Tensions Rise as Life Resumes in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs

Lebanese army vehicles and security forces alongside Saleh al-Arouri’s assassination site in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Lebanese army vehicles and security forces alongside Saleh al-Arouri’s assassination site in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
20

Tensions Rise as Life Resumes in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs

Lebanese army vehicles and security forces alongside Saleh al-Arouri’s assassination site in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Lebanese army vehicles and security forces alongside Saleh al-Arouri’s assassination site in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Habib Baidoun, an 82-year-old shoemaker, carefully sweeps glass in front of his shoe store in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon.

He observes journalists and official visitors arriving at the site where Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri was assassinated.

“We miraculously survived,” he tells Asharq Al-Awsat, pointing to the shattered glass and stones from the building where he resides after the explosions.

Baidoun clears the debris, reopens his shop, just like dozens of other businesses near the targeted site.

Baidoun is one of hundreds startled by the sudden blast near the northern suburb entrance.

However, none of them possess a complete narrative or confirmed information about what happened, despite all witnesses agreeing they heard simultaneous explosions, prompting a large portion of residents to evacuate their nearby homes “fearing Israeli airstrikes might have begun.”

Locals report that traffic congestion reached unprecedented levels after the attack on exit routes towards Beirut city, approximately 5 kilometers away, fearing the explosions might precede consecutive bombings.

Life goes on for residents at the explosion site, despite the closure of the street to vehicles by the Lebanese army and civil defense, transforming it into an evidence collection area.

Next to the targeted location, two sweet shops and a tobacco store have reopened their doors, with customers entering and exiting as usual.

The shelling did not cause significant damage to the stores or destroy the buildings, reinforcing the belief that it was precise and sophisticated enough to hit the targets under the roofs without causing major destruction.

Returning residents to the area on Wednesday morning express conflicting emotions.

Some believe that the danger has passed “once we learned it was an assassination,”
suggesting “no consequences or continued airstrikes.”

Others, however, cannot hide their concern about the area turning into an open field for Israeli airstrikes for the first time in at least four years, since the Israeli drone explosion in the Maaouad area in August 2019.



Iraq Holds Kurdish Government Legally Responsible for Continued Oil Smuggling

Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
TT
20

Iraq Holds Kurdish Government Legally Responsible for Continued Oil Smuggling

Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo
Kurdish protesters block the road in front of trucks carrying oil in the Arbat area near Sulaymaniyah, Iraq February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed/File Photo

Iraq's oil ministry said on Thursday it holds the Kurdish regional government (KRG) legally responsible for the continued smuggling of oil from the Kurdish region outside the country.

The ministry reserves the right to take all legal measures in the matter, it added.

Control over oil and gas has long been a source of tension between Baghdad and Erbil, Reuters reported.

Iraq is under pressure from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output to compensate for having produced more than its agreed volume. OPEC counts oil flows from Kurdistan as part of Iraq's quota.

In a ruling issued in 2022, Iraq's federal court deemed an oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Iraqi Kurdistan unconstitutional and demanded that Kurdish authorities hand over their crude oil supplies.

The ministry said the KRG’s failure to comply with the law has hurt both oil exports and public revenue, forcing Baghdad to cut output from other fields to meet OPEC quotas.

The ministry added that it had urged the KRG to hand over crude produced from its fields, warning that failure to do so could result in significant financial losses and harm the country’s international reputation and oil commitments.

Negotiations to resume Kurdish oil exports via the Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline, which once handled about 0.5% of global oil supply, have stalled over payment terms and contract details.