Tehran’s actions lessen prospect of nuclear deal revival: US envoy

Tehran’s actions lessen prospect of nuclear deal revival: US envoy
Iranian Americans rally outside the White House in support of anti-regime protests in Iran. (File/Reuters)
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Updated 04 December 2022
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Tehran’s actions lessen prospect of nuclear deal revival: US envoy

Tehran’s actions lessen prospect of nuclear deal revival: US envoy
  • Robert Malley: ‘The more Iran represses, the more there will be sanctions’

LONDON: Tehran’s decision to arm Russia in the war against Ukraine, and its crackdown on anti-regime protests, have made the prospects of reviving the nuclear deal slim, said the US special envoy on Iran, The Observer reported on Sunday.

At a conference in Rome, Rob Malley said Iran’s leadership has trapped itself in a “vicious” and “self-reinforcing” cycle in which it continues to ostracize itself from its own people and the international community. 

“The more Iran represses, the more there will be sanctions; the more there are sanctions, the more Iran feels isolated. The more isolated they feel, the more they turn to Russia; the more they turn to Russia, the more sanctions there will be, the more the climate deteriorates, the less likely there will be nuclear diplomacy,” he added. 

“The repression of the protests and Iran’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine is where our focus is because that is where things are happening, and where we want to make a difference.”

 


US Navy warship shoots down drone launched by Houthis from Yemen

US Navy warship shoots down drone launched by Houthis from Yemen
Updated 10 sec ago
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US Navy warship shoots down drone launched by Houthis from Yemen

US Navy warship shoots down drone launched by Houthis from Yemen
  • USS Carney deemed the drone — an Iranian-made KAS-04 — to be a threat and shot it down over the southern Red Sea
  • Shootdown comes a day after a Iranian drone flew within 1,500 yards of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier
WASHINGTON: A US Navy warship sailing near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait shot down a drone launched from Yemen, a US official said Wednesday, in the latest in a string of threats from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

The official said according to initial reports, USS Carney, a Navy destroyer, deemed the drone — an Iranian-made KAS-04 — to be a threat and shot it down over water in the southern Red Sea as the ship was moving toward the strait. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a military operation not yet made public.

The Wednesday shootdown comes a day after a Iranian drone flew within 1,500 yards of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier as it was conducting flight operations in international waters in the Arabian Gulf.

Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, said the drone “violated safety precautions” by not staying more than 10 nautical miles from the ship. The drone ignored multiple warnings but eventually turned away.

Earlier this month, another Navy destroyer, the USS Thomas Hudner, shot down a drone that was heading toward the ship as it sailed in the southern Red Sea. It also was near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and it shot down the drone over the water.

The Red Sea, stretching from Egypt’s Suez Canal to the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait separating the Arabian Peninsula from Africa, is a key trade route for global shipping and energy supplies. The US Navy has stationed multiple ships in the sea since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, which has heightened tensions in the region.

French envoy meets Lebanese officials, calls for swift resolution of presidential stalemate

French envoy meets Lebanese officials, calls for swift resolution of presidential stalemate
Updated 29 November 2023
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French envoy meets Lebanese officials, calls for swift resolution of presidential stalemate

French envoy meets Lebanese officials, calls for swift resolution of presidential stalemate
  • His visit coincides with violation of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon as Israeli forces fire on Lebanese Army patrol in town of Houla
  • Hezbollah says that in the past 48 days Israeli airstrikes have destroyed or burned down 48 buildings and caused damage to a further 1,500

BEIRUT: During meetings with Lebanese officials on Wednesday, French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian called for “the acceleration of presidential elections” in Lebanon, “in accordance with the position announced by the Quintet Committee in July.” He added that he was ready to provide any assistance required to help achieve this.

After meeting with the caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, Le Drian said his aim was “to secure Lebanese consensus.”

During its meeting in Doha in July, the Quintet Committee for Lebanon — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, France and the US — highlighted “the importance of Lebanese parliament members fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities and proceeding to elect a president for the country.”

Outlining the desired qualities of a president, the committee said the successful candidate should “represent honesty, unite the nation, prioritize the country’s interests, prioritize the well-being of citizens, and form a wide-ranging coalition to implement essential economic reforms, particularly those recommended by the International Monetary Fund.”

The presidency has been vacant for more than a year, since Michel Aoun’s term ended on Oct. 31, 2022. The parliament has been unable to elect a successor because of deep divisions between Hezbollah, and its allies, and opposition parliamentary blocs, primarily Christian parties. The disagreements revolve around the desired qualifications for a president.

The political rift has intensified since Hezbollah opened up a Lebanese southern front to carry out military operations in the name of “supporting Gaza.”

Le Drian’s visit included meetings with Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, former leader of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt, and the head of the party’s parliamentary bloc, Taimur Jumblatt.

He also held talks with Commander of the Lebanese Army Gen. Joseph Aoun; Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi; the leader of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea; and the leader of the Marada Movement, Suleiman Frangieh, who is a candidate for the presidency and has the support of Hezbollah.

According to reports, the French envoy “reintroduced the idea of holding a consultative meeting among Lebanese officials to discuss the presidential file.”

During a Cabinet meeting, Mikati said he had informed Le Drian that “the top priority is to stop the Israeli aggression in South Lebanon and Gaza. We in the government work hard to provide services to the people in the south despite the difficult circumstances and appreciate their steadfastness and sacrifices.”

Coinciding Le Drian’s visit, Israeli forces on the southern Lebanese front reportedly violated the extended ceasefire in the wider conflict by firing on a Lebanese army patrol in the town of Houla, near an Israeli military site.

A spokesperson for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, Andrea Tenenti, said that UN Resolution 1701, adopted 17 years ago with the aim of resolving the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, “is still valid despite the challenges it faces. We are currently facing challenges but the priorities and main monitoring of Resolution 1701 remain in place.”

He told Russia’s Sputnik news agency: “The role of our mission leader is to collect messages and perhaps also dismantle the conflict, reduce tension and prevent misunderstandings. Therefore, this conflict has remained largely balanced until now and the situation has been calmer in the past few days.

“The cooperation between UNIFIL, the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Army is still very good. We closely coordinate with the Lebanese Army and hold frequent meetings and discussions with the Lebanese authorities to calm the situation and reduce tensions.”

Maj. Gen. Patrick Gauchat, head of the UN Truce Supervision Organization, continues to hold talks with officials in Lebanon.

After a meeting with the governor of South Lebanon, Mansour Daou, Gauchat said: “Our work as international peacekeeping forces is based on monitoring and recording our observations and recording them in reports that reach the Security Council, which is the body authorized to discuss and make decisions related to stopping Israeli attacks.”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah said it has completed an assessment of buildings, houses and other private properties destroyed or damaged by Israeli airstrikes in the southern area adjacent to the Blue Line during 48 days of hostilities.

Hassan Fadlallah, one of the party’s MPs, said: “Thirty-seven buildings were completely demolished and 11 buildings were completely burned. There are approximately 1,500 houses, from Naqoura to Shabaa and Kfar Shuba, that have varying degrees of damage, ranging from severe damage to broken windows, along with damage to vehicles and cultivated fields.”


Arab-Islamic ministerial committee discusses crisis in Gaza

Arab-Islamic ministerial committee discusses crisis in Gaza
Updated 29 November 2023
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Arab-Islamic ministerial committee discusses crisis in Gaza

Arab-Islamic ministerial committee discusses crisis in Gaza
  • Meeting at UN HQ led by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan
  • Ministers call for lasting peace, implementation of two-state solution

RIYADH: A ministerial committee assigned by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit held a meeting on Wednesday at the UN headquarters in New York, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The meeting was led by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and attended by representatives from China, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Turkiye, Indonesia, Malaysia and the UAE.

The agenda focused on recent events in Gaza, including the outcomes of the humanitarian truce for Palestinian prisoners and efforts to achieve a ceasefire.

The meeting underscored the role of the UN Security Council’s permanent members in protecting civilians and enforcing international humanitarian laws, and highlighted the need to establish secure channels to allow urgent humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.

The ministers reiterated their call for lasting peace through the implementation of resolutions supporting a two-state solution and the creation of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The committee also urged the global community to consistently apply international legal and moral principles, and to protect Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank from the Israeli army and violent illegal settlers.


Israeli army fatally shoots Palestinian boys, 8 and 15, Health Ministry says

Israeli army fatally shoots Palestinian boys, 8 and 15, Health Ministry says
Updated 29 November 2023
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Israeli army fatally shoots Palestinian boys, 8 and 15, Health Ministry says

Israeli army fatally shoots Palestinian boys, 8 and 15, Health Ministry says
  • Adam Al-Ghul, Bassem Abu El-Wafa killed in raid on refugee camp

LONDON: Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian children on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry reported.

“Adam Al-Ghul, 8 years old, and Bassem Abu El-Wafa, 15 years old, were killed by Israeli bullets,” it said.

CCTV footage of both shootings has been shown on news programs and gone viral online. One clip shows Abu El-Wafa writhing in agony on the ground for at least 30 seconds after being shot.

The killings happened as Israel continued its arrest campaign in Damj neighborhood of the Jenin refugee camp, where residents were forced to flee amid violent clashes, the Palestine News and Information Agency reported.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the Israeli army prevented its paramedics from reaching people with life-threatening injuries inside the besieged neighborhood.
 


People in southern Lebanon, rushing home amid truce, hope fighting is over

People in southern Lebanon, rushing home amid truce, hope fighting is over
Updated 29 November 2023
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People in southern Lebanon, rushing home amid truce, hope fighting is over

People in southern Lebanon, rushing home amid truce, hope fighting is over
  • “We are very happy to have returned to the village,” Mbadda Salloum, a resident from the village of Yaroun, said
  • Many families are using the pause in fighting to collect belongings from their homes and survey damage

MAYS AL-JABAL, Lebanon: People in southern Lebanon who fled last month have rushed home to inspect damage during the temporary truce in the war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas that they hope will end the worst border clashes in nearly 20 years.
Negotiators are urging Israel and Hamas to extend the six-day cease-fire in a conflict which has sent shockwaves around the region since Oct. 7, spilling across the Lebanese-Israeli border where Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire.
Some 200 km (124 miles) from the Gaza Strip in southern Lebanon, people in areas scarred by Israeli shelling were grateful that they had been able to return home since Friday, when the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas came into effect.
“We are very happy to have returned to the village,” Mbadda Salloum, a resident from the village of Yaroun, said outside a church damaged in the recent hostilities.
He had fled north with his family to the capital, Beirut.
“We wish for this truce to be permanent, God willing.”
With Israel launching air and artillery strikes and Hezbollah firing rockets at Israeli positions on the frontier, it has marked the worst violence at the Lebanese border since Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and Israel fought a war in 2006.
Many families are using the pause in fighting to collect belongings from their homes and survey damage. Schools and most shops are shut.
About 55,500 people across southern Lebanon had fled their homes as of Nov. 21, according to the United Nations. Many also fled their homes in northern Israel.
“They have missed their homes and their lands,” said Kassem Jaber, mayor of the village of Mhaibib. People had been waiting on the village outskirts till just after 7 am last Friday when the truce took effect, he said, then rushed back to their homes.
Huge chunks of walls were missing, windows were shattered, and piles of broken dishes and furniture were strewn across the living room of villager Amal Jaber.
“The buildings are not important, we care about the people (who have died),” she said.
Israeli attacks have killed about 100 people in Lebanon — 80 of them Hezbollah fighters — since Oct. 7.

PEOPLE ‘WANT THEIR LAND’
Mayor Jaber said that although no one in his village had been killed in Israeli strikes, homes had been destroyed and villagers were unable to harvest their olives. They had also missed out on planting next season’s crops.
He said people planned to stay. “People want dignity and they want their land.”
Yellow banners mourning Hezbollah fighters killed in the fighting lined roads in Mhaibib and other villages.
Abdel Al-Moneim Choukair, head of the municipality in the town of Mays Al-Jabal, a mile from the border, said many people had been returning to their homes as the cease-fire stretched into its fifth day.
Twenty kilometers to the west, in the village of Yater, a farmer in her 50s named Fatima Kryim gave thanks for the calm.
“We want to cultivate our land and plant before the winter,” said Kryim.
“We will be here until we hear the first shell, if it falls ... We will take advantage of the truce until the last moment.”
A senior Hezbollah politician, Hassan Fadlallah, said on Tuesday his group had started paying compensation to people who had suffered losses from Israeli strikes.
Citing a Hezbollah survey of damage caused by Israeli attacks, Fadlallah said 37 residential buildings had been totally destroyed and 11 more completely burned. Another 1,500 homes across the south had suffered varying degrees of damage.
In the village of Alma Al-Chaab, local hotel owner Milad Eid said about half of the farmland and groves of almonds, avocados and olives were burned, as well as eight houses and the water tank.
“If there’s a longer calm, we can actually repair all of this,” he said, adding that officials from Lebanon’s government and Hezbollah’s construction arm, Jihad Al-Bina, and some NGOs had visited to assess the damage.
“We just need it to be over,” he said of the war. “We want an extension (of the truce) to get to a full calm. It seems possible.”