "significant change" for the army's artillery combat capabilities was under way.
Leader Kim Jong Un on Friday oversaw a live-fire test of the "technically updated" rocket system, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said.
The announcement comes as analysts say the nuclear-armed North could be testing and ramping up production of artillery and cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine.
Pyongyang in February said it had developed a new control system for its 240mm multiple rocket launcher that would lead to a "qualitative change" in its defense capabilities, and last month executed a test-firing of new shells.
The updated rocket launcher will be "deployed to units of the Korean People's Army as replacement equipment from 2024 to 2026", KCNA said Saturday.
South Korea's defense ministry told AFP it could not confirm the Friday test launches.
But Pyongyang said eight shells had "hit point target to intensively prove the advantage and destructive power of the updated 240mm multiple rocket launcher system".
Images released by state media showed leader Kim conversing with military officials during an inspection of the launcher, as well as what appeared to be the live-fire test of the system.
The tests also proved the power of the "controllable shells for (the) multiple rocket launcher", it added.
The largely isolated country has recently bolstered military ties with Russia, and Pyongyang thanked Moscow last month for using its UN Security Council veto to block the renewal of a panel of UN experts that monitored international weapons sanctions on Kim's regime.
South Korea and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Russia, despite UN sanctions banning such a move.
KCNA said Saturday that Kim discussed ways to raise production of the new rocket launcher system and shells to "the highest level".
It also said a "significant change will be soon made in increasing the artillery combat ability of our army", without providing details.
