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Hezbollah Ties Lebanon’s Political Stability to Resignation of Beirut Blast Probe Judge

A man cleans up shattered glass a day after the Tayyouneh clashes, October 15, 2021. (Reuters)
A man cleans up shattered glass a day after the Tayyouneh clashes, October 15, 2021. (Reuters)
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Hezbollah Ties Lebanon’s Political Stability to Resignation of Beirut Blast Probe Judge

A man cleans up shattered glass a day after the Tayyouneh clashes, October 15, 2021. (Reuters)
A man cleans up shattered glass a day after the Tayyouneh clashes, October 15, 2021. (Reuters)

Hezbollah tied on Saturday Lebanon’s political stability to the resignation of lead judge in the investigation of the Beirut port blast, Tarek Bitar.

Deputy leader of the Iran-backed party, Naim Qassem said Bitar “has become a real problem in Lebanon.”

The dispute has obstructed the work of the government for ten days now.

Parliamentary sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that there are no signs that it will be convening any time soon given that the dispute is not close to being resolved.

Qassem said: “We wanted a real investigator to reveal what happened at the port so that justice can prevail.”

He accused Bitar of “flagrantly politicizing the probe”, alleging that the relatives of the victims have grown suspicious of him and that he had almost caused strife in the Tayyouneh area in Beirut.

Some ten days ago, Hezbollah and its ally Amal had staged a protest against Bitar in Tayyouneh. Tensions between them and the Lebanese Forces (LF) boiled over, leading to armed clashes in the area reminiscent of the 1975-90 civil war. Seven people were killed in the fighting.

“What sort of investigator is this? He has brought us problems and crises. There can be no hope in justice coming from him,” declared Qassem.

“He is better off resigning so that stability can be restored and so people can have their justice,” he added.

He also slammed the LF over the Tayyouneh fighting, accusing it of planning the clashes beforehand as it had snipers ready to attack the peaceful protest.

“We succeeded in this confrontation because we snuffed out strife through patience and rationality,” he said, stressing that Hezbollah will follow through with the probe into the fighting so that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Former LF MP Fadi Karam expressed his concern that the “security apparatus” could be used to suppress the opposition.

He explained that Hezbollah was using the Tayyouneh incident to divert attention from the Beirut port blast probe so that it could shirk blame from that crime.

Former President Michel Suleiman expressed concern that the judiciary was coming under pressure over the Beirut blast probe and Tayyouneh clashes.

He echoed Karam’s remarks in that the clashes were being used to divert attention from the blast investigation.

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Arab World

New Battlefronts in Yemen Leave Houthis in Disarray

Armed forces celebrate their advances in al-Jawf. (X)
Armed forces celebrate their advances in al-Jawf. (X)
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New Battlefronts in Yemen Leave Houthis in Disarray

Armed forces celebrate their advances in al-Jawf. (X)
Armed forces celebrate their advances in al-Jawf. (X)

The Yemeni army and the National Resistance made progress on the ground on Monday across fronts in the Taiz, al-Bayda, and al-Jawf governorates, amid successive collapses and retreats among the Houthis. Al-Jawf is witnessing tribal mobilization in support of government forces following their field advances.

Yemeni army media announced that government forces secured a tactical breakthrough on the al-Bayda front, successfully liberating the Hayd al-Khazzan and al-Falhan areas up to the al-Nasifa region. The development allows the forces an advantage to sever Houthi supply lines between the central and southern governorates.

The advance coincided with the establishment of control over all hills and plateaus overlooking the al-Zaher district.

The director of media for the al-Bayda governorate, Aref Al-Amari, confirmed that the armed forces have tightened their control over the strategic highlands overlooking al-Zaher.

He noted that forces are currently combing al-Nasifa in preparation for an advance toward the Dhi Naem area, a development that strengthens the position of government forces in the governorate.

Spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces Colonel Maeen al-Nuzaili said the forces are achieving progress and victories on the al-Jawf and al-Bayda fronts as part of operations "aimed at restoring state institutions and ending the Houthi coup."

He called on the group's operatives to abandon their positions with their light weapons to save their lives.

On the western front, the Joint Forces managed to secure a vital artery in al-Kadha connecting Taiz city to the western coast, following the defeat of Houthis stationed in the controlling highlands.

Government forces targeted massive Houthi military reinforcements west of Taiz city, leaving heavy losses in lives and equipment.

Comprising more than 21 military vehicles, they were heading to support the al-Barh and Maqbanah fronts.

Meanwhile, tribes were mobilizing in al-Jawf to support the armed forces against the Houthis. According to local sources, the tribes moved toward the al-Yatma district.

Arab World

Assad-era Syrian Reactor was Configured for Nuclear Weapons, IAEA Chief Says

The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 6, 2023 (Reuters)
The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 6, 2023 (Reuters)
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Assad-era Syrian Reactor was Configured for Nuclear Weapons, IAEA Chief Says

The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 6, 2023 (Reuters)
The logo of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, March 6, 2023 (Reuters)

The Assad-era government in Syria was constructing a nuclear reactor that was configured to produce fissile material for possible use in nuclear weapons, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday.

The “configuration” and the “technical features” of the nuclear reactor under construction in Syria during the leadership of ousted former President Bashar Assad were “very efficient in the production of fissile material that could be directly used for the fabrication of nuclear weapons,” IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said.

“Of course, that was never declared, that was always denied, so, and again, intentions cannot be judged, but that was a very serious proliferation concern that we had, and this has been difficult work,” he told reporters on the first day of a regular meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, in Vienna.

Syria was believed to have operated an extensive undeclared nuclear program under Assad that included a nuclear reactor built by North Korea in eastern Deir Ezzor province.

Following Assad’s ouster, the new government agreed to give IAEA inspectors access to suspected former nuclear sites.

During a visit to Syria in August, IAEA inspectors confirmed that “the cooling infrastructure which has now been uncovered is consistent with that of a nuclear reactor.” Grossi and a team of senior inspectors also visited a previously undeclared site in the country.

Syria notified the agency of the site’s existence in a July 17 letter and invited the IAEA “to cooperate with the Syrian authorities in the inspection and verification of the site and of any nuclear material to be potentially found.”

The IAEA said in its confidential report circulated to member states last Tuesday and seen by The Associated Press that this new site contained “natural uranium metal in the form of fuel rods with cladding.” The agency verified the material and confirmed “the presence of around 73 tonnes of natural uranium metal.”

Grossi said when the inspectors visited the site in August they had to “tear down walls” and go through “very difficult and narrow passages” to reach the nuclear material that had been hidden. The site had “boxes scattered all over the place,” he said.

Grossi said that “the important thing is that this material now is under safeguards” of the IAEA, adding that agency inspectors had managed to install cameras at the location, The AP reported.

Asked if the nuclear material will remain in Syria or be removed, Grossi said that this is “a matter that the Syrian government will have to decide.” He added: “We are not requesting them to do this or to do that. For us what’s important is that we know all the time where this (material) is until the last gram.”

Logan Mintz, a director for nuclear materials security at the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, said that natural uranium metal is not directly usable for a nuclear weapon but it could be “diverted to a covert weapons program that further processes it into plutonium for a nuclear weapon.”

She said that once deemed safe to move, the material could be “transported in certified containers” to a third country that can “safely and securely disposition it into a more chemically stable and more widely used form” for possible use in nuclear power plants.

“As with any transport of nuclear material, this movement would require robust security from theft or sabotage,” she said.

Arab World

Syria Arrests Assad-era General Accused of Deadly Repression

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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Syria Arrests Assad-era General Accused of Deadly Repression

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Syrian authorities on Monday said they had arrested a former general accused of involvement in the bloody repression of protests in 2011 that sparked the country's civil war and the 1982 Hama massacre.

In a statement, security forces said they "arrested former Major General Mohammed Ali Durgham, a prominent officer in the military establishment during the era of the former regime" of Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted in 2024.

They accused him of "issuing direct orders to his units to fire on unarmed demonstrators in the Damascus countryside" after anti-Assad protests had erupted in 2011.

Durgham was a field commander in the army's feared Fourth Division, commanded by Assad's brother Maher al-Assad, between 2009 and 2013.

Human Rights Watch in 2011 quoted a Syrian army defector who said that Durgham was one of the generals who "ordered the troops to shoot at protesters when his unit was deployed to areas in and just outside of Damascus".

He has been under European Union sanctions since 2012.

Bashar al-Assad's crackdown turned the nationwide movement into a 13-year-long civil war that killed more than half a million people.

Authorities said Durgham had started "as a squad commander in the Defense Brigades during the events in Hama Governorate in 1982".

On February 2, 1982, amid an information blackout, Assad's father and then-Syrian president Hafez al-Assad launched a brutal crackdown in the central Syrian city of Hama against an armed Muslim Brotherhood revolt.

Survivors who witnessed extrajudicial executions told AFP that the authorities spared no one, with government forces killing men, women and children.

The death toll of the 27 days of violence has never been formally established, though estimates usually range from 10,000 to 40,000, with some going higher still.

Since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in December 2024, Syria's new authorities have arrested dozens of former security officials, and trials began in April.

In August, Syria sentenced Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad and five other security officials to death in absentia for atrocities committed during the civil war, the first such ruling under the new authorities.

The former president fled Syria as his government was falling and is believed to be living in Russia.