UN Doubles Appeal for Lebanon Aid to Nearly $640 Mn
A man inspects the aftermath at the site of an Israeli strike that hit the previous day in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on June 5, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
UN Doubles Appeal for Lebanon Aid to Nearly $640 Mn
A man inspects the aftermath at the site of an Israeli strike that hit the previous day in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on June 5, 2026. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP)
The UN on Friday more than doubled its aid appeal for Lebanon as the country reels from Israel's war against Hezbollah, saying nearly $640 million was needed over six months.
"The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon is severe and deteriorating," the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a revised appeal for the country.
"Repeated displacements, insufficient shelter capacity and limited prospects for safe return are deepening vulnerability," it said, warning that "affected people are rapidly exhausting their coping capacities, and essential services are under increasing strain."
The UN had appealed for $308 million in March to support a massive emergency response led by Lebanon's government through to the end of May.
On Friday it said that another $331 million would be needed through the end of August.
Only $185 million had so far been received out of the initial appeal, OCHA said, adding that that amount had helped provide assistance to around 680,000 people between March 2 and May 31.
The aim now, it said, was to more than double that number to reach all of the 1.4 million people in Lebanon -- around a quarter of the population -- estimated to need humanitarian assistance in the country.
Lebanon says Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war on March 2, firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader.
Nearly one million people have fled their homes while more than 1.2 million are facing acute food insecurity, Friday's appeal showed.
Price pressure was adding to the misery, with the cost of water, fuel and electricity up more than a third nationally, and as high as 70 percent in the conflict-affected areas, AFP quoted it as saying.
It also highlighted the strain that the conflict was placing on healthcare in Lebanon, with 62 hospitals and other health facilities either damaged or closed.
OCHA said nearly 450 schools were being used to shelter displaced people, driving learning loss and drop-out risks.
Israel Issues Evacuation Warnings North of Litani, Kills 7 in Strikes on Tyrehttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5280680-israel-issues-evacuation-warnings-north-litani-kills-7-strikes-tyre
Israel Issues Evacuation Warnings North of Litani, Kills 7 in Strikes on Tyre
04 June 2026, Lebanon, Arnoun: Smoke billows after an Israeli air raid on the Southern Lebanese village of Arnoun. Photo: Stringer/dpa
Israel's air force struck a Lebanese village on Friday following warnings for several areas of imminent attacks against Hezbollah, after the Iran-backed militants rejected a truce brokered by the United States.
Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle East war when Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2 to avenge the February 28 killing of Iran's supreme leader.
Lebanese and Israeli envoys meeting in Washington this week agreed to a conditional truce that Hezbollah flatly rejected, with the group instead demanding a comprehensive ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon.
Israel has staged its deepest incursion in two decades into Lebanon since the start of the war with Iran, which it launched in conjunction with its ally, the US.
On Friday, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee warned residents of six towns and villages including south Lebanon's Sarafand, a town on the coastal road between Tyre and Sidon, to immediately evacuate.
He earlier warned three villages north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon to leave their homes.
"For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move away from the villages and towns by at least 1,000 meters into open areas," the army's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.
"Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, their facilities, or their weapons endangers their life!"
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported mass displacement from the three villages named in the warning, and it subsequently reported a strike on one of the villages, Arqoun.
Overnight, Israeli strikes killed seven people in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, a source from Lebanon's civil defense told AFP.
- 'Freedom to kill' -
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Thursday rejected a truce announced by Lebanese and Israeli envoys in Washington that hinged on the group halting its attacks on Israel.
"The ceasefire must be comprehensive... without the Israeli enemy having the freedom to kill," Qassem said, urging the government to halt "the farce and humiliation called direct talks" with Israel.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the army will "at this stage, continue its fire and ground operations... without the return of the population, while continuing to dismantle terrorist infrastructure".
He said Israeli forces had the "freedom" to strike Lebanese capital Beirut if Hezbollah attacked Israeli communities.
One Israeli strike near the Jabal Amel hospital in the historic city of Tyre killed four people overnight, wounded seven and lightly damaged the facility, while another in a residential area killed three and wounded five, including two children.
An AFP correspondent saw a heavily damaged bank near the hospital, one of only three in the city.
- 'Not a life' -
After Israeli orders for residents to leave most of Tyre, several people sought shelter in the small old city, so far spared from evacuation warnings and strikes and where the Christian quarter is located.
With shelters full, displaced residents were sleeping in cars or tents, but many have left following an Israeli army claim on Tuesday that Hezbollah members were operating in the area, threatening to order evacuations should operatives remain.
Hezbollah is Lebanon's only militant group that refused to hand over its arsenal after the 1975-1990 civil war, arguing that it was fighting Israel's occupation of south Lebanon.
After Israeli troops withdrew in 2000, calls on Hezbollah to disarm multiplied, with the leadership under President Joseph Aoun taking the firmest stance yet.
The Lebanese government has declared Hezbollah's military activities illegal, and the army was working to disarm the group in areas south of the Litani River near Israel.
The war launched by the US and Israel on Iran saw Hezbollah return to the battlefield, launching attacks into Israel while fighting Israeli troops inside Lebanon.
Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,526 people since March 2.
As the trading of fire continued, Israelis in northern villages expressed little hope for the latest truce.
"We can't keep doing this," the 60-year-old told AFP on Thursday from her home in Shlomi, a small town in Israel's far north.
"This is not a life."
Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Man in West Bankhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5280679-israeli-forces-kill-palestinian-man-west-bank
An Israeli soldier takes position during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Man in West Bank
An Israeli soldier takes position during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
Israeli forces shot dead an 18-year-old Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said Friday, while the military said it had killed someone who threw firebombs at vehicles.
In the early hours of Friday, the health ministry said it had been informed of "the martyrdom of the young man Haitham Ezzedine Omar Hmeida, 18, by occupation gunfire in the village of Beitin," northeast of Ramallah.
It added that the man's body was being withheld.
In a statement, the Israeli military said its forces had "identified several terrorists throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles traveling on a major roadway" near the village of Beitin.
"The soldiers opened fire at the terrorists and eliminated one of them," the military said, adding that its forces were "currently pursuing the remaining suspects."
Since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023 with Hamas's attack on Israel, near-daily violence has rocked the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,078 Palestinians since then, including many gunmen, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry data.
Official Israeli figures show at least 46 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period.
Sadr Hands over Saraya al-Salam to Iraqi Govt as PMF to Be ‘Restructured’https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5280651-sadr-hands-over-saraya-al-salam-iraqi-govt-pmf-be-%E2%80%98restructured%E2%80%99
Members of Saraya al-Salam react during a ceremony in the city of Samarra on June 4, 2026, marking their separation from the Sadrist movement and their integration into the Iraqi security forces. (AP)
Sadr Hands over Saraya al-Salam to Iraqi Govt as PMF to Be ‘Restructured’
Members of Saraya al-Salam react during a ceremony in the city of Samarra on June 4, 2026, marking their separation from the Sadrist movement and their integration into the Iraqi security forces. (AP)
The armed wing of influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement handed over on Thursday its security responsibilities to the Iraqi army in Samarra city.
The Saraya al-Salam are part of the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces and hold security responsibilities in several regions, notably Samarra.
Sadr had announced on May 27 that he was merging the Saraya al-Salam with the state, calling on other PMF factions to follow suit.
Within a week, the Imam Ali Brigades and Asaib Ahl al-Haq factions said they were disengaging with the PMF. Other staunchly pro-Iran factions, the Kataib Hezbollah and Nujaba movement, have refused to disarm and dismantle their armed wings.
Head of Iraq's Security Media Cell Lieutenant General Saad Maan said all Saraya al-Salam fighters are now working under the orders of the prime minister, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
State media aired footage of the Saraya al-Salam members lowering their faction’s flag at their operations command center at a ceremony attended by a military delegation dispatched by PM Ali al-Zaidi.
Washington has long wanted to curtail Iran's influence in Iraq, but the start of its war with Tehran on February 28 has given it new momentum.
Iran-backed groups in Iraq have launched numerous strikes against US installations in Iraq since the start of the Middle East war at the end of February.
The strikes have been blamed on pro-Iran groups, against whom the US has retaliated, killing dozens of their fighters.
Qais al-Muhammadawi, Deputy Commander of Iraq's Joint Operations Command, speaks during a ceremony marking the start of the process of the Saraya al-Salam handing over its weapons to Iraqi state forces in Samarra, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP)
Washington has in turn put pressure on Baghdad to rein in the groups by suspending security assistance and cash transfers of Iraqi oil revenues.
Qais al-Muhammadawi, Deputy Commander of Iraq's Joint Operations Command, told a press conference that the Saraya al-Salam will now be merged with the armed forces.
The faction has been deployed in Samarra since the 2007 al-Askari shrine bombing. It remains to be seen whether they will quit the city for the first time in 19 years.
A military source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the group handed over all of its headquarters to the army and its fighters are now at the command of the armed forces.
Despite these developments, the details of the dismantling of the groups and their disarmament remain vague, said observers. Questions remain over the size of their arsenal and whether they will really turn them over to the government and completely abandon them.
An Iraqi security official said the mechanism for disarmament remains “unclear”, reported AFP.
Local media said an initiative has been proposed for discussion before the ruling pro-Iran Coordination Framework. It includes securing tens of thousands of government jobs in official security institutions for members of the dismantled armed factions.
Members of Saraya al-Salam gather during a ceremony in the city of Samarra on June 4, 2026, marking their separation from the Sadrist movement and their integration into the Iraqi security forces. (AFP)
PMF ‘structuring’
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Sabah al-Numan announced that the committee tasked with imposing state monopoly over arms has kicked off its operations.
He said that “faction disengagement from the PMF calls for the restructuring of formations and ensuring the rights of members.”
This was the first time that the issue of structuring of the formations has been brought up since the PMF’s establishment in 2014. The group was initially set up to fight the ISIS extremist group.
Numan explained that “disengagement” entails “administrative frameworks and the restructuring of these formations within the security agencies, guaranteeing the rights of fighters and merging them with military formations.”
The committee will set up mechanisms for merges and the handover of weapons and military equipment to the official security agencies, he added.
The committee is comprised of officials from the defense and interior ministries, Joint Operations Command and PMF.
What’s next?
Qais al-Khazali's Asaib Ahl al-Haq is expected to follow in Sadr’s footsteps and handover its weapons.
The group, which the US designates a terrorist organization, also forms an important parliamentary bloc with 27 seats. Having refocused on politics, it has distanced itself from Iran and has not taken part in the current war.
A source close to the group said “being part of the government is more important that fighting. So we want to offer the US reassurances.”
The Imam Ali Brigades said it will form a committee to follow up on the disarmament and handover of weapons under the PM’s supervision.
The group has effectively put its administrative control in Zaidi’s hands, said a source close to the factions.
Washington's special envoy for Iraq and Syria, Tom Barrack, has called the disarmament efforts a "significant step forward, which represents the nascent foundation for a renewed Iraqi self-governance". He welcomed the "principled decision" of those groups that are choosing to integrate.
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