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Lebanese President Lashes Out at Hezbollah, Says Open to Negotiations with Israel

Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense inspect a damaged building after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense inspect a damaged building after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)
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Lebanese President Lashes Out at Hezbollah, Says Open to Negotiations with Israel

Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense inspect a damaged building after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)
Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense inspect a damaged building after an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, following renewed hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Lebanon, March 9, 2026. (Reuters)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday accused Hezbollah of working towards the "collapse" of the state, after the pro-Iran group launched an attack on Israel, expressing Beirut's readiness for "direct negotiations" with Israel.   

Begun after Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel a week ago, Israel's bombing campaign has killed at least 394 people and displaced more than half a million.   

"Whoever launched those missiles wanted to bring about the collapse of the Lebanese state, plunging it into aggression and chaos... all for the sake of the Iranian regime's calculations and this is what we have thwarted so far and what we will continue working to bring down and foil," Aoun told top European officials in an online meeting.   

He added that the party's rocket launches "were an almost transparent trap and ambush for Lebanon, the Lebanese state, and the Lebanese people".   

To stop the war, the Lebanese president proposed a four-point initiative and called on the international community to help implement it.   

It included "establishing a full truce" with Israel, "logistical support" for the army to disarm Hezbollah, and "direct negotiations (with Israel) under international auspices".  

The meeting included Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Qatari PM Sheikh Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Kuwaiti PM Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, United Arab Emirates Deputy PM and Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bn Zayed Al Nahyan, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Omani FM Badr Albusaidi, Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jassim Al-Budaiwi, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Council Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. 

The EU's top diplomat called for a 2024 ceasefire to be upheld to prevent Lebanon from "sliding into chaos," saying Israel's "heavy-handed" response to Hezbollah attacks was further destabilizing the region.    

"Israel should cease its operations in Lebanon," Kallas said in a statement after the crisis talks. 

She likewise called for Hezbollah to "disarm and cease all actions against Israel," saying: "Diplomacy and a return to the ceasefire offer the best chance of averting Lebanon from sliding into chaos." 

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Arab World

China Says Israel Should Stop Its 'Forced Establishment' of West Bank Settlements

Cattle gather in an enclosure at a farm run by Israeli settlers near the Palestinian town of Duma in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on October 13, 2026. (Photo by Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP)
Cattle gather in an enclosure at a farm run by Israeli settlers near the Palestinian town of Duma in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on October 13, 2026. (Photo by Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP)
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China Says Israel Should Stop Its 'Forced Establishment' of West Bank Settlements

Cattle gather in an enclosure at a farm run by Israeli settlers near the Palestinian town of Duma in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on October 13, 2026. (Photo by Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP)
Cattle gather in an enclosure at a farm run by Israeli settlers near the Palestinian town of Duma in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on October 13, 2026. (Photo by Ilia YEFIMOVICH / AFP)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Israeli President Isaac Herzog that Israel should stop and reverse its "forced establishment" of West Bank settlements, China's foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

China has consistently held that the Palestinian question is the greatest historical injustice of this ‌century, Wang ‌told Herzog during a meeting ‌in ⁠Azerbaijan, the ministry ⁠added.

Wang had earlier said that promoting peace and reconciliation in the region is the "cornerstone" of China's Middle East policy

China believes that the "two-state solution" is the right path ⁠to a resolution and the ‌immediate priority ‌is to fully open access to the ‌Gaza Strip so a humanitarian "catastrophe" ‌is not allowed to spread, Wang added

At the same time, Israel should stop and reverse its forced establishment of ‌settlements in the West Bank, he said

China is ⁠willing ⁠to work with the international community to push all parties to return to dialogue and consultation as soon as possible and seek a political settlement of the conflict, Wang added

China has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and Beijing also has close ties with Israel's main regional foe, Iran.

Arab World

Jbessa Gas Export Pipeline Targeted in Northeastern Syria, Fire Erupts, SANA Reports

File: Flames rise at Tishreen thermal power plant following an explosion, near Otaybah, Syria, September 30, 2026, in this screengrab from video obtained from social media. Social Media/via REUTERS
File: Flames rise at Tishreen thermal power plant following an explosion, near Otaybah, Syria, September 30, 2026, in this screengrab from video obtained from social media. Social Media/via REUTERS
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Jbessa Gas Export Pipeline Targeted in Northeastern Syria, Fire Erupts, SANA Reports

File: Flames rise at Tishreen thermal power plant following an explosion, near Otaybah, Syria, September 30, 2026, in this screengrab from video obtained from social media. Social Media/via REUTERS
File: Flames rise at Tishreen thermal power plant following an explosion, near Otaybah, Syria, September 30, 2026, in this screengrab from video obtained from social media. Social Media/via REUTERS

The Jbessa gas export pipeline in northeastern Syria was targeted in the al-Arabidi area, causing a fire, state news agency SANA reported on Thursday citing the director of the Syrian Petroleum Company's media office.

The company said in a statement that the 16-inch ‌pipeline exploded at ‌5.15 p.m. in an ‌area ⁠about 60 km ⁠from the city of Shaddadi. It did not specify the cause of the explosion, according to Reuters.

Technical teams isolated the damaged section by closing valves at the Jbessa gas plant and the ⁠Deir Ezzor gas station ‌in the al-Bughailiya area, ‌while firefighting and safety crews headed to ‌the site to secure the area, ‌the company said.

The extent of the damage and whether gas supplies had been disrupted were not immediately clear.

The explosion ‌followed a separate incident on Thursday morning in which the Baniyas-Homs ⁠oil ⁠products pipeline was damaged near the village of Hudeida in the western Homs countryside in what the company described as sabotage aimed at stealing fuel.

That incident caused a gasoline leak, the company said, adding that work was continuing to repair the damage and restore the line to service.

Arab World

Netanyahu Says Spoke with Syria’s Sharaa on Sweida Unrest

People walk under a giant election billboard bearing a portrait of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party in Ramat Gan, on October 15, 2026. (AFP)
People walk under a giant election billboard bearing a portrait of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party in Ramat Gan, on October 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Netanyahu Says Spoke with Syria’s Sharaa on Sweida Unrest

People walk under a giant election billboard bearing a portrait of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party in Ramat Gan, on October 15, 2026. (AFP)
People walk under a giant election billboard bearing a portrait of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party in Ramat Gan, on October 15, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he had previously spoken with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa about violence towards the Druze community, in his first acknowledgement of direct contact.

Netanyahu did not say when exactly the call took place, but implied it had been during bloody clashes in southern Syria in July of 2025 involving Druze factions, Bedouin fighters and government security forces.

"I called al-Sharaa. It was a very short, very sharp conversation, and the slaughter stopped," Netanyahu said at an election rally with Israel's Druze community, according to footage aired by Israel's public broadcaster KAN.

The 2025 clashes erupted in Syria's Sweida province between armed Druze factions and Bedouin fighters, with government security forces and some tribal groups then intervening.

A committee set up by the Syrian government said it had documented 1,760 deaths.

Israel, which also has a Druze population, intervened militarily during the clashes, with strikes in Sweida and against government targets in Damascus, saying it was defending the minority community.

Government-aligned forces later withdrew from Sweida city, leaving a fragile ceasefire in place, and in July of this year Damascus said it had begun trying suspects over the violence.

A Syrian government source told the country's state news agency SANA on Thursday that Damascus "categorically rejects any attempt to politicize (Syria's Druze minority) or to involve it in Israeli propaganda and elections," without confirming nor denying whether the call between Netanyahu and Sharaa had taken place.

Since the December 2024 ousting of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria and sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan since 1974.

It has also carried out repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory and has vowed to keep troops in a so-called "security zone" in southern Syria, where it seeks a broader demilitarized area.

Syria's new leaders have condemned Israeli military action in the country's south but have refrained from responding with force.

Despite the tensions, Syria and Israel have held several rounds of direct talks as they edge towards a security agreement.