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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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Amnesty Accuses Israel of 'Live-streamed Genocide' against Gaza Palestinians

TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Amnesty Accuses Israel of 'Live-streamed Genocide' against Gaza Palestinians

TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Israel of committing a "live-streamed genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza by forcibly displacing most of the population and deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe.

In its annual report, Amnesty charged that Israel had acted with "specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, thus committing genocide".

Israel has rejected accusations of "genocide" from Amnesty, other rights groups and some states in its war in Gaza.

The conflict erupted after the Palestinian group Hamas's deadly October 7, 2023 attacks inside Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Hamas also abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel in response launched a relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip and a ground operation that according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory has left at least 52,243 dead.

"Since 7 October 2023, when Hamas perpetrated horrific crimes against Israeli citizens and others and captured more than 250 hostages, the world has been made audience to a live-streamed genocide," Amnesty's secretary general Agnes Callamard said in the introduction to the report.

"States watched on as if powerless, as Israel killed thousands upon thousands of Palestinians, wiping out entire multigenerational families, destroying homes, livelihoods, hospitals and schools," she added.

'Extreme levels of suffering'

Gaza's civil defense agency said early Tuesday that four people were killed and others injured in an Israeli air strike on displaced persons' tents near the Al-Iqleem area in Southern Gaza.

The agency earlier warned fuel shortages meant it had been forced to suspend eight out of 12 emergency vehicles in Southern Gaza, including ambulances.

The lack of fuel "threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens and displaced persons in shelter centers," it said in a statement.

Amnesty's report said the Israeli campaign had left most of the Palestinians of Gaza "displaced, homeless, hungry, at risk of life-threatening diseases and unable to access medical care, power or clean water".

Amnesty said that throughout 2024 it had "documented multiple war crimes by Israel, including direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks".

It said Israel's actions forcibly displaced 1.9 million Palestinians, around 90 percent of Gaza's population, and "deliberately engineered an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe".

Even as protesters hit the streets in Western capitals, "the world's governments individually and multilaterally failed repeatedly to take meaningful action to end the atrocities and were slow even in calling for a ceasefire".

Meanwhile, Amnesty also sounded alarm over Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, and repeated an accusation that Israel was employing a system of "apartheid".

"Israel's system of apartheid became increasingly violent in the occupied West Bank, marked by a sharp increase in unlawful killings and state-backed attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians," it said.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty director for the Middle East and North Africa region, denounced "the extreme levels of suffering that Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to endure on a daily basis over the past year" as well as "the world's complete inability or lack of political will to put a stop to it".