BAALBEK, Lebanon: Israel launched air strikes near Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek on Monday, security sources said, the second raids in the region since cross-border hostilities began after the Gaza war.
Since October 8, the day after the war broke out in the Gaza Strip, Hamas ally Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have exchanged near-daily fire.
The strikes have been largely contained to the border between the two countries — although Israel has on occasion launched strikes elsewhere in Lebanon.
“Israeli aircraft targeted a former Hezbollah building near Dar Al Amal Hospital,” a security source told AFP, adding that Israel “conducted another raid on a warehouse west of Baalbek.”
Another security official confirmed the strikes.
The city of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley is a Hezbollah bastion bordering Syria.
On February 26, Israeli strikes targeted Baalbek, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the border, killing two Hezbollah members in the deepest such raid into Lebanese territory since the hostilities began.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October at least 316 people, mainly Hezbollah fighters, and 53 civilians have been killed in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally.
In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed.
Israel strikes near Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley
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Israel strikes near Baalbek in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley
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- Strikes have been largely contained to the border between the two countries
- City of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley is a Hezbollah bastion bordering Syria
Egypt rejects proposal for it to run Gaza as ‘unacceptable’
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- “Any notions or proposals that circumvent the constants of the Egyptian and Arab stance (on Gaza)... are rejected and unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokesman said
CAIRO: Egypt rejected on Wednesday an Israeli opposition leader’s proposal that it take over the administration of Gaza, calling the idea “unacceptable” and contrary to longstanding Egyptian and Arab policy.
“Any notions or proposals that circumvent the constants of the Egyptian and Arab stance (on Gaza)... are rejected and unacceptable,” the official MENA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Tamim Khallaf as saying, a day after Israel’s Yair Lapid floated the idea.
In press remarks, Khallaf said any suggestions bypassing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state were “half-solutions” that risk prolonging the conflict rather than solving it.
He said the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, were integral parts of the Palestinian territories that must be under “full Palestinian sovereignty and management.”
On Tuesday, Lapid said Egypt should run the Gaza Strip for at least eight years after the war is over, in exchange for massive debt relief.
Egypt has repeatedly rejected proposals for the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million Palestinian inhabitants to be relocated, calling such mass displacement a “red line.”
It led diplomatic efforts this month against a plan floated by President Donald Trump for the Unmited States to “take over” and “own” the war-battered enclave after its inhabitants have been relocated to Egypt or Jordan.
United Arab stance allows us to face region’s challenges, Aoun tells Omani minister
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- Badr bin Hamad Al-Busaidi: This visit proves that the sultan puts Lebanon as a priority
- Macron expresses readiness to support Lebanon’s reconstruction through trust fund
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed hope that “the upcoming extraordinary Arab Summit, scheduled to be held next week in Cairo, would yield a unified Arab position to address the region’s current challenges, especially since it targets the joint interests of the brotherly Arab countries.”
Aoun received on Wednesday Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al-Busaidi, who was accompanied by a diplomatic delegation.
He said that “amid the developments in southern Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, the challenges are significant and ongoing and require a unified Arab stance to face them.”
He added: “The presence of a unified (front) is enough to strengthen the Arab stance and allow it to impact the sequence of events.”
Aoun thanked Oman for “the assistance provided to Lebanon, including medicines, medical support, organizing training courses, and offering university scholarships.”
He also hoped that “the Omani airline would resume flights to Lebanon as soon as possible.”
The Omani minister conveyed Sultan Haitham bin Tariq’s greetings to Aoun “on his election as president” and highlighted “the strong relations between Lebanon and Oman.”
He also extended to Aoun “an official invitation to visit Oman and discuss ways to develop and activate bilateral relations in the interest of the two brotherly countries.”
Al-Busaidi said: “This visit proves that the sultan puts Lebanon as a priority and emphasizes the solidarity of the Omani people with the brotherly Lebanese people.”
He affirmed that “Oman is looking into activating the work of the joint committee between the two countries, signing agreements and memoranda of understanding, and exchanging delegations, especially cultural and economic ones.”
Meanwhile, discussion sessions on the ministerial statement of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government resumed in parliament. MPs are expected to give a vote of confidence to the government by a significant majority.
MP Ibrahim Mneimneh called for “opening the books to examine the reasons behind the losses and who benefited from them. The rule of accountability is the only standard capable of addressing the crisis.”
MP Ghassan Skaff said the government is required to function as a “foundational body” during a transitional period. “While we understand that the government’s term may not allow it to accomplish all that was outlined in its ministerial statement, it is imperative that we begin the challenging journey ahead,” he added.
MP Wael Abu Faour called for “the lifting of immunities, the liberation of the judiciary from political influence, sectarianism, and corruption, as well as a reevaluation of the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers.”
MP Halima Kaakour said she hopes that the ministerial statement does not “cater to certain influential parties and interests,” while MP Adib Abdel Massih hopes that it includes “an economic vision to raise the GDP.”
Herve Magro, French ambassador to Lebanon, conveyed to Yassine Jaber, Lebanon’s finance minister, the readiness of his country to provide unwavering technical and political support to the government and its reform approach.
According to the finance minister’s office, Magro discussed with Jaber “the reform steps adopted by the ministry and the support projects existing between the ministry and the Agence Francaise de Developpement in the context of preparing the 2026 budget.”
The French diplomat revealed “the interest and intention of French President Emmanuel Macron to help establish a fund to support the reconstruction process, especially since Lebanon has declared its determination to show transparency in its reforms.”
Meanwhile, Israeli reconnaissance planes flew intensively over Beirut and its suburbs throughout the day.
Israeli airstrikes were carried out before noon on Jabal Al-Rayhan in the Jezzine district. The warplanes carried out mock raids over the villages and towns of Tyre district and the border villages.
On Tuesday night, Israeli airstrikes targeted the town of Janta in the Baalbek district, “killing two people and injuring three others,” according to the Ministry of Health.
The victims were traveling in a transport vehicle in Shaara in the Janta region when they were targeted by an Israeli drone. This is a border area where illegal crossings abound.
Hamas official says no public ceremony for handover of bodies
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- “The handover will take place without public presence to prevent the occupation from finding any pretext for delay or obstruction,” the official said
- Hamas has handed over 25 hostages alive in public ceremonies
GAZA CITY: A senior Hamas official told AFP that the Palestinian movement will not hold a public ceremony for the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday.
“The handover will take place without public presence to prevent the occupation from finding any pretext for delay or obstruction,” the official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
Since the first stage of the ceasefire took effect last month, Hamas has handed over 25 hostages alive in public ceremonies at various locations in Gaza, drawing widespread condemnation, including from the United Nations.
It also handed over the bodies of four hostages, after first displaying the coffins on stage in front of a large crowd.
However, after Saturday’s handover of six living hostages, Israel suspended the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, insisting it would free them only after Hamas halted these “humiliating ceremonies.”
Earlier on Wednesday, two Hamas officials said the militants would hand over the four bodies on Thursday in exchange for more than 600 Palestinian prisoners.
UN food agency pauses aid to famine-hit Sudan displacement camp of half a million people
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- “Without immediate assistance, thousands of desperate families in Zamzam could starve in the coming weeks,” said WFP’s regional director, Laurent Bukera
- Bukera urged the warring sides to stop fighting and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid
CAIRO: The United Nations’ food agency says it has temporarily paused aid distribution in Sudan’s famine-hit Zamzam displacement camp of a half-million people as fighting intensifies between the country’s warring sides, and it warns that thousands could now starve.
The World Food Program said Wednesday that fighting in the past two weeks between the military and a paramilitary group in Sudan’s civil war has forced its partners to leave the camp in western Darfur for safety.
“Without immediate assistance, thousands of desperate families in Zamzam could starve in the coming weeks,” said the agency’s regional director, Laurent Bukera.
Bukera urged the warring sides to stop fighting and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. “We must resume the delivery of life-saving aid in and around Zamzam safely, quickly and at scale,” she said.
WFP has been feeding about 300,000 camp residents, but it and partners reached only 60,000 people this month amid intensified shelling. One attack destroyed the camp’s central open market, pushing residents farther from essential food and supplies, the agency said.
Earlier this week, the Doctors Without Borders medical charity said it paused its operations, including its field hospital, in the camp due to intensified attacks.
Famine was announced in the Zamzam camp in August and spread to two other camps for displaced people in Darfur and the Western Nuba Mountains.
The camp is 12 kilometers (6.5 miles) south of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, or RSF, has been trying for months to take.
The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023. The conflict has been marked by atrocities including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Aid groups have made pleas for access for months in Zamzam and elsewhere, with little success. The UN’s top humanitarian official in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, has accused the RSF of preventing life-saving aid from reaching many in Darfur. The RSF and allied militias control most of that region.
Graffiti left by Israeli soldiers turn south Lebanon homes into a canvas of war
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- One yellow wall had written on it signs of preparedness: the cardinal directions in red
- On another is what appears to be a battle plan: a hand-drawn map, a list of soldiers slated for a task and supplies — a drone, a stretcher
KHIAM, Lebanon: Residents of southern Lebanon have been gradually returning to their villages to find their homes heavily damaged by the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
As they scour what remains, they are discovering that the battle-scarred walls of their houses served as a canvas for Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah supporters that tell the story of the war.
The scrawled messages give insight into the battles that erupted after Israel launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon in October 2024, months after Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A ceasefire in November allowed Lebanese residents to begin returning to their homes, which had been occupied by Israeli troops.
One yellow wall had written on it signs of preparedness: the cardinal directions in red. On another is what appears to be a battle plan: a hand-drawn map, a list of soldiers slated for a task and supplies — a drone, a stretcher.
“Wake up Kochuk every hour on the hour from 20:00,” reads one instruction, apparently referring to a soldier.
Elsewhere, a warning to the returnees: “We will be back,” scribbled in English, in gray spray paint, with a Star of David; the word Lebanon in red, with a large X crossing it out. One message reads cynically, “Thanks for the hospitality,” with a heart.
Others reveal moments of boredom — the rules of a card game spelled out in meticulous detail in Hebrew, along with sketches of most of the suit of hearts; a drawing of SpongeBob SquarePants, a dog, a ninja.
And still other messages appear intended to leave a personal mark: “Congratulations, mom,” scrawled in dark red on a bright pink bedroom wall, above a bed piled with belongings and near a photo of a local couple.
In another room, with windows blacked out by tarps and littered with garbage, a Bible verse. In a kitchen, inside an empty refrigerator alcove, a drawing of a blue menorah.
But not just messages from Israeli soldiers were left behind. Peppered throughout homes in the village of Khiam are notes in Arabic written by Hezbollah fighters or their supporters after Israeli forces withdrew earlier this month.
They underscore the continued allegiance to Hezbollah despite the hard blows it endured during the war. “Wish we lost everything and you stayed, Sayyed,” referring to Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israeli strikes in southern Beirut in September.
“Khiam is Golani’s graveyard,” reads a warning on one wall, referring to an Israeli military unit. On another, a message of defiance: “Our flag will not fall. ... We will not drop our weapons.”