Mikati: Lebanon committed to UNIFIL mission, de-escalation

UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) armoured vehicles patrol on the entrance of the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura near the border with Israel on June 17, 2024. (AFP/File)
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Updated 12 August 2024
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Mikati: Lebanon committed to UNIFIL mission, de-escalation

  • Lebanese military confirms continuation of joint patrols with UNIFIL following row

BEIRUT: Lebanon is committed to UNIFIL’s mission in the south, the country’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, reiterated on Monday.

He said cooperation between the Lebanese military and UNIFIL forces is crucial, and rejected claims of differences and discrepancies, adding that “any issues arising during task implementation are promptly resolved.”

Mikati’s remarks follow a dispute between the military and a UNIFIL patrol during a joint operation within UNIFIL’s area of operation.

According to security reports, “a patrol carrying members of the French unit insisted on entering an area outside UNIFIL’s jurisdiction in the town of Kfarhamam” — a village in the border district of Hasbaya in the Nabatiye Governorate.

Residents were displaced during the escalation of hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli military over the past few months.

The reports said the Lebanese troops refused to follow the patrol after the French unit insisted on entering an area considered private property.

Communications intensified after the Lebanese military threatened to suspend joint patrols, with efforts focusing on mending relations.

The developments prompted Lebanese Army Command to confirm in a statement that “military units continue to carry out joint tasks with UNIFIL, maintaining close cooperation and coordination within the framework of UN Resolution 1701, in light of the exceptional circumstances and developments in the country, particularly the ongoing Israeli assaults.”

The incident in Kfarhamam occurred shortly before the extension of UNIFIL’s mandate, which is scheduled for the end of this month, and amidst increasing hostilities between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

Mikati said on Monday that Lebanon was in discussions with the relevant countries regarding the extension of UNIFIL forces’ presence.

Last week, Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib noted “slight changes to the text concerning the extension of UNIFIL forces (remaining in place).”

A security source said that Lebanon “demanded a comprehensive and ongoing coordination between UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army and that any Israeli attack on the Lebanese Army be condemned.”

Last week, the Lebanese government distributed a document to the heads of diplomatic missions outlining the principles to achieve long-term stability in southern Lebanon in connection with Resolution 1701.

Mikati said on Monday that the document “establishes clear foundations for a solution, the most significant of which is to reduce escalation to avoid a destructive cycle of violence.”

It also calls for the international community to play a decisive and immediate role in calming tensions and restraining the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon, he said.

Mikati emphasized that “the main message that Lebanon underscores in all its diplomatic communications is the implementation of Resolution 1701, which serves as the cornerstone for ensuring stability and security in southern Lebanon.”

Retired Lebanese Army Maj. Gen. Abdul Rahman Chehaitli told Arab News on Monday: “The Army Command Operations Rooms determine the routes of the joint patrols, and therefore, an army route that is not agreed upon cannot be altered during the patrol.”

He continued: “There are stop points that no one can change, and this is not a matter of entering private property.”

A source close to UNIFIL said: “There is a constant issue of entering private property, which could be an orchard, a house, or an establishment.

“UNIFIL submits its schedule of operations in advance to the Army Command Operations Rooms, and the army only participates in eight percent of joint patrols due to its shortage of personnel and military capabilities.”

The source added: “Under Lebanese laws, the army cannot enter private property without permission from the Public Prosecution’s Office, and Hezbollah may have exploited this legal loophole in UNIFIL’s tasks and relied upon it to refuse UNIFIL’s access to private property on the pretext that the Lebanese Army is not entitled to do so.”

Hezbollah’s supporters have previously accused UNIFIL of “monitoring and tracking some of Hezbollah’s military sites, centers or movements.”
The suspicions have intensified during the recent months of confrontation on the southern border.

This is not the first such incident — UNIFIL patrols have faced confrontation with residents of towns over access to their internal streets before. The bloodiest took place at the end of 2022 in the town of Al-Aqabiya, outside UNIFIL’s area of operation, resulting in the killing of an Irish soldier and the wounding of three others.

On Monday, artillery bombardment persisted on the periphery of Naqoura, Aita Al-Shaab Square, and Burj Al-Muluk.

Israeli aircraft conducted airstrikes over the town of Chihine in the west of the country.

Additionally, the forest surrounding Kounin was subjected to incendiary phosphorus bombs.

Meanwhile, in Israel, sirens sounded at dawn in the settlement of Nahariya and its surroundings, reaching the Krayot area.

Israeli media reported that air defenses intercepted 20 missiles fired by Hezbollah at Nahariya and surrounding towns, causing fires to break out in various areas of Western Galilee.

Over the past 48 hours, Hezbollah has conducted more than 10 attacks on military sites and gatherings of Israeli soldiers.

Israeli raids resulted in the death of a Hezbollah member and left five civilians injured in the areas of Taybeh, Kfar Kila, and Wazzani.

During a party event, MP Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, said that Hezbollah initiated actions on the southern front because “we had no other choice.”

Fadlallah said: “No person with a free conscience can observe the events unfolding in Gaza and choose to remain an onlooker.”

Regarding Hezbollah’s response to the assassination of prominent military leader Fouad Shukr, Fadlallah said: “We are currently in a phase of anticipation concerning the strategy and tactics that the resistance will employ in response.

“However, we must not allow the enemy to dictate our actions, as we remain on a supportive front, and the primary conflict continues to unfold in Gaza.”


Israel accuses Turkiye of ‘malice’ over UN arms embargo call

Updated 05 November 2024
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Israel accuses Turkiye of ‘malice’ over UN arms embargo call

  • Turkiye’s letter, seen by AFP Monday, called the “staggering” civilian death toll “unconscionable and intolerable”

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday accused Turkiye of “malice,” after Ankara submitted a letter signed by 52 countries calling for a halt in arms deliveries to Israel over the war in Gaza.
“What else can be expected from a country whose actions are driven by malice in an attempt to create conflicts with the support of the ‘Axis of Evil’ countries,” said Ambassador Danny Danon, using a pejorative term to describe the Arab countries who signed the letter.
Turkiye’s foreign ministry said Sunday it had submitted the letter to the United Nations, with the signatories including the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Israel has faced international criticism for the conduct of its war in Gaza, where its offensive has killed at least 43,374 people, most of them civilians, according to health ministry figures which the United Nations considers to be reliable.
The war was sparked by Palestinian armed group Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
“This letter is further proof that the UN is led by some sinister countries and not by the liberal countries that support the values of justice and morality,” said Danon.
Turkiye’s letter, seen by AFP Monday, called the “staggering” civilian death toll “unconscionable and intolerable.”
“We therefore make this collective call for immediate steps to be taken to halt the provision or transfer of arms,  munitions and related equipment to Israel, the occupying Power, in all cases where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the letter said.
It added that the UN Security Council (UNSC) must take steps to ensure compliance with its resolutions “which are being flagrantly violated.”
The UNSC called in March for a ceasefire in Gaza, but has struggled to speak with a unified voice on the issue due to the veto wielded by Israel’s key ally, the United States.
Asked about the joint letter on Monday, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had not seen it.


Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms

Updated 05 November 2024
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Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms

  • Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israel has taken some measures to increase aid access to Gaza but has so far failed to significantly turn around the humanitarian situation in the enclave, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday, as a deadline set by the US to improve the situation approaches.
The Biden administration told Israel in an Oct. 13 letter it had 30 days to take specific steps to address the dire humanitarian crisis in the strip, which has been pummeled for more than a year by Israeli ground and air operations that Israel says are aimed at rooting out Hamas militants.
Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza.
“As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around. We have seen an increase in some measurements. We’ve seen an increase in the number of crossings that are open. But just if you look at the stipulated recommendations in the letter, those have not been met,” Miller said.
Miller said the results so far were “not good enough” but stressed that the 30-day period had not elapsed.
He declined to say what consequences Israel would face if it failed to implement the recommendations.
“What I can tell you that we will do is we will follow the law,” he said.
Washington, Israel’s main supplier of weapons, has frequently pressed Israel to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza since the war with Hamas began with the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.
The Oct. 13 letter, sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said a failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing the measures on aid access may have implications for US policy and law.
Section 620i of the US Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.
Israel on Monday said it was canceling its agreement with the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), citing accusations that some UNRWA staff had Hamas links.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said Israel had scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time.
An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.
Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.


Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case

Updated 05 November 2024
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Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case

  • “The (hostage) families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement

JERUSALEM: A Gaza hostages campaign group called Monday for an investigation into the alleged leak of confidential documents by an ex-aide to Israel’s premier, which may have undermined efforts to secure their release.
A court announced Sunday that Eliezer Feldstein, a former aide to Benjamin Netanyahu, had been detained along with three others for allegedly leaking documents to foreign media.
The case has prompted the opposition to question whether Netanyahu was involved in the leak — an allegation denied by his office.
“The (hostage) families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
“Such actions, especially during wartime, endanger the hostages, jeopardize their chances of return and abandon them to the risk of being killed by Hamas terrorists.”
The forum represents most of the families of the 97 hostages still held in Gaza after they were seized in the unprecedented October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war.
The Israeli military says 34 of them are dead.
“The suspicions suggest that individuals associated with the prime minister acted to carry out one of the greatest frauds in the country’s history,” the forum said.
“This is a moral low point like no other. It is a severe blow to the remaining trust between the government and its citizens.”
Critics have long accused Netanyahu of stalling in truce negotiations and prolonging the war to appease his far-right coalition partners.
Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet and the army launched an investigation into the breach in September after two newspapers, British weekly The Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s Bild tabloid, published articles based on the classified military documents.
One article claimed a document had been uncovered showing that then Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — later killed by Israel — and the hostages in Gaza would be smuggled into Egypt through the Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The other was based on what was said to be an internal Hamas leadership memo on Sinwar’s strategy to hamper talks toward the liberation of hostages.
The Israeli court said the release of the documents ran the risk of causing “severe harm to state security.”
“As a result, the ability of security bodies to achieve the objective of releasing the hostages, as part of the war goals, could have been compromised,” it added.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli soil, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s count based on official Israeli data, including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 43,341 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.
Meanwhile, late on Monday Netanyahu asked the attorney general to begin investigating other alleged leaks from cabinet meetings during the war.
“Since the beginning of the war, we have witnessed an incessant flood of serious leaks and revelations of state secrets,” he said in a letter to the attorney general, which was posted on his Telegram channel.
“Therefore, I am appealing to you to immediately order the investigation of the leaks in general.”


UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO

Updated 05 November 2024
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UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO

  • “This ban will not make Israel safer. It will only deepen the suffering of the people of Gaza and increase the risk of disease outbreaks,” Tedros says

GENEVA: The chief of the World Health Organization on Monday denounced Israel’s decision to cut ties with the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, saying it would not make the country safer while increasing civilian suffering in Gaza.
“Let me be clear: There is simply no alternative to UNRWA,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a video posted on X.
“This ban will not make Israel safer. It will only deepen the suffering of the people of Gaza and increase the risk of disease outbreaks,” Tedros added.
His comments came after Israel said it had formally notified the UN of its decision to sever ties with UNRWA, after Israeli lawmakers backed the move last week.
The suspension of the agency, which coordinates nearly all aid in war-ravaged Gaza, sparked global condemnation including from key Israeli backer the United States.
The move is expected to come into force in late January, with the UN Security Council warning it would have severe consequences for millions of Palestinians.
Israel has accused a dozen UNRWA employees of taking part in the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, the deadliest in Israeli history.
A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA but said Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.
The agency, which employs 13,000 people in Gaza, fired nine employees after an internal probe found that they “may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October.”
UNRWA, which was established in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli conflict following Israel’s creation a year earlier, provides assistance to nearly six million Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
“Every day, it provides thousands of medical consultations and vaccinated hundreds of children,” Tedros said, adding that many humanitarian partners rely on UNRWA’s logistical networks to get supplies into Gaza.
He said that the UNRWA staff his organization had worked with were “dedicated health and humanitarian professionals who work tirelessly for their communities under unimaginable circumstances.”
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,374 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers to be reliable.


GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait

Updated 04 November 2024
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GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait

  • Meeting gathers ministers, UN agency representatives, international organizations

KUWAIT CITY: Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi addressed a high-level conference on counter-terrorism and border security on Monday.

The conference, which is being held in Kuwait and ends on Tuesday, has been organized by Kuwait in partnership with Tajikistan and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.

It gathered ministers, UN agency representatives, and international and regional organizations to help bolster international counter-terrorism efforts.

Al-Budaiwi said: “This important regional conference focuses on border security and combating terrorism, which are vital issues requiring collective action.”

Al-Budaiwi spoke of the GCC’s achievements in security collaboration, including information-sharing and laws targeting terrorism financing.

He added: “The GCC countries have built a common security system through joint agreements, enhancing cooperation in border protection and addressing security threats.”

He stressed the region’s proactive approach in utilizing technology and training personnel to safeguard borders against transnational threats like arms and human trafficking.