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Lebanon: Nasrallah to Break Silence on Israel-Hamas War, Iranian Official Visits Beirut

File photo: Kefah, 54, a saleswoman, who says "We have confidence in the resistance and they trust Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaks to journalists in the town of Qana where Israeli shelling killed more than 100 people in 1996 and dozens more in an Israeli airstrike in 2006, Lebanon October 24, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
File photo: Kefah, 54, a saleswoman, who says "We have confidence in the resistance and they trust Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaks to journalists in the town of Qana where Israeli shelling killed more than 100 people in 1996 and dozens more in an Israeli airstrike in 2006, Lebanon October 24, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
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Lebanon: Nasrallah to Break Silence on Israel-Hamas War, Iranian Official Visits Beirut

File photo: Kefah, 54, a saleswoman, who says "We have confidence in the resistance and they trust Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaks to journalists in the town of Qana where Israeli shelling killed more than 100 people in 1996 and dozens more in an Israeli airstrike in 2006, Lebanon October 24, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
File photo: Kefah, 54, a saleswoman, who says "We have confidence in the resistance and they trust Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, speaks to journalists in the town of Qana where Israeli shelling killed more than 100 people in 1996 and dozens more in an Israeli airstrike in 2006, Lebanon October 24, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday will break weeks of silence since war broke out between Hamas and Israel, in a speech that could impact the region as the Gaza conflict rages.

His speech comes amid reports that Esmail Qaani, Iranian brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is visiting Beirut.

After Hamas militants launched an unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon's southern border has seen escalating tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian group, stoking fears of a broader conflagration.

The cross-border attacks heated up Thursday, as Israel responded with a "broad assault" after Hezbollah attacked 19 Israeli positions simultaneously, according to the group.

Rockets also hit the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona near the border in a barrage claimed by the Lebanese section of Hamas's armed wing.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has warned that "the region is like a powder keg" and that "anything is possible" if Israel does not stop attacking Gaza.

US President Joe Biden has sent two aircraft carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean and warned Hezbollah and others to stay out of the conflict.

"We've got significant national security interests at play here," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

"I don't believe we've seen any indication yet specifically that Hezbollah is ready to go in full force. So we'll see what he has to say."

Nasrallah's highly anticipated speech will be broadcast as part of an event in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Friday, in memory of fighters killed in Israeli bombardments.

On the Lebanese side, more than 70 people have been killed -- at least 50 of them Hezbollah fighters but also other combatants and civilians, one a Reuters journalist, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, nine people have died -- eight soldiers and one civilian, the army says.

'Red line' factors

Some analysts believe that Hezbollah has little interest in becoming fully embroiled in a conflict that Israeli officials have threatened could destroy Lebanon.

Others say the decision lies with Iran, which leads the regional "axis of resistance" against Israel, which alongside Hezbollah includes armed groups from Syria, Iraq and Yemen, some of which have attacked Israel and US interests in the region in recent weeks.

Hezbollah on Wednesday published a letter from its fighters addressed to Palestinian groups in Gaza, saying they had their "finger with you on the trigger... to support Al-Aqsa mosque and our oppressed brothers in Palestine".

The Shiite Muslim group has mainly restricted itself to targeting Israeli observation posts, military positions and vehicles near the border as well as drones, using what it says have been anti-tank missiles, guided missiles and even surface-to-air missiles.

Israel has responded by bombing sites along the border, while drones have targeted fighters near the frontier.

The border tensions have revived memories of Hezbollah's devastating 2006 war with Israel that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, largely soldiers.

'Death blow' warning
Hezbollah receives financial support as well as weapons and equipment from Iran, and has built up its powerful arsenal since 2006.

For years, Nasrallah has boasted that his group's weapons could reach deep into Israeli territory.

"Each side is carefully measuring its actions and reactions to avoid a situation that may spin out of control and spread to the region," said Michael Young from the Carnegie Middle East Center.

But if Hezbollah fully entered the war, "Lebanon's devastation would turn most communities, perhaps even large segments of the Shiite community", against it, he warned last week.

In Lebanon, those both for and against expanding the war are holding their breath for Nasrallah's speech.

"We are waiting impatiently... We hope he will announce war on the Israeli enemy and the Western countries that support it," said Ahed Madi, 43, from the border town of Shebaa.

Rabih Awad, 41, from the southern town of Rashaya al-Fokhar, said a new war between Hezbollah and Israel "would be a death blow for Lebanon", which is grappling with a crushing economic crisis.

"I am against the war of extermination on the Palestinians in Gaza," he told AFP.

"But the decision to go to war must be taken by the Lebanese state, not a party or a militia."

Nasrallah’s speech comes in parallel with reports that Esmail Qaani, Iranian brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, is visiting Beirut.

Hamas officials, Khaled Mashaal and Mousa Abu Marzouk, have earlier criticized Nasrallah for not engaging in the Israel-Hamas war.

Nasrallah has not replied to these remarks, but Hezbollah official Naim Qassem said that its fighters are engaging Israeli troops on the southern border so they don’t join the fight inside Gaza.

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Arab World

Brother Details to Asharq Al-Awsat Luring, Disappearance of Lebanese Retired Officer

Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Brother Details to Asharq Al-Awsat Luring, Disappearance of Lebanese Retired Officer

Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Shock still grips the family of retired Lebanese General Security captain Ahmed Shukr, who was abducted days ago, as Lebanese security and judicial assessments increasingly point to Israeli intelligence as being behind his disappearance, over suspected links to the 1986 vanishing of Israeli airman Ron Arad in southern Lebanon.

His brother, Abdul Salam Shukr, told Asharq Al-Awsat the story began when a Lebanese expatriate living in Kinshasa, identified as A.M., contacted Ahmed and asked to rent his apartment in the Choueifat area, south of Beirut.

The two agreed months ago, and the man paid $500 in rent.

The expatriate made repeated visits to Lebanon and met Shukr at his home during one of them. He later contacted the retired officer to say that a wealthy African investor named Salim Kassab, later found to be a fake name, was interested in purchasing a plot of land in the eastern city of Zahle and needed his assistance.

Abdul Salam said the expatriate inspected the land, then called two weeks after leaving Lebanon to say the investor had agreed to buy it and would visit the country. He asked Ahmed to meet him at the site at 4:30 p.m. on the day of the abduction.

He said the expatriate insisted on the timing because it suited the buyer, despite Ahmed’s objections that darkness would have fallen by then, and the land’s features would not be visible. The expatriate later apologized for not attending, claiming he had broken his foot, and said the investor would visit the site alone with Ahmed.

At the time of the meeting, Ahmed disappeared.

“We know nothing about him except what we have heard through security and judicial leaks,” Abdul Salam said. He added that the abductors had rented a house in Zahle and erased all traces from it after kidnapping Ahmed.

Surveillance cameras tracked the vehicle as it headed toward the town of Souireh in the western Bekaa, where the trail then vanished. Souireh was previously used as a smuggling route from southwestern Damascus into Lebanon.

Loyalty to the state

“My brother served 40 years in the military establishment. His loyalty was only to the state and its institutions. He never belonged to any party,” Abdul Salam said. “We are a family that does not engage in politics.”

Ahmed was lured last week in a carefully planned operation that began in his hometown of Nabi Sheet in the northern Bekaa, before he went missing at a point very close to the city of Zahle.

Family members and residents have been gathering at the home of Nabi Sheet’s mukhtar, Abbas Shukr, to voice their protest and condemnation of the abduction.

The family said Ahmed Shukr retired nine years ago after serving for four decades in the General Security, during which he held several posts, including the Masnaa border crossing with Syria and the Qaa crossing in northeastern Lebanon.

“My brother joined the military in 1979, which means he was an ‘officer of the state’ when Arad disappeared in 1986,” Abdul Salam told Asharq Awsat. “An officer of the state does not belong to parties.”

He rejected attempts to link the family by kinship to Fuad Shukr, a Hezbollah leader killed by Israel in July 2024 in Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying no one in the town even knew him.

“He left the town in the early 1980s and never returned. He was distant even from his relatives,” he said, adding that since retiring, his brother “never left the Bekaa. He stayed at home and played cards with friends at night.”

The family home remains in a state of disbelief, a scene that has persisted since his disappearance last week. The case only began to move officially after Vice President of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Ali al Khatib contacted Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Interior Minister Ahmed al-Hajjar, according to Abdul Salam.

He said Aoun pledged to instruct security and judicial authorities to expand the investigation and uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident. Officials from the Amal Movement were also in constant contact with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is head of the movement, to follow up on the case.

Mystery remains

“We demand that the judiciary and security agencies confirm or deny the leak about an alleged link to Ron Arad’s disappearance,” Abdul Salam said.

“That leak does not concern us. What matters is what the security agencies say, including General Security, where Ahmed served, and the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces, which is leading the investigation.”

He said the key to the mystery lies with A.M., a native of the southern town of Qana who lives in Kinshasa and has been evading the family’s calls.

“The Lebanese state must ask Interpol to arrest him and bring him to Lebanon for questioning,” he urged, adding that the man no longer answers his phone and that all available information about him, including video clips, is now in the hands of security agencies.

Abdul Salam said the family believes the expatriate coordinated the plot with Israel’s Mossad, guiding them to this point and enabling an operation carried out with precision and professionalism.

He said Lebanese security agencies told the family the abductors left no fingerprints, neither at the Zahle property nor at the Choueifat apartment, and that no evidence has been found. The kidnappers’ vehicle also remains unidentified.

Arab World

UK, Canada, Germany and Others Condemn Israel’s West Bank Settlement Plan

A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)
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UK, Canada, Germany and Others Condemn Israel’s West Bank Settlement Plan

A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)

Countries including Britain, Canada and Germany and others on Wednesday condemned the Israeli security cabinet's approval of 19 new settlements in the occupied West ‌Bank, saying ‌they violated ‌international ⁠law and risked ‌fueling instability.

"We call on Israel to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of ⁠settlements," said a joint ‌statement released ‍by Britain, ‍which also included ‍Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.

"We recall that such unilateral actions, as ⁠part of a wider intensification of the settlement policies in the West Bank, not only violate international law but also risk fueling instability," the statement ‌added.

Arab World

Syria State Media Says 3 Dead in Clashes in Latakia Province

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria State Media Says 3 Dead in Clashes in Latakia Province

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Syrian state media said three people were killed Wednesday in clashes with security forces in coastal Latakia province, the heartland of the country's Alawite minority community.

"Three members of remnants of the former regime were killed after clashes with internal security forces" outside the city of Jableh, state television said.

State news agency SANA had earlier reported "clashes with a group of wanted outlaws" in the area, and said an unspecified number of security personnel were wounded.

Since last December's ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite, Syria's new authorities have frequently reported security operations against remnants of his government.

Syria's coastal areas saw the killing of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.

A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority community were killed at the time.

Last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the Alawite coast in protest of fresh attacks targeting their community.