BEIRUT: France’s Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne on Thursday expressed appreciation for Lebanon’s “self-restraint in this difficult period” in the region.
Sejourne reiterated that France “supports Lebanon amid the concerning situation.”
He stressed that France was keen on extending UNIFIL’s mandate during the UN Security Council’s session at the end of this month for another 12 months.
Sejourne arrived in Beirut for a short visit to Lebanon that lasted several hours.
His trip to the region includes Egypt, Jordan, and Israel.
In his meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Sejourne also said he hopes for continued non-escalation from Lebanon.
“We can only be silent, patient, and praying in this difficult period,” Mikati said following the meeting
Sejourne’s visit came a day after US mediator Amos Hochstein’s visit to Lebanon and a day before the expected visit of the Egyptian foreign minister to Beirut.
The visits are part of the intense efforts aiming to reach a diplomatic solution that would achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and de-escalate the situation on the southern front between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The French foreign minister also met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Following the meeting, he affirmed that his message “reiterates France’s support to Lebanon amid the concerning regional situation.”
He said: “What matters to us is working on de-escalating the situation. This message was addressed to Lebanese authorities and will also be addressed to other countries in the region, hoping things will calm down during these highly sensitive times.”
He added: “Our message is one of support, solidarity and responsibility. France will always support Lebanon in achieving peace in the region. Above all, a ceasefire in Gaza is an essential and indispensable element if we are to discuss peace in the region.”
According to his media office, Berri affirmed “Lebanon’s commitment to the rules of engagement and its right to self-defense against the Israeli aggression.”
Israel “targets civilians, media personalities and paramedics, in addition to using internationally forbidden weapons, including phosphorus bombs, to target agricultural fields and forests,” Berri said.
He emphasized Lebanon’s dedication to “the necessity to extend UNIFIL’s mandate in southern Lebanon for a new term under the French proposal and UN Resolution 1701.”
Sejourne also met with Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.
According to statements by people he had met, US mediator Hochstein had warned the Lebanese officials during his visits on Wednesday against “the risks of a full-scale war.”
He added that “the current Doha negotiations are a final and precious opportunity that can be used to stop the war in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.”
The region is still waiting for the Iranian response to Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, in addition to Hezbollah’s response to the killing of its senior military commander Fouad Shukur, in Beirut’s southern suburbs hours before Haniyeh’s death.
Hezbollah said in a statement on Thursday that “it will unwaveringly continue to defend Lebanon and its people with courage and full strength, employing all its capabilities and surprises.”
In commemoration of what Hezbollah calls the “July 2006 War Victory,” the group reaffirmed “its commitment to resistance and its unwavering support for the Palestinian people.”
Hezbollah on Thursday targeted the Shamir settlement for the first time with Katyusha rockets.
The group said that the attack was in response to “the Israeli enemy’s hostilities against Jdeidet Marjayoun Wednesday night, which caused casualties.”
According to the updated toll of the Health Ministry’s emergency operations center, the unprecedented Israeli attack on the Jdeidet Marjayoun village “killed one person and severely injured another, who suffered a cardiac arrest.”
The center added that “upon the patient’s arrival to the hospital, he underwent a very critical surgery following the CPR performed by the medical staff.”
Around eight people — including a three-year-old boy — were also injured as a result of the attack.
The child underwent surgery in the Marjayoun Governmental Hospital.
He was subsequently transferred to the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center in Beirut due to his critical condition.
His father, whose condition was also critical, was transferred to the same hospital.
Three other people were moderately injured, while two women and a Syrian national were treated in the hospital.
Israeli artillery on Thursday targeted the town of Khiam with internationally banned phosphorus bombs, as well as the town of Qabrikha, resulting in the injury of two members of the Islamic Risala Scout Association in Khiam, as well as injuring a 10-year-old child in Qabrikha.
The Israeli shelling also reached the outskirts of the towns of Naqoura and Deir Mimas, which were targeted with incendiary shells.
Hezbollah, according to its statements on Thursday, “targeted the Ma’ayan Baruch site with artillery shells” and “a positioning point for Israeli soldiers at the Al-Malikiyah site.”
It also launched “an air attack with a squadron of assault drones on the Khirbet Ma'ar site, targeting the positions of enemy officers and soldiers.”
Hezbollah mourned two of its members: Mohammed Ali Jihad Badr Al-Din, aged 30, from the town of Harouf in southern Lebanon, and Hussein Yassin Sheito, aged 29, from the town of At Tiri in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military, in anticipation of the visit of the US envoy Hochstein to Lebanon, used bunker-busting bombs for the first time in Kfarkela.
It also announced the crashing of an assault drone in an open area near Arab Al-Aramshe on the border with Lebanon without causing any injuries.
Israeli media reported that a settler was injured in Kiryat Shmona.
French foreign minister in Beirut applauds Lebanon’s ‘self-restraint in difficult period’
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French foreign minister in Beirut applauds Lebanon’s ‘self-restraint in difficult period’
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- PM Mikati: ‘We must now practice silence, patience, and prayer’
- Incendiary phosphorous shells used on southern Lebanese towns
Israel army says two soldiers killed in Gaza helicopter crash
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“An initial inquiry... indicates that the crash was not caused by enemy fire... Two IDF (Israeli) soldiers were killed as a result of the crash,” the military said in a statement, adding that the seven injured had been evacuated to hospital for treatment.
The military said it was investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred when the helicopter was landing near the southern city of Rafah.
The latest deaths bring the military’s losses in the Gaza campaign to 344 since the start of the ground offensive on October 27.
The war erupted after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which also include hostages killed in captivity.
During the attack militants abducted 251 people, 97 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,020 people, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.
The United Nations human rights office says most of the dead in Gaza are women and children.
UK suspends electronics visas for Jordanians over ‘violations’
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AMMAN: The British Embassy in Amman has notified the Jordanian foreign ministry that it was suspending the visa-exempt status for Jordanian nationals wishing to travel to the UK, state news agency Petra reported.
The Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) facilitates the granting visas to visitors including Jordanians was being suspended due to ‘continued violations’ by Jordanian visitors to the UK, according to a statement.
The ETA was first launched on Nov. 15, 2023, for nationals of Qatar, before being expanded in February 2024 to include nationals of Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan), Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Ministry spokesperson Sufian Qudah said there has been “continued misuse” despite efforts by Jordanian Embassy officials in London to explore solutions with British authorities to the violations of Jordanian travelers of British residency and immigration laws.
The British decision is subject to amendment in the future and discussions are ongoing with the British to re-enact the ETA under conditions that would address violations, Qudah added.
The UK Home Office said the change was being made because the number of asylum claims from Jordanians increased from 17 in Oct. 2023 to 261 in June 2024.
Iran threatens ‘action’ over new Western sanctions
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- Iran again denied it had delivered any weapons to Russia for use in the Ukraine war
TEHRAN: Iran has vowed to respond to fresh sanctions imposed by Britain, France and Germany over what they said was its supply of short-range missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine.
“This action of the three European countries is the continuation of the hostile policy of the West and economic terrorism against the people of Iran, which will face the appropriate and proportionate action of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement late Tuesday.
The three governments had announced they would take steps to cancel air services agreements with Iran and “work toward imposing sanctions on Iran Air.”
“In addition, we will pursue the designations of significant entities and individuals involved with Iran’s ballistic missile program and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia,” they added.
Iran again denied it had delivered any weapons to Russia for use in the Ukraine war.
“Any claim that the Islamic Republic of Iran has sold ballistic missiles to the Russian Federation is completely baseless and false,” Kanani said.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia had received shipments of ballistic missiles from Iran and “will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine.”
He added that dozens of Russian military personnel have received training in Iran on using the Fath-360 missile, which has a range of 120 kilometers (75 miles).
Iran’s president visits Iraq on first foreign trip
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- Tehran has been steadily increasing its sway in Iraq since a US-led invasion toppled its enemy Saddam Hussein in 2003
TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday, making an official visit to Iraq, a strategic ally of both Tehran and Washington, Iran’s state media said.
Iraq hosts several Iran-aligned parties and armed groups, as Tehran has steadily increased its sway in the major oil producer since a US-led invasion toppled its enemy Saddam Hussein in 2003.
A rare partner of both the United States and Iran, Iraq hosts 2,500 US troops and has Iran-backed militias linked to its security forces. It has suffered escalating tit-for-tat attacks since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza in October.
“We are planning to sign several agreements,” Iran’s state media quoted Pezeshkian, a relative moderate, as saying ahead of the visit, his first official foreign trip. “We will meet senior Iraqi officials in Baghdad.”
The United States and Iraq have reached an understanding on plans for the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Iraq, say sources familiar with the matter.
Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq have repeatedly attacked US troops in the Middle East since the Gaza war began.
State media have said Pezeshkian also plans to visit Iraqi Kurdistan, a region where Iran has carried out strikes in the past, saying it is used as a staging ground for Iranian separatist groups as well as agents of its arch-foe Israel.
Baghdad has tried to tackle Iranian concerns over regional separatist groups, moving to relocate some members in a 2023 security pact with Tehran.
“We have several co-operation areas, including political, regional ... and security issues,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said ahead of the president’s trip, according to state media.
Palestine takes up seat among UN member states in ‘historic moment’ at General Assembly opening session
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- UN resolution passed in May recognized Palestine met requirements for membership
- Palestine was granted additional rights at UN, including being seated with member states
NEW YORK CITY: Palestine took up its seat among UN members at the opening session of the organization’s General Assembly on Tuesday.
A UN resolution was passed in May that recognized Palestine met requirements for membership, and requested the Security Council reconsider admitting the state.
Palestine was granted additional rights at the UN, including being seated with member states, the right to introduce proposals and agenda items, and participate in committees, but it has not been granted the right to vote.
Tuesday’s symbolic event met with support from the Egyptian delegation, which tabled a point of order to point out the “historic moment,” but it was opposed by the Israelis, who raised a counter point of order.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the 79th session was opening amid the backdrop of a “world in trouble,” but stressed that member states could work together to do something about it.
He said: “From day one, the United Nations has been the place for multilateral solutions, grounded in collaboration, dialog, diplomacy and the United Nations Charter.
“And it has been the place where respect for one another, and for the dignity and human rights that belong to every member of the human family, are brought to life. As we welcome this 79th session, these tasks now fall to you.
“This is the place where solutions are made and we need solutions across the board.”
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He addressed a range of topics, including economic progress, climate change and artificial intelligence.
He added: “Step by step, solution by solution, we can rebuild trust and faith in one another, and in what we can accomplish through collaboration and solidarity.
“The values that have brought us together since 1945 are more essential than ever. In confronting the challenges before us, (the UN General Assembly) remains an indispensable tool and a vital pathway toward a peaceful and just future for all people.”
The session was presided over by Philemon Yang of Cameroon, who was elected president of the General Assembly earlier this year.
Yang outlined the topics he expected to dominate discussions at this year’s assembly, including working toward peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, global health and human rights.
This year’s General Debate, which will run from Sept. 24 to 30, boasts the theme “Leaving no one behind: Acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations.”
As well as the debate, there will be a Summit of the Future, which will aim to secure a negotiated “Pact for the Future” designed to boost global cooperation to tackle current challenges effectively for future generations.
There will also be high-level meetings on topics as wide-ranging as the elimination of nuclear weapons; addressing the threat posed by rising sea levels; and strengthening global health systems against antimicrobial resistance.