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All vehicles blocked from entering or exiting Bnei Brak during proceedings, as hundreds of thousands expected to converge on city from around the country
Amy Spiro is a reporter and writer with The Times of Israel
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they unfold.
Lebanese army frees kidnapped Saudi national near Syrian border
A Saudi national who had been kidnapped in Beirut is freed in a “special operation” by the Lebanese army near the Syrian border, it says in a statement.
“An army intelligence patrol managed to free kidnapped Saudi national Mashari al-Mutairi during a special operation on the Syrian border,” the army says. “A number of those involved in the kidnapping were also arrested,” it adds.
A senior Lebanese security source told AFP yesterday that, based on preliminary information, the Saudi was kidnapped by unidentified assailants dressed as security personnel in a four-wheel drive vehicle on the Beirut seafront, where he had been in a restaurant.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati congratulates the army on the “great effort deployed to release him and arrest those involved in the kidnapping.”
Iran says it has ‘resolved’ one of 3 instances raised by UN nuclear watchdog
Iran has “resolved” one of three cases raised by the UN watchdog as possible evidence it had not declared all its past nuclear activities, Iranian media reports.
The reports come just days before the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency is due to meet to review progress in addressing the watchdog’s remaining concerns.
The IAEA had reported the discovery of traces of radioactive material at three sites not declared by Iran as having hosted past nuclear activity in a blow to efforts to restore a landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and major powers.
“With the improvement of interactions between Iran and the IAEA… the case related to one of the agency’s alleged sites — Abadeh — has been resolved,” Iran’s Fars news agency reports. “This concludes the agency’s inquiry into one of the three alleged locations raised,” it adds.
The Marivan site in Abadeh county in the southern province of Fars is the first of the three sites to be addressed under a work plan agreed by Iran and the IAEA in March last year. The other two sites are Varamin and Turquzabad.
Roads blocked as mourners begin arriving ahead of mass funeral for Rabbi Gershon Edelstein
Masses of mourners are beginning to converge on Bnei Brak ahead of the funeral of ultra-Orthodox leader Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, who died this morning at age 100.
Hundreds of thousands of people from around the country are expected to attend, with proceedings slated to begin around 3:30 p.m. at the Ponevezh Yeshiva.
Major highways are set to be blocked off, including parts of Route 4, and heavy traffic congestion is expected throughout central Israel. No vehicles will be allowed to enter or exit Bnei Brak during the funeral proceedings.
Hundreds of police officers, Border Police officers and volunteers have been enlisted to help secure the operation, police say in a statement.
