BEIRUT: Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of the US Central Command (USCENTCOM), has stressed the importance of the strong partnership between the US and the Lebanese Armed Forces.
He reaffirmed the importance of preserving Lebanon’s security, stability, and sovereignty, and underscored the importance of the strong partnership between the US and Lebanese militaries.
Gen. McKenzie arrived in Beirut amid protests against this visit organized by supporters of Hezbollah on the road leading to Rafic Hariri International Airport, while Lebanese troops took extreme measures to prevent protesters from approaching McKenzie’s convoy.
The Information Office of the Lebanese Presidency issued a statement noting: “(General) McKenzie met with President Michel Aoun who praised the cooperation between the Lebanese and US armies in matters of training and armament, and hoped to further develop the military cooperation between Lebanon and the US.”
Aoun pointed out to “the support that the Lebanese Army received from the US Army in 2017 during the battle of Aarsal against Daesh and Al-Nusra,” and added “the (Lebanese) army succeeded in eliminating terrorist dormant cells and continues pursuing them.”
The statement noted that McKenzie confirmed the “continuous support of the US military command to the Lebanese army that is defending Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty at all levels including combat and continuous high-level training.”
Gen. McKenzie was accompanied by USCENTCOM officials and officers, as well as the US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, and US Defense Attaché Robert Meine.
The US Embassy in Lebanon said: “The one-day visit to Lebanon also included meetings with senior Lebanese political and defense leaders, including representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Lebanese Armed Forces, office calls at the US Embassy, and a brief stop at memorials honoring the memory of those who have perished in service to their country.”
Since 1997, the US has classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Hezbollah’s influence on state affairs has increased since the formation of Hassan Diab’s government last January.
This was McKenzie’s fourth visit since he assumed his duties on March 28, 2019 as successor to Gen. Joseph Votel, commanding US military operations in several countries, including Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Afghanistan.
The visit of the general coincided with the announcement by the Lebanese army command of the closure of three roads in Hermel region, used to smuggle goods between Lebanon and Syria. In addition, it announced the closure of two illegal crossings and five roads that are used to smuggle stolen cars and goods.
Smugglers between Lebanon and Syria operate under the protection of Hezbollah, which asserts that it is not capable of curtailing smuggling. Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, said on Tuesday “Hezbollah is unable to close illegal crossings and holds the army responsible for achieving the task.”
On Wednesday, opposition lawmakers and activists ridiculed the Hezbollah chief, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, after he called for “an industrial and agricultural jihad to cultivate the land to avoid starvation.”
Nasrallah’s opponents called it a “sign of impotence,” given his additional call for “negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”
Nasrallah did not mention any specific reforms, while he continued his campaign against the US ambassador, calling on her to: “Stop interfering (in Lebanese affairs).” He also renewed his calls for “opening up to China, Iran, and Syria.”
Lawmaker Rola Al-Tabash, member of the Future Parliamentary bloc, said that Nasrallah’s words were like those of a man “who kills a man and (then attends) his funeral.”
Former lawmaker Fadi Karam, member of the Lebanese Forces bloc, said that Hezbollah’s leadership “depict national meltdown as if the solution was only confined to securing foodstuffs from rooftops, balconies, or from the bankrupt axis. For us, life is not only about eating and sleeping, but it is also about education, culture, institutions justice, citizenship, and independent judiciary.”
Meanwhile, Qassem Tajeddine, 64, recently returned to Lebanon after his release from a US prison. The US State Department warned that any US citizen who did business with him would “be subject to severe sanctions.”
Al-Hadath news channel quoted a State Department official saying: “Tajeddine, who provides financial support to Hezbollah, will remain on the US sanctions list and the State Department objects to his release from prison, but respects the court’s decision. Sanctions will be imposed on any American who deals with Tajeddine.”
Tajeddine spent three years in prison, and was released two years before the end of his five-years sentence. In May 2009, Tajeddine was first accused of being an important contributor to Hezbollah; he was arrested in 2017 in Casablanca, Morocco, at the request of US authorities, and was extradited to the US where he was accused of “circumventing the US sanctions against terrorist groups and money laundering.”
US military commander stresses the importance of Lebanon’s stability
https://arab.news/ppybq
US military commander stresses the importance of Lebanon’s stability
- Gen. McKenzie arrived in Beirut amid protests against the visit organized by supporters of Hezbollah
- This was McKenzie’s fourth visit since he assumed his duties on March 28, 2019
US condemns capture of UN staff by Houthis
- The Houthi militia has detained dozens of staff from UN and other humanitarian organizations, most since the middle of last year
The US State Department has condemned the capture of additional UN staff by Houthi rebels in Yemen, amid the group’s ongoing attacks in the region.
In a statement, the department called for the release of all detainees, including seven UN workers captured on Thursday, and decried the “campaign of terror” by the rebel group.
“This latest Houthi roundup demonstrates the bad faith of the terrorist group’s claims to seek de-escalation and also makes a mockery of their claims to represent the interests of the Yemeni people,” the State Department said.
It also highlighted an executive order signed by President Donald Trump this week placing the Houthis back on the US list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The Houthi militia has detained dozens of staff from UN and other humanitarian organizations, most since the middle of last year.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of all aid staff held in Yemen, where an ongoing humanitarian crisis has left the country reeling after a decade of war.
The Houthis, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians, have been attacking the Red Sea shipping route and firing on Israel since the outbreak of the Gaza war, prompting reprisal strikes from US, Israeli and British forces.
On Saturday, Houthi rebels unilaterally freed 153 war detainees, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
Previous prisoner releases have been viewed as a means to jump-start talks over permanently ending Yemen’s decadelong war.
Those previously released had been visited by Red Cross staff in Sanaa and received medical checks and other assistance, the organization said while announcing the release.
Turkiye FM calls for regional cooperation to fight PKK
- Two Iraqi border guards were killed Friday near the Turkish border in a shooting that Iraq blamed on the PKK
BAGHDAD: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called for combined regional efforts to combat outlawed Kurdish fighters in Iraq and neighboring Syria during a visit to Baghdad on Sunday.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as PKK, which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, holds positions in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, which also hosts Turkish military bases.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye and its Western allies, and Ankara accuses Kurdish forces in Syria of links to the outlawed group.
“I want to emphasize this fact in the strongest way: The PKK is targeting Turkiye, Iraq and Syria,” Fidan said in a press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein.
“We must combine all our resources and destroy both Daesh and the PKK,” he added.
Fidan’s visit comes after two Iraqi border guards were killed Friday near the Turkish border in a shooting that Baghdad blamed on the PKK. After the attack, Ankara vowed to work with Iraq to secure their common frontier.
Turkiye regularly launches strikes against the PKK in Iraq and Kurdish fighters in Syria.
Baghdad has recently sharpened its tone against the PKK, and last year it quietly listed the group as a “banned organization” — though Ankara demands the Iraqi government do more in the fight against the militant group.
“Our ultimate expectation from Iraq is that it recognizes the PKK, which it has declared a banned organization, as a terrorist organization as well,” Fidan said.
In August, Baghdad and Ankara signed a military cooperation deal to establish joint command and training centers with the aim of fighting the PKK.
The foreign ministers also discussed the fight against Daesh on the Iraqi-Syrian border, Hussein said during the press conference, as well as the situation in Syria, where former leader Bashar Assad was toppled in December.
“There are clear understandings between ... Turkiye and Iraq on how to address” the situation there, he said, adding that Baghdad was in contact with the new Syrian authorities and was “trying to coordinate on many issues.”
Earlier this month, Fidan threatened to launch a military operation against Kurdish forces in Syria, where Turkiye has carried out successive ground operations to push the fighters away from its border.
The Kurdish forces there are seen by the West as essential in the fight against Daesh.
Palestinian president condemns ‘any projects’ to displace Gazans
- Trump said on Saturday that he wanted Jordan and Egypt to take Palestinians from Gaza, suggesting “we just clean out that whole thing”
RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas condemned on Sunday “any projects” to relocate the people of Gaza outside the territory, after US President Donald Trump suggested moving them to Egypt and Jordan.
Without naming the US leader, Abbas “expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects aimed at displacing our people from the Gaza Strip,” a statement from his office said, adding that the Palestinian people “will not abandon their land and holy sites.”
Trump, less than a week into his second term as president, said on Saturday that he wanted Jordan and Egypt to take Palestinians from Gaza, suggesting “we just clean out that whole thing.”
The idea was swiftly rejected by Jordan, while Egypt has previously spoken out against any suggestions that Gazans could be moved there.
In the statement issued by the Palestinian presidency, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Abbas said: “We will not allow the repetition of the catastrophes that befell our people in 1948 and 1967.”
The former is known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands were displaced during the war the coincided with Israel’s establishment.
The 1967 Arab-Israeli war, during which Israel conquered Gaza and the West Bank, is known as the Naksa, or “setback,” and saw several hundred thousand more displaced from those territories.
Abbas also rejected what he called “any policy that undermines the unity of the Palestinian land in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem.”
He called on Trump to “continue his efforts to support” the ceasefire in Gaza that began on January 19 and said the Palestinian Authority remained ready to take on the governance of the war-battered territory.
Palestinian sources say to free Gaza hostage demanded by Israel before next swap
- Arbel Yehud will be handed over within days, sources say
- In exchange, 30 prisoners serving life sentences will be released
CAIRO: Two Palestinian sources told AFP on Sunday that an Israeli woman held hostage in Gaza, and whose release Israel has demanded before allowing the return of displaced Palestinians, will be handed over within days.
“Arbel Yehud is expected to be freed before the next (hostage-prisoner) exchange” scheduled for February 1, said a source from the Islamic Jihad militant group.
Another Palestinian source familiar with the issue said Yehud is expected to be released by Friday.
“The release of Arbel Yehud will happen most likely by next Friday in exchange for 30 prisoners serving life sentences,” the source said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak on the matter publicly.
Israel has accused Hamas of reneging on the ceasefire deal by not releasing Yehud when the second hostage-prisoner took place on Saturday.
As a civilian woman, Yehud “was supposed to be released” as part of the second hostage-prisoner swap under the truce deal, a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Labelling it a violation by Hamas of the ceasefire deal, Netanyahu’s office said it “will not allow the passage of Gazans to the northern part of the Gaza Strip until the release of civilian Arbel Yehud... is arranged.”
On Saturday, two Hamas sources told AFP that Yehud was “alive and in good health,” with one source saying she would be “released as part of the third swap set for next Saturday.”
But on Sunday, the two Palestinian sources said she was expected to be released following an intervention by mediators Egypt and Qatar.
“The crisis has been resolved,” said the source familiar with the issue.
Tens of thousands of displaced Gazans massed on Sunday on the road to the north but were not allowed to pass through, AFP correspondents reported.
Netanyahu says France assures Israel its firms can take part in Paris Air Show
- Israeli defense companies were last year banned from participating in a defense industry exhibition held in Paris
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday that French President Emmanuel Macron had given him assurances that Israeli companies would be able to take part in the Paris Air Show.
The two had a phone conversation during which the assurance was given, according to a statement by the prime minister’s office.
Separately, Macron’s office said in a statement that the presence of Israeli companies at the air show “could be favorably considered, as a result of the ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon.”
Israeli defense companies were last year banned from participating in a defense industry exhibition held in Paris as Macron called for Israel to cease some military operations in Gaza.
That ban strained relations, but a French court in October overturned a government ban on Israeli companies taking part in a naval arms exhibition near Paris.
The Paris Air Show, the world’s largest, is held every two years, alternating every other year with Farnborough in Britain. It is due to take place from June 16 until June 22. Leading aerospace, aviation and defense companies from around the world typically take part in both events.
A ceasefire agreement reached this month between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, which it has been fighting in Gaza, remains in effect, as does another truce agreement struck last year between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
