Villagers in southern Lebanon prepare to return home as Israeli army withdraws under ceasefire deal

Villagers in southern Lebanon prepare to return home as Israeli army withdraws under ceasefire deal
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Civil defense members gather at the entrance of Deir Mimas as they seek to enter the Lebanese southern village of Kfar Kila, Lebanon on Feb. 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Villagers in southern Lebanon prepare to return home as Israeli army withdraws under ceasefire deal
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A general view shows the destruction in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel on Feb. 18, 2025, after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area. (AFP)
Villagers in southern Lebanon prepare to return home as Israeli army withdraws under ceasefire deal
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Civil defense members carry a body as they walk near damaged buildings in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, Feb. 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 18 February 2025
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Villagers in southern Lebanon prepare to return home as Israeli army withdraws under ceasefire deal

Villagers in southern Lebanon prepare to return home as Israeli army withdraws under ceasefire deal
  • Most of the villages waited by the roadside for permission to go and check on their homes but some pushed aside the roadblocks to march in
  • In the border village of Kfar Kila, people were stunned by the amount of destruction, with entire sections of houses wiped out

DEIR MIMAS, Lebanon: Israeli forces withdrew Tuesday from border villages in southern Lebanon under a deadline spelled out in a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, but stayed put in five strategic overlook locations inside Lebanon.
Top Lebanese leaders denounced the continued presence of the Israel troops as an occupation and a violation of the deal, maintaining that Israel was required to make a full withdrawal by Tuesday. The troops’ presence is also a sore point with the militant Hezbollah group, which has demanded action from the authorities.
Lebanese soldiers moved into the areas from where the Israeli troops pulled out and began clearing roadblocks set up by Israeli forces and checking for unexploded ordnance. They blocked the main road leading to the villages, preventing anyone from entering while the military was looking for any explosives left behind.
Most of the villages waited by the roadside for permission to go and check on their homes but some pushed aside the roadblocks to march in. Elsewhere, the army allowed the residents to enter.
Many of their houses were demolished during the more than year-long conflict or in the two months after November’s ceasefire agreement, when Israeli forces were still occupying the area.
In the border village of Kfar Kila, people were stunned by the amount of destruction, with entire sections of houses wiped out.
“What I’m seeing is beyond belief. I am in a state of shock,” said Khodo Suleiman, a construction contractor, pointing to his destroyed home on a hilltop.
“There are no homes, no plants, nothing left,” said Suleiman, who had last been in Kfar Kila six months ago. “I am feeling a mixture of happiness and pain.”
In the main village square, Lebanese troops deployed as a military bulldozer removed rubble from the street.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli army “will stay in a buffer zone in Lebanon in five control posts” to guard against any ceasefire violations by Hezbollah. He also said the army had erected new posts on the Israeli side of the border and sent reinforcements there.
“We are determined to provide full security to every northern community,” Katz said.
However, Lebanon’s three top officials — the country’s president, prime minister and parliament speaker — in a joint statement said that Israel’s continued presence at the five locaions was in violation of the ceasefire agreement. They called on the UN Security Council to take action to force a complete Israeli withdrawal.
“The continued Israeli presence in any inch of Lebanese territory is an occupation, with all the legal consequences that result from that according to international legitimacy,” the statement said.
The Israeli troop presence was also criticized in a joint statement by the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the head of the UN peacekeeping force in the country, Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro.
The two, however, warned that this should not “overshadow the tangible progress that has been made” since the ceasefire agreement.
Near the Lebanese villages of Deir Mimas and Kfar Kila, hundreds of villagers were gathered early on Tuesday morning as an Israeli drone flew overhead.
Atef Arabi, who had been waiting with his wife and two daughters before sunrise, was eager to see what’s left of his home in Kfar Kila.
“I am very happy I am going back even if I find my home destroyed,” said the 36-year-old car mechanic. “If I find my house destroyed I will rebuild it.”
Later on Tuesday, Kfar Kila’s mayor Hassan Sheet told The Associated Press that 90 percent of the village homes are completely destroyed while the remaining 10 percent are damaged. “There are no homes nor buildings standing,” he said, adding that rebuilding will start from scratch.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border on Oct. 8, 2023, one day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon, and the two sides became locked in an escalating conflict that became a full-blown war last September.
More than 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million were displaced at the height of the conflict, more than 100,000 of whom have not been able to return home. On the Israeli side, dozens of people were killed and some 60,000 are displaced.
Hussein Fares left Kfar Kila in October 2023 for the southern city of Nabatiyeh. When the fighting intensified in September he moved with his family to the city of Sidon where they were given a room in a school housing displaced people.
Kfar Kila saw intense fighting and Israeli troops later detonated many of its homes.
“I have been waiting for a year and the half to return,” said Fares who has a pickup truck and works as a laborer. He said he understands that the reconstruction process will take time.
“I have been counting the seconds for this day,” he said.


In Turkiye, 15 million fa vote of confidence for Istanbul’s embattled ex-mayor

In Turkiye, 15 million fa vote of confidence for Istanbul’s embattled ex-mayor
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In Turkiye, 15 million fa vote of confidence for Istanbul’s embattled ex-mayor

In Turkiye, 15 million fa vote of confidence for Istanbul’s embattled ex-mayor
  • Of 15 million people who voted for Imamoglu, 13.2 mn were not members of the deposed mayor's opposition CHP party, said Istanbul city hall
  • The vote was a long-planned primary organized by the main opposition CHP to choose Iits challenger to President Erdogan

ISTANBUL: “We won’t give in to despair,” insisted 38-year-old Aslihan, referring to the massive protests sweeping across Turkiye since the arrest of Istanbul’s popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
She was waiting in line to vote in a long-planned primary organized by the main opposition CHP to choose Imamoglu as its presidential candidate.
Following his arrest, the party opened the poll beyond its 1.7 million members to anyone who wanted to vote, turning it into a de facto referendum.
In the end, some 15 million people voted, of whom 13.2 million were not party members, said Istanbul city hall, which organized the vote. It extended voting by three-and-a-half hours because of the turnout.
Widely seen as the only politician capable of challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the 53-year-old’s lightning arrest and jailing has sparked Turkiye’s biggest protests in more than a decade.

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and voters of all ages began flocking to vote at 5,600 ballot boxes installed in 81 cities.
But the party said “millions” had turned out, pushing it to extend the closing time from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. due “overwhelming turnout.”
“Whenever there’s a strong opponent (to Erdogan), they are always jailed,” shrugged a 29-year-old voter called Ferhat, who like many, did not want to give his surname.
“There is a dictatorship in Turkiye right now, nothing else, it’s politics in name only.”

“We’ve come to support our mayor,” said her neighbor Kadriye Sevim inside a tent set up outside City Hall, the epicenter of the massive protests since Imamoglu’s March 19 arrest.
“No power has the right to do this to Turkish youth or the people in Turkiye. We will stand against this until the end,” said Ece Nazoskoc, an 18-year-old student.
Similar crowds were seen waiting to vote in Kadikoy, a trendy district on the Asian side of the city, as well as in Kasimpasa, a working-class neighborhood on the Golden Horn estuary where Erdogan spent his childhood.
The scenes were repeated across the country, from the capital Ankara to Diyarbakir in the mainly-Kurdish southeast, and to Thrace in the far northwest near the Greek and Bulgarian borders.

“We all voted, it was like a party! The CHP people manning the ballot boxes said it was really busy with lots of people from other parties,” grinned Sevil Dogruguven, 51, who works in the private sector in the northwestern city of Edirne.
“In the countryside near Thrace, people even came to the town halls to cast their ballots,” she told AFP.

In Ankara, Nurcan Kabacioglu, a retired 57-year-old teacher, was defiant.
“There is no such thing as a hopeless situation, just discouraged people. I never gave up hope,” she said.
Others were feeling a new sense of hope.
“This is the first mass protest since the Gezi protests,” said Aslihan, referring to a small 2013 environmental protest against the destruction of a city park that snowballed into vast nationwide rallies in one of the biggest threats to Erdogan’s rule.
“After Gezi, we got used to the feeling of hopelessness but the injustice we’re seeing now (and the subsequent protests) have given us new hope,” she said.
“I feel much stronger and more hopeful. But I feel this is our last chance,” she told AFP.
 


Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel has struck the largest hospital in the territory’s south

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel has struck the largest hospital in the territory’s south
Updated 24 March 2025
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Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel has struck the largest hospital in the territory’s south

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel has struck the largest hospital in the territory’s south
  • Like other medical facilities around Gaza, Nasser Hospital has been damaged by Israeli raids and strikes throughout the war

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israel’s military struck the largest hospital in southern Gaza on Sunday night, killing one person, wounding others and causing a large fire, the territory’s Health Ministry said.
The strike hit the surgical building of Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis, the ministry said, days after the facility was overwhelmed with dead and wounded when Israel resumed the war in Gaza last week with a surprise wave of airstrikes.
Israel’s military confirmed the strike on the hospital, saying it hit a Hamas militant operating there. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas.
Like other medical facilities around Gaza, Nasser Hospital has been damaged by Israeli raids and strikes throughout the war.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have now been killed in the war, the Health Ministry said earlier Sunday.
The military claimed to have “eliminated” dozens of militants since Israel ended a ceasefire Tuesday with strikes that killed hundreds of people on one of the deadliest days in the 17-month war.
Israel’s unrest over Gaza and political issues grew Sunday, with anger at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as his government voted to express no confidence in the attorney general, seen by many as a check on the power of his coalition.
“I’m worried for the future of this country. And I think it has to stop. We have to change direction,” said Avital Halperin, one of hundreds of protesters outside Netanyahu’s office. Police said three were arrested.
‘Displacement under fire’
Israel’s military ordered thousands of Palestinians to leave the heavily destroyed Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood in the southern city of Rafah. They walked to Muwasi, a sprawling area of squalid tent camps. The war has forced most of Gaza’s population of over 2 million to flee within the territory, often multiple times.
“It’s displacement under fire,” said Mustafa Gaber, a journalist who left with his family. He said tank and drone fire echoed nearby.
“The shells are falling among us and the bullets are (flying) above us,” said Amal Nassar, also displaced. “The elderly have been thrown into the streets. An old woman was telling her son, ‘Go and leave me to die.’ Where will we go?”
“Enough is enough. We are exhausted,” said a fleeing Ayda Abu Shaer, as smoke rose in the distance.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it lost contact with a 10-member team responding to the strikes in Rafah. Spokesperson Nebal Farsakh said some were wounded.
Israel’s military said it had fired on advancing “suspicious vehicles” and later discovered some were ambulances and fire trucks.
In Gaza City, an explosion hit next to a tent camp where people had been told to evacuate. “My husband is blind and started running barefoot, and my children were running,” said witness Nidaa Hassuna.
Strikes kill Hamas leader
Hamas said Salah Bardawil, a well-known member of its political bureau, was killed in a strike in Muwasi that also killed his wife. Israel’s military confirmed it.
Hospitals in southern Gaza said they received a further 24 bodies from strikes overnight, including several women and children.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 50,021 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including 673 people since Israel’s bombardment on Tuesday shattered the ceasefire.
Dr. Munir Al-Boursh, the ministry’s general director, said the dead include 15,613 children, with 872 of them under 1 year old.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up over half the dead. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
Ceasefire in tatters
The ceasefire that took hold in January paused more than a year of fighting ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage. Most captives have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
In the latest ceasefire’s first phase, 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others were released in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces allowed hundreds of thousands of people to return home. There was a surge in humanitarian aid until Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza earlier this month to pressure Hamas to change the ceasefire agreement.
The sides were supposed to begin negotiations in early February on the ceasefire’s next phase, in which Hamas was to release the remaining 59 hostages — 35 of them believed to be dead — in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Those talks never began.
New settlements in the West Bank
Israel’s Cabinet passed a measure creating 13 new settlements in the occupied West Bank by rezoning existing ones, according to Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, who is in charge of settlement construction.
This brings the number of settlements, considered illegal by the majority of the international community, to 140, said anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now. They will receive independent budgets from Israel and can elect their own local governments, the group said.


Hamas source says Israeli strike kills Hamas official Ismail Barhoum in Gaza hospital

Hamas source says Israeli strike kills Hamas official Ismail Barhoum in Gaza hospital
Updated 24 March 2025
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Hamas source says Israeli strike kills Hamas official Ismail Barhoum in Gaza hospital

Hamas source says Israeli strike kills Hamas official Ismail Barhoum in Gaza hospital
  • Ismail Barhoum was undergoing medical treatment in Gaza hospital
  • Earlier Sunday, Hamas said an Israeli air strike the previous day near Khan Yunis killed Salah Al-Bardawil, another senior member of its political bureau

GAZA CITY: An Israeli air strike on Sunday killed a member of Hamas’s political bureau as he underwent treatment in hospital, a source in the Islamist movement said, after Israel confirmed it targeted “a key terrorist.”
“The Israeli army assassinated Hamas political bureau member Ismail Barhoum,” the Hamas source said, requesting anonymity to speak more freely.
“Warplanes bombed the operating room at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, where Barhoum was receiving treatment after sustaining critical injuries in an air strike targeting his home in Khan Yunis at dawn last Tuesday.”
AFP photos showed the building of about four-storys largely undamaged except for fire blazing in one section off a stairwell.
Barhoum is the fourth member of Hamas’s political bureau killed since last Tuesday when Israel resumed air strikes in the territory after an impasse over continuing a ceasefire.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed in a statement that Barhoum had been targeted in the strike.
The Israeli military said it hit the hospital with “precise munitions” following extensive intelligence-gathering.
It said the target was a key member of “the Hamas terrorist organization who was operating inside the Nasser Hospital compound.”
The Ministry of Health in Hamas-run Gaza said Israeli forces “have just targeted the surgery building inside the Nasser Medical Complex, which houses many patients and wounded individuals, and a large fire has erupted at the site.”
The ministry later confirmed that one person had been killed and said many others were injured, including some medical staff. The entire department was evacuated, the ministry said in a statement.
Gaza’s civil defense rescue agency said the hospital’s emergency department had been targeted.
Earlier Sunday, Hamas said an Israeli air strike the previous day near Khan Yunis killed Salah Al-Bardawil, a senior member of its political bureau.
Bardawil, 65, was killed along with his wife in a camp in Al-Mawasi, the group said.
The Israeli military confirmed that it had targeted Bardawil, saying that “as part of his role, (he) directed the strategic and military planning” of Hamas in Gaza.
His “elimination further degrades Hamas’ military and government capabilities,” it added.


Emir of Kuwait urges nation to adhere to national unity, democratic approach

Emir of Kuwait urges nation to adhere to national unity, democratic approach
Updated 24 March 2025
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Emir of Kuwait urges nation to adhere to national unity, democratic approach

Emir of Kuwait urges nation to adhere to national unity, democratic approach
  • Sheikh Meshal said 'national identity is at the top of our priorities'
  • He commended the citizens of Kuwait for their loyal response to recent government reform decisions

LONDON: Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait, addressed the nation in a televised speech, urging Kuwaiti citizens to embrace the democratic approach and adhere to constitutional references, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported.

His speech to the Kuwaitis was on Sunday evening during the last 10 days of Ramadan.

He emphasized that "national identity is at the top of our priorities. It belongs to every genuine Kuwaiti keen on his country's progress and the elevation of its status."

He commended the citizens of Kuwait for their loyal response to recent government reform decisions, which included the suspension of some constitutional articles.

Sheikh Meshal said that Kuwait was managing national unity and citizenship issues in accordance with the law while avoiding political bidding and external pressures.

"I affirm commitment to reforming, strengthening stability, and upholding the country's supreme interests, continuing to combat corruption and confronting anyone who attempts to tamper with the nation's security and stability," he said.

He warned that "advocates of division and the instigators of sedition are trying to confuse matters, spread rumors, and distort statements, to divide the ranks and cause discontent."

He called Kuwaitis to adhere to national unity and "work with a spirit of responsibility to preserve the security and stability of the homeland," KUNA reported.

He said he was closely monitoring the work of state agencies, ensuring accountability and urging the government to speed up development projects in health, education, and housing.

"I am certain, with a reassured soul, an optimistic spirit and great confidence in the authentic Kuwaiti people's ability to overcome challenges," he said.

On an international level, Sheikh Meshal emphasized that Kuwait will maintain its diplomatic approach with friendly nations in favor of justice.

He said that the Palestinian cause will remain a top priority in Kuwait's foreign policy, as the country supports the Palestinian people in achieving all their legitimate rights.


Macron ‘only point of reference’ for mending ties with Algeria

Macron ‘only point of reference’ for mending ties with Algeria
Updated 23 March 2025
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Macron ‘only point of reference’ for mending ties with Algeria

Macron ‘only point of reference’ for mending ties with Algeria
  • The Algerian leader said he had “complete confidence” in his Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf, whose ministry has described Algiers as a victim of a “vengeful and hateful French far right”

ALGIERS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has said that French counterpart Emmanuel Macron is the “only point of reference” for mending frayed ties with its former colonial ruler.
Relations between Paris and Algiers have been strained over immigration and since Macron recognized Moroccan sovereignty of the disputed territory of Western Sahara in July last year.
“We will keep President Macron as our sole point of reference,” Tebboune said in an interview broadcast on Algerian television.
“He remains the French president, and all problems must be resolved with him or with the person he delegates.”
The Algerian leader said he had “complete confidence” in his Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf, whose ministry has described Algiers as a victim of a “vengeful and hateful French far right.”
Tensions worsened after Algiers refused to accept the return of undocumented Algerian migrants from France.
One of them, a 37-year-old man went on a stabbing rampage in the eastern city of Mulhouse in February, killing one person and wounding several others.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau threatened a response if Algeria continues to refuse to admit its expelled nationals.
He has led the verbal attacks on Algeria in the media, fueling tensions between the countries.
Relations were also damaged after the arrest of Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal in November.
Macron voiced fears about the health of the author held in Algeria on national security charges.
Macron said Sansal — known for his strong support of free speech — was being held in “arbitrary detention” and that resolving the matter would help restore confidence in diplomatic ties.