Sisi Says International Community Must Work to Settle Palestinian File

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (Egyptian Presidency)
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Sisi Says International Community Must Work to Settle Palestinian File

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (Egyptian Presidency)

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi stressed “the importance of serious action by the international community towards a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue, in accordance with the references of international legitimacy.”
He noted that Egypt continues its efforts to accelerate the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, in order to alleviate the sufferings of the Palestinians.
On Wednesday, Sisi received a phone call from the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida. According to a statement by the Egyptian presidential spokesman, Ahmed Fahmy, the two officials exchanged views regarding developments in the regional situation and in the Palestinian territories.
The statement added that the Japanese prime minister listened to Sisi’s view on the means to calm the escalation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and the efforts aimed at “stabilizing the ongoing truce and building on it towards a permanent ceasefire.”
The conversation touched on Egyptian efforts to provide relief aid to the people of the Gaza Strip, Fahmy said, noting that Fumio expressed his country’s appreciation for Cairo’s role and efforts on various axes related to the current crisis and stability in the region.
Meanwhile, the Rafah border crossing witnessed a remarkable improvement in terms of delivery of relief aid to the Palestinians and the transfer of foreigners and the wounded.
The head of the Egyptian State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, said on Wednesday: “The volume of medical aid that was brought into the Gaza Strip as of Tuesday evening amounted to 2,973 tons, while the volume of food aid amounted to 11,972 tons, and water 9,111 tons, in addition to 2,611 tons of other relief materials.”
Rashwan stated that Egypt received, during the same period, 575 injured persons from Gaza for treatment in Egyptian hospitals, along with about 320 companions. Moreover, around 8,691 foreigners and dual nationals crossed to Egypt from Gaza, while 421 stranded Palestinians returned to the Strip.
Meanwhile, Egypt marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, on Wednesday, by calling on the international community to “take serious and decisive action to stop the grave Israeli violations against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the entire occupied Palestinian territory.”
According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt called for “a permanent and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to spare the blood of innocent people, and to provide the necessary relief and humanitarian aid in an adequate and sustainable manner, in order to deal with the unprecedented humanitarian tragedy to which the Palestinian people are exposed.”
The statement continued: “Stability in the Middle East will not be achieved except through a just and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution and the relevant decisions of international legitimacy, which requires the international community to come together with all seriousness to implement the two-state solution and embody the independent Palestinian state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”



Lebanon to Cooperate with Interpol on Arrest of Syrian Official Accused of War Crimes

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
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Lebanon to Cooperate with Interpol on Arrest of Syrian Official Accused of War Crimes

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 18 December 2024. (EPA)

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Monday Lebanon will cooperate with an Interpol request to arrest former Syrian intelligence officer Jamil Hassan, accused by US authorities of war crimes under the toppled Assad government.

Last week, Lebanon received an official notice from Interpol urging judicial and security authorities to detain Hassan, whose whereabouts remain unclear, if he is found on Lebanese soil, three Lebanese judicial sources told Reuters.

"We are committed to cooperating with the Interpol letter regarding the arrest of the Director of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, as we continue to cooperate on all matters related to the international system," Mikati told Reuters.

The directive also called for Hassan's arrest if he enters Lebanon, with the ultimate aim of extraditing him to the United States, the sources said.

On Dec. 9, a US indictment unsealed charges against Hassan, 72, with war crimes, including the torture of detainees, some of them US citizens, during the Syrian civil war.

Hassan is also one of three senior Syrian officials who were found guilty by a French court in May of war crimes over their involvement in the disappearance and subsequent death of a French-Syrian father and his son.

According to Lebanese judicial sources, the Interpol arrest warrant accuses Hassan of involvement in "crimes of murder, torture, and genocide."

Hassan is also allegedly responsible for overseeing the deployment of thousands of barrel bombs against the Syrian population, leading to the deaths of countless civilians, the sources said.

The Interpol request was circulated among Lebanon’s General Security and border control authorities.

Up to 30 lower-ranking former intelligence and Fourth Division army officers under the Assad administration are now in police custody in Lebanon following their arrest by Lebanese authorities, two security sources told Reuters.