Israel hits Gaza with new airstrikes that kill at least 200 after truce talks stall
Israel hits Gaza with new airstrikes that kill at least 200 after truce talks stall/node/2593960/middle-east
Israel hits Gaza with new airstrikes that kill at least 200 after truce talks stall
A mourner reacts next to the bodies of Palestinians, killed in an Israeli strike, according to medics, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on March 17, 2025. (REUTERS)
Israel hits Gaza with new airstrikes that kill at least 200 after truce talks stall
Netanyahu says he ordered strikes because of lack of progress in talks to extend ceasefire
Hamas accuses Netanyahu of upending ceasefire, exposing hostages to "an unknown fate”
Updated 18 March 2025
AP
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, saying it was striking dozens of Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January. Palestinian officials reported at least 200 deaths.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the strikes because of a lack of progress in talks to extend the ceasefire. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.
“Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The surprise attack shattered a period of relative calm during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and raised the prospect of a full return to fighting in a 17-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction across Gaza. It also raised questions about the fate of the roughly two dozen Israeli hostages held by Hamas who are believed to still be alive.
Hamas accused Netanyahu of upending the ceasefire agreement and exposing the hostages “to an unknown fate.” In a statement, it called on mediators to hold Israel “fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement.”
In the southern city of Khan Younis, Associated Press reporters saw explosions and plumes of smoke. Ambulances brought wounded people to Nasser Hospital, where patients lay on the floor, some screaming. A young boy sat with a bandage around his head as a health worker checked for more injuries, a young girl cried as her bloody arm was bandaged.
Many Palestinians said they had expected a return to war when talks over the second phase of the ceasefire did not begin as scheduled in early February. Israel instead embraced an alternative proposal and cut off all shipments of food, fuel and other aid to the territory’s 2 million Palestinians to try to pressure Hamas to accept it.
“Nobody wants to fight,” Palestinian resident Nidal Alzaanin said by phone from Gaza City. “Everyone is still suffering from the previous months,” he said.
US backs Israel and blames Hamas
The White House sought to blame Hamas for the renewed fighting. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the militant group “could have released hostages to extend the ceasefire but instead chose refusal and war.”
US envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been leading mediation efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, had earlier warned that Hamas must release living hostages immediately “or pay a severe price.”
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the unfolding operation, said Israel was striking Hamas’ military, leaders and infrastructure and planned to expand the operation beyond air attacks. The official accused Hamas of attempting to rebuild and plan new attacks. Hamas militants and security forces quickly returned to the streets in recent weeks after the ceasefire went into effect.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said the “gates of hell will open in Gaza” if the hostages aren’t released. “We will not stop fighting until all of our hostages are home and we have achieved all of the war goals,” he said.
Explosions could be heard throughout Gaza. Khalil Degran, a spokesman for the Health Ministry based at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, said at least 200 people had been killed. The territory’s civil defense agency said its crews were having a difficult time carrying out rescue efforts because various areas were being targeted simultaneously.
Talks on a second phase of the ceasefire had stalled
The strikes came two months after a ceasefire was reached to pause the war. Over six weeks, Hamas released 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight more in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in a first phase of the ceasefire.
But since that ceasefire ended two weeks ago, the sides have not been able to agree on a way forward with a second phase aimed at releasing the 59 remaining hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead, and ending the war altogether.
Hamas has demanded an end to the war and full withdrawal of Israeli troops in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Israel says it will not end the war until it destroys Hamas’ governing and military capabilities and frees all hostages.
Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to resume the war.
“This comes after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the US presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators,” Netanyahu’s office said early Tuesday.
Taher Nunu, a Hamas official, criticized the Israeli attacks. “The international community faces a moral test: either it allows the return of the crimes committed by the occupation army or it enforces a commitment to ending the aggression and war against innocent people in Gaza,” he said.
Gaza already in a humanitarian crisis
The war erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefires or other deals, with Israeli forces rescuing only eight and recovering dozens of bodies.
Israel responded with a military offensive that killed over 48,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and displaced an estimated 90 percent of Gaza’s population. The territory’s Health Ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and militants, but says over half of the dead have been women and children.
The ceasefire had brought some relief to Gaza and allowed hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to resume to what remained of their homes.
A renewed Israeli ground offensive could also be especially deadly now that so many Palestinian civilians have returned home. Before the ceasefire, civilians were largely concentrated in tent camps meant to provide relative safety from the fighting.
The return to fighting could also worsen deep internal fissures inside Israel over the fate of the remaining hostages. Many of the hostages released by Hamas returned emaciated and malnourished, putting heavy pressure on the government to extend the ceasefire.
The released hostages have repeatedly implored the government to press ahead with the ceasefire to return all remaining hostages, and tens of thousands of Israelis have taken part in mass demonstrations calling for a ceasefire and return of all hostages.
Jordan jails 4 for 20 years in case linked to Muslim Brotherhood
On Wednesday, Jordan’s state security court said that it had sentenced four of the 16 defendants to 20-year jail terms and unspecified fines
Updated 01 May 2025
AFP
AMMAN: A Jordanian court sentenced four people to 20 years in prison on Wednesday over plans to “target national security,” in a case linked to the recently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Earlier in April, the kingdom’s intelligence service announced it had arrested 16 suspects and “foiled plans aimed at targeting national security, sowing chaos and sabotaging within Jordan.”
Jordan then announced last week that it was banning the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist movement, accusing it of manufacturing and stockpiling weapons and planning to destabilize the kingdom.
On Wednesday, Jordan’s state security court said in a statement that it had sentenced four of the 16 defendants to 20-year jail terms and unspecified fines.
The four were convicted of “possession of explosives, weapons and ammunition with the intent to use them illegally and commit acts that would disrupt public order and threaten social safety and security, in violation of the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Law,” it said.
The statement did not specify whether they were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, but state television had previously broadcast what it described as confessions from three of the 16 suspects admitting they were members of the Islamist group.
The Brotherhood later issued a statement distancing itself from the individuals and saying they acted on their own motives.
Interior Minister Mazen Al-Faraya announced on April 23 that the government had decided to “ban all activities of the so-called Muslim Brotherhood and to consider any activity (carried out by it) a violation of the provisions of the law.”
The Muslim Brotherhood has continued to operate in Jordan despite a ruling by the country’s top court dissolving it in 2020, with authorities turning a blind eye to its activities.
Shifting power in Lebanon revives hopes for Beirut port blast accountability
Judge Tarek Bitar has questioned former security chiefs and ex-Prime Minister Hassan Diab in his Beirut blast investigation
As Hezbollah’s influence wanes after its battering by Israel, analysts say the path is finally clear for the probe to progress
Updated 01 May 2025
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: On Aug. 4, 2020, the biggest non-nuclear explosion ever recorded tore through Lebanon’s Port of Beirut, devastating entire neighborhoods and leaving hundreds dead or wounded. Almost five years on, no one has been held to account for the blast.
In a rare breakthrough in the long-stalled inquiry into the explosion, presiding judge Tarek Bitar was recently able to question two former security chiefs — including one who was appearing in court for the first time since his 2020 summons.
This development on April 11 signaled a renewed momentum after years of obstruction and political interference, brought about in part by the election of a new technocratic government and the weakening of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
An aerial view shows the massive damage done to Beirut port's grain silos (C) and the area around it on August 5, 2020, one day after a mega-blast tore through the harbor in the heart of the Lebanese capital with the force of an earthquake. (AFP)
According to four judicial and two security officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, Bitar questioned Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, head of the General Security Directorate from 2011 to 2023, and former State Security chief Maj. Gen. Tony Saliba.
The momentum continued the following week when Bitar summoned former Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk. Days later, he interrogated former Prime Minister Hassan Diab for more than two hours and remanded him for further questioning.
Lebanon’s judiciary has long been plagued by interference and a political culture resistant to accountability, particularly when powerful groups such as Hezbollah are involved.
Wounded men are evacuated following of an explosion at the port of the Lebanese capital Beirut, on August 4, 2020. (AFP/File)
Observers say the blast, which killed more than 218 people, remains a painful emblem of Lebanon’s systemic dysfunction.
Fadi Nicholas Nassar, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, described the Beirut port blast as “a reflection of everything that pushed Lebanon to the brink: militia control, a political class beholden to Hezbollah, a weakened judiciary, and corruption at every level — all made worse by the obstruction of justice.”
“How Lebanon handles the investigation now will be the defining moment: a turn toward accountability, or a confirmation that impunity still rules,” he told Arab News.
The investigation into the Beirut port blast ground to a halt in late 2021 after Hezbollah’s then-leader, Hassan Nasrallah, accused Bitar of political bias and called for his replacement.
In this photo taken on October 14, 2021, a supporter of Hezbollah and the Amal movements carries a portrait of Judge Tarek Bitar, the Beirut blast lead investigator, near the Justice Palace in Beirut during a gathering to demand his dismissal. (AFP)
“The targeting is clear, you are picking certain officials and certain people,” Nasrallah said at the time. “The bias is clear,” he added, demanding that Bitar be replaced with a “transparent” judge.
This public condemnation marked a turning point in what many viewed as a calculated effort to derail the investigation and shield powerful figures from prosecution.
The list of those questioned includes former prime ministers, cabinet ministers, security chiefs, and customs and port authorities — many of whom reportedly have ties to Hezbollah and its allies, including the Amal Movement.
Diab himself was nominated to lead the government in 2019 by Hezbollah and its allies.
A demonstrator poses next to a sign of "wanted posters" showing the faces of government officials including Prime Minister Hassan Diab as protesters head towards the port of Lebanon's capital on August 4, 2021, on the first anniversary of the blast that ravaged the port and the city. (AFP/File)
Yet the specific charges against these figures remain undisclosed, underscoring the secrecy that has surrounded the investigation since it began.
Critics say the attack on Bitar was part of a broader campaign to undermine the probe.
FAST FACTS
• The Beirut port blast had a force equivalent to 1,000-1,500 tons of TNT, or 1.1 kilotons.
• It registered as a 3.3-magnitude earthquake, with shockwaves disrupting the ionosphere.
• Felt over 200 kilometers away in Cyprus, causing damage to buildings up to 10km from the port.
Makram Rabah, an assistant professor at the American University of Beirut, says Hezbollah and its allies “have tried to implode it through using red tape, through trying to rig and play the system.”
In recent months, however, shifting political dynamics may have reopened the path to justice. Hezbollah’s influence has waned since its 2023-24 conflict with Israel, while the appointment of President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has fueled hopes for progress.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun (C) attend a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (seated 2nd L), at the Baabda presidential palace, east of Beirut, on February 11, 2025. (AFP/File)
“The new government will definitely empower Tarek Bitar to pursue justice,” Rabah told Arab News, adding that his optimism stems not from the government’s technocratic makeup, “but because it’s a normal functioning government.”
Mohammed Chebaro, a London-based political analyst and researcher, echoed Rabah’s optimism. “Since the defeat of Hezbollah in the latest war — and what I would describe as a regime change — we’ve seen a series of developments that have been broadly welcomed by most Lebanese, and by any sovereign nation,” he told Arab News.
Hezbollah suffered a major blow during its war with Israel, which resulted in the killing of Nasrallah and other top officials, the destruction of much of its military hardware, and the draining of its finances.
Forced to accept a ceasefire deal brokered by the US, the group has since ceded most of its positions south of the Litani River to the Lebanese army, leaving its future uncertain.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, surrounded by Lebanese army soldiers, checks a map as he visits the southern village of Khiam near the border with Israel, on February 28, 2025. (AFP)
Chebaro said the election of Aoun as president in January and the appointment of Salam as prime minister signaled a shift.
“Both leaders appear to be free from foreign influence, whether Syrian or Iranian,” he said, adding that the weakening of Hezbollah’s grip on the country has “automatically paved the way for many initiatives to be relaunched.”
With political space opening, Chebaro believes Bitar now has the latitude to act. “At the moment, Judge Bitar has a free hand — and he will likely continue to have one. The real question is whether the investigation can extend to apprehending and questioning figures with political protection.”
He cited Machnouk as an example. “He’s part of the (Third) Independence Movement, and individuals from this group have generally acted within the law and have been willing to cooperate. Even if they were implicated, they wouldn’t resist presenting themselves for questioning.”
But “the real test,” Chebaro added, “lies with members of the military establishment who served under the Hezbollah-aligned governments of Diab and Najib Mikati.”
“A turning point would be seeing those military officials stand before Bitar — especially if they are backed by political patrons in what’s known as the Shiite Duo alliance of Hezbollah and Amal,” he said. “These are the same individuals who previously rejected the investigation and even accused Judge Bitar of treason for summoning them.”
Security forces push back relatives of victims of the 2020 Beirut port explosion trying to push their way into the palace of justice in Beirut on January 26, 2023, after he was charged by the country's top prosecutor in the highly political case. (AFP/File)
That puts the new government in a delicate position. “How far are they willing to go?” Chebaro asked. “This is sensitive terrain. Will they pursue full justice, even at the risk of destabilizing the political system, or move more cautiously while rebuilding rule of law?”
Chebaro believes Salam’s government has little choice but to act. “A crime as devastating as the Beirut port explosion would inevitably be a priority for a government seeking to reassert sovereignty and demonstrate to the world that Lebanon has an independent judiciary capable of uncovering the truth.”
The Beirut port blast occurred when a fire ignited 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been improperly stored in a warehouse since 2014.
The resulting explosion, widely blamed on years of government negligence and corruption, killed at least 218 people, injured more than 7,000, displaced some 300,000, and caused property damage estimated at over $15 billion.
In the face of a stalled investigation, the families of victims and rights groups began pushing for international intervention.
They “called for a UN-backed, independent factfinding mission that would determine the truth and clearly delineate responsibility for the disaster,” said Nassar of the Middle East Institute.
Lebanon’s new leadership now has an opportunity to reset the course “by backing the call for a UN-backed factfinding mission, ensuring the local investigation moves forward free from obstruction, and letting the truth bring justice to the victims of the Beirut blast,” he added.
In July 2024, a coalition of Lebanese and international groups, survivors, and victims’ families urged members of the UN Human Rights Council to support a resolution establishing an independent factfinding mission into rights violations tied to the explosion.
The call reflected a broader crisis of accountability in Lebanon, where major crimes have routinely gone unpunished.
Protesters lift portraits of relatives they lost in the Beirut port blast during a march on the fourth anniversary of the devastating explosion near the capital city's harbour on August 4, 2024. (AFP/File)
Lebanon has a long history of political assassinations and violence — including the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and the 2012 murder of intelligence chief Wissam Al-Hassan — that have largely evaded accountability.
Investigations have repeatedly been derailed by political interference and a judiciary weakened by corruption and partisan control. However, Nassar pointed to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as a rare exception.
“The STL was the rare moment when truth broke through Lebanon’s entrenched obstruction and violence, even in the face of the assassination of Wissam Eid, a Lebanese intelligence officer who gave his life to expose the truth,” he said.
However, “since then, international diplomacy has consistently prioritized short-term stability over accountability.
“The STL’s findings, which confirm Hezbollah’s responsibility in Rafic Hariri’s assassination, remain an enduring truth. As Lebanon now faces the probe into the Beirut blast, it has a chance to break from its past.
With the Hezbollah militia's armed might reduced to ruins in its war with Israel, there may be hope that the quest for justice for victims of the Beirut port blast would finally prosper. (AFP/File)
“Only by committing to truth and accountability can Lebanon begin to undo the forces that have held it hostage for so long.”
Echoing that concern, Middle East expert Chebaro warned that while hope for justice in the Beirut port case remains, the reality is far more complicated. “Many in Lebanon already have a clear idea of who controls the state,” he said. “As much as I hope impunity won’t prevail, the outcome remains uncertain.”
Chebaro said that while those responsible for the storage of the explosive material could, in theory, be identified and prosecuted, the greater challenge lies in whether Lebanon’s political elite is willing to face the consequences.
“Balancing the pursuit of justice with the stability of the current regime — and the future of Lebanon — will ultimately determine how deep this investigation is allowed to go,” he said.
Activists and relatives of victims of the August 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion hold posters of then Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (R) and Wafiq Safa, a top Hezbollah security official, with a slogan in Arabic that reads: "He knew," during a sit-in outside the Justice Palace, a government building affiliated with the judiciary, in the Lebanese capital on January 17, 2022. (AFP)
Still, he noted that the resumption of the probe is a positive sign. “The fact that things are moving again is, at least, encouraging,” Chebaro said.
That cautious optimism is shared by Rabah of the American University of Beirut. While skeptical that Bitar can uncover the full truth on his own, Rabah said the investigation is a step in the right direction.
“I don’t believe that Tarek Bitar on his own will be able to actually know what really happened, because the way he’s going about it is only exploring the technical aspect,” he said.
“But in all cases, we do have reason to be optimistic, be it in the investigation of Tarek Bitar or any other one.”
Lebanese women learn to shoot for self-defense, apply for gun licenses
According to the women who request shooting training, the No. 1 reason is self-defense
Updated 30 April 2025
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: The number of civilian women applying to the Ministry of Defense for licenses to possess firearms in Lebanon is on the rise.
Gun ownership in Lebanon is a phenomenon that dates back to before the civil war in the 1970s, and its complexities continue to have an impact due to the misuse of weapons and the consequences that follow.
While this phenomenon has been associated with masculinity, the participation of women in bearing arms alongside men in the military and security forces over the past two decades has broken this exclusivity. It seems to have opened the door widely for civilian women to dare to acquire firearms and even train in their use for security-related reasons.
Cynthia Yaacoub, 33, a Lebanese firearms instructor, said: “In Lebanon, we have a gun culture — and I do not mean a culture of weapon collectors — but we lack training on how and when to use firearms properly and safely, and what the consequences are of using them incorrectly, both technically and legally.”
In an interview with Arab News at the shooting range of the Lebanese General Security in Beirut, Yaacoub said: “Lebanese people from my generation — those in their 30s and 40s — are learning to shoot from YouTube, and even children have learned about guns through the game PUBG and have developed a fondness for firearms. As for those in their 50s, they are divided into two groups: one that has already experienced gun possession and used weapons during the civil war, and another that rejected firearms and still fears them and fears for their children.
Lebanese women possess a high level of focus and calmness, which enables them to master shooting more quickly. (Supplied)
“There are many reasons why Lebanese women acquire firearms,” she continued. “According to the women who request shooting training, the number one reason is self-defense. Some of them have husbands who work abroad and need to protect themselves. Others view shooting as a hobby, just like practicing any other sport. There are also women in their 50s and 60s who feel they have fulfilled their roles as mothers and now want to explore adventure and do things they did not do in their youth — so they turn to more extreme sports like horseback riding, shooting, and skydiving.”
Hanan Demian decided to learn shooting “after seeing instructor Cynthia doing it on social media. I believe this hobby enhances focus and self-confidence, and I love adventure.”
Based on over six years of training experience, Yaacoub says: “Lebanese women possess a high level of focus and calmness, which enables them to master shooting more quickly. When they leave the club, they experience a significant sense of empowerment, even if they are not carrying a weapon. They gain greater self-confidence and a sense of authority, which I also experience. Since I learned to shoot and became an instructor, no one has dared to disrespect me, despite my non-violent nature and the fact that I do not carry a gun.”
Yaacoub added: “Some husbands bring their wives with them to practice shooting. I have an entire family who trains in shooting. The clubs do not accept trainees under the age of 18.”
But is shooting not a means to master the act of killing, rather than to appreciate the value of life, particularly in Lebanon where firearms are often used for trivial reasons and many fall victim?
“Certainly, it serves as a method for all those who train in shooting to understand human value,” Yaacoub said. “They ask me, ‘how can one kill another?’ We train to shoot at a piece of paper and feel its terror, so how can one shoot at humans and animals? Part of shooting training is to educate the person to think carefully before shooting, except in the most extreme cases, where the choice is between life and death. During the training sessions I conduct in Beirut and Doha at the request of a shooting club there, we have a lawyer and a psychologist present to explain the consequences of gunfire.”
Previously, Yaacoub organized training sessions for Mother’s Day and International Women’s Day under the theme “Empowering Women.” Additionally, for Valentine’s Day, couples participated, and during Christmas, she issued vouchers that sold exceptionally well, “as people found them to be an unconventional gift compared to traditional options like perfume and gold.”
At a sports club in Beirut, Yaacoub organized training sessions for children on shooting with pellets “to teach children discipline and refined shooting skills, so they do not grow up to harm one another.”
Yaacoub also promotes training courses in Poland on social media. “I trained at an academy in Poland, which was a distinct experience. The shooting takes place outdoors, and one can earn a certification that opens up job prospects in security agencies or enhances one’s career, potentially leading to becoming a trainer. Thus far, women who learn shooting tend to view it merely as a hobby akin to kickboxing. I have yet to meet a girl who has transitioned to professionalism or expresses a desire to do so. In this regard, I miss having a female partner to train with, someone whose advice I can hear as she hears mine.”
Lebanese army dismantled ‘over 90 percent’ of Hezbollah infrastructure near Israel: security official
“We have dismantled over 90 percent of the infrastructure in the area south of the Litani,” the official said
Aoun, on a visit to the UAE, said the Lebanese army was “fulfilling its role without any problems or opposition”
Updated 30 April 2025
AFP
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army has dismantled “over 90 percent” of Hezbollah’s infrastructure near the border with Israel since a November ceasefire, a security official said Wednesday.
“We have dismantled over 90 percent of the infrastructure in the area south of the Litani,” the official, who requested anonymity as the matter is sensitive, told AFP.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun meanwhile said in an interview with Sky News Arabia that the army was now in control of over 85 percent of the country’s south.
The November truce deal, which ended over a year of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, was based on a UN Security Council resolution that says Lebanese troops and United Nations peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon.
Under the deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure to its south.
Much of Hezbollah’s robust underground infrastructure in the south was “filled and closed” by the army, the official said.
Soldiers have also reinforced their control of crossing points into the area south of the Litani “to prevent the transfer of weapons from the north of the river to the south.”
Aoun, on a visit to the United Arab Emirates, said the Lebanese army was “fulfilling its role without any problems or opposition.”
He said the single obstacle to the full deployment of soldiers across the border area was “Israel’s occupation of five border positions.”
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel was to withdraw all its forces from south Lebanon, but its troops remain in five positions that it deems “strategic.”
The security official meanwhile said that Hezbollah has been cooperating with the army.
“Hezbollah withdrew and said ‘do whatever you want’... there is no longer a military (infrastructure) for Hezbollah south of the Litani,” the official said.
The official added that most of the munitions found by the army were either “damaged” by Israeli bombing or “in such bad shape that it is impossible to stock them,” prompting the army to detonate them.
Lebanese Druze call for quelling sedition in Syria, condemn Israeli intervention
Intervention came a day after clashes near the Syrian capital Damascus left a reported 13 people dead
Fighting was prompted after an audio clip supposedly of a senior Druze figure insulting the Prophet Muhammad circulated, promoting violence on Jaramana
Updated 30 April 2025
NAJIA HOUSSARI
BEIRUT: The Druze community in Lebanon, represented by its political and spiritual leaders, unanimously agreed in an urgent meeting on Wednesday in Beirut on the “necessity of quelling sedition in Syria in light of the bloody events that unfolded in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya.”
They condemned “every insult made against the Prophet” and called for calm, dialogue, and for the Syrian administration to conduct a transparent investigation into what happened.
The intervention came a day after clashes near the Syrian capital Damascus left a reported 13 people dead. The fighting was prompted after an audio clip supposedly of a senior Druze figure insulting the Prophet Muhammad circulated, promoting violence on the predominantly Druze town of Jaramana.
Former leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, announced during the meeting his willingness to travel to the Syrian Arab Republic and meet President Ahmed Al-Sharaa “to engage in dialogue for the sake of preserving brotherhood.”
Jumblatt emphasized his rejection of “Israeli intervention through the use of Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif’s followers to entangle the Druze of Lebanon and Syria in a conflict against all Muslims,” stressing his disapproval of “the repeated visits made by Druze delegations to Israel seeking its support, which have not been successful.”
He expressed his concern regarding “the involvement of figures from the former Syrian regime in inciting discord.”
Jumblatt said there are “hundreds like Ibrahim Huweija,” referring to the Syrian officer who was arrested in Syria last March and is accused of assassinating the Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in the 1970s.
On Wednesday morning, Jumblatt engaged in extensive communications that “included the new Syrian administration, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan,” as stated in a release from the Progressive Socialist Party.
He urged “the relevant parties to work toward establishing a ceasefire in the Ashrafiyat Sahnaya area to halt the bloodshed.”
Jumblatt requested that “matters be addressed based on the principles of the state and the unity of Syria with all its components.”
According to PSP, “as a result of the communications, an agreement was reached to implement a ceasefire that has come into effect.”
Sheikh Akl Sami Abi Al-Mona, the Druze spiritual leader, said at the beginning of the meeting: “The objective is to avert the worsening situation for our people in Syria, with whom we share ties of faith, kinship, and Arab and Islamic identity.”
He warned of “a discord plot that was being prepared in Syria, based on a video clip on social media that turned out to be fabricated to sow discord between the Druze and Sunnis in Syria, a country currently fertile ground for this changing reality.”
Abu Al-Mona affirmed that “Druze are unitarians and our religion is Islam.”
He added: “We refuse to be an independent national identity and we only embrace our Arab and Islamic affiliation. We refuse to be in confrontation with the Sunnis, with whom we share the Islamic faith.
“What happened in Syria proves that there is a hidden hand working on fueling the conflict.
“Not only do we condemn the action, the reaction and the clash on social media, but also the violation of holy sites, and we will work to stop the hateful rhetoric.
“The Syrian state must control the fragmented factions and intervene immediately to stop the ongoing security collapse.”
Abu Al-Mona stressed that “Israel seeks to execute its expansion plans,” adding that “we will only accept our Arab and Islamic affiliation.”
He described the situation as “critical” and the reactions as “hasty.”
Abu Al-Mona held local and external calls, notably with Syria’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Osama Al-Rifai and Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, as part of the cooperative efforts to control the situation in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya and to address potential dangers.
The main road linking Beirut to Damascus was blocked in Aley, Mount Lebanon, this afternoon, in protest against the developments taking place in Jaramana.
