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Manama Regrets Beirut’s Hosting of Press Conference for Figures who Are Hostile to Bahrain

A view of Manama, Bahrain. (Getty Images)
A view of Manama, Bahrain. (Getty Images)
    Manama, Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Manama Regrets Beirut’s Hosting of Press Conference for Figures who Are Hostile to Bahrain

A view of Manama, Bahrain. (Getty Images)
A view of Manama, Bahrain. (Getty Images)

Bahrain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed on Sunday its "deep regret" over and denunciation of Beirut’s hosting of a press conference for "hostile persons designated as supporters and sponsors of terrorism, with the purpose of disseminating and promoting abusive and malicious allegations against the kingdom."

In a statement carried by the Bahrain news agency (BNA), the Ministry announced that a "strongly-worded formal protest note had been submitted to the Lebanese government regarding this unacceptable act, which is a flagrant violation of the principles of respect for the sovereignty of states and non-interference in their internal affairs, in contravention of international charters and the charter of the Arab League."

The Ministry added that an official note verbale of protest had been sent to the Secretariat General of the Arab League in this regard, expressing Bahrain's condemnation of this "unfriendly step" by Lebanese authorities.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the Lebanese government "to prevent such reprehensible practices that aim to offend the Kingdom of Bahrain, and are inconsistent with the most basic diplomatic norms and the brotherly relations between the two peoples."

In Beirut, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he was informed of Manama's formal complaint, saying he had urgently referred it to the concerned authorities and demanded that an immediate probe be launched in the incident so that it can be avoided in the future.

Mikati strongly condemned any offense against Bahrain, its leadership and people, rejecting any meddling in the kingdom's internal affairs.

He also refused to have Lebanon be used as a platform to launch abuse against Bahrain or any other Arab country, especially the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

He stressed that he is keen on the "historic and close ties" that bind Lebanon and Bahrain, adding that what they share "is deeper than any wrong behavior that does not reflect the position of the vast majority of the Lebanese people."

Bahrain had in October expelled the Lebanese ambassador over offensive comments made by a Lebanese minister against Saudi Arabia. The minister has since resigned.

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Arab World

Israeli Military Publishes Map of South Lebanon Territory Under Its Control

Israeli military vehicles drive in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, amid a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, as seen from Israel, April 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli military vehicles drive in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, amid a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, as seen from Israel, April 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israeli Military Publishes Map of South Lebanon Territory Under Its Control

Israeli military vehicles drive in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, amid a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, as seen from Israel, April 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli military vehicles drive in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, amid a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, as seen from Israel, April 19, 2026. (Reuters)

The Israeli military published ‌for the first time a map of its new deployment line inside Lebanon on Sunday, bringing dozens of mostly abandoned Lebanese villages under its control, days after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect.

There was no immediate comment from Lebanese officials or from Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to a US-backed ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The deal, which followed the first direct talks in decades between Israel and Lebanon on April 14, is meant to enable broader US-Iran negotiations but with Israeli forces maintaining positions deep inside southern Lebanon.

Stretching east to west, the deployment line on the ‌map runs 5-10 km ‌deep from the border into Lebanese territory, where Israel ‌has ⁠said that it ⁠plans to create a so-called buffer zone. Israeli forces have destroyed Lebanese villages in the area, saying their aim is to protect northern Israeli towns from Hezbollah attacks.

It has created buffer zones in Syria and in Gaza, where it controls more than half the enclave.

"Five divisions, alongside Israeli Navy forces, are operating simultaneously south of the forward defense line in southern Lebanon in ⁠order to dismantle Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites and to ‌prevent direct threats to communities in northern ‌Israel," the military said in a statement accompanying the map.

Asked whether people who fled ‌the Israeli strikes would be allowed to return to their homes, ‌the Israeli military declined to comment.

Lebanese civilians have been able to access some of the villages that fall on or beyond the Israeli-set line, but Israeli forces still prevent people from accessing most of those south of the line, a Lebanese security ‌source said.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that homes on the border exploited by Hezbollah would ⁠be demolished and ⁠that "any structure threatening our soldiers and any road suspected of (being planted with) explosives must be immediately destroyed".

Lebanon was dragged into the war on March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive that has killed more than 2,100 people, including 177 children, and forced more than 1.2 million to flee, Lebanese authorities say.

Hezbollah has not disclosed its casualty figures. At least 400 of its fighters had been killed by the end of March, according to sources close to the group.

Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel. Its attacks killed two civilians in Israel while 15 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon since March 2, Israel says.

Arab World

Israel Re-Establishes Evacuated West Bank Settlement

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, (3rd-L), Yossi Dagan, Head of the Shomron Regional Council (4th-L), and Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (4th-R) stand for the national anthem as they attend the resettlement ceremony of Sa-Nur, south of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 19, 2026. (AFP)
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, (3rd-L), Yossi Dagan, Head of the Shomron Regional Council (4th-L), and Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (4th-R) stand for the national anthem as they attend the resettlement ceremony of Sa-Nur, south of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 19, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Re-Establishes Evacuated West Bank Settlement

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, (3rd-L), Yossi Dagan, Head of the Shomron Regional Council (4th-L), and Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (4th-R) stand for the national anthem as they attend the resettlement ceremony of Sa-Nur, south of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 19, 2026. (AFP)
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, (3rd-L), Yossi Dagan, Head of the Shomron Regional Council (4th-L), and Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (4th-R) stand for the national anthem as they attend the resettlement ceremony of Sa-Nur, south of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on April 19, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli ministers on Sunday officially reopened Sa-Nur, a settlement in the occupied West Bank that was evacuated 20 years ago, marking the occasion with defiant declarations against Palestinian statehood and calls to resettle Gaza.

Several cabinet members and lawmakers attended the ceremony near a cluster of white prefabricated homes arranged in rows on a hilltop.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank in settlements that are illegal under international law, among some three million Palestinians.

"On this exciting day, we celebrate a historic correction to the criminal expulsion from Northern Samaria," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, using the Israeli biblical term for part of the West Bank.

Sa-Nur's settlers were evicted in 2005 as part of Israel's so-called disengagement policy that also saw the country withdraw troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip.

The policy promoted by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon was framed as a security measure intended to reduce Israel's civilian and military footprint in densely populated Palestinian areas.

Israel's current government, considered one of the most right-wing in the country's history, approved the reconstruction of all four northern West Bank settlements evacuated in 2005.

Authorities have approved 126 housing units in Sa-Nur alone.

"We are cancelling the shame of the disengagement, burying the idea of a Palestinian state and returning to the settlement of Sa-Nur," Smotrich said.

Smotrich, a far-right minister in the ruling coalition and a settler himself, also called for the resettlement of the Gaza Strip as a "security belt" for the State of Israel.

Israeli media reported that 16 families had moved into the re-established settlement in recent days, adding that the new residents included Yossi Dagan, head of the northern West Bank Settlements Council.

Dagan was among those evacuated from Sa-Nur in 2005.

"For me, this is both a national and a personal closing of a circle," Dagan said after cutting the ribbon at the ceremony.

"No more uprootings, no more retreats. We have returned to stay."

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and since then settlement expansion has been a policy under successive Israeli governments.

But it has accelerated significantly under the current coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

More than 100 settlements have been approved since the government came to power in 2022, according to activists and authorities.

Arab World

France’s Macron to Meet with Lebanon’s PM in Paris on Tuesday

16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. (dpa)
16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. (dpa)
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France’s Macron to Meet with Lebanon’s PM in Paris on Tuesday

16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. (dpa)
16 February 2026, Lebanon, Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is pictured during a meeting at the Prime Minister's office. (dpa)

French President Emmanuel Macron will on Tuesday meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Paris, his office announced, amidst a fragile 10-day truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The visit highlights Macron's commitment to seeing "full and complete respect for the ceasefire in Lebanon" as well as France's support for Lebanon's "territorial integrity", the president's office said on Sunday.

Israel and Lebanon on Thursday agreed to a 10-day ceasefire to give time to negotiate an end to six weeks of fighting between Israel and the group.

The visit was announced a day after France blamed Hezbollah for an ambush on UN peacekeepers which left one French soldier dead and three others wounded.

Macron is to urge Lebanese authorities to "shed full light on the incident" and "identify and prosecute those responsible without delay," his office added.

An initial assessment by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) found the attack was carried out by Hezbollah, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"UNIFIL soldiers, who are carrying out their missions in difficult conditions and supporting the delivery of humanitarian aid to southern Lebanon, must under no circumstances be targeted," the Elysee said.

Hezbollah -- which strongly opposes to the planned Lebanon-Israel talks -- denied involvement in the attack that killed the French peacekeeper.

The fighting in Lebanon has seen UNIFIL positions repeatedly targeted by Israeli and Hezbollah forces.