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US Urges Lebanon to Seize Opportunity, Implement Resolution 1701, Elect a President

US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson (Lebanese Army Command's website).
US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson (Lebanese Army Command's website).
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US Urges Lebanon to Seize Opportunity, Implement Resolution 1701, Elect a President

US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson (Lebanese Army Command's website).
US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson (Lebanese Army Command's website).

The United States is urging Lebanon not to miss the opportunity available to restore calm in the South by implementing UN Resolution 1701, even if it means a gradual implementation of the decision.
US envoy and mediator Amos Hochstein has been exerting efforts to end nearly five months of intensifying hostilities between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel after the eruption of the Israel-Hamas war.
Prominent parliamentary sources said that although the Quintet Committee on Lebanon suspended its activity until after the end of the holiday season, that did not prevent the United States Ambassador to Lebanon, Lisa Johnson, from intensifying her meetings with Lebanese officials, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.
Johnson has first urged Lebanon’s parliamentarian to end the deadlock preventing the election of a new president, and secondly underscored the necessity of creating political conditions to prevent a spillover of the Gaza war into Lebanon by gradually implementing Resolution 1701, which is what the American mediator is working towards.
The US ambassador was quoted as saying that Hochstein’s shuttle movements between Lebanon and Israel are meant to find a common political ground to guarantee the gradual implementation of Resolution 1701.
This involves increasing the number and equipment of the Lebanese army, which will receive full support to restore calm to the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The spokesman for the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) spokesman Andrea Tenenti has warned that the latest developments on the Lebanese-Israeli border are causing significant concern.
In remarks to the Arab Press Agency on Sunday, Tenenit said that the shelling has become more intense and bloody, reiterating that these developments are very concerning, and that this escalation could lead to a much larger conflict.
Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement have been exchanging near-daily fire since October, raising fears all-out conflict could spread across the region.
The cross-border fighting has displaced tens of thousands on both sides and has killed many including Hezbollah fighters and civilians.

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Survivors, Bodies Recovered from Capsized Red Sea Tourist Boat

25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)
25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)
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Survivors, Bodies Recovered from Capsized Red Sea Tourist Boat

25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)
25 November 2024, Egypt: Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafi (R) checks on tourists rescued from capsized tourist boat called "Sea Story" that sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast. (Red Sea Governorate/dpa)

Rescuers on Tuesday recovered five survivors and four bodies from a dive boat that capsized off Egypt's eastern coast a day earlier, Red Sea governor Amr Hanafi said.  

A military-led team rescued two Belgians, one Swiss national, one Finnish tourist and one Egyptian, the governor said, bringing the total number of survivors from the accident to 33.  

The "Sea Story" had been carrying 31 tourists of multiple nationalities and a 13-member crew when it was hit by a large wave near Marsa Alam in southeastern Egypt early on Monday, causing it to capsize.

The four bodies recovered on Tuesday have not yet been identified, and eight people are still missing after 28 were rescued on Monday.

A government source close to rescue operations said the five survivors were found on Tuesday morning inside the boat, which the governor said had been thrown on its side by an early morning wave but had not completely sunk.  

The group had spent at least 24 hours in the overturned vessel after authorities first received distress calls at 5:30 AM (0330 GMT) on Monday.  

"Rescue operations are ongoing today, supported by a military helicopter and a frigate in addition to multiple divers," the Red Sea governor told AFP Tuesday, declining to provide any further details about the operation.  

The four bodies recovered on Tuesday were also located inside the stricken vessel.  

The boat had embarked on a multi-day diving trip on Sunday and had been due to dock on Friday at the town of Hurghada, 200 kilometers (124 miles) north.  

The governor on Monday said it capsized "suddenly and quickly within 5-7 minutes" of the impact with the wave, leaving some passengers -- among them European, Chinese and American tourists -- unable to set out of their cabins in time.  

- Still missing -  

Rescuers from the military and a passing tourist boat pulled 28 people from the water on Monday.  

According to a source at a hospital in Marsa Alam, six tourists and three Egyptians were admitted with minor injuries and discharged on Monday.   

According to the governor's office, the boat was carrying tourists from Belgium, Britain, China, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.  

Among the missing are two Polish tourists and one from Finland, according to both countries' foreign ministries.  

Authorities in Egypt have said the vessel was fully licensed and had passed all inspection checks. A preliminary investigation showed no technical fault.  

There were at least two similar boat accidents in the Marsa Alam area earlier this year, but no fatalities.  

The Red Sea coast is a major tourist destination in Egypt, a country of 107 million that is in the grip of a serious economic crisis.  

Nationally, the tourism sector employs two million people and generates more than 10 percent of its GDP.  

Dozens of dive boats crisscross between Red Sea coral reefs and islands off Egypt's eastern coast every day, where safety regulations are robust but unevenly enforced.