Another Hezbollah commander Nabil Qaouk killed in strike: Israeli military
Jerusalem, Sep 29: The Israeli military said Sunday that it killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council, was killed on Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, and it was not known where the strike took place.
If confirmed, he would be the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week, including founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades. The Israeli military said it carried out another targeted strike on Beirut later on Sunday, with details to follow.
Hezbollah meanwhile confirmed that one of the seven, Ali Karaki, died in Friday's strike that killed Nasrallah. The Israeli military had earlier said that Karaki was killed in the airstrike, which targeted an underground compound in Beirut where Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah figures were meeting.
Hezbollah has also been targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon has killed at least 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the lastest strikes. The government estimates that around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told The Associated Press.
Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. No Israelis have been killed since the latest wave of strikes on top Hezbollah leaders began on Sept. 20.
Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. He often appeared in local media, where he would comment on politics and security developments, and he gave eulogies at the funerals of senior members. The United States had announced sanctions against him in 2020.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.
Israel has responded with waves of airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.
Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
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Cong 'pocketed' Rs 150 cr per annum from Assam healthcare budget during 15 yrs of rule: Shah
Guwahati (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday alleged that the Congress, during its previous 15 years of rule in Assam, "pocketed" Rs 150 crore per annum from the state healthcare budget.
Inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for healthcare projects worth Rs 2,092 crore in Assam, Shah said the BJP works for affordable healthcare for all sections of society and lauded Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for bringing the state's medical facilities at par with states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
"Assam's healthcare was in shambles 10 years ago as Congress worked only for the financial health of its leaders' families," he said.
Attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he said that no Indian supports his acts of "defaming" the country in his bid to oppose the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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He lambasted the Congress for its "shirtless" protest at the recent AI summit in New Delhi and Gandhi for having 'chai-pakora' on the stairs of Parliament House.
"We were also in the opposition and staged protests against the government, but there is a right platform for it," he said.
"Parliament is a sacred seat of democracy. Its stairs should not be used for even dharnas. And Rahul Gandhi was having 'chai-pakora' there. Doesn't he know where to have his breakfast?" asked the Union minister.
Shah inaugurated the Rs 675-crore Pragjyotishpur Medical College and Hospital in Guwahati, at a programme held on its premises.
He also virtually inaugurated two cancer centres at Golaghat and Tinsukia, both under Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF), constructed at a cost of Rs 135 crore each.
Shah virtually laid the foundation stone for super-speciality hospitals at Diphu Medical College and Hospital (Rs 220 crore), Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (Rs 310 crore), and Barpeta Medical College and Hospital (Rs 284 crore).
The foundation stone for a Rs 218-crore Swasthya Bhawan in Guwahati, and the Abhayapuri District Hospital (Rs 115 crore) were also laid by the Union home minister.
Shah arrived here on Saturday evening on a two-day visit to Assam, his fourth visit to the northeastern state in four months.
