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IDF completing preparations for ‘attack from air, sea, land’

Hanegbi says that in a recent cabinet meeting, the government approved a plan to “destroy” Hamas, as stated by the prime minister and defense minister…reports Asian Lite News

As the Israel-Palestine conflict enters its eighth day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it is completing preparations for a “significant ground operation” in the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reported.

The IDF statement says it is readying to “expand the offensive” by implementing a “wide range of offensive operational plans” which it says include a “joint and coordinated attack from the air, sea and land.”

The IDF said it is finalizing the draft of hundreds of thousands of reservists, as the logistics directorate is working to provide troops with all the equipment they will need for the ground offensive.

It said: “In recent days, the tools required for combat have been transferred to the assembly areas, and at this stage, the various units of the Technological and Logistics Directorate are working to complete the qualification of the tools and equipping them with advanced combat means, as needed.”

“IDF battalions and soldiers are deployed all over the country and are prepared to increase readiness for the next stages of the war, with an emphasis on a significant ground operation,” the military added, according to The Times of Israel.

The military is expected to launch a ground invasion in the Gaza Strip, but its extent and when it is carried out may be affected by operational considerations, as tensions grow on the northern border.

Meanwhile, Israel’s National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi has reaffirmed that the cabinet’s war goal is to remove Hamas from military and political control over the Gaza Strip.

Hanegbi, however, declined to elaborate on planned next steps for the coastal enclave.

When asked about Israeli plans for alternative control, or return to occupation, of the Gaza Strip, Hanegbi told The Times of Israel, “We can’t report through you to the enemy on what is coming, we can tell Hamas that it is prohibited for it to be sovereign in Gaza.”

Hanegbi says that in a recent cabinet meeting, the government approved a plan to “destroy” Hamas, as stated by the prime minister and defense minister.

“Hamas will not be the ruler, the sovereign in Gaza after the combat,” he says, as per The Times of Israel. Earlier on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is ready with its fighters in the Gaza Strip at the front line.

“With our fighters in the Gaza Strip, on the front line. We are all ready,” Netanyahu wrote on ‘X’ on Saturday. Netanyahu toured Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Azza, two of the worst-hit Gaza border communities in last week’s Hamas onslaught, his office announced, The Times of Israel reported.

As per a statement, Netanyahu “walked between the ruins of the houses where these terrible massacres took place.” The prime minister was briefed by the IDF officers there, including the head of the paratrooper battalion.

The visit comes as Netanyahu’s first visit to the scene, more than a week after the attack that saw more than 1,300 Israelis killed, most of them civilians, as waves of Hamas terrorists breached the border. Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has said that upon receiving the report of wounded following the infiltration of terrorists in Zikim, the soldiers of Unit 669 were rushed to the field.

“The forces worked to rescue the wounded under fire and mortar fire. Since the beginning of the fighting, Unit 669 rescued about 200 wounded in about 45 rescues,” the IAF wrote on ‘X’.

In the wake of Israel Hamas war in the Gaza Strip which claimed the loss of thousands of lives on both sides including civilians, an agreement has been reached under which Israel will allow foreigners to leave the war-torn Gaza, Times of Israel reported on Saturday.

Egypt, Israel and the United States have agreed to allow foreigners residing in Gaza to pass through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, under which Israel agreed to refrain from striking areas the foreigners would pass through on their way out of the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli publication added that Qatar was involved in the negotiations and the participants received approval from the Palestinian terror groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

ALSO READ-OIC calls for urgent, extraordinary meet on Israel-Gaza

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China urges Philippines to ease South China Sea tensions

Car Nicobar: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) seized contraband drugs worth Rs 300 crore from a Myanmar ship in the Indian Ocean region. According to the ICG officials, the cargo was suspected to be part of a larger drug networking cartel operating in the Indian Ocean region. The massive drug seizure was made on September 19 by ICG ship Rajveer near the Car Nicobar Islands of India. (Photo: IANS)

The Chinese Foreign Minister’s comments come amid rising bilateral tensions over the location of a grounded warship that serves as a military outpost in the contentious waters…reports Asian Lite News

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged the Philippines to work with China to seek an effective way to defuse tensions in the South China Sea. Wang’s remarks came during a visit to Singapore and Malaysia which took place on Thursday and Friday.

China has repeatedly expressed its willingness to resolve differences with the Philippines through bilateral dialogue, hoping that the Philippine side would abide by a consensus reached in the past, Wang said.

The comments come amid rising tensions between the two countries over the location of a grounded warship that serves as a military outpost in the South China Sea.

The Philippines intentionally grounded the World War Two-era warship Sierra Madre in 1999 as part of its sovereignty claim to the Second Thomas Shoal, which lies within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and rotates a handful of troops through the ship.

Manila won an international arbitration award in 2016 against China’s claim over almost all of the South China Sea, after a tribunal ruled Beijing’s sweeping claim had no legal basis, including at the Second Thomas Shoal.

China, which does not recognise the ruling, has built militarised, man-made islands in the South China Sea and its claim of historic sovereignty overlaps with the EEZs of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

Concern over stand-off

Global concerns are rising over a territorial dispute between China and the US- aligned Philippines on a grounded warship situated in the South China Sea. On Saturday, the Philippine military accused Beijing of breaking international law by using a water cannon against its warship near the Spratly Islands and blocking vessels carrying food, water, fuel and other supplies.

While the Chinese Foreign Ministry defended the actions with claims that Manila was bringing construction materials into the vessel, Manila called Beijing’s tactics as ‘excessive and dangerous’.

Jonathan Malaya, a senior official of Philippine National Security Council, reiterated that Manila will “never abandon our post in Ayungin Shoal” or the Second Thomas Shoal.

While the Spratly Islands are a collection of islands and other marine features such as reefs, banks and more, the Second Thomas Shoal is an atoll — a ring-shaped coral reef — in the Spratly Islands located in the South China Sea.

China stated action was taken after the Philippines “repeatedly ignored” demands to remove the grounded World War II ship from the South China Sea, which Beijing claims is under its expansive control. It also accused Manila of trying to “permanently occupy” the Ren’ai Reef, the Chinese term for the Second Thomas Shoal.

In response, the Philippine Foreign Ministry Tuesday observed that the “permanent station” at the atoll was in response to China’s “illegal occupation” of the Mischief Reef in 1995. Mischief Reef is located roughly 250 km from the Philippines’ Palawan Island and about 1,000 km from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.

The grounded warship BRP Sierra Madre is currently under the commission of the Philippine Navy and is used as a makeshift military base. It has been at the centre of the conflict between Beijing and Manila after it was intentionally grounded in the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 to function as a military post in the region.

India calls for peace

Referring to the recent incident of water cannon being used at Philippines supply boat by Chinese coast guard ship, India on Friday said that issues in the South China Sea need to be resolved peacefully while urging China and the Philippines to adhere to international laws.

“Let me emphasize where we are on the South China Sea developments. We’ve always felt that the issues need to be resolved, disputes peacefully, and the rules-based order, and we would certainly urge parties to follow that as well as ensure that no such incidents do not happen,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said when asked whether the tension between China and Philippinesis concerning India.

He further stated, “I mentioned specifically that I have already made a comment regarding the need to adhere to international law. I think I’d leave it at that.”

The “excessive and offensive” use of a water cannon by Chinese ship to block a Filipino supply boat occured at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.

He reiterated that India has a long-standing position on the disputes regarding South China Sea as parties need to adhere to international laws.

“We have also underlined the need for peaceful settlement of disputes,” he added.

On August 5, the Philippines accused Chinese Coast Guard ships of firing water cannons and making dangerous manoeuvres at its ships in the South China Sea.

“The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) strongly condemns the China Coast Guard’s (CCG) dangerous manoeuvres and illegal use of water cannons against PCG vessels,” the PCG wrote in a statement shared on its official Facebook account Saturday.

PCG vessels were escorting ships carrying supplies to military troops stationed in Ayungin Shoal, also known as Second Thomas Shoal, in the Spratly Islands chain, known in China as the Nansha Islands.

ALSO READ-India urges peace in South China Sea

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Environment India News

2022 Arctic winter sea ice 10th-lowest on record

NASA’s analysis also shows the Arctic is warming about three times faster than other regions…reports Asian Lite News

Arctic sea ice appeared to have hit its annual maximum extent on February 25 after growing through the fall and winter – the 10th-lowest in the satellite record maintained by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, one of NASA’s Distributed Active Archive Centres.

The Arctic sea ice extent peaked at 14.88 million square kilometres on February 25 – earlier than usual – and was roughly 770,000 square kilometres below the 1981-2010 average maximum. This maximum ties with 2015 as the third earliest on record.

NASA’s analysis also shows the Arctic is warming about three times faster than other regions.

Sea ice waxes and wanes with the seasons every year. In the Arctic, it reaches its maximum extent around March after growing through the colder months, and shrinks to its minimum extent in September after melting through the warmer months. In the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctic sea ice follows an opposite cycle, NASA said.

To estimate sea ice extent, satellite sensors gather sea ice data that are processed into daily images, each image grid cell spanning an area of roughly 25 kilometres by 25 kilometres. Scientists then use these images to estimate the extent of the ocean where sea ice covers at least 15 per cent of the water.

Since satellites began reliably tracking sea ice in 1979, maximum extents in the Arctic have declined at a pace of about 13 per cent per decade, with minimum extents declining at about 2.7 per cent per decade. These trends are linked to warming caused by human activities such as emitting carbon dioxide, which traps heat in the atmosphere and causes temperatures to rise.

NASA’s analysis follows reports earlier this week that both the Earth’s poles – Arctic and Antarctic – are undergoing ‘freakish’ heat waves – with parts of the Arctic more than 30 degrees Celsius warmer than average.

The space agency confirmed that Antarctic sea ice also dropped to a record-low minimum extent in February. But unlike in the Arctic, this sea ice has shown irregular ups and downs mainly because of the geographical features that surround it. Winds and ocean currents specifically linked to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica have a strong influence on sea ice extent.

Sea ice in the Arctic is surrounded by land, whereas sea ice in the Antarctic is surrounded only by ocean and can thus spread out more freely. Overall, the Antarctic sea ice record shows a slightly upward – but nearly flat – trend or increase.

Gains in Antarctic sea ice are not large enough to offset the losses of the Arctic. The ice in both regions helps regulate global temperatures. Even if Antarctica gains balanced sea ice levels globally, Arctic sea ice losses could still contribute to further regional and global warming, the analysis showed.

Dire warning for Great Barrier Reef

Targeting net zero by 2050 wouldn’t be enough to slow the rising ocean temperatures to protect the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), a new report from Australia’s Climate Council said on Monday.

The report, released by the climate change communications organisation, said if emissions continue at the current pace, coral bleaching could occur every two years by 2034 and annually by 2044.

“Already at around 1.1 degrees of global warming, we see tropical coral reefs suffering an enormous amount of damage,” research director at the Climate Council and one of the authors of the report, said Simon Bradshaw.

“The Great Barrier Reef has had massive bleaching events a number of times now in close succession, with very little time for the reef to recover. If warming rises to over 1.5 degrees, then it may be impossible for tropical coral reefs to survive,” he said.

“It’s definitely too late to get to the actions we take now this year through the 2020s.”

The report found 2021 was the warmest year on record for the world’s oceans and the 2,300-km World Heritage site could not survive under those conditions.

“If the Great Barrier Reef is in this much trouble, it means that coral reefs worldwide are in a lot of trouble,” Bradshaw said.

To avoid a climate catastrophe and best protect the Great Barrier Reef, the Climate Council recommends Australia triple its efforts and take bold measures to reduce its national emissions 75 per cent by 2030, and reach net zero by 2035.

As a first step, the Australian government should match key allies and commit to halving emissions this decade, the report said.

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Categories
Asia News China

Philippines holds naval drills in disputed sea amid tensions

PCG said eight capital ships of the national government have been deployed for the maritime exercises in Bajo De Masinloc and Pag-asa Island…reports Asian Lite News

The Philippines has conducted maritime exercises in the disputed West Philippine Sea, as Chinese coast guard ships continue to amass near a disputed reef in the South China Sea.

Members of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources began their “intensified” maritime training, CNN Philippines reported.

In a statement, the PCG said eight capital ships of the national government have been deployed for the maritime exercises in Bajo De Masinloc and Pag-asa Island. The exercises cover navigation, small boat operations, maintenance, and logistical operations.

Lawyers, medical workers, and maritime specialists are also on board the vessels, the PCG said.

The vessels would also be used to perform maritime drills in the Batanes Group of Islands, Benham Rise, as well as in the southern and eastern portions of the Philippines.

“We are supporting the whole-of-nation approach in securing our maritime jurisdiction, especially the efforts of the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea to undertake maritime security, maritime safety, maritime law enforcement, maritime search and rescue, and marine environmental protection roles in our country’s waters,” PCG spokesperson Commodore Armando Balilo said.

China refuses to remove its vessels

Last Friday, the Foreign Affairs Department filed two diplomatic protests amid China’s refusal to remove its vessels in the country’s maritime zones.

The DFA said that as of April 20, 160 Chinese fishing vessels and maritime militia have been spotted by law enforcement agencies in Philippine waters.”

Philippine Navy(wikipedia)

The presence of these vessels blatantly infringe upon Philippine sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction,” the DFA said in a statement.

Last month, the Philippines announced the deployment of additional navy ships to the South China Sea after over 200 Chinese vessels were spotted in the Whitsun Reef. Later, the Philippines also filed a diplomatic protest over the issue.

China claims sovereignty

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea and has overlapping territorial claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

China has been increasing its maritime activities in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea over the past few months, partly in response to Beijing’s concerns over the increasing US military presence in the region because of escalating Sino-US tensions.

Philippine Navy(wikipedia)

The defence and foreign affairs ministries in the Philippines have been up in arms for a fortnight over the presence of Chinese vessels at Whitsun Reef, with statements flying back and forth over the alleged incursion into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Even after such an intensifying row, China hasn’t shown any sign of relocation of the vessels.

Instead, it has accused the Philippines of using a 2016 international tribunal ruling, which deprived China of certain outcrops of territorial-generating status, the ruling from the permanent court of arbitration effectively punches holes in China’s all-encompassing “nine-dash” line that stretches deep into the South China Sea, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.

The 2016 International Tribunal Ruling denies China of its thousand years of fishing rights in the area. (ANI)

Also read:Philippines imposes entry curbs again