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Bassil Opposes Hezbollah by Nominating Nawaf Salam for PM’s Post

President Michel Aoun receives British Ambassador Ian Collard at the Presidential Palace in Baabda (Photo: Dalati and Nohra).
President Michel Aoun receives British Ambassador Ian Collard at the Presidential Palace in Baabda (Photo: Dalati and Nohra).
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Bassil Opposes Hezbollah by Nominating Nawaf Salam for PM’s Post

President Michel Aoun receives British Ambassador Ian Collard at the Presidential Palace in Baabda (Photo: Dalati and Nohra).
President Michel Aoun receives British Ambassador Ian Collard at the Presidential Palace in Baabda (Photo: Dalati and Nohra).

Political contacts are accelerating in Lebanon ahead of the binding parliamentary consultations, scheduled for Monday, to designate a new prime minister to form a government.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri abandoned the mission earlier this month after failing to agree with President Michel Aoun and the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gibran Bassil.

A well-informed Lebanese source told Asharq Al-Awsat that former Prime Minister Najib Mikati would be appointed on Monday with 60 to 65 parliamentary votes, while former Ambassador to the United Nations, Nawaf Salam, would receive around 20 votes, based on the decision announced by Bassil’s FPM on his nomination.

The source noted, however, that the formation of the government would then be impossible, due to Aoun’s objection to Mikati’s designation.

Meanwhile, sources close to Hezbollah said that the negotiations with Mikati were serious, adding that the latter was also discussing “details of two governments”, in preparation for the post-elections phase and the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

On the other hand, the FPM is heading towards nominating Salam, a move described by Hezbollah as “quarrelsome with the party, and will not gain American approval,” according to the sources.

The sources said that a meeting was held between Bassil and the leadership of Hezbollah on Thursday, during which the head of the FPM openly informed the party of his opposition to assigning Mikati.

The sources added that Bassil warned that if the FPM and the Lebanese Forces blocs did not vote for Mikati, the latter would be named prime minister without the approval of a major Christian bloc. This prompts Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to find a solution before holding the consultations.

The Lebanese Forces bloc, which had supported Salam in the previous designation process, abandoned his name, as announced by the head of the party, Dr. Samir Geagea, on Friday. The Democratic Gathering bloc would also refrain from nominating Salam, sources close to its head, MP Taymour Jumblatt, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

In remarks on Friday, Geagea said that the bloc would not name any candidate in the parliamentary consultations, noting that there was no solution to the deadlock but by holding early parliamentary elections.

According to Geagea, it is impossible to reach any reform as long as Aoun and Hezbollah hold onto power.

Asked about the reason that led the LF to abandon Salam’s designation, he said: “We named him a year ago, when we had some hope that there might be some improvement under the existing structure, and with a very big international initiative - the French one. But at the moment, we are convinced that we cannot reach a result, no matter who the prime minister is.”

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Arab World

Many in Gaza are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads amid Aid Issues

An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
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Many in Gaza are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads amid Aid Issues

An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)
An Israeli tank and other military vehicles guard a position as Palestinians flee Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on January 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.  (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP)

Yasmin Eid coughs and covers her face, cooking a small pot of lentils over a fire fed with twigs and scrap paper in the tent she shares with her husband and four young daughters in the Gaza Strip.
It was their only meal Wednesday — it was all they could afford.
“My girls suck on their thumbs because of how hungry they are, and I pat their backs until they sleep,” she said.
After being displaced five times, the Eids reside in central Gaza, where aid groups have relatively more access than in the north, which has been largely isolated and heavily destroyed since Israel began waging a renewed offensive against the militant group Hamas in early October. But nearly everyone in Gaza is going hungry these days. In the north experts say a full-blown famine may be underway, The Associated Press said.
On Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, accusing them of using “starvation as a method of warfare” — charges Israel adamantly denies.
In Deir al-Balah, the Eids are among hundreds of thousands sheltering in squalid tent camps. The local bakeries shut down for five days this week. The price of a bag of bread climbed above $13 by Wednesday, as bread and flour vanished from shelves before more supplies arrived.
The United Nations humanitarian office warned of a “stark increase” in the number of households experiencing severe hunger in central and southern Gaza. It appeared to be linked to the robbery at gunpoint of nearly 100 aid trucks last weekend in southern Gaza, close to Israeli military positions. Israel blamed Hamas but appears to have taken no action to stop the looting, while Hamas said it was the work of local bandits.
Aid groups say the looting is one of many obstacles to getting food and other vital aid to the territory's 2.3 million Palestinians. They also have to contend with Israeli movement restrictions, ongoing fighting, and heavy damage wreaked by the Israeli bombardment of roads and critical infrastructure.
For the Eids, hunger is the daily routine For months, Yasmin and her family have gone to bed hungry.
“Everything has increased in price, and we cannot buy anything," she said. “We always go to sleep without having dinner.”
She misses coffee, but a single packet of Nescafe goes for around $1.30. A kilogram (2 pounds) of onions goes for $10, a medium bottle of cooking oil for $15 — if available. Meat and chicken all but vanished from the markets months ago, but there are still some local vegetables. Such sums are astronomical in an impoverished territory where few people earn regular incomes.
Crowds of hundreds wait hours to get food from charities, which are also struggling.
Hani Almadhoun, co-founder of the Gaza Soup Kitchen, said his teams can offer only small bowls of rice or pasta once a day. He said they “can go to the market on one day and buy something for $5, and then go back in the afternoon to find it doubled or tripled in price.”
Its kitchen in the central town of Zuweida operated on a daily budget of around $500 for much of the war. When the amount of aid entering Gaza plummeted in October, its costs climbed to around $1,300 a day. It can feed about half of the 1,000 families who line up each day.
The sharp decline in aid, and a US ultimatum Israel says it places no limits on the amount of aid entering Gaza and has announced a number of measures it says are aimed at increasing the flow in recent weeks, including the opening of a new crossing. It blames UN agencies for not retrieving it, pointing to hundreds of truckloads languishing on the Gaza side of the border.
But the military's own figures show that the amount of aid entering Gaza plunged to around 1,800 trucks in October, down from over 4,200 the previous month. At the current rate of entry, around 2,400 trucks would come into Gaza in November. Around 500 trucks entered each day before the war.
The UN says less than half the truckloads are actually distributed because of ongoing fighting, Israeli denial of movement requests, and the breakdown of law and order. Hamas-run police have vanished from many areas after being targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
The war started Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are dead, and Hamas militants have repeatedly regrouped after Israeli operations, carrying out hit-and-run attacks from tunnels and bombed-out buildings.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 44,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many of the dead were fighters.
The United States warned Israel in October that it might be forced to curtail some of its crucial military support if Israel did not rapidly ramp up the amount of aid entering Gaza. But after the 30-day ultimatum expired, the Biden administration declined to take any action, saying there had been some progress.
Israel meanwhile passed legislation severing ties with UNRWA. Israel accuses the agency of allowing itself to be infiltrated by Hamas — allegations denied by the UN.
Israeli news outlets have reported that officials are considering plans for the military to take over aid distribution or contract it out to private security companies. Asked about such plans Wednesday, government spokesman David Mercer said “Israel is looking at many creative solutions to ensure a better future for Gaza.”
Yoav Gallant, the former defense minister who was seen as a voice of moderation in the far-right government before being fired this month, warned on X that handing over aid distribution to a private firm was a “euphemism for the beginning of military rule.”
As that debate plays out in Jerusalem, less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away from central Gaza, most Palestinians in the territory are focused on staying alive in a war with no end in sight.
“I find it difficult to talk about the suffering we are experiencing. I am ashamed to talk about it,” said Yasmin’s husband, Hani. “What can I tell you? I’m a person who has 21 family members and is unable to provide them with a bag of flour.”