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Tensions rise in southern Lebanon after Israel bombs Iranian consulate in Syria

Special Tensions rise in southern Lebanon after Israel bombs Iranian consulate in Syria
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of Commander Ahmed Shehimi, who was killed in an Israeli raid on Syria, Mar. 29, during his funeral procession in southern Beirut, Lebanon, Apr. 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 02 April 2024

Tensions rise in southern Lebanon after Israel bombs Iranian consulate in Syria

Tensions rise in southern Lebanon after Israel bombs Iranian consulate in Syria
  • Lebanese living close to nation’s southern border brace themselves for a possible escalation of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli army
  • 7 senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in the attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus on Monday

BEIRUT: Tensions continued to rise in southern Lebanon on Tuesday amid ongoing clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah. Residents of areas along the border with Israel were bracing themselves for a possible escalation of hostilities following an Israeli attack on the Iranian Consulate in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Monday that killed seven senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The regime in Tehran responded with threats of retaliation, while Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, warned “the price of any operation against us will be high.”

Meanwhile, the activities of the UN’s Interim Force in Lebanon and ceasefire observers have been suspended in southern Lebanon for three days after a military vehicle belonging to the international force was hit by an artillery attack near the town of Rmeish in the central sector. Lebanon blamed Israel for the attack, in which three observers and a Lebanese translator were injured.

On Tuesday morning, two shells fired by Israeli forces struck the town of Khiam. Hezbollah said that one of its members, Hassan Reda Youssef, a resident of the town who was born in 1986, was killed in the attack.

Israeli forces stationed near the Blue Line, the UN’s line of demarcation between Lebanon and Israel, targeted the main street between the border towns of Ramieh and Marwahin with heavy machine-gun fire to reduce activity on the streets and prevent residents from entering border areas.

The Israeli military also used heavy artillery to attack areas on the outskirts of several towns, including Naqoura, Jabal Al-Labouneh, Alma Al-Shaab, Tayr Harfa, Al-Dhahira and Aita Al-Shaab.

Hezbollah said its forces had “targeted a gathering of enemy soldiers at a site in Al-Malikiyah with missile weapons and successfully hit them.”‏

In an unprecedented step, Hezbollah also announced that the International Committee to Commemorate Jerusalem Day will hold a public event on Wednesday in Ghobeiry, in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The group said “leaders of the resistance axis” will give speeches during the event, including Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah; the head of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh; the leader of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine, Ziad Nakhla; Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi; Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi; and, on behalf of the Iraqi resistance, Hadi Al-Amiri.

“The speeches will be broadcast simultaneously in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran,” Hezbollah said.

A political analyst told Arab News: “Iran was dealt a severe blow (by the attack on its consulate in Syria) and this event, which will be shown on screens on Wednesday, is meant to help Iran absorb this blow.

“The high level of interest in this event suggests that the military response has been delayed. The current reaction is focused on politics, mobilization and information.”

He noted that there was no indication that a representative of the Syrian regime would speak at the event, which raised doubts about the political stance of officials in Damascus.

Regarding the situation in Lebanon along its border with Israel, the analyst said: “It is true that the southern Lebanese front is witnessing tensions but it has not seen an escalation of hostilities during recent days.

“This is because Israel is carrying out targeted killings, using precise information, to weaken its enemy without giving them a chance to retaliate in the same way. The embarrassment occurring is great; it is hard (for Hezbollah) to respond — but it is also hard not to respond.”

According to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, Gallant, the defense minister, took part in “deliberations with officials in the Israeli army’s Home Front Command to discuss plans for the media campaign that the army is preparing to launch in case the ongoing border confrontations with Hezbollah escalate. There is growing concern about the expansion of the conflict between Israel and Iran as a result of the Damascus attack on Monday.”


Trump expected to bring peace to Ukraine, though picture unclear on Middle East: WEF panel

Trump expected to bring peace to Ukraine, though picture unclear on Middle East: WEF panel
Updated 6 sec ago

Trump expected to bring peace to Ukraine, though picture unclear on Middle East: WEF panel

Trump expected to bring peace to Ukraine, though picture unclear on Middle East: WEF panel
  • Expert predicts war in Ukraine would end within the next six months
  • Despite bringing a ceasefire in Gaza, Trump’s presidency does not signal guaranteed peace in Palestine, warn analysts

DUBAI: Donald Trump’s US presidency will likely bring peace in Ukraine even if the future of the Middle East remains unclear, panelists at the World Economic Forum in Davos said on Tuesday.

The annual meetings, which got into full swing on Tuesday, comes a day after Trump was sworn in for his second term as the 47th US president, marking perhaps the greatest political comeback in American history.

In one of the earliest sessions, a panel of political analysts and experts shared their “early thoughts” on Trump’s actions on his first day back in office as speculation rises about the implications of his presidency on the domestic and international fronts.

Graham Allison, Douglas Dillon Professor of Government at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, predicted the war in Ukraine would end within the next six months.

“If you look at [Trump’s] inaugural speech and the press conference, he wants to be not only a deal maker, but an international deal maker who’s a peacemaker,” said Allison, adding the new president would leverage his power to strike a deal with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky or starve Kyiv of Washington’s military aid.

However, prospects of peace seem unclear in the Middle East, where a major paradigm shift took place last year with the decline of Iran and its proxies, as well as the new governments that rose to power in Syria and Lebanon.

Trump took credit for implementing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza after 14 months of negotiations.

“You can see a paradigm shift without peace. Israel has had a strategic problem since the 1940s (in) that it wins wars but cannot get to a stable peaceful arrangement. And I think that that remains the case,” said Walter Mead, Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute.

He noted the decline of the “Iranian challenge” as the only factor destabilizing the Middle East was no guarantee of lasting peace in the Middle East.

“Peace in the Middle East perhaps remains a beautiful but maybe distant dream,” warned Mead.

Despite bringing a ceasefire in Gaza, Trump’s presidency does not signal guaranteed peace in Palestine given his desire to expand the Abraham Accords and resume pressure on Tehran.

Panelists warned of the consequences of Trump’s return to power.

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, warned against treating Trump as “just another president” given his victory despite impeachments and criminal indictments.

“It’s a very unusual time to have an individual that is in no way concerned about, or constrained by, rule of law,” said Bremmer, referring to the global power that Trump has amassed in light of America’s post-COVID-19 economic growth and tech dominance, combined with the weakening of Washington’s adversaries like China, Russia and Iran.

“To understand what Trump will do is to understand who pays him.”

In his first two days in office, Trump has already taken major decisions that include withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement on climate change for the second time.

Although panelists signaled optimism towards his domestic economic policies, they disagreed on Washington’s projected relationship with China during his tenure.

“I think that we are heading towards a trade war and towards a more strategic decoupling of the economies. One reason for that is because Trump isn’t just focusing on tariffs on China, but he’s also focusing on third countries where there are pass-throughs to the US,” said Bremmer.

Trump unexpectedly held off tariffs on China on his first day back at the White House and delayed the ban on short video app TikTok. But in an unprecedented move he floated the possibility of a joint venture, saying he was seeking a 50-50 partnership between Washington and Chinese owner ByteDance.

“Getting to a deal with China will require a level of execution implementation that’s far more complicated across the Trump administration, not to mention some support from the GOP and Congress, and we’re nowhere close to that,” said Bremmer.

However, Allison predicted positive relations between both economic powers as their leaders enjoy a “very right relationship” and could find common areas of cooperation, including ending the war in Ukraine.

He added: “In terms of their interests, while fundamentally in the long run there is rivalry of a rising and ruling power, but if I look at the agency and the opportunities for agency here, doing a deal to conclude a war in Ukraine is not hard for [Xi Jinping] to be part of.”

World leaders, business titans, and policymakers gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s 55th annual meeting, which continues until Jan. 24.

This year’s conference explores ways to tackle shared challenges like climate change, technology, and economic inequality through global collaboration.


UN says no aid convoy looting in Gaza since ceasefire

UN says no aid convoy looting in Gaza since ceasefire
Updated 48 min 35 sec ago

UN says no aid convoy looting in Gaza since ceasefire

UN says no aid convoy looting in Gaza since ceasefire
  • Throughout the conflict in Gaza, the UN has denounced obstacles restricting the flow and distribution of aid into the battered Palestinian territory

GENEVA: The United Nations on Tuesday said that there had been no reports of aid convoys being looted in war-ravaged Gaza since a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect.
“These two first days of entry: there have been no records of looting or attacks against aid workers,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva.
During the 15-month war, “there has been a sad, tragic history of looting happening,” he said.
“The past two days, we have not seen any looting. We have not seen any organized armed gangs or groups, whatever you want to call them, attacking the aid that is coming in.”
Throughout the conflict in Gaza, the UN has denounced obstacles restricting the flow and distribution of aid into the battered Palestinian territory.
Desperately-needed humanitarian aid has begun to flow into Gaza after Israel and Hamas on Sunday conducted the first exchange of hostages for prisoners agreed under the terms of the ceasefire.
More than 900 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Monday, the United Nations said.
The day the deal came into force, 630 trucks entered Gaza.
Laerke said that aid organizations were eager to “maximize delivery through this opening. Hunger is widespread. People are homeless.”
The war has devastated much of the Gaza Strip and displaced the vast majority of its population of 2.4 million, many of them multiple times.
Laerke said that it was important to see the issue of looting “in the wider picture as to why were these gangs there in the first place.”
With only a trickle of aid coming into the territory before the ceasefire deal, he pointed out that “whatever came into Gaza... had extremely high value.”
“So there were incentives to do that (looting). Now, of course, the more aid that comes in... those incentives will probably not be there as much.”


Israeli minister says he welcomes Trump’s reversal of US sanctions on settlers

Israeli minister says he welcomes Trump’s reversal of US sanctions on settlers
Updated 21 January 2025

Israeli minister says he welcomes Trump’s reversal of US sanctions on settlers

Israeli minister says he welcomes Trump’s reversal of US sanctions on settlers
  • Trump’s decision is a reversal of a major policy action by former President Joe Biden’s administration

JERUSALEM: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich welcomed US President Donald Trump’s reversal of sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The pro-settler Smotrich, in a message to Trump on Tuesday, called the move an “expression of your deep connection to the Jewish people and our historical right to our land.”
Trump’s decision is a reversal of a major policy action by former President Joe Biden’s administration that had imposed sanctions on numerous Israeli settler individuals and entities, freezing their US assets and generally barring Americans from dealing with them.
“These sanctions were a severe act of foreign interference in the internal affairs of the State of Israel, undermining democratic principles and the mutual relationship between the two friendly nations,” Smotrich said.
Smotrich added that Israel looked forward to “continued fruitful cooperation to strengthen its national security, expand settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel, and strengthen Israel’s position in the world.”
US sanctions on settlers were imposed after the Biden administration repeatedly urged the Israeli government to take action to hold extremists to account for actions that Washington believes set back hopes for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
Since the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has occupied the West Bank of the Jordan River, which Palestinians want as the core of an independent state. It has built Jewish settlements there that most countries deem illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and Biblical ties to the land.


Over 900 aid trucks enter Gaza on 2nd day of truce — UN

Over 900 aid trucks enter Gaza on 2nd day of truce — UN
Updated 21 January 2025

Over 900 aid trucks enter Gaza on 2nd day of truce — UN

Over 900 aid trucks enter Gaza on 2nd day of truce — UN
  • On Sunday, the day the ceasefire came into force, 630 trucks entered Gaza
  • 42-day truce is meant to enable surge of sorely needed aid for Gaza after 15 months

UNITED NATIONS, United States: More than 900 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Monday, the United Nations said, exceeding the daily target outlined in the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
“Humanitarian aid continues to move into the Gaza Strip as part of a prepared surge to increase support to survivors,” the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) said.
“Today, 915 trucks crossed into Gaza, according to information received through engagement with Israeli authorities and the guarantors for the ceasefire agreement.”
Throughout conflict in Gaza, the UN has denounced obstacles restricting the flow and distribution of aid into the battered Palestinian territory.
On Sunday, the day the ceasefire came into force, 630 trucks entered Gaza.
An initial 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is meant to enable a surge of sorely needed aid for Gaza after 15 months of war.
The ceasefire agreement calls for 600 trucks to cross into Gaza per day.


Fire at Turkiye ski resort hotel kills 10, injures 32

Fire at Turkiye ski resort hotel kills 10, injures 32
Updated 21 January 2025

Fire at Turkiye ski resort hotel kills 10, injures 32

Fire at Turkiye ski resort hotel kills 10, injures 32
  • The blaze at the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel, which has wooden cladding, started at 3:27 a.m.
  • The resort is located on top of a mountain range about 170km northwest of Ankara

ISTANBUL: A fire engulfed a hotel at the popular Kartalkaya ski resort in northwestern Turkiye early Tuesday, killing 10 people died and injuring 32 others, the interior minister said.
The blaze at the 12-story Grand Kartal hotel, which has wooden cladding, started at 3:27 a.m. (0027 GMT), Ali Yerlikaya said on X.
Private NTV broadcaster said three people died after jumping from the hotel’s windows.
The resort is located on top of a mountain range about 170 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of the capital Ankara.
The fire, which is believed to have started in the restaurant at around midnight, spread quickly. It was not immediately clear what caused it.
Television footage showed huge plumes of smoke rising into the sky with a snowcapped mountain behind the hotel.
Part of it backs onto a cliff, making it harder for firefighters to tackle the blaze.
Local media said 237 people were staying at the hotel, where the occupancy rate was between 80 and 90 percent due to the school holidays.
Those evacuated were rehoused in nearby hotels.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said six prosecutors had been allocated to investigate the blaze.
The health, interior and culture ministers are expected to visit the site later in the day.