Lebanon PM-designate Nawaf Salam faces complex consultations to form government

0 seconds of 45 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:45
00:45
 
Short Url
Updated 13 January 2025
Follow

Lebanon PM-designate Nawaf Salam faces complex consultations to form government

Lebanon PM-designate Nawaf Salam faces complex consultations to form government
  • US military delegation meets President Aoun as Israel escalates attacks
  • Arab League chief says in Beirut: ‘Completing the pillars of the state allows Lebanon a new start’

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun on Monday summoned Nawaf Salam, the Lebanese president of the International Court of Justice, to designate him as prime minister.

The prime minister-designate now faces complex consultations to form his government, determining whether it will be a consensus-based, technocratic or partisan Cabinet.

Salam, 72, secured the majority of votes from MPs and parliamentary blocs that nominated him to assume the premiership in the binding parliamentary consultations conducted by President Aoun on Monday.

Salam also previously served as Lebanon’s permanent representative to the UN in New York.

Salam may insist on forming a government that aligns with the changes in Lebanon and the region in recent months, especially following the significant blow Hezbollah suffered during the Israeli war on Lebanon and developments in neighboring countries.

He hails from a distinguished Beirut family, with two members who previously served as Lebanon’s prime ministers — Saeb Salam, a keystone of independence, and his son, Tammam Salam.

This is the fifth time Salam’s name has been suggested for the premiership.

On Monday, the competition for the premiership was limited to two candidates: Salam and the current caretaker prime minister.

Independent MP Fouad Makhzoumi and Change MP Ibrahim Mneimneh withdrew their candidacy this morning in favor of Salam.

MPs and parliamentary blocs continued to meet President Aoun at Baabda Palace, where the balance tipped in Salam’s favor in the first round of consultations.

In the second round of consultations, major blocs, including the Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc headed by Taymour Jumblatt, continued to nominate Salam.

The Lebanese Forces bloc, which affirmed its support for the inaugural speech and called for its transformation into a ministerial statement, also nominated Salam, in addition to the Free Patriotic Movement bloc, the Kataeb party’s bloc, the Moderation bloc, and the majority of independent and Change MPs.

Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, have consistently opposed the nomination of Salam.

His name was first proposed following the widespread protests that erupted after the collapse of the Lebanese pound on Oct. 17, 2019, which led to the resignation of Saad Hariri’s government.

Salam’s name re-emerged as a potential candidate for the premiership after the Beirut port explosion and the resurgence of public protests in 2020.

Following the parliamentary elections in 2022, Nawaf Salam again emerged as a potential candidate for the position of prime minister.

His name was mentioned as the term of former President Michel Aoun drew to a close between 2022 and 2023.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab said: “With the election of the president of the republic, we have entered a new phase and hope after the end of a long vacuum that was painful for Lebanon.

“It remains essential for us, as Lebanese, to reach an agreement to turn a new page, and it is now our responsibility to learn how to communicate effectively,” Bou Saab said.

The promises made to President Aoun by “our brothers in Saudi Arabia, along with the announcement from the UAE that it will soon reopen its embassy in Lebanon, are positive signals,” he said.

The parliamentary consultations took place during a visit by a US military delegation to Lebanon, which met President Joseph Aoun.

The delegation comprised Gen. Michael Kurilla, commander of the US Central Command; Gen. Jasper Jeffers, head of the monitoring committee overseeing the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon; Lisa Johnson, US ambassador to Lebanon; and several officers.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who arrived in Beirut, held talks with both caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri.

Aboul Gheit expressed his hope in a statement that “there would be agreement on a prime minister in Lebanon, and that the pillars of the Lebanese state are completed so that Lebanon would be prepared for a new beginning to settle and to resolve many of the problems that have hindered it for years.”

In parallel with these developments, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that “a high-level Emirati delegation is in Beirut to make arrangements for the reopening of the UAE Embassy in Beirut.”

This initiative “is in response to the directives of President Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, following a phone call he had with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.”

The UAE Foreign Ministry said that “reopening the embassy reflects the historical fraternal relations between the two countries and peoples.”

It stressed “the UAE’s firm position toward Lebanon’s unity, national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and its support for the brotherly Lebanese people.”

The ministry said that “reopening the embassy comes as part of the UAE’s keenness to support stability and development efforts in Lebanon, and the state’s deep commitment to helping the Lebanese people and providing them with all forms of support.”

Also on Monday, Israeli forces carried out an incursion into southern Lebanon and swept the neighborhoods of the towns of Mays Al-Jabal and Hula.

They also blew up and destroyed homes in the town of Aita Al-Shaab, in the Bint Jbeil district.

Meanwhile, Lebanese civil defense teams, accompanied by the Lebanese army and UNIFIL forces, were recovering the bodies of Hezbollah fighters from towns in the western sector.

On Sunday night, Israeli army airstrikes targeted southern Lebanon and a border crossing in Hermel, near the Syrian border.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said that “the air force hit Hezbollah targets after the threat they posed to the Israeli homefront and the army was presented to the monitoring mechanism of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon, but was not addressed.”

Adraee also said that “among the targets struck were a rocket-launcher site, a military site, and routes along the Syria-Lebanon border used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.”

He said that the Israeli forces “continue to act to remove any threat to Israel and prevent any attempt by Hezbollah to reposition or rebuild its forces, under the ceasefire understandings.”

 


Lebanon says Israeli fire kills one as residents try to go home

Lebanon says Israeli fire kills one as residents try to go home
Updated 2 sec ago
Follow

Lebanon says Israeli fire kills one as residents try to go home

Lebanon says Israeli fire kills one as residents try to go home
BURJ AL-MULUK: Lebanon’s heath ministry said Israeli fire killed one person Monday and wounded seven others in the south, in a second day of violence as residents tried again to return to border villages.
The bloodshed, which one analyst said was unlikely to re-spark war, came hours after the extension of a deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from south Lebanon under a November ceasefire deal.
The ministry said Israeli fire killed 24 returnees on Sunday.
“Israeli enemy attacks as citizens attempt to return to their towns that are still occupied have led... to one dead and seven wounded,” the health ministry said Monday in a statement.
It reported one dead and two wounded in the border town of Adaysseh, with others wounded in Bani Hayyan, including a child, as well as in Yarun and Hula.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said earlier Monday that Lebanon had agreed to an extension of the ceasefire deal between Hezbollah and Israel until February 18, after the Israeli military missed Sunday’s deadline to withdraw.
In south Lebanon, residents accompanied by the army were again trying to return to their villages, official media and AFP correspondents reported.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem is scheduled to deliver a televised address at 6:30 p.m. (1630 GMT).
In the village of Burj Al-Muluk, an AFP photographer saw dozens of men, women and children gathering in the morning behind a dirt barrier, some holding yellow Hezbollah flags, hoping to reach the border town of Kfar Kila, where the Israeli military is still deployed.
In the city of Bint Jbeil, an access point for many border villages, Hezbollah supporters were distributing sweets, water and images of former chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in September.
Others handed out stickers celebrating the “victory from God” as women held pictures of slain Hezbollah fighters.
“They think they are scaring us with their bullets, but we lived under the bombing and bullets don’t scare us,” said Mona Bazzi in Bint Jbeil.
The official National News Agency (NNA) said that Lebanese “army reinforcements” had arrived near the border town of Mais Al-Jabal, where people had started to gather at “the entrance of the town” in preparation for entering alongside the military.
It said the Israeli army had “opened fire in the direction of the Lebanese army” near the town, without reporting casualties there.
“We waited in a long line for hours, but couldn’t enter,” said Mohammed Choukeir, 33, from Mais Al-Jabal, adding that Israeli troops “were opening fire from time to time on civilians gathered at the entrance of the town.”
In nearby Hula, where the health ministry reported two wounded, the NNA said residents entered “after the deployment of the army in several neighborhoods.”
Under the ceasefire deal that took effect on November 27, the Lebanese military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period, which ended on Sunday.
Hezbollah was also to pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border.
Both sides have traded blame for delays in implementing the deal, which came after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war.
Lebanon’s army said Sunday that it had entered several border areas including Dhayra, Maroun Al-Ras and Aita Al-Shaab.
An AFP photographer in Aita Al-Shaab on Monday saw widespread destruction, with newly returned families among the ruins of their homes, as bulldozers worked to open roads and rescue teams searched for any bodies leftover from the conflict.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee on Monday called again for south Lebanon residents to “wait” before returning.
Hilal Khashan, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said he did not expect a return to major violence.
“Hezbollah no longer wants any further confrontation with Israel, its goal is to protect its achievements in Lebanon,” he told AFP.
The health ministry said Monday that Israeli fire killed 24 people who were trying to return to their villages the previous day, updating an earlier toll of 22 dead.
The Israeli military had said soldiers “fired warning shots to remove threats” where “suspects were identified approaching the troops.”
The Lebanese army said Sunday it would “continue to accompany residents” returning to the south and “protect them from Israeli attacks.”

19 arrested after Turkiye hotel inferno disaster

19 arrested after Turkiye hotel inferno disaster
Updated 27 January 2025
Follow

19 arrested after Turkiye hotel inferno disaster

19 arrested after Turkiye hotel inferno disaster

ANKARA: Turkish authorities have arrested 19 people as part of an investigation into a fire at a ski resort hotel that killed 78 people, Anadolu state news agency reported Monday.
Those detained include a deputy mayor for the town responsible for the Kartalkaya resort, a deputy fire chief and the head of another establishment belonging to the hotel owner, the agency said.
The investigation into the January 21 disaster has focused on the hotel management and the actions of the emergency services and authorities in the town of Bolu.
On Friday, the owner of the Grand Karta hotel, his son-in-law, the hotel’s chief electrician and its head chef were arrested.
Survivors and experts have highlighted the absence of fire alarms and sprinklers, working smoke detectors and proper fire escape routes at the 12-story building that overlooked the ski slopes.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya has said 238 people were staying in the Grand Karta hotel when the inferno tore through the building in the middle of the night.


Palestinians return to north Gaza after breakthrough on hostages

Palestinians return to north Gaza after breakthrough on hostages
Updated 27 January 2025
Follow

Palestinians return to north Gaza after breakthrough on hostages

Palestinians return to north Gaza after breakthrough on hostages
  • Israel and Hamas said they had reached a deal for the release of another six hostages
  • Crowds began making their way north along a coastal road on foot Monday morning

NUSEIRAT, Palestinian Territories: Masses of displaced Palestinians began streaming toward the north of the war-battered Gaza Strip on Monday after Israel and Hamas said they had reached a deal for the release of another six hostages.

The breakthrough preserves a fragile ceasefire and paves the way for more hostage-prisoner swaps under an agreement aimed at ending the more than 15-month conflict, which has devastated the Gaza Strip and displaced nearly all its residents.

Israel had been preventing Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the terms of the truce, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late Sunday they would be allowed to pass after the new deal was reached.

Crowds began making their way north along a coastal road on foot Monday morning, carrying what belongings they could, AFPTV images showed.

“It’s a great feeling when you go back home, back to your family, relatives and loved ones, and inspect your house — if it is still a house,” displaced Gazan Ibrahim Abu Hassera said.

Hamas called the return “a victory” for Palestinians that “signals the failure and defeat of the plans for occupation and displacement.”

Its ally Islamic Jihad, meanwhile, called it a “response to all those who dream of displacing our people.”

The comments came after US President Donald Trump floated an idea to “clean out” Gaza and resettle Palestinians in Jordan and Egypt, drawing condemnation from regional leaders.

President Mahmud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, issued a “strong rejection and condemnation of any projects” aimed at displacing Palestinians from Gaza, his office said.

Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said that Palestinians would “foil such projects,” as they have done to similar plans “for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades.”

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba,” or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.

“We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens,” said displaced Gaza resident Rashad Al-Naji.

Trump had floated the idea to reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One: “You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing.”

Moving Gaza’s roughly 2.4 million inhabitants could be done “temporarily or could be long term,” he said.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — who opposed the truce deal and has voiced support for re-establishing Israeli settlements in Gaza — called Trump’s suggestion of “a great idea.”

The Arab League rejected the idea, warning against “attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land,” saying their forced displacement could “only be called ethnic cleansing.”

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said “our rejection of the displacement of Palestinians is firm and will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians.”

Egypt’s foreign ministry said it rejected any infringement of Palestinians’ “inalienable rights.”

Israel had said it would prevent Palestinians’ passage to the north until the release of Arbel Yehud, a civilian woman hostage who it maintained should have been freed on Saturday.

But Netanyahu’s office later said a deal had been reached for the release of three hostages on Thursday, including Yehud, as well as another three on Saturday.

Hamas confirmed the agreement in its own statement Monday.

During the first phase of the Gaza truce, 33 hostages are supposed to be freed in staggered releases over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held by the Israelis.

The most recent swap saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, and 200 prisoners, nearly all Palestinian, released Saturday in the second such exchange during the fragile truce entering its second week.

“We want the agreement to continue and for them to bring our children back as quickly as possible — and all at once,” said Dani Miran, whose hostage son Omri is not slated for release during the first phase.

The truce has brought a surge of food, fuel, medicines and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, but the UN says “the humanitarian situation remains dire.”

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war, 87 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,306 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.


EU to agree easing Syria sanctions

EU to agree easing Syria sanctions
Updated 27 January 2025
Follow

EU to agree easing Syria sanctions

EU to agree easing Syria sanctions
  • Europe is keen to help the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country and build bridges with its new leadership
  • But some EU countries worry about moving too fast to embrace the new Islamist-led rulers in Damascus

BRUSSELS: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she expected the bloc to agree Monday to begin easing sanctions on Syria after the ouster of Bashar Assad.
“It is a step for step approach,” Kallas said at the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels to discuss the move.
Europe is keen to help the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country and build bridges with its new leadership after the end of the Assad family’s five-decade rule.
But some EU countries worry about moving too fast to embrace the new Islamist-led rulers in Damascus.
The 27-nation EU imposed wide-ranging sanctions on the Assad government and Syria’s economy during its civil war.
Brussels says it is now willing to ease sanctions on the expectation the new authorities make good on commitments to form an inclusive transition.
“If they are doing the right steps, then we are willing to do the steps on our behalf as well,” Kallas said.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the EU could start by suspending sanctions on the energy, transport and banking sectors.
Diplomats say the EU will only suspend the sanctions and not lift them definitively to maintain leverage over the Syrian leadership.
Syria’s new de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, and the Islamist group he led Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, remain under EU sanctions.
Diplomats said there was still no discussion about lifting those designations, as with others on the Assad regime.


Deal reached to release more Israeli hostages and allow Palestinians into north Gaza

Deal reached to release more Israeli hostages and allow Palestinians into north Gaza
Updated 27 January 2025
Follow

Deal reached to release more Israeli hostages and allow Palestinians into north Gaza

Deal reached to release more Israeli hostages and allow Palestinians into north Gaza
  • Netanyahu’s office says another six hostages to be released in coming week after talks with Hamas
  • Israel confirms Qatar’s announcement, says Gazans can now return home from 7 a.m. Monday

DOHA/JERUSALEM/GAZA CITY: Mediator Qatar announced early Monday that an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, easing the first major crisis of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Qatar’s statement said Hamas will hand over the civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, along with two other hostages before Friday. And on Monday, Israeli authorities will allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement said the hostage release — which will include soldier Agam Berger — will take place on Thursday, and confirmed that Palestinians can move north on Monday. Israel’s military said people can start crossing on foot at 7 a.m.

Under the ceasefire deal, Israel on Saturday was to begin allowing Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza. But Israel put that on hold because of Yehoud, who Israel said should have been released on Saturday. Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement.

Netanyahu's office said that another six hostages would be released in the coming week, after talks with Hamas. Three would be released on Thursday and another three on Saturday, said a statement from his office.

The breakthrough preserves a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, which has devastated the Gaza Strip and displaced nearly all its residents, paving the way for more hostage-prisoner swaps under a deal aimed at ending the more than 15-month conflict.

Israel had been preventing vast crowds of Palestinians from using a coastal road to return to northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the truce agreement by failing to release civilian women hostages.

“Hamas has backtracked and will carry out an additional phase of releasing hostages this Thursday,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Trump’s plan meets mixed reactions

Palestinian leaders meanwhile slammed a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to “clean out” Gaza, vowing to resist any effort to forcibly displace residents of the war-battered territory.

Trump said Gaza had become a “demolition site,” adding he had spoken to Jordan’s King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out.

“I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump told reporters.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, who is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, “expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects” aimed at displacing Palestinians from Gaza, his office said.

Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, told AFP that Palestinians would “foil such projects,” as they have done to similar plans “for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades.”

Islamic Jihad, which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, called Trump’s idea “deplorable.”

For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba,” or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.

“We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens,” said displaced Gaza resident Rashad Al-Naji.

Trump floated the idea to reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One: “You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing.”

Moving Gaza’s roughly 2.4 million inhabitants could be done “temporarily or could be long term,” he said.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — who opposed the truce deal and has voiced support for re-establishing Israeli settlements in Gaza — called Trump’s suggestion of “a great idea.”

Tantamount to ‘ethnic cleansing’

The Arab League rejected the idea, warning against “attempts to uproot the Palestinian people from their land.”

“The forced displacement and eviction of people from their land can only be called ethnic cleansing,” the league said in a statement.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said “our rejection of the displacement of Palestinians is firm and will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians.”

Egypt’s foreign ministry said it rejected any infringement of Palestinians’ “inalienable rights.”

In Gaza, cars and carts loaded with belongings jammed a road near the Netzarim Corridor that Israel has blocked, preventing the expected return of hundreds of thousands of people to northern Gaza.

Israel had said it would prevent Palestinians’ passage until the release of Arbel Yehud, a civilian woman hostage. She is among those slated for return on Thursday, according to Netanyahu’s office.

Hamas said that blocking returns to the north also amounted to a truce violation, adding it had provided “all the necessary guarantees” for Yehud’s release.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said Monday that residents would be allowed to return on foot starting at 07 a.m. (0500 GMT) and by car at 9 a.m.

Staggered releases

During the first phase of the Gaza truce, 33 hostages are supposed to be freed in staggered releases over six weeks in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The most recent swap saw four Israeli women hostages, all soldiers, and 200 prisoners, nearly all Palestinian, released Saturday — the second such exchange during the fragile truce entering its second week.

Dani Miran, whose hostage son Omri is not slated for release during the first phase, demonstrated outside Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem on Sunday.

“We want the agreement to continue and for them to bring our children back as quickly as possible — and all at once,” he said.

The truce has brought a surge of food, fuel, medicines and other aid into rubble-strewn Gaza, but the UN says “the humanitarian situation remains dire.”

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war, 87 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,306 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.