The Donald Trump administration has insisted their actions are lawful and in compliance with the Law of Armed Conflict, with justification centred around "the United States' inherent right of self-defence as a matter of international law." The occupants targeted in the operation have been designated as "narco-terrorists" or members of "designated terrorist organizations," as a justification for blowing them out of the water-except, to date, no evidence or intelligence to back up those claims has been presented by the US to the public.
Once again, blatant lies and exaggerated claims are being propagated to justify the attack. Duplicitous American diplomacy became a fig leaf for premeditated aggression. The cautionary advice of allies was spurned. The UN, international law and public opinion were ignored. Democratic consent is lacking.
Armed with bulldozers and tear gas, the Israeli military forcefully entered the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) office in Sheikh Jarrah, in East Jerusalem. They targeted at least two UNRWA buildings for demolition, and fired tear gas in a vocational school serving young refugees in Qalandia, on the outskirts of Jerusalem; the Palestinian Authority said that Israeli forces hit a 15-year-old boy in the eye with a rubber bullet.
Cambodia urges that Thailand immediately stop all hostile activities and withdraw its forces from Cambodia's territorial integrity, and avoid acts of aggression that threaten peace and stability in the region, the Defence Ministry said. Clashes took place on Wednesday at more than a dozen locations along the contested colonial-era demarcated 817-kilometre (508-mile) Thai-Cambodian border, with some of the most intense fighting being reported since a five-day battle in July, which saw dozens killed on both sides.