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Lebanese Anti-Iran Gathering Accuses Hezbollah of Barring Its Annual Meeting in Beirut

Former Lebanese MP Fares Souaid. (NNA)
Former Lebanese MP Fares Souaid. (NNA)
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Lebanese Anti-Iran Gathering Accuses Hezbollah of Barring Its Annual Meeting in Beirut

Former Lebanese MP Fares Souaid. (NNA)
Former Lebanese MP Fares Souaid. (NNA)

The anti-Iran Lebanese Saydet el-Jabal gathering was barred from holding its annual meeting at Beirut’s Bristol Hotel.

The gathering includes members of the former March 14 camp and was set to discuss ending Iranian hegemony in Lebanon. The meeting was scheduled to be held on Sunday.

The hotel management informed the officials that it would be unable to host their gathering after they had announced the theme of this year’s meeting.

When contacted by the Asharq Al-Awsat, the hotel management said that the decision was “strictly administrative.” It refused to provide further details.

Former MP and member of the Saydet el-Jabal gathering Fares Souaid condemned the move, saying the hotel took the decision two hours after the meeting’s agenda was announced.

“This is a reflection of the general atmosphere in Lebanon, which is hostage to Hezbollah and Iran,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“It is likely that the hotel received advice against hosting our meeting,” he added.

The Saydet el-Jabal has been holding its annual meeting for the past 18 years.

Souaid continued: “Hezbollah now controls the country and its freedoms, which are in constant decline.”

“Our television screens and electronic platforms are open to hordes of people that insult each other, while a gathering that is dedicated to Lebanese affairs and a free and sovereign nation is prevented from holding a meeting,” he lamented.

“We have yet to hear a statement of condemnation from a political or partisan side in power. What has happened has never taken place at the height of Syrian hegemony over Lebanon,” he remarked.

“How can caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil take ambassadors on a tour to refute claims by the Israeli prime minister and declare Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah an honest man and also prevent political figures from saying that Iran is imposing its hegemony over Lebanon?” he wondered.

Saydet el-Jabal will not succumb to the pressure, vowed Souaid, saying the gathering will hold its annual meeting.

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Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 17 in Gaza as Ground Troops Enter Palestinian Territory’s North

A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising above destroyed buildings in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising above destroyed buildings in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
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Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 17 in Gaza as Ground Troops Enter Palestinian Territory’s North

A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising above destroyed buildings in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows a smoke plume rising above destroyed buildings in the southern part of the Palestinian territory on April 3, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Israeli strikes killed more than a dozen people in the Gaza Strip early Friday, as Israel sent more ground troops into the Palestinian territory to ramp up its offensive against Hamas.

At least 17 people, some from the same family, were killed after an airstrike hit the southern city of Khan Younis, according to hospital staff. Hours later, people were still searching through the rubble, looking for survivors.

The attack came a day after Israeli strikes killed at least 100 Palestinians. Hundreds more have died in the past two weeks, as Israel has intensified operations, intended to pressure Hamas to release remaining hostages it took during its attack on Israel in October 2023. On Friday, Israel said it had begun ground activity in northern Gaza, in order to expand its security zone.

Israel’s military had issued sweeping evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza before expected ground operations. The UN humanitarian office said around 280,000 Palestinians have been displaced since Israel ended the ceasefire with Hamas last month.

In recent days, Israel has vowed to seize large parts of the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor across it.

To pressure Hamas, Israel has imposed a monthlong blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle — a tactic that rights groups say is a war crime. Israel said earlier this week that enough food had entered Gaza during a six-week truce to sustain the territory’s roughly 2 million Palestinians for a long time.

Hamas says it will only release the remaining 59 hostages — 24 of whom are believed to be alive — in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli pullout from Gaza. The group has rejected demands that it lay down its arms or leave the territory.

The predawn strike on Friday hit a three-story building. In addition to the dead, the attack wounded at least 16 people from the same family. Associated Press reporters saw bodies being carried out in blankets, while others searched for people trapped under the rubble and collected charred remains.

“We don’t know how to collect them and how to bury them. We don’t know whose remains these are. They were burned and dismembered,” said Ismail Al-Aqqad, whose brother died in the strike, as well as his brother’s family.

On Thursday, more than 30 bodies, including women and children, were taken to hospitals in and around Khan Younis, according to hospital staff.

Israel said Friday that it had killed a top Hamas commander in a strike in Lebanon’s coastal city of Sidon. Israel said that Hassan Farhat was a commander of Hamas’ western area in Lebanon and that he was responsible for numerous attacks against Israel, including one in February 2024, which killed an Israeli soldier and injured others.

In Israel’s renewed offensive, troops have expanded the buffer zone, retaking the eastern section of the Netzarim corridor and partially disconnecting northern and southern Gaza.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, known as ACLED, reported there were over 300 airstrike events during 10 days at the end of March — nearly 10 times the number in February.

The war began when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. Israel rescued eight living hostages and has recovered dozens of bodies.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as part of Israel's offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. The ministry says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence.

The war has left most of Gaza in ruins, and at its height displaced around 90% of the population.