https://arab.news/59gcr
BEIRUT: Lebanon will hold a parliamentary session to elect a new president as soon as a ceasefire in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel takes hold, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday after talks with the house speaker.
PARIS — France has delivered 12 tons of medical aid to Lebanon, including two mobile clinics that will be able to treat 1,000 seriously injured people currently in hospitals’ emergency wards across the country, according to a statement from the French Foreign Ministry on Monday.
French military aircraft also delivered critical supplies of medicine to Lebanese emergency, pediatric and general hospitals and clinics, which have been overwhelmed with thousands of injured people since Israel’s bombardment of the country began over a week ago.
During his visit to Beirut on Monday, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that Paris is also releasing 10 million euros ($11.1 million) in emergency humanitarian aid to support the work of local humanitarian organizations, particularly the Lebanese Red Cross.
“In the face of the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, France stands by Lebanon and remains committed to protecting civilians,” the statement said.
Barrot is scheduled to meet with Lebanese leaders on Monday, including with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Army chief Joseph Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone over the country, with videos purportedly showing a surface-to-air missile striking it. The U.S. military did not immediately acknowledge losing any aircraft.
The claimed attack comes as the one-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip approaches. The Houthis have targeted ships traveling through the Red Sea over the war as U.S.-led airstrikes pound their positions in Yemen. That’s imperiled a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion of trade pass through it, as well as crucial shipments of aid to war-torn Sudan and Yemen.
The Houthis also continue to launch missiles targeting Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes from the Israelis this weekend on the port city of Hodeida.
The Houthi-run broadcaster Al-Masirah claimed shooting down the MQ-9, hours after video footage circulated online showing the purported missile striking the aircraft over Yemen’s Saada province. A single image online also appeared to show wreckage of the drone, with pieces resembling that of an MQ-9.
ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates has condemned an attack which targeted the residence of the UAE Head of Mission in Khartoum by a Sudanese army aircraft, which resulted in extensive damage to the building.
In a statement, the ministry of foreign affairs affirmed that it would submit a formal letter to the League of Arab States, the African Union and the UN reporting the attack.
The UAE stressed the importance of protecting diplomatic buildings and embassy staff residences, in accordance with the treaties and customs that regulate diplomatic relations.
“The UAE has called on the army to assume full responsibility for this cowardly act,” it added, describing it as a “flagrant violation of the fundamental principle of the inviolability of diplomatic premises.”
Sudan’s army denied carrying out the attack, insisting it does not target diplomatic missions.
The Sudanese army responded that it “condemns and denies the accusation” by the UAE, adding that “it does not target the headquarters of diplomatic missions, United Nations agencies or voluntary organizations and does not turn them into military bases and loot their assets.”
“The one that carries out these heinous and cowardly actions is the terrorist, rebel militia (RSF)... supported in committing all this by countries known to the world,” a statement said.
According to eyewitnesses in Khartoum, heavy clashes have raged in several parts of the capital for the past four days, in a major flare-up of hostilities.
At least 12 people died, including three infants, and 10 others were missing after their boat sank on Monday off the Tunisian coast at Djerba as they sought to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, an official and local rights group told Reuters.
The coast guard rescued 29 people who had been on board the crowded boat, the official said.
TEHRAN: At least three policemen were killed in separate attacks by militants and gunmen in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, state media reported Monday.
One of Iran’s poorest regions, Sistan-Baluchistan on the border with Pakistan has long been plagued by unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and Sunni extremists.
“A border guard was killed a few hours ago in a clash with gunmen in Hirmand in Sistan-Baluchistan province,” the official IRNA news agency reported.
A separate attack on law enforcement in the same region Monday left another border guard killed and two others wounded, IRNA said.
The news agency also reported that a member of the police special force was killed in the town of Khash, also in Sistan-Baluchistan.
The Pakistan-based Sunni jihadist group Jaish Al-Adl (Army of Justice in Arabic) claimed responsibility for the last two attacks in a message on Telegram.
The group has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent months, including a Sunday raid that killed a policeman in the same region.
