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.
Hezbollah pledges to help army build Lebanon’s defensive capacities
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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”
Airstrikes in northwestern Syria kill 25 people, says Syria’s White Helmets
DAMASCUS: The Syrian rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday on X that at least 25 people have been killed in northwestern Syria in airstrikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia on Sunday.
In Blinken call, Turkiye backs moves to ease Syria tension
- The flareup has also seen pro-Turkish militants groups attacking both government forces and Kurdish YPG fighters in and around the northern Aleppo province over the weekend, a Syrian war monitor said
ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s top diplomat and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Sunday about the “rapidly developing” conflict in Syria where militants have made gains.
Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed by telephone “the need for de-escalation and the protection of civilian lives and infrastructure in Aleppo and elsewhere,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
The call came after Syrian militants and their Turkish-backed allies launched their biggest offensive in years, seizing control of Syria’s second-largest city Aleppo from forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.
According to a Turkish foreign ministry source, Fidan told Blinken Ankara was “against any development that would increase instability in the region” and said Turkiye would “support moves to reduce the tension in Syria.”
He also said “the political process between the regime and the opposition should be finalized” to ensure peace in Syria while insisting that Ankara would “never allow terrorist activities against Turkiye nor against Syrian civilians.”
The flareup has also seen pro-Turkish militant groups attacking government forces and Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) fighters in and around Aleppo, a Syrian war monitor said.
Turkiye sees the YPG as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has led a decades-long insurgency against Ankara.
The Syria offensive began Wednesday, the same day a truce between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah came into effect.
More than 400 people have so far been killed in the offensive, most of them combatants, a Syrian war monitor said.
The State Department said the two also discussed “humanitarian efforts in Gaza and the need to bring the war to an end” as well as efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Fidan said Israel “should keep its promises in order for the Lebanon ceasefire to become permanent” and called for a ceasefire in Gaza “as soon as possible.”
The pair also discussed Ukraine and South Caucasus, the source said.
Russia says helping Syrian army ‘repel’ insurgents in three northern provinces
- Russia launched airstrikes on militant targets in Aleppo for the first time since 2016
MOSCOW: Russia on Sunday said it was helping the Syrian army “repel” armed insurgents in three northern provinces, as Moscow seeks to support the government led by its ally Bashar al-Assad.
An Islamist-dominated militant alliance launched an offensive against the Syrian government on Wednesday, with Syrian forces losing control of the city of Aleppo on Sunday, according to a war monitor.
“The Syrian Arab Army, with the assistance of the Russian Aerospace Forces, is continuing its operation to repel terrorist aggression in the provinces of Idlib, Hama and Aleppo,” the Russian military said in a briefing on its website.
“Over the past day, missile and bombing strikes were carried out on places where militants and equipment were gathered,” it said in the same briefing, without saying where or by whom.
It said at least “320 militants were destroyed.”
Russia announced earlier this week that it was bombing militant targets in the war-torn country, with Russian warplanes striking parts of Aleppo — Syria’s second city — for the first time since 2016, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Moscow is Syrian leader Assad’s most important military backer, having turned the tide of the civil war in his favor when it intervened in 2015.
Jordanian, Iraqi FMs discuss Gaza, Syria conflicts
- The ministers urged the international community to take “effective and immediate” measures to address Palestinian crisis
AMMAN: Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi spoke on the phone with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Sunday to discuss strengthening bilateral ties and addressing pressing regional issues, Jordan News Agency reported.
According to a statement from Jordan’s Foreign Ministry, they stressed the urgency of halting Israel’s aggression in Gaza and ensuring the swift and comprehensive delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
The ministers urged the international community to take “effective and immediate” measures to address the crisis, Jordan News Agency reported.
They also expressed concern over the conflict in Syria, emphasizing the importance of a political resolution that ensures the country’s stability, territorial integrity and sovereignty while safeguarding its citizens and eliminating terrorism.
Safadi and Hussein reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing communication and coordination to address regional challenges.
Bleak Christmas in Bethlehem as families quit West Bank
- Tourists usually pour in, but Gaza war keeps them away; locals look to emigrate as situation worsens
WEST BANK: For a second year running, there is no Christmas cheer in Bethlehem, with tourists shunning the Palestinian city and many residents seeking a way out as the Gaza war grinds on.
Bethlehem’s Manger Square in front of the Church of the Nativity is largely deserted and souvenir shops are shuttered.
Once again, there are no plans to put up the traditional light-festooned Christmas Tree in the ancient settlement that is venerated by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus and now sits in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
“During these difficult times that our Palestinian cities are going through, especially in the Gaza Strip, it is difficult to show any signs of joy and happiness,” said Issa Thaljieh, an Orthodox priest who ministers at the Nativity Church.
Adding to the gloom, many local Christian families are also looking to escape, demoralized by both the tourist slump that has ravaged their economy, and the constant threat of violence hovering over the territory northeast of Gaza.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Once again, there are no plans to put up the traditional light-festooned Christmas Tree in the ancient settlement.
• Adding to the gloom, many local Christian families are also looking to escape, demoralized by both the tourist slump that has ravaged their economy.
“The emigration out of Bethlehem is increasing daily and monthly, and ... this has a negative impact on the city,” Thaljieh said.
Christian communities have been in decline across the Middle East for generations, and the West Bank is no exception.
In the last year of British rule over the region in 1947, some 85 percent of Bethlehem’s population were Christian. As of a 2017 census, the overall population of Bethlehem was 215,514 with only 23,000 Christians among them. That puts the percentage of Christians in Bethlehem in 2017 at around 10 percent.
Locals say the rate of departure has been gathering steam in recent months in the cradle of Christianity, with the economic lifeblood of the city no longer flowing and the Israeli occupation preventing freedom of movement around the territory.
Bethlehem resident Alaa Afteem, who runs a falafel restaurant, said one of his cousins had recently moved to Australia.
“Due to the bad living conditions and bad financial conditions, people have started looking for better opportunities for their children, for better education, for a better future,” he said.
Israel has built Jewish settlements, deemed illegal by most countries, across the territory. Israel disputes this, citing historical ties to the land. Several of its ministers live in settlements and favor their expansion.
Violence has surged across the hilly land since the start of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza in October last year.
Hundreds of Palestinians — including armed fighters, stone-throwing youths and civilian bystanders — have died in clashes with Israeli security forces, while dozens of Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, Israeli authorities say.
Difficult at the best of times, travel between West Bank cities has become increasingly fraught.
“There is no security if you are commuting between districts within the West Bank like between Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jericho, Hebron,” Afteem said.
Munther Isaac, a pastor at Bethlehem’s Lutheran Church, says local Muslim families have also been emigrating, squeezed by both financial problems and broader worries about the future.
“There is the fear that this war might extend to areas in the West Bank, especially after the arming of the settlers and the announcement of the possible annexation of the West Bank,” he said.
The West Bank has been transformed by the rapid growth of Jewish settlements over the past two years, with strident settlers pushing to impose Israeli sovereignty on the area.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on X in October that since the start of the Gaza conflict more than 120,000 firearms had been distributed to Israeli settlers to protect themselves.
In Isaac’s church, the nativity scene has a figure of the baby Jesus lying in a pile of rubble. “We feel that this war will never end,” he said.
