GENEVA: Argentina has notified the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon of its withdrawal from the force, a UNIFIL spokesperson said on Tuesday, in the first sign of cracks in the unity of the mission following attacks it has blamed on Israel.
The 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is deployed in southern Lebanon to monitor the demarcation line with Israel, an area where there have been hostilities between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters for over a year.
“Argentina has asked its officers to go back (to Argentina),” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in response to a question about a newspaper report.
He declined to comment on the reason for their departure, referring the question to Argentina’s government.
Argentina is one of 48 countries contributing peacekeepers to UNIFIL, with a total of three staff currently in Lebanon, a UN website showed. It did not immediately respond to Tenenti’s comments.
UNIFIL has previously referred to “unacceptable pressures being exerted on the mission through various channels.”
Peacekeepers have refused to leave their posts despite more than 20 injuries in the past two months and damage to facilities which UNIFIL blames on the Israeli military.
Israel has denied such incidents are deliberate attacks. Israel says UN troops provide a human shield for Hezbollah fighters and has told UNIFIL to evacuate from southern Lebanon for its own safety — a request that the force has rejected.
Tenenti said there was no broader indication of declining support for the mission.
“The idea is to stay. So there is no discussion of withdrawing at all,” he said.
He said that its monitoring activities were “very, very limited” because of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and repairs to some of its facilities.
“We’re still working on fixing some of the positions, but this has been definitely a very difficult moment, because we’ve been deliberately attacked by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) in recent months, and we’re doing our utmost to rebuild the areas,” he said.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment on Tenenti’s remarks.
Argentina withdraws from UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon
https://arab.news/4rhgp
Argentina withdraws from UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon
- “Argentina has asked its officers to go back (to Argentina),” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said
- He declined to comment on the reason for their departure, referring the question to Argentina’s government
Iraq to hold first nationwide census since 1987
- A census carried out in 1997 excluded the Iraqi Kurdistan region, which had been governed by Kurdish authorities since the 1991 Gulf War
BAGHDAD: Iraq will begin its first full national census in more than three decades on Wednesday, a pivotal moment as it looks to gather demographic data for future planning and development.
The census, the first full one since Saddam Hussein was President in 1987, aims to provide a comprehensive count of Iraq’s population, estimated to exceed 43 million people by the end of 2024, said Iraq’s planning ministry spokesperson Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi.
Attempts at conducting a national census were delayed by years of conflict, instability and disagreement among political factions, but with the country now in a period of stability, authorities hope the process will be completed successfully.
A census carried out in 1997 excluded the Iraqi Kurdistan region, which had been governed by Kurdish authorities since the 1991 Gulf War.
It counted 19 million Iraqis and officials estimated there were another 3 million in the Kurdish north, according to official statistics.
The census was repeatedly postponed over worries it was being politicized. Ethnic groups in contested areas like the northern city of Kirkuk, home to Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and a valuable part of Iraq’s oil fields, opposed it because it might reveal demographics that would undermine political ambitions.
“We have fears (of the census) not only in Kirkuk but all other disputed areas which are subjected to strong disagreements between various powers,” said Shwan Dawoodi, a Kurdish politician.
The data gathered will be used to guide decisions in areas such as infrastructure development, education, health care and social services, said Hindawi.
The census will feature only one question regarding religious affiliation — Muslim or Christian — and none about ethnic background or sectarian affiliation.
The Iraqi government has made extensive efforts to ensure the process, scheduled to take two days to complete, is as inclusive and accurate as possible, imposing a two-day curfew from midnight on Tuesday.
Preliminary results will be announced within 24 hours and final results released in two to three months.
US imposes sanctions on senior Hamas officials
- The Treasury Department said in a statement the sanctions targeted the group’s representatives abroad
- Among those targeted was Abd Al-Rahman Ismail abd Al-Rahman Ghanimat, a longtime member of Hamas’s military wing who is now based in Turkiye
WASHINGTON: The US on Tuesday imposed sanctions on six senior Hamas officials, the US Treasury Department said, in further action against the Palestinian militant group as Washington has sought to achieve a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.
The Treasury Department said in a statement the sanctions targeted the group’s representatives abroad, a senior member of the Hamas military wing and those involved in supporting fundraising efforts for the group and weapons smuggling into Gaza.
“Hamas continues to rely on key officials who seemingly maintain legitimate, public-facing roles within the group, yet who facilitate their terrorist activities, represent their interests abroad, and coordinate the transfer of money and goods into Gaza,” Treasury’s Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith, said in the statement.
“Treasury remains committed to disrupting Hamas’s efforts to secure additional revenue and holding those who facilitate the group’s terrorist activities to account.”
Among those targeted was Abd Al-Rahman Ismail abd Al-Rahman Ghanimat, a longtime member of Hamas’s military wing who is now based in Turkiye, the Treasury said, accusing him of being involved in multiple attempted and successful terrorist attacks.
Two other officials based in Turkiye, a member based in Gaza who has participated in Hamas’s engagements with Russia and a leader authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the group and who previously oversaw border crossings at Gaza were also among those targeted, according to the Treasury.
The US on Monday warned Turkiye against hosting Hamas leadership, saying Washington does not believe leaders of a terrorist organization should be living comfortably.
Asked about reports that some Hamas leaders had moved to Turkiye from Qatar, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller did not confirm the reports but said he was not in a position to dispute them. He said Washington will make clear to Turkiye’s government that there can be no more business as usual with Hamas.
Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 43,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over the past year, Palestinian health officials say, and Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland of wrecked buildings and piles of rubble, where more than two million Gazans are seeking shelter in makeshift tents and facing shortages of food and medicines.
Italy says Hezbollah staged UN base attack it had blamed on Israel
- The UNIFIL force has complained of increasing attacks since Israel started its campaign targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon
BEIRUT: Italy’s defense minister said Tuesday that the Hezbollah group staged an attack on a UN peacekeeping base in Lebanon that it initially blamed on Israel.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto had said in Brussels that Israeli forces staged the new attack on the UN base in the Lebanese town of Chamaa. But a defense ministry source said that Crosetto “did not have the right information” when he spoke. “Hezbollah was responsible for the attack,” the source told AFP.
The UNIFIL force has complained of increasing attacks since Israel started its campaign targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,544 people and wounded 15,036 in Lebanon since October 2023, with 28 fatalities reported on Monday, the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Al-Burhan: Schism in ex-ruling party threatens unity of Sudan
- We do not accept any political activity that threatens the unity of Sudan or its fighters. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan
DUBAI: Sudan’s armed forces chief has criticized factional strife within its ex-ruling party, saying a move to reinstate an ally of deposed autocrat Omar Al-Bashir endangered national unity as the army seeks to win a war against paramilitary forces.
The National Congress Party has deep ties in the army and has seemed to sway its decision-making during the devastating 19-month-old war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, in particular hindering attempts at a ceasefire.
The NCP, which was in power for three decades before Bashir was ousted by a popular uprising in 2019, has in recent days shown signs of an internal schism after the party’s advisory council elected Ahmed Haroun as party president.
We do not accept any political activity that threatens the unity of Sudan or its fighters.
Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan
Haroun is a close associate of Bashir and both men are wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity dating to the early 2000s war in Sudan’s Darfur region. In January, the US offered a $5 million reward for Haroun’s capture.
In a speech, army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan said the advisory council meeting was divisive. “We do not accept any political activity that threatens the unity of Sudan or its fighters,” he told a economic conference in Port Sudan. “We do not need any (political) conflicts or divisions, we have one goal which is to defeat the rebels,” he added.
After the current war erupted, Haroun and several former top Bashir deputies were sprung from prison and remain at large.
According to his lawyer, Bashir, 80, is now in custody in the town of Meroe, having been transported there from the embattled capital Khartoum for medical treatment.
Meanwhile, the US special envoy to the war-weary country said that more and faster aid deliveries are needed in Sudan, ideally through the implementation of humanitarian corridors and pauses as discussed with government leaders.
“We are pleased that there has been some progress, but we need to see much more,” Tom Perriello said.
Israeli settler group slams US sanctions over West Bank
- A statement by the group said the sanctions “result from baseless slander directed at Amana by hostile and extremist elements“
- “Had the US administration bothered to verify the claims... it would have found them to be factually unfounded and refrained from taking action against us”
JERUSALEM: Israeli organization Amana, a movement that backs developing settlements in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday denounced sanctions imposed on it by the United States the previous day.
A statement by the group said the sanctions “result from baseless slander directed at Amana by hostile and extremist elements.”
“Had the US administration bothered to verify the claims... it would have found them to be factually unfounded and refrained from taking action against us,” the statement said.
US authorities said Monday they would impose sanctions on Amana and its construction branch Binyanei Bar Amana, as well as others who have “ties to violent actors in the West Bank.”
“Amana is a key part of the Israeli extremist settlement movement and maintains ties to various persons previously sanctioned by the US government and its partners for perpetrating violence in the West Bank,” the US Treasury said.
“More broadly, Amana strategically uses farming outposts, which it supports through financing, loans, and building infrastructure, to expand settlements and seize land,” it added.
All settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, are illegal under international law.
Settlement outposts are built by private actors including Amana, and are also illegal under Israeli law.
The new sanctions will block Amana assets in the United States and prevent financial transactions between it and US-based individuals and institutions.
Several Israeli settlers have already been the target of US sanctions.
Amana was founded in 1979 to develop the Jewish presence in the West Bank, the northern Israel region of Galilee and in the Negev region in the south.
It has founded and developed dozens of settlements and settlement outposts since then.
“We are confident that with the change of administration in Washington, and with proper and necessary action by the Israeli government, all sanctions will be lifted,” Amana said Tuesday of US President-elect Donald Trump’s perceived leniency toward Israeli actions.
Yossi Dagan, Shomron Regional Council president, in charge of settlements in the northern West Bank, called the sanctions move “the final act of the Biden administration, which is cynical and hostile toward the Near East’s only democracy.”
Violence in the West Bank, particularly in the north, has soared since the war in the Gaza Strip broke out on October 7 last year after Palestinian militants Hamas attacked southern Israel.
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA), said in its latest report that 300 incidents involving settlers occurred in the West Bank between October 1 and November 4.
Not counting annexed east Jerusalem, about 490,000 settlers live in the West Bank, which is home to three million Palestinians.
