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Arab, Muslim States Support Morocco’s Latest Move in Sahara

Photo published on the Moroccan armed forces Facebook page shows the deployment of soldiers to reopen the Guerguerat crossing
Photo published on the Moroccan armed forces Facebook page shows the deployment of soldiers to reopen the Guerguerat crossing
    Riyadh, Rabat - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Arab, Muslim States Support Morocco’s Latest Move in Sahara

Photo published on the Moroccan armed forces Facebook page shows the deployment of soldiers to reopen the Guerguerat crossing
Photo published on the Moroccan armed forces Facebook page shows the deployment of soldiers to reopen the Guerguerat crossing

Gulf, Arab and Islamic countries have extended support to the Moroccan measures at Guerguerat, and deplored practices that jeopardize travel in the vital road crossing.

Saudi Arabia expressed on Saturday its support to Morocco’s move to cement freedom of civilian and commercial travel in the buffer zone in the Sahara.

The Foreign Ministry condemned all practices that threaten safe travel in the vital road that connects Morocco to neighboring Mauritania. It called for restraint and avoiding escalation in line with relevant international resolutions.

In a statement, the UAE Foreign Ministry reiterated support to a "decision by Moroccan King Mohammed VI to end the illegal incursions in the buffer zone of Guerguerat and secure the commercial and individual movement on the crossing."

Since Oct. 21, members of the Polisario Front have obstructed the passage of Moroccan trucks through the crossing into Mauritania.

Qatar and Bahrain had earlier announced their support to the Moroccan move at the crossing, while Oman reiterated its support for the UN’s efforts to reach a political solution to the Western Sahara conflict.

As for Jordan, it affirmed “support for the measures that King Mohammed VI ordered to restore safety and security in the buffer zone of Guerguerat.”

In the meantime, Spain called on "the parties to resume the negotiation process and move towards a political, fair, lasting and mutually acceptable solution."

Chairman of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat expressed his "deep concern following the deterioration of the situation in the Western Sahara, especially in the buffer zone of Guerguerat, and the serious threats of breaching the ceasefire in force since 1991."

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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.