The war between Hamas and IsraelDossierThe essential information on the war between Hamas and Israel from this Tuesday, January 16th.
Review of the news surrounding the war in the Middle East this Tuesday, January 16th.
The south of the Gaza Strip is under fire from Israel. The Israeli army shelled southern Gaza on Tuesday, a day after Israel announced an early end to the “intense” phase of fighting against Hamas. In the morning there were explosions and artillery fire in the south. During the night, the Israeli army bombed the Khan Younes sector, the epicenter of its operations for weeks. Its troops also attacked around a hundred rocket launch sites in Beit Lahia in the north, killing “dozens of terrorists,” she said on Tuesday. According to the Israeli authorities, rockets were also fired from Gaza towards southern Israel on Tuesday morning without causing any injuries. They were mostly intercepted by the missile defense system above Ofakim.
South Lebanon is also under Israeli bombardment. The Israeli army carried out daytime attacks on a valley in southern Lebanon in what a local official and a security source said were the fiercest in the region since cross-border violence began. “Israeli forces carried out more than 14 raids against Wadi Slouqi,” explains this source on condition of anonymity. Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, there have been daily exchanges of fire on the Israeli-Lebanese border between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Iran fires missiles into Iraq and Syria. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said early Tuesday that it had fired multiple volleys of ballistic missiles at “terrorist” targets in Iraq and Syria, killing at least “four civilians” in Iraqi Kurdistan, according to local authorities in the autonomous region. According to the State Department, Iran justified the missile strikes as “a targeted operation” consistent with the country's “legitimate rights” to “defend its security.” Iran's official Irna news agency said ballistic missiles had destroyed “a headquarters” from which Israeli intelligence services operated, but they did not immediately respond to the allegations. Iraq, in turn, condemned “aggression” against its sovereignty.
New Houthis ship attacked off Yemen. A Greek bulk carrier was hit by a missile, private shipping risk firm Ambrey said on Tuesday, a day after a similar attack on an American ship that Yemen's Houthi rebels blamed. The Maltese-flagged ship “was hit by a missile while crossing the southern Red Sea heading north,” northwest of the Yemeni town of Saleef, Ambrey said, adding that the bulk carrier continued on its path. Britain's maritime safety agency UKMTO reported an “incident” northwest of the Yemeni city of Saleef, without giving details. According to Ambrey, the bulk carrier was heading to the Suez Canal. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack late in the day. That ship and others in the same fleet have been stopped in Israel since Oct. 7, the private maritime risk company said.
EU puts Hamas leader on its “terrorist list”. The European Union has added Yahya Sinouar, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza, to its “terrorist” list. Following this decision of the Twenty-Seven, the company will be subject to a sanctions regime that provides for the freezing of funds and financial assets that it holds in the EU and a ban on any European operator from financing them. Yahya Sinouar, 61, believed to be the perpetrator of this attack and described by the Israeli army as “dying on borrowed time,” shrouds his movements in great secrecy and has not appeared in public since October.