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UN Likely to Vote Tuesday on Gaza Ceasefire, US Signals Veto

Palestinian women walk next to destroyed houses following Israeli military operation in Al Maghazi refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 17 February 2024. (EPA)
Palestinian women walk next to destroyed houses following Israeli military operation in Al Maghazi refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 17 February 2024. (EPA)
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UN Likely to Vote Tuesday on Gaza Ceasefire, US Signals Veto

Palestinian women walk next to destroyed houses following Israeli military operation in Al Maghazi refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 17 February 2024. (EPA)
Palestinian women walk next to destroyed houses following Israeli military operation in Al Maghazi refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, 17 February 2024. (EPA)

The United Nations Security Council is likely to vote on Tuesday on an Algerian push for the 15-member body to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said diplomats, a move the United States signaled it would veto.

Algeria put forward an initial draft resolution more than two weeks ago. But US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield quickly said the text could jeopardize "sensitive negotiations" aimed at brokering a pause in the war.

Algeria requested on Saturday that the council vote on Tuesday, diplomats said. To be adopted, UN Security Council resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, China or Russia.

"The United States does not support action on this draft resolution. Should it come up for a vote as drafted, it will not be adopted," Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement on Saturday.

Washington traditionally shields its ally Israel from UN action and has already twice vetoed council action since Oct. 7. But it has also abstained twice, allowing the council to adopt resolutions that aimed to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza and called for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses in fighting.

Talks between the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar are on to seek a pause in the war and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

"It is critical that other parties give this process the best odds of succeeding, rather than push measures that put it - and the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities - in jeopardy," Thomas-Greenfield said.

The Gaza war began when fighters from the Hamas militant group that runs Gaza attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. In retaliation, Israel launched a military assault on Gaza that health authorities say has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians with thousands more bodies feared lost amid the ruins.

The likely council vote comes as Israel also plans to storm Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter, prompting international concern that such a move would sharply worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

"The situation in Gaza is an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

When asked to explain, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres was "pointing the finger" at the lack of unity in the Security Council "and how that lack of unity has hampered our ability ... to improve situations around the world."

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Arab World

Will Libya’s Haftar Sever Alleged Association with Sudan’s RSF? 

LNA commander Khalifa Haftar meets with Egypt’s chief of intelligence Hassan Rashad on Sunday. (LNA General Command)
LNA commander Khalifa Haftar meets with Egypt’s chief of intelligence Hassan Rashad on Sunday. (LNA General Command)
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Will Libya’s Haftar Sever Alleged Association with Sudan’s RSF? 

LNA commander Khalifa Haftar meets with Egypt’s chief of intelligence Hassan Rashad on Sunday. (LNA General Command)
LNA commander Khalifa Haftar meets with Egypt’s chief of intelligence Hassan Rashad on Sunday. (LNA General Command)

Senior Egyptian officials have been flocking to eastern Libya, the stronghold of the Libyan National Army (LNA), in what observers have said was increasing alarm in Cairo over the LNA’s support to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The officials have sought to persuade LNA commander Khalifa Haftar to end support to the RSF, which is pitted against the Sudanese army in a civil war that erupted in April 2023 over a power struggle during the country’s transition to democratic rule. Egypt is concerned that the fallout of the conflict in Sudan will impact its own national security.

Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad was the latest official to visit Libya’s Benghazi on Sunday. He was welcomed by Haftar’s son Khaled, who is the LNA chief of staff.

In a brief statement, the LNA said Rashad’s meeting with Haftar “discussed local and regional developments. They underlined the importance of maintaining communication and coordination to serve the common interests of their countries.”

Days earlier, Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces Ahmed Khalifa also visited Benghazi.

Cairo has previously said that the violation of Sudan’s unity was a “red line”. Observers say that this red line demands that Khalifa Haftar align his stances with Egypt when it comes to Sudan.

Recent international reports have published satellite images that show noticeable RSF military activity in the southern Libya desert. The LNA has also been accused of providing the RSF with logistic support.

The LNA often dismisses such accusations.

A former military official from western Libya said Haftar needs to sever his ties with the RSF.

Libyan political analyst Hussam Al-Fnish said: “The issue of providing support to the RSF has become a burden given the geo-security vacuum in Libya.”

“The vacuum is being exploited by several parties to pursue their own agendas,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Greater cooperation and coordination with Haftar and his son” are needed to address the situation, he added.

Khaled Haftar has previously suggested that securing the border should be shouldered by authorities in eastern and western Libya in coordination with the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity, Fnish remarked.

Libyan military expert Adel Abdulkafi said the alleged ties between Haftar and the RSF “definitely harm Egypt’s national security.”

The frequent visits by Egyptian officials to eastern Libya are aimed at pressuring Khalifa Haftar to end his support to the RSF, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

They are also seeking to greater secure the porous border through which supplies are being sent to the RSF, he added.

Abdelkafi predicted that Haftar will sever his ties with the RSF if he comes under enough Egyptian and Turkish pressure.

Reuters had reported in December that a remote airstrip in southeastern Libya helped “reshape Sudan's civil war by providing a lifeline to the RSF”, according to more than a dozen military, intelligence and diplomatic officials.

“Military supplies sent via the airstrip in Kufrah, about 300 km from Sudan's border, helped the RSF revive its fortunes after the Sudanese army retook the capital Khartoum in March,” the officials said.

“The supply route was central to the RSF’s brutal capture of the city of el-Fashir in October, which allowed the paramilitary group to consolidate its control over Darfur and preceded a series of victories in Sudan’s south,” said the report.

A former eastern Libya military source said the LNA’s backing of the RSF is tied to international interests.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, he stressed that the “LNA has no strategic interest in supporting the RSF against the Sudanese army.”

“Such separatist actions primarily harm Libya’s unity and stability,” he warned.

Justin Lynch, managing director of the Conflict Insights Group analysis firm, said he identified at least 105 cargo plane landings at Kufrah between April 1 and November 1 by correlating satellite images with flight tracking data, continued the Reuters report. Reuters was not able to confirm his figure independently.

Sudan's army has repeatedly accused the RSF of securing military cargoes via Libya and in September submitted a complaint to the United Nations that alleged Colombian mercenaries had traveled via Kufrah to support the RSF.

To determine the scale of the Kufrah operation, Reuters spoke to 18 diplomatic, military, intelligence and other officials from Western and African countries, and 14 experts on regional and military affairs.

The former security source said: “There are international and Arab countries that are pushing the LNA command to deliver supplies to the RSF.”

Since the eruption of the war in Sudan, the LNA has denied involvement in the conflict, saying it stands at an equal distance from all parties, the source told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Egypt and Libya have often had intense military and security coordination, especially with Haftar, aimed at supporting stability in Libya, confronting terrorist threats and cross-border crime and securing their joint border.

Arab World

Italy Says It Stands Ready to Train Police in Gaza

Italy's Minister for Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani speaks to the press during the EPP Leaders’ meeting, in Zagreb, Croatia, 30 January 2026. (EPA)
Italy's Minister for Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani speaks to the press during the EPP Leaders’ meeting, in Zagreb, Croatia, 30 January 2026. (EPA)
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Italy Says It Stands Ready to Train Police in Gaza

Italy's Minister for Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani speaks to the press during the EPP Leaders’ meeting, in Zagreb, Croatia, 30 January 2026. (EPA)
Italy's Minister for Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani speaks to the press during the EPP Leaders’ meeting, in Zagreb, Croatia, 30 January 2026. (EPA)

Italy stands ready to help train police forces in Gaza and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories, its foreign minister said on Monday, as ‌Rome aims to ‌play a ‌role ⁠in stabilizing the ⁠Middle East.

"We are ready to train a new Gaza police force, and we ⁠are also ready to ‌train ‌a Palestinian police ‌force," Foreign Minister Antonio ‌Tajani told a news conference in Rome.

He confirmed that Rome ‌was ready to participate as an observer ⁠in ⁠US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace initiative, and Italy had been invited to attend a meeting of the group this week in Washington.

Arab World

Lebanon Says Army to Take at Least 4 Months for Next Stage of Hezbollah Disarmament Plan 

A damaged excavator sits on the rubble of a building that was hit in January by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Qannarit, on February 16, 2026. (AFP)
A damaged excavator sits on the rubble of a building that was hit in January by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Qannarit, on February 16, 2026. (AFP)
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Lebanon Says Army to Take at Least 4 Months for Next Stage of Hezbollah Disarmament Plan 

A damaged excavator sits on the rubble of a building that was hit in January by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Qannarit, on February 16, 2026. (AFP)
A damaged excavator sits on the rubble of a building that was hit in January by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Qannarit, on February 16, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanon's government said Monday that the army would need at least four months to implement the second phase of the military's plan to disarm Hezbollah in the country's south.

Lebanon's government last year committed to disarming Iran-backed Hezbollah, which was badly weakened in a recent war with Israel, and tasked the army with drawing up a plan to do so.

The military said last month said it had completed the first phase of the plan, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border about 30 kilometers (20 miles) farther south.

The second phase concerns the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around 40 kilometers south of Beirut.

Information Minister Paul Morcos told a news conference after a cabinet session that the government "took note of the army leadership's presentation" on the second stage of the plan.

"There is a timeframe of four months, extendable depending on available capabilities, Israeli attacks and hindrances on the ground," he said.

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient, and has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed group.

Israel has also kept troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons north of the Litani.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes on Monday on the country's south killed two people, while the Israeli army said it struck Hezbollah operatives.

Also Monday, before the cabinet session, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said that "what the Lebanese government is doing in focusing on disarmament is a grave sin, because this issue serves the goals of the Israeli aggression".

"Stop all action to restrict weapons," he added in a televised address, saying the government's "successive concessions" were partly to blame for Israel's persistent attacks.