Lebanon committed to keeping war away from the country, PM says

Lebanon committed to keeping war away from the country, PM says
Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrives to attend a parliament session in downtown Beirut on January 25, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 26 January 2024
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Lebanon committed to keeping war away from the country, PM says

Lebanon committed to keeping war away from the country, PM says
  • Hezbollah introduces Falaq-1 missile in operations against Israeli military for the first time
  • International coordinator inspects border villages, assesses losses of civilian communities

BEIRUT: Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed Lebanon’s commitment to keeping the war away from the country on Friday, responding to accusations the government is handing decision-making to political parties — a reference to the role of Hezbollah.

“This accusation is absolutely untrue,” Mikati told Parliament.

In his intervention during the session on Friday afternoon to approve the 2024 draft budget, Mikati said: “Our consistent and reiterated stance focuses on adherence to all international resolutions and agreements from the 1949 Armistice Agreement to UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and all relevant international resolutions.

“We reiterate our demand for a ceasefire in Gaza, as it is the mandatory gateway to all solutions. This stance is grounded in political realism that dictates it.”

Mikati renewed his demand for “the international community to stop Israeli violations, provocations, and attacks on Lebanon.”

Mikati added: “Since the first day of the Gaza war, I have announced that the decision to go to war is not in our hands, but in Israel’s.

“Critics and supporters among the Lebanese will understand the content of this message, and we are seeking a diplomatic solution under the auspices of the UN.”

He added: “In my correspondences with the US secretary of state, and in response to an urgent message, I expressed the official stance, which is summed up by working toward achieving sustainable and long-term stability in the region.

“As per my message, stability is achieved by imposing a permanent end to the war in Gaza to secure humanitarian aid for its besieged population, which will allow the reconvening of mediation sessions for the exchange of prisoners and detainees.”

Mikati called for reconvening the tripartite meetings between military representatives from Lebanon, Israel, and UNIFIL at the latter’s headquarters in Ras Naqoura to resolve the remaining disputes between Lebanon and Israel by implementing all UN treaties and resolutions, starting with the 1949 Armistice Agreement to the implementation of UN Resolution 1701.

He stressed: “The diplomatic and negotiation approach is the real, guaranteed gateway to achieving permanent stability, starting from ending the aggression against Gaza and embarking on a fair and just solution to the Palestinian cause, based on reviving the two-state initiative, that will ensure fair and comprehensive rights for the Palestinians and sustainable security for the Israelis.”

Mikati’s remarks came as Hezbollah announced targeting “a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the outskirts of the Hunin Castle using appropriate weapons, as well as the Ma’ale Golan outpost using Falaq-1 missiles.

Since Oct. 8 the party has repeatedly announced its use of the Burkan (volcano) missile, but this is the first time it has revealed using the Iranian-made anti-armor, anti-tank Falaq-1.

According to information circulating on pro-Hezbollah social media accounts, Falaq-1 is “a surface-to-surface rocket, with a bore of 240 mm, a weight of 111 kg, and a warhead weighing 50 kg.” It has a maximum range of 10 km.

An interceptor missile launched by the Israeli Iron Dome exploded over Naqoura.

Israeli media outlets reported that “the Israeli army launched an interceptor missile against a suspicious target flying over sea opposite the Liman settlement in the Western Galilee.”

Israeli Channel 12 stated that “two missiles were launched from Lebanon toward the Margaliot settlement in the Galilee.”

An Israeli artillery targeted Houla and the outskirts of the Beit Lif village.

An Israeli raid struck the outskirts of the Aitaroun village.

As hostilities in southern Lebanon continue, Imran Riza, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon, met with civilians who remained in their villages and other displaced people who left border towns for safer areas in the south.

“I spoke to some of those who left their homes and became displaced, as well as to those who decided to stay in their homes and villages despite the danger ahead of them,” Riza said.

“For many of those, the last three months were filled with fear, defeat, and uncertainty about the future.

“Today, the ability to confront challenges has significantly changed compared to the last time southern Lebanon witnessed a similar form of displacement — the 2006 war.

“The acute Lebanese economic crisis exacerbated the plight of those affected by the ongoing conflict. Here they are today, left with no savings or sufficient food supplies. They completely rely on slim livelihood chances.

“The ongoing destruction of agricultural lands in southern Lebanon, along with insecurity and the inability to move around safely due to daily attacks, deepens despair among communities,” he said.

“The economic, personal, and psychological losses borne by the affected communities are enormous, intensifying the magnitude of the challenges faced by the people.

“More than 86,000 people have been displaced since the escalation of hostilities, while 60,000 others remain in the targeted damaged villages,” he added.

“No less than 25 civilians have been killed to date, while health centers, civilian infrastructures, residential houses, and agricultural lands have been severely damaged.”

He renewed his call “to uphold international humanitarian law and safeguard civilians, medical personnel, residences, schools, and healthcare centres,” and reaffirmed the UN’s “steadfast commitment to stay and deliver emergency relief and protection to civilians in need wherever they are.”

Riza added: “What is needed most, however, is a de-escalation of tensions and an end to hostilities.”


Iran Guards chief says Netanyahu ICC warrant ‘political death’ of Israel

Iran Guards chief says Netanyahu ICC warrant ‘political death’ of Israel
Updated 8 sec ago
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Iran Guards chief says Netanyahu ICC warrant ‘political death’ of Israel

Iran Guards chief says Netanyahu ICC warrant ‘political death’ of Israel
  • Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami calls the ICC warrant ‘a welcome move’
  • Salami adds it is a ‘great victory for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements’
TEHRAN: The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday described the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defense minister as the “end and political death” of Israel, in a speech.
“This means the end and political death of the Zionist regime, a regime that today lives in absolute political isolation in the world and its officials can no longer travel to other countries,” Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami said in the speech aired on state TV.
In the first official reaction by Iran, Salami called the ICC warrant “a welcome move” and a “great victory for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements,” both supported by the Islamic republic.
Israel and its allies criticized the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant on Thursday for Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
The court also issued a warrant for the arrest of Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.
The warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant were issued in response to accusations of crimes against humanity and war crimes during Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The move drew angry reactions from Netanyahu, who denounced it as antisemitic and from Israel’s closest allies, including the United States, but was welcomed by rights groups including Amnesty International.
The ICC’s move theoretically limits the movement of Netanyahu, as any of the court’s 124 national members would be obliged to arrest him on their territory.
The court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan urged the body’s members to act on the warrants, and for non-members to work together in “upholding international law.”

Israel armys say ‘eliminated’ five Hamas militants in north Gaza raid

Israel armys say ‘eliminated’ five Hamas militants in north Gaza raid
Updated 22 November 2024
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Israel armys say ‘eliminated’ five Hamas militants in north Gaza raid

Israel armys say ‘eliminated’ five Hamas militants in north Gaza raid
  • Israeli military: Slain militants had ‘led the murders and kidnappings in the area of Mefalsim’

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Friday it had “eliminated” five Hamas militants, including two commanders, in an overnight raid in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia.
In a statement, the military and the Shin Bet security agency said they had “eliminated five Hamas terrorists, including a Nukhba (commando) company commander and an additional company commander who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre” that sparked the Gaza war last year, adding that the slain militants had “led the murders and kidnappings in the area of Mefalsim,” a kibbutz in southern Israel.


Strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after Israeli evacuation call

Strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after Israeli evacuation call
Updated 22 November 2024
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Strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after Israeli evacuation call

Strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs after Israeli evacuation call
  • Latest raids follow intense Israeli attacks on south Beirut as well as other areas in Lebanon’s south and east

BEIRUT: Strikes hit the southern suburbs of Beirut, a bastion of Hezbollah militants, shortly after an Israeli evacuation warning early on Friday, according to Lebanese official media and AFPTV footage.

The state-run National News Agency said “enemy warplanes” had carried two raids on south Beirut, and that “thick smoke was seen rising from the vicinity of the Lebanese University” in the Hadath neighborhood.

Live AFPTV footage showed plumes of smoke over the area after the Israeli military called for the evacuation of three locations, warning on social media of imminent attacks.

The military later said in a statement its “fighter jets completed a new round of strikes” on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The latest raids follow intense Israeli attacks on south Beirut as well as other areas in Lebanon’s south and east, where Israel says it has been targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

More than 11 months of cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza conflict escalated into all-out war in September, with Israel conducting an extensive bombing campaign, primarily targeting Hezbollah strongholds, and sending ground troops into southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese health ministry said at least 52 people were killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes, including some 40 dead in Lebanon’s east.

On Friday, the Israeli army also issued evacuation warnings for parts of the coastal city of Tyre and the nearby Burj Al-Shemali Palestinian refugee camp.

The pace of the strikes across Lebanon has increased since US envoy Amos Hochstein ended his visit to Beirut on Wednesday, seeking to broker an end to the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Thursday that at least 3,583 people had been killed in the violence since October 2023. Most of the deaths have been since September this year.


UN could meet with Israel PM despite warrant: UN

UN could meet with Israel PM despite warrant: UN
Updated 22 November 2024
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UN could meet with Israel PM despite warrant: UN

UN could meet with Israel PM despite warrant: UN
  • UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Netanyahu have not spoken since the war started
  • UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN policy on contacts with people facing arrest warrants dates back to a document issued in 2013

UNITED NATIONS: The arrest warrant issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza does not bar UN officials from meeting with him in the course of their work, the UN said Thursday.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Netanyahu have not spoken since the war started as a result of the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, although there have been contacts with the Israeli leader by UN officials in the region.
Guterres has been declared persona non grata by Israel, which accuses him of being biased in favor of the Palestinians. So talks between him and Netanyahu are very unlikely.
After the warrants issued Thursday by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN policy on contacts with people facing arrest warrants dates back to a document issued in 2013.
“The rule is that there should not be any contacts between UN officials and individuals subject to arrest warrants,” Dujarric said.
But limited contacts are allowed “to address fundamental issues, operational issues, and our ability to carry out our mandates,” he added.
In late October, at a summit of the BRICS countries in Russia, Guterres met with President Vladimir Putin, who faces an arrest warrant from the ICP over the war in Ukraine.
That meeting, during which Guterres reiterated his condemnation of the Russian invasion, angered Ukraine.


Palestinians welcome ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM and former defense minister

Palestinians welcome ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM and former defense minister
Updated 22 November 2024
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Palestinians welcome ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM and former defense minister

Palestinians welcome ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM and former defense minister
  • Palestinian Authority calls on UN member states to ensure the warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, who are accused of war crimes, are acted upon
  • The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrel, says decision is ‘binding’ on all members of the International Criminal Court

LONDON: Palestinians welcomed the decision by the International Criminal Court on Thursday to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former minister of defense, Yoav Gallant.

The Palestinian Authority said the court’s decision comes as Israeli forces continue to bomb Gaza in a conflict that has killed nearly 45,000 Palestinians since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, and it hopes the ruling will help to restore faith in international law, the official Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.

Netanyahu and Gallant are the first leading officials from a nation allied with the West against whom the ICC has issued arrest warrants since the court was established in July 2002. It also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, the head of the military wing of Hamas. Israeli authorities said in August he was killed by their forces in an attack the previous month, though Hamas have not confirmed this.

All three men are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity over their actions during the war in Gaza or the Oct. 7 attacks.

The PA said the decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant was important because Palestinians “are being subjected to genocide and war crimes, represented by starvation as a method of warfare,” as well as mass displacement and collective punishment.

The PA, which signed up to the ICC in 2015, called on all UN member states to ensure the warrants are acted upon and to “cut off contact and meetings with the international wanted men, Netanyahu and Gallant.” Israel is not a member of the ICC.

The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrel, posted a message on social media platform X on Thursday in which he described the court’s decisions as “binding” on all those who have signed up to it.

“These decisions are binding on all states party to the Rome Statute (the treaty that established the ICC), which includes all EU member states,” he wrote.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister who has spent 17 years in office during three spells in charge since 1996, denounced the decision by the ICC to issue the warrant as “antisemitic.”

He said it would “have serious consequences for the court and those who will cooperate with it in this matter.”