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Israel Targets Beirut’s Southern Suburbs Again as Synagogue is Hit in Haifa

Civil defense members work at a damaged site, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Lebanon November 17, 2024. REUTERS/ Thaier Al-Sudani
Civil defense members work at a damaged site, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Lebanon November 17, 2024. REUTERS/ Thaier Al-Sudani
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Israel Targets Beirut’s Southern Suburbs Again as Synagogue is Hit in Haifa

Civil defense members work at a damaged site, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Lebanon November 17, 2024. REUTERS/ Thaier Al-Sudani
Civil defense members work at a damaged site, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, in Lebanon November 17, 2024. REUTERS/ Thaier Al-Sudani

Several Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, hours after Lebnaon’s Hezbollah said it fired on Israeli bases around the city of Haifa.

Columns of smoke rose over the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs, following a warning from the Israeli military for residents to evacuate many areas.

Further south, overnight Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling hit the flashpoint southern town of Khiam, some six kilometres from the border, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported early Sunday.

The bombardment came after Israel's military reported a "heavy rocket barrage" on Haifa late Saturday and said a synagogue was hit, wounding two civilians.

Israel's military chief said Saturday Hezbollah had already "paid a big price,” but Israel will keep fighting until tens of thousands of its residents displaced from the north can return safely.

Beirut's southern suburbs were veiled in smoke Sunday, following repeated Israeli bombardment a day earlier of the Hezbollah stronghold.

The Israeli military said aircraft had targeted "a weapons storage facility" and a Hezbollah "command center.”

Hezbollah fired around 80 projectiles at Israel on Saturday, the military said.

Israeli forces also shelled the area along the Litani River, which flows across southern Lebanon, NNA said Sunday.

The agency earlier reported strikes on the southern city of Tyre, including in a neighborhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins. Israel's military late Saturday said it had hit Hezbollah facilities in the Tyre area.

In Lebanon's east, the health ministry said an Israeli strike in the Bekaa Valley killed six people including three children.

Hezbollah said it fired a guided missile that set an Israeli tank ablaze in the southwest Lebanon village of Shamaa, about five kilometres from the border.

Late Saturday, Hezbollah said it had targeted five military bases including the Stella Maris naval base.

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Arab World

Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.