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US, India, Saudi, EU to unveil rail, ports deal on G20 sidelines
A multinational rail and ports deal linking the Middle East and South Asia will be announced on Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, a White House official said.
The pact comes at a critical time as U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to counter China's Belt and Road push on global infrastructure by pitching Washington as an alternative partner and investor for developing countries at the G20 grouping, Reuters reported.
The deal will benefit low and middle-income countries in the region, and enable a critical role for the Middle East in global commerce, Jon Finer, the U.S. deputy national security adviser, told reporters at the bloc's annual summit in New Delhi.
It aims to link Middle East countries by railway and connect them to India by port, helping the flow of energy and trade from the Gulf to Europe, U.S. officials have said, by cutting shipping times, costs and fuel use.
A memorandum of understanding for the deal will be signed by the European Union, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and other G20 partners, Finer said.
"Linking these key regions, we think, is a huge opportunity," said Finer. No immediate details of the value of the deal were available.
The move comes amid U.S. efforts for a broader diplomatic deal in the Middle East that would have Saudi Arabia recognise Israel.
From the U.S. viewpoint, Finer added, the deal helps "turn the temperature down across the region" and "address a conflict where we see it".
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American killed in Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon
His daughter, Nadine Jawad, said in a statement that her father was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon on Tuesday “while trying to save innocent lives.” She added that in his final days, her father chose to stay near a hospital to help the elderly and the disabled.
An American from Dearborn, Michigan, was killed in Lebanon in an Israeli airstrike, according to the man's daughter, friend and the U.S. congresswoman representing his constituency.
Democratic U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib's office said on Wednesday it was in touch with Kamel Ahmad Jawad's family, adding he was the Palestinian American congresswoman's constituent and a U.S. citizen, Reuters reported.
His daughter, Nadine Jawad, said in a statement that her father was killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon on Tuesday "while trying to save innocent lives." She added that in his final days, her father chose to stay near a hospital to help the elderly and the disabled.
"We are deeply saddened by the death of Kamel Ahmad Jawad and our hearts go out to his family and friends. His death is a tragedy, as are the deaths of many civilians in Lebanon," a White House spokesperson said separately on Wednesday.
Israel's recent military campaign in Lebanon has killed hundreds, wounded thousands and displaced over a million. Israel says it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.
Jawad was in Lebanon taking care of his elderly mother, according to the Detroit News. His friend Hamzah Raza and local Dearborn groups also said on social media that Jawad was killed in an Israeli air strike and called him "one of the kindest and most generous humans."
Reuters said it was unable to confirm the circumstances of Jawad's death.
Washington has faced criticism for its support of its ally Israel, which is also waging a war in Gaza in which tens of thousands have been killed and nearly all of the enclave's 2.3 million population displaced. Dearborn, where Jawad was from, has a large Arab American population.
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Iran says attack on Israel is over as fears grow of wider conflict
Iran’s forces on Tuesday used hypersonic Fattah missiles for the first time, and 90% of its missiles successfully hit their targets in Israel, the Revolutionary Guards said.
Iran said early on Wednesday that its missile attack on Israel was over barring further provocation, while Israel and the U.S. promised to retaliate against Tehran as fears of a wider war intensified, Reuters reported.
Washington said it would work with longtime ally Israel to make sure Iran faced "severe consequences" for Tuesday's attack, which Israel said involved more than 180 ballistic missiles.
The United Nations Security Council scheduled a meeting about the Middle East for Wednesday, and the European Union called for an immediate ceasefire.
"Our action is concluded unless the Israeli regime decides to invite further retaliation. In that scenario, our response will be stronger and more powerful," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in a post on X early on Wednesday.
Israel renewed its bombardment early on Wednesday of Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of the Iran-backed armed Hezbollah group, with at least a dozen airstrikes against what it said were targets belonging the group, read the report.
Large plumes of smoke were seen rising from parts of the suburbs. Israel issued new evacuation orders for the area, which have largely emptied after days of heavy strikes.
Iran's attack marked it biggest ever military blow against Israel.
Sirens sounded across the country and explosions rattled Jerusalem and the Jordan River valley as the entire population was told to move into bomb shelters.
No injuries were reported in Israel, but one man was killed in the occupied West Bank, authorities there said.
Iran described the campaign as defensive and solely aimed at Israeli military facilities. Iran's state news agency said three Israeli military bases had been targeted.
Tehran said its assault was a response to Israeli killings of militant leaders and aggression in Lebanon against Hezbollah and in Gaza.
Israel activated air defences against Iran's bombardment and most missiles were intercepted "by Israel and a defensive coalition led by the United States," Israeli Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a video on X, adding: "Iran's attack is a severe and dangerous escalation."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to hit back.
"Iran made a big mistake tonight - and it will pay for it," he said at the outset of an emergency political security cabinet meeting late on Tuesday, according to a statement.
Iran's General Staff of the Armed Forces said in a statement carried by state media that any Israeli response would be met with "vast destruction" of Israeli infrastructure. It also said it would target regional assets of any Israeli ally that got involved.
Fears that Iran and the U.S. could be drawn into a regional war have risen with Israel's growing assault on Lebanon in the past two weeks, including the start of a ground operation there on Monday, and its year-old conflict in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported.
Iran's forces on Tuesday used hypersonic Fattah missiles for the first time, and 90% of its missiles successfully hit their targets in Israel, the Revolutionary Guards said.
Israel's Hagari said central and southern Israel received limited strikes. A video released by the military showed a school in the central city of Gadera heavily damaged by an Iranian missile.
U.S. Navy warships fired about a dozen interceptors against Iranian missiles headed toward Israel, the Pentagon said. Britain said its forces played a part "in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East", without elaborating.
U.S. President Joe Biden expressed full U.S. support for Israel and described Iran's attack as "ineffective." Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for U.S. president, backed Biden's stance and said the U.S. would not hesitate to defend its interests against Iran.
"We will act. Iran will soon feel the consequences of their actions. The response will be painful," Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters.
The White House similarly promised "severe consequences" for Iran and spokesman Jake Sullivan told a Washington briefing the U.S. would "work with Israel to make that the case."
Sullivan did not specify what those consequences might be, but he stopped short of urging restraint by Israel as the U.S. did in April when Iran carried out a drone and missile attack on Israel. The Pentagon said Tuesday's airstrikes by Iran were about twice the size of April's assault.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned what he called "escalation after escalation", saying: "This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire."
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that he strongly condemns Iran's new attacks on Israel, adding that in a sign of its commitment to Israel's security it mobilised its military resources in the Middle East on Wednesday.
Macron reiterated France's demand that Hezbollah cease its terrorist actions against Israel and its population, but also wished for Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity to be reinstated in strict compliance with a United Nations Security Council resolution.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also called for an immediate regional ceasefire. "The dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliation risks ... spiralling out of control," he posted on X.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with the leaders of Germany and France, and they agreed on a need for restraint from all sides, Downing Street said.
Nearly 1,900 people have been killed and more than 9,000 wounded in Lebanon in almost a year of cross-border fighting, most in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese government statistics on Tuesday.
Regional
Iran will not leave Israel’s ‘criminal acts’ unanswered, says foreign ministry
Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed in Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday, in which Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also died.
Iran will not leave any of "the criminal acts" of Israel unanswered, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday, referring to the killing of Hezbollah's chief and an Iranian Guard deputy commander in Lebanon, Reuters reported.
Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed in Israeli strikes on Beirut on Friday, in which Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah also died.
Israel's intensified attacks against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the Houthi militia in Yemen have prompted fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel's main ally, read the report.
"We stand strongly and we will act in a way that is regretful [for the enemy]" Kanaani told a weekly news conference, adding that Iran does not seek war but is not afraid of it.
Kanaani said that Iran is closely following up on matters with the Lebanese authorities, referring to the strikes that killed Nasrallah and Nilforoushan.
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