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Israeli Army Begins Slow Withdrawal from Lebanon’s Khiam

Lebanese army begins deployment in Khiam. Photo: Lebanese army
Lebanese army begins deployment in Khiam. Photo: Lebanese army
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Israeli Army Begins Slow Withdrawal from Lebanon’s Khiam

Lebanese army begins deployment in Khiam. Photo: Lebanese army
Lebanese army begins deployment in Khiam. Photo: Lebanese army

The Lebanese army has entered the strategic southern town of Khiam as part of a ceasefire agreement, after UN peacekeepers confirmed Israel's withdrawal from several positions. Despite this, Israeli attacks continued, killing three people on Wednesday.

In a statement, the army said its units had deployed at five sites around Khiam and Marjayoun in coordination with UNIFIL, following talks by a five-nation oversight committee. The statement added that the deployment will expand, with teams working to clear unexploded ordnance in the area.

The Lebanese army urged residents to stay away from the area and follow military instructions until the deployment is complete.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel’s slow withdrawal is delaying the Lebanese army’s deployment in Khiam, accusing Israel of stalling despite promising to pull out a week ago.

On Wednesday morning, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that a UNIFIL engineering team entered Khiam from the north to verify Israel’s withdrawal.

By the afternoon, the Lebanese army’s Seventh Brigade, with UNIFIL support, began clearing roads and removing unexploded ordnance left by Israeli forces in the area.

This marked an important test of the recent ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel's military confirmed this was the first town it has turned over to the Lebanese army under the truce.

Israeli violations continued, however, with forces demolishing a house in Naqoura and drones striking the Safarjal area near Majdal Zoun, accompanied by artillery and gunfire.

Later, three people were killed in Bint Jbeil when an Israeli drone fired a missile at the al-Owaini neighborhood. Israeli troops near Maroun al-Ras also opened heavy machine-gun fire on the town.

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UN Investigative Team Says Syria’s New Authorities ‘Very Receptive’ to Probe of Assad War Crimes

A man looks at the pictures of missing people, believed to be prisoners from Sednaya prison, which was known as a "slaughterhouse" under Syria's Bashar al-Assad's rule, after his ousting, in Marjeh Square also known as Martyrs Square in Damascus, Syria December 22, 2024. (Reuters)
A man looks at the pictures of missing people, believed to be prisoners from Sednaya prison, which was known as a "slaughterhouse" under Syria's Bashar al-Assad's rule, after his ousting, in Marjeh Square also known as Martyrs Square in Damascus, Syria December 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Investigative Team Says Syria’s New Authorities ‘Very Receptive’ to Probe of Assad War Crimes

A man looks at the pictures of missing people, believed to be prisoners from Sednaya prison, which was known as a "slaughterhouse" under Syria's Bashar al-Assad's rule, after his ousting, in Marjeh Square also known as Martyrs Square in Damascus, Syria December 22, 2024. (Reuters)
A man looks at the pictures of missing people, believed to be prisoners from Sednaya prison, which was known as a "slaughterhouse" under Syria's Bashar al-Assad's rule, after his ousting, in Marjeh Square also known as Martyrs Square in Damascus, Syria December 22, 2024. (Reuters)

The UN organization assisting in investigating the most serious crimes in Syria said Monday the country’s new authorities were “very receptive” to its request for cooperation during a just-concluded visit to Damascus, and it is preparing to deploy.

The visit led by Robert Petit, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria, was the first since the organization was established by the UN General Assembly in 2016. It was created to assist in evidence-gathering and prosecution of individuals responsible for possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide since Syria’s civil war began in 2011.

Petit highlighted the urgency of preserving documents and other evidence before it is lost.

Since the opposition overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the opening of prisons and detention facilities there have been rising demands from Syrians for the prosecution of those responsible for atrocities and killings while he was in power.

“The fall of the Assad rule is a significant opportunity for us to fulfill our mandate on the ground,” Petit said. “Time is running out. There is a small window of opportunity to secure these sites and the material they hold.”

UN associate spokesperson Stephane Tremblay said Monday the investigative team “is preparing for an operational deployment as early as possible and as soon as it is authorized to conduct activities on Syrian soil.”

The spokesperson for the organization, known as the IIIM, who was on the trip with Petit, went further, telling The Associated Press: “We are preparing to deploy on the expectation that we will get authorization.”

“The representatives from the caretaker authorities were very receptive to our request for cooperation and are aware of the scale of the task ahead,” the spokesperson said, speaking on condition of not being named. “They emphasized that they will need expertise to help safeguard the newly accessible documentation.”

The IIIM did not disclose which officials in the new government it met with or the site that Petit visited afterward.

“Even at one facility,” Petit said, “the mountains of government documentation reveal the chilling efficiency of systemizing the regime’s atrocity crimes.”

He said that a collective effort by Syrians, civil society organizations and international partners will be needed, as a priority, “to preserve evidence of the crimes committed, avoid duplication, and ensure that all victims are inclusively represented in the pursuit of justice.”

In June 2023, the 193-member General Assembly also established an Independent Institution of Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic to clarify the fate and whereabouts of more than 130,000 people missing as a result of the conflict.