Lebanon faces food-security crisis if war escalates, economy minister warns

Lebanon faces food-security crisis if war escalates, economy minister warns
An armored vehicle of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the southern Lebanese border area of Marjayoun on August 8, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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Updated 09 August 2024
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Lebanon faces food-security crisis if war escalates, economy minister warns

Lebanon faces food-security crisis if war escalates, economy minister warns
  • Several injuries reported as cross-border fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli military continues
  • Hezbollah MP attempts to reassure citizens, says ‘we are acting in the interest of our people and our homeland, which we do not compromise in any way’

BEIRUT: The Lebanese government is continuing its preparations for a possible expansion of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, as Air France on Thursday extended its suspension of flights between Paris and Beirut until at least Sunday “due to the security situation” in Lebanon.
Tensions have continued to soar in the past week, as Iran and its allies vowed to take revenge for the high-profile killings of Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander, in Lebanon and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, in Iran. Israel is accused of carrying out both assassinations.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah forces have continued to exchange fire with the Israeli military on a near-daily basis across the border between their countries.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry has repeated the call by its embassy in Lebanon for all German nationals to “immediately leave” the country “due to the increasing risk of military escalation in the region.”
Amin Salam, the Lebanese economy minister, said the conflict presents a significant challenge for the government. He stressed the need to ensure food security and maintain the supply of commodities and raw materials in a country that “imports 90 percent of its needs and produces only 10 percent,” and said the Ministry of Economy has been in a state of emergency for three years.
“We must reassure people regarding food security as we are constantly dealing with the crisis, and with traders and citizens exploiting the situation,” he added.
“A part of the private sector has saved the country from total collapse, while another part — a large percentage — exploits people’s fear and concerns about the future and the lack of commodities and food in case a war breaks out.”
Regarding levels of food security and strategic stocks of commodities and raw materials, Salam said unions report that “available food items and raw materials can suffice for three months.” More shipments are on their way to Beirut, he added.
“They will arrive during the upcoming weeks and can cover two additional months, meaning we have enough food items and commodities for five months.
“Israel’s targeting of the Lebanese economy is systematic through the destruction of the agricultural sector and the burning of Lebanese soil. Agriculture provided a portion of the country’s foreign currencies through exports.”
The damage to the agricultural sector has cost the country billions of dollars, Salam said.
He added that “internal and external” media outlets have sounded alarms warning that Lebanon’s only airport, Rafic Hariri International, might be targeted.
“This was a blow to the tourism sector, as it led expatriates and tourists to leave Lebanon while reservations were canceled,” he said.
Meanwhile, a car on a road connecting the towns of Yarine and Jebbayn was attacked by an Israeli combat drone on Thursday. Three people were injured, according to the Ministry of Health’s emergency operations center.
On Wednesday night, the Israeli army advanced north in the area south of the Litani River and for the first time carried out a raid in the town of Doueir, destroying an uninhabited house belonging to the Rammal family.
And Israeli warplanes attacked the outskirts of the town of Mansouri in Tyre district, causing severe damage to property, crops and infrastructure.
In an attempt to reassure Lebanese concerned about the possibility of the conflict escalating into a wider war, Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said that the party “takes into account the unique characteristics of Lebanon and the highest national interests, as well as the interests of our people.
“Therefore, while we are determined not to allow the enemy to breach the rules, no matter the cost or how far the confrontation may go, we are acting in the interest of our people and our homeland, which we do not compromise in any way.”
He continued: “Those who want to stop the state of collapse, and this volatile situation that is sweeping the entire region, must pressure the Israeli enemy to stop its aggression against Gaza.
“But how can we understand the calls for a ceasefire or prevent escalation if these parties continue to supply the enemy with the latest missiles, aircraft artillery, and other weapons from their arsenals?”
His comments came as Hezbollah responded to Israeli assaults with a drone attack that targeted Israeli soldiers at Al-Marj military site. The party said “it achieved a direct hit, inflicting confirmed injuries.”
Elsewhere, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a message posted on social media platform X: “Air Force warplanes destroyed several Hezbollah infrastructures in Bint Jbeil, Majdal Zoun and Doueir.”
As part of diplomatic efforts by government officials from Lebanon and other countries with influence on the combatants to avoid further escalation of the conflict, Abdullah Bou Habib, the caretaker foreign minister, received a phone call from his Norwegian counterpart, Espen Barth Eide.
The former’s media office said that Eide offered reassurance that Norway “is committed to working with all relevant parties to de-escalate tensions and prevent further conflict,” and that “prioritizing the interests of the Palestinians and achieving a ceasefire in Gaza necessitates avoiding the ignition of war in the region.” Eide also “reaffirmed that Norway, which places great importance on Lebanon, does not want it to become a victim of a new wave of escalation and wars in the region.”
Bou Habib said: “The Israeli escalation aims to disrupt the initiative launched by US President Joe Biden to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.”
He denounced “Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians in its attacks on Lebanon, in flagrant violation of the principles of international law,” and called for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2735, which was adopted on June 10 and calls for a ceasefire agreement in the war between Israel and Hamas.

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UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead

UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead
Updated 57 min ago
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UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead

UN probe says women, children comprise the majority of Gaza war dead
  • The report detailed a raft of violations of international law since Oct. 7

GENEVA: The UN on Friday condemned the staggering number of civilians killed in Israel’s war in Gaza, with women and children comprising nearly 70 percent of the thousands of fatalities it had managed to verify.
In a fresh report, slammed by Israel, the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) detailed a raft of violations of international law since Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack in Israel sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
Many could amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly even “genocide,” it warned, demanding international efforts to prevent “atrocity crimes” and ensure accountability.
“Civilians in Gaza have borne the brunt of the attacks, including through the initial ‘complete siege’ of Gaza by Israeli forces,” the UN said.
“Conduct by Israeli forces has caused unprecedented levels of killings, death, injury, starvation, illness and disease.”
It pointed to “the Israeli government’s continuing unlawful failures to allow, facilitate and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and repeated mass displacement.”
Israel’s mission to the UN in Geneva “categorically” rejected the report, decrying “the inherent obsession of OHCHR with the demonization of Israel.”
“Gaza is now a rubble-strewn landscape,” Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN rights office’s activities in the Palestinian territories, said via video-link from Amman.
“Within this dystopia of destruction and devastation, those alive are left injured, displaced and starving.”
Friday’s report also found that Hamas and other armed groups had committed widespread violations that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including seizing hostages, killings, torture and sexual violence.
Those violations, it said, were especially committed in connection with the October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly of civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
The report also tackled the contentious issue of the proportion of civilians among the nearly 43,500 people killed in Gaza so far, according to the health ministry in the Palestinian territory.
UN agencies have been relying on death tolls provided by the authorities in Hamas-run Gaza due to lack of access. This has sparked harsh criticism from Israel but the UN has repeatedly said the figures are reliable.
The rights office said it had now managed to verify around 10,000 of the more than 34,500 people reportedly killed during the first six months of the war.
“We have so far found close to 70 percent to be children and women,” Sunghay said, highlighting the stringent verification methodology that requires at least three separate sources.
He said the findings indicated “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”
He said 4,700 of the verified fatalities were children and 2,461 were women.
The rights office found that about 80 percent of all the verified deaths in Gaza had occurred in Israeli attacks on residential buildings or similar housing.
Children between the ages of five and nine made up the largest group of victims, with the youngest victim a one-day-old boy and the oldest a 97-year-old woman, it said.
Israel says its operations in Gaza target militants and are in line with international law.
But Friday’s report stressed that the verified deaths largely Gaza’s demographic makeup rather than that of combatants.
This, it said, clearly “raises concerns regarding compliance with the principle of distinction and reflect an apparent failure to take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental loss of civilian life.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk called on all countries to work to halt the violations and to ensure accountability, including through universal jurisdiction.
“It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies,” he said.
“The violence must stop immediately, the hostages and those arbitrarily detained must be released, and we must focus on flooding Gaza with humanitarian aid.”


After Hamas rejection of hostage deal, US asked Qatar to expel the group

After Hamas rejection of hostage deal, US asked Qatar to expel the group
Updated 09 November 2024
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After Hamas rejection of hostage deal, US asked Qatar to expel the group

After Hamas rejection of hostage deal, US asked Qatar to expel the group
  • Negotiators from Israel’s Mossad spy agency have repeatedly met mediators in Doha over the last year and Qatari government officials have shuttled back-and-forth to Hamas leaders in the political office

WASHINGTON/DOHA: The US has told Qatar that the presence of Hamas in Doha is no longer acceptable in the weeks since the Palestinian militant group rejected the latest proposal to achieve a ceasefire and a hostage deal, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday.
“After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner. We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas’s rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Qatar then made the demand to Hamas leaders about 10 days ago, the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. Washington has been in touch with Qatar over when to close the political office of Hamas, and it told Doha that now was the time following the group’s rejection of the recent proposal.
Three Hamas officials denied Qatar had told Hamas leaders they were no longer welcome in the country.
Qatar, alongside the US and Egypt, has played a major role in rounds of so-far fruitless talks to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages the militant group is holding in the enclave.
The latest round of Doha talks in mid-October failed to reach a ceasefire, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal.
The spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for confirmation or comment.
Last year, a senior US official said Qatar had told Washington it was open to
reconsidering the presence of Hamas
in the country once the Gaza war was over.
This came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
told leaders
in Qatar and elsewhere in the region that there could be “no more business as usual” with Hamas after the group led the Oct. 7 attacks on Southern Israel.
Qatar, an influential Gulf state designated as major non-NATO ally by Washington, has hosted Hamas’ political leaders since 2012 as part of an agreement with the US Doha has come under criticism from within the US and Israel over its ties to Hamas since Oct. 7.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said repeatedly over the last year that the Hamas office exists in Doha to allow negotiations with the group and that as long as the channel remained useful Qatar would allow the Hamas office to remain open.
Negotiators from Israel’s Mossad spy agency have repeatedly met mediators in Doha over the last year and Qatari government officials have shuttled back-and-forth to Hamas leaders in the political office.

 

 


US defense chief holds first call with new Israeli counterpart

US defense chief holds first call with new Israeli counterpart
Updated 09 November 2024
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US defense chief holds first call with new Israeli counterpart

US defense chief holds first call with new Israeli counterpart
  • Katz was sworn in before parliament the previous day
  • The US defense chief also discussed “the need to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza“

WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed Lebanon and Gaza on Friday in his first call with his new Israeli counterpart Israel Katz, the Pentagon said.
Katz was sworn in before parliament the previous day, after his predecessor’s shock dismissal by the prime minister over a breakdown in trust during the war in Gaza — a conflict that began with a devastating Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
Austin “held an introductory call today with the new Israeli minister of defense, Israel Katz, and congratulated him on his recent appointment,” Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder said in a statement.
He told Katz that Washington is committed to a deal that allows Lebanese and Israeli citizens displaced by more than a year of cross-border violence to return to their homes, as well as to the return of hostages seized by Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ryder said.
The US defense chief also discussed “the need to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza,” after he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israel in a letter earlier this month that it needed to allow more aid into the small war-wracked coastal territory.


Palestinian leader tells Trump ready to work for Gaza peace

Mahmud Abbas told Donald Trump he was ready to work toward a “just and comprehensive peace” in Gaza. (Reuters)
Mahmud Abbas told Donald Trump he was ready to work toward a “just and comprehensive peace” in Gaza. (Reuters)
Updated 56 min 21 sec ago
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Palestinian leader tells Trump ready to work for Gaza peace

Mahmud Abbas told Donald Trump he was ready to work toward a “just and comprehensive peace” in Gaza. (Reuters)

RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas expressed readiness to work toward a “just and comprehensive peace” in Gaza during a phone call with US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, his office said.
Trump’s victory came with the Middle East in turmoil after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, triggered by the unprecedented attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Congratulating Trump on his victory, Abbas expressed “readiness to work with President Trump to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on international legitimacy,” his office said in a statement.
It said that Trump also assured Abbas that he will work to end the war.
“President Trump stressed that he will work to stop the war, and his readiness to work with president Abbas and the concerned parties in the region and the world to make peace in the region.”
While Trump struck a note of peace during his campaign, he also touted his status as Israel’s strongest ally, even going so far as to promise Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he would “finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.


Lebanon says three dead in Israel strikes on Tyre

Lebanon says three dead in Israel strikes on Tyre
Updated 5 min 31 sec ago
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Lebanon says three dead in Israel strikes on Tyre

Lebanon says three dead in Israel strikes on Tyre
  • The strikes targeted three buildings in the city
  • Israel had issued no evacuation warning ahead of the strikes

BEIRUT: The Lebanese health ministry said at least three people were killed and 30 others wounded on Friday in Israeli strikes on the southern city of Tyre.
The official National News Agency said the strikes targeted three buildings in the city and caused heavy damage to neighboring apartment blocks.
It said Israel had issued no evacuation warning ahead of the strikes.
Israel has been at war with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah since late September, when it broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war continues.
Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel in support of Hamas following its Palestinian ally’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.