Derian Hails Saudi Arabia’s Insistence Not To Abandon Lebanon

Derian received on Tuesday Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (NNA)
Derian received on Tuesday Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (NNA)
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Derian Hails Saudi Arabia’s Insistence Not To Abandon Lebanon

Derian received on Tuesday Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (NNA)
Derian received on Tuesday Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (NNA)

Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdullatif Derian expressed gratitude to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its unwavering insistence not to abandon Lebanon despite "preferential" positions made by some Lebanese parties.

Derian expressed “great appreciation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for the insistence of the wise leadership not to abandon Lebanon and its people, despite some unfair stances against the Kingdom issued by some Lebanese parties."

Derian’s remarks came during his Tuesday meeting with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari.

Bukhari underlined the Kingdom’s keenness on Lebanon’s security and stability.

He said seditious rhetoric does not gain legitimacy, nor does any attempt to change Lebanon’s Arab identity.

Bukhari stressed the importance of permanent communication with Dar Al-Fatwa.

"The Ambassador stressed that Dar el-Fatwa is the moderate religious and national reference, which maintains its unifying role during the crises that Lebanon is witnessing,” the media office of Dar Al-Fatwa said in a statement.

The ambassador affirmed the Kingdom’s keenness on the security and stability of Lebanon and its institutions, and on the consolidation of Muslim-Christian coexistence.

Derian noted that relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia “were and will remain firm because the Kingdom continues to view Lebanon and its people as a brotherly Arab country.”

Bukhari also visited on Tuesday Druze Sheikh Al-Aql, Sheikh Sami Abi Al-Mona.



One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Reuters quoted Touma as saying.

"Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out," Touma said.

On May 19, Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. However, UNRWA continues to be banned from bringing aid into the enclave.

Israel and the United States have accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing from UN-led aid operations - which Hamas denies. They have instead set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, which the UN has refused to work with.

On Monday, UNICEF said that last month more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.