PARIS: France and Qatar delivered urgent humanitarian aid to Lebanon on Tuesday, France’s foreign minister said, as Paris pushes for broader humanitarian efforts and a ceasefire in the country.
“If we don’t do anything, then Lebanon tomorrow could resemble what Syria has become,” Jean-Noel Barrot told lawmakers in parliament. “(That is), a hub of instability for smuggling, terrorism and a point of departure for a large migration of civilians seeking refuge in Europe.”
French and Qatari military planes delivered some 27 metric tons of medicines and basic necessities, including blankets and hygiene kits, diplomatic sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Paris has historical ties with Lebanon and has been working with the United States in trying to secure a ceasefire in the Middle Eastern country. Those talks stalled at the end of September when Israel heavily bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing longtime Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
It has since launched a ground offensive displacing thousands of people. Tuesday’s Franco-Qatari aid aims to support local aid groups to help the wounded and displaced.
The two sides must accept the ceasefire proposal, Barrot said, to “give peace and negotiations a chance to guarantee the sovereignty of Lebanon and security for Israel.”
France is also working to put together a conference on Lebanon soon that will center around three pillars: humanitarian aid, reinforcing the Lebanese army and discussing the ongoing political vacuum in the country, Barrot said.
France, Qatar deliver urgent aid to Lebanon, foreign minister says
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France, Qatar deliver urgent aid to Lebanon, foreign minister says
- “If we don’t do anything, then Lebanon tomorrow could resemble what Syria has become,” Jean-Noel Barrot told lawmakers in parliament
- French and Qatari military planes delivered some 27 metric tons of medicines and basic necessities
Qatar launches ‘air bridge’ for aid to war-struck Lebanon
- Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the Qatari aid “will help cover shortages of medical, relief and support supplies” and will be “a vital push” for the hundreds of thousands of displaced and injured people
BEIRUT, Lebanon: Doha launched an “air bridge” to transport medical supplies and food aid to Lebanon, a Qatari minister said in Beirut on Tuesday, more than two weeks into intense Israeli strikes on the country.
“Today we launched the air bridge with consecutive planes carrying food, shelter materials and medical supplies,” said Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwah Al-Khater from a public hospital in Beirut.
She said Doha was working “on medium and long-term plans to contain this humanitarian crisis.”
Since September 23, Israel has launched an intense air campaign mainly targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, killing more than 1,150 people and displacing upwards of a million people.
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the Qatari aid “will help cover shortages of medical, relief and support supplies” and will be “a vital push” for the hundreds of thousands of displaced and injured people.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati also met the Qatari minister.
A French plane carrying medical aid also landed in Beirut Tuesday, one of several planeloads of aid that arrived at Lebanon’s only international airport since the escalation began.
The United Arab Emirates, Turkiye, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Romania are also among the countries that have sent aid to Lebanon.
Egypt, Jordan voice support for Lebanon in face of Israeli ‘aggression’
- Both Amman and Cairo have repeatedly warned that the region is on the brink of all-out war and have accused Israel of being given impunity by its Western allies to systematically violate international law
CAIRO: The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries to have made peace with Israel, expressed solidarity with Lebanon Tuesday in the face of Israel’s widening offensive.
Addressing a joint news conference in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called for an end to “Israeli aggression on three fronts” — in Gaza, in the occupied West Bank and now in Lebanon.
“We condemn the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, we condemn Israel’s shelling of the Lebanese capital, we condemn Israel’s killing of Lebanese citizens,” Safadi said.
Both Amman and Cairo have repeatedly warned that the region is on the brink of all-out war and have accused Israel of being given impunity by its Western allies to systematically violate international law.
“You have a country that finds itself above the law and unaccountable,” Abdelatty said.
Israel launched a wave of strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on September 23, leaving at least 1,150 people dead since then and forcing more than a million people to flee.
While battling Hamas in Gaza, Israel has vowed to secure its northern border with Lebanon to allow the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by Hezbollah’s cross-border fire in support of its Palestinian ally.
Morocco says ‘ready’ to repatriate irregular migrants in Europe
- Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on Tuesday said the kingdom was “ready to repatriate any irregular migrant who is certified to be Moroccan and who left from Moroccan territory”
RABAT, Morocco: Morocco on Tuesday said it was ready to take back its nationals who migrated irregularly to Europe, blaming host countries for repatriation delays.
It comes as French lawmakers have called for stricter migration policy after a Moroccan irregular migrant was arrested on suspicion of killing a 19-year-old French student last month.
French authorities had previously ordered his deportation in relation to a previous rape conviction, but Rabat has been blamed for not issuing a laissez-passer document allowing for his repatriation.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on Tuesday said the kingdom was “ready to repatriate any irregular migrant who is certified to be Moroccan and who left from Moroccan territory.”
“Morocco is ready, but is the other party ready?” he said during a press conference, adding that Rabat did not “need to receive lessons” on the fight against irregular migration.
The murder suspect was arrested in Switzerland on September 25, four days after the body of a 19-year-old female student was found in the woods in western Paris.
He had already been convicted of a rape he committed in 2019 and was ordered to leave the country.
After his arrest, French authorities said Morocco did not respond to their request to issue a laissez-passer for his immediate repatriation.
Rabat later said the request had not been correctly issued.
France’s new right-wing government has pledged to clamp down on migration.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has recently vowed to introduce new migration regulations to “protect the French.”
WHO warns of possible Lebanon disease outbreaks
GENEVA: A World Health Organization official warned on Tuesday of disease outbreaks in Lebanon due to crowded conditions in displacement shelters and hospital closures as medics have fled Israel’s assault.
Israeli forces have begun ground operations in the southwest of Lebanon, escalating a year-long conflict with Iran-backed group Hezbollah that has killed over 1,000 people in the past two weeks and triggered a mass flight.
“We are facing a situation where there is a much higher risk of disease outbreaks, such as acute watery diarrhea, hepatitis A, and a number of vaccine-preventable diseases,” the WHO’s Ian Clarke, deputy incident manager for Lebanon, told a Geneva press briefing by video link from Beirut.
The UN health agency has already warned that the system is overstretched and so far five hospitals in the country have closed and four are only partly functional, Clarke said. He added that hospitals had been shut because medics had either fled the fighting or been asked to evacuate by Lebanese authorities.
Israel army says dismantled Hezbollah tunnel that crossed into Israel
- “Tonight, we reported that we located and dismantled a tunnel of about 25 meters long,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said its forces dismantled a Hezbollah tunnel that crossed into the country’s territory, as its troops continued to carry out ground operations in southern Lebanon.
“Tonight, we reported that we located and dismantled a tunnel of about 25 meters long, which crossed the border fence about 10 meters ... into Israeli territory,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing.
“We detected this a few months ago, we identified and investigated it using technological means, we did not let Hezbollah know that we knew about it and now we can confirm that we are also dismantling it.”
In a separate statement, the military said the tunnel crossed from the Marwahin area in Lebanon into Israeli territory near the Zarit community.
During the operation, the army located weapons, explosive devices and anti-tank missiles in the tunnel, it said.
Hagari said Israeli troops continue to search for other tunnels along the “entire” border and in villages in southern Lebanon.
“The tunnel was under full operational control until the arrival of the soldiers in the area to prevent its use for terrorist activities,” the army said.
“For years, Hezbollah’s southern front has built an extensive network of underground infrastructure and command centers in southern Lebanon, aimed at attacking IDF (army) soldiers during combat and executing attack plans against communities in northern Israel,” it said.
Israel has intensified its campaign against Hezbollah since late September, launching continuous air strikes against the group’s strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon and in Beirut.
Its troops have meanwhile pressed a ground offensive in southern Lebanon.
