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
Israel intensifying Gaza strikes to press Hamas into freeing hostages, defense minister says
- US envoy Steve Witkoff last week a ‘bridge’ plan to extend the ceasefire in Gaza into April beyond Ramadan and Passover
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Friday the army was intensifying strikes from the air, land and sea in Gaza to pressure Hamas into freeing remaining hostages, and would also evacuate civilians to the south of the enclave.
After two months of relative calm, Gazans were again fleeing for their lives after Israel effectively abandoned a ceasefire, launching a new all-out air and ground campaign against Gaza’s dominant Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Hamas said on Friday it is still discussing US envoy Steve Witkoff’s proposal and various other ideas, with the aim of reaching a deal to release prisoners, end the war in Gaza, and achieve a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian enclave.
Witkoff presented last week a “bridge” plan to extend the ceasefire in Gaza into April beyond Ramadan and Passover and allow time to negotiate a permanent cessation of hostilities.
Katz said the more Hamas continued to refuse to release the remaining Israeli hostages, the more territory it would lose to Israel.
He said the military would step up strikes from the air, sea and land and expand ground operations until the hostages are released and Hamas was finally defeated.
With talks having failed to bridge differences over terms to extend the ceasefire, the Israeli military resumed assaults on Gaza with a massive bombing campaign on Tuesday before sending in troops the day after.
Tuesday’s first day of resumed airstrikes killed more than 400 Palestinians, one of the deadliest days of the 17-month-old war, with scant let-up since then.
Six days of flour left to distribute in Gaza – UNRWA
- ‘We can stretch that by giving people less, but we are talking days not weeks’
- ‘This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza’
GENEVA: One of the largest providers of food aid in Gaza warned on Friday it only has enough flour to distribute for the next six days.
“We can stretch that by giving people less, but we are talking days not weeks,” Sam Rose from the United Nations’ Palestinian relief agency UNRWA told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Central Gaza.
The situation in Gaza is gravely concerning with massive reductions in distribution of aid supplies, UNRWA said.
“Six of 25 bakeries that the World Food Programme were supporting had to close down. There are larger crowds on streets outside bakeries,” Rose added.
“This is the longest period since the start of conflict in October 2023 that no supplies whatsoever have entered Gaza. The progress we made as an aid system over the last six weeks of the ceasefire is being reversed,” Rose added.
Israel in early March blocked the entry of goods into the territory in a standoff over a truce that has halted fighting for the past seven weeks. The move has led to a hike in prices of essential foods as well as of fuel, forcing many to ration their meals.
Sudan’s military says it has retaken the last area of the capital held by rival paramilitary forces
- Social media videos showed its soldiers inside giving the date as the 21st day of Ramadan, which was Friday.
- The war has killed more than 28,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes
CAIRO: Sudan’s military said it retook the Republican Palace in Khartoum, the last bastion in the capital of rival paramilitary forces, after nearly two years of fighting.
Social media videos showed its soldiers inside giving the date as the 21st day of Ramadan, which was Friday.
The fall of the Republican Palace — a compound along the Nile River that was the seat of government before the war erupted and is immortalized on Sudanese banknotes and postage stamps — marks another battlefield gain for Sudan’s military. It has made steady advances in recent months under army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan.
It means the rival Rapid Support Forces, under Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, have been expelled from the capital of Khartoum after Sudan’s war began in April 2023.
The RSF did not immediately acknowledge the loss, which likely won’t stop fighting in the war as the group and its allies still hold territory elsewhere in Sudan. The head of the UN children’s agency has said the conflict created the world’s largest and humanitarian crisis.
The war has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country. Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll.
Tunisian president sacks prime minister amid economic and migration crisis
- North African country’s public finances face a severe crisis that has led to shortages of key commodities including sugar, rice and coffee.
- The country also is facing widespread criticism over an unprecedented migrant crisis
TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked Prime Minister Kamel Maddouri less than a year after his appointment, and named Sara Zaafarani as his replacement, amid a faltering economy and a worsening flood of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa countries.
Zaafarani, who is an engineer and served as minister of Equipment and Housing since 2021, is the third prime minister in less than two years.
In recent months, Saied has sharply criticized the performance of ministers, saying many they have not met the required standards and that the expectations of the Tunisian people are high. Last, month he sacked Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri.
Economic growth has not exceeded 1.4 percent in the past year, and the North African country’s public finances face a severe crisis that has led to shortages of key commodities including sugar, rice and coffee.
“We will continue the liberation battle until justice prevails for all citizens ... We will continue to thwart all conspiracies,” Saied said in a speech at a National Security Council meeting on Friday.
The country also is facing widespread criticism over an unprecedented migrant crisis, as thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants are flocking to Tunisia seeking to reach the Italian coast.
Thousands of them are living in tents in forests in Amra and Jbeniana after authorities prevented them from reaching Europe by sea.
While the migrants frequently clash with local residents who want them deported from their area, local human rights groups accuse the authorities of racist rhetoric and incitement against migrants.
Saied seized extra powers in 2021 when he shut down the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree before assuming authority over the judiciary.
The opposition described the move as a coup.
Netanyahu government approves firing of Shin Bet head amid protests
- Netanyahu had said he had lost confidence in Shin Bet head
- Police fire water cannon, make arrests after scuffles
JERUSALEM: The Israeli cabinet voted early on Friday to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service effective April 10, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, after three days of protests against the move.
Netanyahu said this week he had lost confidence in Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021, and intended to dismiss him.
Bar did not attend the cabinet meeting but in a letter sent to ministers said the process around his firing did not comply with rules and his dismissal was predicated on baseless claims.
Late on Thursday, police fired water cannon and made numerous arrests as scuffles broke out during the protests in Tel Aviv and close to the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, where police said dozens of protesters tried to break through security cordons.
Over the past three days, demonstrators protesting the move to sack Bar have joined forces with protesters angry at the decision to resume fighting in Gaza, breaking a two-month-old ceasefire, while 59 Israeli hostages remain in the Palestinian enclave.
“We’re very, very worried that our country is becoming a dictatorship,” Rinat Hadashi, 59, said in Jerusalem. “They’re abandoning our hostages, they’re neglecting all the important things for this country.”
The decision followed months of tension between Bar and Netanyahu over a corruption investigation into allegations that a number of aides in Netanyahu’s office were offered bribes.
Netanyahu has dismissed the accusation as a politically motivated attempt to unseat him, but his critics have accused him of undermining the institutions underpinning Israel’s democracy by seeking Bar’s removal.
In his letter to the government, Bar said the decision to fire him was “entirely tainted by ... conflicts of interest” and driven by “completely different, extraneous and fundamentally unacceptable motives.”
He had already announced that he intended to step down early to take responsibility for the intelligence lapses that failed to prevent the attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Deep divisions
The angry scenes on Thursday highlighted divisions that have deepened since Netanyahu returned to power as head of a right-wing coalition at the end of 2022.
Even before the war in Gaza, tens of thousands of Israelis were joining regular demonstrations protesting a government drive to curb the power of the judiciary that critics saw as an assault on Israeli democracy but which the government said was needed to limit judicial overreach.
On Thursday Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff in the military who now leads the opposition Democrats party, was pushed to the ground during a scuffle, drawing condemnation and calls for an investigation by other opposition politicians.
Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the clashes were a direct result of divisions caused by “an extremist government that has lost its grip.”
In Tel Aviv, demonstrators rallied outside the Kirya military headquarters complex as ministers met to formally approve the dismissal of Bar.
Since the start of the war, there have also been regular protests by families and supporters of hostages seized by Hamas during the October 7 attack that have sometimes echoed the criticisms of the government.
With the resumption of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, the fate of 59 hostages, as many as 24 of whom are still believed to be alive, remains unclear and protesters said a return to war could see them either killed by their captors or accidentally by Israeli bombardments.
“This is not an outcome the Israeli people can accept,” The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing hostage families, said in a statement.
