UN condemns Israeli airstrikes in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya
UN condemns Israeli airstrikes in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya/node/2576017/middle-east
UN condemns Israeli airstrikes in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya
Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. (Reuters)
UN condemns Israeli airstrikes in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya
Total of 87 people were killed or missing under the rubble after an Israeli attack on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, the enclave’s health ministry said Sunday
Updated 6 sec ago
Reuters
JERUSALEM: The UN peace envoy for the Middle East on Sunday condemned continued attacks on civilians after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya killed dozens late on Saturday.
“This follows weeks of intensified operations resulting in scores of civilian fatalities and near total lack of humanitarian aid reaching populations in the north,” said Tor Wennesland, the UN Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.
Israel’s military said it intensified attacks in northern Gaza in early October to prevent Hamas militants from regrouping.
A total of 87 people were killed or missing under the rubble after an Israeli attack on Saturday on Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, the enclave’s health ministry said on Sunday.
The Israeli military has said it was investigating reports of the incident, which left one of the highest casualty tolls in months.
Gaza’s health ministry says the strikes have killed hundreds since the Israeli campaign escalated.
Lebanese army says 3 soldiers killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon
Lebanon’s army has largely kept the sidelines in the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group
The military is a respected institution in Lebanon but is not powerful enough to impose its will on Hezbollah or defend the country from an Israeli invasion
Updated 20 October 2024
AP
DEIR AL-BALAH: The Lebanese army says three of its soldiers were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicle in southern Lebanon.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Sunday’s strike.
Lebanon’s army has largely kept the sidelines in the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. The military is a respected institution in Lebanon but is not powerful enough to impose its will on Hezbollah or defend the country from an Israeli invasion.
‘Hezbollah has been weakened, but it’s not game over,’ Middle East analyst tells Arab News
Middle East Institute Senior Fellow Firas Maksad says Lebanese militia wagered nation’s fate on Gaza war’s outcome
Says ongoing Israel-Hezbollah war’s domestic toll on a country still suffering from a financial collapse is “tremendous”
Updated 20 October 2024
Arab News
DUBAI: Lebanon is heading for an extended conflict as Israel’s ground invasion enters its fourth week, raising concerns of deeper regional instability.
Sounding this warning on the Arab News current affairs show “Frankly Speaking,” Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said the fighting could last far longer than initially anticipated.
“Unfortunately, we are looking at weeks, maybe months, of conflict ahead,” he said.
The clashes between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah have destabilized a country already grappling with economic collapse and political dysfunction. Maksad highlighted the dire humanitarian situation, pointing to the more than one million internally displaced people who have fled from Hezbollah-controlled areas in southern Lebanon.
“About one-quarter of the population is under evacuation orders from the Israeli military,” he said. “The domestic toll for a relatively weak country suffering still from the weight of an unprecedented economic collapse in 2019, where most people lost their life savings in the banks, is tremendous.”
Israel sent troops and tanks into southern Lebanon on Oct. 1 in an escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, a spillover from the Israel-Hamas war that has been raging since Oct. 7 last year in Gaza. It followed a series of major attacks on Hezbollah in September that degraded its capabilities and devastated its leadership, beginning with explosions of its communication devices.
This was followed by an Israeli aerial bombing campaign against Hezbollah throughout Lebanon, culminating in the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the militia’s firebrand leader, in an airstrike in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut, on Sept. 7.
Maksad said the displacement has heightened sectarian tensions, as those displaced from pro-Hezbollah areas have moved into regions less sympathetic to the group.
Maksad, appearing on Frankly Speaking, highlighted a dire humanitarian situation, pointing to the more than one million internally displaced people who have fled from Hezbollah-controlled areas in southern Lebanon. (AN Photo)
It does not bode well longer term for Lebanon, and the longer that this conflict drags, the more we have to (be concerned) about the bubbling of tensions and the instability that that might result in,” he said.
“Hezbollah has essentially wagered the country’s fate on (the outcome of the war) in Gaza and the fate of Hamas and its leaders,” he told Katie Jensen, the host of “Frankly Speaking.”
Despite suffering heavy losses, particularly among its leadership, Hezbollah is far from defeated. “It’s certainly not game over. Hezbollah has been significantly weakened. It’s on its back foot” Maksad said. “Hezbollah is fighting in a more decentralized way right now. We see that on the border. Their fighters are still … putting up a fight there.”
However, according to Maksad, Hezbollah’s fragmented central command has left it increasingly reliant on Iranian support. “Hezbollah’s central command is increasingly likely to come under direct Iranian management and control of the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards,” he said.
“Nasrallah had a margin of maneuver because of his role and stature in the community but also at a regional level, given the group’s involvement in Syria, Iraq, Yemen. That’s now gone. That very much then opens the way for more direct Iranian control, commanding control of Hezbollah in the months ahead.”
Maksad said the general sentiment in Lebanon, and even among Hezbollah’s own support base, is that the Iranian level of support has been at the very least disappointing.
“Public sentiment is one thing and the reality is sometimes another. Iran has sort of always showed some level of support to Hezbollah but has not been willing to stick its neck on the line, so to speak,” he said. “It fights through its Arab proxies. It has a very clear aversion to be directly involved in a conflict with Israel because of its technological and military inferiority.”
Maksad also discussed the broader geopolitical implications of the conflict, suggesting that Israel is unlikely to engage in a long-term occupation of southern Lebanon.
“The Israelis fully understand the disadvantages of a lengthy occupation,” he said, recalling the heavy toll it took on the Israeli military when they last occupied Lebanon, a presence that ended in 2000.
Maksad told host Katie Jensen that he views Nabih Berri, the Shiite speaker of Lebanon’s parliament, as a crucial player in mediating the crisis. (AN Photo)
“What I keep hearing is that Israel is looking to mop up Hezbollah infrastructure, tunnels and otherwise along the border, perhaps maybe even occupy, for a short period of time, the key villages, because the topography of south Lebanon is such that so many of these border villages are overlooking Israel and they want to take the higher ground.”
Having said that, Maksad predicted that Israel would pursue a diplomatic process, possibly through a new security arrangement based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, after dealing with Hezbollah’s infrastructure.
Hezbollah’s alignment with the cause of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups has alienated significant segments of the Lebanese population, further straining the country’s already delicate sectarian fabric. The political leadership in Lebanon is consequently under immense pressure.
Maksad views Nabih Berri, the Shiite speaker of Lebanon’s parliament, as a crucial player in mediating the crisis. However, at 86 years old, his ability to navigate such a complex situation is in question.
“He can’t do it alone,” Maksad said, noting that other key figures, such as Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Christian political leader Samir Geagea, will need to play constructive roles too. While acknowledging that Najib Mikati, the caretaker prime minister, is also a key player, he noted that since the assassination in 2005 of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister, “there’s been a void in the Sunni community and it’s been hard to replace that.”
Maksad remarked that Berri, Jumblatt and Geagea were all around during the civil war in the 1980s and are still active players on the Lebanese political scene.
“They have long memories. They remember in 1982 when (Israel’s defense minister) Ariel Sharon initially announced a limited operation into Lebanon and then ended up invading all the way to Beirut, upending the political system, facilitating the election of a pro-Western president,” he said.
But very quickly Iran and Syria launched their comeback, assassinated Bachir Gemayel, the president at the time, and by 1985 had pushed the Israelis all the way back to the south.
“Iran and Hezbollah have time … they tend to be persistent and they have strategic patience,” Maksad said. “Berri and others remember that. So, they’re going to be moving very slowly, and they’re going to be taking their cues from the regional capitals of influence.”
Iran’s meddling drew a rare rebuke from Lebanon last week, as Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused it of “blatant interference” over remarks attributed to a Tehran official regarding ceasefire terms
Hezbollah is considered better armed than Lebanon’s national military and remains the only group that did not put down its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war
Updated 20 October 2024
AFP
Beirut: With Iran-backed Hezbollah on the defensive after a series of heavy Israeli blows, the United States and Iran are locked in a showdown over Lebanon’s future, analysts said.
Hezbollah, the most powerful regional force backed by Iran, which arms and finances it, has long held sway in Lebanon.
But the group’s influence is now in question after Israel’s assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a significant setback.
Hezbollah’s losses have left Lebanon in a “tug of war between Iran and the United States,” said Michael Young of the Carnegie Middle East Center think tank.
“The Israelis with the Americans... are trying to use military force to try to transform the balance of power in Lebanon to their advantage,” he told AFP.
“There are no signs that the Iranians are going to accept this without a fight.”
Hezbollah is considered better armed than Lebanon’s national military and remains the only group that did not put down its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war.
Last year, it opened a new front with Israel over the conflict in Gaza, in support of its ally Hamas.
It carefully calibrated attacks to avoid a full-blown conflict, which eventually came on September 23 when Israel stepped up bombing of Hezbollah strongholds, including south Beirut.
The United States has pushed for ceasefire, but has also expressed support for Israeli attempts to “degrade Hezbollah’s infrastructure.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this month that “it’s clear that the people of Lebanon have an interest — a strong interest — in the state asserting itself and taking responsibility for the country and its future.”
Kim Ghattas, the author of “Black Wave,” a book on the Saudi-Iran rivalry, said: “Lebanon is caught between Iran and Hezbollah on the one hand, and Israel and the US on the other.”
But “Washington’s vision doesn’t necessarily align with Israel’s in terms of war goals and tactics,” she said.
“The US would certainly like to see a weakening of Hezbollah, maybe even the disarming of the group, but it is wary of Israel going too far with the military campaign.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon it could face destruction “like Gaza” as Israel vowed to keep fighting Hezbollah until it secures its northern border.
“I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end,” Netanyahu said on October 8.
Iran, for its part, “wants to preserve what’s left of its assets in Lebanon and ensure the survival of the regime,” Ghattas said, referring to the Islamic republic.
“It needs to walk a fine line between continuing to support Hezbollah... while signalling it is ready for diplomacy.”
Iran’s meddling drew a rare rebuke from Lebanon last week, as Prime Minister Najib Mikati accused it of “blatant interference” over remarks attributed to a Tehran official regarding ceasefire terms.
Mikati charged that Iran had attempted “to establish an unacceptable guardianship over Lebanon,” after Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf reportedly told France’s Le Figaro newspaper that his government was ready to negotiate on the implementation of a 2006 UN resolution that calls for only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers to be deployed in southern Lebanon.
As the Israel-Hezbollah war nears its one-month mark, calls have mounted for Lebanon to elect a president after a two-year void due to political deadlock.
The last president, Michel Aoun, was a Hezbollah ally, making the vote a test for the country’s political trends.
In an interview with AFP, Mikati said serious efforts were underway to elect a president, in line with calls from the United States and other Western allies.
Political leaders in Lebanon too have made careful appeals for a new president, trying to avoid impressions they were leveraging Hezbollah’s setbacks for political gain.
“The Lebanese parties hostile to Hezbollah understand that the situation is very delicate,” said Young.
“They don’t want to provoke the Shiite community, which already feels humiliated and angry and isolated and let’s remember, is armed,” he added.
While suspicion between sects has grown since the Israeli-Hezbollah war forced displaced Shiite communities into Christian-majority areas, many are wary of a repeat of the country’s 15-year war.
The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 also recalls bitter memories for Lebanese and ultimately led to the creation of Hezbollah, one of Israel’s most formidable foes.
“It seems that politicians in Lebanon have learned lessons of the past, but the longer this current limbo and war lasts, the harder it will be to keep tensions under control,” said Ghattas.
'Everything is lost' says father, as Senegal repatriates citizens escaping Lebanon
Hachem’s daughter Mariam, 11, who had suffered a broken foot, was among 117 Senegalese flown to Dakar on a government-organized flight
Updated 20 October 2024
Reuters
DAKAR: Hussein Hachem hugged his injured daughter as she arrived in Senegal on a flight repatriating citizens escaping the escalating conflict in Lebanon. His 14-year-old son was not with her — killed, he said, when their home was bombed.
As Israeli forces pounded southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs in a broadening offensive against Hezbollah, Hachem’s daughter Mariam, 11, who had suffered a broken foot, was among 117 Senegalese flown to Dakar on a government-organized flight.
“I lost everything. I lost my son. I lost my house. All my dreams,” he said, speaking amid emotional scenes outside the Leopold Sedar Senghor International Airport, where families were reunited with loved ones late on Saturday.
“We have a 14-and-a-half-year-old son who just disappeared like that. Ten minutes before, I was talking to him. ‘Hello?’ He said, ‘Dad, you’re going to come get me?’ I told him ‘yes’ ... Ten minutes later, they called me: ‘there’s no more house, no more son’.”
Senegal has a significant Lebanese diaspora community, and has historical ties to both Lebanon and Palestine.
“The Senegalese government, of course, is condemning the Israeli army’s bombardment in Lebanon, the bombardment of civilians... the destruction of infrastructure,” the country’s foreign minister, Yassine Fall, said in an interview with Reuters on Saturday evening.
She said there had been about 1,000 Senegalese nationals in Lebanon but that some had left by their own means before the repatriation flight.
Fall also highlighted her country’s longstanding relationship with the Palestinian people, dating back to 1975 when Senegal chaired the United Nations Committee for the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.
“We are very, very disappointed to see the world watching a genocide happen under our eyes, children being killed, children being shot in the head, hospitals being bombarded, sick people not being able to be evacuated, people in refugee camps that are not fighting, that are civilians, being maimed and killed,” she said in reference to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“So Senegal, with other countries, we are really side by side condemning this and calling it what it is: it is a genocide.”
Israel has strongly rejected accusations of genocide, including in a case brought by South Africa at the World Court.
It says it is acting in self-defense after an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian Hamas militants. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people with about 250 also taken as hostage, according to Israeli tallies, and triggered a conflict that has since spread from Gaza to Lebanon.
Earlier on Saturday, demonstrators marched through Dakar to protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon and call for a ceasefire in the widening Middle East conflict. (Reporting by Portia Crowe and Ngouda Dione; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Jordanian FM arrives in Syrian capital to meet Assad
Updated 20 October 2024
Arab News
DUBAI: Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi arrived in Damascus on Sunday to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Petra News Agency reported.
During the official visit, Safadi will also hold talks with his Syrian counterpart Bassam Sabbagh.
