BEIRUT: The UN Security Council’s decision on Wednesday to extend the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by another year “didn’t include any substantial modification to the mandate, as Washington had originally demanded,” a Lebanese official working with UNIFIL told Arab News.
But the resolution extending the mandate “asked UNIFIL to identify the areas it can’t enter and inform the UN,” the official said. The resolution asks the UN secretary-general “to look at ways to… increase UNIFIL’s visible presence, including through patrols and inspections, within its existing mandate and capabilities.”
A modification to the mandate demands that UNIFIL inform the Lebanese Army of any suspicious activities so the latter can investigate, the official said.
“If the suspicion concerns a public place, the army can enter and search it, but if it concerns a private place, it needs to seek the public prosecutor’s permission, which could take some time,” he added.
The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, welcomed the new UNIFIL mandate and considered it “stronger than before.”
She said: “Conditions in south Lebanon are very dangerous today, and the clouds of war are gathering… The resolution demands that UNIFIL double its efforts to prevent the flow of arms and terrorists to the area.”
Last month, Haley said UNIFIL was not doing an effective job against Hezbollah, and the force’s commander, Gen. Michael Beary, showed a lack of understanding of the group’s activities.
A source close to UNIFIL said when Beary tried to deploy patrols, “Hezbollah responded with public protests, claiming that UNIFIL’s activities contradict UN Security Council resolution 1701.”
The source added: “The resolution presumes that the Lebanese Army accompanies UNIFIL patrols, but the army can’t cover 400 daily UNIFIL patrols, so Hezbollah considered the entry of UNIFIL patrols into private property a violation of resolution 1701.”
No major change to UNIFIL mandate
No major change to UNIFIL mandate
Jordanian minister criticizes ‘sensational’ reporting of Middle East events
- Mohammad Momani stressed the importance of obtaining verified information
- He said media freedom should not be misused to distort regional events
LONDON: Jordanian Minister of Government Communication Mohammad Momani emphasized the importance of professionalism and accuracy in reporting Middle Eastern events during a meeting with local, Arab and international media representatives on Sunday.
Momani said that a few international media outlets “sensationalize” regional events at the cost of accuracy, arguing that “this does not serve the public and undermines professional standards.”
He discussed with media representatives the importance of obtaining verified information to ensure accuracy, serve public opinion and uphold the right to knowledge, the official Jordanian news agency, Petra, reported.
Over the past year, some Western media outlets reporting on the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip and the conflict with Lebanon, as well as the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, have investigated some details in the stories they ran.
CNN investigated a recent video report that captures the moment a Syrian prisoner was freed from a secretive prison in Damascus. Critics have claimed that the report was staged and that the man featured in the CNN video was not who he claimed to be.
Momani said that media freedom should not be misused to distort regional circumstances or promote political and ideological agendas, Petra added.
He called on media outlets in Jordan to report on the country’s political and security realities professionally, accurately representing the event in all its aspects while rejecting false or misleading narratives.
Momani said that the Jordanian government was dedicated to transparency and communication with media representatives, including Arab, international and local outlets.
He praised the professional reporting on regional events by Jordanian state agencies and commended the country’s balanced political stance and commitment to stability.
Jordan’s Ministry of Government Communication regularly holds meetings and briefings to enhance communication with media representatives in Jordan.
Weakened Iran could pursue nuclear weapon, White House’s Sullivan says
Iran has suffered setbacks to its regional influence after Israel’s assaults on its allies, Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, followed by the fall of Iran-aligned Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, have reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, Sullivan told CNN.
“It’s no wonder there are voices (in Iran) saying, ‘Hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now ... Maybe we have to revisit our nuclear doctrine’,” Sullivan said.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but it has expanded uranium enrichment since Trump, in his 2017-2021 presidential term, pulled out of a deal between Tehran and world powers that put restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief.
Sullivan said that there was a risk that Iran might abandon its promise not to build nuclear weapons.
“It’s a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It’s a risk that I’m personally briefing the incoming team on,” Sullivan said, adding that he had also consulted with US ally Israel.
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, could return to his hard-line Iran policy by stepping up sanctions on Iran’s oil industry. Sullivan said Trump would have an opportunity to pursue diplomacy with Tehran, given Iran’s “weakened state.”
“Maybe he can come around this time, with the situation Iran finds itself in, and actually deliver a nuclear deal that curbs Iran’s nuclear ambitions for the long term,” he said.
Netanyahu says Israel will continue to act against the Houthis
- On Thursday, Israeli jets launched a series of strikes against energy and port infrastructure in Yemen
- Response to hundreds of missile and drone attacks launched by Houthis since start of Gaza war
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel would continue acting against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, whom he accused of threatening world shipping and the international order, and called on Israelis to be steadfast.
“Just as we acted forcefully against the terrorist arms of Iran’s axis of evil, so we will act against the Houthis,” he said in a video statement a day after a missile fired from Yemen fell in the Tel Aviv area, causing a number of mild injuries.
On Thursday, Israeli jets launched a series of strikes against energy and port infrastructure in Yemen in a move officials said was a response to hundreds of missile and drone attacks launched by the Houthis since the start of the Gaza war 14 months ago.
On Saturday, the US military said it conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Houthis in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
Netanyahu, strengthened at home by the Israeli military’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and by its destruction of most of the Syrian army’s strategic weapons, said Israel would act with the United States.
“Therefore, we will act with strength, determination and sophistication. I tell you that even if it takes time, the result will be the same,” he said.
The Houthis have launched repeated attacks on international shipping in waters near Yemen since November 2023, in support of the Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
Iraq PM says Mosul airport to open in June, 11 years after Daesh capture
- On June 10, 2014, the Daesh group seized Mosul
BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani on Sunday ordered for the inauguration of the airport in second city Mosul to be held in June, marking 11 years since Islamists took over the city.
On June 10, 2014, the Daesh group seized Mosul, declaring its “caliphate” from there 19 days later after capturing large swathes of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
After years of fierce battles, Iraqi forces backed by a US-led international coalition dislodged the group from Mosul in July 2017, before declaring its defeat across the country at the end of that year.
In a Sunday statement, Sudani’s office said the premier directed during a visit there “for the airport’s opening to be on June 10, coinciding with the anniversary of Mosul’s occupation, as a message of defiance in the face of terrorism.”
Over 80 percent of the airport’s runway and terminals have been completed, according to the statement.
Mosul’s airport had been completely destroyed in the fighting.
In August 2022, then-prime minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi laid the foundation stone for the airport’s reconstruction.
Sudani’s office also announced on Sunday the launch of a project to rehabilitate the western bank of the Tigris in Mosul, affirming that “Iraq is secure and stable and on the right path.”
Turkiye’s top diplomat meets Syria’s new leader in Damascus
- Hakan Fidan had announced on Friday that he planned to travel to Damascus to meet Syria’s new leaders
- Turkiye’s spy chief Ibrahim Kalin had earlier visited the city on December 12, just a few days after Bashar Assad’s fall
ANKARA: Turkiye’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan met with Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday, Ankara’s foreign ministry said.
A video released by the Anadolu state news agency showed the two men greeting each other.
No details of where the meeting took place in the Syrian capital were released by the ministry.
Fidan had announced on Friday that he planned to travel to Damascus to meet Syria’s new leaders, who ousted Syria’s strongman Bashar Assad after a lightning offensive.
Turkiye’s spy chief Ibrahim Kalin had earlier visited the city on December 12, just a few days after Assad’s fall.
Kalin was filmed leaving the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, surrounded by bodyguards, as broadcast by the private Turkish channel NTV.
Turkiye has been a key backer of the opposition to Assad since the uprising against his rule began in 2011.
Besides supporting various militant groups, it has welcomed Syrian dissenters and millions of refugees.
However, Fidan has rejected claims by US president-elect Donald Trump that the militants’ victory in Syria constituted an “unfriendly takeover” of the country by Turkiye.
International sanctions on Damascus must be lifted “as soon as possible” to allow Syria to get back on its feet and refugees to return home, Fidan said.
“The sanctions imposed on the previous regime need to be lifted as soon as possible,” he said, adding: “The international community needs to mobilize to help Syria get back on its feet and for the displaced people to return.”
During a joint press conference, Al-Sharaa said that all weapons in the country would come under state control including those held by Kurdish-led forces.
Armed “factions will begin to announce their dissolution and enter” the army, Sharaa said during a press conference with Fidan, adding “we will absolutely not allow there to be weapons in the country outside state control, whether from the revolutionary factions or the factions present in the SDF area,” referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
Syria alone was responsible for overthrowing Bashar Assad, Fidan also said.
“This victory belongs to you and no one else. Thanks to your sacrifices, Syria has seized a historic opportunity,” he said. Turkiye has repeatedly dismissed claims it had any hand in the lightning 12-day rebel offensive that ended with Assad’s overthrow on December 8.
