Qatari FM Meets with Lebanese Officials

President Michel Aoun meets with Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at Baabda Palace. Dalati and Nohra photo
President Michel Aoun meets with Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at Baabda Palace. Dalati and Nohra photo
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Qatari FM Meets with Lebanese Officials

President Michel Aoun meets with Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at Baabda Palace. Dalati and Nohra photo
President Michel Aoun meets with Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at Baabda Palace. Dalati and Nohra photo

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani kicked off Tuesday an official visit to Beirut, where he met with high-ranking officials to discuss Lebanon’s political impasse.

The Qatari FM held talks at Baabda Palace with President Michel Aoun, who said Doha has always stood by Lebanon, adding that any step taken to help resolve the current crisis is welcomed and appreciated by the Lebanese.

The Qatari official also met with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh, but he left without making any statement.

Furthermore, he held talks with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, whose press office announced that discussions between them “touched on the general situation, the latest political developments, and means to bolster bilateral relations.”

In addition to his meeting with politicians, the Qatari minister held talks with Lebanese Army chief General Joseph Aoun at his office in Yarzeh.



At Least 29 Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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At Least 29 Killed in Israeli Strikes in Gaza

12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
12 May 2025, Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Zayed: A Palestinian man mourns the loss of his loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering the displaced in Jabalia, after they are brought to Indonesian Hospital Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Gaza rescuers said at least 29 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli strikes on the war-battered Palestinian territory on Wednesday.

“There were at least 25 martyrs and dozens wounded" in Jabalia, in northern Gaza, while another four people were killed in a strike on the southern city of Khan Yunis, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday there is “no way” Israel will halt its war in Gaza even if a deal is reached to release more hostages.

In comments released by Netanyahu's office from a visit to wounded soldiers the previous day, the prime minister said Israeli forces were just days away from a promised escalation of force and would enter Gaza “with great strength to complete the mission. ... It means destroying Hamas.”

Any ceasefire deal reached would be temporary, the prime minister said. If Hamas were to say they would release more hostages, “we’ll take them, and then we’ll go in. But there will be no way we will stop the war,” Netanyahu said. “We can make a ceasefire for a certain period of time, but we’re going to the end.”

Netanyahu's comments are likely to complicate talks on a new ceasefire that had seemed to gain momentum after Hamas released the last living American hostage on Monday in a gesture to US President Donald Trump, who is visiting the region.