Lebanon PM warns Syrian refugees pose ‘danger to the nation’

Lebanon PM warns Syrian refugees pose ‘danger to the nation’
Over a thousand Syrian refugees each week fleeing to Lebanon from their country’s worsening economic and financial conditions “could create harsh imbalances” in the small Mediterranean nation, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned Thursday. (AP/File)
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Updated 07 September 2023
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Lebanon PM warns Syrian refugees pose ‘danger to the nation’

Lebanon PM warns Syrian refugees pose ‘danger to the nation’
  • 2,300 Syrians stopped from crossing border illegally in 10 days, army claims
  • The Lebanese leader said that army and police units are stepping up efforts to halt what he described as “unjustified displacement convoys”

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has voiced concerns about a “new wave” of Syrian refugees entering the country “via illegal paths.”
Mikati told a Cabinet meeting on Thursday that the scale of the influx poses “a serious threat to social cohesion and our nation’s independence.”
The Lebanese leader said that army and police units are stepping up efforts to halt what he described as “unjustified displacement convoys.”
Mikati’s warning follows a surge in people smuggling from Syria into Lebanon in recent weeks.
According to Lebanon’s army command, at least 2,300 people were stopped while attempting to illegally cross the border in just 10 days leading up to Sept. 6.
The Cabinet scheduled a session next week with Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun and security service chiefs to address the issue.
Lebanon has been hosting over 1.5 million Syrian refugees for 11 years, according to Lebanese government estimates.
Hostility toward the refugees has intensified in recent months as Lebanon’s economic crisis deepens.
Lebanese municipalities have imposed night curfews on Syrian refugees and workers, restricted their movements, and demanded they register the names of family members with local authorities.
They are also required to present identification papers, rental contracts if available, and residency records with General Security, or risk deportation.
International organizations have condemned the actions as “discriminatory and retaliatory practices targeting refugees.”
With people trafficking networks proliferating, many believe those stopped by the Lebanese army constitute only a fraction of the number crossing the border each day.
Jumaa, a 23-year-old Syrian man who declined to give his real name, told Arab News that he entered Lebanon illegally earlier this summer.
“People smuggling is not limited to young men. It also involves women, children and entire families,” he said.
Syrians are “almost dying from hunger after the insane rise in prices” in the country, Jumaa said.
He said that a kilogram of sugar now costs 17,000 Syrian pounds, almost a 10th of the average monthly salary.
Syrian workers in Lebanon, meanwhile, complain about reduced wages amid the collapse of the Lebanese currency.
In most cases, they earn no more than $120 per month, barely enough to cover daily expenses.
Jumaa said that organized crime networks in Lebanon and Syria oversee the smuggling operations.
Each smuggler in Syria has a designated area of operation and can travel through checkpoints for a fee.
“On reaching the border, the crossing is done on foot — no vehicles are involved, only walking through empty land.
“The smuggler outlines the path and describes the contact on the other side of the border.”
He said the Lebanese contact organizes the illegal arrivals based on their destinations, such as the Bekaa, Beirut or Tripoli.
“People then travel by van or car to their respective destinations.”
Jumaa said the cost of illegal entry varies, ranging from $50 for a basic border crossing to as much as $600 for those from distant areas within Syria, such as Idlib.
“Illegal entry into Lebanon has never stopped, but it has escalated in recent months due to the unprecedented economic collapse in Syria,” he said.
“People share unbelievable stories about the severe hunger afflicting the poor.”
He claimed that Lebanon’s security services are rarely seen at the border and crossings hold little risk.
“The real danger and bad luck lie in the possibility of being apprehended once inside Lebanon. In such circumstances, individuals are deported and risk being arrested by Syrian security services.
“Reasons for their arrest may include being wanted for military service, suspected affiliation with revolutionary groups, or leaving an area where a settlement had been reached with the regime, which required youth to remain within their designated region and prohibited relocation.”
Jumaa also referred to “intermediaries in Lebanon who can facilitate the acquisition of legal documents for Syrians through the relevant authorities in exchange for a fee.”
In 2017, a Syrian-Lebanese security meeting took place at the Jdeidat Yabous border point to combat human smuggling.
Army, customs, immigration, passport control and security forces were assigned to tackle the issue.
Joint patrols were set up between the Masnaa and Jdeidat Yabous areas. However, security concerns remained unresolved.
A Syrian refugee in Lebanon who has kept in contact with people inside Syria said: “Efforts to escape by boat from the Lebanese coast have diminished in favor of legal departure through Lebanon to Turkiye by air. From there, smuggling operations by sea to Greece are on the rise.”
He added: “One of my relatives arrived in Germany from Greece a week ago after completing a journey on foot through the forests.”


Israeli security chief in recording vows to hunt down Hamas abroad -Kan TV

Israeli security chief in recording vows to hunt down Hamas abroad -Kan TV
Updated 04 December 2023
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Israeli security chief in recording vows to hunt down Hamas abroad -Kan TV

Israeli security chief in recording vows to hunt down Hamas abroad -Kan TV
  • More than 15,500 people have been killed so far during Israel’s offensive in Gaza since, according to Gaza’s health ministry

JERUSALEM: Israel will hunt down Hamas in Lebanon, Turkiye and Qatar even if it takes years, the head of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet said in a recording aired by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan on Sunday.
It was unclear when Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar made the remarks or to whom.
The agency itself declined to comment on the report.
“The cabinet has set us a goal, in street talk, to eliminate Hamas. This is our Munich. We will do this everywhere, in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Lebanon, in Turkiye, in Qatar. It will take a few years but we will be there to do it.”
By Munich, Bar was referring to Israel’s response to the 1972 killing of 11 Israeli Olympic team members when gunmen from the Palestinian Black September group launched an attack on the Munich games.
Israel responded by carrying out a targeted assassination campaign against Black September operatives and organizers over several years and in several countries.
Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas after its gunmen on Oct. 7 burst through the border with Gaza, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostage.
More than 15,500 people have been killed so far during Israel’s offensive in Gaza since, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Other than in Gaza, Hamas leaders reside in or frequently visit Lebanon, Turkiye and Qatar. Qatar helped to mediate a week-long truce that broke down on Friday.
Over the years, various countries have offered some protection for Hamas, designated a terrorist group by Australia, Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan and the United States.
In 1997, Israeli Mossad agents botched the poisoning of then-Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Jordan. Israel had to give Jordan an antidote to save Meshaal’s life. Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu was prime minister at the time.

 


US strike in Iraq kills 5 militants preparing attack

US strike in Iraq kills 5 militants preparing attack
Updated 04 December 2023
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US strike in Iraq kills 5 militants preparing attack

US strike in Iraq kills 5 militants preparing attack
  • Iraqi armed groups have claimed more than 70 such attacks against US forces since Oct. 17 over Washington’s backing of Israel in its bombardment of Gaza
  • The United States has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission it says aims to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Daesh, which in 2014 seized large swaths of both countries before being defeated

BAGHDAD: A US air strike killed five Iraqi militants near the northern city of Kirkuk as they prepared to launch explosive projectiles at US forces in the country, three Iraqi security sources said, identifying them as members of an Iran-backed militia.
A US military official confirmed a “self-defense strike on an imminent threat” that targeted a drone staging site near Kirkuk on Sunday afternoon.
A statement by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group representing several Iraqi armed factions with close ties to Tehran, said five of its members had been killed, and vowed retaliation against US forces.
The group had claimed several attacks against US forces throughout Sunday.
Earlier Sunday, the US military official said US and international forces were attacked with multiple rockets at the Rumalyn Landing Zone in northeastern Syria, but there were no casualties or damage to infrastructure.
Iraqi armed groups have claimed more than 70 such attacks against US forces since Oct. 17 over Washington’s backing of Israel in its bombardment of Gaza.
The attacks paused during the recent Israel-Hamas cease-fire but have since resumed.
The US in November launched two series of strikes in Iraq against what it said were Iran-aligned armed groups who had engaged in attacks against their forces.
Those strikes killed at least 10 militants who were identified both as members of shadowy militia Kataeb Hezbollah and of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, an official security institution composed mainly of Shiite Muslim armed groups.
Iraq’s government condemned those strikes as escalatory and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.
The United States has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission it says aims to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Daesh, which in 2014 seized large swaths of both countries before being defeated.

 

 


Pope calls for new Gaza ceasefire as Israel intensifies raids

Pope calls for new Gaza ceasefire as Israel intensifies raids
Updated 04 December 2023
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Pope calls for new Gaza ceasefire as Israel intensifies raids

Pope calls for new Gaza ceasefire as Israel intensifies raids
  • Six-story building in Jabalia refugee camp hit
  • UN rights chief: Civilian suffering ‘too much to bear’

JEDDAH: Pope Francis said Sunday that he was saddened the truce in the Gaza Strip had been broken and urged those involved in the conflict to reach a new ceasefire deal as soon as possible.

The pope’s appeal came as international concern deepened over the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza after a truce ended.
Israeli forces bombed wide areas of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, as civilians in the besieged territory sought shelter in an ever-shrinking area of the south.
“There is so much suffering in Gaza,” the pontiff said in comments from his private residence, which were read by an aide and broadcast on giant screens in Saint Peter’s Square.

Pope Francis said the end of the ceasefire meant “death, destruction, misery,” stressing that the besieged Palestinian territory lacked even essential supplies.
He said the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories was “serious.”
“Many hostages have been freed but so many others are still in Gaza,” he said.
More than 15,500 people have been killed in the besieged Palestinian territory in more than eight weeks of combat and heavy bombardment, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

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Israeli air and artillery strikes hit Gaza’s northern frontier with Israel, throwing thick clouds of smoke and dust into the sky.
The Israeli army reported 17 rocket salvos from Gaza into Israel on Sunday, adding that most were intercepted.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said at least 160 Palestinian deaths were reported in two incidents in northern Gaza Saturday: the bombing of a six-story building in Jabalia refugee camp, and of an entire block in Gaza City.
OCHA said around 1.8 million people in Gaza, roughly 75 percent of the population, had been displaced, many to overcrowded and unsanitary shelters.
Juliette Toma, director of communications at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said nearly 958,000 displaced people were in 99 UN facilities in the southern Gaza Strip.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk urged an end to the war, saying civilian suffering was “too much to bear.”
Hopes for another temporary truce in Gaza were fading as the US intensified calls for the protection of civilians.
“Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at UN climate talks in Dubai.
She and Jordan’s King Abdullah discussed the Gaza crisis on the sidelines of COP28. The king stressed the need for the US to play a leading role in pushing for a political horizon for the Palestinian issue to reach peace on the basis of the two-state solution.
Israel ordered more evacuations in and around Khan Younis as the military’s offensive shifted to the southern half of the territory.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip said they were running out of places to go in the sealed-off territory.

Gaza residents said they feared an Israeli ground offensive on the southern areas was imminent.
 Tanks had cut off the road between Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, effectively dividing the Gaza Strip into three areas, they said.
Fighting also flared on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
The Israeli army said it had launched artillery strikes in response to cross-border fire.


Wounded and dead overwhelm southern Gaza hospital as Israelis step up attacks

Wounded and dead overwhelm southern Gaza hospital as Israelis step up attacks
Updated 03 December 2023
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Wounded and dead overwhelm southern Gaza hospital as Israelis step up attacks

Wounded and dead overwhelm southern Gaza hospital as Israelis step up attacks
  • Palestinian Health Ministry says 316 have been killed since Friday in Gaza since the truce expired

GAZA: In southern Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, a young man cradled the lifeless body of his brother and then reached out to try to grab a medic running past him in the corridor.

“My brother!” the man yelled out, crying and slapping the floor as others crowded around him, seeking treatment for their wounded and mourning their loved ones on Sunday, the third day of renewed warfare and Israeli bombardment.

The hospital is one of only a handful operating in Khan Younis, a southern city that residents say is one of the focuses of the Israeli offensive that resumed on Friday after the collapse of a truce with Hamas.

Nearby, doctors stepped over bodies and pools of blood as they rushed to their next case, and relatives brought more dazed and sometimes unconscious children through the main doors.

Footage taken by Reuters showed about a dozen young people needing treatment, several of them with what looked like serious injuries.

The UN and aid groups say dozens of medics have been killed since the war began and basic supplies, including fuel to run generators, are running short in hospitals and clinics.

More than 15,500 people have been confirmed killed in Gaza since the start of the conflict, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Sunday that 316 had been killed since Friday in Gaza since the truce expired following the breakdown in talks over an exchange of prisoners and hostages.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on the reports of Sunday’s strikes. 

The Israeli military earlier ordered Palestinians to evacuate several areas in and around Khan Younis and posted a map highlighting shelters they should go to.

But residents said that areas they had been told to go to were themselves coming under attack.

One man at Nasser Hospital told Reuters that an air strike had hit a house in the city, and he had carried a young boy who was injured to the hospital, but the boy had died in his arms on the way.

Elsewhere in Khan Younis, families gathered at funerals.

One man, Akram El-Rakab, said he was burying his son as well as a sister and a nephew. 


Palestinian man killed in West Bank in settler raid

Palestinian man killed in West Bank in settler raid
Updated 03 December 2023
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Palestinian man killed in West Bank in settler raid

Palestinian man killed in West Bank in settler raid

RAMALLAH: Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, killing one man and torching a car, Palestinian authorities said.

The Palestinian ambulance service said a 38-year-old man in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, in the northern West Bank, was shot in the chest and died as residents confronted settlers and Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military said soldiers arrived at the scene and used riot dispersal means and live fire to break up the confrontation between residents and settlers. 

It said Palestinians shot fireworks in response, and an Israeli and four Palestinians were injured. 

It said the incident was being examined and handed over to police.

In another incident, Wajih Al-Qat, head of the local council of the village of Madama near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, said a group of about 15 settlers burned the car and broke the windows of a house with stones.

The attacks are the latest in a series of similar incidents involving settlers that have drawn condemnation from world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, whose administration is set to impose visa bans on extremist settlers.

The West Bank, which the Palestinians want as part of a future independent state, has seen a surge of violence in recent months as Jewish settlements have continued to expand and US-backed peacemaking efforts have stalled for nearly a decade.

The violence, at a more-than-15-year high this year, surged further after Israel launched an invasion of the separate enclave of Gaza in response to an attack by Hamas in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Yesh Din, a human rights group that monitors settler violence, said there had been at least 225 incidents of settler violence in 93 Palestinian communities since the war started.

Before Saturday’s incident, it said at least nine Palestinians had been killed in such attacks.

In a separate incident near Nablus, Palestinian authorities said a 14-year-old boy died of his wounds after he was shot during an incident in which the Israeli military said he brandished a knife at soldiers on a checkpoint.