BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday issued a rare rebuke of Iran, charging it with “blatant interference” over remarks attributed to its parliament speaker on a UN resolution on Hezbollah and Lebanon.
The Security Council resolution, adopted in 2006 and which states that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should be deployed in southern Lebanon, has come into focus during the latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
In remarks published by France’s Le Figaro newspaper on Thursday, Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf said that “Tehran would be willing to engage in concrete negotiations on enforcing Resolution 1701, with France acting as a mediator between Hezbollah and Israel.”
This is seen as a precondition for a ceasefire.
Le Figaro reported that Qalibaf “does not say that Hezbollah did not respect Resolution 1701, which calls for Hezbollah’s retreat beyond the Litani River.”
Mikati hit back, accusing Iran of “blatant interference in Lebanese affairs and an attempt to establish an unacceptable guardianship over Lebanon.”
He said in a statement that “the issue of negotiating to implement international Resolution 1701 is being undertaken by the Lebanese state. Everyone is required to support it in this direction, not to seek to impose new mandates.”
Mikati said that Lebanon’s foreign minister would summon Iran’s charge d’affaires to seek clarification on Qalibaf’s remarks.
He said “he had communicated to both the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the speaker of the Iranian Shoura Council during their recent visits to Lebanon that it is crucial to understand the Lebanese situation, particularly as Lebanon is currently facing unprecedented Israeli aggression.”
He also said that “Lebanon is actively working with its allies, including France, to pressure Israel to cease hostilities.”
Mikati emphasized that “the responsibility for negotiating the implementation of Resolution 1701 lies with the Lebanese state.”
“Everyone should support this approach rather than seek to impose new and unacceptable forms of tutelage, which are rejected on both national and sovereign grounds,” he said.
Qalibaf visited Beirut on Oct. 12.
Araghchi had previously violated the Lebanese state’s sovereignty on Oct. 4, when he ignored the road map to end the war launched by parliament speaker Nabih Berri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt just two days before his arrival.
The road map did not mention Hezbollah and focused on implementing a ceasefire, electing a president and enforcing Resolution 1701.
During his meetings with Berri and Mikati, Araghchi believed that “Lebanon won’t remain without the Resistance.”
His statement was met with official disapproval, especially as Lebanon is currently facing the destructive Israeli military machine.
French President Emmanuel Macron was among those who rejected the Iranian stance.
“Iran made the brazen choice of putting Lebanese at risk and protecting itself, which accelerated the start of Israeli operations,” he said after the European summit in Brussels.
Hezbollah, he said, “has obligations, foremost among them the renunciation of weapons, terrorism and violence, and it must allow the Lebanese to come together.”
Qalibaf received harsh criticism within Lebanon, while Mikati was praised.
Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces Party, said the prime minister’s stance “gives us a glimmer of hope that the state, albeit unfortunately after the devastating events, has begun to take responsibility.”
He said he hoped Mikati would “go further and say that the government demands a ceasefire based on the implementation of Resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701, as this is the only way to stop the ongoing massacres in Lebanon.”
Sami Gemayel, head of the Kataeb Party, said: “Mikati’s stance is a good step toward restoring the state’s prestige, sovereignty and decision-making power and we support such steps to put an end to the blatant interference in Lebanese affairs. It is necessary to follow through by asserting the state’s authority on the ground.”
Bilal Hchaimeh, an independent lawmaker who is close to the Future Movement, called for the “rejection of any foreign interference in the sovereign affairs of our country, especially when it concerns negotiations related to our national security.”
A source close to Qalibaf said on Al-Mayadeen TV that “what the government and the resistance in Lebanon support regarding the ceasefire, Iran will support as well.”
He said also that “what was reported about Qalibaf is completely incorrect” and that “cooperation with Europe aims to help reach a ceasefire agreement supported by the government and the resistance in Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, fierce clashes continued between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, with Israeli airstrikes causing further destruction in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa. The death toll over the past 24 hours was 45, with 179 injured, according to the government’s emergency committee.
Speaking at a briefing in Geneva, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said: “The devastation and destruction of many villages along the Blue Line and even beyond is shocking. We’ve been targeted several times, five times under deliberate attack.”
He said also that “a trace of the possible use of white phosphorous” had been seen close to a UNIFIL base.
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair, head of Lebanon’s High Relief Commission said that the cargo from four of the 10 Saudi planes carrying aid for displaced people in Lebanon had been unloaded and that the last of the flights would land at Beirut airport on Tuesday.
He said that an executive delegation from the Kingdom, under the directives of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had also arrived in Lebanon “to work alongside the commission, assist in the distribution of donations and familiarize themselves with the needs of the displaced.”
The aid was greatly welcomed, he said.
About 1.2 million people have been displaced from Lebanon’s south, the Bekaa and Beirut’s southern suburbs, with more than half of them now living in shelters.
On Friday, Hezbollah’s military media reported the targeting of the settlement of Zevulun with a “large salvo of rockets, with sirens sounding in Acre, Haifa Bay and vast areas in the Galilee.”
In a statement to the residents of 23 southern towns, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said: “For your safety, you must evacuate without delay and move to the north of the Awali River.”
The airstrikes focused on the area of Nabatieh, targeting residential and commercial buildings in Aita Al-Shaab, Ramyah, Dhayra, Boustane, Maroun Al-Ras and Yaroun, as well as on the outskirts of Bint Jbeil, Marwahin and Tarbikha in the western sector.
Hezbollah’s military media said: “The enemy’s losses, as observed by the party, amounted to around 55 dead and more than 500 wounded officers and soldiers. In addition, 20 Merkava tanks, four military bulldozers, an armored vehicle and a troop carrier have been destroyed, and two ‘Hermes 450’ drones have been downed.”
Lebanon PM slams Iran speaker’s remarks as ‘blatant interference’
https://arab.news/g23tj
Lebanon PM slams Iran speaker’s remarks as ‘blatant interference’
- Tehran ‘willing to engage in negotiations,’ Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf quoted as saying
- Mikati accuses Iran of trying to ‘establish an unacceptable guardianship over Lebanon’
Food shortages bring hunger pains to displaced families in central Gaza
- Almost all of Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million people now rely on international aid for survival, and doctors and aid groups say malnutrition is rampant
A crowd of people waited dejectedly in the cold outside the shuttered Zadna Bakery in Deir Al-Balah on Monday.
Among them was Umm Shadi, a displaced woman from Gaza City, who told The Associated Press that there was no bread left due to the lack of flour — a bag of which costs as much as 400 shekels ($107) in the market, she said, if any can be found.
“Who can buy a bag of flour for 400 shekels?” she asked.
Nora Muhanna, another woman displaced from Gaza City, said she was leaving empty-handed after waiting five or six hours for a bag of bread for her kids.
“From the beginning, there are no goods, and even if they are available, there is no money,” she said.
Almost all of Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million people now rely on international aid for survival, and doctors and aid groups say malnutrition is rampant. Food security experts say famine may already be underway in hard-hit north Gaza. Aid groups accuse the Israeli military of hindering and even blocking shipments in Gaza.
Meanwhile, dozens lined up in Deir Al-Balah to get their share of lentil soup and some bread at a makeshift charity kitchen.
Refat Abed, a displaced man from Gaza City, no longer knows how he can afford food.
“Where can I get money?” he asked. “Do I beg? If it were not for God and charity, my children and I would go hungry,”
Even with Lebanon truce deal, Israel will operate against Hezbollah — Netanyahu
- Lebanon’s government has largely endorsed US truce proposal to end Israel-Hezbollah war
- Israel insists any truce deal must guarantee no further Hezbollah presence in area bordering Israel
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel will continue to operate militarily against the Iran-backed Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah even if a ceasefire deal is reached in Lebanon.
“The most important thing is not (the deal that) will be laid on paper,” Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament.
“We will be forced to ensure our security in the north (of Israel) and to systematically carry out operations against Hezbollah’s attacks... even after a ceasefire,” to keep the group from rebuilding, he said.
Netanyahu also said there was no evidence that Hezbollah would respect any ceasefire reached.
“We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the state it was in on October 6” 2023, the eve of the strike by its Palestinian ally Hamas into southern Israel, he said.
Hezbollah then began firing into northern Israel in support of Hamas, triggering exchanges with Israel that escalated into full-on war in late September this year.
Lebanon’s government has largely endorsed a US truce proposal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war and was preparing final comments before responding to Washington, a Lebanese official told AFP on Monday.
Israel insists that any truce deal must guarantee no further Hezbollah presence in the area bordering Israel.
Defiant Lebanese harvest olives in the shadow of war
- A World Bank report this month said that “the disruption of the olive harvest caused by bombing and displacement is expected to lead to $58 million in losses” in Lebanon
KFEIR: On a mountain slope in south Lebanon, agricultural worker Assaad Al-Taqi is busy picking olives, undeterred by the roar of Israeli warplanes overhead.
This year, he is collecting the harvest against the backdrop of the raging Israel-Hezbollah war.
He works in the village of Kfeir, just a few kilometers (miles) from where Israeli bombardment has devastated much of south Lebanon since Israel escalated its campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in September.
“But I’m not afraid of the shelling,” Taqi said, as he and other workers hit the tree branches with sticks, sending showers of olives tumbling down into jute bags.
“Our presence here is an act of defiance,” the 51-year-old said, but also noting that the olive “is the tree of peace.”
Kfeir is nine kilometers (six miles) from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in the mixed Christian and Druze district of Hasbaya, which has largely been spared the violence that has wracked nearby Hezbollah strongholds.
But even Hasbaya’s relative tranquillity was shattered last month when three journalists were killed in an Israeli strike on a complex where they were sleeping.
Israel and Hezbollah had previously exchanged cross-border fire for almost a year over the Gaza conflict.
The workers in Kfeir rest in the shade of the olive trees, some 900 meters (3,000 feet) above sea level on the slopes of Mount Hermon, which overlooks an area where Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli-held territory meet.
They have been toiling in relative peace since dawn, interrupted only by sonic booms from Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier and the sight of smoke rising on the horizon from strikes on a south Lebanon border village.
Hassna Hammad, 48, who was among those picking olives, said the agricultural work was her livelihood.
“We aren’t afraid, we’re used to it,” she said of the war.
But “we are afraid for our brothers impacted by the conflict,” she added, referring to the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese displaced by the fighting.
Elsewhere in south Lebanon, olive trees are bulging with fruit that nobody will pick, after villagers fled Israeli bombardment and the subsequent ground operation that began on September 30.
A World Bank report this month said that “the disruption of the olive harvest caused by bombing and displacement is expected to lead to $58 million in losses” in Lebanon.
It said 12 percent of olive groves in the conflict-affected areas it assessed had been destroyed.
Normally, the olive-picking season is highly anticipated in Lebanon, and some people return each year to their native villages and fields just for the harvest.
“Not everyone has the courage to come” this time, said Salim Kassab, who owns a traditional press where villagers bring their olives to extract the oil.
“Many people are absent... They sent workers to replace them,” said Kassab, 50.
“There is fear of the war of course,” he said, adding that he had come alone this year, without his wife and children.
Kassab said that before the conflict, he used to travel to the southern cities of Nabatiyeh and Sidon if he needed to fix his machines, but such trips are near impossible now because of the danger.
The World Bank report estimated that 12 months of agriculture sector losses have cost Lebanon $1.1 billion, in a country already going through a gruelling five-year economic crisis before the fighting erupted.
Areas near the southern border have sustained “the most significant damage and losses,” the report said.
It cited “the burning and abandonment of large areas of agricultural land” in both south and east Lebanon, “along with lost harvests due to the displacement of farmers.”
Elsewhere in Kfeir, Inaam Abu Rizk, 77, and her husband were busy washing olives they plan to either press for oil or jar to be served throughout the winter.
Abu Rizk has taken part in the olive harvest for decades, part of a tradition handed down the generations, and said that despite the war, this year was no different.
“Of course we’re afraid... there is the sound of planes and bombing,” she said.
But “we love the olive month — we are farmers and the land is our work.”
Iraqis face tough homecoming a decade after Daesh rampage
- Baghdad has been pushing for the closure of the displacement camps, with the country having attained a degree of comparative stability in recent years
HASSAN SHAMI: A decade after Daesh group extremists rampaged through northern Iraq, Moaz Fadhil and his eight children finally returned to their village after languishing for years in a displacement camp.
Their home, Hassan Shami, is just a stone’s throw from the tent city where they had been living, and it still bears the scars of the fight against Daesh.
The jihadists seized a third of Iraq, ruling their self-declared “caliphate” with an iron fist, before an international coalition wrestled control from them in 2017.
Seven years on, many of the village’s homes are still in ruins and lacking essential services, but Fadhil said he felt an “indescribable joy” upon moving back in August.
Iraq — marred by decades of war and turmoil even before the rise of Daesh — is home to more than a million internally displaced people.
Baghdad has been pushing for the closure of the displacement camps, with the country having attained a degree of comparative stability in recent years.
Most of the camps in federal Iraq have now been closed, but around 20 remain in the northern autonomous Kurdistan region, which according to the United Nations house more than 115,000 displaced people.
But for many, actually returning home can be a difficult task.
After getting the green light from Kurdish security forces to leave the camp, Fadhil moved his family into a friend’s damaged house because his own is a complete ruin.
“Water arrives by tanker trucks and there is no electricity,” said the 53-year-old.
Although the rubble has been cleared from the structure he now lives in, the cinder block walls and rough concrete floors remain bare.
Across Hassan Shami, half-collapsed houses sit next to concrete buildings under construction by those residents who can afford to rebuild.
Some have installed solar panels to power their new lives.
A small new mosque stands, starkly white, beside an asphalt road.
“I was born here, and before me my father and mother,” said Fadhil, an unemployed farmer.
“I have beautiful memories with my children, my parents.”
The family survives mainly on the modest income brought in by his eldest son, who works as a day laborer on building sites.
“Every four or five days he works a day” for about $8, said Fadhil.
In an effort to close the camps and facilitate returns, Iraqi authorities are offering families around $3,000 to go back to their places of origin.
To do so, displaced people must also get security clearance — to ensure they are not wanted for jihadist crimes — and have their identity papers or property rights in order.
But of the 11,000 displaced people still living in six displacement camps near Hassan Shami, 600 are former prisoners, according to the UN.
They were released after serving up to five years for crimes related to membership of IS.
For them, going home can mean further complications.
There’s the risk of ostracism by neighbors or tribes for their perceived affiliation with Daesh atrocities, potential arrest at a checkpoint by federal forces or even a second trial.
Among them is 32-year-old Rashid, who asked that we use a pseudonym because of his previous imprisonment in Kurdistan for belonging to the jihadist group.
He said he hopes the camp next to Hassan Shami does not close.
“I have a certificate of release (from prison), everything is in order... But I can’t go back there,” he said of federal Iraq.
“If I go back it’s 20 years” in jail, he added, worried that he would be tried again in an Iraqi court.
Ali Abbas, spokesperson for Iraq’s migration ministry, said that those who committed crimes may indeed face trial after they leave the camps.
“No one can prevent justice from doing its job,” he said, claiming that their families would not face repercussions.
The government is working to ensure that families who return have access to basic services, Abbas added.
In recent months, Baghdad has repeatedly tried to set deadlines for Kurdistan to close the camps, even suing leaders of the autonomous region before finally opting for cooperation over coercion.
Imrul Islam of the Norwegian Refugee Council said displacement camps by definition are supposed to be temporary, but warned against their hasty closure.
When people return, “you need schools. You need hospitals. You need roads. And you need working markets that provide opportunities for livelihoods,” he said.
Without these, he said, many families who try to resettle in their home towns would end up returning to the camps.
Even with Lebanon truce deal, Israel will operate against Hezbollah: Netanyahu
- Netanyahu also said there was no evidence that Hezbollah would respect any ceasefire reached
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel will continue to operate militarily against the Iran-backed Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah even if a ceasefire deal is reached in Lebanon.
“The most important thing is not (the deal that) will be laid on paper,” Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament.
“We will be forced to ensure our security in the north (of Israel) and to systematically carry out operations against Hezbollah’s attacks... even after a ceasefire,” to keep the group from rebuilding, he said.
Netanyahu also said there was no evidence that Hezbollah would respect any ceasefire reached.
“We will not allow Hezbollah to return to the state it was in on October 6” 2023, the eve of the strike by its Palestinian ally Hamas into southern Israel, he said.
Hezbollah then began firing into northern Israel in support of Hamas, triggering exchanges with Israel that escalated into full-on war in late September this year.
Lebanon’s government has largely endorsed a US truce proposal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war and was preparing final comments before responding to Washington, a Lebanese official told AFP on Monday.
Israel insists that any truce deal must guarantee no further Hezbollah presence in the area bordering Israel.
