Lebanese president calls for population to see beyond partisan, sectarian views

Special Lebanese president calls for population to see beyond partisan, sectarian views
Joseph Aoun after being elected as Lebanon’s president at the parliament building in Beirut, Jan. 9, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 10 March 2025
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Lebanese president calls for population to see beyond partisan, sectarian views

Lebanese president calls for population to see beyond partisan, sectarian views
  • Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem says ‘resistance will not cease’
  • Qassem criticized FM Youssef Rajji, who is affiliated with the Lebanese Forces team in the government

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun requested the population on Monday to view Lebanon as a state for all rather than continue to view it through sectarian and partisan lenses.

Aoun cautioned his visitors during a meeting that “if we remain prisoners of our narrow perspectives, we will lose many opportunities available to us.”

He added: “We have significant Arab and international support, and everyone claims to be with us. However, Lebanon is required to implement the necessary reforms.”

Aoun’s statement followed controversial remarks by Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem during an interview on the group’s Al-Manar channel.

He said: “The resistance will not cease and will not relinquish its capabilities in the face of Israeli aggression and occupation.”

He added: “The ceasefire agreement with Israel includes the phrase ‘south of the Litani River’ five times, which is the framework we must rely upon.”

He stressed that “the resistance views Israel as a threat to Lebanon and that there is no objection to the army and the state defending the country.”

He added: “The resistance has the right to continue its efforts to protect Lebanon. We do not consider the president’s remarks regarding the exclusivity of weapons to be directed at us.”

Qassem criticized Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, who is affiliated with the Lebanese Forces team in the government.

The Lebanese Forces Party said that Hezbollah had not learned from past experiences and added that the group continued to act on the same logic despite tragedies and destruction.

The party said that Rajji had highlighted a truth understood by decision-makers: reconstruction of southern Lebanon would only occur under a state that had sole authority over war, controlled weapons, and maintained sovereignty over all Lebanese territory.

The statement also said that the international community was reluctant to rebuild what Hezbollah might destroy again.

It added: “Sheikh Qassem understands that reconstruction is an international responsibility.”

Mustafa Alloush, a former minister, told Arab News: “Hezbollah is ignoring what it knows to delay the surrender.”

Alloush added that Hezbollah had said that “it exists and will remain, and perhaps the party is counting on certain circumstances and changes.”

Alloush added: “When Hezbollah hands over its weapons, it cannot transform into a political party, as the justification for its establishment is primarily military, and it has no choice but to be stubborn to survive.

“The party is trying to continue with full encouragement from Iran, and perhaps it is counting on returning to what it used to be through the events on the Syrian coast. This is how I understand Naim Qassem’s stubbornness.

“But, in return, the new Lebanese government must not resort to settlements that would set back its launch and undermine the confidence granted to it by parliament.”

Alloush said Hezbollah’s supporters “must hold the party accountable when they see the procrastination in rebuilding the human and material losses caused by the war and that Hezbollah destroyed."

The Lady of the Mountain Gathering cautioned against Hezbollah’s “denial of its defeat and its attempt to evade responsibility by refusing to surrender its illegal weapons to the state, in violation of both the constitution and international legitimacy resolutions. They seem to believe that time is on their side.”

The meeting said that Hezbollah was once again placing its members and the entire Lebanese population in a dangerous situation.

It added: “By refusing to hand over its weapons to the state, Hezbollah is providing Israel with a pretext to threaten Lebanon’s safety. Surrendering these weapons to the state, on the other hand, is essential for the reconstruction and safety of Lebanon.”

The meeting urged Lebanon’s president, parliamentary speaker, and prime minister to “exert maximum diplomatic pressure to ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territories and to compel Hezbollah to implement Resolution 1701 across Lebanon. The failure of any party to do so could lead to Lebanon’s downfall.”

Meanwhile, across the Lebanese border, Israeli media reported that the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert had been informed by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Moshe Sa’ar that Iran was smuggling funds to Hezbollah.

Hennis-Plasschaert is overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and UN Resolution 1701 from Tel Aviv.

More than a week ago, Lebanese airport security thwarted an attempt to smuggle $2.5 million.

The money was being transported by a passenger who claimed that an Iranian had given him the funds. The passenger remains in custody for attempting to smuggle undeclared money.

Additionally, about two months ago, Lebanon’s border security agencies pursued people who had abandoned $4 million in bags at an illegal crossing point.

A Lebanese judicial source informed Arab News that the situation likely forms part of Iran’s ongoing efforts to provide financial support to Hezbollah.


Gaza rescuers say 15 killed in Israeli strikes

Gaza rescuers say 15 killed in Israeli strikes
Updated 58 min 40 sec ago
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Gaza rescuers say 15 killed in Israeli strikes

Gaza rescuers say 15 killed in Israeli strikes
  • On Thursday the civil defense agency reported the deaths of at least 40 residents in Israeli strikes

Gaza City: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Friday that 15 people, including 10 from the same family, had been killed in two overnight Israeli strikes.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said on Telegram that “our crews recovered the bodies of 10 martyrs and a large number of wounded from the house of the Baraka family and the neighboring houses targeted by the Israeli occupation forces in the Bani Suhaila area east of Khan Yunis,” in the southern Gaza Strip.
Bassal later announced that a separate strike hit two houses in northern Gaza’s Tal Al-Zaatar, where crews had “recovered the bodies of five people.”
The Israeli military, which did not immediately comment, has intensified its aerial bombardments and expanded its ground operations in the Gaza Strip since it resumed its offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory on March 18.
On Thursday, the civil defense agency reported the deaths of at least 40 residents in Israeli strikes, most of them in camps for displaced civilians, as Israel pressed its offensive.


Israeli military intercepts missile launched from Yemen

Israeli military intercepts missile launched from Yemen
Updated 18 April 2025
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Israeli military intercepts missile launched from Yemen

Israeli military intercepts missile launched from Yemen
  • Iran-backed Houthi militia have regularly fired missiles and drones targeting Israel

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Friday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, from where the Iran-backed Houthi militia have regularly fired missiles and drones targeting Israel.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted,” Israel’s army said on Telegram, adding that aerial defense systems had been deployed “to intercept the threat.”


US strike on Yemen fuel port kills at least 38, Houthi media say

US strike on Yemen fuel port kills at least 38, Houthi media say
Updated 18 April 2025
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US strike on Yemen fuel port kills at least 38, Houthi media say

US strike on Yemen fuel port kills at least 38, Houthi media say

WASHINGTON: US strikes on a fuel port in Yemen killed at least 38 people on Thursday, Houthi-run media said, one of the deadliest days since the United States began its attacks on the Iran-backed militants.

The United States has vowed not to halt the large-scale strikes begun last month in its biggest military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January, unless the Houthis cease attacks on Red Sea shipping.

Al Masirah TV said 102 people were also wounded in Thursday’s strikes on the western fuel port of Ras Isa, which the US military said aimed to cut off a source of fuel for the Houthi militant group.

Responding to a Reuters query for comment on the Houthis’ casualty figure and its own estimate, the US Central Command said it had none beyond the initial announcement of the attacks.

“The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen,” it had said in a post on X.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on vessels transiting the waterway, saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel in protest over the war in Gaza.

They halted attacks on shipping lanes during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza. Although they vowed to resume strikes after Israel renewed its assault on Gaza last month, they have not claimed any since.

In March, two days of US attacks killed more than 50 people, Houthi officials said.


Cash crunch leaves Syrians queueing for hours to collect salaries

Cash crunch leaves Syrians queueing for hours to collect salaries
Updated 18 April 2025
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Cash crunch leaves Syrians queueing for hours to collect salaries

Cash crunch leaves Syrians queueing for hours to collect salaries
  • Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception
  • The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet

DAMASCUS: Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares’s face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
“I’ve been here for four hours and I haven’t so much as touched my pension,” said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.
“The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long,” he continued.
Since the overthrow of president Bashar Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.
Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty – which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted – have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.
The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.
Prior to his ousting, Assad’s key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad’s overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.
In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.
“There are sick people, elderly... we can’t continue like this,” said Abu Fares.
“There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday,” an employee at a private bank said, preferring not to give her name.
A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.
Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.
“The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible,” said the 43-year-old.
“It’s not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums.”
The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.
Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors – whose work was outlawed under Assad – “deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit.”
Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.
“There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work,” she said.
After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.
“Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues,” she lamented.


Trump administration orders Gaza-linked social media vetting for visa applicants

Trump administration orders Gaza-linked social media vetting for visa applicants
Updated 18 April 2025
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Trump administration orders Gaza-linked social media vetting for visa applicants

Trump administration orders Gaza-linked social media vetting for visa applicants
  • New order sent to all US diplomatic missions
  • Social media vetting includes NGO workers

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration on Thursday ordered a social media vetting for all US visa applicants who have been to the Gaza Strip on or after January 1, 2007, an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters showed, in the latest push to tighten screening of foreign travelers.
The order to conduct a social media vetting for all immigrant and non-immigrant visas should include non-governmental organization workers as well as individuals who have been in the Palestinian enclave for any length of time in an official or diplomatic capacity, the cable said.
“If the review of social media results uncovers potential derogatory information relating to security issues, then a SAO must be submitted,” the cable said, referring to a security advisory opinion, which is an interagency investigation to determine if a visa applicant poses a national security risk to the United States.
The cable was sent to all US diplomatic and consular posts.
The move comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked hundreds of visas across the country, including the status of some lawful permanent residents under a 1952 law allowing the deportation of any immigrant whose presence in the country the secretary of state deems harmful to US foreign policy.
The cable dated April 17 was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said in late March that he may have revoked more than 300 visas already.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump officials have said student visa holders are subject to deportation over their support for Palestinians and criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, calling their actions a threat to US foreign policy interests.
Trump’s critics have called the effort an attack on free speech rights under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
The US Constitution guarantees freedom of speech for everyone in the US, regardless of immigration status. But there have been high-profile instances of the administration revoking visas of students who advocated against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Among the most widely publicized of such arrests was one captured on video last month of masked agents taking a Tufts University student from Turkiye, Rumeysa Ozturk, into custody.
When asked about Ozturk at a news conference last month, Rubio said: “Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas” and he warned there would be more individuals whose visas could be revoked.