Iraqi military say it is investigating the cause of explosion at Kalso military base
The Iraqi military said a technical committee was looking into the cause of an explosion and fire at the Kalso military base, which it said happened at 1am on Saturday (10pm GMT/11pm BST Friday), reports Reuters.
A huge blast at the military base in Iraq early on Saturday killed a member of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) and injured eight others, according to a ministry of interior official (see 08:47 BST). Per Reuters, the force commander said it was an attack while the army said it was investigating and there were no warplanes in the sky at the time.
Two security sources had said earlier that an airstrike caused the blast at Kalso military base about 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad.
According to Reuters, the PMF said in a statement that its chief of staff Abdul Aziz al-Mohammedawi had visited the location and “reviewed the details of the investigative committees present in the place that was attacked”.
“The air defence command report confirmed, through technical efforts and radar detection, that there was no drone or fighter jet in the airspace of Babil before and during the explosion,” the military said in a statement.
We are aware of reports claiming that the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq today. Those reports are not true. The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 20, 2024
The US military’s Central Command (Centcom), in a post on X early on Saturday, denied what it said were reports that the US had carried out airstrikes in Iraq.
Key events
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi on Saturday said efforts to admit a Palestinian state into the United Nations were a move to rectify a prolonged injustice, Reuters reports citing state media Xinhua.
He made the comments at a joint press conference with his Papua New Guinea counterpart during a visit to country, says the report.
The US on Thursday effectively stopped the UN from recognising a Palestinian state by casting a veto in the security council to deny Palestinians full membership of the world body.
Washington’s position is that the emergence of a Palestinian state had to be the outcome of negotiations on all aspects of a Middle East peace settlement.
“A prompt admission of Palestine into the United Nations is a move to rectify a prolonged historical injustice,” Xinhua quoted Wang as saying.
The Guardian and Observer’s foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall writes that “a grim precedent has been struck” after Israel and Iran have broken their “fragile truce”.
Following what he described as Israel’s “surprisingly limited” retaliation toward Iran and Iran’s downplaying of Friday’s air attacks, he writes:
It would be foolish to assume this is the end of the matter. Visceral hostility, political and ideological, still separates the two enemies. Both governments are beset by internal divisions that feed unpredictability and provocation. And a grim precedent has been struck. A Pandora’s box of head-to-head, one-on-one confrontation has sprung open.
The years-long shadow war waged by the two countries has been exposed to plain daylight, for all to see. Iran could strike back afresh at any time, directly or indirectly. Israel, which showed on Friday that it can hit Iran’s nuclear facilities if it chooses, could decide to go again, and more often. Next time may be much worse.
At least four Palestinians killed in an Israeli military raid in occupied West Bank
Tension has also been high in the occupied West Bank, where an Israeli military raid on Friday in the Nur Shams refugee camp killed at least four Palestinians, including three militants, according to the Israeli military, Palestinian health officials and a militant group, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Palestinian health authorities said one of those killed was a 15-year-old boy shot dead by Israeli fire. The Islamic Jihad militant group confirmed the deaths of three members, including one who it said was a local military commander. The Israeli military said four Israeli soldiers were slightly injured in the operation.
Saraya al-Quds, the military arm of Islamic Jihad, said its fighters had engaged in heavy gun battles on Saturday morning with Israeli forces in the town of Tulkarem, adjacent to Nur Shams. No further details were immediately available, reports the AP.
The news agency also said that residents in Tulkarem went on a general strike on Saturday to protest against the attack on Nur Shams, with shops, restaurants and government offices all closed.
Since the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel, more than 460 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, Palestinian health officials say.
Further to the report earlier that an Israeli airstrike on a house in Rafah killed at least nine people (see 10:29 BST), hospital authorities in Gaza have said that six of those killed were children.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that the strike late on Friday hit a residential building in the western Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood of the city of Rafah, according to Gaza’s civil defence. The bodies of the six children, two women and a man were taken to Rafah’s Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital, the hospital’s records showed, said the AP.
The AP reports that at the hospital, relatives cried and hugged the bodies of the children, wrapped in white shrouds, as others comforted them.
The fatalities included Abdel-Fattah Sobhi Radwan, his wife, Najlaa Ahmed Aweidah, and their three children, his brother-in-law Ahmed Barhoum told the AP. Barhoum also lost his wife, Rawan Radwan, and their 5-year-old daughter Alaa.
“This is a world devoid of all human values and morals,” Barhoum told the AP on Saturday morning, crying as he cradled and gently rocked the body of Alaa in his arms. “They bombed a house full of displaced people, women and children. There were no martyrs but women and children.”
No deaths were registered from a second overnight strike in the city, the news agency said.
The Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said on Saturday that the bodies of 37 people killed by Israeli strikes were brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 68 people that were injured, it said.
Pro-Israel groups are pumping millions into this year’s heated US congressional races, singling out progressives who have voiced criticism of the Israeli government and its relentless campaign in Gaza.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) is betting that $100m will be enough to fight back a wave of progressive dissent over Israel’s war in Gaza this election cycle. After investing heavily in the 2022 midterms, Aipac is now doubling down on its electoral efforts.
Aipac and other pro-Israel groups, such as Democratic Majority for Israel, have already identified some high-profile targets in this year’s congressional elections – including the New York congressman Jamaal Bowman and the Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush.
You can read more of this report by Joan E Greve, Alice Herman and Will Craft here:
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan said he addressed the “grave situation” in Gaza and how to step up humanitarian aid to the Israeli-besieged territory with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry during a meeting on Saturday in Istanbul.
“We have discussed what more we can do to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, and what can be done in the long run for a two-state solution,” Fidan told a joint news conference with Shoukry, according to Reuters.
Commenting on Iran-Israel tensions, Egypt’s foreign minister said: “We are concerned about ongoing escalation in the region. We have called on both parties to exercise restraint.”
On the same topic, Fidan said: “Our first priority should be ending Israel’s occupation in Palestine and a two-state solution.”
Shoukry also said that Egypt is to host a Turkish delegation to prepare for the Egyptian president visiting Turkey in the near future.
Iraqi military say it is investigating the cause of explosion at Kalso military base
The Iraqi military said a technical committee was looking into the cause of an explosion and fire at the Kalso military base, which it said happened at 1am on Saturday (10pm GMT/11pm BST Friday), reports Reuters.
A huge blast at the military base in Iraq early on Saturday killed a member of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) and injured eight others, according to a ministry of interior official (see 08:47 BST). Per Reuters, the force commander said it was an attack while the army said it was investigating and there were no warplanes in the sky at the time.
Two security sources had said earlier that an airstrike caused the blast at Kalso military base about 50 km (30 miles) south of Baghdad.
According to Reuters, the PMF said in a statement that its chief of staff Abdul Aziz al-Mohammedawi had visited the location and “reviewed the details of the investigative committees present in the place that was attacked”.
“The air defence command report confirmed, through technical efforts and radar detection, that there was no drone or fighter jet in the airspace of Babil before and during the explosion,” the military said in a statement.
We are aware of reports claiming that the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq today. Those reports are not true. The United States has not conducted air strikes in Iraq today.
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 20, 2024
The US military’s Central Command (Centcom), in a post on X early on Saturday, denied what it said were reports that the US had carried out airstrikes in Iraq.
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh will meet Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday with Middle East tensions at a high after Israel’s reported attack on Iran and Gaza bracing for a new Israeli offensive, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
AFP writes that Erdoğan has sought but failed to establish a foothold as a mediator in the Palestinian conflict and has remained discreet about his meetings with the Hamas head.
“We will keep the agenda between us and Mr Haniyeh,” Erdoğan said when questioned by journalists on Friday.
AFP reports that an official source said the pair would meet at the Dolmabahçe Palace on the banks of the Bosphorus at 2pm (11am GMT/12pm BST). Hamas meanwhile said in a statement that the war in Gaza would figure in the talks.
With Qatar saying it will reassess its role as a mediator between Hamas and Israel, Erdoğan sent Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan to Doha on Wednesday in a new sign that he wants a role, says AFP. Fidan will on Saturday hold talks with Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry.
“Even if only I, Tayyip Erdoğan, remain, I will continue as long as God gives me my life, to defend the Palestinian struggle and to be the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people,” the president said on Wednesday when he announced Haniyeh’s visit.
Haniyeh has not met Erdoğan since he and Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas held talks with the Turkish president in July 2023.
At least nine killed in strikes on Rafah, says Gaza health ministry
At least nine people have been killed and several others injured in strikes on Rafah in southern Gaza, reports the BBC citing the Hamas-run health ministry.
According to the BBC’s reports, “Israeli planes and tanks pounded several parts of the territory overnight” and the health ministry said that one strike had hit a residential building in Rafah.
It also reports that airstrikes have reportedly hit the al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
Explosion at military base was the result of an attack – Iraqi officials
Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces said on Saturday that the explosion which took place at its command post at Kalso military base was the result of an attack, reports Reuters.
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires:
Also, this piece by Peter Beaumont explains more about the Iranian city of Isfahan, which is home to the country’s nuclear facilities: