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Tunisia Summit: US Move on Golan Discussed in Syria’s Absence

Security forces stand guard outside the conference center where Arab leaders will hold the 30th Arab League Summit which opens Sunday, in Tunis, Tunisia, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Security forces stand guard outside the conference center where Arab leaders will hold the 30th Arab League Summit which opens Sunday, in Tunis, Tunisia, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Tunisia Summit: US Move on Golan Discussed in Syria’s Absence

Security forces stand guard outside the conference center where Arab leaders will hold the 30th Arab League Summit which opens Sunday, in Tunis, Tunisia, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Security forces stand guard outside the conference center where Arab leaders will hold the 30th Arab League Summit which opens Sunday, in Tunis, Tunisia, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The 30th Arab League Summit in Tunisia will focus on consolidating unity and avoiding disputing among Arab states, diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday.

The sources asserted that the Palestinian cause, fostering of the Arab Peace Initiative and defending the identity of Jerusalem would top the agenda of the summit that is scheduled to be held in the Tunisian capital on Sunday.

The summit would also highlight the Syrian war, the situation in Libya, Yemen and Sudan, in addition to needed consensus on Turkey’s violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iranian interference in Arab affairs.

According to the same sources, the summit would also discuss settling 75 percent of Iraq’s debt and another clause on Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people in Arab states.

The recent US decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty on the Golan Heights was highly present during Friday’s preparatory meetings of Arab foreign ministers.

The US move came as Syria, whose Arab League membership was suspended at the start of its eight-year civil war, remains absent from the summit.

At the meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Friday, the Tunisian and Saudi FMs respectively Khemaies Jhinaoui and Ibrahim al-Assaf condemned the US decision on the Golan.

Assaf said the Kingdom is working to unify the position of the Syrian opposition before sitting at the negotiating table with the regime, to reach a political solution that guarantees security and stability, in the war-torn country.

He also slammed the Iranian threat as the main challenge facing Arabs, calling for action to confront Tehran.

"One of the most dangerous forms of terrorism and extremism is what Iran practises through its blatant interference in Arab affairs, and its militias ... the Revolutionary Guards in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, which requires cooperation from us to confront it," he said.

For his part, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that Arab foreign ministers decided to task the General Secretariat with preparing a plan that deals with the US decision.

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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
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Israeli Forces Surround Lebanon’s Khiam Ahead of Storming it

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of al-Khiam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

Israeli forces have blocked supply routes to the southern Lebanese border city of al-Khiam ahead of storming it.

They have also surrounded the strategic city with Hezbollah fighters still inside, launching artillery and air attacks against them.

Hezbollah fighters have been holding out in Khiam for 25 days. The capture of the city would be significant and allow Israeli forces easier passage into southern Lebanon.

Field sources said Israeli forces have already entered some neighborhoods of Khiam from its eastern and southern outskirts, expanding their incursion into its northern and eastern sectors to fully capture the city.

They cast doubt on claims that the city has been fully captured, saying fighting is still taking place deeper inside its streets and alleys, citing the ongoing artillery fire and drone and air raids.

Israel has already cut off Hezbollah’s supply routes by seizing control of Bourj al-Mamlouk, Tall al-Nahas and olive groves in al-Qlaa in the Marayoun region. Its forces have also fanned out to the west towards the Litani River.

The troops have set up a “line of fire” spanning at least seven kms around Khiam to deter anti-tank attacks from Hezbollah and to launch artillery, drone and aerial attacks, said the sources.

The intense pressure has forced Hezbollah to resort to suicide drone attacks against Israeli forces.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television said Israeli forces tried to carry out a new incursion towards Khiam’s northern neighborhoods.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that since Friday night, Israeli forces have been using “all forms of weapons in their attempt to capture Khiam, which Israel views as a strategic gateway through which it can make rapid ground advances.”

It reported an increase in air and artillery attacks in the past two days as the forces try to storm the city.

The troops are trying to advance on Khiam by first surrounding it from all sides under air cover, it continued.

They are also booby-trapping some homes and buildings and then destroying them, similar to what they have done in other southern towns, such as Adeisseh, Yaround, Aitaroun and Mais al-Jabal.

Khiam holds symbolic significance to the Lebanese people because it was the first city liberated following Israel’s implementation of United Nations Security Council 425 on May 25, 2000, that led to its withdrawal from the South in a day that Hezbollah has since declared Liberation Day.