Lebanon: Political Parties Organize Ranks In Union Elections Ahead of Parliamentary Polls

President Michel Aoun met on Thursday with Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to discuss preparations for the parliamentary elections (Dalati & Nohra)
President Michel Aoun met on Thursday with Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to discuss preparations for the parliamentary elections (Dalati & Nohra)
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Lebanon: Political Parties Organize Ranks In Union Elections Ahead of Parliamentary Polls

President Michel Aoun met on Thursday with Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to discuss preparations for the parliamentary elections (Dalati & Nohra)
President Michel Aoun met on Thursday with Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to discuss preparations for the parliamentary elections (Dalati & Nohra)

The recent union elections in Lebanon saw some of the major political parties disregard their political differences and join forces in electoral alliances that led to some victories, ahead of the upcoming parliamentary polls.

After a resounding loss that the parties in power encountered in union and university elections over the last two years that followed the uprising of Oct. 2019, political blocs were able to achieve some success in union elections this year, hand in hand, directly or by agreement with independent candidates.

The results affected the momentum of the civil groups, which were unable to form strong fronts amid differences over electoral alliances, according to sources in the opposition who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat.

The Press Editors Syndicate’s elections on Wednesday witnessed the success of a list supported by various Lebanese political parties.

Similarly, the elections of the Beirut Bar Association saw disputing political parties agree on a list headed by Lawyer Nader Gaspar, who achieved victory.

However, according to political sources, the agreement to support specific candidates in the union elections “cannot be built upon as a full alliance”, given that each election “has its own circumstances and calculations.”

Sources close to the Amal Movement said that in the union elections, “there was an intersection between the movement and other parties, including Al-Kataeb, Al-Mustaqbal and the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), but this was controlled by specific circumstances related to the nature of the election. It cannot be generalized or built upon as preparations for the parliamentary elections.”

Political parties and forces deal with the union elections differently, as the parliamentary elections include regional and partisan criteria.

Each party had set a framework for its alliances in the upcoming parliamentary elections. While the PSP did not shut the door to an alliance with the Lebanese Forces and Al-Mustaqbal, sources close to the Amal Movement stressed that alliances were open with any party with whom it would share converging stances.

For his part, resigned MP Elias Hankash said that Al-Kataeb party was committed to its decision to forge alliances only with figures from outside the parliament and the government.

“The closest to us are the resigned deputies and groups with whom we agree on two issues: Lebanon’s sovereignty and rejection of the ‘state within the state’, and the fight against corruption,” Hankash told Asharq Al-Awsat.



Video Shows Last Moments for Slain Gaza Aid Workers, Red Crescent Says

This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers - AFP
This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers - AFP
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Video Shows Last Moments for Slain Gaza Aid Workers, Red Crescent Says

This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers - AFP
This image grab from a handout video reportedly recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers - AFP

A video recovered from the cellphone of an aid worker killed in Gaza alongside other rescuers shows their final moments, according to the Palestine Red Crescent, with clearly marked ambulances and emergency lights flashing as heavy gunfire erupts.

The aid worker was among 15 humanitarian personnel who were killed on March 23 in an attack by Israeli forces, according to the United Nations and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

The Israeli military has said its soldiers "did not randomly attack" any ambulances, insisting they fired on "terrorists" approaching them in "suspicious vehicles".

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said that troops opened fire on vehicles that had no prior clearance from Israeli authorities and had their lights off, AFP reported.

But the video released by PRCS on Saturday appears to contradict the Israeli military's claims, showing ambulances travelling with their headlights and emergency lights clearly flashing.

The six minute and 42 second video, apparently filmed from inside a moving vehicle, captures a red firetruck and ambulances driving through the night.

The vehicles stop beside another on the roadside, and two uniformed men exit. Moments later, intense gunfire erupts.

In the video, the voices of two medics are heard -- one saying, "the vehicle, the vehicle," and another responding: "It seems to be an accident."

Seconds later, a volley of gunfire breaks out, and the screen goes black.

PRCS said it had found the video on the phone of Rifat Radwan, one of the deceased aid workers.

"This video unequivocally refutes the occupation's claims that Israeli forces did not randomly target ambulances, and that some vehicles had approached suspiciously without lights or emergency markings," PRCS said in a statement.

"The footage exposes the truth and dismantles this false narrative."

Those killed included eight PRCS staff, six members of the Gaza civil defence agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also known as UNRWA.

Their bodies were found buried near Rafah in what the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described as a mass grave.

- Fear and prayers -

OCHA has said that the first team was targeted by Israeli forces at dawn on that day. In the hours that followed, additional rescue and aid teams searching for their colleagues were also struck in a series of successive attacks.

According to the PRCS, the convoy had been dispatched in response to emergency calls from civilians trapped under bombardment in Rafah.

In the video, a medic recording the scene can be heard reciting the Islamic declaration of faith, the shahada, which Muslims traditionally say in the face of death.

"There is no God but God, Mohammed is his messenger," he says repeatedly, his voice trembling with fear as intense gunfire continues in the background.

He is also heard saying: "Forgive me mother because I chose this way, the way of helping people."

He then says, "accept my martyrdom, God, and forgive me." Just before the footage ends, he is heard saying, "The Jews are coming, the Jews are coming," referring to Israeli soldiers.

The deaths of the aid workers has sparked international condemnation.

Jonathan Whittall, the head of OCHA in the Palestinian territories, said the bodies of the humanitarian workers were "in their uniforms, still wearing gloves" when they were found.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, condemned the attack, raising concerns over possible "war crimes" by the Israeli military.

"I am appalled by the recent killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian aid workers, which raise further concerns over the commission of war crimes by the Israeli military," Volker Turk told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

Turk called for an "independent, prompt and thorough investigation" into the attack.

An Israeli military official said the bodies had been covered "in sand and cloth" to avoid damage until coordination with international organizations could be arranged for their retrieval.

The military said it was investigating the attack.