Lebanon pushes for UNIFIL extension without changes

Special Lebanon pushes for UNIFIL extension without changes
A peacekeeper of the Spanish Contingent looks through binoculars from a watchpost at the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) barracks near Khiam, southern Lebanon, Aug. 23, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 26 August 2024
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Lebanon pushes for UNIFIL extension without changes

Lebanon pushes for UNIFIL extension without changes
  • UN Security Council is expected to renew the peacekeeping mission’s mandate at the end of this month
  • Israeli assassination attempt on Hamas official in southern Lebanon fails as hostilities resume

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib reiterated Lebanon’s support for the extension of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon mandate for an additional year without any modifications to the existing resolution.

The UN Security Council is expected to renew the peacekeeping mission’s mandate at the end of this month, as it has annually since Resolution 1701 was adopted in 2006 after a 33-day war between Lebanon and Israel. 

Bou Habib met on Monday with the ambassadors of France, China, Spain and Italy, as well as the charge d’affaires of the embassies of Russia and the UK.

The meetings were part of Lebanon’s efforts to secure an extension for UNIFIL forces, whose mandate expires at the end of this month.

Bou Habib discussed the developments regarding the extension during a telephone conversation with Lisa Johnson, the US ambassador to Lebanon.

The government intensified its diplomatic drive on the UNIFIL extension as Israeli and Hezbollah strikes and counter strikes on the border resumed on Monday. 

Israel and Hezbollah pulled back after an exchange of heavy fire on Sunday that briefly raised fears of an all-out war.

Iran praised Hezbollah’s drone and missile assault in a statement by the foreign ministry: “The strategic balances have shifted to the detriment of the Zionist regime, as the terrorist Israeli army has lost its deterrence and offensive capabilities, and it needs to defend itself against strategic strikes.”

The press release claimed that “the strategic equation has changed, and the myth of the invincible army has become an empty slogan.”

On Monday, an Israeli attempt to kill a Hamas official in a residential neighbourhood of Sidon failed.

An Israeli combat drone targeted a car in the city as Hamas leader Nidal Hleihel was approaching the vehicle. The car was later seen on fire, while Hleihel narrowly avoided the strike. Other reports claimed that Hleihel and his family members suffered injuries.

Cautious calm prevailed in the Lebanon-Israel border area on Monday morning, a day after Hezbollah’s retaliation operation for the assassination of senior military commander Fouad Shukr, and what Israel called “a pre-emptive action” to paralyze Hezbollah’s launchers from firing rockets toward army positions.

Israeli aircraft struck Lebanese border towns on Monday. Warplanes and combat drones targeted an area between Taybeh and Odaisseh, and the towns of Kfarkela, Alma Al-Shaab, Tayr Harfa and Hanine.

Israeli incursions into southern Lebanon airspace continued over southern Lebanon, reaching the Bekaa and Beirut’s suburbs.

“The two measured and controlled military responses on Sunday — one by Hezbollah and the other by Israel,” a political observer in Lebanon said, prevented an all-out war.

Residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, who had left in recent days fearing repercussions after Hezbollah’s response, returned to their homes. 

In a speech on Sunday evening, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah sought to reassure his supporters, leading hundreds of young people to take to the streets of the southern suburbs on their motorcycles and carrying Hezbollah flags in celebration of what they perceived as “the retaliation against Israel.”

Hezbollah and Israel returned the following day to operate under the framework of avoiding a full-scale war while adhering to flexible yet carefully considered rules of engagement.

Sirens sounded in several settlements in Western Galilee as a warning of potential attacks from Hezbollah.

Israeli media reported that the alarms were heard in Arab Al-Aramshe, Adamit and Hanita in western Galilee.

Israel’s military released a video to confirm “Israeli strikes on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon.”

The footage displayed a segment of a drone being intercepted by a combat helicopter, as well as aerial refueling operations in Lebanese airspace.

Nasrallah said that Hezbollah had “attacked the Glilot base of the Israeli military intelligence directorate ‘Aman’ located near Tel Aviv, as well as the Ein Shemer base in Hadera.”

To achieve this, Hezbollah launched 340 Katyusha rockets at northern Israel to distract attention from the trajectory of its suicide drones aimed at Tel Aviv.

It attacked 11 locations during the operation, including barracks and military command centers.


Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election

Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
Updated 06 October 2024
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Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election

Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
  • Three years after a sweeping power grab by Saied, the election is seen as a closing chapter in Tunisia’s experiment with democracy
  • After rising to power in a landslide in 2019, Saied, now 66, led a sweeping power grab that saw him rewrite the constitution

TUNIS: Tunisia holds a presidential election Sunday with no real opposition to incumbent Kais Saied, widely tipped to win as his most prominent critics, including a key contender, are behind bars.
Three years after a sweeping power grab by Saied, the election is seen as a closing chapter in Tunisia’s experiment with democracy.
The North African country had prided itself for more than a decade for being the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings against dictatorship.
Polling stations open at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) and close at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT). Preliminary results should come no later than Wednesday but may be known earlier, according to ISIE, the electoral board.
In the lead-up to polling day, there have been no campaign rallies or public debates — and nearly all of the campaign posters in city streets have been of Saied.
With little hope for change in a country mired in economic crisis, the mood among much of the electorate has been one of resignation.
“We have nothing to do with politics,” Mohamed, a 22-year-old who gave only his first name for fear of retribution, told AFP in Tunis.
Neither he nor his friends planned to vote, he said, because they believed it was “useless.”
After rising to power in a landslide in 2019, Saied, now 66, led a sweeping power grab that saw him rewrite the constitution.
A burgeoning crackdown on dissent ensued, and a number of Saied’s critics across the political spectrum were jailed, sparking criticism both at home and abroad.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has said that more than “170 people are detained in Tunisia on political grounds or for exercising their fundamental rights.”
Jailed opposition figures include Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist-inspired opposition party Ennahdha, which dominated political life after the revolution.
Also detained is Abir Moussi, head of the Free Destourian Party, which critics accuse of wanting to bring back the regime that was ousted in 2011.

ISIE said about 9.7 million people are expected to turn out, but the near certainty of a Saied win and the country’s mounting hardships have inspired little to no eagerness to vote.
The International Crisis Group think tank said on Friday that “the president’s nationalist discourse and economic hardship” have “corroded any enthusiasm ordinary citizens might have felt about the election.”
“Many fear that a new mandate for Saied will only deepen the country’s socio-economic woes, as well as hasten the regime’s authoritarian drift,” it said.
Voters are being presented with almost no alternative after ISIE barred 14 hopefuls from standing in the race, citing insufficient endorsements among other technicalities.
Hundreds of people protested in the capital on Friday, marching along a heavily policed Habib Bourguiba Avenue as some demonstrators bore signs denouncing Saied as a “Pharaoh manipulating the law.”
Standing against him Sunday are former lawmaker Zouhair Maghzaoui, a supporter of the power grab Saied staged in 2021, and Ayachi Zammel, a little-known businessman who has been in jail since his bid was approved by ISIE last month.
Zammel currently faces more than 14 years in prison on accusations of having forged endorsement signatures to enable him to stand in the election.
In a speech on Thursday, Saied called for a “massive turnout to vote” and usher in what he called an era of “reconstruction.”
He cited “a long war against conspiratorial forces linked to foreign circles,” accusing them of “infiltrating many public services and disrupting hundreds of projects” under his tenure.
The International Crisis Group said that while Saied “enjoys significant support among the working classes, he has been criticized for failing to resolve the country’s deep economic crisis.”
 


At least 18 killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza mosque

At least 18 killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza mosque
Updated 17 min 24 sec ago
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At least 18 killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza mosque

At least 18 killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza mosque
  • Israeli military says the target once served as the ‘Shuhada Al-Aqsa’ Mosque but was being as Hamas command and control center
  • Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million people

GAZA/CAIRO: At least 18 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a Gaza mosque early on Sunday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
The strike on the mosque, near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, came as the war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian enclave approaches its first anniversary.
Eyewitnesses said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque was being used to house displaced people.
The Israeli military said in a statement it “conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control center embedded in a structure that previously served as the ‘Shuhada Al-Aqsa’ Mosque in the area of Deir al Balah.”
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. It has also displaced nearly all of the enclave’s 2.3 million people, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.


Hezbollah says repelled ‘attempted’ Israeli infiltration at border village

Hezbollah says repelled ‘attempted’ Israeli infiltration at border village
Updated 06 October 2024
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Hezbollah says repelled ‘attempted’ Israeli infiltration at border village

Hezbollah says repelled ‘attempted’ Israeli infiltration at border village

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Hezbollah said its fighters pushed away Israeli troops that attempted to storm into a Lebanese border village early Sunday, in the latest clashes after Israel announced ground operations earlier this week.
The fighters launched “artillery shells” at “Israeli enemy soldiers who attempted to infiltrate from... Blida... forcing (them) to retreat,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

 

 


Iran ‘ongoing threat’ to Israel, says president

Iran ‘ongoing threat’ to Israel, says president
Updated 06 October 2024
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Iran ‘ongoing threat’ to Israel, says president

Iran ‘ongoing threat’ to Israel, says president
  • Since late September the conflict with Hezbollah has escalated into full-on war

JERUSALEM: President Isaac Herzog said on Saturday that Iran remains an “ongoing threat” to Israel, a year after the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.
“In many senses we are still living the aftermath of October 7... It is in the ongoing threat to the Jewish State by Iran and its terror proxies, who are blinded by hatred and bent on the destruction of our one and only Jewish nation state,” Herzog said in a statement to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas onslaught.
On October 1, Iran struck Israel with about 200 missiles in what was its second direct attack in less than six months during the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
US officials told American news outlets after Iran’s earlier strike in April that Israel in turn carried out a retaliatory strike on the Islamic republic.
Iran had targeted Israel with drones and missiles after a deadly strike, which it blamed on Israel, against Tehran’s embassy consular annex in Syria.
The latest missile barrage from Iran came, it said, in retaliation for the killings of top militant leaders.
In response to the missile fire, most of which was intercepted, Iran and much of the international community is now bracing for a potential Israeli attack on the Islamic republic.
The attack by Palestinian militants Hamas almost a year ago triggered war with Israel that continues in the Gaza Strip, as well as supporting fire from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East, mainly Lebanon’s Hezbollah which is armed and financed by Iran.
Since late September the conflict with Hezbollah has escalated into full-on war.


Israeli air strikes target Palestinian refugee camp, Hezbollah TV studios in Beirut

Israeli air strikes target Palestinian refugee camp, Hezbollah TV studios in Beirut
Updated 06 October 2024
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Israeli air strikes target Palestinian refugee camp, Hezbollah TV studios in Beirut

Israeli air strikes target Palestinian refugee camp, Hezbollah TV studios in Beirut
  • Refugee camp deep in the north hit for the first time as strikes target both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters
  • Building housing studios of Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV channel also targeted 

BEIRUT: Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.

A series of strong explosions were reported near midnight after Israel’s military called on residents to evacuate areas in Beirut’s Haret Hreik and Choueifat neighborhoods. Residents were also told to evacuate buildings in the areas of Al-Kafaat, Al-Laylaki, and the Madi neighborhood.

Blasts illuminated the skyline of the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.

The strong explosions began near midnight and continued into Sunday after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Dahiyeh, the predominantly Shiite collection of suburbs on Beirut’s southern edge.

A  building near a road leading to the Rarik Hariri International Airport was among those hit, triggering violent explosions followed by a massive fire. Social media reports claimed that one of the strikes hit an oxygen tank storage facility, but this was later denied by the owner of the company Khaled Kaddouha.

A building known to house studios of Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV channel was also targeted in the strikes.

Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees from the Sabra and Shatila camps, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.

A video clip posted by LBCI Lebanon News on the X platform showed chaos and confusion along the streets as people rushed for their safety.

Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, with some intercepted.

 

Shortly thereafter, Hezbollah claimed in a statement that it successfully targeted a group of Israeli soldiers near the Manara settlement in northern Israel “with a large rocket salvo, hitting them accurately.”

On Saturday, Israel’s attack on the northern Beddawi camp killed an official with Hamas’ military wing along with his wife and two young daughters, the Palestinian militant group said. Hamas later said another military wing member was killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley. The aftermath showed smashed buildings, scattered bricks and stairways to nowhere.

Israel has killed several Hamas officials in Lebanon since the Israel-Hamas war began , in addition to most of the top leadership of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah as fighting has sharply escalated.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes in less than two weeks. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group away from shared borders so displaced Israelis can return to their homes.

Iranian-backed Hezbollah, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, began firing rockets into Israel almost immediately after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, calling it a show of support for the Palestinians. Hezbollah and Israel’s military have traded fire almost daily.

Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a brief war in 2006. Nine Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ground clashes that Israel says have killed 440 Hezbollah fighters.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told reporters in Damascus that “we are trying to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and in Lebanon.” The minister said the unnamed countries putting forward initiatives include regional states and some outside the Middle East.

Araghchi spoke a day after the supreme leader of Iran praised its recent missile strikes on Israel and said it was ready to do it again if necessary.

On Saturday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks, and it will do so.” On Lebanon, he said ”we are not done yet.”

Fleeing Lebanon on foot

Israel’s military earlier Saturday said about 90 projectiles were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory. Most were intercepted, but several fell in the northern Arab town of Deir Al-Asad, where police said three people were lightly injured.

At least six people in Lebanon were killed in more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Saturday, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency.

Nearly 375,000 people have fled from Lebanon into Syria in less than two weeks, according to a Lebanese government committee.

Associated Press journalists saw hundreds continuing to cross the Masnaa Border Crossing on foot, crunching over the rubble after Israeli airstrikes left huge craters in the road leading to it on Thursday. Much of Hezbollah’s weaponry is believed to come from Iran through Syria.

“We were on the road for two days,” said Issa Hilal, one of many Syrian refugees in Lebanon who are now heading back. “The roads were very crowded … it was very difficult. We almost died getting here.” Some children whimpered or cried.

Other displaced families now shelter alongside Beirut’s famous seaside Corniche, their wind-flapped tents just steps from luxury homes. “We don’t care if we die, but we don’t want to die at the hands of Netanyahu,” said Om Ali Mcheik.

The Israeli military said special forces were carrying out ground raids against Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon. It said troops dismantled tunnel shafts that Hezbollah used to approach the Israeli border.

More evacuation orders in Gaza

Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the Health Ministry there, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. Almost 90 percent of Gaza’s residents are displaced, amid widespread destruction.

Palestinian medical officials said Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza on Saturday killed at least nine people. One in the northern town of Beit Hanoun killed at least five, including two children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Another hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four, Awda hospital said.

Israel’s military did not have any immediate comment but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas.

An Israeli airstrike killed two children in Gaza City’s Zaytoun neighborhood, according to the civil defense first responders’ group that operates under the Hamas-run government.

Israel’s military warned Palestinians to evacuate along the strategic Netzarim corridor in central Gaza that was at the heart of obstacles to a ceasefire deal. The military told people in parts of the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps to evacuate to Muwasi, a coastal area it has designated a humanitarian zone.

It’s unclear how many Palestinians are in those areas. Israeli forces have often returned to areas in Gaza to target Hamas fighters as they regroup.