Iran knows ‘how to drive a truck through American weakness,’ Mike Pompeo tells Arab News

Pompeo: It's crazy to prevent Saudi from defending itself
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Updated 30 March 2021
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Iran knows ‘how to drive a truck through American weakness,’ Mike Pompeo tells Arab News

  • Former secretary of state says protecting US soldiers in Middle East requires strong response to Iran’s actions
  • Says to deny Saudis “capacity to defend themselves is just crazy” and blames Houthis for blocking aid in Yemen

RIYADH: The US administration has a responsibility to push back against efforts to undermine Saudi Arabia, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says in an exclusive interview with Arab News, adding that to deny the Saudis “the capacity to defend themselves is just crazy, and yet that appears to be the direction this administration is taking.”

He says “the Iranian leadership understands how to drive a truck through American weakness” and that deterring the regime will require “a consistent, sound message” and “a willingness to impose a cost.”

Pompeo has also voiced strong opposition to the Biden administration’s lifting of the Yemeni Houthi militia’s terrorist designation, pointing out that “no one disputes that the Houthis are terrorists and no one disputes that the Iranians are underwriting them.”

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In the interview, he touched on a number of important issues including the spike in attacks on Saudi population centers and oil infrastructure, Iranian perceptions of the Biden administration's foreign-policy moves, the Houthis’ role in exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, and the Trump administration’s handling of US-Saudi relations.

“In the end, the Iranian leadership, the (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah (Ali Khamenei) and all those around him understand one thing: They understand power. And when they take action and they see weakness or they see appeasement or they have an expectation that there will be appeasement, they’re going to continue to act out,” Pompeo said.

Sounding a blunt warning, he said: “So, whether it’s the effort that you have seen from the missile strikes that (the Iranians) have undertaken, or the efforts they have taken to continue to put pressure on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to deny what we all know, their clandestine program, clandestine sites where they had WMDs that weren’t declared — those are the kind of things we will continue to see until the world, not just the United States, but the whole world, the E3 (UK, France, Germany) included, says that ‘That’s enough, we’re not going to allow this to happen anymore.’”

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Pompeo was a congressman from Kansas who later served as CIA director under President Donald Trump before being nominated and confirmed as secretary of state in 2018. On his watch, the US adopted a campaign of “maximum pressure” to isolate the Iranian regime and kept open the option of a military strike to “keep Americans” safe.

Since leaving office in January, Pompeo has hit the speaking circuit and refused to rule out a potential 2024 presidential bid if his former boss, Trump, does not run. In addition to saying that he wants to help Republicans and advocate for conservatives, Pompeo has scolded the new US administration for refusing to put America first, especially in the context of the Middle East.

Pompeo told Arab News what makes him concerned is not just the “signals that the (Biden) administration sends; it’s the policy direction that they have indicated they intend to go.”

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“They have made very clear that they would prefer to re-enter some kind of negotiation that’s closely tied to the 2015 JCPOA,” he said, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.

The deal was reached in July 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 (the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) together with the European Union. The Trump administration withdrew the US from the JCPOA in May 2018, citing the flaws of its temporary nature, its lack of controls on Iran’s ballistic missile program and Iran’s “malign behavior” in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.

“Let’s go look at the actions. So far, the administration has de-designated a terrorist organization. No one disputes, no one disputes that the Houthis are terrorists. And no one disputes that the Iranians are underwriting them,” Pompeo said.

“This administration said: ‘We’re going to take them off the list.’ This administration worked alongside the IAEA to say ‘No, were not going to issue a report about this material that was at undeclared locations.’

“They now are going to allow money from the IMF and from the Republic of Korea to flow into Iranian coffers. These are the kinds of concessions, before there’s been any conversation about actually even entering into a negotiation. This connotes weakness and, I promise you, the Iranian leadership understands how to drive a truck through American weakness.”

Describing Saudi Arabia as “an important security partner” for the US, Pompeo said: “For an awfully long time, I think we neglected this (fact). When we get this right, we can put fewer of our young men and women, American young men and women, overseas in the Middle East facing risk, and we can support them.”

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Elaborating on how this could be achieved, he said: “It always begins with a commitment, a diplomatic commitment, a commitment from the president of the United States, that says we understand that you in Saudi Arabia have the right to defend yourself when there are missiles being launched into your country. To deny them the capacity to defend themselves is just crazy, and yet that appears to be the direction this administration is taking.

“Second, we worked with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on a broader range of issues, weapons sales, things that would provide security for the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Pompeo rejected the common critique that the Trump administration ignored human rights in the process. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “We supported the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as it began to open up inside, to allow women to be more active and to do many things which had been prohibited for an awfully long time. And real progress was made.”

He argued that the Trump administration did call out the Kingdom when mistakes occurred. And in the case of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the administration did sanction the operatives who were implicated.

At the time, the Kingdom admitted that a number of agents had exceeded their authority and ended up killing the journalist in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018. A trial followed and five Saudis were sentenced to death with another three given jail time over the killing.

Still, Pompeo reiterated that having a “deep security relationship with the Kingdom is central to American security and also to security throughout the Middle East.”

He drew a sharp contrast between Trump’s Middle East policy and that of his successor.

“We had three primary lines of effort. The first was to build a coalition against the largest state sponsor of terror in the world, the Iranian regime. And we did that,” he said.

“We built a coalition that included Arabs and Israelis. It included others too who were prepared to help us patrol the Straits of Hormuz. We built a real global coalition against Iran to deter military attack.

“Second, we put enormous economic pressure on the Iranian regime. We sanctioned them; we made sure that they couldn’t sell their crude oil around the world — all the things that would force the Iranian regime to make hard decisions about how to spend resources.

“If you want to underwrite Hezbollah, you have to have less money to feed and care for your people. If you want to support the Iraqi militias, if you want to help the Assad regime in Syria, we made them face difficult financial constraints with the hope that they would ultimately conclude that building out their nuclear program, and continuing to build their missile program, wasn’t in their country’s best interests.”

Pompeo continued: “The third thing we did is we supported the Iranian people. This is different to what the Obama administration did. We were very mindful that the Iranian people themselves want a life that is not terribly different than that people all around the world want — and that the theocrats, the kleptocrats in power in Iran today, (may) have the weapon systems but not the hearts and minds of the Iranian people.

“So, we did everything we could to support the Iranian people. Those three key pillars of our policy were the right direction. They were the thing that would create the best deterrent from Iran attacking Arab countries, provided the most assurance that the Iranian stated intent to wipe Israel off the face of the map, would not come to fruition.”

Pompeo says there is no reason to second-guess the Iranian regime’s mindset. “They’ve made it very clear they are prepared to do things all around the world, with what they see as securing their rights around the world,” he told Arab News.

“So, I talked about this when I was secretary of state a great deal, (about) their efforts to conduct assassination campaigns all across Europe.

“You’ve seen some of their actors arrested and imprisoned in Europe, after they’ve been caught. It always befuddled me to watch the E3 continue to cozy up to the Iranians and the JCPOA deal to say ‘No, this is the right direction,’ when in fact the Iranians were trying to kill people inside each of their countries.

“We certainly see that here in the United States too. We shouldn’t forget it wasn’t all that long ago that the Iranians had a plot to kill the Saudi ambassador right here, not very far from where I’m sitting here today in Washington D.C.

“They’ve a global campaign, a global espionage campaign, a global assassination effort, all in defense of a handful of senior leaders inside of Iran who are siphoning off the remaining funds available to the Iranians. We can’t continue to underwrite this.

“We can’t relieve these sanctions, until Iran releases all the American prisoners, until Iran comes to understand that it is unacceptable to engage in this kind of behavior. To reward that, to reward them with financial resources, only gives them an incentive to continue to do this and provides them with the capital to continue these programs.”

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Moving on to his decision to designate the Houthis a “foreign terrorist organization,” Pompeo told Arab News: “Of course. It was a simple step that was made by the (Trump) administration. It was straightforward. It didn’t take any great heavy lifting.

“But, look, the (Biden) administration can’t deny that these are terrorists, yet (it has) now said (the Houthis) are not terrorists. I understand the concerns that the world has about the humanitarian challenges inside of Yemen. Indeed, the Trump administration spent a great deal of American taxpayers’ money — and we convinced the Saudis and the Emiratis to do the same — to make sure that ordinary people in Yemen didn’t suffer famine.

“We worked really hard on this. We made sure, the best we could, that food got into that country. But the people who were preventing global aid from reaching those who actually needed that food and that medicine were, in fact, the Houthis.”

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Alluding to President Joe Biden’s decision to drop the militia’s “terrorist” label, he said: “The Houthis have now demonstrated that if you continue to block routes of transit, if you continue to threaten ports, if you continue to take real estate, as they’re trying to do in Marib today, if they continue down that path, they’ll be rewarded with sanctions relief. That’s the wrong direction. They understand power. We’ve now demonstrated that we’re prepared to give them something when, in fact, they gave up nothing.”

Last week, Brent crude futures jumped above $70 for the first time in more than a year after Saudi oil facilities were targeted by missiles and drones. A petroleum tank farm at one of the world’s largest oil shipping ports was attacked by a drone while a ballistic missile targeted Saudi Aramco facilities, according to state news agency SPA. Shrapnel from the intercepted missile fell near residential areas in the city of Dhahran.

“You’ll recall that when the Saudi Aramco facility was targeted during our administration, I made (it) very clear where those missiles came from. They didn’t come from Yemen. These were Iranian missiles launched by the Iranians,” Pompeo told Arab News.

“This continued effort to undermine the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to threaten people, whether they’re in Dhahran — where there are many, many Americans — or they’re in Riyadh, is something that poses a real threat to stability throughout the Middle East.

“Our administration here in America, administrations all throughout Europe, have a responsibility to push back against this and impose real cost on the Iranians for this kind of misbehavior. It’s quite something that, somehow, missile launches of Iranian missiles have now become, (for) this administration at least, something that isn’t viewed as requiring a direct response.

“There are few places in the world where this would be permitted to happen without a serious response from the Western world, and that would include a serious response, at least rhetorically, from the United Nations. I hope that that takes place.”

Pompeo said while it is “hard to know day-to-day” whether the risk today is higher than what it was a week or two weeks ago, we know this: Deterring the Iranian regime requires a consistent, sound message and a willingness to impose costs on the Iranian leadership.”

So, what does Pompeo make of the US military strikes in Syria last month on a site used by two Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups, ostensibly in response to rocket attacks on American forces in Iraq? President Biden later described the strike as a message to Iran: “You can’t act with impunity, be careful.”

Pompeo said that “if the response to Iranian aggression is to throw some missiles into the desert, or hit a supply building in Syria, which imposes almost no cost on the Iranian regime itself, if those are the responses, then there is little “likelihood of being able to establish deterrents to protect and defend our soldiers who are stationed all across the Middle East, not just in Saudi Arabia, but throughout all the Middle East.

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In his view, “we have an obligation to get that right and it’s going to take a strong American response to deter them.”

Encouraged perhaps by the successful campaign to get Biden to end the Trump-era Houthi “terrorist” designation, some religious, political and humanitarian leaders have recently signed a letter calling on the US president to lift economic sanctions on Syria. But Pompeo considers the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act “really important.”

“The great news was it was a bipartisan effort, this wasn’t just the Trump administration,” he told Arab News. “It empowered me as then-secretary of state to take real actions and respond under the authority of the Caesar Act. It was very effective. It put pressure on Syrian businessmen who had deep connections to Iran. It put pressure on Hezbollah and businesspeople who were underwriting Hezbollah.

“It was incredibly effective. I hope the Caesar Act and the enforcement of that by the administration will continue.”

 

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Kurdish fighters leave northern city in Syria as part of deal with central government

Updated 04 April 2025
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Kurdish fighters leave northern city in Syria as part of deal with central government

  • The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh
  • The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month

ALEPPO, Syria: Scores of US-backed Kurdish fighters left two neighborhoods in the Syrian Arab Republic’s northern city of Aleppo Friday as part of a deal with the central government in Damascus, which is expanding its authority in the country.
The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh, which had been under the control of Kurdish fighters in Aleppo over the past decade.
The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month between Syria’s interim government and the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. The deal could eventually lead to the merger of the main US-backed force in Syria into the Syrian army.
The withdrawal of fighters from the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces came a day after dozens of prisoners from both sides were freed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.
Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces were deployed along the road that SDF fighters will use to move between Aleppo and areas east of the Euphrates River, where the Kurdish-led force controls nearly a quarter of Syria.
Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh had been under SDF control since 2015 and remained so even when forces of ousted President Bashar Assad captured Aleppo in late 2016. The two neighborhoods remained under SDF control when forces loyal to current interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa captured the city in November, and days later captured the capital, Damascus, removing Assad from power.
After being marginalized for decades under the rule of the Assad family rule, the deal signed last month promises Syria’s Kurds “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades.
Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.
Kurds made up 10 percent of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Kurdish leaders say they don’t want full autonomy with their own government and parliament. They want decentralization and room to run their day-to day-affairs.


King Abdullah, Bulgarian president co-chair Aqaba Process meetings in Sofia

Updated 04 April 2025
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King Abdullah, Bulgarian president co-chair Aqaba Process meetings in Sofia

  • Initiative aims to bolster cooperation on security, counterterrorism issues
  • King held separate talks with several regional leaders on sidelines of event

LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan and Bulgarian President Rumen Radev co-chaired the third round of the Aqaba Process meetings in Sofia on Friday, bringing together international leaders to address pressing security challenges in the Balkans and beyond, the Jordan News Agency reported.

The Aqaba Process Balkans III forum, jointly organized by Jordan and Bulgaria, tackled issues such as regional security, counterterrorism efforts, online radicalization and illegal migration. The participants also explored opportunities for greater international cooperation, including intelligence sharing and strategic partnerships in combating extremism.

Attending the event were heads of state, government officials and security representatives from Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, the UK, US and Japan.

Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, King Abdullah’s personal envoy and chief adviser on religious and cultural affairs, was among the attendees, while several international organizations, including the EU, Interpol, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, were also represented.

On the sidelines of the forum, King Abdullah held meetings with several regional leaders, including Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar, Albanian President Bajram Begaj, Kosovan President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, North Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, Montenegrin President Jakov Milatovic and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Launched by the king in 2015, the Aqaba Process is designed to enhance coordination between regional and international actors in the fight against terrorism and extremism. It fosters military, security and intelligence cooperation, focusing on counterterrorism strategies and the exchange of expertise.

Previous meetings have been hosted by Jordan, Albania, Brazil, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Rwanda, Singapore, Spain, the US and the UN General Assembly.

Discussions have covered diverse regions such as East Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, West Africa and the Sahel.


It’s not enough for audiences just to feel ‘sad,’ says Oscar-winning director of ‘No Other Land’

Updated 04 April 2025
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It’s not enough for audiences just to feel ‘sad,’ says Oscar-winning director of ‘No Other Land’

  • ‘People need to use their voices to influence their governments and to hold Israel accountable for violating international law,’ Palestinian filmmaker Basel Adra tells Arab News
  • Adra, who addressed the UN in New York this week, says that the Oscar recognition was a moment of pride but has not resulted in any tangible changes for Palestinians

NEW YORK CITY: Basel Adra, the Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary film “No Other Land,” has garnered global attention for his compelling portrayal of the hardships faced by Palestinians in the West Bank, particularly his home region of Masafer Yatta.

The film chronicles the ongoing violence against, and forced displacement of, Palestinians at the hands of Israeli forces and settlers in an area designated a restricted military zone by Israel since the 1980s.

Despite all the accolades for the film over the past year, including the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards last month, Adra’s message remains one of urgency and resistance.

The filmmaker spoke with Arab News in New York about the continuing suffering of the Palestinian people, and underscored the fact that the situation has worsened despite the international recognition of his work.

“No Other Land” has sparked intense emotional responses from audiences worldwide but Adra believes the film should do more than just evoke feelings of sadness, it should inspire action.

“Audiences feel emotionally connected to the people of Masafer Yatta, to the land and to the cause,” he said. “But it’s not enough to just feel sorrow for them. People need to use their voices to influence their governments and to hold Israel accountable for violating international law.”

Adra, who had been invited to New York speak at the UN by the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, continues to call for international pressure on Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territory.

During his speech, which followed a screening of his film that received a lengthy standing ovation from a full house, Adra made an impassioned plea: “I wanted the world to know that we live in this land, that we exist, and to see what we face on a daily basis — this brutal occupation.”

His film reveals the harsh realities of Palestinians who face violent evictions, the demolition of their homes and attacks by Israeli settlers, all under the protection of the Israeli military.

After a prolonged legal battle over the expulsion of residents from eight villages in Masafer Yatta, in 2022 the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Israeli army and allowed the evictions to proceed.

Adra said that the recognition of the film by the Academy Awards, though a moment of pride, has not resulted in any tangible changes on the ground for Palestinians.

“Even after winning the Oscar, we went back to the same reality,” he lamented. In fact the situation has only gotten worse. While attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank had long been escalating, the situation has reached new heights of violence since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Last week, one of Adra’s co-directors, fellow Palestinian Hamdan Ballal, reported he had been attacked by Israeli settlers for winning the Oscar, and was detained by Israeli police for “hurling rocks,” during which he suffered a beating and “brutality.”

In a somber reflection, Adra acknowledged the growing risks to Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta and reiterated the urgent need for the world to act.

“There’s no time to wait,” he said. “The international community needs to take serious action now. Otherwise, Israel will continue with its aggression.”

Though widely acclaimed, the documentary has sparked mixed reactions from some, particularly regarding the involvement of Yuval Abraham, one of two Israeli co-directors of the film (the other is Rachel Szor), a figure some critics felt represented a form of “normalization” of Israeli policies.

Adra firmly rejected this suggestion and said such criticism makes him “very sad,” adding: “The last thing I want is to normalize the occupation. Everything I do with Yuval is activism, to change this and to end the occupation.”

Despite the challenges, Adra said his bond with his co-director remains strong.

“Now, we are allies and we are activists. We will continue to fight,” he added, affirming their shared mission to end the occupation and the system of apartheid Israel operates in the Palestinian territories.

Looking ahead, Adra said his work continues to be driven by the hope of a better future for his people. He plans to return to Palestine soon, and his message to the Palestinian people remains consistent: “To keep standing strong, not to give up, and to hold on. We have to keep being alive.”

Despite the critical acclaim, Oscar recognition and other awards it has received, “No Other Land” has has found it difficult to secure widespread distribution, particularly in the US.

In a world where the cost of inaction is high, Adra said he will continue to work tirelessly for justice in an attempt to compel audiences and governments around the world to reflect on their role in the ongoing conflict and take responsibility for the lives that are affected.


In Tunisia, snails inch toward replacing red meat as people turn to cheaper protein

Updated 04 April 2025
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In Tunisia, snails inch toward replacing red meat as people turn to cheaper protein

  • Snails have been consumed in Tunisia for more than seven millenia
  • Low in fat and high in iron, calcium and magnesium, snails offer both nutritional value and economic relief

AKOUDA, Tunisia: In fields outside their hometown in central Tunisia, an increasing number of unemployed young men are seeking a new way to make a living, picking snails off of rocks and leaves and collecting them in large plastic bags to take to the local market to be sold.
More and more people, they say, are buying the shelled wanderers as the price of market staples remains high and out of reach for many families.
“They’re profitable, beneficial and quite in demand,” said Karim, a 29-year-old snail seller from the village of Akouda said.
Snails have been consumed in Tunisia for more than seven millenia, according to research published last year in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. In today’s world considered mostly a bistro delicacy, they’re again gaining traction in Tunisia as a practical alternative to red meat — a protein-rich substitute that pairs perfectly with salt, spices, and bold seasonings.
The snails are a lifeline for some in Tunisia, where youth unemployment now hovers above 40 percent and inflation remains high, three years after spiking to its highest levels in decades. A lack of opportunity has fueled social discontent throughout the country and, increasingly, migration to Europe.
Low in fat and high in iron, calcium and magnesium, snails offer both nutritional value and economic relief. In a country where unemployment runs high and median wages remain low, they cost about half as much as beef per kilogram and often less when sold by the bowl.
“Snails are better for cooking than lamb. If lamb meat costs 60 dinars ($19.30), a bowl of snails is five dinars ($1.60),” a man named Mohammed said at the Akouda market.
As the price of meat and poultry continues to rise, more Tunisians are turning to affordable, alternative sources of protein. Beyond their economic appeal, these substitutes are also drawing interest for their environmental benefits. Scientists say they offer a more sustainable solution, producing far fewer carbon emissions and avoiding the deforestation linked to traditional livestock farming.
Wahiba Dridi, who serves snails at her restaurant in Tunis, cooks them in a traditional fashion with peppers and spices. She said they were popular throughout this year’s Ramadan, which ended last week. Though Tunisian Muslims traditionally eat red meat at the meals during which they break their daily fasts, a kilogram of snails costs less than 28 Tunisian dinars ($9) compared to beef, which costs 55 dinars per kilogram ($18).
“If people knew the value of snails they would eat them all year long,” Dridi said.


Israel kills Hamas commander in Lebanon strike

Local residents walk past debris in front of an apartment building following an Israeli strike in Sidon on April 4, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 53 min 47 sec ago
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Israel kills Hamas commander in Lebanon strike

  • PM Nawaf Salam condemns targeting of civilians in Sidon, violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty

BEIRUT: Israel killed a commander of Hamas on Friday in a pre-dawn strike in the Lebanese port city of Sidon that also killed his two children.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described the strike as a “blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty” and a breach of the ceasefire established on Nov. 27 with Israel.

He urged for maximum pressure on Israel to stop ongoing attacks that target various districts, many of which are residential areas, affirming that all military operations must cease.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, confirmed the death of Hassan Farhat, also known as Abu Yasser.

According to a statement from his media office, Salam said: “Targeting Saida (Sidon) or any other area in Lebanon is a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a clear breach of UN Resolution 1701, as well as the security arrangement agreement regarding the cessation of hostilities.”

Lebanese state media had reported the 3:45 a.m. (0045 GMT) strike in Sidon.

A drone attacked a residential apartment, resulting in two explosions that caused a fire and significant damage, the National News Agency reported.

Sidon Mayor Hazem Badih stated that the raid resulted in the deaths of a father, his son Hamza, and his daughter Jinane.

It also destroyed the apartment and its contents, damaging neighboring apartments and buildings.

Media reports from Sidon indicated that the husband’s daughter was associated with the “Islamic Group in Lebanon.”

The Israeli raid caused damage to nearby buildings, shops, and parked cars, resulting in panic among residents.

Sidon is located less than 50 km from the southern border and 45 km from Beirut.

It is home to the Ain Al-Helweh camp, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

Over the decades, many of its residents have opted to live in the city rather than in the overcrowded neighborhoods of the camp.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee stated that the military carried out an operation directed by the Northern Command and the Intelligence Directorate.

Adraee said the objective was to target Farhat, the commander of the Western Sector of Hamas in Lebanon, who is based in the Sidon area of southern Lebanon.

The army claimed that Farhat orchestrated multiple attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians during the hostilities that followed the outbreak of war in Gaza in October 2023.

Adraee also stated that Farhat had promoted plans against Israel in recent months, posing a threat to the country and its citizens. This included the rocket fire on the Israeli town of Safed on Feb. 14, 2024, which resulted in the death of an Israeli soldier, according to the military.

Hamas stated that Farhat was “assassinated by an Israeli military drone in his apartment on the fourth floor of a seven-story building in a neighborhood of Saida, southern Lebanon. He was killed along with his two children by two guided missiles while they were sleeping.”

The Palestinian movement stated that the target was a commander of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, and his son was a member of Hamas’ military wing.

This is the second Israeli assassination in a matter of days, following the killing of a Hezbollah official at his apartment on the second day of Eid Al-Fitr in the southern suburb of Beirut.

Also on Friday, Lebanon’s prime minister met with a delegation of mayors from border villages that were destroyed by the Israeli army during its conflict with Hezbollah, preventing residents from returning.

Salam reiterated his support for the residents in their efforts to secure essential assistance from the government to rebuild their destroyed homes and emphasized that the government was continuing its efforts to end the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.

He stated that the initial phase of the reconstruction process will prioritize repairing infrastructure, including roads, and ensuring the provision of water, electricity, and communication services.

A plan is being developed with the World Bank to ensure fairness among different villages and towns.

Salam highlighted the importance of maintaining stability, which requires implementing measures to ensure the safety and dignified existence of citizens.

Qassem Al-Qadri, the mayor of Kfar Shouba, stated that the border villages were facing difficult conditions, with a severe lack of security.

Al-Qadri claimed that the presence of the state in “our villages is still very limited” and that the government had not yet assessed all the damages nor reached every village.

He stated that the assistance at present primarily included food aid, while “we urgently require electricity, water, and infrastructure.”

Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said that the recent Israeli airstrike on Sidon constituted a clear violation of Lebanese sovereignty.

He said that if UN Resolution 1701 is to be enforced, it should be emphasized that Israel is the main violator of both the resolution and the agreement that established it.

The countries sponsoring this agreement, namely the US and France, must urge Israel to stop its attacks on Lebanon, he added.

In the border town of Kafr Kila, residents found flyers posted on the walls of their damaged homes amid ongoing Israeli military actions.

The flyers warned that their homes would be targeted if members of Hezbollah used them, stating: “Do not allow Hezbollah members to return to their homes or the area. Hezbollah is putting you and your family at risk. The choice is yours.”