Putin Affirms Russia’s Commitment to Support Lebanon’s Sovereignty, Unity

 Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Lebanese President Michel Aoun at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 26, 2019. Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Lebanese President Michel Aoun at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 26, 2019. Reuters
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Putin Affirms Russia’s Commitment to Support Lebanon’s Sovereignty, Unity

 Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Lebanese President Michel Aoun at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 26, 2019. Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Lebanese President Michel Aoun at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 26, 2019. Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has affirmed his country’s commitment to supporting Lebanon’s sovereignty and unity. This came in a letter he sent Wednesday marking Lebanon’s Independence Day.

Russian ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Rudakov delivered the letter to President Michel Aoun.

Putin underscored the importance of preventing any foreign intervention in Lebanon’s internal affairs. He also expressed his confidence about the future of bilateral ties and means of developing them to serve both peoples’ interests and enhance security and stability in the Middle East region.

Aoun discussed with Rudakov the outcomes of the recent visit by Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib to Moscow and the talks he held with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov to bolster relations between both countries.

He asked the ambassador to thank Putin for his prompt response to Lebanon’s request for the satellite images Russia had for Beirut’s port before and after the blast on Aug. 4 last year.

“We will hand the images to judicial authorities, hoping that they help in revealing new facts about this crime,” Aoun affirmed.

Russia handed over on Monday satellite images prepared by its space agency Roscosmos for the Beirut port after a request from the Lebanese president.

Aoun further hailed Moscow’s initiatives to help Lebanon overcome the current harsh circumstances.



Israeli Forces to Demolish More than 100 Homes in Israeli-Occupied West Bank, Local Governor Says

Palestinians carry their belongings as they cross a damaged street after being ordered to leave their homes during an Israeli operation in the Tulkarem camp for refugees in the northwest of the occupied West Bank on May 2, 2025. (AFP)
Palestinians carry their belongings as they cross a damaged street after being ordered to leave their homes during an Israeli operation in the Tulkarem camp for refugees in the northwest of the occupied West Bank on May 2, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Forces to Demolish More than 100 Homes in Israeli-Occupied West Bank, Local Governor Says

Palestinians carry their belongings as they cross a damaged street after being ordered to leave their homes during an Israeli operation in the Tulkarem camp for refugees in the northwest of the occupied West Bank on May 2, 2025. (AFP)
Palestinians carry their belongings as they cross a damaged street after being ordered to leave their homes during an Israeli operation in the Tulkarem camp for refugees in the northwest of the occupied West Bank on May 2, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli forces were preparing on Friday to carry out home demolitions across two northern urban refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the governor of one of the camps and Israeli military documents shared with The Associated Press by the United Nations.

Abdallah Kamil, the governor of Tulkarem, wrote on Facebook on Thursday that the military was preparing to demolish 116 homes across Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, two main targets of Israel´s raid into the northern West Bank.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Two demolition orders indicated that the buildings would be demolished in 24 hours, according to military documents shared by a UN official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The news sent residents of the now evacuated Nur Shams and Tulkarem camps scrambling back to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said there were reports of Israeli forces arresting and firing warning shots at Palestinians as they did so.

The Israeli military has been carrying out an operation in the West Bank over the past several months that displaced, at its height, approximately 40,000 Palestinians. It had emptied and largely destroyed several urban refugee camps in the northern West Bank, like Tulkarem and Nur Shams, that housed the descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in previous wars. That’s the largest displacement in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel has said that troops will stay in some camps for a year.