Lebanon to Study Kuwait Initiative, Respond by Saturday

A delegation headed by Kuwaiti FM Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammed Al Sabah meets with Lebanese President Aoun on Sunday. (Dalati & Nohra)
A delegation headed by Kuwaiti FM Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammed Al Sabah meets with Lebanese President Aoun on Sunday. (Dalati & Nohra)
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Lebanon to Study Kuwait Initiative, Respond by Saturday

A delegation headed by Kuwaiti FM Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammed Al Sabah meets with Lebanese President Aoun on Sunday. (Dalati & Nohra)
A delegation headed by Kuwaiti FM Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammed Al Sabah meets with Lebanese President Aoun on Sunday. (Dalati & Nohra)

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib announced on Monday that the authorities will study the Arab initiative delivered by Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Mohammed Al Sabah last week.

The initiative is aimed at setting straight Lebanon's ties with Arab countries and achieving political and economic recovery.

Bou Habib met with President Michel Aoun on Monday, saying a response to the initiative will be announced by Saturday.

Ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Bou Habib will draft the preliminary response to the proposal and it will be discussed with Aoun, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

The majority of the replies to the initiative are already available in the government's policy statement, added the sources.

On initiative's article related to Hezbollah's weapons, the sources said a response to this point will focus on the implementation of international resolutions, while stressing that this issue does not solely lie in Lebanon's hands, but it is tied to the current regional situation.

Former PM Fuad Saniora hailed the Arab initiative, saying it addresses the causes of Lebanon's current plight and goes to the root of the problems suffered by the people.

It therefore, paves the way to ending Lebanon's crisis, leads the way to national, political and economic recovery and mends ties between Lebanon and its Arab brothers and the international community, he stated.

The initiative is a serious Arab and international effort to help Lebanon out of its collapse, he continued.

One of the major problems suffered by Lebanon is the usurping of its foreign policy and hegemony by Iran that go against the interests of the Lebanese people and the Arab world, Saniora said.



Israeli Strikes on Gaza Strip Leave 15 Dead, Medics Say

 Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Strikes on Gaza Strip Leave 15 Dead, Medics Say

 Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City November 27, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed 15 people on Wednesday, some of them in a school housing displaced people, medics in Gaza said, adding that the fatalities included two sons of a former Hamas spokesman.

Health officials in the Hamas-run enclave said eight Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli strike that hit the Al-Tabeaeen School, which was sheltering displaced families in Gaza City. Among those killed were two sons of former Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, according to medics and Barhoum himself.

In the Shejaia suburb of Gaza City, another strike killed four people, while three people were killed in an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave where army forces have been operating since last month.

Separately, a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah came into effect on Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the US and France, a rare victory for diplomacy in a region shaken by two wars for over a year.

Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas after the Palestinian group attacked Israel in October of 2023, killing around 1,200 people and capturing over 250 hostages, Israel has said, triggering the Gaza war.

Israel's 13-month campaign in Gaza has left nearly 44,200 people dead and displaced nearly all the enclave's population at least once, according to Gaza health officials.

Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress and negotiations are now on hold, with mediator Qatar saying it has told the two warring parties it would suspend its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.