You are here

  • Home
  • Lebanon accuses Israel of responding to negotiation offer by ‘intensifying’ attacks

Lebanon accuses Israel of responding to negotiation offer by ‘intensifying’ attacks

Lebanon accuses Israel of responding to negotiation offer by ‘intensifying’ attacks
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday accused Israel of responding to its offer to negotiate by intensifying its air strikes, the latest of which killed a man riding a motorbike in southern Lebanon. (Reuters/File)
Short Url

https://arab.news/wyfsc

Updated 31 October 2025
AFP
Follow

Lebanon accuses Israel of responding to negotiation offer by ‘intensifying’ attacks

Lebanon accuses Israel of responding to negotiation offer by ‘intensifying’ attacks
  • “Lebanon is ready for negotiations to end the Israeli occupation, but any negotiation... requires mutual willingness, which is not the case,” Aoun said
  • Israel “is responding to this option by carrying out more attacks against Lebanon...”
Updated 31 October 2025
AFP
Follow

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday accused Israel of responding to its offer to negotiate by intensifying its air strikes, the latest of which killed a man riding a motorbike in southern Lebanon.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Israel maintains troops in five areas in southern Lebanon and has kept up regular air strikes.
Aoun had called for negotiations with Israel in mid-October, after US President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Lebanon is ready for negotiations to end the Israeli occupation, but any negotiation... requires mutual willingness, which is not the case,” Aoun said on Friday.
Israel “is responding to this option by carrying out more attacks against Lebanon... and intensifying tensions,” he added during a meeting with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) said an Israeli drone targeted a man on a motorbike in the village of Kunin on Friday. The health ministry reported one death and one person wounded.
The Israeli military said it had “eliminated... a Hezbollah maintenance officer” who was working to reestablish the Iran-backed group’s infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon.
The strike came a day after the Israeli military killed a municipal worker in a raid in the Lebanese border village of Blida.
Aoun ordered the army on Thursday to confront such incursions.
Hezbollah first began launching cross-border fire at Israel following the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023, kicking off a more than year-long conflict that culminated in two months of open war before last year’s ceasefire was agreed.
Israel, however, has never stopped carrying out air strikes on Lebanon — usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah positions — and has stepped up the attacks in recent days.
Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 25 people in October, including one Syrian, according to an AFP toll based on figures from the Lebanese health ministry.
On Tuesday, the spokesman for the UN rights commission, Jeremy Laurence, said Israeli forces had killed 111 civilians in Lebanon since the ceasefire went into effect.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi asked his visiting German counterpart on Friday to “help put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks.”
“Only a diplomatic solution, not a military one, can ensure stability and guarantee calm in the south,” Raggi was quoted by the NNA as saying.
He added that “the Lebanese government is continuing to gradually implement its decision to place all weapons under its control.”
Hezbollah was badly weakened during the war, and the United States has intensified pressure on Lebanese authorities to disarm the group.
Hezbollah and its allies oppose the plan.

Topics: Lebanon Israel Hezbollah

Related

Update Lebanon’s president urges army to confront Israeli incursions, as drones violate palace airspace
Middle-East

Lebanon’s president urges army to confront Israeli incursions, as drones violate palace airspace

President Aoun welcomes Gaza ceasefire, urges Israeli restraint in Lebanon
Middle-East

President Aoun welcomes Gaza ceasefire, urges Israeli restraint in Lebanon

Iraq can disarm factions only when the US withdraws, prime minister says 

Iraq can disarm factions only when the US withdraws, prime minister says 
Updated 04 November 2025
Reuters
Follow

Iraq can disarm factions only when the US withdraws, prime minister says 

Iraq can disarm factions only when the US withdraws, prime minister says 
  • Sudani highlights US investment in Iraq’s energy sector
  • Sudani confident in election victory, aims for second term
Updated 04 November 2025
Reuters

BAGHDAD: Iraq has pledged to bring all weapons under the control of the state, but that will not work so long as there is a US-led coalition in the country that some Iraqi factions view as an occupying force, the prime minister said on Monday.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said a plan was still in place to have the multinational anti-Daesh coalition completely leave Iraq, one of Iran’s closest Arab allies, by September 2026 because the threat from Islamist militant groups had eased considerably.
“There is no Daesh. Security and stability? Thank God it’s there ... so give me the excuse for the presence of 86 states (in a coalition),” he said in an interview in Baghdad, referring to the number of countries that have participated in the coalition since it was formed in 2014.
“Then, for sure there will be a clear program to end any arms outside of state institutions. This is the demand of all,” he said, noting factions could enter official security forces or get into politics by laying down their arms.
‘No side can pull Iraq to war’, says Sudani
Iraq is navigating a politically sensitive effort to disarm Iran-backed militias amid pressure from the US, which has said it would like Sudani to dismantle armed groups affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shiite factions. The PMF was formally integrated into Iraq’s state forces and includes several groups aligned with Iran.
At the same time, the US and Iraq have agreed on a phased withdrawal of American troops, with a full exit expected by the end of 2026. An initial drawdown began in 2025.
Asked about growing international pressure on non-state armed groups in the region such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance created to counter US and Israeli influence in the Middle East, Sudani said:
“There is time enough, God willing. The situation here is different than Lebanon.”
“Iraq is clear in its stances to maintain security and stability and that state institutions have the decision over war and peace, and that no side can pull Iraq to war or conflict,” said Sudani.
Shiite power Iran has gained vast influence in Iraq since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, with heavily armed pro-Iranian paramilitary groups wielding enormous political and military power.
Successive Iraqi governments have faced the challenge of keeping both arch-foes Iran and the US as allies. While the US slaps sanctions on Iran, Iraq does business with it.
Securing major US investment is a top priority for Iraq, which has faced severe economic problems and years of sectarian bloodletting since 2003.
Us companies increasingly active in Iraq, says Sudani
“There is a clear, intensive and qualitative entrance of US companies into Iraq,” said Sudani, including the biggest ever agreement with GE for 24,000 MW of power, equivalent to the country’s entire current generation capacity, he said.
In August, Iraq signed an agreement in principle with US oil producer Chevron (CVX.N), for a project at Nassiriya in southern Iraq that consists of four exploration blocks in addition to the development of other producing oil fields.
Sudani said an agreement with US LNG firm Excelerate to provide LNG helped Iraq cope with rolling power cuts.
Sudani praised a recent preliminary agreement signed with ExxonMobil, and he said the advantage of this agreement is that for the first time Iraq is agreeing with a global company to develop oilfields along with an export system.
Sudani said that US and European companies had shown interest in a plan for the building of a fixed platform for importing and exporting gas off the coast of the Grand Faw Port, which would be the first project there.
Sudani said the government had set a deadline for the end of 2027 to stop all burning of gas and to reach self-sufficiency in gas supplies, and to stop gas imports from Iran.
“We burn gas worth four to five billion (dollars) per year and import gas with 4 billion dollars per year. These are wrong policies and it’s our government that has been finding solutions to these issues,” he said.
Sudani is running against established political parties in his ruling coalition in Iraq’s November 11 election and said he expects to win. Many analysts regard him as the frontrunner.
“We expect a significant victory,” he said, adding he wanted a second term. “We want to keep going on this path.”
Sudani said he believed this year’s elections would see a higher turnout than last year’s roughly 40 percent in parliamentary polls, which was down from around 80 percent two decades ago.
Sudani campaigns as Iraq’s builder-in-chief
He has portrayed himself as the builder-in-chief, his campaign posters strategically laid out at key sites of Baghdad construction, including a new dual-carriageway along the Tigris in the center of the capital.
He ticks off the number of incomplete projects he inherited from previous governments – 2,582, he said — and notes he spent a fraction of their initial cost to finish them.
Many Iraqis have been positive about the roads, bridges and buildings they have seen go up, helping to somewhat alleviate the choking traffic in the city.
But it has come at a cost.
Sudani’s three-year budget was the largest in Iraq’s history at over $150 billion a year.
He also hired about 1 million employees into the already-bloated state bureaucracy, buying social stability at the cost of severely limiting the government’s fiscal room for maneuver.
“I am not worried about Iraq’s financial and economic situation. Iraq is a rich country with many resources, but my fear is that the implementation of reforms is delayed,” he said.

Topics: Iraq Mohammed Shia al-Sudani

Related

US and anti-Daesh forces must leave Iraq, PM Al-Sudani tells WEF
Middle-East

US and anti-Daesh forces must leave Iraq, PM Al-Sudani tells WEF

Iraqi parliament approves new government headed by Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani
Middle-East

Iraqi parliament approves new government headed by Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani

Latest updates

Saudi Arabia, China explore joint investment opportunities in advanced industries

Saudi Arabia, China explore joint investment opportunities in advanced industries

Indian Sikh pilgrims enter Pakistan, first major crossing since May conflict

Indian Sikh pilgrims enter Pakistan, first major crossing since May conflict

Refad Real Estate Investment & Development launches Miraf District in Alkhobar

Refad Real Estate Investment & Development launches Miraf District in Alkhobar

Giordano celebrates 30 years of growth in Saudi Arabia

Giordano celebrates 30 years of growth in Saudi Arabia

Lolo Zouai to release new bilingual single

Lolo Zouai to release new bilingual single

Search form

Print Edition
Read pdf version Subscribe now
© 2025 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.