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UNIFIL Deputy Commander Injured after Convoy Attacked by Hezbollah Supporters in Beirut

Firefighters extinguish a burning UNIFIL vehicle, set ablaze by protesters, on the road leading to Beirut's international airport on February 14, 2025. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
Firefighters extinguish a burning UNIFIL vehicle, set ablaze by protesters, on the road leading to Beirut's international airport on February 14, 2025. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
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UNIFIL Deputy Commander Injured after Convoy Attacked by Hezbollah Supporters in Beirut

Firefighters extinguish a burning UNIFIL vehicle, set ablaze by protesters, on the road leading to Beirut's international airport on February 14, 2025. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)
Firefighters extinguish a burning UNIFIL vehicle, set ablaze by protesters, on the road leading to Beirut's international airport on February 14, 2025. (Photo by IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)

The outgoing deputy force commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon was injured on Friday after a convoy taking peacekeepers to Beirut airport was attacked by Hezbollah supporters.

UNIFIL said the deputy commander — Maj. Gen. Chok Bahadur Dhakal from Nepal — had been set to leave the country after completing his mission when the UNIFIL convoy “was violently attacked, and a vehicle was set on fire.”

It demanded a full and immediate investigation by Lebanese authorities and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice, it said in a statement.

The protest came after Iran barred Lebanese planes from repatriating dozens of Lebanese nationals stranded in Iran on Friday, in a standoff after Lebanon blocked an Iranian civilian flight.
Lebanon halted the flight to Beirut this week after the Israeli military accused Tehran of using civilian aircraft to smuggle cash to Beirut to arm Hezbollah.
Iran said it would not allow Lebanese flights to land until its own flights were cleared to land in Beirut.
The standoff has left dozens of Lebanese citizens stranded in Iran for three days after attending a religious pilgrimage. They had been due to return to Beirut on Iran's Mahan Air before Lebanon barred the plane from landing.
Dozens of Hezbollah supporters cut off roads around Beirut's airport late on Thursday and Friday in protest.

Lebanon’s civil aviation agency said Thursday that “additional security measures” meant some flights were temporarily rescheduled until Feb. 18 -- the same day as a deadline for Israel and Hezbollah to fully implement the ceasefire agreement that ended their latest war in late November, including a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned on Saturday the attack, saying security forces will not tolerate anyone who tries to destabilize the country, according to a statement by the president's office.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and the army, in separate statements, condemned the attack too and said urgent measures would be taken to identify and arrest the attackers and prevent any violation of civil peace.
Lebanese state news agency NNA reported that Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar called for an emergency meeting before noon on Saturday to discuss the security situation.
"He affirmed the Lebanese government's rejection of this assault that is considered a crime against UNIFIL forces," NNA reported, citing the Lebanese minister.
He also gave instructions to work on identifying the perpetrators and referring them to the relevant judicial authorities.

The Amal Movement, the political party of parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said in a statement that “the attack on UNIFIL is an attack on southern Lebanon” and called for the army and security forces to pursue the perpetrators.
The United States also condemned the attack.

After blocking the Iranian flight, Lebanon dispatched two planes on Friday from its own national airliner Middle East Airlines to bring the stranded Lebanese home from Iran, but Iran refused to allow the Lebanese aircraft to land on its territory.
Iran's ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani, told Iran's state television on Friday that Iran would allow the planes to land only if Iranian flights were allowed to travel to Beirut.

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Arab World

UN Raises ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ Concerns Over Israel’s Operation in Hebron

Israeli soldiers stand guard at a closed military gate at an entrance to the West Bank city of Hebron, 25 October 2026, as the military enforced a closure on the city and surrounding villages for a third consecutive day. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers stand guard at a closed military gate at an entrance to the West Bank city of Hebron, 25 October 2026, as the military enforced a closure on the city and surrounding villages for a third consecutive day. (EPA)
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UN Raises ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ Concerns Over Israel’s Operation in Hebron

Israeli soldiers stand guard at a closed military gate at an entrance to the West Bank city of Hebron, 25 October 2026, as the military enforced a closure on the city and surrounding villages for a third consecutive day. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers stand guard at a closed military gate at an entrance to the West Bank city of Hebron, 25 October 2026, as the military enforced a closure on the city and surrounding villages for a third consecutive day. (EPA)

Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, launched after a deadly attack by Palestinian gunmen, raises serious concerns of "ethnic cleansing", the United Nations warned Monday.

"Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law. Threats to empty and erase entire neighborhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Monday that he was “deeply alarmed” by surging Israeli settler violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank. 

Speaking in Cairo on one of his final trips as UN chief, Guterres said Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza must be lifted and obstacles to the Security Council’s peace plan must be removed with “the specter of ethnic cleansing looming ever larger.” 

He said lasting peace in the region depends on Palestinians’ right to self-determination, and that a two-state solution, with Jerusalem as the capital of both, is the only viable path. 

Arab World

Taiz under Siege, Health Sector on Verge of Collapse

Smoke billows from a site that was targeted during battles between Yemeni government fighters and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis at the Jabal Han front, west of the city of Taiz, on October 21, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site that was targeted during battles between Yemeni government fighters and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis at the Jabal Han front, west of the city of Taiz, on October 21, 2026. (AFP)
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Taiz under Siege, Health Sector on Verge of Collapse

Smoke billows from a site that was targeted during battles between Yemeni government fighters and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis at the Jabal Han front, west of the city of Taiz, on October 21, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site that was targeted during battles between Yemeni government fighters and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis at the Jabal Han front, west of the city of Taiz, on October 21, 2026. (AFP)

Clashes persisted across the fronts of the Yemeni city of Taiz on Monday, marked by continuous Houthi shelling of residential areas and a tightening of the siege, though no territorial advances were made. Meanwhile, airstrikes targeted the Iran-backed group's reinforcements, command centers, and supply lines, even as humanitarian and health crises worsen for millions of residents.

While the government's Giants Brigades and National Shield forces continue to secure their positions in the Kahbub mountains and the vicinity of Bab al-Mandeb, an escalation in Houthi missile attacks has introduced a new threat to displaced persons and civilians within areas controlled by the Yemeni government.

The Yemeni Armed Forces announced that 753 precise, direct strikes were carried out over the past 24 hours under Operation "Dawn of Yemen," targeting Houthi military capabilities, according to the military's official spokesperson, Colonel Majed Al-Nuzaili.

The operations struck field command and control centers, commanding terrain, fortifications, and firing positions, alongside troop concentrations, reinforcements, and transport and supply assets, he added.

The operations helped disrupt the militants' efforts to deploy fighters into battle while supporting government operations across various fronts, he explained.

Al-Nuzaili said that the strikes neutralized 218 Houthi members and field commanders, and destroyed or disabled 78 vehicles, pieces of machinery, and military transports, in addition to heavy and medium weaponry.

Operations will continue to target the Houthis' capacity to mobilize and reorganize, while maintaining all necessary precautions to protect civilians and civilian objects, he vowed.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni Network for Rights and Freedoms documented 42 crimes and violations committed by the Houthis in Taiz governorate over a 48-hour period, coinciding with the firing of approximately 369 projectiles at residential areas.

A man carries a boy at a hospital in the southwestern city of Taiz, Yemen, October 25, 2026. (Reuters)

According to a report Monday, the network said the attacks resulted in the deaths of four civilians and injuries to seven others, including two 14-year-old girls.

The network reported that the violations included the abduction of citizens from their homes. The report also highlighted raids, intimidation, and pressure to recruit dozens of local residents, alongside the looting of eight homes and assaults on residences.

The repercussions of the Houthi shelling and siege extend beyond direct casualties; the rights network stated that restrictions on movement and supplies hamper the access of patients and the wounded to hospitals, while limiting the capacity of health facilities to operate amid shortages of medicine, fuel, and medical supplies.

The network warned that the health sector in Taiz faces mounting pressures that threaten the continuity of essential services, noting that some 1,280 kidney failure patients are at risk of having their treatment interrupted due to a shortage of dialysis supplies.

Furthermore, the shortage of fuel and medical supplies threatens the lives of 192 patients in intensive care units and 154 infants in incubators.

The report stated that two hospitals, four medical centers, and three medical storehouses sustained damage, including Al-Safwa Hospital, which serves over 50,000 patients.

It noted that 42 health facilities face acute supply shortages, and that hospitals and ambulances require more than 156,000 liters of fuel per month to ensure service continuity amid generator failures and public power grid outages.

Arab World

Arab Interior Ministers Council Condemns Houthi Attacks Targeting Makkah and Madinah Regions

Arab Interior Ministers Council Condemns Houthi Attacks Targeting Makkah and Madinah Regions
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Arab Interior Ministers Council Condemns Houthi Attacks Targeting Makkah and Madinah Regions

Arab Interior Ministers Council Condemns Houthi Attacks Targeting Makkah and Madinah Regions

The General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers has strongly condemned the terrorist attacks carried out by the Houthi militia using missiles and UAVs against civilians, civilian objects, and holy sites in Saudi Arabia.

In a statement issued from its headquarters in Tunis, the secretariat also condemned the militia's recent attempt to target Makkah and Madinah regions with ballistic missiles, which were intercepted and destroyed by Saudi air defenses, SPA reported.

The secretariat said the attacks constituted a flagrant violation of international law, a grave breach of the sanctity of holy sites, and an affront to the sentiments of Muslims worldwide.

It added that the attacks reflected the militia's continued efforts to undermine regional security and stability.

The secretariat reaffirmed its full solidarity with Saudi Arabia and its support for all measures taken by the Kingdom to protect its territory and holy sites, maintain its security and stability, and safeguard the lives and safety of citizens and residents.