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Arab World

Tunisia Frees Cartoonist after His Arrest over Drawings Mocking PM

Policemen stand guard in Tunis. (Reuters)
Policemen stand guard in Tunis. (Reuters)
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Tunisia Frees Cartoonist after His Arrest over Drawings Mocking PM

Policemen stand guard in Tunis. (Reuters)
Policemen stand guard in Tunis. (Reuters)

Tunisia's public prosecutor on Friday released the cartoonist Tawfiq Omrane, after he was detained for hours over drawings mocking the prime minister.
Omrane is well known for publishing satirical cartoons featuring President Kais Saied, who seized almost all powers two years ago after he shut down Tunisia's elected parliament.
"They interrogated me on suspicion of insulting the prime minister. They showed a drawing that they considered offensive", Omrane told Diwan FM Tunisian radio.
Omrane pledged that he would continue his satirical drawings.
Ahmed Hachani is the prime minister, appointed last month to replace Najla Bouden.
Many Tunisians see free speech as a principal reform won after the 2011 revolution that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Activists, journalists and politicians have warned this freedom is under threat.
"Omrane's arrest reinforces authorities' efforts to suppress critical voices of the president," said Amira Mohamed, a senior official at the country's Journalists' Syndicate.
Kais Saied strongly criticized state TV in a speech this week, including the arrangement of headlines in a bulletin, in a move that the Journalists Syndicate said was "blatant interference".
Saied rejects accusations of targeting freedoms and has said he will never be a dictator.

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Arab World

Nothing Wrong with Gaza Death Toll Figures, WHO Says 

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)
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Nothing Wrong with Gaza Death Toll Figures, WHO Says 

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, May 14, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization voiced full confidence in Gaza Ministry of Health death toll figures on Tuesday, saying they were actually getting closer to confirming the scale of losses after Israel questioned a change in the numbers. 

Gaza's health ministry last week updated its breakdown of the total fatalities of around 35,000 since Oct. 7, saying that about 25,000 of those have so far been fully identified, of whom more than half were women and children. 

This sparked allegations from Israel of inaccuracy since Palestinian authorities had previously estimated that more than 70% of those killed were women and children. UN agencies have republished the Palestinian figures, which have since risen above 35,000 dead, citing the source. 

"Nothing wrong with the data, the overall data (more than 35,000) are still the same," said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier at a Geneva press briefing in response to questions about the toll. "The fact we now have 25,000 identified people is a step forward," he added. 

Based on his own extrapolation of the latest Palestinian data, he said that around 60% of victims were women and children, but many bodies buried beneath rubble were likely to fall into these categories when they were eventually identified. 

He added that it was "normal" for death tolls to shift in conflicts, recalling that Israel had revised down its own death toll from the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks to 1,200 after checks. 

"We're basically talking about 35,000 people who are dead, and really every life matters, doesn't it?" Liz Throssel, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said at the same briefing.  

"And we know that many and many of those are women and children and there are 1,000s missing under the rubble." 

Arab World

Egyptian Military Officials Cancel Meetings with Israeli Counterparts

Egyptian army soldiers at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza at the beginning of May (German News Agency)
Egyptian army soldiers at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza at the beginning of May (German News Agency)
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Egyptian Military Officials Cancel Meetings with Israeli Counterparts

Egyptian army soldiers at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza at the beginning of May (German News Agency)
Egyptian army soldiers at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza at the beginning of May (German News Agency)

Egyptian military officials canceled scheduled meetings with their Israeli counterparts, without previous notice, an Israeli source told the Israeli i24 channel on Tuesday.
This came in the wake of Israel's military escalation in eastern Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli sources said that the sudden cancellation indicates the deepening diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Egypt had repeatedly warned Israel against attacking Rafah, saying it would affect Egyptian national security. But the Israeli army penetrated east of Rafah last week and took control of the Palestinian side of the crossing.
In response, Cairo declared its support for the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on charges of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The cancellation of the military meetings angered the Israeli side, given the necessary cooperation between the two countries in the Sinai Peninsula.
Although no official in Egypt spoke explicitly about the possibility of suspending or canceling the peace agreement, Israel monitored threats from media figures and researchers close to the decision-making center in Cairo.
Ofir Winter, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said that Egypt’s announcement of its support to the petition submitted by South Africa against Israel before the ICJ in The Hague was an escalation in the tension that has recently been observed between the two countries since the start of the limited army incursion into Rafah.
He added that the Egyptian move aims to increase international pressure on Israel to prevent it from expanding the operation in Rafah, and to warn that the continuation of the operation will affect the relations between the two countries.
Winter noted that in recent days, he has heard threats from media professionals and researchers close to the regime in Cairo, to harm relations between the two countries to the point of suspending or canceling the peace agreement.
He stressed that Egypt will lose a lot if it withdraws from the peace agreement, adding that the threats - even if they are only rhetorical - may create a dangerous dynamic in a sensitive period.

Arab World

UNRWA: More Than Half a Million People Flee Fighting in Rafah, Northern Gaza 

Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP)
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UNRWA: More Than Half a Million People Flee Fighting in Rafah, Northern Gaza 

Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said nearly 450,000 people have fled from Gaza’s southern city of Rafah since Israel launched an incursion there last week.

In a post on the social platform X on Tuesday, UNRWA said: “People face constant exhaustion, hunger and fear. Nowhere is safe. An immediate #ceasefire is the only hope.”

The UN said Monday that another 100,000 people have been displaced in northern Gaza. Israel has ordered new evacuations in the north as it battles a resurgent Hamas in areas that were heavily bombed and cleared by ground troops earlier in the war.

That would mean that nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced in just the last week, more than seven months into the Israel-Hamas war.

The fighting in Rafah has made the two main border crossings into southern Gaza largely inaccessible, while newly opened crossings in the north only allow in a trickle of aid.

Humanitarian organizations say they are struggling to provide dwindling supplies of food, tents and blankets to the large numbers of newly displaced.

Israel has portrayed Rafah as Hamas’ last stronghold in Gaza and has said it must operate there in order to defeat the group and return scores of hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.

Before the incursion began last week, Rafah was housing some 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere.

Arab World

Lebanon: Israeli Airstrike on Southern Town Causes 'Massive' Damages

A picture shows Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system launching to intercept rockets being fired from Lebanon, next to the northern Israel city of Kiryat Shmona, near the near the Lebanon border on May 10, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
A picture shows Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system launching to intercept rockets being fired from Lebanon, next to the northern Israel city of Kiryat Shmona, near the near the Lebanon border on May 10, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
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Lebanon: Israeli Airstrike on Southern Town Causes 'Massive' Damages

A picture shows Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system launching to intercept rockets being fired from Lebanon, next to the northern Israel city of Kiryat Shmona, near the near the Lebanon border on May 10, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
A picture shows Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system launching to intercept rockets being fired from Lebanon, next to the northern Israel city of Kiryat Shmona, near the near the Lebanon border on May 10, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said on Tuesday that an Israeli airstrike on the southern town of Kfar Kila has caused “massive damages”.
NNA said that Israel hit the southern town of Kfar Kila with four heavy missiles that caused major damage.
Another two air raids targeted the town of Al Khyam at midnight, it added.
Israel on one hand, and Hezbollah and other armed Palestinian factions on the other have engaged in near-daily exchange of cross-border fire since the Israeli war erupted in Gaza on October 6.
On Monday, Hezbollah said it hit three Israeli outposts in north Israel using armed drones and missiles.
Israeli media outlets said four soldiers were injured in an attack near the border.

 

Arab World

Talks Over Gaza Ceasefire at Stalemate After Rafah Operation, Qatar PM Says 

A Palestinian boy looks out his tent in a Rafah displacement camp in the southern Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas group. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks out his tent in a Rafah displacement camp in the southern Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas group. (AFP)
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Talks Over Gaza Ceasefire at Stalemate After Rafah Operation, Qatar PM Says 

A Palestinian boy looks out his tent in a Rafah displacement camp in the southern Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas group. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks out his tent in a Rafah displacement camp in the southern Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas group. (AFP)

Talks over a ceasefire in Gaza have reached a stalemate due to Israel's operations in Rafah, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on Tuesday.

Israeli operations in Rafah, which started this month, have closed a main crossing point for aid from the border with Egypt a move humanitarian groups say has worsened an already dire situation.

"Especially in the past few weeks, we have seen some momentum building but unfortunately, things didn't move in the right direction and right now we are in a status of almost a stalemate. Of course, what happened with Rafah sent us backward," Sheikh Mohammed said at an economic forum in Doha.

Sheikh Mohammed, whose country has mediated heavily between Palestinian group Hamas and Israel throughout the seven-month conflict, said Qatar would keep working to resolve the situation.

"We make it very clear for everyone: our job is limited to our mediation," he said. "That's what we will do, that what we will continue to do."

Sheikh Mohammed said the fundamental difference between the two parties was over the release of hostages and ending the war.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, say health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave. The war began when Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

"There is one party that wants to end the war and then talk about the hostages and there is another party who wants the hostages and wants to continue the war. As long as there is not any commonality between those two things it won't get us to a result," Sheikh Mohammed said.

Arab World

Red Cross Sets Up Rafah Emergency Field Hospital

A logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pictured in Geneva, Switzerland March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
A logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pictured in Geneva, Switzerland March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
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Red Cross Sets Up Rafah Emergency Field Hospital

A logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pictured in Geneva, Switzerland March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
A logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pictured in Geneva, Switzerland March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

The International Red Cross and partners are opening a field hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday to try to meet what it described as "overwhelming" demand for health services since Israel's military operation on Rafah began last week.
Some health clinics have suspended activities while patients and medics have fled from a major hospital as Israel has stepped up bombardments in the southern sliver of Gaza where hundreds of thousands of uprooted people are crowded together, said Reuters.
"People in Gaza are struggling to access the medical care they urgently need due, in part, to the overwhelming demands for health services and the reduced number of functioning health facilities," the International Committee of the Red Cross said. "Doctors and nurses have been working around the clock, but their capacity has been stretched beyond its limit."
Staff at the new facility will be able to treat around 200 people a day and can provide emergency surgical care and manage mass casualties as well as provide pediatric and other services, the ICRC said.
"Medical staff are faced with people arriving with severe injuries, increasing communicable diseases which could lead to potential outbreaks, and complications related to chronic diseases untreated that should have been treated days earlier."
The ICRC will maintain medical supplies to the facility while the Red Cross societies from 11 countries including Canada, Germany, Norway and Japan are providing staff and equipment.

Arab World

Amnesty International Says Syria Still Not Safe for Returnees to Go Back To

Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to go back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to go back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Amnesty International Says Syria Still Not Safe for Returnees to Go Back To

Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to go back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Syrian refugees gather near trucks, as they prepare to go back home to Syria, in the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Amnesty International said that Lebanon’s decision to resume the “voluntary return” of Syrian refugees to their homeland is “worrying” in light of the difficult circumstances these refugees are enduring in the crisis-hit country.
On X social media platform, the organization said that Lebanon has adopted a series of measures that aim at pressuring the refugees into returning to their country, and has imposed new restrictions regarding their residency, work and transportation.
Amnesty said that such measures raise concerns about the Syrian refugees’ ability to “freely consent” to their return back to war-torn Syria.
According to Amnesty, Syria is still an unsafe country for refugees to return to. It said that refugees detained in Syria were subjected to “torture, ill-treatment, including beatings and sexual violence”.
Amnesty also stated that Lebanon must respect its international obligations and humanitarian rights and halt the collective return of Syrian refugees.

Arab World

US Calls on Iran to Halt Weapons Transfers to Yemen's Houthis

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 13: Members of the United Nations Security Council listen as Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs Ambassador Robert Wood speaks during a meeting on the war in Gaza on at the United Nations headquarters May 13, 2024 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 13: Members of the United Nations Security Council listen as Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs Ambassador Robert Wood speaks during a meeting on the war in Gaza on at the United Nations headquarters May 13, 2024 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP
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US Calls on Iran to Halt Weapons Transfers to Yemen's Houthis

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 13: Members of the United Nations Security Council listen as Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs Ambassador Robert Wood speaks during a meeting on the war in Gaza on at the United Nations headquarters May 13, 2024 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 13: Members of the United Nations Security Council listen as Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs Ambassador Robert Wood speaks during a meeting on the war in Gaza on at the United Nations headquarters May 13, 2024 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/AFP

The United States called on Iran on Monday to halt its transfer of an “unprecedented” amount of weaponry to Yemen’s Houthi militias, enabling their fighters to carry out “reckless attacks” on ships in the Red Sea and elsewhere.

US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the UN Security Council that if it wants to make progress toward ending the civil war in Yemen, it should collectively “call Iran out for its destabilizing role and insist that it cannot hide behind the Houthis.”

He said there is extensive evidence that Iran is providing advanced weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles, to the Houthis in violation of UN sanctions.

“To underscore the council’s concern regarding the ongoing violations of the arms embargo, we must do more to strengthen enforcement and deter sanctions violators,” Wood said.

The Houthis say their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war with Hamas in Gaza.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, the US Maritime Administration said late last month.

Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, warned the council that “hostilities continue,” even though there has been a reduction in attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, as well as a reduction in the number of US and British airstrikes on targets in Yemen.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council that the Israeli announcement on May 6 that it was starting its military operation in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where 1.2 million Palestinians had sought safety, ratcheted up the spiral of escalation in the region “another notch further.”
“There’s no doubt that this will have an impact on the situation in Yemen’s surrounding waters,” he said, noting the Houthis’ opposition to Israeli attacks that harm Palestinian civilians.
“We call for a swift cessation of the shelling of commercial vessels and any other actions that hamper maritime navigation," Nebenzia added.
He sharply criticized the United States and its Western allies, saying their “totally unjustified aggressive strikes” in Yemen violate the UN Charter. He said they further complicate an already complex situation in the Red Sea.

Arab World

Lebanon Resumes Trips for Syrian Refugees’ Voluntary Return to Their Country

A Syrian refugee camp in the Lebanese town of Arsal in the eastern Bekaa region. (AP)
A Syrian refugee camp in the Lebanese town of Arsal in the eastern Bekaa region. (AP)
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Lebanon Resumes Trips for Syrian Refugees’ Voluntary Return to Their Country

A Syrian refugee camp in the Lebanese town of Arsal in the eastern Bekaa region. (AP)
A Syrian refugee camp in the Lebanese town of Arsal in the eastern Bekaa region. (AP)

Lebanon will resume on Tuesday trips for Syrian refugees who have volunteered to return to their country.

The General Security directorate will operate two trips involving 300 refugees. The first convoy, carrying only ten refugees, will return through the Jousseh crossing in the al-Qaa region and head towards Syria’s Homs.

The second convoy will transport the remaining refugees and head towards the al-Qalamoun region. It will enter Syria through the illegal al-Zamarani crossing and will be received by Syrian security forces.

The majority of the returnees opted to head back home through illegal crossings because that allows them to transport their tents, furniture, cattle and vehicles. They are not allowed to do so through legal crossings, explained sources monitoring the process.

Security sources said the development was “indication of seriousness in handling the refugee file” even though the returning numbers are quite low in this first phase.

The two trips will “kickstart the beginning of addressing the Syrian refugee file as a whole,” they told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The voluntary return “has been put on the right track” and it is being handled seriously this time after about seven months since the last time refugees returned home, they continued.

They added that the security forces have set up a center in the border town of Arsal to receive and register refugees who are willing to return home.

The Syrian authorities have been cooperative with Lebanon’s efforts to ensure their return.

Syrian Mohammed Abdulaziz, who has been tasked with preparing the refugees for their return, revealed that several people have registered to voluntarily go back to their homes in the western al-Qalamoun and Damascus countryside regions.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said 50 more families have signed up to go back, but their names have yet to be referred to the general secretariat tasked with coordinating their file with Lebanon’s General Security.

He stressed that “all eyes are on Tuesday’s trips. If they pass smoothly, then more refugees will sign up to go home.”

Fierce debate has raged in Lebanon about the Syrian refugees given the social tensions that have emerged over their continued presence in the country.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said criticism levelled against his government over this file have been aimed at “distracting it with pointless debates and disputes.”

“We will forge ahead with our work and in implementing decisions we have taken responsibly and with a clear conscience,” he added.

Arab World

Hezbollah Head: Displaced Israeli Northerners Will Not Return Home if Gaza War Persists

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech via a screen during a rally, in a suburb outside Beirut, Lebanon, 13 May 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech via a screen during a rally, in a suburb outside Beirut, Lebanon, 13 May 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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Hezbollah Head: Displaced Israeli Northerners Will Not Return Home if Gaza War Persists

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech via a screen during a rally, in a suburb outside Beirut, Lebanon, 13 May 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech via a screen during a rally, in a suburb outside Beirut, Lebanon, 13 May 2024. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

The head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Monday that residents of northern Israel would not be able to return home for the start of the next school year if their government pressed on with its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon's southern border in parallel with the Gaza war. The armed group has said it is launching rockets at Israel both to support its ally, Palestinian armed group Hamas, and to deter Israel from launching an attack on Lebanon.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 350 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups but also including more than 50 civilians. In Israel, strikes from Lebanon have killed at least 10 civilians and 12 soldiers.

In a televised address on Monday, Nasrallah repeated that his group would keep fighting as long as Israel continued its assault of Gaza.
"The link between the supportive Lebanese front and Gaza is definitive, final and conclusive," he said. "No one will be able to de-link them."
The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border and prompted fears of a bigger war between the heavily-armed adversaries.
Israel has said it wants to secure the north for residents to return home, either through a mediated diplomatic agreement or a military attack against Lebanon. Families displaced from northern Israel had been hoping to return home by September 1 for the start of the academic school year.
Nasrallah addressed the displaced on Monday, saying: "if you want to solve the issue, go to your government and tell them to stop the war on Gaza."

The Israeli military also continued strikes on Lebanon over the weekend and on Monday, security sources said. Hezbollah has responded with rocket fire, and Nasrallah said his group was "continuing to develop its operations in quantity and quality.”