Abbas, Aoun back arms under Lebanese state control

Abbas, Aoun back arms under Lebanese state control
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, right, meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, at the Presidential Palace, in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon on May 21, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 21 May 2025
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Abbas, Aoun back arms under Lebanese state control

Abbas, Aoun back arms under Lebanese state control
  • The country hosts about 222,000 Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations agency UNRWA
  • Lebanese government source said Abbas’s visit aimed to set up a mechanism to remove weapons from the camps

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas met in Beirut on Wednesday and backed placing all weapons under Lebanese state control, as they discussed efforts to disarm armed groups in Palestinian refugee camps.
A joint statement from the Lebanese presidency said the two leaders shared the “belief that the era of weapons outside Lebanese state control has ended” and backed the principle that arms should be held exclusively by the state.
Abbas’s three-day trip is his first to Lebanon since 2017.
The country hosts about 222,000 Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations agency UNRWA, many living in overcrowded camps beyond state control.
A Lebanese government source said Abbas’s visit aimed to set up a mechanism to remove weapons from the camps. The source requested anonymity as they were not allowed to brief the media.
The statement said the two sides agreed “to form a joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee to follow up on the situation of Palestinian camps in Lebanon and work on improving the living conditions of refugees, while respecting Lebanese sovereignty and committing to Lebanese laws.”
By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army stays out of the Palestinian camps, where Abbas’s Fatah, its rival Hamas and other armed groups handle security.
Hamas claimed attacks on Israel from Lebanon during more than a year of hostilities involving its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. The clashes, sparked by the Gaza war, largely subsided after a truce in November.
“The monopoly of weapons should be in the hands of the state,” Aoun said in an interview with Egyptian channel ON TV on Sunday.
The army, he added, had dismantled six Palestinian military training camps — three in Bekaa, one south of Beirut and two in the north — and seized weapons.
Under the November ceasefire agreement, the army has also been dismantling militant group Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the country’s south.
Ahmad Majdalani, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization official accompanying Abbas, said the visit came as Lebanon entered “a new era” in which it is receiving “Arab and American support.”
“What matters to us in this new regional context is that we do not become part of Lebanon’s internal conflicts,” he said, “and that the Palestinian cause is not exploited to serve any party.”
Ali Barakeh, a senior Hamas official in Lebanon, said he hoped Abbas’s talks would take a broader approach than just weapons and security.
“We affirm our respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty, security and stability, and at the same time we demand the provision of civil and human rights for our Palestinian people in Lebanon,” he said.
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are mostly descendants of those who fled or were expelled from their land during the creation of Israel in 1948.
They face a variety of legal restrictions including on employment.


Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours

Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours
Updated 56 min 47 sec ago
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Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours

Trump on Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire deal: will know in 24 hours
  • Israel has earlier agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday it would probably be known in 24 hours how Palestinian militant group Hamas would respond to a proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza.

Trump said Tuesday that Israel has agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and warned Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen.

Trump announced the development as he prepares to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks at the White House on Monday. The US leader has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war in Gaza.


Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’

Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’
Updated 04 July 2025
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Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’

Darfur civilians ‘face mass atrocities and ethnic violence’
  • Medical charity warns of new threat from escalation in fighting in Sudan civil war

KHARTOUM: Civilians in the Darfur region of Sudan face mass atrocities and ethnic violence in the civil war between the regular army and its paramilitary rivals, the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres warned on Thursday.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have sought to consolidate their power in Darfur since losing control of the capital Khartoum in March. Their predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.

The paramilitaries have intensified attacks on El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state which they have besieged since May 2024 in an effort to push the army out of its final stronghold in the region.
“People are not only caught in indiscriminate heavy fighting ... but also actively targeted by the Rapid Support Forces and their allies, notably on the basis of their ethnicity,” said Michel-Olivier Lacharite, Medecins Sans Frontieres’ head of emergencies. There were “threats of a full-blown assault,” on El-Fasher, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people largely cut off from food and water supplies and deprived of access to medical care, he said.


Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed

Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed
Updated 04 July 2025
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Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed

Egypt on alert as giant dam in Ethiopia completed

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia moved on Thursday to reassure Egypt about its water supply after completing work on a controversial giant $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile.

“To our neighbors downstream, our message is clear: the dam is not a threat, but a shared opportunity,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.

“The energy and development it will generate stand to uplift not just Ethiopia. We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water. Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is 1.8 km wide and 145 meters high, and is Africa's largest hydroelectric project. It can hold 74 billion cubic meters of water and generate more than 5,000 megawatts of power — more than double Ethiopia’s current output. It will begin full operations in September.

Egypt already suffers from severe water scarcity and sees the dam as an existential threat because the country relies on the Nile for 97 percent of its water. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Sudan’s leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan met last week and “stressed their rejection of any unilateral measures in the Blue Nile basin.” They were committed to safeguarding water security in the region, Sisi’s spokesman said.


Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says

Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says
Updated 03 July 2025
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Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says

Explosive drone intercepted near Irbil airport in northern Iraq, security statement says
  • The “Flight operations at the airport continued normally,” the Irbil airport authority said

IRBIL, Iraq: An explosive drone was shot down near Irbil airport in northern Iraq on Thursday, the Iraqi Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism service said in a statement.

There were no casualties reported, according to two security sources.

The “Flight operations at the airport continued normally and the airport was not affected by any damage,” the Irbil airport authority said in a statement.

The incident only caused a temporary delay in the landing of one aircraft, the statement added.


Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims

Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims
Updated 03 July 2025
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Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims

Jordanian and Vatican officials discuss promotion of Petra as destination for Christian pilgrims
  • They say there is a strategic opportunity to integrate the UNESCO World Heritage Site into routes for Christian travelers
  • Head of tourism authority says highlighting Petra’s significance to Christian heritage itineraries could enhance Jordan’s position on global religious tourism map

LONDON: Officials from Jordan and the Vatican met on Thursday to discuss ways in which they can cooperate to advance religious tourism, including the promotion of the ancient city of Petra as a destination for Christian pilgrims.

Fares Braizat, who chairs the board of commissioners of the Petra Development and Tourism Regional Authority, said that highlighting the significance of the UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of Christian heritage itineraries could enhance Jordan’s position on the global religious tourism map.

The country has a number of important Christian sites, the most significant of which is the location on the eastern bank of the Jordan River where Jesus is said to have been baptized by John the Baptist. Several popes have visited it, including Francis and John Paul II.

Archbishop Giovanni Pietro Dal Toso, the Vatican’s ambassador to Jordan, confirmed the interest in collaborating with Jordanian authorities, and praised the nation’s stability and its rich historical and religious heritage.

Both officials acknowledged the strategic opportunity that exists to integrate Petra into pilgrimage routes for Christian travelers, the Jordan News Agency reported.

The Petra tourism authority recently lit up the Colosseum in Rome with the signature colors of the historic Jordanian site to celebrate a twinning agreement as part of a marketing strategy to attract European visitors, and to raise Petra’s profile globally as a premier cultural and spiritual tourism destination.

The Vatican itself is also a major tourism destination, for Christian pilgrims in particular. In 2025 it is expected to welcome between 30 and 35 million visitors during its latest Jubilee Year, a significant ecclesiastical event that takes place every 25 years.