Day: March 23, 2024

ANKARA: Lebanon said Friday that it would file an "urgent complaint" at the UN Security Council on Israel's disruption of the country's civil navigation systems. In a statement, the country's Foreign Ministry urged council members to condemn Israeli cyberattacks and to hold Tel Aviv responsible for any incident that may occur as a result of its actions. The ministry added that Israel's disruption of the navigation systems threatens aviation safety in Lebanese airspace. The Israeli side has yet to comment on the Lebanese statement. Tension has flared along the border between Lebanon and Israel amid intermittent exchanges of weapons fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, in the deadliest clashes since the two sides fought a full-scale war in 2006. The border tension comes amid an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. Source: Anadolu Agency

ANKARA: At least 72 more Palestinians were killed and 114 others injured over the last 24 hours, as Israel continues its onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, the territory's Health Ministry said on Saturday. 'The Israeli occupation (forces) committed seven massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, leaving 72 martyrs and 114 injured during the past 24 hours,' a ministry statement said. 'Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,' it added. Flouting the International Court of Justice's provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 32,142 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 74,412 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people. The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of foo d, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN. Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe. Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday condemned Friday's concert hall attack in the Russian capital Moscow. 'We condemn the terrible terrorist attack on innocent concertgoers in Moscow,' Scholz said on X. Scholz noted that his thoughts were with the relatives of the victims and all those injured. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also said they mourn with the families of the victims of the attack in Moscow. 'Innocent people who just wanted to go to a rock concert were murdered in cold blood. We condemn this cowardly inhuman terrorist attack everywhere,' Baerbock said. 'We send our condolences to the people of Russia,' she added. Gunmen opened fire at concertgoers late Friday, killing at least 115 people and injuring 145 others. The attack took place as the rock band Picnic was about to perform at the Crocus City Hall just west of Moscow. Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: The UK's Foreign Secretary David Cameron in a statement on Saturday condemned the terrorist attack targeting civilians at a concert hall in the Russian capital Moscow. Cameron said "the UK condemns in the strongest terms the deadly terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall near Moscow." 'We offer our heartfelt condolences and express our deepest sympathy to the families of the many victims,' he continued. 'Nothing can ever justify such horrific violence,' Cameron noted. Gunmen opened fire at concertgoers late Friday, killing at least 115 people and injuring 145 others. The attack took place as rock band Picnic was about to perform at the Crocus City Hall just west of Moscow. Source: Anadolu Agency

ANKARA: Trkiye 'strongly' condemned the terror attack on a concert hall in Moscow that killed at least 115 people, said the country's president on Saturday. "We express our condolences to the Russian government for the terrorist attack on a concert hall in Moscow, and we strongly condemn the attack,' President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a meeting in the Turkish capital Ankara. "As a country that knows the bloody and treacherous face of terrorism very well, Trkiye shares the pain of the Russian people," Erdogan said. Terrorism is 'unacceptable' no matter where it comes from or who the perpetrator is, he added. Gunmen opened fire at concertgoers late Friday, killing at least 115 people and injuring 145 others. The attack took place as the rock band Picnic was about to perform at the Crocus City Hall just west of Moscow. Russian authorities have arrested 11 people in connection with the attack, including four directly involved, according to the Federal Security Service. Source: Anadolu Agency

ANKARA: Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim strongly condemned the attack on civilians in Moscow and said "this utterly despicable atrocity can never be said to represent Islam or, indeed, any religion." In a statement, Ibrahim said that on behalf of the people of Malaysia he conveys his deepest sympathies and profound condolences to the victims, their families, as well as the people of Russia. "This gruesome and barbaric rampage has no place in the civilized world. The fact that the attack took place in a major concert hall, an epicenter of culture, is almost certainly by design, calculated to inflict maximum damage," he said. "Additionally, as a Muslim, I feel compelled to underscore that this utterly despicable atrocity can never be said to represent Islam or, indeed, any religion. We must therefore stand firm against allowing such wickedness and evil to eclipse the peaceful and noble teachings of the world's great faiths," said the Malaysia premier. He added that his country stands ready to work w ith all its partners, including the Russian Federation, in their common struggle against terrorism. Gunmen opened fire at concertgoers late Friday, killing at least 115 people and injuring 145 others. The attack took place as rock band Picnic was about to perform at the Crocus City Hall just west of Moscow. Source: Anadolu Agency

MOSCOW: Maria Vasilevskaya has become the first Belarusian woman cosmonaut who flew into outer space as she is on a crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday. A Soyuz MS-25 crewed spacecraft started its journey to the ISS from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome with Vasilevskaya, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, and US astronaut Tracy Dyson aboard. The spacecraft is expected to arrive at the ISS on March 25. At the ISS, Vasilevskaya plans to carry out five scientific studies and two public works in the fields of medicine, biology, physiology, and remote sounding of the Earth. Vasilevaskaya is a former flight attendant for Belarusian national air carrier Belavia Airlines. Source: Anadolu Agency

ANKARA: The Israeli army on Saturday said the number of Palestinians killed in raids and attacks around the Gaza Strip's Al-Shifa Hospital rose to 170. The military in a statement on X said the Israeli army and Shin Bet security forces continue "targeted fighting" in the area while "avoiding harm to civilians, patients, medical teams and medical equipment.' Troops killed about 170 Palestinians and arrested more than 800 'suspects,' the statement said, claiming to have recovered weapons as well. The Israeli army has been carrying out an offensive in the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital since Monday, putting the lives of thousands of patients and displaced Palestinians in danger. Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Palestinian group Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed. More than 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and around 74,300 others injured besides causing mass destruction, displ acement and shortage of necessities. Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: Pakistan's Embassy in Ankara marked the country's republic day on Saturday. Pakistan's Ambassador Yousaf Junaid hoisted the national flag as the country's national anthem played in the background. Special messages from Pakistan's president and prime minister were read out. Emphasizing the "historical significance of Pakistan Day," Junaid said that it "served as a reminder of the great sacrifices made by the founding fathers to establish an independent homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent." "We must reaffirm our resolve to make Pakistan a trivet of peace, progress and human dignity," he added. Highlighting the longstanding "fraternal ties between Pakistan and Trkiye", he thanked the "Turkish leadership and people for sending congratulatory messages and joining Pakistan Day celebrations by illuminating bridges on the Bosphorus linking Asia with Europe in the color of Pakistan's flag." The day commemorates the Pakistan Resolution on March 23, 1940, at a summit of Muslim leaders in Lahore city in which the subcontinent's Muslim leaders set the agenda for a separate homeland for Muslims. Seven years after the Pakistan Resolution was adopted, Pakistan became an independent and sovereign state on August 14, 1947, under Muhammad Ali Jinnah's leadership, popular as Quaid-e-Azam or the great leader. On March 23, 1956, the country also adopted its first constitution, making Pakistan the world's first Islamic republic. Source: Anadolu Agency