War casts shadow over ancient Baalbek

War casts shadow over ancient Baalbek
After a year of clashes with Hezbollah, Israel in September 2024, ramped-up strikes on the group’s strongholds, including parts of Baalbek. (AFP)
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Updated 27 October 2024
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War casts shadow over ancient Baalbek

War casts shadow over ancient Baalbek
  • Only about 40 percent of Baalbek’s residents remain in the city, local officials say, mainly crammed into the city’s few Sunni-majority districts

BAALBEK: Since war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah, the famed Palmyra Hotel in east Lebanon’s Baalbek has been without visitors, but long-time employee Rabih Salika refuses to leave — even as bombs drop nearby.

The hotel, which was built in 1874, once welcomed renowned guests including former French President Charles de Gaulle and American singer Nina Simone.

Overlooking a large archeological complex encompassing the ruins of an ancient Roman town, the Palmyra has kept its doors open through several conflicts and years of economic collapse.

“This hotel hasn’t closed its doors for 150 years,” Salika said, explaining that it welcomed guests at the height of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war and during Israel’s last war with Hezbollah in 2006. The 45-year-old has worked there for more than half his life and says he will not abandon it now.

“I’m very attached to this place,” he said, adding that the hotel’s vast, desolate halls leave “a huge pang in my heart.”

He spends his days dusting decaying furniture and antique mirrors. He clears glass shards from windows shattered by strikes.

Baalbek, known as the “City of the Sun” in ancient times, is home to one of the world’s largest complex of Roman temples — designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

But the latest Israel-Hezbollah war has cast a pall over the eastern city, home to an estimated 250,000 people before the war.

After a year of cross-border clashes with Hezbollah, Israel last month ramped-up strikes on the group’s strongholds, including parts of Baalbek.

Only about 40 percent of Baalbek’s residents remain in the city, local officials say, mainly crammed into the city’s few Sunni-majority districts.

On Oct. 6, Israeli strikes fell hundreds of meters (yards) away from the Roman columns that bring tourists to the city and the Palmyra hotel.

UNESCO told AFP it was “closely following the impact of the ongoing crisis in Lebanon on the cultural heritage sites.”

More than a month into the war, a handful of Baalbek’s shops remain open, albeit for short periods of time.

“The market is almost always closed. It opens for one hour a day, and sometimes not at all,” said Baalbek Mayor Mustafa Al-Shall.

Residents shop for groceries quickly in the morning, rarely venturing out after sundown.

They try “not to linger on the streets fearing an airstrike could hit at any moment,” he said.

Last year, nearly 70,000 tourists and 100,000 Lebanese visited Baalbek. But the city has only attracted five percent of those figures so far this year, the mayor said.

Even before the war, local authorities in Baalbek were struggling to provide public services due to a five-year economic crisis.

Now municipality employees are mainly working to clear the rubble from the streets and provide assistance to shelters housing the displaced.

A Baalbek hospital was put out of service by a recent Israeli strike, leaving only five other facilities still fully functioning, Shall said.

Baalbek resident Hussein Al-Jammal said the war has turned his life upside down.

“The streets were full of life, the citadel was welcoming visitors, restaurants were open, and the markets were crowded,” the 37-year-old social worker said. “Now, there is no one.”

His young children and his wife have fled the fighting, but he said he had a duty to stay behind and help those in need.

“I work in the humanitarian field, I cannot leave, even if everyone leaves,” he said.

Only four homes in his neighborhood are still inhabited, he said, mostly by vulnerable elderly people.

“I pay them a visit every morning to see what they need,” he said, but “it’s hard to be away from your family.”

Rasha Al-Rifai, 45, provides psychological support to women facing gender-based violence.

But in the month since the war began, she has lost contact with many.

“Before the war ... we didn’t worry about anything,” said Rifai, who lives with her elderly parents.

“Now everything has changed, we work remotely, we don’t see anyone, most of the people I know have left.”

“In the 2006 war we were displaced several times, it was a very difficult experience, we don’t want this to happen again,” she said. “We will stay here as long as it is bearable.”


Gulf leaders arrive in Kuwait for 45th GCC Summit

Gulf leaders arrive in Kuwait for 45th GCC Summit
Updated 5 sec ago
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Gulf leaders arrive in Kuwait for 45th GCC Summit

Gulf leaders arrive in Kuwait for 45th GCC Summit
  • Summit aims to underscore the importance of collective action among nations in the region

RIYADH: Gulf leaders have started arriving in Kuwait ahead of the 45th GCC summit, which aims to underscore the importance of collective action among nations in the region.

GCC Secretary General Jassem Al-Budaiwi, said the summit was yet another milestone in the chain of accomplishments for attaining the aspired pan-GCC merger, in a statement published by Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA.

It is rather a platform for the leaders to coordinate their visions and stands toward regional and international issues, said Al-Budaiwi, revealing that leaders would look into strategic files designed to strengthen regional security and stability, in addition to backing up sustainable economic development in the six countries, members of the bloc.

Among those who have arrived in Kuwait, which hosts the event, are Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Qatar’s Ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Bahraini Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, UAE Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Oman’s Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers Sayyed Fahad bin Mahmoud Al-Said.


Iraq MPs to debate revised bill after outcry over underage marriage

Iraq MPs to debate revised bill after outcry over underage marriage
Updated 28 min 40 sec ago
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Iraq MPs to debate revised bill after outcry over underage marriage

Iraq MPs to debate revised bill after outcry over underage marriage
  • Proposed amendments would let people choose between religious or state regulations for family matters
  • A revised version of the bill sets the minimum age at 15 with court approval and retains ‘current conditions’
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament will review contentious legal amendments Sunday, including a reworked family law bill that has sparked civil society outrage over fears of a resurgence in underage marriages.
The proposed amendments would let people choose between religious or state regulations for family matters, such as marriage, inheritance, divorce and child custody.
Critics fear the move could erode protections for Muslim women by lowering the legal age for marriage – currently set at 18, or 15 with the consent of legal guardians and a judge – and pave the way for the adoption of Islamic jurisprudence that could allow marriages as young as nine years old.
A revised version of the bill sets the minimum age at 15 with court approval and retains “current conditions,” according to MP Raed Al-Maliki, who backs the new proposals.
Couples could opt for Shiite Muslim or Sunni Muslim rules under the amendment.
If passed, clerics and lawyers would have four months to establish community-specific regulations. Parliament would then vote again to finalize the changes.
The draft law has already undergone two readings, with votes previously delayed.
An earlier version faced backlash from feminists and civil society groups.
In October, Amnesty International warned the amendments could legalize unregistered marriages – often used to bypass child marriage bans – and strip protections for divorced women.
The London-based rights group also voiced concerns that the amendments would strip women and girls of protections regarding divorce and inheritance.
Sunday’s parliament session will also include a vote on a general amnesty law.
Excluded from amnesty are convictions for terrorism and crimes like rape, incest, human trafficking and kidnapping.
The amnesty, covering 2016-2024, could apply to drug users but not traffickers, according to Maliki.
Cases based on evidence from “secret informants” may qualify for retrial.
The previous 2016 amnesty reportedly covered 150,000 people.

UNRWA chief says pausing aid delivery through key Gaza-Israel crossing

UNRWA chief says pausing aid delivery through key Gaza-Israel crossing
Updated 27 min 9 sec ago
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UNRWA chief says pausing aid delivery through key Gaza-Israel crossing

UNRWA chief says pausing aid delivery through key Gaza-Israel crossing
  • Delivery through Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing has been paused due to unsafe route and looting by armed gangs inside Gaza

The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees is pausing the delivery of aid through the key Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza because of security concerns, its chief said Sunday.
“We are pausing the delivery of aid through Kerem Shalom... The road out of this crossing has not been safe for months. On 16 November, a large convoy of aid trucks was stolen by armed gangs. Yesterday, we tried to bring in a few food trucks on the same route. They were all taken,” UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X.


Turkish-backed Syrian militants blocked Kurdish plan, Turkish security sources say

Turkish-backed Syrian militants blocked Kurdish plan, Turkish security sources say
Updated 01 December 2024
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Turkish-backed Syrian militants blocked Kurdish plan, Turkish security sources say

Turkish-backed Syrian militants blocked Kurdish plan, Turkish security sources say
  • Militants blocked an attempt by Kurdish groups to establish a corridor connecting Tel Rifaat to northeastern Syria

ANKARA: Turkiye-backed Syrian militants who are fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad have blocked an attempt by Kurdish groups to establish a corridor connecting Tel Rifaat to northeastern Syria, Turkish security sources said on Sunday.
Turkiye refers to this group of rebels as Syrian National Army.
The sources said that Kurdish groups, including the PKK and YPG, had sought to take advantage of Syrian government forces withdrawing from parts of the country under the control of Assad’s forces.
The corridor would have linked the Kurdish-held northeastern regions to Tel Rifaat, a strategic area northwest of Aleppo.


Iran says to ‘firmly support’ Damascus after militant attacks

Iran says to ‘firmly support’ Damascus after militant attacks
Updated 01 December 2024
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Iran says to ‘firmly support’ Damascus after militant attacks

Iran says to ‘firmly support’ Damascus after militant attacks
  • Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi will leave Tehran for Damascus on Sunday

Tehran: Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said Sunday he will leave Tehran for Damascus to deliver a message of support for Syria’s government and armed forces, state media said, after a lighting advance by rebels.
Tehran has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad during the civil war that broke out in 2011. Iran maintains it does not have combat troops in Syria, only officers who provide military advice and training.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, of Lebanon, has for years fought on the side of the Syrian government.
“I am going to Damascus to convey the message of the Islamic Republic to the Syrian government,” Araghchi said, emphasising Tehran will “firmly support the Syrian government and army,” the IRNA state news agency reported.
Islamist-led rebels on Saturday seized Aleppo’s airport and dozens of nearby towns after overrunning most of Syria’s second city Aleppo, a war monitor said.
Syria’s army confirmed that the rebels had entered “large parts” of the city of around two million people and said “dozens of men from our armed forces were killed.”
Araghchi again called the surprise rebel offensive a plot by the United States and Israel.
“The Syrian army will once again win over these terrorist groups as in the past,” the foreign minister added.
An Iranian news agency reported earlier that a general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was killed in Syria on Thursday during the fighting.
On Saturday, Iran’s foreign ministry said its consulate in Aleppo had come under attack, but staff members were safe.
Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Araghchi who will visit Ankara for consultations with Turkish officials after his stop in Damascus.
Since 2020, the rebel enclave in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region has been subject to a Turkish- and Russian-brokered truce that had largely been holding despite repeated violations.
But the insurgents’ launch on Wednesday of a surprise offensive against the city of Aleppo shattered the truce, the same day a fragile ceasefire took effect in neighboring Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Syrian government had regained control of a large part of the country in 2015 with the support of its Russian and Iranian allies, and in 2016 the entire city of Aleppo.