Senior US envoy presses for a diplomatic solution to Israel-Hezbollah conflict during talks in Beirut

US special envoy Amos Hochstein (R) leaves the government palace in Beirut, accompanied by Lebanese protocal official Lahoud Lahoud (L), after his meeting with Lebanon's caretaker prime minister. (AFP)
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Updated 04 March 2024
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Senior US envoy presses for a diplomatic solution to Israel-Hezbollah conflict during talks in Beirut

  • Temporary ceasefire is not enough, says presidential advisor Amos Hochstein, as he warns of risks should fighting continue to escalate

BEIRUT: Senior US envoy envoy Amos Hochstein said during a visit to Beirut on Monday that a diplomatic solution is the key to ending nearly five months of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel that broke out after the start of the war in Gaza.

Hochstein, a senior advisor to President Joe Biden, held meetings with Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and several other political figures.

His visit came amid escalating Israeli threats of a war against Lebanon to force Hezbollah to retreat, and to press Lebanese authorities to implement the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which was adopted in 2006 with the aim of resolving the war that year between Israel and Hezbollah.

It also came amid further escalations in fighting along the southern Lebanese front, including reported attempts by Israel to infiltrate Lebanese territory and resultant confrontations with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said “a hostile Israeli force attempted to infiltrate Lebanese territory in the Qatamoun Valley area opposite Rmeish on Sunday night and was targeted with rockets.”

An Israeli unit of the Golani Brigade reportedly tried to enter Lebanon from the direction of Khirbet Zarit, near the Lebanese town of Ramia, and Hezbollah responded by targeting the unit with a large explosive device.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah intensified strikes against Israeli sites. An attack on the Margaliot settlement left one person dead and 10 injured, two of them critically. According to the Israeli ambulance service, an anti-tank missile was fired at the settlement from Lebanon. Israeli media reported that the dead and injured were foreign workers.

In a separate incident, Hezbollah said they targeted “Zarait Barracks and its surroundings” early on Monday with artillery fire.

Elsewhere, the Israeli army reportedly fired shots in the air in the vicinity of farmers spraying crops near the town of Wazzani in Marjayoun district. Israeli forces also targeted the towns of Hula and Markab, overlooking Wadi Hunayn and the Margaliot settlement, with phosphorus and smoke bombs, and Israeli warplanes carried out raids on the outskirts of the town of Shihin.

Hochstein previously visited Beirut in January as part of US efforts to broker ceasefires in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon. Lebanese authorities him to return in February, when he visited Tel Aviv, but that did not happen.

In the meantime there have been no dramatic shifts in the balance of military power in southern Lebanon, despite the growing intensity of confrontations and expansions of targets by both the Israeli army and Hezbollah.

Lebanese authorities have said Israel must fully implement the provisions of UN Resolution 1701 by halting attacks, addressing disputed border points, of which six remain, withdrawing from the occupied Shebaa Farms and Kfarchouba hills, and respecting international borders. Hezbollah has also linked the end of hostilities on the southern front to the end of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, Hochstein noted that the friction along the border between Israel and Lebanon had increased in recent weeks.

“Escalation of violence is in no one’s interest and there is no such thing as a limited war,” he said after his meeting the Berri, who is an ally of Hezbollah. “A temporary ceasefire is not enough. A limited war is not containable.”

A truce in Gaza would not automatically trigger peace in southern Lebanon, he said, but he added that he remains “hopeful” that a diplomatic solution to the border conflict can be achieved.

“It does not necessarily happen that when you have a ceasefire in Gaza, it just automatically extends” to Lebanon, Hochstein said.

The US “remains committed to advancing lasting security solutions, achieved through a diplomatic process that will allow Lebanese residents to safely return to their homes, as well as allowing Israelis to return to their homes safely in northern Israel,” he added.

The aim of his visit was “to find a diplomatic solution to end the conflict on Lebanon’s southern borders” he said, adding: “Our position on the hostilities has been consistent and remains clear.”

Washington “believes a diplomatic solution is the only way to end the current hostilities along the Blue Line that will achieve a lasting, fair security arrangement between Lebanon and Israel,” Hochstein said.

“The people of Lebanon and Israel have the right to live in peace and prosperity. Let me acknowledge the global unity of this position.

“An important part of any understanding will include international support for Lebanon, for the Lebanese people and for strengthening its institutions, military, civilian and the economy. But this can only start when we can reach a way forward.”

The US continues to work with the government in Lebanon in pursuit of such a diplomatic solution that allows for prosperity and security, Hochstein said.

“What we want to see is a diplomatic solution here on the border … to ensure that there is a cessation of hostilities and that precautions are made so that everybody, on both sides of the line, can return to their homes safely and securely and have a future that is free of fear.”


Israel’s attorney general tells Netanyahu to reexamine extremist security minister’s role

Updated 8 sec ago
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Israel’s attorney general tells Netanyahu to reexamine extremist security minister’s role

  • National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized for interfering in police matters

JERUSALEM, Nov 14 : Israel’s Attorney General told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reevaluate the tenure of his far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, citing his apparent interference in police matters, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Thursday.
The news channel published a copy of a letter written by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in which she described instances of “illegitimate interventions” in which Ben-Gvir, who is tasked with setting general policy, gave operational instructions that threaten the police’s apolitical status.
“The concern is that the government’s silence will be interpreted as support for the minister’s behavior,” the letter said.
Officials at the Justice Ministry could not be reached for comment and there was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.
Ben-Gvir, who heads a small ultra-nationalist party in Netanyahu’s coalition, wrote on social media after the letter was published: “The attempted coup by (the Attorney General) has begun. The only dismissal that needs to happen is that of the Attorney General.”


Israeli forces demolish Palestinian Al-Bustan community center in Jerusalem

Updated 56 min 41 sec ago
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Israeli forces demolish Palestinian Al-Bustan community center in Jerusalem

  • Al-Bustan Association functioned as a primary community center in which Silwan’s youth and families ran cultural and social activities

LONDON: Israeli forces demolished the office of the Palestinian Al-Bustan Association in occupied East Jerusalem’s neighborhood of Silwan, whose residents are under threat of Israeli eviction orders. 

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Culture condemned on Thursday the demolition of Al-Bustan by Israeli bulldozers and a military police force. 

The ministry said that “(Israeli) occupation’s arrogant practices against cultural and community institutions in Palestine, and specifically in Jerusalem, are targeting the Palestinian identity, in an attempt to obliterate it.” 

Founded in 2004, the Al-Bustan Association functioned as a primary community center in which Silwan’s youth and families ran cultural and social activities alongside hosting meetings for diplomatic delegations and Western journalists who came to learn about controversial Israeli policies in the area. 

Al-Bustan said in a statement that it served 1,500 people in Silwan, most of them children, who enrolled in educational, cultural and artistic workshops. In addition to the Al-Bustan office, Israeli forces also demolished a home in the neighborhood belonging to the Al-Qadi family. 

Located less than a mile from Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s southern ancient wall, Silwan has a population of 65,000 Palestinians, some of them under threat of Israeli eviction orders.  

In past years, Israeli authorities have been carrying out archaeological digging under Palestinian homes in Silwan, resulting in damage to these buildings, in search of the three-millennial “City of David.” 


Israeli strike kills 12 after hitting civil defense center in Lebanon’s Baalbek, governor tells Reuters

Updated 14 November 2024
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Israeli strike kills 12 after hitting civil defense center in Lebanon’s Baalbek, governor tells Reuters

  • Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack

CAIRO: An Israeli strike killed 12 people after it hit a civil defense center in Lebanon’s city of Baalbek on Thursday, the regional governor told Reuters adding that rescue operations were ongoing.
Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack on the Lebanese city, health ministry reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lebanese civil defense official Samir Chakia said: “The Civil Defense Center in Baalbek has been targeted, five Civil Defense rescuers were killed.”
Bachir Khodr the regional governor said more than 20 rescuers had been at the facility at the time of the strike.


‘A symbol of resilience’ — workers in Iraq complete reconstruction of famous Mosul minaret

Updated 14 November 2024
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‘A symbol of resilience’ — workers in Iraq complete reconstruction of famous Mosul minaret

  • Workers complete reconstruction of 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque
  • Tower and mosque were blown by Daesh extremists in 2017

High above the narrow streets and low-rise buildings of Mosul’s old city, beaming workers hoist an Iraqi flag into the sky atop one of the nation’s most famous symbols of resilience.

Perched precariously on scaffolding in high-vis jackets and hard hats, the workers celebrate a milestone in Iraq’s recovery from the traumatic destruction and bloodshed that once engulfed the city.

On Wednesday, the workers placed the last brick that marked the completed reconstruction of the 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque. The landmark was destroyed by Daesh in June 2017 shortly before Iraqi forces drove the extremist group from the city.

Known as Al-Hadba, or “the hunchback,” the 45-meter-tall minaret, which famously leant to one side, dominated the Mosul skyline for centuries. The tower has been painstakingly rebuilt as part of a UNESCO project, matching the traditional stone and brick masonry and incorporating the famous lean.

“Today UNESCO celebrates a landmark achievement,” the UN cultural agency’s Iraq office said. “The completion of the shaft of the Al-Hadba Minaret marks a new milestone in the revival of the city, with and for the people of Mosul. 

“UNESCO is grateful for the incredible teamwork that made this vision a reality. Together, we’ve created a powerful symbol of resilience, a true testament to international cooperation. Thank you to everyone involved in this journey.”

The restoration of the mosque is part of UNESCO’s Revive the Spirit of Mosul project, which includes the rebuilding of two churches and other historic sites. The UAE donated $50 million to the project and UNESCO said that the overall Al-Nuri Mosque complex restoration will be finished by the end of the year.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay celebrated the completion of the minaret by posting “We did it!” on social media site X.

She thanked donors, national and local authorities in Iraq and the experts and professionals, “many of whom are Moslawis,” who worked to rebuild the minaret.

“Can’t wait to return to Mosul to celebrate the full completion of our work,” she said.

The Al-Nuri mosque was built in the second half of the 12th century by the Seljuk ruler Nur Al-Din. 

After Daesh seized control of large parts of Iraq in 2014, the group’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of its so-called caliphate from inside the mosque.

Three years later, the extremists detonated explosives to destroy the mosque and minaret as Iraqi forces battled to expel them from the city. Thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting and much of Mosul was left in ruins.


US hands Lebanon draft truce proposal -two political sources

Updated 14 November 2024
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US hands Lebanon draft truce proposal -two political sources

  • The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Hezbollah

BEIRUT: The US ambassador to Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday to halt fighting between armed group Hezbollah and Israel, two political sources told Reuters, without revealing details.
The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, but efforts have yet to yield a result. Israel launched a stepped-up air and ground campaign in late September after cross-border clashes in parallel with the Gaza war.