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Gallant: Israel Not in Favor of War with Hezbollah but Ready for One

FILED - 21 February 2024, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant addresses the annual Conference of Presidents at the MoD Headquarters in Tel Aviv. Photo: Shachar Yurman/GPO/dpa
FILED - 21 February 2024, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant addresses the annual Conference of Presidents at the MoD Headquarters in Tel Aviv. Photo: Shachar Yurman/GPO/dpa
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Gallant: Israel Not in Favor of War with Hezbollah but Ready for One

FILED - 21 February 2024, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant addresses the annual Conference of Presidents at the MoD Headquarters in Tel Aviv. Photo: Shachar Yurman/GPO/dpa
FILED - 21 February 2024, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant addresses the annual Conference of Presidents at the MoD Headquarters in Tel Aviv. Photo: Shachar Yurman/GPO/dpa

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that although Israel does not want to go to war with Hezbollah, he believes that his army is ready for one, dpa reported Saturday.
On Friday, Israeli media quoted Gallant as saying during a visit to troops near Israel's northern border with Lebanon that : "We are working on a political solution. This is always the best option... We are not seeking war but we are prepared for it."
"If Hezbollah chooses war, we know what we are doing... If they choose peace, we will respond appropriately”, he added.
Since Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7, the Israeli army and Hezbollah traded a near daily exchange of fire in the border area between Israel and Lebanon.
Recently, fighting has flared up significantly prompting several countries to issue travel advisories to urge their citizens to leave Lebanon.
Fears arose of a potential full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon that could escalate into a regional conflict involving Iran and the United States.
Iran's mission to the United Nations warned earlier on Saturday in a post on X platform that if Israel launches "a wide-ranging military aggression, it will lead to a devastating war”.

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Muscat Hosts New Round of Yemeni Consultations for Release of Prisoners

The delegation of the Yemeni government and the joint negotiating team of the coalition countries before the start of consultations with the Houthi group on Sunday in Muscat (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The delegation of the Yemeni government and the joint negotiating team of the coalition countries before the start of consultations with the Houthi group on Sunday in Muscat (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Muscat Hosts New Round of Yemeni Consultations for Release of Prisoners

The delegation of the Yemeni government and the joint negotiating team of the coalition countries before the start of consultations with the Houthi group on Sunday in Muscat (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The delegation of the Yemeni government and the joint negotiating team of the coalition countries before the start of consultations with the Houthi group on Sunday in Muscat (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Under the auspices of the office of the UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Muscat hosted on Sunday consultations between the internationally-recognized Yemeni government and the Houthi group over the exchange of prisoners, detainees and forcibly disappeared persons.
Majed Fadael, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Rights and the official spokesman for the government delegation, expected that the consultations would continue for about 10 days.
In exclusive statements to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said: “Our basic demand is the release of all prisoners and abductees without discrimination...”
He continued: “We have clear and frank directives from our political leadership regarding this, and that the government delegation deal with full responsibility and commitment to this humanitarian file.”
During the past years, the United Nations, in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross, succeeded in completing two exchange deals between the two warring sides. More than a thousand persons were released in the first swap deal and around 900 in the second.
For his part, Abdul Qadir Al-Murtada, head of the Houthi delegation, expressed his hope that the round of consultations would be “successful, and that a new exchange deal would be agreed upon.”
He wrote on his X account: “We arrived in the Omani capital, Muscat, to attend a new round of negotiations on the prisoner file, under the auspices of the United Nations, and we hope that it will be successful and that a new exchange deal will be reached.”
In turn, the Presidential Leadership Council affirmed its keenness and support for the efforts and endeavors aimed at ending the suffering of detainees, kidnapped and disappeared persons.