Palestinian cause ‘foremost issue’ for regional peace, says Lebanese PM

Special Palestinian cause ‘foremost issue’ for regional peace, says Lebanese PM
US special envoy Amos Hochstein, left, meets with Lebanon’s PM Najib Mikati, Beirut, Mar. 4, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 05 March 2024
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Palestinian cause ‘foremost issue’ for regional peace, says Lebanese PM

Palestinian cause ‘foremost issue’ for regional peace, says Lebanese PM
  • Najib Mikati called on Israel to abide by international edicts, including Resolution 1701
  • Najib Mikati: ‘Situation poses great pressure on Lebanon and necessitates raising our voice to urge the international community to stop what is happening’

BEIRUT: Peace and development in the Middle East is contingent upon an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the Lebanese border, Lebanon’s prime minister has said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, addressing the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development at the UN House in Beirut on Tuesday, called on Israel to abide by international edicts, including Resolution 1701.

He said that sustainable development and peace in the region “requires stopping the Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon and Gaza and moving toward the peaceful option.”

Mikati added: “The situation poses great pressure on Lebanon and necessitates raising our voice to urge the international community to stop what is happening, deter the Israeli enemy, and work to provide peaceful solutions to the region’s problems.”

He described the Palestinian cause as the “foremost” issue, adding that its “flame has not been extinguished” despite Israeli measures to “suppress it through killing, destruction and annihilation.”

The prime minister’s comments came a day after US envoy Amos Hochstein visited Lebanon and Tel Aviv.

During talks in Beirut, Hochstein warned that there is “no such thing as a limited war,” urging Hezbollah and Israel to avoid an escalation of violence that “is in no one’s interests.”

A diplomatic solution is the only way to resolve the 150-day limited conflict on Lebanon’s southern border, he added.

Any deal must enforce stability on both sides of the border and safeguard the return of displaced people in Lebanon and Israel, Hochstein said.

The day after the envoy’s visit, the head of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad, renewed his party’s position on the violence in the south.

Hezbollah “does not wish for war, nor does it seek it, but we are ready to confront it,” Raad said.

He added: “We are ready to confront the enemy if it miscalculates and seeks to deviate from the rules of deterrence that we have imposed on it.

“But, so far, we have been waiting so as to spare our country and our people the consequences of an open war in which there will be blood and losses — but the biggest and strategic loser will be the Zionist enemy.”

Raad said that Hezbollah is operating “according to precise calculations” and still maintains a considerable arsenal to fight Israel.

“We have not used all of our weapons, and we are yet to open the warehouses of the weapons of open war, and the enemy knows that,” he added.

The US plan for a settlement, relayed by Hochstein in Beirut and Tel Aviv, includes several conditions, the foremost of which being an immediate end to hostilities.

Washington also calls for Hezbollah’s withdrawal from south of the Litani River, a reinforcement of UNIFIL and Lebanese Army forces in the region, and the return of evacuated Israeli and Lebanese civilians to border settlements.

A second proposed phase will see negotiations between the Lebanese state and Israel to define land borders and resolve disputes over occupied zones in the Shebaa Farms and Kafr Shuba heights areas.

In 2022, Hochstein mediated indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to demarcate maritime borders.

On Monday, he also met top officials in the Israeli government. Israeli Channel 12 highlighted “encouraging signs and initial indications” during Hochstein’s talks in Lebanon, raising hopes of a diplomatic solution to the hostilities.

The channel claimed that Hezbollah may have given tacit approval for further diplomatic efforts toward a settlement.

A TV report said Hochstein had discussed Washington’s plan for resolving the issue with Israeli officials, but was rebuffed.

He was told that Israel will continue military operations in southern Lebanon “until an agreement is reached to return about 90,000 Israelis to their homes,” the report added.

Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant said after meeting Hochstein: “Our commitment to our citizens is greater than any other commitment. We are ready to resolve the crisis politically, but we are also prepared for all eventualities.”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah and Israel continued to trade strikes on the southern border.

The Lebanese militia said its fighters had destroyed an Israeli Merkava tank in the Natua settlement using a guided missile, injuring or killing its crew.

Hezbollah also attacked military sites in Israel’s Barkat Risha and Al-Raheb.

On Monday night, Israeli jets shelled the border town of Al-Adisa, targeting a Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority center, killing three volunteer paramedics.

Israel also struck Al-Sultaniya and Siddiqin, causing minor injuries to some residents and significant destruction to vehicles and properties.


Yemeni minister calls for arrest of Houthi officials attending Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s funeral

Yemeni minister calls for arrest of Houthi officials attending Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s funeral
Updated 20 February 2025
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Yemeni minister calls for arrest of Houthi officials attending Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s funeral

Yemeni minister calls for arrest of Houthi officials attending Hezbollah chief Nasrallah’s funeral
  • The Houthis did not officially announce a delegation was attending the funeral, but the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported a delegation from Yemen would participate

CAIRO: Yemeni Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani called on Wednesday for the arrest of a group of leaders from Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis who he said will attend Lebanese Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral in Beirut.
Nasrallah, who had served as Hezbollah’s secretary general for more than 30 years, was killed on September 27 as Israel ramped up its attacks on southern Lebanon. His funeral is scheduled for February 23.
Eryani demanded that the Lebanese government arrest the Houthi leaders and hand them over to the rival internationally recognized government in a post on X.
He did not name the Houthi officials.
Neither the Lebanese government nor Houthi leaders was immediately available for comment.
The Houthis did not officially announce a delegation was attending the funeral, but the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported a delegation from Yemen would participate. “We affirm that the movement of these terrorist leaders... in this timing is not a mere participation in the funeral, which is being used as a cover, to gather all the leaders of the Iranian axis and assess the situation after the blows they received,” he added.
The Yemeni minister was referring to the recent Israeli attacks against Iran-backed groups in the region including Hezbollah and the Houthis.
Both groups launched parallel attacks against Israel during its war in Gaza to show support for Palestinians.
The Houthis, who control northern Yemen, also carried out more than 100 attacks on ships off the shores of Yemen since November 2023, disrupting global shipping and causing route changes and losses.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023 killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, laid waste to much of the enclave, and displaced hundreds of thousands.


Sudan crisis could worsen if paramilitaries declare parallel govt: UN

Sudan crisis could worsen if paramilitaries declare parallel govt: UN
Updated 20 February 2025
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Sudan crisis could worsen if paramilitaries declare parallel govt: UN

Sudan crisis could worsen if paramilitaries declare parallel govt: UN

UNITED NATIONS: The crisis in Sudan could worsen if paramilitary forces fighting the army go ahead with plans to declare a parallel government, the United Nations warned Wednesday.
“For us, preserving the unity of Sudan, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity, remains a key ingredient for a sustainable resolution of the conflict,” the UN secretary-general’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
At a high-profile event in Nairobi this week, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, at war with the Sudanese army for nearly two years, said they would sign a founding charter that would lead to the formation of a “peace and unity government” in Sudan.
Initially scheduled for Tuesday at Nairobi’s state-owned Kenyatta International Convention Center, the signing was postponed to Friday.
“We’re very deeply concerned about any further escalation of the Sudanese conflict, and any steps like this one, which would increase the fragmentation of the country and risk making this crisis even worse,” Dujarric said of the planned proclamation.
Sudan’s foreign ministry, loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, criticized Kenya for allowing the event.
Since April 2023, the war between the army and RSF has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted more than 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.


Israel says 3 Palestinian militants killed in West Bank

Israel says 3 Palestinian militants killed in West Bank
Updated 20 February 2025
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Israel says 3 Palestinian militants killed in West Bank

Israel says 3 Palestinian militants killed in West Bank
  • A Palestinian official confirmed that three people had been killed by Israeli forces

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it killed three “wanted terrorists” in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, and a Palestinian official reported that Israeli forces were holding the bodies of three people.
Soldiers “eliminated three wanted terrorists in the area of Al Faraa, who sold weapons for terror purposes,” the military said in a statement.
“Two additional wanted individuals were apprehended.”
A Palestinian official confirmed that three people had been killed by Israeli forces.
“Three people were assassinated, and their bodies are being held” by the Israeli forces, Tubas governor Ahmad Al-Asaad told AFP.
Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has escalated since the October 2023 outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip.
At least 897 Palestinians including militants have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the Gaza war began, according to an AFP tally based on figures provided by the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.
At least 32 Israelis, including some soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or confrontations during Israeli operations in the West Bank over the same period, according to official Israeli figures.


Two jailed for 18 years over tower block collapse in Turkiye quake

Two jailed for 18 years over tower block collapse in Turkiye quake
Updated 19 February 2025
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Two jailed for 18 years over tower block collapse in Turkiye quake

Two jailed for 18 years over tower block collapse in Turkiye quake
  • There were 22 such blocks in the complex, nearly all of which collapsed when the first 7.8-magnitude tremor struck before dawn on Feb. 6, 2023, killing 1,400 people
  • Wednesday’s verdict related to the collapse of Block B where 115 people died

ISTANBUL: Two senior figures involved in the construction of a part a huge Turkish residential complex that collapsed in the 2023 earthquake have been jailed for more than 18 years, local media reported Wednesday.
The case concerned an eight-story tower block at the Ebrar complex in the southeastern city of Kahramanmaras, Türkiye’s private NTV broadcaster said.
There were 22 such blocks in the complex, nearly all of which collapsed when the first 7.8-magnitude tremor struck before dawn on Feb. 6, 2023, killing 1,400 people.
Wednesday’s verdict related to the collapse of Block B where 115 people died, NTV said, with the judge handing senior contractor Tevfik Tepebasi and Atilla Oz, head of the cooperative that built the block, 18 years and eight months each for “causing death and injury through conscious negligence.”
There were four other defendants in the case, three of whom were acquitted for lack of evidence, while the fourth was being tried in absentia, NTV said.
Tepebasi — who was jailed shortly after the quake and is being prosecuted in several other quake-related cases — caused an uproar at one hearing a year ago when he told the court he should not be charged with a crime because: “I don’t know anything about construction.”
Quoted by NTV, several of the victims’ families said they were not satisfied with the sentences and the fact that three defendants were acquitted, saying they would appeal.
The earthquake killed more than 53,500 people in Turkiye and nearly 6,000 in neighboring Syria. It also razed 39,000 buildings and left another 200,000 severely damaged, leaving nearly two million people homeless.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pointed the finger at negligent building contractors, accusing them of cutting corners by using cheap concrete and ignoring basic construction standards, with more than 200 contractors and developers arrested in the immediate aftermath of the quake.
But there have been few, if any, investigations into the public officials who signed off on building permits and safety inspections, which can only be opened with the interior ministry’s permission.


Israel hostage forum says news of Bibas family deaths ‘heart-shattering’

Israel hostage forum says news of Bibas family deaths ‘heart-shattering’
Updated 19 February 2025
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Israel hostage forum says news of Bibas family deaths ‘heart-shattering’

Israel hostage forum says news of Bibas family deaths ‘heart-shattering’
  • Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them

JERUSALEM: An Israeli group campaigning for the release of hostages held in Gaza said it had received the “heart-shattering” news of the deaths of three members of the Bibas family whose bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday.
“We received the heart-shattering news that Shiri Bibas, her children Ariel and Kfir, and Oded Lifshitz are no longer with us,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement Wednesday, also naming the fourth hostage declared dead.
“This news cuts like a knife through our hearts, the families’ hearts and the hearts of people all over the world.”
On Tuesday, Hamas said it would hand over the bodies of four hostages, including the three Bibas family members, as part of the ongoing first phase of a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
While their deaths are largely accepted as fact abroad after Hamas said they were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed the claim.
Yarden Bibas, the boys’ father and Shiri’s husband, was abducted separately on October 7, 2023 and was released from Gaza in a previous hostage-prisoner exchange on February 1.
Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned Thursday, though they have not officially identified them.