BEIRUT: Lebanese were surveying the damage on Monday after overnight Israeli strikes hit nearly a dozen branches of a Hezbollah-run financial institution that Israel says is used to fund attacks but where many ordinary people keep their savings.
The strikes targeted Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. One strike flattened a nine-story building in Beirut with a branch inside it. Smoke rose from several locations on Monday.
The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes. There were no reports of casualties.
Israel invaded Lebanon earlier this month, saying it aims to push Hezbollah from the border after more than a year of rocket, missile and drone attacks that began after Palestinian Hamas militants launched their surprise Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Israeli airstrikes have pounded large areas of Lebanon for weeks, forcing over a million people to flee their homes.
The United States is hoping to revive diplomatic efforts to resolve both conflicts after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip last week, but so far all sides appear to be digging in.
Hezbollah-run lender filled gaps left by Lebanon’s troubled banks
The Arabic language spokesman for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, said warplanes targeted several locations “used to store money for the military arm of Hezbollah,” including Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which he said finances arms purchases and is used to pay fighters.
He said Hezbollah stores hundreds of millions of dollars in the branches, without providing evidence, and that the strikes were aimed at preventing the group from rearming.
The institution has more than 30 branches across Lebanon. It tried to reassure customers, saying it had evacuated all branches and relocated gold and other deposits to safe areas.
Many customers are civilians unaffiliated with Hezbollah. The registered nonprofit has long served as an alternative to Lebanon’s banks, which have imposed restrictions in the face of a severe financial crisis that began in 2019.
Bulldozers cleared mounds of rubble at the site of one strike. Clothes, furniture and the remains of a beauty salon were seen in the debris. Al-Qard Al-Hassan documents were scattered across the area, but there was no sign of cash or other valuables.
Lebanon assesses damage after Israel strikes Hezbollah-run financial institution
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Lebanon assesses damage after Israel strikes Hezbollah-run financial institution
- Strikes targeted Al-Qard Al-Hassan branches in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, across southern Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley
- One strike flattened a nine-story building in Beirut with a branch inside it
Ramadan in war-torn Sudan eclipsed by famine and inflation
PORT SUDAN: In the safety of Sudan’s eastern coast, residents preparing for Ramadan were struggling to afford basic holiday staples as the war raging elsewhere in the country has sent prices soaring.
The situation was much more dire in areas hit directly by the nearly two-year war, where famine, displacement, severe shortages and looting overshadowed the usual spirit of generosity and community of the holy Muslim month that began on Saturday.
At a market in Port Sudan, a relative safe haven in the east, prices are out of reach for many families.
Sugar, widely used in drinks and sweets to break the daily dawn-to-dusk fast, goes for 2,400 Sudanese pounds ($1) per kilo.
A kilo of veal costs 24,000 pounds, and mutton 28,000, according to consumers.
“We are struggling to afford Ramadan goods,” said resident Mahmoud Abd El Kader, protesting the “extremely expensive” prices.
Another resident, Hassan Osman, told AFP that “prices are too high, goods are too expensive, people cannot afford them.”
According to labor unions, the average monthly pay is around $60, but public workers in some Sudanese states have gone without pay during the war.
Those who did have had to grapple with the plummeting value of the local currency, down from about 600 pounds to the US dollar to 2,400 pounds on the parallel market, and inflation that hit 145 percent in January according to official figures.
In some parts of Sudan, there were pressing concerns not about the prices of food — but about whether it was available at all.
The fighting since April 2023 between the forces of rival generals, which has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million, has also pushed entire areas of Sudan into hunger and cut off crucial supply routes.
NO FOOD, SUPPLIES
In parts of the vast western region of Darfur and Kordofan in the south — both focal points of the war between the army the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — food supply routes have been cut off, and starvation has set in.
Famine has gripped three displacement camps in North Darfur and some parts of the south, and is expected to spread to five more areas by May, according to a UN-backed assessment.
Some residents of Darfur have resorted to eating peanut shells and tree leaves to survive.
And with aid agencies struggling to reach these areas, hunger is spreading rapidly.
The UN’s World Food Programme said Wednesday it was forced to suspend operations in and around one famine-hit camp in North Darfur because of escalating violence.
“It is very difficult here,” said Omar Manago, a humanitarian worker in North Darfur.
“There is a severe shortage of drinking water and food. Many families have not eaten a proper meal in months,” he added.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned on Thursday that without an immediate surge in aid, hundreds of thousands of people could die.
“Sudan is... on the verge of a further explosion into chaos, and at increasing risk of atrocity crimes and mass deaths from famine,” Turk told the UN Human Rights Council.
Manago said that most markets in North Darfur are now gone.
“Everything has been burned down by the” paramilitary fighters, he said.
Other conflict-hit areas, where food stocks are running dangerously low, have also seen widespread looting.
In the capital Khartoum, where fighting between the army and the RSF has intensified in recent weeks, volunteers were distributing any aid they could find, but the needs far outweigh the meagre supply.
Some cherished Ramadan traditions have perished.
“Before the war, volunteers used to line the streets, handing out iftar meals to those who could not make it home in time,” said Sabrine Zerouk, 30, from Omdurman on the outskirts of the capital.
“That is no longer happening like before,” she told AFP.
In previous years, Sudanese families would prepare elaborate iftar meals the break the daily Ramadan fast, sharing food with neighbors and those in need.
“What I miss the most is breaking fast with family and friends,” said Mohamed Moussa, a 30-year-old doctor at one of the last functioning hospitals in Omdurman.
“And the Ramadan decorations, too — these are among the things we’ve lost.”
Uncertainty looms as first phase of Gaza truce due to expire
- The first phase of the Israel-Hamas truce is drawing to a close on Saturday, but negotiations on the next stage, which should secure a permanent ceasefire, have so far been inconclusive
GAZA:The first phase of the Israel-Hamas truce is drawing to a close on Saturday, but negotiations on the next stage, which should secure a permanent ceasefire, have so far been inconclusive.
The ceasefire took effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of war on Gaza.
Over the initial six-week phase, Gaza militants freed 25 living hostages and returned the bodies of eight others to Israel, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
A second phase of the fragile truce was supposed to secure the release of dozens of hostages still in Gaza and pave the way for a more permanent end to the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sent a delegation to Cairo, and mediator Egypt said “intensive talks” on the second phase had begun with the presence of delegations from Israel as well as fellow mediators Qatar and the United States.
But by early Saturday, there was no sign of consensus, and a Hamas source accused Israel of delaying the second phase.
“The second phase of the ceasefire agreement is supposed to begin tomorrow morning, Sunday... but the occupation is still procrastinating and continuing to violate the agreement,” the source told AFP.
A Palestinian source close to the talks meanwhile told AFP that, despite the absence of a Hamas delegation in Cairo, discussions were underway seeking a way through the impasse.
Max Rodenbeck, of the International Crisis Group think tank, said the second phase cannot be expected to start immediately.
“But I think the ceasefire probably won’t collapse also,” he said.
The preferred Israeli scenario is to free more hostages under an extension of the first phase, rather than a second phase, Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s attack, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas, for its part, has pushed hard for phase two to begin, after it suffered staggering losses in the devastating war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire “must hold.”
“The coming days are critical. The parties must spare no effort to avoid a breakdown of this deal,” Guterres said in New York.
The truce enabled greater aid flows into the Gaza Strip, where more than 69 percent of buildings were damaged or destroyed, almost the entire population was displaced, and widespread hunger occurred because of the war, according to the United Nations.
In Gaza and throughout much of the Muslim world, Saturday also marked the first day of the month of Ramadan, during which the faithful observe a dawn-to-dusk fast.
Among the rubble of Gaza’s war-wrecked neighborhoods, traditional Ramadan lanterns hung and people performed nightly prayers on the eve of the holy month.
“Ramadan has come this year, and we are on the streets with no shelter, no work, no money, nothing,” said Ali Rajih, a resident of the hard-hit Jabalia camp in north Gaza.
“My eight children and I are homeless, we’re living on the streets of Jabalia camp, with nothing but God’s mercy.”
The Gaza war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
The Israeli retaliation has killed more than 48,000 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN has deemed reliable.
Though the truce has effectively held, there have been a number of Israeli strikes, including on Friday when the military said it targeted two “suspects” approaching troops in southern Gaza.
A hospital in Khan Yunis said it had received the body of one person killed in a strike.
In return for the release of the captives held in Gaza, Israel released nearly 1,800 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.
Gaza militants also released five Thai hostages outside the truce deal’s terms.
Lebanon’s president to Asharq Al-Awsat: Decision of war and peace lies solely with the state
- Aoun said Israel should have committed to ceasefire agreement by withdrawing from Lebanese territories
- Lebanese leader says during his visit to Saudi Arabia he plans to ask the Kingdom to revive a grant of military aid to Lebanon
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun says he wants to build a state that has the decision of war and peace and stressed he is committed to implementing Security Council Resolution 1701.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, his first since his election in January, Aoun said: “Our objective is to build the state, so nothing is difficult. And if we want to talk about the concept of sovereignty, its concept is to place the decisions of war and peace in the hands of the state, and to monopolize or restrict weapons to the state.”
“When will it be achieved? Surely, the circumstances will allow it,” he told the newspaper.
Asked whether the state will be able to impose control over all Lebanese territories with its own forces and without any military or security partnership, he said: "It is no longer allowed for anyone other than the state to fulfill its national duty in protecting the land and the people ... When there is an aggression against the Lebanese state, the state makes the decision, and it determines how to mobilize forces to defend the country."
He also stressed his full commitment to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701. “The state and all its institutions are committed to implementing the Resolution” on the “entire Lebanese territories,” Aoun said.
On the possible adoption of a defense strategy, Aoun insisted that even if a state does not have enemies on its borders, it should agree on a national security strategy that not only deals with military goals but also economic and fiscal objectives.
“We are tired of war,” he said in response to a question. “We hope to end military conflicts and resolve our problems through diplomatic efforts,” he said.
Asked whether he was surprised that the Israeli army has stayed at five points in south Lebanon, Aoun said that Israel should have committed to the ceasefire agreement that was sponsored by the US and France and should have withdrawn from all areas it had entered during the war with Hezbollah.
“We are in contact with France and the US to pressure Israel to withdraw from the five points because they don’t have any military value,” he said.
“With the emergence of technologies, drones and satellites,” an army does not need a hill for surveillance, Aoun added.
"Saudi Arabia has become a gateway for the region and for the whole world. It has become a platform for global peace,” he said when asked why he has chosen to visit the Kingdom on his first official trip abroad.
“I hope and expect from Saudi Arabia, especially Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that we correct the relationship for the benefit of both countries and remove all the obstacles ... so that we can build economic and natural relations between us.”
He said that during his visit he plans to ask Saudi Arabia to revive a grant of military aid to Lebanon.
On relations with the Syrian authorities, Aoun said he intends to have friendly ties the new Syrian administration and that one of the pressing issues is to resolve the problem of the porous border between the two countries.
“There are problems on the border (with Syria) with smugglers. Most importantly, the land and sea border with Syria should be demarcated,” he said.
Aoun also called for resolving the problem of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. “The Syrian state cannot give up on 2 million citizens who have been displaced to Lebanon.”
The refugees should return because “the Syrian war ended and the regime that was persecuting them collapsed,” he said.
- This article was originally published by Asharq Al-Awsat and can be read here.
PKK declares ceasefire with Turkiye after 40 years of armed struggle
Istanbul: Outlawed Kurdish militants on Saturday declared a ceasefire with Turkiye following a landmark call by jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan asking the group to disband.
It was the first reaction from the PKK after Ocalan this week called for the dissolution of his Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and asked it to lay down arms after fighting the Turkish state for over four decades.
“In order to pave the way for the implementation of leader Apo’s call for peace and democratic society, we are declaring a ceasefire effective from today,” the PKK executive committee said in a statement quoted by the pro-PKK ANF news agency, referring to Ocalan.
“We agree with the content of the call as it is and we say that we will follow and implement it,” the committee said.
The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union, has waged an insurgency since 1984 with the aim of carving out a homeland for Kurds, who account for around 20 percent of Turkiye’s 85 million people.
Since Ocalan was jailed in 1999 there have been various attempts to end the bloodshed, which has cost more than 40,000 lives.
After the last round of peace talks collapsed in 2015, no further contact was made until October when a hard-line nationalist ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered a surprise peace gesture if Ocalan rejected violence.
While Erdogan backed the rapprochement, his government cranked up pressure on the opposition, arresting hundreds of politicians, activists and journalists.
After several meetings with Ocalan at his island prison, the pro-Kurdish DEM party on Thursday relayed his appeal for PKK to lay down its weapons and convene a congress to announce the organization’s dissolution.
New demand by Israel risks shaky Gaza truce
CAIRO: The fragile truce in Gaza was hanging by a thread on Friday after Israel demanded a six-week extension to the first phase of the deal.
The 42-day first stage of the ceasefire — under which Hamas released 33 Israeli hostages, more than 2,000 Palestinian prisoners were freed from Israeli jails and its forces partially withdrew from Gaza — ends on Saturday.
Talks on the second stage — the release of all remaining hostages and Israel’s complete military withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave — should have begun last month, but Egyptian security sources said on Friday that Israeli negotiators in Cairo were insisting on a further 42 days of the first stage.
Hamas said on Saturday that it rejected Israel’s “formulation” of extending the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza, on the day the first stage of the deal was set to expire.
The group’s spokesperson Hazem Qassem also told Al-Araby TV there were no current talks for a second ceasefire phase in Gaza with the group.
Hamas opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed. “We call on the international community to pressure the occupation to... immediately enter the second phase of the agreement without any delay,” it said on Friday.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian also said on Friday that she would like the ceasefire phases to move ahead as originally planned. “I doubt anyone in Gaza will want to go back to war,” she said.
However, there is also no sign of consensus on Gaza’s future. That uncertainty is complicating efforts to negotiate a lasting resolution.
A hostage-prisoner swap early Thursday was the final one under the initial stage of the truce.
Hamas returned the bodies of four Israelis and 643 Palestinians were released from Israeli jails. Many were awaiting treatment on Friday at a hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Among those freed was Nael Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner who spent more than four decades behind bars. Another released prisoner, Yahya Shraideh, said: “We were in hell and we came out of hell.”
