JERUSALEM: Israel said Tuesday that halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the country’s north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal, as it considers a wider military operation in Lebanon that could ignite an all-out conflict.
Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to take heavier military action to halt the near-daily attacks, which began shortly after the outbreak of the nearly yearlong Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Israel has regularly launched airstrikes on Lebanon in response and has targeted and killed senior Hezbollah commanders.
As recently as last month it appeared a full-blown war was imminent.
Tuesday’s statement by Israel’s security Cabinet signaled a tougher stance at a time when Israeli leaders have stepped up their warnings. But it also appeared to be largely symbolic and may not herald an immediate change in policy.
The tit-for-tat strikes have displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanon border. Hezbollah has said it would halt the attacks if there is a ceasefire in Gaza, but those talks have repeatedly bogged down.
The United States has pressed for restraint even as it has rushed military aid to Israel, warning its close ally that a wider war would not achieve its goals.
Israeli media have meanwhile reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering firing Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and replacing him with Gideon Saar, the leader of a small right-wing party who is seen as more hawkish. That would be the biggest leadership shakeup in Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the war in Gaza and set off wider regional tensions.
The announcement on Lebanon came after Israel’s security Cabinet met late into the night. It said the Cabinet has “updated the objectives of the war” to include safely returning the residents of the north to their homes.
“Israel will continue to act to implement this objective,” it said.
US envoy Amos Hochstein, who has made several visits to Lebanon and Israel to try to ease tensions, met with Netanyahu on Monday.
Hochstein told Netanyahu that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help return Israelis evacuated from the border area to their homes, according to a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks.
According to the official, Hochstein argued that Netanyahu risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon and said the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution in conjunction with a Gaza ceasefire or on its own.
Netanyahu told Hochstein that residents cannot return without “a fundamental change in the security situation in the north,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office. It said that while Netanyahu “appreciates and respects” US support, Israel will “do what is necessary to safeguard its security.”
Defense Minister Gallant has meanwhile said the focus of the conflict is shifting from Gaza to Israel’s north. He told US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this week that time is running out for an agreement with Hezbollah, saying “the trajectory is clear.”
Hezbollah has said that while it does not want a wider war it is prepared for one.
Raed Berro, a member of Hezbollah’s bloc in the Lebanese parliament, said Monday that the militant group “is ready for confrontation and has a lot in its pocket to deter the enemy and protect Lebanon in case Netanyahu thinks of expanding the war.”
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close political ally of Hezbollah, largely dismissed the warnings, telling a local newspaper that the Lebanese have grown used to the “increasing Israeli threats … even if their tone has become louder recently.”
The war in Gaza began when Hamas launched a surprise attack into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Militants are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead, after releasing most of the rest during a ceasefire last year.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 41,000 Palestinians in the territory since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.
Iran supports Hamas, Hezbollah and other militant groups across the region, which have carried out strikes on Israeli and US targets in solidarity with the Palestinians. A missile launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Sunday set off air raid sirens in central Israel without causing casualties. Israel has hinted at a military response.
Israel and Iran traded fire directly for the first time in April, and Iran has threatened to avenge the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an explosion in Tehran in July. The targeted killing was widely blamed on Israel, which has not said whether it was involved.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have spent most of this year trying to broker an agreement in which Hamas would release the hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
President Joe Biden endorsed the framework of the agreement in May and the UN Security Council backed it days later. But since then, both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands, and the talks appear to be at an impasse.
Israel says halting Hezbollah attacks is now a war goal as officials warn of a wider operation
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Israel says halting Hezbollah attacks is now a war goal as officials warn of a wider operation
- Tuesday’s statement by Israel’s security Cabinet signaled a tougher stance at a time when Israeli leaders have stepped up their warnings
- It also appeared to be largely symbolic and may not herald an immediate change in policy
Italy government under fire for releasing Libyan warlord accused of war crimes
ROME: Italian opposition lawmakers and human rights groups voiced outrage Wednesday after Italy released a Libyan warlord on a technicality, after he was arrested on a warrant from the International Criminal Court accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio was grilled about the release Tuesday of Ossama Anjiem, also known as Ossama Al-Masri, during a previously scheduled appearance before the Senate. Nordio didn’t respond to several requests for details about the release or demands that he reaffirm Italy’s commitment to upholding international justice.
Al-Masri heads the Tripoli branch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution, a notorious network of detention centers run by the government-backed Special Defense Force. The ICC warrant, dated Jan. 18 and referenced in Italian court papers, accuses him of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Mitiga prison in Libya starting in 2011, punishable with life in prison.
Al-Masri was arrested Sunday in Turin, where he reportedly had attended the Juventus-Milan soccer match the night before.
Rome’s court of appeals ordered him freed Tuesday, and he was sent back to Libya aboard an aircraft of the Italian secret services, because of what the appeals court said was a procedural error in his arrest. The ruling said Nordio should have been informed ahead of time of the arrest, since the justice ministry handles all relations with The Hague-based court.
Al-Masri returned to Tripoli late Tuesday. He was received at the Mitiga airport by supporters who celebrated his release, according to local media. Footage circulated online showed dozens of young men chanting and carrying what appeared to be Al-Masri on their shoulders at the airport.
Opposition lawmakers from several parties voiced outrage and demanded clarity, with former Premier Matteo Renzi accusing the right-wing government of hypocrisy given its stated crackdown on human traffickers.
“But when a trafficker whom the International Criminal Court tells us is a dangerous criminal lands on your table, it’s not like you chase him down, you brought him home to Libya with a plane of the Italian secret services,” said Renzi of the Italia Viva party. “Either you’re sick or this is the image of a hypocritical, indecent government.”
The Democratic Party demanded Premier Giorgia Meloni respond specifically to parliament about the case, saying it raised “grave questions” given the known abuses in Libyan prisons for which Al-Masri is accused.
Italy has close ties to the internationally recognized government in Tripoli and any trial in The Hague of Al-Masri could bring unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies and its support of the Libyan coast guard, which it has financed to prevent migrants from leaving.
Human rights groups have documented gross abuses in the Libyan detention facilities where migrants are kept, and have accused Italy of being complicit in their mistreatment.
“It’s critical to understand why Al-Masri was in Italy and why he was freed with such urgency despite the international arrest warrant,” said the Democratic lawmaker Paolo Ciani. He said the choice “appeared to be political.”
Another senator noted that the plane sent to retrieve Al-Masri was sent to Turin before the Rome appeals court had even ruled, suggesting the decision to send him home had been already made by Meloni’s office, which is responsible for the Italian secret services.
Two humanitarian groups, Mediterranea Saving Humans and Refugees in Libya, which have documented abuses committed against migrants in Libyan detention facilities, said they were incredulous that Italy let Al-Masri go.
“Those of us who managed to survive had believed that it was really possible not only to get justice, but more importantly to prevent this criminal from still acting undisturbed,” they said in a joint statement. “Instead, in recent days we have witnessed something shameful, unbelievable in how brazenly it has been conducted.”
But Tarik Lamloum, a Libyan activist working with the Belaady Organization for Human Rights which focuses on migrants in Libya, said Italy’s release of Al-Masri was expected. He said his release shows the power of militias who control the flow of migrants to Europe through Libya’s shores.
“Tripoli militias are able to pressure (Italy) because they control the migrants file,” he told The Associated Press.
Militias in western Libya are part of the official state forces tasked with intercepting migrants at sea, including in the EU-trained coast guard. They also run state detention centers, where abuses of migrants are common.
As a result, militias — some of them led by warlords the UN has sanctioned for abuses — benefit from millions in funds the European Union gives to Libya to stop the migrant flow to Europe.
The ICC prosecutor’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment. The European Commission spokesman reaffirmed all EU members had pledged to cooperate with the court.
“We respect the court’s impartiality and we are fully attached to international criminal justice to combat impunity,” said EU commission spokesman Anouar El Anouni. In a 2023 summit, the EU leaders committed “to cooperate fully with the court, including rapid execution of any pending arrests,” he added.
Israel says it will maintain control of Gaza-Egypt crossing
- The statement said European Union monitors would supervise the crossing, which will be surrounded by Israeli troops
- Israel also will approve the movement of all people and goods
RAFAH: Israel said it will maintain control of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip during the first phase of the ceasefire with Hamas.
A statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Wednesday denied reports that the Palestinian Authority would control the crossing.
The truce, now in its fourth day, is supposed to bring calm to the war-battered Gaza for at least six weeks and see 33 Hamas-held hostages released in return for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
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The statement said European Union monitors would supervise the crossing, which will be surrounded by Israeli troops. Israel also will approve the movement of all people and goods.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages still remain in Gaza, after the rest were released, rescued, or their bodies were recovered.
Israel’s military campaign has killed over 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities but do not say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
Algeria and US sign MoU on military cooperation, Algeria defense ministry says
- Defense ministry said the MoU focuses on military cooperation
ALGIERS: Algeria signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States on Wednesday that focuses on military cooperation, its defense ministry said in a statement.
The MoU was signed during a meeting between Deputy Defense Minister Said Chengriha and Michael Langley, commander of the US Africa Command, the ministry added.
WEF panel stresses correlation between environmental degradation and security
DUBAI: “Safeguarding Nature, Securing People” was the title of a panel gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday which discussed the connected issues of environmental degradation and security.
The discussion also highlighted the impact of land degradation, droughts, and extreme weather events on human and national security.
Ibrahim Thiaw, undersecretary-general of the UN and executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, moderated the session and opened by saying that in many countries, security concerns were focused on “national security, armed forces and intelligence services, but we know that the environment is also affecting us deeply.”
Ilwad Elman, chief operating officer of the Elman Peace Centre, said that only recently had we “begun to draw the strong correlation and the intersection of the two crises of human security and (that) caused by environmental stressors and environmental aggregation” and added: “In Somalia, “we find ourselves right at the nexus of that.”
She added that food and water insecurity posed not only environmental challenges but also had a “direct linkage to the desperation that yields young people particularly to be motivated to join armed groups” — not because they agreed with the ideology, but “to be able to survive.”
Elman explained the Elman Peace Centre works on “sustainable peace building” and “the rehabilitation and reintegration of young people.”
It focuses on climate resilience even though that is not its main mandate because “the environments we’re sending people back to are changing so rapidly our peace building interventions were not sustainable,” she said.
Such crises are not only limited to developing countries. Ukraine, which supplies food to 400 million people globally, was unable to do so due to the war, according to the country’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitalii Koval.
Some 60 percent of Ukraine’s income comes from agrarian food exports, which has been drastically impacted. This, combined with the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, has had disastrous consequences for the country, he said.
Koval added: “It is very important that the world community should elaborate new mechanisms to respond, and these mechanisms need to be immediate — not tomorrow, not sometime in the future, (but) today.”
Conflicts undoubtedly exacerbate environmental stressors, but the opposite is also true.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said: “Land degradation leads to conflicts, leads to violence, leads to extremism, leads to terrorism, leads to migration, leads to political instability, and leads to all of us paying an extremely high price to deal with the consequences of an issue that, had we paid attention to at the outset, would have cost us a fraction of the resources.”
The link between environmental degradation and security was “very clear, but we have not been paying sufficient attention to it,” he added.
Both Al-Jubeir and Elman said environmental and land degradation were not issues limited to desert or developing countries.
They pointed out the wildfires in California and the impact of such issues on declining water levels on Germany’s Rhine river and the Panama Canal. Drought has meant lower water levels, which means fewer ships can pass through, resulting in delays and increased shipping costs.
Elman also highlighted how the “discourse of climate change has only recently shifted from a very Global North perspective, overlooking the lived realities, the indigenous best practices and solutions from communities on the ground. Resources are distributed in a way that is, I would say, still very imperialistic.”
For example, Elman addressed a meeting of the UN Security Council on the effects of climate change on international peace and security in 2021. The resolution, put forth by Ireland and Niger, was vetoed despite 111 member states being in favor of it.
And so, she said, there was a need for “spaces that are able to move the agenda forward and recognize it as a security threat of global impact, and if the Security Council is not the place for that, other avenues need to be explored.”
Al-Jubeir responded: “If it’s not efficient enough, you do it unilaterally.”
Multilateralism was great for talks, he added, but “if those talks do not lead to concrete results, there should be nothing in the way of preventing countries who have the means to engage with other countries directly and put in place mechanisms that actually work.”
As an example, he said Saudi Arabia launched the Middle East Green Initiative that brought together over 22 countries in the region to help them adopt a circular carbon economy, along with other funding and knowledge-sharing programs that ensured a comprehensive approach.
Yemen’s Houthis release crew of commercial vessel seized in Red Sea
- Crew of 25 included mariners from Philippines, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Mexico.
DUBAI: Yemen’s Houthis said Wednesday they released the crew of the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier seized in November 2023 at the start of their campaign in the Red Sea corridor.
The militia said they released the sailors after mediation by Oman.
The crew of 25 included mariners from the Philippines, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Mexico.
The Iran-backed Houthis said they hijacked the ship over its connection to Israel. They then had a campaign targeting ships in international waters, which only stopped with the recent ceasefire in Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A representative for the Galaxy Leader’s owners had no immediate comment.
The Bahamas-flagged vessel is affiliated with an Israeli billionaire Abraham “Rami” Ungar, who is known as one of the richest men in Israel.
The Houthi attack on the Galaxy Leader saw the rebels launched a helicopter-borne raid. Propaganda footage of the raid has been played constantly by the Houthis, who even shot a music video aboard the ship at one point.
On Monday, the Houthis signaled they now will limit their attacks in the Red Sea corridor to only Israeli-affiliated ships after a ceasefire began in the Gaza Strip, but warned wider assaults could resume if needed.
However, it likely won’t be enough to encourage global firms to reenter the route that’s crucial for cargo and energy shipments moving between Asia and Europe. Their attacks have halved traffic through the region, cutting deeply into revenues for Egypt, which runs the Suez Canal linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
The Houthis have targeted over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023, after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials who say women and children make up more than half the fatalities.
