TUNIS: Tunisia’s biggest political party assembled an immense crowd of supporters in the capital on Saturday in a show of strength that could fuel a dispute between the president and the prime minister.
In one of the biggest demonstrations since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, tens of thousands of Ennahda supporters marched through central Tunis chanting “The people want to protect institutions!” and “The people want national unity!.”
The dispute has played out against a grim backdrop of economic anxiety, disillusionment with democracy and competing reform demands from foreign lenders and the UGTT, the powerful main labor union, as debt repayments loom.
Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party led by Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, has backed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi in a standoff with President Kais Saied over a cabinet reshuffle.
Banned before the revolution, it has been a member of most governing coalitions since then and, although its share of the vote has fallen in recent years, it still holds the most seats in parliament.
“Nationalists, Islamists, democrats and communists,” Ghannouchi told the crowd, “we were gathered together during the dictatorship ... and we must unite again.”
The most recent election, in 2019, delivered a fragmented parliament while propelling Saied, an independent, to the presidency.
When the government collapsed after only five months in office, Saied nominated Mechichi as prime minister.
But they soon fell out, and Mechichi turned for support to the two biggest parties — Ennahda and jailed media mogul Nabil Karoui’s Heart of Tunisia.
Last month, Mechichi changed 11 ministers in a reshuffle seen as replacing Saied’s allies with those of Ennahda and Heart of Tunisia. The president has refused to swear four of them in, however.
Meanwhile, demonstrators protesting last month against inequality and police abuses focused most of their anger on Mechichi and Ennahda.
Ennahda billed Saturday’s march as “in support of democracy,” but it was widely seen as an effort to mobilize popular opposition to Saied — raising the spectre of competing protest movements.
“This is a strong message that all the people want dialogue and national unity,” Fethi Ayadi, a senior Ennahda official, told Reuters.
To add to the tensions, demands by foreign lenders for spending cuts, which could lead to unpopular reductions in state programs, are opposed by the UGTT.
Tunisia’s 2021 budget forecasts borrowing needs of 19.5 billion Tunisian dinars ($7.2 billion), including about $5 billion in foreign loans.
But Tunisia’s credit rating has fallen since the coronavirus pandemic began, and market concerns about its ability to raise funds are reflected in sharp price rises for Tunisian credit default swaps — insurance against default on its debt. ($1 = 2.7 Tunisian dinars)
Tunisia’s main party holds huge rally as government row grows
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Tunisia’s main party holds huge rally as government row grows
- In one of the biggest demonstrations since Tunisia’s revolution, thousands of Ennahda supporters marched in Tunis
- The dispute has played out against a grim backdrop of economic anxiety and disillusionment with democracy
US says anti-Daesh operation in Iraq kills coalition soldier
- US officials have said Daesh is hoping to stage a comeback in Syria following the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar Assad
WASHINGTON: The US military said on Monday operations against Daesh in Iraq over the past week led to the death of a non-US coalition soldier and wounded two other non-US personnel.
It also detailed operations in Syria against Daesh militants led by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, including one that resulted in the capture of what the US military’s Central Command said was an Daesh attack cell leader.
US officials have said Daesh is hoping to stage a comeback in Syria following the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
How Israeli raids on northern Gaza hospitals compound the enclave’s healthcare emergency
- Kamal Adwan Hospital was raided by Israeli forces on Dec. 27, dealing a fresh blow to Gaza’s already devastated health system
- Israel alleged the facility was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold,” detaining its director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, patients, and other staff
DUBAI: For months, prominent Palestinian pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya had been pleading with the international community to protect medical staff and patients at the Kamal Adwan Hospital amid repeated Israeli assaults.
As one of just two functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan served as a lifeline for thousands in need of medical assistance under an Israeli siege that has blocked the delivery of food, shelter materials, and medical supplies since Oct. 5.
However, the pleas of Dr. Abu Safiya, the hospital’s director, fell silent on Dec. 27 when Israeli forces stormed the facility and detained him along with patients and other medical staff, alleging it was a “Hamas terrorist stronghold.”
Since early October 2024, Israel has intensified its siege on northern Gaza, mounting a series of operations intended to root out Hamas fighters. The raid on Kamal Adwan knocked the hospital out of action, dealing a fresh blow to northern Gaza’s already devastated healthcare system.
The following day, health officials said Israeli forces targeted Al-Awda Hospital, severely damaging the last functioning facility in northern Gaza. The hospital had been overflowing with patients after the Indonesian Hospital was reportedly put out of service earlier in the month.
On Dec. 29, the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli strikes had left two facilities in Gaza City — Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital and Al-Wafaa Hospital — with significant damage.
“Hospitals have once again become battlegrounds, reminiscent of the destruction of the health system in Gaza City earlier this year,” the World Health Organization said in a statement.
Israel has long accused Hamas of using civilian hospitals for military purposes, employing patients and medical staff as human shields — a claim that the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza has consistently denied.
In its latest raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital, the Israeli military said its troops had killed 20 “terrorists” and detained 240 others, including Dr. Abu Safiya on suspicion of being “a Hamas terrorist operative.”
On Friday, Israel confirmed it was holding Dr. Abu Safiya, but did not specify where. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said he was “currently being investigated by Israeli security forces” as he was suspected of being a “terrorist” and for “holding a rank” in Hamas.
Israel launched its military operation in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage, including many foreign nationals.
The air and ground campaign in Gaza has caused the death of some 45,400 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, and left 108,000 wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, but a third are believed to be dead.
Kamal Adwan Hospital has been the target of around 50 recorded attacks on or near the facility since early October 2024, according to the WHO.
The latest raid left the hospital’s laboratory, surgical unit, engineering and maintenance department, operating theater, and medical store severely damaged by fire.
Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, denied troops had entered the facility or started the fire.
“While IDF troops were not in the hospital, a small fire broke out in an empty building inside the hospital that is under control,” he said. A preliminary investigation had found “no connection” between the military operation and the fire, he added.
Dr. Abu Safiya’s detention has sparked global outcry as UN agencies, rights groups, and non-governmental organizations demanded his immediate release.
Opinion
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A viral image of Dr. Abu Safiya, believed to depict his final moments before his arrest, shows him walking alone, dressed in his white lab coat, among the rubble of a devastated street towards Israeli tanks.
Healthcare workers around the world joined an online solidarity campaign, prompting the launch of a petition calling on the US to pressure Israel to release Dr. Abu Safiya and stop targeting hospitals, medical staff, and patients.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, urged global medical professionals to cut ties with Israel in protest at the arrest.
“For each Palestinian life that should and could have been saved in Gaza, we have been put to the test. And we have failed, over and over,” she posted on X. “We must not fail again. All of us must do all we can to save Dr. Abu Safiya.”
According to the Palestinian health ministry, more than 1,000 medical workers have been killed and more than 300 detained since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023, while some 130 ambulances have been knocked out of action.
The whereabouts of Dr. Abu Safiya and his staff remains unknown, although several released detainees told CNN he was being held at the Sde Teiman military base — a facility close to the Gaza border notorious for allegations of abuse, which Israel denies.
Dr. Abu Safiya rose to prominence for documenting the challenges facing healthcare professionals in Gaza since the war began, including shortages of staff and medical supplies.
In an earlier raid on Oct. 25, he was briefly detained and questioned after refusing multiple orders to leave Kamal Adwan Hospital. The Israeli army had stormed the facility, detained many patients and 57 hospital staff, according to Gaza health authorities.
During that Israeli operation, Dr. Abu Safiya’s 15-year-old son was reportedly killed in a drone strike at the hospital gate. Dr. Abu Safiya insisted on continuing to tend to his patients, and continued to do so even after he was wounded in an attack on Nov. 23.
“We are suffering from a severe shortage of doctors, especially surgeons,” he said at the time. “Right now, we only have pediatricians — it is a huge challenge to work under these circumstances.”
On Dec. 31, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report detailing the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare facilities. The report found that 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities had suffered 136 strikes between Oct. 7, 2023 and June 30, 2024.
The UN warned that the strikes caused “significant damage to, if not the complete destruction of, civilian infrastructure,” and pushed the healthcare system in the Palestinian territory to the “brink of total collapse.”
Just 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional, according to the WHO’s latest figures.
In its report, the UN labeled Israel’s claim that Gaza’s hospitals are being used by Hamas for military purposes as “vague” and “insufficient.”
A day earlier, UN human rights experts said the backing of allies has enabled Israel to continue committing “genocidal acts” and defying international law. They stressed that Israel needed to be held accountable for “inflicting maximum suffering” on Palestinian civilians, particularly in northern Gaza.
They noted the siege, “coupled with expanding evacuation orders, appears intended to permanently displace the local population as a precursor to Gaza’s annexation.”
Israel said the siege was aimed at preventing Hamas from regrouping.
As ceasefire talks continue, the Palestinian health ministry has called on the international community to intervene to protect healthcare professionals, secure the release of detainees, and facilitate a safe environment in which the sick and injured can receive treatment.
The closure of Kamal Adwan Hospital leaves a population of some 75,000 Palestinians in the north without access to medical care — a crisis exacerbated by bitter winter conditions and shortages of food, medicine, and shelter.
More than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have been repeatedly displaced, according to aid agencies, with many now enduring winter temperatures in squalid tent camps, often flooded by heavy rain, in south and central Gaza.
For those who have remained in northern Gaza, hospitals are no longer an option for shelter.
“As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap,” Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief, said in a statement.
Health officials say the loss of Kamal Adwan Hospital, in particular, will leave civilians in northern Gaza without treatment at the very moment they are most vulnerable.
In a post on X, Palestinian surgeon Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta said hypothermia, malnutrition, and injury had become the triad of death.
“This means that people will die of hypothermia at higher temperatures, will starve to death much quicker, and will succumb to less severe wounds.”
US temporarily eases some Syria sanctions
- Transitional government in Damascus has been lobbying to have sanctions lifted
- International community has been hesitant to roll back restrictions, many countries have said they are waiting to see how the new authorities exercise their power
WASHINGTON: The United States announced Monday that it was providing additional sanctions relief on some activities in Syria for the next six months to ease access to basic services following the fall of strongman Bashar Assad.
The US Treasury said it had issued a new general license to expand the allowed activities and transactions with Syria while Washington continues to monitor developments under the militants who overthrew Assad last month.
The move was made “to help ensure that sanctions do not impede essential services and continuity of governance functions across Syria, including the provision of electricity, energy, water, and sanitation,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Monday’s actions build on existing authorizations that support the work of international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and humanitarian and “stabilization efforts” in the region, it said.
“The end of Bashar Assad’s brutal and repressive rule, backed by Russia and Iran, provides a unique opportunity for Syria and its people to rebuild,” said deputy Treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo.
“During this period of transition, Treasury will continue to support humanitarian assistance and responsible governance in Syria,” he added.
The transitional government in Damascus has been lobbying to have sanctions lifted.
But the international community has been hesitant to roll back restrictions, and many countries — including the United States — have said they are waiting to see how the new authorities exercise their power before doing so.
The Treasury Department emphasized that it had not unblocked any property or other interests of people or entities currently on its sanctions blacklist.
This includes Assad and his supporters, the Syrian central bank and Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, a former Al-Qaeda offshoot that played a key role in toppling the former government.
It also does not authorize “any financial transfers to any blocked person other than for the purpose of effecting certain authorized payments to governing institutions or associated service providers in Syria,” the Treasury said.
Over 45,850 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive
- Israeli forces kept up their bombardment of Gaza on Monday, with the territory’s civil defense agency reporting 13 people killed in strikes in the territory
GAZA CITY: The Health Ministry in Gaza said on Monday that 49 people were killed in the Palestinian territory in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll of the war to 45,854.
The ministry also said in a statement that at least 109,139 people had been wounded in nearly 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack.
Also on Monday, the UN World Food Programme said that Israeli forces opened fire on its convoy in Gaza on Jan. 5 in an incident it described as “horrifying.”
The agency said that its convoy of three vehicles carrying eight staff members was struck by 16 bullets near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, causing no injuries.
The WFP statement said the convoy was clearly marked and had received prior security clearances from Israeli authorities.
Israeli forces kept up their bombardment of Gaza on Monday, with the territory’s civil defense agency reporting 13 people killed in strikes in the territory.
Mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and the US have been working for months to strike a deal to end the fighting in Gaza, but both warring sides have accused the other of derailing the negotiations.
Israel said on Monday that Hamas had yet to clarify whether 34 hostages it claimed it was ready to free were dead or alive, throwing doubt on the group’s assertion that it needed time to ascertain their fate.
The offer from Hamas came as Israel continued to pound the Gaza Strip, where rescuers said 13 people were killed on Monday.
In recent days, mediators have resumed indirect talks, and a senior Hamas official said late on Sunday that the group was prepared to release an initial batch of captives but would need “a week of calm” to determine whether they were still alive.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer, however, rejected that claim on Monday.
“They know precisely who is alive and who is dead. They know precisely where the hostages are,” Mencer told journalists in an online briefing. “Gaza is a very small place. Hamas know exactly where they are.”
In an earlier statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had not received any confirmation or comment from Hamas regarding the “status of the hostages,” adding those slated for inclusion were part of a list “originally given by Israel to the mediators” last year. The Hamas official had also said the group came from a list presented by Israel and would include all the women, children, elderly, and sick captives still held in Gaza.
“Hamas has agreed to release the 34 prisoners, whether alive or dead,” the official said, but the group needed time “to communicate with the captors and identify those who are alive and those who are dead.”
On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced confidence that a ceasefire deal would come together, but possibly after President Joe Biden leaves office on Jan.20.
“If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully, sooner rather than later,” Blinken said on a visit to Seoul.
President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on Jan. 20, has vowed even stronger support for Israel and has warned Hamas of “hell to pay” if it does not free the hostages.
Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper reported Monday that negotiations with Hamas “are approaching a crossroads, and Israeli decision-makers are optimistic that a deal can be finalized within the next few days.”
Some Israeli news websites reported that the chief of Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, was joining the country’s negotiators in Doha.
Lebanese army redeploys in Naqoura as Israeli ceasefire violations continue
- Truce monitoring committee meets with participation of US envoy Hochstein
BEIRUT: Lebanese army convoys entered the coastal city of Naqoura on Monday to be redeployed and repositioned following the withdrawal of Israeli forces that had invaded the area during last year’s war.
The redeployment came as the quintet committee tasked with implementing the ceasefire agreement held a meeting in Ras Al-Naqoura, which US envoy Amos Hochstein attended for the first time.
Lebanese army vehicles have gathered in the south of Tyre in preparation for their entry to Naqoura after the army’s bulldozers carried out sweeping operations in the area for the past two days following the Israeli army’s withdrawal.
A security source said that the army was expected to reposition itself in the sites it had evacuated before the Israeli invasion last year.
A US military representative, a French military representative and military members representing Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL were present at the quintet committee’s meeting.
The committee met amid increasing Lebanese and UNIFIL complaints about Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement.
FASTFACT
US envoy Amos Hochstein held talks with Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun before the quintet committee’s session, followed by meetings with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
A significant Israeli violation took place last Saturday.
UNIFIL said in a statement: “The peacekeepers observed an Israeli army bulldozer destroying a blue barrel marking the line of withdrawal between Lebanon and Israel in Labbouneh, as well as an observation tower belonging to the Lebanese armed forces immediately beside a UNIFIL position.”
The peacekeeping force described the move as “deliberate and direct destruction of both clearly identifiable UNIFIL property and infrastructure belonging to the Lebanese armed forces, which is a flagrant violation of Resolution 1701 and international law.”
Earlier, Israeli bulldozers uprooted a Lebanese army observation tower 10 meters from where the quintet committee’s meeting would later take place at UNIFIL headquarters.
Hochstein, who helped draft the ceasefire agreement between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, arrived on Tuesday morning at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport.
He held talks with Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun before the quintet committee’s session, followed by meetings with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Meanwhile, a patrol from UNIFIL removed the earthen barrier that Israeli forces had set up on Sunday at the southern entrance of the town of Burj Al-Muluk.
In the morning, Israeli forces demolished several houses in Naqoura before the scheduled deployment of the Lebanese army.
UNIFIL forces activated their alarm sirens in two phases, at level three and level two, from their headquarters in Naqoura.
The Israeli army demolished several houses in the town of Al-Jabin, located in the Tyre district.
The home of Lebanese Army Brig. Gen. Abbas Hassan Aqil was destroyed in the operation.
Israeli violations during the past 48 hours included combing operations in the towns of Maroun Al-Ras and Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district, using heavy machine guns, and blowing up houses in Aitaroun.
An Israeli force penetrated Taybeh, carried out a combing operation, and blew up several houses inside the town.
Lebanese Army Command said: “In light of the violations by Israel of the ceasefire agreement and its assaults on Lebanon’s sovereignty and its citizens, hostile forces infiltrated the area of Taybeh–Marjeyoun on Sunday.
“They proceeded to block three roads with earthen barriers.
“Subsequently, a patrol from the army was dispatched to the incursion site to monitor the situation in coordination with the five-member committee overseeing the ceasefire agreement, and the roads were reopened.
Israel also fired shells at homes in Bint Jbeil, Wadi Al-Hujayr, Markaba, Mays Al-Jabal and Burj Al-Muluk.
On Monday, civil defense personnel recovered the bodies of seven Hezbollah fighters who had died in previous confrontations with Israel in the town of Khiam.
Some bodies in southern border villages have yet to be retrieved due to the Israeli incursion, despite 41 days passing since the ceasefire was reached.
Meanwhile, statements by Hezbollah officials asserting that the party has not been defeated provoked local reactions.
Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Unit official Wafiq Safa said from Beirut that the party “has not been defeated and will not be defeated. It is stronger than iron, and there will be no possibility for anyone to break our morale.”
Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said: “Our patience with Israel's violations is linked to the appropriate time to confront the enemy.
“It can run out before or after the 60-day deadline. When we decide to do something, you will directly see it.”
The statements sparked a series of responses.
Former President Michel Sleiman said: “This is a Hezbollah official imposing a security veto against the state carrying out its responsibilities.
“May God have mercy on those who lost their lives, houses and livelihoods due to unilateral war decisions. A futile support war that had catastrophic consequences.”
The Tajadod (Renewal) parliamentary bloc said: “The positions expressed by Wafiq Safa confirm that Hezbollah is trying to cover up its losses, surrender, suicidal choices and continued disruption of the constitution and institutions.
“It would have been better for Hezbollah, following the disastrous war it caused, to learn and return to its Lebanese identity just like any other component in the country. However, it insists on its behavior that contradicts the meaning of Lebanon as a diverse and open country and the concept of the state and its institutions. Enough is enough. The era of terrorizing the Lebanese people is over.”
MP Sethrida Geagea addressed Safa, saying: “Wafik Safa, look at yourself. Feel your hands. You know very well what you have committed against your people and the Lebanese. A final phrase to summarize your situation: People with any sense of shame are a thing of the past.”
MP Michel Daher said: “Should not Wafik Safa ask about who will take in the displaced again if war is renewed, God forbid? We are tired of this rhetoric and approach. We want a proper country.”
