Egypt condemns Israeli military escalation in Lebanon

Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Abbasiyeh on September 24, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 24 September 2024
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Egypt condemns Israeli military escalation in Lebanon

  • Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed ‘sincere solidarity’ with the Lebanese people, offered its sympathies to the families of victims
  • Arab League chief echoes concerns and says international community must halt ‘this perilous slide toward a regional war’

CAIRO: Egypt on Tuesday condemned the escalation of Israeli military operations in Lebanon and the killing and wounding of hundreds of Lebanese citizens, including women and children.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed “sincere solidarity” with the Lebanese people, offered its sympathies to the families of victims, wished the injured a speedy recovery, and affirmed its “categorical rejection of any violations of the sovereignty of Lebanon and its territories.”

It previously warned of the “gravity of the continued Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the danger of its expansion, which puts the region at risk of sliding into a full-fledged regional war.”

The ministry said that while “Egypt continues its efforts toward achieving a ceasefire in Gaza and containing the dangers resulting from the war there, it calls on world powers and the UN Security Council to immediately intervene to halt the Israeli escalation in the region, which jeopardizes the fate of its peoples and undermines prospects for peace.”

Egypt “calls for a peaceful settlement of the crisis, an immediate deescalation and the start of the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, with no selectivity and allowing for diplomatic solutions, especially since military escalation will only exacerbate the crisis,” it added.

Resolution 1701 was adopted in 2006 with the aim of resolving the war that year between Israel and Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the Arab League’s secretary-general, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, also “vehemently condemned the extensive Israeli raids and military operations against Lebanon, which have resulted in a significant loss of life and thousands of injuries.”

He warned that this “alarming escalation constitutes a flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and poses a grave threat to regional stability, with the potential to ignite a broader conflict that would have devastating consequences for all involved,” said Gamal Roshdy, a spokesperson for the organization.

Aboul Gheit called on the international community to act with urgency and shoulder its responsibilities in efforts to halt this “perilous slide toward a regional war, driven by the Israeli leadership's personal and political ambitions.”

In particular, he urged the UN Security Council to fulfill its duty to safeguard international peace and security by taking immediate action.

He said the current escalation must be halted without delay, warned that the devastation seen in Gaza must not be repeated in Lebanon, and reaffirmed the Arab League’s “unwavering solidarity with Lebanon in the face of these egregious Israeli assaults.”


Iraq tries to stem influx of illegal foreign workers

An Iraqi policeman checks the ID of a driver at a checkpoint in Mosul on February 22, 2018. (AFP)
Updated 4 sec ago
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Iraq tries to stem influx of illegal foreign workers

  • The Labor Ministry says the influx is mainly from Syria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, also citing 40,000 registered immigrant workers

KARBALA: Rami, a Syrian worker in Iraq, spends his 16-hour shifts at a restaurant fearing arrest as authorities crack down on undocumented migrants in the country better known for its own exodus.
He is one of hundreds of thousands of foreigners working without permits in Iraq, which, after emerging from decades of conflict, has become an unexpected destination for many seeking opportunities.
“I’ve been able to avoid the security forces and checkpoints,” said the 27-year-old, who has lived in Iraq for seven years and asked that AFP use a pseudonym to protect his identity.
Between 10 in the morning and 2 a.m. the next day, he toils at a shawarma shop in the holy city of Karbala, where millions of pilgrims congregate every year.
“My greatest fear is to be expelled back to Syria, where I’d have to do military service,” he said.

BACKGROUND

Authorities are trying to regulate the number of foreign workers as the country seeks to diversify from the dominant hydrocarbons sector.

The Labor Ministry says the influx is mainly from Syria, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, also citing 40,000 registered immigrant workers.
Now, the authorities are trying to regulate the number of foreign workers as the country seeks to diversify from the currently dominant hydrocarbons sector.
Many, like Rami, work in the service industry in Iraq.
One Baghdad restaurant owner admitted that he has to play cat and mouse with the authorities during inspections, asking some employees to make themselves scarce.
He said that not all those who work for him are registered because of the costly fees involved.
Some of the undocumented workers in Iraq first came as pilgrims. In July, Labour Minister Ahmed Assadi said his services investigated information that “50,000 Pakistani visitors” stayed on “to work illegally.”
Despite threats of expulsion because of the scale of the issue, the authorities, at the end of November, launched a scheme for “Syrian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani workers” to regularize their employment by applying online before Dec. 25.
The ministry says it will take legal action against anyone who brings in or employs undocumented foreign workers.
Rami has decided to play safe, even though “I want” to acquire legal employment status.
“But I’m afraid,” he said. “I’m waiting to see what my friends do, and then I’ll do the same.”
Current Iraqi law caps the number of foreign workers a company can employ at 50 percent, but the authorities now want to lower this to 30 percent.
“Today we only allow qualified workers for jobs requiring skills” that are not currently available, Labor Ministry spokesman Nijm Al-Aqabi said.
It’s a sensitive issue — for the past two decades, even a foreign workforce has dominated the robust oil sector. But now the authorities are seeking to favor Iraqis.
“There are large companies contracted to the government” which have been asked to limit “foreign worker numbers to 30 percent,” said Aqabi.
“This is in the interests of the domestic labor market,” he said, as 1.6 million Iraqis are unemployed.
He recognized that each household has the right to employ a foreign domestic worker, claiming this was work Iraqis did not want to do.
One agency launched in 2021 that brings in domestic workers from Niger, Ghana, and Ethiopia confirms the high demand.
“Before, we used to bring in 40 women, but now it’s around 100” a year, said an employee at the agency.
The employee said it was a trend picked up from rich countries in the Gulf.
“The situation in Iraq is getting better, and with higher salaries, Iraqi homeowners are looking for comfort.”
A domestic worker earns about $230 a month, but the authorities have quintupled the registration fee, with a work permit now costing more than $800.
In the summer, Human Rights Watch denounced what it called a campaign of arbitrary arrests and expulsions targeting Syrians, even those with the necessary paperwork.
HRW said that raids targeted both homes and workplaces.
Ahmed — another pseudonym — is a 31-year-old Syrian who has been undocumented in Iraq for the past year and a half.
He began as a cook in Baghdad and later moved to Karbala.
“Life is hard here — we don’t have any rights,” he said
“We come in illegally, and the security forces are after us.”
His wife did not accompany him. She stayed in Syria.
“I’d go back if I could,” said Ahmed. “But life there is very difficult. There’s no work.”

 


Family returns to Lebanon to find a crater where their 50-year-old home once stood

Updated 10 min 27 sec ago
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Family returns to Lebanon to find a crater where their 50-year-old home once stood

  • Intense Israeli airstrikes over the past two months leveled entire neighborhoods in eastern and southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut, which are predominantly Shiite areas of Lebanon where Hezbollah has a strong base of support

BAALBEK, Lebanon: In eastern Lebanon’s city of Baalbek, the Jawhari family gathered around a gaping crater where their home once stood, tears streaming as they tried to make sense of the destruction.
“It is heart-breaking. A heartache that there is no way we will ever recover from,” said Lina Jawhari, her voice breaking as she hugged relatives who came to support the family.
“Our world turned upside down in a second.”
The home, which was a gathering place for generations, was reduced to rubble by an Israeli airstrike on Nov. 1, leaving behind shattered memories and twisted fragments of a once-vibrant life.
The family, like thousands of Lebanese, were returning to check on their properties after the US-mediated ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect early Wednesday.

BACKGROUND

Israeli airstrikes have left a massive trail of destruction across Lebanon.

Intense Israeli airstrikes over the past two months leveled entire neighborhoods in eastern and southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced.
The airstrikes have left a massive trail of destruction across the country.
A photo of the Jawhari family’s home — taken on a phone by Louay Mustafa, Lina’s nephew — is a visual reminder of what had been. As the family sifted through the rubble, each fragment recovered called them to gather around it.
A worn letter sparked a collective cheer, while a photo of their late father triggered sobs. Reda Jawhari had built the house for his family and was a craftsman who left behind a legacy of metalwork. The sisters cried and hoped to find a piece of the mosque-church structure built by their father. Minutes later, they lifted a mangled piece of metal from the debris. They clung to it, determined to preserve a piece of his legacy.
“Different generations were raised with love ... Our life was filled with music, dance, and dabke (traditional dance). This is what the house is made up of. And suddenly, they destroyed our world. Our world turned upside down in a second. It is inconceivable. It is inconceivable,” Lina said.
Despite their determination, the pain of losing their home and the memories tied to it remains raw.
Rouba Jawhari, one of four sisters, had one regret.
“We are sad we did not take my mom and dad’s photos with us. If only we took the photos,” she said, clutching an ID card and a bag of photos and letters recovered from the rubble.
“It didn’t cross our mind. We thought it was two weeks and we will be back.”
The airstrike that obliterated the Jawhari home came without warning, striking at 1:30 p.m. on what was otherwise an ordinary Friday.
Their neighbor, Ali Wehbe, also lost his home. He had stepped out for food a few minutes before the missile hit and rushed back to find his brother searching for him under the rubble.
“Every brick holds a memory,” he said, gesturing to his library.
“Under every book you would find a story.”

 

 


Israel criticized for ‘provocative actions’ in Lebanon despite ceasefire agreement

Updated 50 min 38 sec ago
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Israel criticized for ‘provocative actions’ in Lebanon despite ceasefire agreement

  • US general in discussions over implementation of ceasefire
  • Municipality warns returning residents about ‘landmines, explosives, unexploded shells’

BEIRUT: Israel was criticized on Friday for provocative actions in Lebanon, despite the ceasefire agreement currently in force.

The Israeli military said Lebanese residents were prohibited from moving south to a line of villages and their surroundings until further notice.

The army continued its operations in the border area it had advanced into and where it is still present, continuing actions which included uprooting olive trees, damaging structures, and even firing on mourners at a funeral.

On the third day of the ceasefire, security reports — primarily from the Iran-backed Hezbollah — highlighted what were described as “provocative Israeli violations.”

FASTFACT

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem pledged on Friday to coordinate closely with the Lebanese army to implement a ceasefire deal with Israel.

The US general tasked with leading the ceasefire monitoring committee and its members began meetings in Beirut on Friday with the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces Gen. Joseph Aoun to discuss the implementation of the agreement.

Meanwhile, Al-Manar TV reported that Israeli forces “advanced into the town square of Markaba … and began bulldozing operations and blocking roads.”

The Israeli army also opened fire on residents in Khiam, who said that they had obtained permission from the Lebanese military, in coordination with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, to enter the town for a funeral.

Footage captured by the mourners, who numbered no more than five or six, showed two of them injured in their legs by Israeli gunfire.

The mourners said that they left a woman’s body on the ground after an artillery shell struck nearby. The incident forced them to flee.

They also reported that the Israeli army seized the vehicles they had traveled in.

Israelis fired machine guns toward Aitaroun and demolished a playground in Kfarkela.

The army claimed on Thursday that the areas it had moved into in southern Lebanon were not included in the ceasefire agreement.

The deal, which was approved by both Lebanon and Israel on Tuesday, went into effect on Wednesday morning.

The Israeli army called on the Lebanese “not to cross into a line of towns specified by name to enter the border area, extending from Shebaa through Habbariyeh, Arnoun, Yohmor, Qantara, Shaqra, Baraashit, Yater, and Mansouri,” as anyone crossing these towns would endanger themselves.

The Israeli army said that it had 60 days to accomplish a “complete withdrawal from these areas” under the agreement.

The Israeli army has advanced into settlements extending 3 km from the border, an area which includes about 20 villages and Bint Jbeil.

Israeli forces have also prohibited Lebanese residents in the restricted area from moving around between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Eyewitnesses spoke of attacks on “olive groves in Kfarkela, where bulldozers are uprooting olive trees near the Al-Abbara area.”

Meanwhile, four Israeli tanks ventured into the western neighborhood of the town of Khiam. An artillery shell fell on the town and the Israeli army conducted occasional sweeping operations with machine guns.

Israeli artillery shelling also targeted the outskirts of the towns of Markaba and Tallousa in the Marjayoun district while Israeli drones continued to fly over the western and central sectors.

The Lebanese army, which continues to deploy in the areas south of the Litani River and away from the Israeli incursion, blocked the roads leading to the restricted area.

Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces Party, said that “Hezbollah’s war in support of Gaza destroyed both Gaza and Lebanon,” and criticized the “unity of battlefields that Hezbollah called for.”

He was speaking after a meeting held by the Lebanese Forces’ parliamentary bloc and executive body.

Geagea added: “Hezbollah usurped the Lebanese people by starting this war and took Lebanon to war while the majority of the people were against it.

“Hezbollah committed a great crime against the Lebanese people. We could have avoided the martyrdom of 4,000 people and all the displacement and destruction.

“(But) despite all these disasters, Hezbollah MPs are still claiming victory, which is a strange and completely unrealistic logic.”

Geagea said that the ceasefire approved by Hezbollah “is the biggest proof of the illegitimacy of the party’s weapons,” and called on Hezbollah to “meet with the army command and develop a plan to dismantle its military presence north of the Litani River.

Meanwhile, the municipality of Mays Al-Jabal has warned residents returning to their town of the presence of “landmines, explosives and unexploded shells.”

It confirmed that it “is following up with the Lebanese army and relevant authorities to facilitate the safe return of people on time.”

The municipality warned that “entering the town at present is dangerous as the enemy is firing and launching artillery shells into the town’s neighborhoods and streets to target any civilian movement in the area.”

It added: “Due to the presence of landmines, explosives, and unexploded shells in homes and neighborhoods, and given that some houses are still rigged with explosives and might detonate at any moment, as well as the town’s streets being blocked with rubble and obstacles, we urge you and rely on your awareness to refrain from heading to our town at this time, and await further instructions.”

The Israeli army published a summary and data on Friday about the military operations carried out in the last two months against Hezbollah on the northern front.

It added that “orders preventing the return of residents to open areas north of Western Galilee and Upper Galilee remain in effect."

The Israeli army claimed that more than 12,500 targets were attacked, including more than 1,600 military headquarters and more than 1,000 ammunition depots.

The Israeli operations included “more than 14,000 flight hours for fighter jets and about 11,000 targets for attacks.”

The army’s statement claimed that “more than 1,500 offensive infrastructures, about 160 military headquarters, and about 150 ammunition depots were destroyed in the operation against the Radwan Force.

“About 2,500 high-ranking fighters were eliminated, causing significant damage to Hezbollah’s force.”

The Israeli army added that it estimated that Hezbollah had less than 30 percent of the drones it had possessed on the eve of the conflict.

 


Hezbollah pledges to help army build Lebanon’s defensive capacities

Updated 29 November 2024
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Hezbollah pledges to help army build Lebanon’s defensive capacities

  • “We will work to... strengthen Lebanon’s defensive capacities,” said Qassem
  • “The resistance will be ready to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of Lebanon’s weakness along with our partners... first and foremost the army”

BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Friday vowed to cooperate with the Lebanese army and help build the country’s defense capacities amid efforts to implement the terms of a ceasefire with Israel.
Qassem was speaking for the first time since the start of the ceasefire on Wednesday that envisions both Hezbollah and the Israeli military withdrawing from south Lebanon and the Lebanese military deploying there alongside UN peacekeepers.
“We will work to... strengthen Lebanon’s defensive capacities,” said Qassem, who succeeded Hezbollah’s former leader Hassan Nasrallah after he was killed in a massive Israeli air strike on south Beirut in September.
“The resistance will be ready to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of Lebanon’s weakness along with our partners... first and foremost the army,” he added in a televised speech.
“The coordination between the resistance and the Lebanese army will be at a high level to implement the commitments of the agreement,” Qassem continued, adding that “no one is betting on problems or disagreements” with the army.
Qassem also declared that his group had achieved a “great victory” against Israel that “surpasses that of July 2006,” referring to the last time Hezbollah went to war with Israel.
“We won because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah... (and) from annihilating or weakening the resistance.”
Qassem vowed that “our support for Palestine will not stop and will continue through different means.”
The truce ended a conflict that began the day after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, when Hezbollah began a low-intensity exchange of cross-border fire in solidarity with their Palestinian allies.
In late September, Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah, launching fierce air strikes and later sending in ground troops.
Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 3,961 people have been killed in the country since October 2023 as a result of the conflict, most of them in recent weeks, while 16,520 were wounded.
On the Israeli side, the hostilities with Hezbollah killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities there say.
Earlier Friday, the Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon after detecting militant activity in the area.
“A short while ago, terrorist activity and movement of a Hezbollah portable rocket launcher were identified in southern Lebanon,” the army said.
“The threat was thwarted in an (Israeli Air Force) strike,” it added in a statement that featured a video of the air strike on a slowly moving truck.
Israel has vowed to continue acting against any threats even after the ceasefire.
The military also announced a nighttime curfew in south Lebanon for the third day in a row, warning residents they are “strictly forbidden to move or travel south of the Litani River” between 5:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Friday and 07:00 AM (0500 GMT) the following day.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israeli troops will hold their positions but “a 60-day period will commence in which the Lebanese military and security forces will begin their deployment toward the south,” a US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Then, Israel should begin a phased withdrawal without a vacuum forming that Hezbollah or others could rush into, the official said.


2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza bakery amid food shortage

Updated 29 November 2024
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2 children and a woman crushed to death outside Gaza bakery amid food shortage

  • The bodies of two girls aged 13 and 17 and the 50-year-old woman were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza
  • Osama Abu Laban, the father of one of the girls, wailed over the loss of her life outside the hospital

GAZA: Two children and a woman were crushed to death Friday as a crowd of Palestinians pushed to get bread at a bakery in the Gaza Strip amid a worsening food crisis in the war-ravaged territory, medical officials said.
The bodies of two girls aged 13 and 17 and the 50-year-old woman were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died from suffocation due to crowding at the Al-Banna bakery. Video from The Associated Press showed their bodies placed next to each other on the floor inside the hospital’s morgue.
The flow of food allowed into Gaza by Israel has fallen to nearly its lowest level of almost 14-month-old war for the past two months, according to Israeli official figures. UN and aid officials say hunger and desperation are growing among Gaza’s population, almost all of which relies on humanitarian aid to survive.
Osama Abu Laban, the father of one of the girls, wailed over the loss of her life outside the hospital.
“My wife fell when she heard that she (our daughter) was suffocating. She did not yet know that she was dead,” he told the AP.
Some bakeries in Gaza were closed for several days last week due to a shortage of flour. AP footage taken last week after they reopened showed large crowds of people cramming together, screaming and pushing, at one bakery in Deir Al-Balah.
Palestinians across the Gaza Strip are heavily relying on bakeries and charitable kitchens, with many able to only secure one meal a day for their families.
In Lebanon, thousands of displaced people began returning to their homes this week after a ceasefire was announced between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.
Many found their homes reduced to rubble after intense Israeli airstrikes over the past two months leveled entire neighborhoods in eastern and southern Lebanon, as well as the southern suburbs of Beirut. Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced.
The truce was the first major sign of progress in the region since war began more than a year ago, triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. For Palestinians in Gaza and families of hostages held in the territory, the ceasefire marked another missed opportunity to end fighting that has stretched on for nearly 14 months.
More than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million people.