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In Lebanon, Top French Diplomat Seeks Israel-Hezbollah De-Escalation

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne is visiting Lebanon as part of a renewed push for calm as fighting intensifies between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement. AFP
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne is visiting Lebanon as part of a renewed push for calm as fighting intensifies between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement. AFP
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In Lebanon, Top French Diplomat Seeks Israel-Hezbollah De-Escalation

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne is visiting Lebanon as part of a renewed push for calm as fighting intensifies between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement. AFP
French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne is visiting Lebanon as part of a renewed push for calm as fighting intensifies between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement. AFP

France's top diplomat on Sunday urged de-escalation between Israel and the Hezbollah movement during his second visit to Lebanon since cross-border tensions flared alongside the Gaza war.
Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group have exchanged near-daily fire since Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza.
Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel striking deeper into Lebanese territory, while Hezbollah has stepped up its missile and drone attacks on military positions in northern Israel, said AFP.
The United States has led diplomatic efforts to halt violence along the border with Israel, with France also seeking ways to calm tensions.
Paris presented to both Lebanon and Israel an initiative earlier this year seeking to end hostilities.
"We refuse a worst-case scenario... No one has any interest in Israel and Hezbollah continuing this escalation. This is my message here," French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told reporters in Beirut.
He said he "will bring this same message to Israel on Tuesday,"
Hezbollah has repeatedly declared that only a ceasefire in Gaza will put an end to its attacks on Israel.
A French diplomatic source told AFP that the volume of cross-border attacks had doubled since April 13.
Ahead of the press conference Sejourne met Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Najib Mikati, army chief Joseph Aoun and influential parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally.
Proposals 'to avoid war'
A return to stability "requires the redeployment of armed forces in southern Lebanon," he added, referring to a region where Hezbollah holds sway.
In March, Beirut submitted its response to the French initiative, based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The resolution called for the removal of weapons in southern Lebanon from everyone except the army and other state security forces.
The objective of that roadmap, Sejourne said, "is to achieve the full implementation by all parties of Security Council Resolution 1701."
Berri and Mikati both said that Lebanon was keen on implementing the UN resolution, according to separate statements following their meetings with Sejourne.
"The French initiative constitutes a practical framework for implementing Resolution 1701, which Lebanon is committed to implementing in full, while demanding Israel commit to it and stop its destructive aggression against southern Lebanon," Mikati said in a statement.
More than four years into an economic collapse, and essentially leaderless, Lebanon is ill-prepared for regional conflict.
Mikati has for about two years headed a caretaker government with reduced powers after a general election failed to deliver a majority to either of Lebanon's rival power blocs.
The country has not had a president since late 2022 when Michel Aoun's mandate ended without agreement on a successor.
"Without an elected president, without a fully-functioning government, Lebanon will not... be invited to the discussion table," he said.
Earlier in the day Sejourne visited the headquarters of the United Nations' peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), which includes around 700 French troops.
Sejourne reiterated that Paris has been making proposals to "avoid war in Lebanon".
Since October 8 at least 385 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 254 Hezbollah fighters and dozens of civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 11 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed on its side of the border.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.

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Syrians Circulate Lists of War Crimes Suspects

 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).
 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).
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Syrians Circulate Lists of War Crimes Suspects

 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).
 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).

The file of individuals implicated in war crimes and human rights violations under the deposed Syrian regime remains one of the most complex challenges facing the new administration in Syria, especially in the absence of official, public lists of wanted persons.
The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria has been investigating war crimes and other violations of international human rights law since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Operating remotely, the commission has compiled lists containing approximately 4,000 names of individuals suspected of committing serious crimes. Following his first visit to Syria on January 9, a UN investigator tasked with examining these violations expressed optimism for “productive cooperation” with the new Syrian authorities.
In addition, “Pro Justice,” a Washington-based organization founded in 2019 by Syrian Americans under the sponsorship of defected Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab, previously released a “blacklist” before the fall of the regime, naming 100 high-ranking officials from the former regime accused of war crimes committed since 2011. This remains one of the few publicly documented lists, with detailed files outlining the role of each individual in these crimes.

In December, UN investigators announced confidential lists naming 4,000 individuals responsible for serious crimes in Syria. They emphasized the importance of ensuring accountability at the highest levels following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.
Linnea Arvidsson, coordinator for the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, stated: “It is crucial to hold perpetrators of crimes at the highest levels accountable.”
Since the regime’s fall, dozens of “unofficial” lists have circulated, naming and depicting suspects. One prominent list includes 161 names of senior officers and leaders of the former regime, topped by Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother Maher al-Assad, commander of the Fourth Armored Division.
This division, along with Air Force Intelligence, is accused of committing atrocities such as the Daraya massacre in 2012, the chemical weapons attack in Douma in 2013, and other crimes including drug trafficking and managing detention centers tied to these activities.
Nevertheless, arrests have also been made of individuals not listed in these reports. For example, Brigadier General Riyad Hassan, head of Political Security in Damascus, was arrested on December 27. Other arrests include Hayyan Miya, leader of the National Defense Militia in Latakia, and Aws Salloum, known as “Azrael of Sednaya,” who is accused of brutally executing over 500 detainees during the security campaign in Homs and its countryside.
Similarly, Mohammad Nour al-Din Shalloum, accused of destroying surveillance footage from Sednaya Prison, was detained after the regime’s fall, along with the killing of several prison guards.
On December 26, Syrian military forces successfully killed Shujaa al-Ali, infamously known as the “Butcher of Houla,” during clashes in western rural Homs. Al-Ali, who led the largest militia in the region, had spent the last four years engaging in extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and drug trafficking.
Platforms such as the “Wanted List of Former Regime Officers and Militants,” which emerged after the regime’s collapse, continue to monitor suspects and share their names and alleged crimes, primarily targeting well-known militia leaders in their respective regions.
Civil activist Ayman Ahmad from Homs warns that the unregulated circulation of random, unofficial lists on social media poses a significant threat to civil peace. “These lists are a form of incitement to violence and fearmongering, which only complicates the situation,” he said, pointing out reports of over 1,000 arrests during recent security campaigns in Homs neighborhoods.
He added: “As long as arrests are being made based on lists determined by the new administration, even if those lists are not publicly disclosed, we urge a halt to the dissemination of random, unofficial lists. These lists incite indiscriminate violence and deepen social divisions.”