China urges citizens in Israel to leave 'as soon as possible'

China has urged its citizens in Israel to leave "as soon as possible", as tensions between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah escalate.

"Currently, the situation along the Israel-Lebanon border is extremely tense, with frequent military conflicts," China's embassy in Israel said in a statement on Sunday.

"The security situation in Israel remains severe, complex, and unpredictable," the statement added.

The embassy urged Chinese citizens in Israel to "return home or relocate to safer areas as soon as possible".

Israel and Hezbollah threatened on Sunday to escalate their cross-border attacks despite international calls for both sides to step back from the brink of all-out war.

An Israeli air strike in a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut Friday killed the head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil.

It came after a series of coordinated communications device blasts on Tuesday and Wednesday across Lebanon that killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000, and which were blamed on Israel.

China last month asked its citizens in Lebanon to leave after an Israeli strike in the country killed a senior Palestinian militant.

Agence France-Presse

Huge explosion rocks Beirut with widespread damage, injuries

BEIRUT (AP) — A massive explosion rocked downtown Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the port, damaging buildings and blowing out windows and doors as a giant mushroom cloud rose above the capital.

Lebanese Red Cross official Georges Kettaneh said there were dead and wounded, but did not have an exact figure, just saying there were hundreds of casualties.

A civil defense official on the scene of the blast said his men had evacuated dozens to hospitals and that there were still bodies inside the port, many of them under debris.

The cause of the blast was not immediately known.

It was stunning even for a city that has been shaken by civil war, suicide bombings and bombardment by Israel.

Dozens of ambulances ferried the injured from the port area, where the wounded lay on the ground, Associated Press staff at the scene said. Hospitals called for blood donations.




The head of the Lebanese Red Cross told local TV there were hundreds of casualties although many were superficial wounds from broken glass.

Video taken by residents showed a fire raging at the port, sending up a giant column of smoke, illuminated by flashes of what appear to be fireworks. Local TV stations reported that a fireworks warehouse was involved.

The fire then appeared to catch at a nearby building, triggering a more massive explosion, sending up a mushroom cloud and a shock wave over the city.

“It was like a nuclear explosion,” said Walid Abdo, a 43-year-old school teacher in the neighborhood of Gemayzeh near Beirut.

Charbel Haj, who works at the port, said it started as small explosions like firecrackers, then the huge blast erupted and he was thrown off his feet. His clothes were torn.

Miles from the port, balconies were knocked down, windows shattered, streets were covered with glass and bricks and lined with wrecked cars. Motorcyclists picked their way through traffic, carrying the injured.

One woman covered in blood from the waist up walked down a trashed street while talking furiously on her phone. On another street, a woman with a bloodied face looked distraught, staggering through traffic with two friends at her side.

“This country is cursed,” a young man passing by muttered.

The blast came at a time when Lebanon’s economy is facing collapse, hit both by a financial crisis and coronavirus restrictions. Many have lost jobs, while the worth of their savings has evaporated as the currency has plunged in value against the dollar. The result has thrown many into poverty.

It also comes amid rising tensions between Israel and the militant Hezbollah group along Lebanon’s southern border.

The explosion was reminiscent of massive blasts during Lebanon’s civil war and took place only three days before a U.N.-backed tribunal was set to give its verdict in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a truck bombing more than 15 years ago. That explosion, with a ton of explosives, was felt miles away, just like Tuesday’s explosion.

It was the latest chapter for a country that has suffered a 15-year civil war, repeated conflict with Israel, political assassinations and various other crises including the current unprecedented financial and economic crisis.

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AP correspondent Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report

Associated Press

Lebanon to go into 4-day closure to prevent virus spread

BEIRUT - Lebanon's government agreed on a "full closure" of the country for four days, the presidency said as the cabinet met on Tuesday to try to ward off a second wave of coronavirus infections.

The closure starts on Wednesday night.

Authorities have warned of a resurgence in recent days as the number of cases jumped to its highest point in more than a month after the government eased some lockdown restrictions. 

(Reporting by Ellen Francis; Editing by Alison Williams)

-reuters-

FIBA Asia Cup: More than #puso, nerves of steel keyed Gilas upset of China

MANILA -- Five good-vibes takeaways from the Philippines' 96-87 win over China in the FIBA Asia Cup on Wedneday.

Quick start

Coach Chot Reyes wants his teams to jump out of the gates and, given that his roster in Lebanon is already thin up front and his squad has little margin for error against the defending champions, that philosophy became more imperative against China.

Proper execution initiated by Jayson Castro, the willingness by Gilas' big men to go toe to toe with China's behemoths, and long-distance shooting led to a 7-0 start and a 26-16 advantage at one point in the first quarter.

The Filipinos would lose the lead, true, but by the time they did, the confidence Reyes and his crew had mustered while being up by double digits allowed them to keep their composure and execute well down the stretch.

Big men stood their ground

Japeth Aguilar, Raymond Almazan and Christian Standhardinger outworked and, more importantly, outsmarted China's vaunted front line. Their ability to cut to the basket and receive a pass, then take advantage of the Chinese big men's slow reaction time flummoxed the reigning title holders in the first half. It helped, too, that Aguilar and Almazan can knock down 3s.

Battling opponents bigger than he is is nothing new to Standhardinger, having had experience playing in Europe and the US.

While that fourth-quarter run will be best remembered for Terrence Romeo's heroics, it was Aguilar's constantly looming threat as a shot-blocker that prevented China from doing more damage.

Playing as a third-string center, Almazan provided quality minutes when Aguilar and Standhardinger sat out because of foul trouble. Legitimately gone are the initial jitters that seemed to have held him back in his early days as a fresh Gilas call-up this year. On Wednesday, Almazan let the game come to him on offense, hustled on defense and along the way posterized three Chinese giants.

Gabe Norwood, Swiss Army knife

The Rain Or Shine forward was a disruptive force who repeatedly got in between passing lanes en route to a game-high 3 steals to go with 3 blocks. Whether as a help defender or in a one-on-one situation, Norwood can excel in both roles because of his height. While everyone else on the roster is undersized compared with his Chinese counterpart, the 6-foot-6 Norwood matches up well with China.

Norwood's first stint with the national team, under Reyes coincidentally, came exactly 10 years ago this month in the FIBA Asia championship in Japan. From a rookie looking for his place on a star-laden team to a leader who works by example and embraces his role as mentor, Norwood has come a long way.

More than #puso, nerves of steel

It's easy to mix up which body part best depicts Gilas' character but, while #puso is the team's trademark battlecry, it was steel nerves that essentially keyed the Philippines' upset of China.

There were several instances in which China clawed its way back from double-digit deficits, but Reyes and co. found a way to keep the Chinese at bay.

When China came within 28-21 after being down by 10, the Philippines launched a 10-0 run to go up 38-21 in the second quarter. In the third, China threatened again, narrowing the gap to 59-50, before the Philippines countered with a 6-0 attack to take a 15-point lead and force China to call timeout.

Of course, Gilas' ultimate display of toughness came when the Filipinos were down 87-84. Led by Terrence Romeo, the Philippines finished off China with a 12-0 run to complete the mind-boggling victory.

It takes heart to come from behind, sure, but it requires intestinal fortitude to stave off repeated comeback tries by juggernaut China and beat the reigning champs in a closely fought game.

Terrence Romeo

This game was supposed to be how China was going to maul the smaller Filipinos, but Goliath didn't stand a chance against David and one particular 5-foot-10 Tasmanian devil of a guard.

It took a lot of faith by Reyes, a forever advocate of basketball egalitarianism, to put the ball in one man's hands down the stretch, especially since Romeo made some head-scratching decisions a few sequences prior.

But Romeo didn't disappoint going full "Mamba mentality," becoming the ultimate epitome of "wow" in arguably the most glorious 1-minute, 34-second stretch in Philippine basketball history.

The degree of difficulty of his shots, the magnitude of the stage, the urgency of the moment, and the long-standing and bitter nature of the Philippines' rivalry with China all combined to make sure that Romeo's heroics on Wednesday won't be forgotten in a long while.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

At least 40 killed in Damascus bombing targeting Shi'ites

BEIRUT/DAMASCUS — A double bomb attack targeting Shi'ite pilgrims in Damascus killed at least 40 Iraqis and wounded 120 more who were going to pray at a nearby shrine, the Iraqi foreign ministry said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's attack, which the Hezbollah-run al-Manar TV station said had been carried out by two suicide bombers.

Footage broadcast by Syrian state TV showed two badly damaged buses with their windows blown out. The area was splattered with blood and shoes were scattered on the ground.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been supported in the country's war by Shi'ite militias from countries including Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon.

The attack took place at a bus station where the pilgrims had been brought to visit the nearby Bab al-Saghir cemetery, named after one of the seven gates of the Old City of Damascus.

The second blast went off some 10 minutes after the first at around 10 a.m. local time, inflicting casualties on civil defense workers who had gathered to tend to the casualties, the Damascus correspondent for al-Manar told the station by phone.

The pilgrims were due to pray at the cemetery after visiting the Sayeda Zeinab shrine just outside Damascus, he said.

Sayeda Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammad, is venerated by Shi'ites and her shrine is a site of mass pilgrimage for Shi'ites from across the world. It has also been a magnet for Shi'ite militiamen in Syria.

Iran has backed Assad in the conflict that erupted in 2011. The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah is also fighting in support of Assad.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that reports on the war, said the number of dead was at least 44. The death toll was expected to rise due to the many serious injuries, it added.

Last June, Islamic State claimed responsibility for bomb attacks near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine. The last bomb attack in Damascus was in January, when a suicide bomber hit the heavily police Kafr Sousa neighbourhood, killing at least seven people.

(Additional reporting by Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad; Editing by Alexander Smith and Dominic Evans)

source: news.abs-cbn.com