Maduro exhorts Venezuela military to fight 'any coup plotter'
Caracas: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday called on the armed forces to oppose "any coup plotter" after a military uprising in support of opposition leader Juan Guaido fizzled out, and subsequent street clashes left four protesters dead.
On Tuesday, Guaido -- who has been recognized by more than 50 countries as the crisis-wracked country's interim president -- urged the armed forces to rise up against the embattled leader.
A small group heeded the call, but the movement failed to ignite -- the military leadership ratified their support for the government, and Maduro is standing his ground despite international pressure.
"Yes, we are in combat -- keep morale high in this fight to disarm any traitor, any coup plotter," Maduro said Thursday at a televised event with the military high command, at which he was surrounded by soldiers.
"No one can be afraid -- it is the hour to defend our right to peace," he said at a ceremony attended by 4,500 military personnel, according to the government.
Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino said: "We've come to ratify our loyalty ... to the supreme commander of the armed forces, who is our only president, President Nicolas Maduro."
The failed uprising sparked two days of protests against the government in which four people were killed, including two teenagers who died of their injuries on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Venezuela's supreme court ordered the re-arrest of influential opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez -- who made a dramatic appearance alongside Guaido on Tuesday after he was freed from house arrest. Lopez has since taken refuge at the Spanish embassy.
The 48-year-old Lopez was a prominent opposition leader in 2014 when he was imprisoned after calling for protests against Maduro. He was transferred to house arrest in 2017.
In Washington, US President Donald Trump offered prayers at a White House service for "the people of Venezuela in their righteous struggle for freedom." "The brutal repression of the Venezuelan people must end, and it must end soon," he warned.
Opposition lawmakers and family members announced Thursday that two teenage protesters had succumbed to injuries sustained in the anti-government protests.
Yoifre Hernandez, 14, was hit by gunfire during Wednesday's clashes in Caracas, while 16-year-old Yosner Graterol suffered a gunshot wound during unrest in the northern town of La Victoria on Tuesday, lawmakers and relatives said.
Jurubith Rausseo, 27, died Wednesday after being shot in the head, the non-governmental Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict said on Twitter. Another person was killed in the northern state of Aragua on Tuesday. Human rights organizations and health services reported that dozens of people were hurt on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The government said more than 150 people were arrested on Tuesday. So far, 25 rebel soldiers have sought asylum at the Brazilian embassy.
Speaking from the Spanish ambassador's residence, Lopez said the small rebellion on Tuesday would eventually lead to the end of Maduro's "dictatorship." "It's a crack that will become a bigger crack ... that will end up breaking the dam," said Lopez. Madrid said it would not hand over Lopez to Venezuelan authorities, nor would it ask him to leave.
Tensions in Venezuela have soared since Guaido, who heads the national legislature, invoked the constitution to declare himself acting president on January 23, claiming Maduro's re-election last year was illegitimate.
The country has suffered five years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities as well as failing public services, including water, electricity and transport.
On both Tuesday and Wednesday, security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at stone-throwing protesters. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned Venezuela's authorities not to use deadly force against demonstrators, while the US and Russia accused each other of making the crisis worse, evoking their Cold War-era confrontations.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are to discuss Venezuela when they meet in Finland next week, a US official said.
"We're going to remain in the streets until we achieve freedom for the Venezuelan people," Guaido told his supporters in Caracas on Wednesday. Pro-Maduro groups also marched through the capital on May Day.
Padrino has described Guaido's moves as "child's play." The International Contact Group of 13 countries -- including Britain, France, Germany and Maduro's ally Bolivia -- announced a meeting in Costa Rica on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the latest flare-up in Venezuela's simmering crisis.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
