SIDON, Lebanon: Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister called the Palestinian president Thursday to demand an end to the volatile situation in the country’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, warning that Lebanese troops may intervene to stop the fighting that has left dozens dead and wounded.
Najib Mikati’s call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas came after days of sporadic clashes between Palestinian factions in the Ein El-Hilweh refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon.
Mikati called the fighting a “flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty” and said it was unacceptable for the warring Palestinian groups to “terrorize the Lebanese, especially the people of the south who have embraced the Palestinians for many years,” according to a statement released by his office.
His call came as cautious calm returned to the camp and surrounding area Thursday after a night of renewed clashes.
Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, which is home to about 50,000 people, has been rocked since Sunday by fierce battles between Abbas’ Fatah party and Islamist groups Jund Al-Sham and Shabab Al-Muslim.
Fatah has accused the Islamists of gunning down a Fatah military general, Abu Ashraf Al-Armoushi, in the camp on Sunday.
The fighting has so far killed more than a dozen people, wounded dozens more, and displaced thousands.
In the city of Sidon, outside the camp’s borders, around 100 camp residents who had fled the clashes were sheltering in a nearby mosque on Thursday. Sheikh Ahmad Nader said that around 2,000 people had sheltered at the mosque since the beginning of the clashes.
“We are tired of all of this,” said Mohamed Sabakh, an Ein El-Hilweh resident staying in the mosque with his family. “We have children.”
Even outside the camp, Sabakh said, they feel trapped by the fighting.
“Look around you, all the stores are closed. People are locked down in their houses. There is nowhere to get bread even, all the roads are closed.”
Dr. Riad Abu Al-Einein, head of Al Hamshari Hospital near the camp, said that the hospital had received the body of a person killed in Wednesday night’s clashes, bringing the total number killed in the battles to 13, with dozens more wounded.
If the situation continues, he said, “it will affect not only the families in the camp but all of the people in Sidon, especially as there were several rocket-propelled grenades and gunshots hit residential areas in the city,” he said.
Maher Shabaita, head of Fatah in the Sidon region, confirmed that one of the group’s members was killed in Wednesday night’s clashes.
He said Fatah fighters had defended themselves after the Islamist groups attacked one of Fatah’s centers in the camp, breaking a cease-fire agreement reached Monday, in what he described as part of a “project to destroy the camp and transform the camp from a camp of militants, possibly a camp of terrorists.”
Palestinian factions in the camp have formed an investigative committee to determine who was responsible for Armoushi’s killing and hand them over to the Lebanese judiciary for trial, he said.
The Lebanese army generally doesn’t enter the Palestinian camps, which are controlled by a network of Palestinian factions, and hasn’t taken an active role in the conflict in Ein El-Hilweh.
In 2007, the Lebanese army battled Islamist extremists in another Palestinian camp, Nahr Al-Bared in north Lebanon, razing most of the camp in the process.
Elias Farhat, a retired Lebanese army general who is now a researcher in military affairs, said it was unlikely that the army would intervene in the Ein El-Hilweh clashes, because – unlike in Nahr Al-Bared – the combatants haven’t directly targeted the army.
Lebanon warns Palestinian president that troops may intervene if clashes continue in refugee camp
https://arab.news/y4xuk
Lebanon warns Palestinian president that troops may intervene if clashes continue in refugee camp
- Najib Mikati calls fighting a ‘flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty’
- Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp rocked by fierce battles between Fatah and Islamist groups
US targets Syrian company with sanctions over IRGC, Houthi funding
- Some 26 companies, individuals and vessels associated with the company were targeted in Thursday’s action
WASHINGTON: The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Thursday on companies, individuals and vessels associated with a Syrian conglomerate that Washington said was funding Iran’s Quds Force and Yemen’s Houthis.
The Syrian conglomerate, the Al-Qatirji Company, is responsible for generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Quds Force and the Houthis through the sale of Iranian oil to Syria and China, the department said in a statement.
“Iran is increasingly relying on key business partners like the Al-Qatirji Company to fund its destabilizing activities and web of terrorist proxies across the region,” said department official Bradley Smith said.
The Al-Qatirji Company had already been under sanctions for its role in facilitating the sale of fuel between the Syrian regime and Daesh, the department said. Some 26 companies, individuals and vessels associated with the company were targeted in Thursday’s action, it added.
Hezbollah should abandon arms to end Israel war, Lebanese Christian party head says
- Hezbollah’s critics in Lebanon, such as Geagea, say it unilaterally pulled Lebanon into a new war after it began firing at Israel in solidarity with Hamas
MAARAB: The head of Lebanon’s largest Christian party said Iran-backed Hezbollah should relinquish its weapons as quickly as possible to end its year-long war with Israel and spare Lebanon further death and destruction.
Samir Geagea, Hezbollah’s fiercest political opponent in Lebanon, spoke to Reuters on Thursday at his mountain home and party headquarters in Maarab, north of Beirut, as Israel carried out waves of strikes on areas Hezbollah holds sway.
“With the destruction of all of Hezbollah’s infrastructure and its warehouses, a big part of Lebanon is also being destroyed. That’s the price,” he said.
Hezbollah’s critics in Lebanon, such as Geagea, say it unilaterally pulled Lebanon into a new war after it began firing at Israel in solidarity with Palestinian group Hamas following the Oct. 7 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Hezbollah says it is defending Lebanon from Israeli aggression and has vowed to keep fighting, saying it will not lay down its arms or allow Israel to achieve political gains on the back of the war.
The intense pressure of Israel’s military campaign, which has escalated and expanded since late September to include ground incursions into southern Lebanon, presented an opportunity to get the country back on track, Geagea said.
“If the challenges and the prices paid are so big, then we can take advantage of them to get the situation back to normal,” he said, calling on Hezbollah and the Lebanese state to swiftly implement local accords and international resolutions disbanding armed factions outside the control of the state.
“That is the shortest way to end the war. It’s the least costly way for Lebanon and for the Lebanese people,” he said.
Faltering diplomatic efforts on a ceasefire have centered on United Nations Resolution 1701, which brought an end to Hezbollah’s last deadly conflict with Israel in 2006.
Israel has insisted that this time around, it wants to keep carrying out strikes against Hezbollah threats even if a truce is agreed.
Geagea said he was opposed to granting Israel that option but said Lebanon had little power to stop it, especially if an excuse remained in the form of Hezbollah’s armed presence.
Arms race
Lebanon’s population is a mosaic of more than a dozen religious sects, with political representation divided along sectarian lines. Religious divisions fueled the 1975-1990 civil war, which left some 150,000 people dead and drew in neighboring states.
Geagea’s party, the Lebanese Forces, was one of the main warring factions during the civil war and aligned itself with Israel, including when Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon reached Beirut, and its leader, Bashir Gemayel, was elected president.
Gemayel was assassinated before he could assume office, and Geagea said he saw no parallels with that period today.
The Lebanese Forces relinquished its weapons in line with the Taef Accord, which ended the civil war and called on all militias to disband.
Hezbollah did not, saying it needed them to fight Israel’s continued occupation of southern Lebanon. But the group refused to disarm when Israeli troops withdrew in 2000, citing ongoing threats.
Despite his decades-old opposition to Hezbollah, Geagea, 72, said he opposed the Lebanese army forcefully disarming the group.
He said he does “not see the possibility of any civil war” breaking out and said that his party “categorically” did not want one to start.
Still, he noted that the mass displacement of mostly Shiite Muslim Lebanese into Sunni and Christian-majority areas could spark “problems here or there” in a country that was already suffering an economic crisis before the war.
They include thousands who have fled into areas that are strongholds of Geagea’s party. In Beirut, Lebanese Forces flags were put up overnight in neighborhoods where the group has strong support, but no clashes have been reported.
More than 1.2 million people have fled heavy Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s south, eastern Bekaa valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
In recent weeks, Israeli troops carrying out incursions into southern Lebanon have laced entire villages with explosives and detonated them, leaving border towns in ruins.
Hezbollah says it has managed to keep Israeli troops at bay by preventing them from holding any ground in south Lebanon.
But Geagea disputed that reading, saying Israel’s “new military doctrine” was to enter areas, carry out operations, and leave, and that the war’s next phase could see villages deeper into Lebanon being hit.
He said Israel’s military and economic strength would always give it an advantage over Hezbollah, even if the group re-armed.
“Do you have the ability to enter this arms race?” he said.
Israel’s warfare in Gaza consistent with genocide, UN committee finds
- Committee’s report states ‘Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life’
- It raises ‘serious concern’ about Israel’s use of AI to choose targets ‘with minimal human oversight,’ resulting in ‘overwhelming’ casualties among women and children
NEW YORK: Israel’s methods of warfare in Gaza, including the use of starvation as a weapon, mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions deliberately inflicted on Palestinians in the territory, are consistent with the characteristics of genocide, the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices said in a report published on Thursday.
“Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life: food, water and fuel,” the committee said.
Statements from Israeli authorities and the “systematic and unlawful” blocking of humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza make clear “Israel’s intent to instrumentalize life-saving supplies for political and military gains,” it added.
The committee, the full title of which is the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, was established by the UN General Assembly in 1968 to monitor the human rights situation in the occupied Golan heights, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. It comprises the permanent representatives to the UN from three member states, currently Malaysia, Senegal and Sri Lanka, who are appointed by the president of the General Assembly.
Its latest report, which covers the period from October 2023 to July 2024, mostly focuses on the effects of the war in Gaza on the rights of Palestinians.
“Through its siege over Gaza, obstruction of humanitarian aid, alongside targeted attacks and killing of civilians and aid workers, despite repeated UN appeals, binding orders from the International Court of Justice and resolutions of the Security Council, Israel is intentionally causing death, starvation and serious injury, using starvation as a method of war and inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian population,” the committee said.
The “extensive” Israeli bombing campaign has wiped out essential services in Gaza and caused an “environmental catastrophe” that will have “lasting health impacts,” it adds.
By early 2024, the report says, more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives, equivalent to two nuclear bombs, had been dropped on Gaza, causing “massive” destruction, the collapse of water and sanitation systems, agricultural devastation and toxic pollution. This has created a “lethal mix of crises that will inflict severe harm on generations to come,” the committee said.
The report notes “serious concern” about Israel’s use of artificial intelligence technology to choose its targets “with minimal human oversight,” the consequence of which has been “overwhelming” numbers of deaths of women and children. This underscores “Israel’s disregard of its obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants and take adequate safeguards to prevent civilian deaths,” it adds.
In addition, Israel’s escalating censorship of the media and targeting of journalists are “deliberate efforts” to block global access to information, the committee found, and the report states that social media companies have disproportionately removed “pro-Palestinian content” in comparison with posts inciting violence against Palestinians.
The committee also condemned the continuing “smear campaign” and other attacks on the reputation of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, and the wider UN.
“This deliberate silencing of reporting, combined with disinformation and attacks on humanitarian workers, is a clear strategy to undermine the vital work of the UN, sever the lifeline of aid still reaching Gaza, and dismantle the international legal order,” it said.
It called on all states to honor their legal obligations to stop and prevent violations of international law by Israel, including the system of apartheid that operates in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and to hold Israeli authorities accountable for their actions.
“Upholding international law and ensuring accountability for violations rests squarely on member states,” the committee said.
Failure to do this weakens “the very core of the international legal system and sets a dangerous precedent, allowing atrocities to go unchecked.”
The committee will officially present its report to the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly on Monday.
UN to bolster UNIFIL for post-truce support in Lebanon, peacekeeping chief says
- “I think that has to be very clear. Implementing the 1701 is the responsibility of the parties,” said Lacroix
- Lacroix said the peacekeeping mission would work with the Lebanese army to “support the implementation of a settlement
BEIRUT: The United Nations intends to bolster its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon to better support the Lebanese army once a truce is agreed but would not directly enforce a ceasefire, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Thursday.
The peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is deployed in southern Lebanon to monitor the demarcation line with Israel, an area that has seen more than a year of hostilities between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.
Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting have centered on UN resolution 1701, which ended the last round of conflict between the two heavily-armed foes in 2006 and requires Hezbollah to remove fighters and weapons from areas between the border and the Litani River, which runs about 30 km (around 20 miles) from Lebanon’s southern border.
Israel has for years accused UNIFIL of failing to implement the resolution, and now says peacekeepers must get out of the way as Israeli troops fight Hezbollah. UNIFIL troops have refused to leave their posts, despite repeated Israeli attacks that have wounded peacekeepers.
“I think that has to be very clear. Implementing the 1701 is the responsibility of the parties,” said Lacroix, speaking to reporters on a three-day visit to Lebanon. “UNIFIL has a supportive role, and there is a lot of substance in that supporting role.”
Lacroix said the peacekeeping mission would work with the Lebanese army to “support the implementation of a settlement” and was already in discussions with contributing nations to assess UNIFIL’s needs, including with advanced technology, without necessarily increasing troop numbers.
Following a truce, UNIFIL’s capacities could be expanded to include clearing explosive devices and reopening roads.
“We don’t necessarily think in terms of numbers, we think in terms of what would be the needs and how could they be fulfilled,” he said.
Lacroix said the UN and several member states have repeatedly called on all parties to ensure the safety of peacekeepers and that while incidents had not stopped, they had not increased following international condemnation.
Israel hits Beirut again, ceasefire terms in focus
- An Israeli minister indicated that a ceasefire was closer than at any point since the war began
- Senior Lebanese official Ali Hassan Khalil, speaking to Al Jazeera late on Wednesday, said Lebanon was ready to “precisely” implement UN Security Council resolution 1701
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: A senior Lebanese official has signalled that Hezbollah is ready to pull its forces away from the Lebanese-Israeli border in any ceasefire, while rejecting Israel’s demand for freedom to act against the Iran-backed group in Lebanon in the future.
An Israeli minister indicated that a ceasefire was closer than at any point since the war began, though he said a sticking point was ensuring Israel retains freedom to act inside Lebanon should any deal be violated.
Pressing its offensive against the Iran-backed group, Israel launched airstrikes on Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs on Thursday, keeping up its unusually intensive bombardment of the area for a third consecutive day.
Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows since launching its offensive in late September, escalating the conflict that had rumbled on in parallel to the Gaza war for a year. Hezbollah has kept up rocket fire into Israel and its fighters have been battling Israeli troops on the ground in the south.
A World Bank report estimated the cost of physical damage and economic losses due to the conflict in Lebanon at $8.5 billion — a massive price for a country still suffering the effects of a financial collapse five years ago.
Senior Lebanese official Ali Hassan Khalil, speaking to Al Jazeera late on Wednesday, said Lebanon was ready to “precisely” implement UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Its terms require Hezbollah to remove fighters and weapons from areas between the border and the Litani River, which runs about 30 km (around 20 miles) from Lebanon’s southern border.
Asked whether Hezbollah had informed him of a readiness to withdraw to the Litani, Khalil — a close Hezbollah ally and top aide to Lebanon’s parliament speaker — said the group had expressed its commitment to Resolution 1701.
The resolution, he added, “contained a clear set of provisions.” “Yes, the party is committed to what is stated in these texts,” he said, referring to Hezbollah.
The United States and other powers say a ceasefire must be based on Resolution 1701.
Israel long complained it was never implemented, pointing to Hezbollah weapons and fighters at the border. Lebanon in turn accused Israel of violating the resolution, with Israeli warplanes regularly violating its airspace.
STICKING POINT
Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, told Reuters: “I think we are at a point that we are closer to an arrangement than we have been since the start of the war.”
A key sticking point for Israel, he said, is ensuring it retains freedom of action should Hezbollah return to border areas. “We will be less forgiving than in the past over attempts to create strongholds in territory near Israel. That’s how we will be, and so that is certainly how we will act,” he said.
Earlier this week, White House envoy Amos Hochstein, who has led several fruitless attempts to broker a ceasefire, told Axios he thought “there is a shot” at a truce in Lebanon soon.
It points to a last-ditch effort by the outgoing US administration to seal a Lebanon deal, with diplomacy to end the Gaza war adrift.
Khalil said that Lebanese negotiators had reached agreement on “a certain text” with Hochstein during his last visit to Beirut.
Hochstein had been due to communicate this to the Israeli side and then send any remarks back to Beirut, Khalil said. “We are waiting, and God willing, soon there will be the draft that he has reached,” he said.
Khalil said Lebanon had no objection to US or French participation in overseeing ceasefire compliance.
’GOD HELP US’
Plumes of smoke rose over the southern Beirut suburbs known as Dahiyeh, where Israel’s latest strikes destroyed five buildings, sources familiar with the damage said. Israeli raids on the area have largely been taking place at night but this week have been happening in the morning too.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets carried out a series of attacks in the southern Beirut area, targeting weapons warehouses, military headquarters and other infrastructures used by Hezbollah.
“We say God help us ... because it seems that things are developing, it is getting worse, and I don’t even know if there is a solution now,” said Ayat, a 33-year-old Lebanese woman.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said five people were killed in airstrikes on the towns of Bazourieh and Jmaijmeh in southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli airstrike in Baalbek killed another three people.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,365 people and wounded 14,344 across Lebanon since Oct. 7, 2023.
Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and southern Lebanon over the last year, according to Israel.
