BEIRUT: Scores of protesters clashed with riot police in Beirut on Thursday as they tried to break into the chief offices of Lebanon’s judiciary after officials moved to cripple the probe into the massive port explosion that wreaked havoc on the capital city in 2020.
Several demonstrators were wounded as police pushed back crowds from outside Beirut’s Palace of Justice, beating people with batons.
On Wednesday, Lebanon chief prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat ordered the release of all suspects detained in the investigation into the deadly port blast in Beirut, and filed charges against the judge leading the probe, Tarek Bitar.
Among those released was an American citizen whose detention without trial had drawn threats of sanctions from US officials, and who promptly left Lebanon, circumventing a travel ban.
Bitar on Monday resumed the investigation based on his legal interpretation, following a 13-month halt over legal challenges raised by politicians accused in the probe. He also charged more than a dozen senior political, judicial, and security officials, including Oueidat.
The recent developments have led to a standoff between the two judges, who each claim the other is breaking the law, crippling Lebanon’s judiciary, as the country’s cash-strapped institutions continue to decay.
Lebanon’s Higher Judicial Council failed to meet as scheduled on Thursday to discuss Bitar’s “judicial coup d’état.”
The council’s members said they avoided convening due to public pressure and MPs’ interference with the judiciary.
During Thursday’s protests, MPs were hit and a lawyer was handcuffed by security officers.
Hundreds of families of Beirut blast victims rallied near the Justice Palace to protest against a decision by the Higher Judicial Council to remove Bitar from the investigation. They expressed their anger at Oueidat, demanding his removal from the case and describing his move as “a scandal.”
Willam Noun, spokesman for the families of the Beirut Port Blast victims, told Arab News: “It was an unexpected decision that we are not contented with.
“We did not expect this absurdity. They are settling their scores with our martyrs’ blood.
“We prefer to find justice from our country’s judiciary, however, after what has happened, we call on an international investigation into the crime.”
Peter Bou Saeb, a brother of one of the victims, said: “We were shocked by the decision to release the detainees.
“This case has turned into a confrontation between us and the judiciary; Let them deal with the consequences.
The mother of victim Jack Baramakian, who held her son’s photo while weeping, said: “My son was guilty of being at home; We live opposite the explosion site, and seven of our neighbors died in our building. Who will do us justice?”
Families held banners demanding the “overthrow of the police regime,” stressing that “justice will happen” and “failing to speak up is a crime.”
They stood in solidarity with Bitar, who resumed his work despite the political disruption deterring his investigation into one of Lebanon’s biggest disasters.
Families called on the Higher Judicial Council to protect the course of the investigation and put an end to political pressure on Bitar that aims to implement the agenda of the political class.
They held the security agencies responsible for the safety of the judge as well as private documents relating to the case.
Some Reformist MPs joined the angry victims’ families and met caretaker Justice Minister Henri Khoury to discuss the move against Bitar.
The meeting devolved into a heated exchange and state security officers, who are duty-bound to protect the minister, restrained the MPs.
Angry protesters broke into the Ministry of Justice, throwing rocks and unlocking an access gate, allowing crowds to enter. However, riot police struck back by hitting demonstrators with batons, causing several injuries.
Lawyer and activist Wassef Harake was seen handcuffed and dragged by security officers inside the justice palace building.
MP Adib Abdel Massih told protesters that he was assaulted by security agents and had his phone seized.
MP Paula Yaacoubian said: “This is a lunatic asylum and justice is being evaded.”
MP Mark Daou said: “Oueidat’s move is a coup; This is not judicial work; it is political.” He denied that MPs interfered with the judiciary.
Among those released by Oueidat was Beirut Port head of security Mohammad Ziad Al-Ouf, a dual US Lebanese citizen.
According to security and judiciary sources, several Lebanese citizens received messages from the US warning that they will be subject to the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act if fail to address the fate of American national Al-Ouf, who was detained without trial for two and a half years. “Arbitrary arrest rules apply to Al-Ouf and his file has reached Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, and currently awaits his signature,” the message said.
In the event that Blinken signs the file, sanctions will be imposed on the Lebanese state, and penalties will be imposed on those who interfered with the case, including judges and ministers.
Activist Nizar Zakka, who was wrongfully detained in Iranian prisons for years, tweeted: “US citizen Ziad Al-Ouf, freed from unlawful detention in Lebanon for more than two years, is thankfully on his way home to the US.
“He will finally be reunited with his family.”
A photo of Al-Ouf smiling onboard a plane next to his family circulated on Wednesday night shortly after his release.
Oueidat imposed a travel ban on detainees who were released, justifying his move to journalists on Thursday, saying: “Implementing a travel ban requires five hours.”
Beirut blast victims’ relatives rally for embattled probe judge
https://arab.news/28yuh
Beirut blast victims’ relatives rally for embattled probe judge
- The recent developments have led to a standoff between the two judges, who each claim the other is breaking the law, crippling Lebanon’s judiciary
- Willam Noun, spokesman for the families of the Beirut Port Blast victims, told Arab News: “It was an unexpected decision that we are not contented with”
Two Israeli strikes hit south Beirut: Lebanon state media
- “Israeli warplanes launched two violent strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in the Kafaat area,” official National News Agency said
- The raids “caused massive destruction over a large geographical area” of the Kafaat district, NNA said
BEIRUT: Lebanese state media reported two Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, about an hour after the Israeli military posted evacuation calls online for parts of the Hezbollah bastion.
“Israeli warplanes launched two violent strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in the Kafaat area,” the official National News Agency said.
The southern Beirut area has been repeatedly struck since September 23 when Israel intensified its air campaign also targeting Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon’s east and south. It later sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.
AFPTV footage showed grey smoke billowing over south Beirut.
The raids “caused massive destruction over a large geographical area” of the Kafaat district, NNA said.
Earlier Sunday, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee warned on social media platform X that the military would strike “Hezbollah facilities and interests” in the Hadath and Burj Al-Barajneh districts, also sharing maps of the areas to be evacuated.
Full-on war erupted following nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Iran-backed Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas, after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack sparked the Gaza war.
Israel records 160 launches fom Lebanon as Hezbollah targets Tel Aviv, south
- Medical agencies reported that at least 11 people were wounded, including a man in a “moderate to serious” condition
JERUSALEM: Israel’s army said Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into its territory from Lebanon on Sunday, with the group saying its attacks had targeted the Tel Aviv area and Israel’s south.
The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it had “launched, for the first time, an aerial attack using a swarm of attack drones on the Ashdod naval base” in southern Israel.
Later, it said it fired “a barrage of advanced missiles and a swarm of attack drones” at a “military target” in Tel Aviv, and had also launched a volley of missiles at the Glilot army intelligence base in the city’s suburbs.
The Israeli military did not comment on the specific attack claims when contacted by AFP.
But it said earlier that air raid sirens had sounded in several locations in central and northern Israel, including in the greater Tel Aviv suburbs.
It later reported that “approximately 160 projectiles that were fired by the Hezbollah terrorist organization have crossed from Lebanon into Israel.”
Some of the projectiles were shot down.
Medical agencies reported that at least 11 people were wounded, including a man in a “moderate to serious” condition.
AFP images from Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, showed several damaged and burned-out cars, and a house pockmarked by shrapnel.
The wave of projectiles follows at least four deadly Israeli strikes in central Beirut in the past week, including one that killed Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif.
In a speech on Wednesday, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem had said the response to the recent strikes on the capital “must be expected on central Tel Aviv.”
The Lebanese army, meanwhile, said that a soldier was killed on Sunday and 18 others injured, “including some with severe wounds, as a result of an Israeli attack targeting a Lebanese army center in Amriyeh.”
Though the Lebanese army is not a party to the war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli strikes have killed 19 Lebanese soldiers in the last two months, authorities have said.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its Lebanon air campaign, later sending in ground troops after nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack, which sparked the Gaza war.
Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 3,670 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them since September this year.
Israeli strike on Lebanese army center kills soldier, wounds 18 others
- It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops
- Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.
It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah militants.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.
“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.
The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.
Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.
Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel’s ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country’s north.
The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.
The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.
Lebanon’s army reflects the religious diversity of the country and is respected as a national institution, but it does not have the military capability to impose its will on Hezbollah or resist Israel’s invasion.
Top EU diplomat urges ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Hezbollah-Israel war
- “We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701,” Borrell said
BEIRUT: The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to the Lebanese capital for talks.
Since September 23, Israel has intensified its air campaign in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops following nearly a year of limited exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas after the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war.
“We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701,” Borrell said after meeting Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of Hezbollah.
Resolution 1701 ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war of 2006 and stated that Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces in the country’s south, where Hezbollah holds sway.
It also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon.
“Back in September I came and was still hoping we could prevent a full-fledged war of Israel attacking Lebanon,” Borrell said on Sunday.
“Two months later Lebanon is on the brink of collapse.”
He said the European Union was ready to provide 200 million euros for Lebanon’s army, whose deployment in larger numbers along the border forms a crucial point in truce talks.
France and Washington have been spearheading ceasefire efforts, with US envoy Amos Hochstein visiting Lebanon and Israel this week to discuss a truce plan based on implementing Resolution 1701.
“We must pressure the Israeli government and maintain the pressure on Hezbollah to accept the US proposal for a ceasefire,” Borrell said, calling for an “immediate” truce.
Israeli army orders Gaza City suburb evacuated, spurring new displacement wave
- Israeli military blames Hamas rocket fire for renewed evacuation directive
- Palestinians say hospitals in north Gaza barely functioning
CAIRO: The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents in areas of an eastern Gaza City suburb, setting off a new wave of displacement on Sunday, and a Gaza hospital director was injured in an Israeli drone attack, Palestinian medics said.
The new orders for the Shejaia suburb posted by the Israeli army spokesperson on X on Saturday night were blamed on Palestinian militants firing rockets from that heavily built-up district in the north of the Gaza Strip.
“For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the south,” the military’s post said. The rocket volley on Saturday was claimed by Hamas’ armed wing, which said it had targeted an Israeli army base over the border.
Footage circulated on social and Palestinian media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed residents leaving Shejaia on donkey carts and rickshaws, with others, including children carrying backpacks, walking.
Families living in the targeted areas began fleeing their homes after nightfall on Saturday and into Sunday’s early hours, residents and Palestinian media said — the latest in multiple waves of displacement since the war began 13 months ago.
In central Gaza, health officials said at least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the urban camps of Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij since Saturday night.
Hospital director wounded by gunfire
In north Gaza, where Israeli forces have been operating against regrouping Hamas militants since early last month, health officials said an Israeli drone dropped bombs on Kamal Adwan Hospital, injuring its director Hussam Abu Safiya.
“This will not stop us from completing our humanitarian mission and we will continue to do this job at any cost,” Abu Safiya said in a video statement circulated by the health ministry on Sunday.
“We are being targeted daily. They targeted me a while ago but this will not deter us...,” he said from his hospital bed.
Israeli forces say armed militants use civilian buildings including housing blocks, hospitals and schools for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminately targeting populated areas.
Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in north Gaza that are barely operational as the health ministry said the Israeli forces have detained and expelled medical staff and prevented emergency medical, food and fuel supplies from reaching them.
In the past few weeks, Israel said it had facilitated the delivery of medical and fuel supplies and the transfer of patients from north Gaza hospitals in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organization.
Residents in three embattled north Gaza towns — Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun — said Israeli forces had blown up hundreds of houses since renewing operations in an area that Israel said months ago had been cleared of militants.
Palestinians say Israel appears determined to depopulate the area permanently to create a buffer zone along the northern edge of Gaza, an accusation Israel denies.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 people, uprooted nearly all the enclave’s 2.3 million population at least once, according to Gaza officials, while reducing wide swathes of the narrow coastal territory to rubble.
The war erupted in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023 in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
