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Tunis Declaration Counts on Arab Solidarity Against Interventions

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz during a meeting with Tunisia's Prime Minister Youssef Chahed
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz during a meeting with Tunisia's Prime Minister Youssef Chahed
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Tunis Declaration Counts on Arab Solidarity Against Interventions

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz during a meeting with Tunisia's Prime Minister Youssef Chahed
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz during a meeting with Tunisia's Prime Minister Youssef Chahed

The 30th Arab League Summit, slated for Sunday in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, will be under the title "Summit of Unification of Vision and Speech", with the need to address the US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan occupied territory figuring high on the meeting’s agenda.

Other Arab world hot topics, such as Syria, the Iranian expansionist agenda, and Turkish interventions in Iraq will also be tackled. Tunisia, which takes over this year from Saudi Arabia in hosting the summit, will coordinate with the leaders of 12 Arab countries in responding to some of the most pressing challenges facing the Arab world today.

Among the attending leaders are Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, in addition to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Arab leaders will also seek to ratify the draft "Tunis Declaration", presented to them by the Arab foreign ministers, which reaffirms the importance of promoting joint Arab action.

At their preparatory meeting earlier on Friday, Arab foreign ministers approved draft resolutions prepared by permanent delegates and senior officials, together with decisions of the Economic and Social Council, which will be presented in the Arab League meeting tomorrow at the Summit Level.

The draft resolutions contain about 21 items, which focus on the latest political developments of the Palestinian issue and the Arab-Israeli conflict, activating the Arab peace initiative and developments in the Syrian crisis, the occupied Syrian Arab Golan, the situation in Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and Lebanon.

The draft resolutions dealt with supporting the Arab ecosystem to counter terrorism and developing the League of Arab States—it is worth noting that draft resolutions were referred from the preparatory Economic and Social Council for the 30th Arab Summit.

The Arab League Summit will stress the importance of a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East as a strategy embodied by the Arab peace initiative, which was adopted by all Arab countries at the Beirut summit in 2002.

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Arab World

Lebanon’s War Losses Double Compared to 2006

Rescuers and aid workers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike in eastern Lebanon (AFP)
Rescuers and aid workers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike in eastern Lebanon (AFP)
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Lebanon’s War Losses Double Compared to 2006

Rescuers and aid workers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike in eastern Lebanon (AFP)
Rescuers and aid workers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli airstrike in eastern Lebanon (AFP)

A comparison of the current human and material losses from the ongoing Hezbollah-Israel conflict with those from the July 2006 war shows that current losses have doubled.

Experts warn that the reconstruction funds and aid pledged to Lebanon 18 years ago may have limited impact once the war ends.

Total Losses

Mohammad Shamseddine, a researcher from Information International, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the death toll has risen from 900 in 2006 to 2,865 in the current conflict (as of October 31, 2024), with the number increasing daily. The number of wounded was 4,000 in 2006, but it has now exceeded 13,047.

In 2006, 600,000 people were displaced, while today that number has surpassed 1.2 million. Of these, 189,174 are in shelters. A total of 358,133 Syrians and 172,604 Lebanese have fled to Syria, and 120,000 have sought refuge in other countries.

Lebanese Economy and Trade Minister Amin Salam estimated that Lebanon’s total economic losses from the current conflict have reached $20 billion. However, economic associations report direct losses between $10 billion and $12 billion, covering damage to key sectors, homes, buildings, and infrastructure.

These figures align with estimates from Shamseddine, who believes direct and indirect losses are around $10 billion.

Of this, $4 billion occurred from October 8, 2023, to September 17, 2024 (when the conflict was mostly limited to the south), and $7 billion from September 17 to October 31, 2024, after Israel expanded the war. For comparison, losses during the 2006 war totaled $5.3 billion.

In 2006, infrastructure damage was valued at $900 million, higher than the current war's $570 million in infrastructure losses.

Housing losses in 2006 totaled $2.2 billion, while they have now surpassed $4.26 billion. Mohammad Shamseddine points out that commercial losses were similar in both conflicts, at $4.7 million.

Agricultural and environmental losses in 2006 were $450 million, but now exceed $900 million. Indirect economic damages were $1.2 billion in 2006, while they have now surpassed $3.38 billion.

One notable difference is the number of airstrikes: from October 8, 2023, to October 31, 2024, there were 11,647, compared to just 3,670 during the 33-day 2006 war.