MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT: Societal Chaos And Civilizations Unraveling - At Least 16 Injured In Jerusalem Bus Explosion! [PHOTOS + VIDEOS]

Twitter: Danny Swibel

April 18, 2016 - JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - A bus has exploded in Jerusalem, leaving around 16 casualties, Israeli media report, citing emergency medical services.

The massive explosion occurred in Hebron Way, west Jerusalem, with police citing "a militant attack" as the probable cause of the blast.

Multiple social media posts show smoke coming out of the burned-out bus, which is standing in the middle of the road.

Initial reports indicated there were 20 casualties. Now Jerusalem Post reports 16 people were injured in the blast, with two injured "seriously," one "moderately," and five "lightly." The newspapers cite sources in the Magen David Adom emergency service.

Some of the injured were evacuated to Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Others were taken to Hadassah Hospital nearby.

The bus was reportedly not carrying any passengers when it exploded, an Israel Police spokesperson said, as cited in the media. The casualties were apparently due to being close to the blast.

“When I arrived at the scene I saw two buses going up in flames and about 10 causalities among them, one who was mortally wounded and another in serious condition,” Mickey Cohen, head of the Jerusalem emergency response service, told Haaretz.

#BREAKING: Explosion on bus in #Jerusalem. Initial reports of at least 20 injured pic.twitter.com/qL9BuDdsPT

— Anna Ahronheim (@AAhronheim) April 18, 2016

Smoke from Jerusalem bus blast pic.twitter.com/lvKRg93sBD

— Dan Williams (@DanWilliams) April 18, 2016

At least 16 wounded, two seriously, in #Jerusalem bus blast. Updates: https://t.co/cvbpVKNC4I pic.twitter.com/RxhHqkW4QU

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) April 18, 2016

Jerusalem district police say the bus could have been blown up by an explosive device or targeted by a suicide bomber who detonated the device inside the bus, according to news outlet Arutz Sheva.

Eugenia Ugrinovich, a freelance journalist in Jerusalem, has told RT that the police confirmed "there was an explosive device at the back of the bus that caused [the] fire," saying the casualties were suffering from injuries typical for an explosion.

She added that Jerusalem will be on high alert with security tightened in public places for days to come. The bus blast was the first since 2012, Ugrinovich said, adding that lone-wolf attacks like this are very difficult to prevent and will surely happen again in future.

According to the police, the bus departed from the southern part of the city and arrived at Moshe Baram Street, when apparently an explosion was heard and the bus caught fire.

Suicide attacks on Israeli buses took place regularly in the early 2000s, and became a hallmark of the Palestinian uprising. In March 2002, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bus in Jerusalem, leaving 25 injured. Several months later, another suicide bomb attack on a bus in northern Israel killed 17 and injured 43, most of them IDF soldiers.

Violence between Israelis and Palestinians has abated somewhat recently after a series of stabbing attacks last year. At least 21 Israelis and 131 Palestinians were killed in that spike of violence. In early January, at least two people were killed and several others injured following a shooting at a bar in central Tel Aviv.

פיגוע בי-ם: פיצוץ באוטובוס ריק, אוטובוס לידו גם עלה באש שם נפצעו 2 קשה 3 בינוני 5 קל.
צילום מדברים תקשורת pic.twitter.com/NBOpLx3Zu6

— אלי שלזינגר (@leizersh) April 18, 2016

The gunman was described by an eyewitness as being "light-skinned and not Eastern looking," and as carrying an M-16. Further reports said the shooter, identified as 29-year-old Nashad Milkham, reportedly stole the gun from his father, who worked in the security industry.

The blast aboard the bus was caused by a bomb, Brachie Sprung, a spokeswoman for Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat, told Reuters: "It was small, but it was definitely a bomb."


WATCH: Jerusalem bus explosion.

Police say the bus explosion was a terror attack after bomb disposal experts found parts of an explosive device at the scene.

Ruslan Kandaurov, head of the Russian Embassy’s consular section, has told TASS that one of the people injured in the blast is an Israeli-Russian dual national, who is presently “in moderate condition.”

Jonathan Hessen, a political analyst in Israel, told RT that Hamas has already claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out in response "for the atrocities, as they put it, committed by the State of Israel towards Al-Aqsa mosque and the Temple Mount." He said that Israeli leadership is committed to retaliate against any threat to citizens, but added that it will not necessarily escalate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. - RT.

MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT: Societal Chaos And Civilizations Unraveling - Saudi Arabia And Iran Row Escalates; Spreads To Other Nations; Could the Diplomatic War Of Words Boil Over Into War?!

"That the year the Messiah will arrive when all the nations of the world will antagonize each other and threaten with war. The king of Persia (Iran) antagonizes the King of Arabia (Saudi Arabia) with war. The King of Arabia goes to Edom (The Western Countries, headed by USA) for advice. Then the King of Persia destroys the world (and since that cannot be done with conventional weapons it must mean nuclear which can destroy most of the world). And all the nations of the world begin to panic and are afraid, and Israel too is afraid as to how to defend from this. G-d then says to them “Do not fear for everything that I have done is for your benefit, to destroy the evil kingdom of Edom and eradicate evil from this world so that the Messiah can come, your time of redemption is now." - Yalkut Shimoni, 2000-Year-Old Rabbinic Literature.

January 4, 2016 - UNITED STATES - The fallout of Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shiite cleric is spreading beyond a spat between the Saudis and Iranians, as other Middle East nations chose sides Monday and world powers Russia and China weighed in.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran -- two Middle Eastern powerhouses -- quickly deteriorated following Riyadh's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr Saturday.

Hours after the death sentence was carried out, protesters in Shiite-majority Iran attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. The Saudis cut diplomatic relations with Iran over the attack on its embassy.

Officials from both countries defended their positions Monday and showed no sign of backing down.

Saudi Arabia suspended all flights to and from Iran. It also sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council accusing Iranian authorities of failing in their duties to protect the Saudi embassy.

Jaberi Ansari, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, said his country is committed to protecting diplomatic missions and reiterated that no Saudi diplomats were harmed -- or even present -- during the attack.

He accused Saudi Arabia of "looking for some excuses to pursue its own unwise policies to further tension in the region."

Meanwhile, some nations picked sides while others called for calm.

Here's the latest on where things stand:

Picking sides

Bahrain announced Monday that it was severing diplomatic ties with Iran, citing Tehran's "blatant and dangerous interference" in Bahrain and other Arab countries.

The United Arab Emirates said it was "downgrading" its diplomatic relations with Iran. The UAE recalled its ambassador in Tehran and said it would also reduce the number of diplomats stationed in Iran, according to state news agency WAM. A government statement said the UAE "has taken this exceptional step in light of Iran's ongoing interference in internal (Gulf Cooperation Council) and Arab affairs that has recently reached unprecedented levels."

The diplomatic row spread to Africa, where Sudan -- a majority Sunni Muslim country -- expelled the Iranian ambassador and the entire Iranian diplomatic mission in the country. Sudan also recalled its ambassador from Iran.

The Saudi government announced the Sudanese move, saying Sudan acted because of "the Iranian interference in the region through a sectarian approach."

Russia and China, two of the biggest geopolitical players in the hemisphere, released statements calling for restraint between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

"Moscow is concerned about escalation of the situation in the Middle East with participation of the key regional players," the Russian foreign ministry said Monday. Russia called on the Saudis and Iranians to "show restraint and to avoid any steps that might escalate the situation and raise tensions including interreligious ones."

China's foreign ministry said it is paying close attention to the events and hopes "all parties can remain calm and restrained, use dialogue and negotiations to properly resolve differences, and work together to safeguard the region's peace and stability."

Could the diplomatic war of words boil over?

It had -- even before Saudi Arabia announced its decision to cut ties with Iran, said Fawaz Gerges, chair of contemporary Middle Eastern studies at the London School of Economics.

"Their conflict is playing out on Arab streets big time," he said.

Already the two nations were on opposite sides of conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain and Lebanon. Now, he said, the question is how much worse things might get.

"The situation is extremely volatile between the two most powerful states in the Gulf, Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shiite-dominated Iran. You have a war of words. You have war by proxies ... This really could get very ugly and dangerous in the next few weeks and next few months," Gerges said.

It's possible a more direct military conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran could erupt, said retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a CNN military analyst.

"That's the key issue," he said. "This is spiraling very quickly."

Why are there tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia?

It's nothing new that the two countries aren't seeing eye to eye.

"Iran and Saudi Arabia are neither natural allies nor natural enemies, but natural rivals who have long competed as major oil producers and self-proclaimed defenders of Shia and Sunni Islam, respectively," University of South Florida Professor Mohsen M. Milani wrote in an analysis for CNN in 2011.

Both Saudi Arabia and Iran are painting themselves as victims as tensions between them escalate, Gerges said.

"What you have is not only a clash of narratives, you have basically a huge divide, a war by proxy, a cold war taking place between Saudi Arabia and Iran," he said. "It's a war about geopolitics. It's about power. It's about influence."

So why are things getting worse now?

The latest flashpoint emerged after Saudi Arabia executed dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr and dozens of others over the weekend.

It wasn't long before protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran, hurling Molotov cocktails and cheering as the building caught fire. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for divine revenge against Saudi Arabia.

"It was almost inevitable that this (the severing of diplomatic relations) would follow, especially since the response from Iran, completely expectedly, was full of rage, and Iran's supreme leader essentially summoned the wrath of God against Saudi Arabia," said Bobby Ghosh, a CNN global affairs analyst and managing editor of Quartz.

But analysts say looking within Iran and Saudi Arabia gives a greater understanding of why both countries have an interest in fueling the rivalry.

"There are domestic reasons for both of these countries right now to refuse to pull punches against each other," said Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group consulting firm.

Saudi Arabia, he said, is dealing with plummeting oil prices and an internal succession battle over who will next take the throne.

Iran, he said, needs a way to block reformists and Western advances in light of the recent nuclear deal. For both sides, he said, nationalist behavior can score points at home.

"That," Bremmer said, "makes this an incredibly dangerous conflict."

What can we expect to see in the coming days?

Don't expect the heated rhetoric to die down any time soon, analysts said.

"This is Saudi Arabia saying, 'The gloves are off,'" Ghosh said.

Gerges said that could ripple across the region.

"We were hoping that a diplomatic solution could be found to the Syrian crisis in the next few months. Forget about it," he said.

"We were hoping for a diplomatic solution in Yemen. Forget about it. ... Here, you have the two most powerful Islamic states in the heart of the Middle East now basically waging a direct confrontation, as opposed to an indirect war by proxy, so ... we should be really alarmed at the escalation of the confrontation." - CNN.

MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT: Societal Chaos And Civilizations Unraveling - Israel Jets Strike Gaza In Response To Rocket Fire!

An Israeli air force F-15 fighter jet. © Amir Cohen / Reuters

November 24, 2015 - MIDDLE EAST - The Israeli Air Force has launched airstrikes targeting a “Hamas post” in the Gaza Strip in retaliation to a rocket that was launched at southern Israel earlier in the day.

According to reports, Israeli jets targeted a training camp of Hamas’ armed wing in central Gaza, apparently blaming the group for the rocket that landed in southern Israel's Eshkol Regional Council on Monday morning.

The projectile exploded in unpopulated area, causing no injuries or damage.

Alert sirens were not activated, but security forces reportedly swept the area to find the remnants of the rocket.

Israel maintains that Hamas bears full responsibility for all “goings-on in the Gaza Strip,” according to an IDF statement cited by Haaretz.

The Israeli military “will continue to act with severity to keep the calm in southern communities,” it added. - RT.

MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT: Societal Chaos And Civilizations Unraveling - Israel Strikes Damascus In Syria... Again; Dozens Of Palestinians Injured In Clashes On Anniversary Of Arafat's Death; At Least 41 Killed And 200 Hurt In Beirut Suicide Bombings!

IAF fighter jets during the Red Flag joint exercise at Nellis air force base in Nevada . (photo credit:COURTESY IDF SPOKESMAN'S OFFICE)

November 12, 2015 - MIDDLE EAST - Israel reportedly carried out an airstrike Wednesday near the airport in the Syrian capital Damascus. Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli forces on the anniversary of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s death. Youths threw stones and burned tires while Israeli security forces responded with tear gas and live bullets. And, two suspected suicide bombings in the southern suburbs of Beirut have left at least 41 people dead, Reuters reports citing the Interior Ministry. The death toll is expected to rise with Lebanon's Red Cross putting the number of those injured over 200.

Israel Strikes Damascus in Syria ... Again

Around two weeks after a reported Israeli strike on a weapons convoy in Syria, media outlets associated with Syrian President Bashar Assad reported Wednesday night another Israeli airstrike in the country.

According to the reports, Israeli aircraft carried out the strike adjacent to the Damascus airport at around 6:00 p.m. Yet it was not clear whether the target of the attack was a weapons shipment, or an alternate target, such as an Iran-backed terror cell operating against Israel. 

Defense officials declined to comment on the foreign media reports.

However, Israel did previously announce a strict-policy of intolerance towards threats to the state, such as weapons transfers between Syria and Lebanon.

The last reported Israeli strike in Syria, on October 31, targeted numerous Hezbollah targets in Syria's south.

In the October alleged attack, Syrian media reported that up to a dozen Israeli war planes conducted the mission close to the Lebanon-Syria border in the Qalamoun Mountains region. Estimated targets included a weapons convoy destined for Hezbollah fighters traveling through Syria.

The alleged attack on Wednesday night would be the second attributed to Israel since Russia began operating in the area.

Israel has reportedly struck Hezbollah in Syria several times over the past year.

Earlier this year, the Israel Air Force reportedly struck a vehicle located in a Druse village in southwestern Syria, killing Hezbollah men and a pro-Assad militiaman, as well as a military base in Lebanon.

Another reported strike targeted a Lebanese military installation near the Syrian border, wounding six. It is believed to belong to a pro-Syrian Palestinian faction. In a newsflash, Syrian state television quoted a military source as saying that Israeli planes had struck a base belonging to the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, a faction that backs Assad. - JPOST.

Dozens of Palestinians injured in clashes on anniversary of Arafat’s death

Palestinian protesters run from tear gas canisters fired by Israeli troops during clashes in the West Bank city of Bethlehem November 11, 2015.
© Abdelrahman Younis / Reuters

Dozens of Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli forces on the anniversary of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s death. Youths threw stones and burned tires while Israeli security forces responded with tear gas and live bullets.

At least four people were wounded by live ammunition near Ramallah, in Al-Bireh, the Palestinian health ministry said. Another person reportedly remains in a critical condition and is undergoing surgery after being shot in the heart.

Clashes in Al-Bireh erupted after a few hundred Palestinians marched towards Israeli forces, as part of a rally to commemorate Yasser Arafat’s life. At some point the youths began throwing stones at the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and rolling burning tires towards the security personnel. The IDF responded by firing tear gas and live bullets.

In other clashes in the West Bank, live rounds injured at least six other Palestinians in the city of Tulkarem.

In total, “62 citizens were injured by live ammunition and rubber-coated bullets during clashes with the (Israeli) occupation in Tulkarem, Ramallah, Al-Bireh and Bethlehem,” the health ministry announced.

Those hurt were transferred to the Palestinian Medical Complex in Ramallah, the Palestinian Health Ministry told the Ma’an news agency, adding that all were shot in the lower body.


WATCH: Palestinians injured in clashes with Israel.

Israeli forces said that they were responding to violence stemming from the Palestinian side. They confirmed the use of live fire.

“Rioters attacked forces and hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at them. The forces then responded,” the statement said.

In the Gaza Strip, several Palestinian protesters were also injured during clashes with Israeli forces at the border of the Bureij refugee camp. Young protesters fired slingshots and threw tear gas back at IDF troops. The latter subsequently returned fire.

Meanwhile, over 2,000 activists flocked to a rally at the Al-Azhar University in Gaza. Organized by the Fatah Youth Movement, students marched to commemorate the anniversary of the death of the PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, who many believe was poisoned by Israel eleven years ago. There were no reports of violence.

The latest tensions erupted over a month ago when Israel tried to restrict access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. Some 77 Palestinians have been killed since late September. At least 10 Israelis have died as the tensions continue. - RT.

At least 41 killed, 200 hurt in southern Beirut suicide bombings

Double blast in southern Beirut suburb of Burj al-Barajneh, Lebanon.

A pair of suicide bombings killed at least 41 people and wounded over 200 more Thursday evening in southern Beirut, a Lebanese Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said.

The blasts shook Bourj al-Barajneh, one of the biggest and most well-known largely Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, according to the state-run National News Agency.

The Lebanese news agency reported that two suicide bombers blew themselves up within 150 meters (490 feet) and five minutes of each other.

It was not immediately clear where they came from or what their motivation was.

Yet, in a purported statement circulated online by ISIS supporters on social media, ISIS claimed responsibility for the blasts. CNN hasn't confirmed the authenticity of the statement.


In addition to the human toll, the explosions damaged at least four nearby buildings. Video distributed by Reuters showed a dramatic scene in the bombings' aftermath, with rescue workers carrying out victims past piles of rubble and through a mass of people.

After the blasts, authorities closed all entrances to Bourj al-Barajneh, NNA reported. Judge Sakr Sakr dispatched military police and other authorities to investigate the blasts, cordoning off the area around them.

Citizens have been urged to stay away from the bloody scene as well as nearby hospitals to make it easier for ambulances to get back and forth.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam declared Friday a day of mourning for the victims of the bombings, a terrorist attack condemned by officials across the country's political landscape.

Bombings not new to Lebanon

Lebanon has seen plenty of violence involving numerous parties in recent decades, including recently as fallout from the bloody civil war in neighboring Syria.

That war has flooded the Middle Eastern nation with more than a million refugees, according to the United Nations, and also contributed to intermittent spillover violence.

Most of that bloodshed has been concentrated near the Syrian border, though not all, as evidenced by a November 2013 Beirut bombing that killed at least 23 people and wounded about 150 more.

The al Qaeda-linked militant group Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for that bombing and warned of more to come unless the Lebanese-based, Iranian-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah stops sending fighters to support Syrian government forces. - CNN.

 

MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT: Jerusalem Jihad - Palestinians Kill 4 And Injure 8 Israelis With Pistol And Meat Cleavers At A West Jerusalem Synagogue!

November 18, 2014 - JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Four Israelis have been killed and eight injured as two men armed with a pistol and meat cleavers attacked a West Jerusalem synagogue, police say.

The attackers - Palestinians from East Jerusalem - were shot dead.

There have recently been several deadly attacks and clashes in Jerusalem, which has also seen heightened tension over a disputed holy site.

Israel has vowed to respond "with a heavy hand" to the attack - the deadliest in Jerusalem in six years.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed "incitement" by Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and said the international community had ignored their actions.

Tensions have been rising in Jerusalem recently

Hamas and Mr Abbas's Fatah party - rival Palestinian factions - agreed to form a unity government earlier this year, a move denounced at the time by Israel.

Mr Abbas's office issued a statement saying: "The presidency condemns the attack on Jewish worshippers in their place of prayer and condemns the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it."

The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, says it carried out the synagogue attack.

Militants from the far-left-wing Palestinian nationalist group have been behind many previous attacks on Israelis.

The attack was brutal, scenes from the synagogue suggest

Emergency services clean the site outside the Jerusalem synagogue

Hamas and another militant group, Islamic Jihad, praised the attack. Israel has designated both groups as terrorist organisations.

Jerusalem has been a place of division fiercely contested by rival religious traditions for many hundreds of years.

In the last few weeks tensions have risen sharply - largely as the result of the revival of an ancient dispute over rights of worship at a site within the walls of the Old City.

Muslims call the site al-Haram al-Sharif and believe it is the place where the Prophet Muhammad ascended into heaven - to Jews it is Temple Mount and marks the place where the sacred temples of their faith stood in ancient times.

By a long-standing tradition, Muslims alone have the right to pray at the site although people of other faiths may visit.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians distributed sweets in celebrations, some holding aloft an image of the attackers

The issue is of such sensitivity that even when Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem during the war of 1967 it handed control of the compound back to an Islamic religious authority which continues to administer it to this day.

In recent times some religious Jews have begun to argue for a change in the status quo which would also allow them to pray there - any hint of such change is viewed with deep anger in the Islamic world.

The attack happened at a religious seminary site on Harav Shimon Agassi Street - home to a largely Orthodox Jewish community in the Har Nof neighbourhood. Among those killed was Rabbi Moshe Twersky, head of the seminary.

Police say there was a shoot-out with the attackers when officers reached the scene.

WATCH: Jerusalem synagogue attack reaction.

Pictures posted online by an Israeli military spokesman show a bloodied meat cleaver, bodies lying between desks and chairs on a blood-stained floor, their faces covered with their prayer shawls.

"I tried to escape. The man with the knife approached me. There was a chair and table between us... my prayer shawl got caught. I left it there and escaped," one of the Israelis told Channel 2 television.

Palestinians have identified the attackers as Uday and Ghassan Abu Jamal. In the Gaza Strip, some people distributed sweets to celebrate the attack.

Hamas said it was in revenge for the death of a Palestinian bus driver found hanged inside a vehicle in Jerusalem on Monday.

Israeli police said it was a case of suicide, but his family did not accept the post-mortem findings.

Jerusalem on edge
Tensions in the city have risen in recent weeks, with two deadly attacks by Palestinian militants on pedestrians in the city and announcements by Israel of plans to build more settler homes in East Jerusalem.

The compound - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif - is the holiest site in Judaism, while the al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam.

Orthodox Jewish campaigners in Israel are challenging the long-standing ban on Jews praying at the compound.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967, as the capital of a future state. - BBC.