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Arab League Summit to Deal with Difficult Challenges after Trump’s Decision

Arab Foreign Ministers meeting at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo. AFP file photo
Arab Foreign Ministers meeting at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo. AFP file photo
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Arab League Summit to Deal with Difficult Challenges after Trump’s Decision

Arab Foreign Ministers meeting at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo. AFP file photo
Arab Foreign Ministers meeting at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital Cairo. AFP file photo

The upcoming meeting of Arab leaders in Tunisia, will be “the summit of difficult political challenges”, the Arab League’s Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Affairs Kamal Hassan Ali announced.

All options are on the table after a “US decision to forcefully grant Arab lands to others,” the ambassador told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He described the meeting scheduled for Sunday as “the summit of difficult economic and political challenges” after US President Donald Trump recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and decided to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

He pointed out that the summit will discuss the Arab Common Market for Electricity, a plan for housing and sustainable development, making cities safe, as well as Arab action on environmental issues and climate change.

Asked about a Saudi proposal to merge the periodic Arab and economic summits, Ali explained that there is a decision to hold the economic summit every four years along with the periodic summit.

A number of high-level preparatory meetings began in Tunis on Tuesday to set the stage for the 30th Arab League summit.

Director-General for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Tunisian Ministry of Trade and Industry Saeeda Hashisha chaired the meeting of the Arab League’s Economic and Social Council.

She took over from Saudi Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance for International Financial Affairs Hussein Bin Shweish al-Shawish.

Hashisha stressed the importance of cooperation with Saudi Arabia, which had chaired the previous Arab summit. 

She emphasized the importance of the greater Arab trade zone, as well as adopting a number of strategies to reduce risks and disasters, in addition to combating terrorism, and eradicating poverty.

Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Affairs Sector of Arab League Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh praised the efforts exerted by Saudi Arabia during its presidency and management of the previous summit.

Abu Ghazaleh said that the summit's agenda includes a number of economic and social issues, which are a priority for joint Arab action, and the results of which directly affect the lives of Arab citizens.

The Ambassador also indicated that the summit will discuss support to the Palestinian economy in the face of Israeli practices, which negatively affected the economic and social conditions in the country.

Within the framework of Arab efforts to eradicate terrorism, the summit will discuss the social and cultural reasons behind it.

In addition, the summit is scheduled to deal with the Arab strategy for the elderly, initiated by Tunisia, which will constitute a qualitative leap in joint Arab action to ensure a decent life for this age group from a human rights perspective.  

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Israeli War Planes Pound Beirut Suburb, Hezbollah Strikes Back

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
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Israeli War Planes Pound Beirut Suburb, Hezbollah Strikes Back

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP)

The Israeli military pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with airstrikes on Tuesday, mounting one of its heaviest daytime attacks yet on the Hezbollah-controlled area after the defense minister ruled out a ceasefire until Israeli goals were met.

Smoke billowed over Beirut as around a dozen strikes hit the southern suburbs from mid-morning. After posting warnings to civilians on social media, the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah targets in the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut, including command centers and weapons production sites.

It said it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians and repeated its standing accusation that Hezbollah deliberately embeds itself into civilian areas to use residents as human shields, a charge Hezbollah rejects.

In northern Israel, two people were killed in the city of Nahariya when a residential building was hit by a missile, Israeli police said.

Israelis were forced to take shelter across the north as attack drones were launched from Lebanon, the military said. One hit the yard of a kindergarten in a Haifa suburb, where the children had been rushed into a shelter, rescue workers said. None were hurt.

An Israeli strike back across the border killed five people in the Lebanese village of Baalchmay southeast of Beirut, and five more were killed in a strike on the town of Tefahta in the south, Lebanon's health ministry said. Another person was killed in a strike in Hermel in the northeast, it said.

Beirut residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing it in September. Footage of one strike shared on social media showed two missiles slamming into a building of around 10 storeys, demolishing it and sending up clouds of debris.

Ignited by the Gaza war, the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah had been rumbling on for a year before Israel went on the offensive in September, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.

Israel has dealt Hezbollah heavy blows, killing many of its leaders including Hassan Nasrallah, flattening large areas of the southern suburbs, destroying border villages in the south, and striking more widely across Lebanon.

Since hostilities erupted a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,287 people in Lebanon, the majority in the last seven weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah attacks have killed about 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon over the last year.

WAR GOALS

Israel's new defense minister Israel Katz said on Monday there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel achieves its goals.

"Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel's right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own, and meet the goals of the war in Lebanon - disarming Hezbollah and its withdrawal beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes," he said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had said earlier on Monday there had been "a certain progress" in ceasefire talks but the main challenge facing any ceasefire deal would be enforcement.

The Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire based on the full implementation of a UN resolution that ended a war between the group and Israel in 2006.

The resolution calls for the area south of the Litani to be free of all weapons other than those of the Lebanese state. Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of violating the resolution.

Israel's offensive has driven more than 1 million people from their homes in Lebanon, causing a humanitarian crisis.

Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the area over the last year.