Israel pursues Hezbollah weapons in Bekaa outskirts

Rescuers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Shmestar in the Bekaa valley on November 23, 2024. (AFP file photo)
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Rescuers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Shmestar in the Bekaa valley on November 23, 2024. (AFP file photo)
Israel pursues Hezbollah weapons in Bekaa outskirts
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The Israeli military earlier reported targeting infrastructure used by the Houthis at the Sanaa International Airport, as well as ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif, and Ras Qantib, along with power stations. (File/AP)
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Updated 27 December 2024
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Israel pursues Hezbollah weapons in Bekaa outskirts

Israel pursues Hezbollah weapons in Bekaa outskirts
  • Mikati’s office denies receiving information that Israel will not withdraw from border area
  • Duraid Assad’s wife and daughter arrested at Beirut Airport for carrying forged passports

BEIRUT: Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on Friday targeting the outskirts of Qousaya in the eastern mountain range separating Lebanon from Syria.

The strikes hit three sites, with the Israeli military claiming Hezbollah was “using a crossing in the town of Janta to transfer military equipment through Syria.”

These areas, which include illegal crossings where Lebanese and Syrian territory overlap, had turned into closed security zones used by militants from Palestinian factions loyal to Syria, as well as Hezbollah. Tunnels were located earlier this week in the areas linking Lebanon and Syria.




Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s press office denied reports that Israel has informed Lebanon it will not withdraw from invaded areas after the expiry of the truce. (AP/AFP)

Israeli Air Force Commander Gen. Tomer Bar said: “Seven border crossings between Lebanon and Syria were attacked this morning following attempts to smuggle military equipment.”

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on social media that “the airstrikes targeted infrastructure at the Janta crossing, which was used to transfer military equipment through Syria to the terrorist organization Hezbollah.”

As part of what the Israeli army claims is the pursuit of Hezbollah weapons caches, Israeli aircraft also struck early Wednesday morning in the plain of Taraiyya, west of Baalbek, targeting an uninhabited house and a garage owned by an individual from the Hamieh family.

HIGHLIGHT

The strikes hit three sites, with the Israeli military claiming Hezbollah was ‘using a crossing in the town of Janta to transfer military equipment through Syria.’

Meanwhile, Israeli operations continue in the southern border region of Lebanon despite the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.

On Friday, the body of 75-year-old Najwa Ghasham was found in her home in the border town of Yaroun. Ghasham had refused to evacuate and insisted on staying throughout the hostilities, surviving until after the ceasefire took effect on Nov. 27.

The National News Agency reported that the Lebanese Red Cross retrieved her body, and after examination, it was revealed that she had been shot multiple times.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Thursday that the Israeli military “killed 44 Hezbollah members who violated the ceasefire within 30 days after it took effect and carried out 25 attacks on Lebanese sites during this period.”

Israeli forces continue to target houses and sweep villages in southern Lebanon. Dwellings and roads continue to be bulldozed, as part of efforts to create a buffer zone, with residents and Hezbollah members denied entry.

Israeli forces hit the outskirts of Aita Al-Shaab with artillery shells on Friday.

Contact was lost with two Syrian workers identified as Taher Rimi and Ahmed Amin from Wadi Al-Hujair, following the withdrawal of the Israeli military on Thursday from the area, which was invaded for a few hours. According to security investigations, the missing workers might have been kidnapped by Israel.

A joint patrol of the Lebanese Armed Forces and a UNIFIL Indonesian unit inspected the areas infiltrated by the Israeli forces in Wadi Al-Hujair, Qantara, Adchit, Qsayr and the outskirts of Wadi Al-Salouqi toward Houla. The patrol removed dirt mounds erected by the Israeli forces in the middle of the road.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s press office denied on Friday reports claiming that Israel has informed Lebanon through intermediates that it will not withdraw from invaded areas in the south after the expiry of the 60-day truce.

In a statement, Mikati’s office said: “These reports are totally untrue. The firm position that Mikati relayed to all the concerned sides, particularly the US and France, which are sponsoring the ceasefire agreement, underlines the necessity to pressure the Israeli enemy to withdraw from invaded Lebanese territories and cease its violations and hostilities.”

The statement continued: “Mikati reiterated this position in the intensive diplomatic and military contacts he held yesterday to push for the withdrawal of the enemy from Qantara, Adchit, Qsayr and Wadi Al-Hojair in southern Lebanon.

“He also relayed this position to the representatives of Washington and Paris in the five-member security committee overseeing the ceasefire agreement, during the meeting last Tuesday. Moreover, Mikati called for the full withdrawal of the Israeli enemy, stressing that the army carrying out its duty in its deployment areas started to consolidate its presence in the south in accordance with the agreement.”

The General Directorate of State Security announced that “a patrol from Akkar’s state security regional directorate arrested in the morning a person, whose identity was not revealed, considered a key driver of arms smuggling operations between Syria and Lebanon through illegal crossings in Lebanon’s northern border.”

The general directorate added that after searching his house, it found and seized “25 Kalashnikov rifles, one PKM machine gun, and ammunition.”

In other news, the Lebanese judiciary ordered the arrest of the wife and daughter of former Syrian ruler Bashar Assad’s cousin, Duraid Assad, at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport for possessing fake passports.

A judicial source clarified that “the Public Prosecution Office took the arrest decision due to the fake passports, while Duraid Assad (the son of former Syrian Vice President Rifaat Assad), who holds an authentic Syrian passport, was not arrested.”

The trio were heading to Cairo from Beirut, the source added.

 

 


Egypt’s FM heads to Washington for talks with US officials: ministry

Egypt’s FM heads to Washington for talks with US officials: ministry
Updated 09 February 2025
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Egypt’s FM heads to Washington for talks with US officials: ministry

Egypt’s FM heads to Washington for talks with US officials: ministry

CAIRO: Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty traveled to Washington on Sunday for talks with senior officials from the new Trump administration and members of Congress, his ministry said.
The ministry’s statement said the visit aimed “to boost bilateral relations and strategic partnership between Egypt and the US,” and would include “consultations on regional developments.”


Israeli official says force withdrawal from key Gaza corridor has begun, as part of ceasefire deal

Israeli official says force withdrawal from key Gaza corridor has begun, as part of ceasefire deal
Updated 09 February 2025
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Israeli official says force withdrawal from key Gaza corridor has begun, as part of ceasefire deal

Israeli official says force withdrawal from key Gaza corridor has begun, as part of ceasefire deal

TEL AVIV: An Israeli official said Sunday that Israeli forces have begun withdrawing from a key Gaza corridor, part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas that is moving ahead.

Israel agreed as part of the truce to remove its forces from the Netzarim corridor, a strip of land that bisects northern Gaza from the south. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss troop movement with the media.

At the start of the ceasefire, Israel began allowing Palestinians to cross Netzarim to head to their homes in the war-battered north and the withdrawal of forces from the area will fulfill another commitment to the deal.

It was not clear how many troops Israel had withdrawn on Sunday.

The 42-day ceasefire is just past its halfway point and the sides are supposed to negotiate an extension that would lead to more Israeli hostages being freed from Hamas captivity. But the agreement is fragile and the extension isn’t guaranteed.

The sides are meant to begin talks on the truce’s second stage but there appears to have been little progress.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in talks between the sides, but the mission included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough in extending the truce. Netanyahu is expected to convene a meeting of key Cabinet ministers this week on the second phase of the deal, but it was not clear when.

During the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct.7, 2023, attack in exchange for a pause in fighting, freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a floor of humanitarian aid to war-battered Gaza. The deal stipulates that Israeli troops will pull back from populated areas of Gaza and that on day 22, which is Sunday, Palestinians will be allowed to head north from a central road that crosses through Netzarim, without being inspected by Israeli forces.

In the second phase, all remaining hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm.”


2 mass graves with bodies of nearly 50 migrants found in southeastern Libya

2 mass graves with bodies of nearly 50 migrants found in southeastern Libya
Updated 09 February 2025
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2 mass graves with bodies of nearly 50 migrants found in southeastern Libya

2 mass graves with bodies of nearly 50 migrants found in southeastern Libya

CAIRO: Libya authorities uncovered nearly 50 bodies this week from two mass graves in the country’s southeastern desert, officials said Sunday, in the latest tragedy involving people seeking to reach Europe through the chaos-stricken North African country.
The first mass grave with 19 bodies was found Friday in a farm in the southeastern city of Kufra, the security directorate said in a statement, adding that authorities took them for autopsy.
Authorities posted images on its Facebook page showing police officers and medics digging in the sand and recovering dead bodies that were wrapped in blankets.
The Al-Abreen charity, which helps migrants in eastern and southern Libya, said that some were apparently shot and killed before being buried in the mass grave.
A separate mass grave with at least 30 bodies was also found in Kufra after raiding a human trafficking center, according to Mohamed Al-Fadeil, head of the security chamber in Kufra. Survivors said nearly 70 people were buried in the grave, he added. Authorities were still searching the area.
Migrants’ mass graves are not uncommon in Libya. Last year, authorities unearthed the bodies of at least 65 migrants in the Shuayrif region, 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of the capital, Tripoli.
Libya is the dominant transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to make it to Europe. The country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Oil-rich Libya has been ruled for most of the past decade by rival governments in eastern and western Libya, each backed by an array of militias and foreign governments.
Human traffickers have benefited from more than a decade of instability, smuggling migrants across the country’s borders with six nations, including Chad, Niger, Sudan Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.
Once at the coast, traffickers pack desperate migrants seeking a better life in Europe into ill-equipped rubber boats and other vessels for risky voyages on the perilous Central Mediterranean Sea route.
Rights groups and UN agencies have for years documented systematic abuse of migrants in Libya including forced labor, beatings, rapes and torture. The abuse often accompanies efforts to extort money from families before migrants are allowed to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats.
Those who have been intercepted and returned to Libya — including women and children — are held in government-run detention centers where they also suffer from abuse, including torture, rape and extortion, according to rights groups and UN experts.


Egypt to host emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to discuss ‘serious’ Palestinian developments

Egypt to host emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to discuss ‘serious’ Palestinian developments
Updated 09 February 2025
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Egypt to host emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to discuss ‘serious’ Palestinian developments

Egypt to host emergency Arab summit on Feb. 27 to discuss ‘serious’ Palestinian developments
  • Egypt has been rallying regional support against US President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians

CAIRO: Egypt will host a summit of Arab nations on February 27 to discuss “the latest serious developments” concerning the Palestinian territories, its foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The “emergency Arab summit” comes as Egypt has been rallying regional support against US President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan while establishing US control over the coastal territory.

Sunday’s statement said the gathering was called “after extensive consultations by Egypt at the highest levels with Arab countries in recent days, including Palestine, which requested the summit, to address the latest serious developments regarding the Palestinian cause.”

That included coordination with Bahrain, which currently chairs the Arab League, the statement said.

On Friday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty spoke with regional partners including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to shore up opposition to any forced displacement of Palestinians from their land.

Last week, Trump floated the idea of US administration over Gaza, envisioning rebuilding the devastated territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, namely Egypt and Jordan.

The remarks have prompted global backlash, and Arab countries have firmly rejected the proposal, insisting on a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.


Israeli military says it is expanding West Bank operation

Israeli military says it is expanding West Bank operation
Updated 09 February 2025
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Israeli military says it is expanding West Bank operation

Israeli military says it is expanding West Bank operation

JERUSALEM: A pregnant 23-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli security forces on Sunday in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank as part of an expanded Israeli army operation in the occupied territory.

The Palestinian Health ministry said Sundos Jamal Mohammed Shalabi, who was eight months pregnant, was struck by Israeli gunfire, adding that the foetus also did not survive and that Shalabi's husband was critically injured.

The Israeli army said they expanded the military operation to four refugee camps in the West Bank.

In Nur Shams, a Palestinian refugee camp east of Tulkarm, Israeli forces had killed several “militants” and detained wanted individuals in the area, a military spokesperson said on Sunday.

Israel's military, police and intelligence services launched a counter-terrorism operation in Jenin in the West Bank on January 21. 

The operation expanded to Tulkarm, Al Faraa and Tamun, with the military saying it was targeting militants.

It is described by Israeli officials as a “large-scale and significant military operation”. 

Thousands of Palestinians have fled West Bank homes in the wake of the military campaign and the widespread destruction.
Palestinians have said the Israeli campaign is one of the most destructive in recent memory. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military has said it has killed militants.
This month, the Israeli military released a video of a controlled demolition of buildings in the crowded Jenin refugee camp. It said the 23 buildings were used by militants.

(with AP and Reuters)