Lebanon says next phase of Hezbollah disarmament to take around 4 months
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.
Australia rules out repatriating citizens from Syrian camp
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government will not repatriate Australians living in a Syrian camp that holds families of suspected Islamic State militants.
“We have a very firm view that we won’t be providing assistance or repatriation,” Albanese tells ABC News.
Thirty-four Australians released on Monday from a camp in northern Syria were returned to the detention centre due to “technical reasons,” two sources tell Reuters.
3 killed, including suspect, in shooting during Rhode Island youth hockey game
Three people, including the suspect, were fatally shot during a Rhode Island youth hockey game Monday, authorities say.
Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves tell reporters that three other victims are hospitalized in critical condition.
“It appears that this was a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute,” she says. Goncalves does not provide details about the suspect or the ages of those who were killed, though she says it appears that both victims were adults.
Authorities are continuing to try to piece together what happened and speak with witnesses, she says.
The shooting happened at Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, a few miles outside Providence.
Outside the arena, tearful families and high school hockey players still in uniform can be seen hugging before they boarded a bus to leave the area. Roads surrounding the arena have been shut down as a heavy police presence remained and helicopters flew overhead.
Pawtucket is nestled just north of Providence and right under the Massachusetts state border. A town of just under 80,000, Pawtucket had up until recently been known as the home to Hasbro’s headquarters.
Lebanon says next phase of Hezbollah disarmament to take around 4 months
Lebanon’s government says its army will have a four-month extendable period to implement phase two of the military’s plan to disarm Hezbollah in south Lebanon.
Lebanon’s government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, which was badly weakened in a recent war with Israel, and the military said last month that it had completed the first phase of its plan, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) further south.
Phase two covers an area north of the river.
Information Minister Paul Morcos tells a press conference after a cabinet session that the government “took note of the army leadership’s presentation” on the second stage of the plan and that “there is a timeframe of four months, extendable depending on available capabilities, Israeli attacks, and hindrances on the ground.”
Israel has cast doubts on Lebanon’s claim that it has fully disarmed Hezbollah south of the Litani, and has continued to carry out strikes on Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure in the area.
FIFA president celebrates receiving his Lebanese passport in Beirut
FIFA President Gianni Infantino receives his Lebanese passport at the Interior Ministry in Beirut, months after he was granted citizenship by the country’s president.
Infantino, who is married to Lebanese citizen Lina al-Ashkar, thanked Joseph Aoun, when he received him today, for granting him and his family Lebanese citizenship.
The meeting with Aoun took place after Infantino visited the Interior Ministry where he performed the official process of filing documents, being photographed, and having his fingerprints taken before he was handed a copy of his new blue Lebanese passport.
Infantino also has Italian and Swiss citizenship.
“I’m very proud and very happy to be here in Beirut at the Ministry of Interior to finally get my Lebanese passport,” Infantino says in a video carried by local TV stations. “I love Lebanon.”
Smotrich says he would tell his daughter not to enlist in the IDF
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the head of the Religious Zionism party, says he would tell his daughter not to serve in the IDF.
“If my daughter asked me, I would try to educate her not to go” serve in the military, Smotrich says, in response to a question from a reporter at his party’s faction meeting in the Knesset.
“The Chief Rabbinate is against this. This is the position of my rabbis,” says Smotrich. “I hope that you, these big progressives, can also respect the values of several thousand years…. And I of course respect those who think differently than I do.”
The issue of religious women serving in the IDF is a divisive one in the national religious community, where many instead undertake national service instead of enlisting, although it is also common for female graduates of religious high schools to enlist. Many major religious Zionist rabbis have spoken out against women serving in the IDF, arguing that it is not modest or appropriate.
Smotrich himself served a shortened IDF service after enlisting at age 28. He has in the past spoken out against mixed-gender combat units in the military.
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