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Israel calls for harsh response to attack on Israeli-operated ship
off Oman, blames ‘terrorism exporter’ Iran
30 Jul, 2021 19:49
FILE PHOTO. An oil tanker pictured in Assaluyeh seaport at the Persian Gulf. © Reuters / Morteza Nikoubazl
Israel has squarely blamed Iran for an attack this week on an Israeli-operated tanker off Oman, urging the international community to come up with a harsh response to the incident, which killed at least two of the vessel’s crew.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid laid the blame for the incident on Tehran after discussing the attack with his British counterpart Dominic Raab late on Friday. Lapid told Raab the world needs to come up with a strong response.
“Iran is not just an Israeli problem, but an exporter of terrorism, destruction and instability that harms us all. The world must not be silent in the face of Iranian terrorism that also harms freedom of shipping,” Lapid said in a statement.
The Liberian-flagged tanker Mercer Street, operated by the Israel-based Zodiac Maritime company, came under attack late on Thursday. Initially reported as a piracy incident, the assault killed two crewmembers – a British and a Romanian national.
It remains unclear what exactly happened to the vessel, though Israeli media, citing unnamed senior officials, reported that it was attacked by drones.
Iran has remained silent on the incident, neither denying nor confirming any involvement. Tehran-based Arabic-language broadcaster al Alam TV, however, cited “sources in the resistance axis” to report that the strike on the Israeli-managed ship was a response to recent strikes on Dabaa airfield in Syria, used both by Syria’s military and by its ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement.
Four injured in shooting and stabbing in Berlin car park,
German police mount major operation – reports
30 Jul, 2021 17:45
At least four people have been injured in a knife and gun attack in the Wedding neighborhood of Berlin, police told reporters. German media said officers and fire services mounted large scale operations in response.
The shooting reportedly occurred on Thursday in a hardware store car park near Kurt-Schumacher-Platz.
Fire department officials quoted by local outlet Berliner Zeitung said that three men and one woman were injured in the incident, with all four receiving medical treatment at the scene before being taken to hospital.
Police told RIA Novosti that three of the victims were seriously injured, having sustained knife and gunshot wounds.
The perpetrator has apparently fled the scene. Local law enforcement has called for any eyewitnesses to come forward.
250+ Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli forces
during protest against illegal West Bank settlements
30 Jul, 2021 22:22
Palestinians run for cover during clashes near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, July 30, 2021.
© Reuters / Mussa Qawasma
Around 270 Palestinians were injured in the occupied West Bank as they clashed with Israeli troops, who fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets into crowds protesting Israeli settlements.
Hundreds of Palestinans gathered on Friday in the town of Beit Ummar, located northwest of Hebron, to mourn the death of a protester killed by the Israeli military a day before.
Shawkat Awad, 20, was shot in the head and abdomen on Thursday during clashes that erupted after the funeral of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli troops earlier in the week. The mourners carried Awad’s body through the town, with the funeral procession spiraling into new clashes with Israeli soldiers.
Footage from the scene showed several Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli armored vehicles, in addition to what appeared to be a small petrol bomb, while the military deployed tear gas and fired riot control rounds into the crowd.
Clashes also erupted at the village of Beita near Nablus in the northern West Bank. The town has seen numerous protests since May, when illegal Israeli settlers moved in and started setting up homes and building a road on a disputed stretch of land.
Images circulating online showed dozens of Palestinians hurling rocks at the Israeli military as burning tires let off thick clouds of black smoke, apparently an effort to conceal themselves from the Israeli troops seen shooting at protesters.
The clashes left around 270 Palestinians injured across the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. While the majority of the victims were exposed to tear gas, around 50 were injured by supposedly ‘less-lethal’ rubber-coated bullets, while another seven reportedly suffered wounds as result of live fire, the Red Crescent told AFP.
Fulani herders kill kidnapped pastor; behead father, 7-year-old son
By Anugrah Kumar,
Christian Post Contributor|
Saturday, July 31, 2021
January 11, 2018. | REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
Fulani herdsmen beheaded a Christian man and his 7-year-old son and killed a pastor they had kidnapped two weeks earlier in two separate attacks in northern Nigeria, according to reports.
Thomas Wollo, 46, and his 7-year-old son, Nggwe Thomas, were beheaded by herdsmen close to their home in Tafigana village in Plateau state’s Bassa Local Government Area as they were returning from choir practice at about 8:50 p.m. on Sunday, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern reported.
Zongo Lawrence, the spokesman for Miango Youth Development Association, was quoted as saying that the herdsmen destroyed a large part of farmland in a nearby village after the attack.
“Seventeen of our people have been killed by Fulani herdsmen this year. The international community should come to our aid; we are under heavy siege,” Lawrence said.
In Kogi State last Thursday, the Rev. Danlami Yakwoi of the Evangelical Church Winning All died in captivity after being tortured by Fulani herdsmen, Morning Star News reported.
Yakwoi had been kidnapped along with two of his sons and a nephew in Tawari area on July 12, church secretary Musa Shekwolo was quoted as saying.
The news of the pastor’s death came after one of his children who was kidnapped was released.
Yakwoi’s family paid a ransom for the release of his son, Shekwolo said.
ICC designates Fulani radicals as the fourth-deadliest terror group globally, which has surpassed the Boko Haram terrorist group as the greatest threat to Nigerian Christians.
“Many believe that the attacks are motivated by jihadist Fulanis' desire to take over farmland and impose Islam on the population and are frustrated with the Muslim-dominated government that is believed to be enabling such atrocities,” ICC warned in May.
The Anambra-based International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law estimated in May that as many as 1,470 Christians were killed in Nigeria during the first four months of 2021, the highest estimate in the first four months of any year since 2014. The number also surpasses the estimated number of Christians killed in 2019. The report estimated that as many as 300 people had been killed in Kaduna in the first four months of 2021.
In the first four months of this year, the organization estimates that at least 2,200 Christians were abducted. Kaduna state recorded the highest number of abductions at 800.
The Global Terrorism Index ranked Nigeria as the third-most affected country by terrorism and reported over 22,000 deaths by acts of terror from 2001 to 2019.
Advocates, including U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Commissioner Gay Bauer, have warned that Nigeria “will move relentlessly toward a Christian genocide” if action is not taken. The U.S. State Department recognizes Nigeria as a "country of particular concern" for tolerating or engaging in severe violations of religious freedom.
Islamic extremism, notably carried out by groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province in northeast Nigeria, has led to thousands of deaths and millions displaced in recent years.
And yet, what has the State Dep't done?
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