Lebanon’s President, PM Lash Out at Critics

The cabinet session held at Baabda Palace on Thursday. NNA
The cabinet session held at Baabda Palace on Thursday. NNA
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Lebanon’s President, PM Lash Out at Critics

The cabinet session held at Baabda Palace on Thursday. NNA
The cabinet session held at Baabda Palace on Thursday. NNA

Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab have upped their rhetoric against critics of the presidential tenure and the government.

During a cabinet session held at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Aoun pointed out at the campaigns blaming “the authority and the government for the current crisis, at a time when everyone knows that neither I (President) nor you (government) have caused it.”

Aoun urged cabinet ministers for solidarity against critics.

During the session, Diab also touched on the political campaigns launched against his government, which he said was busy dealing with the daily living conditions of the Lebanese people.

He confirmed that the second batch of financial aid had started to be distributed after the number of the beneficiaries was expanded.

“People are supposed to receive the aid within days, in addition to a noticeable decline in food prices, and a gradual return to the economic cycle,” Diab said.

He stressed his support to the right of protesting and understanding the outcry of people, but “there is fear there might be attempts to exploit this outcry for political purposes and the people’s demands turning into a means that again causes a return to blocking roads, paralyzing the country, closing institutions, disrupting the people’s work, and subsequently leading to the dismissal of employees and workers.”

The PM also called for practicing the democratic right with calm and without rioting, while taking health protection measures amid the coronavirus pandemic that hasn’t ended.

The statements of Aoun and Diab came on the eve of a planned anti-government protest by civil society in Beirut on Saturday.



Netanyahu Says Israel Is Establishing a New Security Corridor across Gaza

An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Says Israel Is Establishing a New Security Corridor across Gaza

An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)
An internally displaced Palestinian walks at the site of a UN clinic following an Israeli airstrike, in the Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2025. (EPA)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is establishing a new security corridor across the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Wednesday, he described it as the Morag corridor, using the name of a Jewish settlement that once stood between Rafah and Khan Younis, suggesting it would run between the two southern cities.

His comments came as Palestinian officials at hospitals inside Gaza said Israeli strikes overnight and into Wednesday had killed more than 40 people, nearly a dozen of them children.

The Israeli government has long maintained a buffer zone just inside Gaza along its security fence and has greatly expanded since the war against Hamas began in 2023. Israel says the buffer zone is needed for its security, while Palestinians view it as a land grab that further shrinks the narrow coastal territory, home to around 2 million people.