Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, in Moscow on February 23, 2022. (Photo by Handout / RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets with the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, in Moscow on February 23, 2022. (Photo by Handout / RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has met in Moscow with the UN's special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, who is getting ready for a new round of negotiations of a committee representing the Syrian government and the opposition over draft constitutional reforms.
"We are all interested in the swiftest settlement of the Syrian crisis based on UN Security Council resolutions," Lavrov said during the talks.
"The importance of our cooperation is confirmed by the fact that we are meeting today and will aspire to achieve practical progress in the Syrian settlement,” he added.
Pedersen expressed hope that the recent world developments would not affect the situation in Syria.
Hamas ‘Regrets’ Abbas’ Speech at Arab Summit, Stresses its Keenness on Palestinian Unityhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5021585-hamas-%E2%80%98regrets%E2%80%99-abbas%E2%80%99-speech-arab-summit-stresses-its-keenness-palestinian
Hamas ‘Regrets’ Abbas’ Speech at Arab Summit, Stresses its Keenness on Palestinian Unity
Hamas fighters in Gaza. (AFP)
The Hamas group expressed its “regret” at the statement by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about its October 7 operation before the Arab League summit in Manama on Thursday.
He said the armed group “unilaterally” carried out the attack and “gave Israel more excuses to attack Gaza.”
Hamas responded by saying that “Israel does not need excuses to commit its crimes” against the Palestinian people.
Abbas added that Hamas continued to reject efforts to end the division between Palestinians “in service of an Israeli plot the occupation government was working on implementing weeks before October 7.”
The plot, he went on to say, aimed to consolidate the separation of Gaza from the West Bank and Jerusalem to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and weaken the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization.
Hamas dismissed Abbas’ remarks, saying it has “repeatedly expressed its keenness on restoring national unity.”
It added that it has shown the necessary “flexibility in an effort to strengthen the internal Palestinian front and unite the national rank.”
Hezbollah Introduces New Weapons, Tactics Against Israel as War in Gaza Drags On https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5021582-hezbollah-introduces-new-weapons-tactics-against-israel-war-gaza-drags-%C2%A0
A picture taken from Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel shows smoke billowing over a southern Lebanese village following Israeli bombardment on May 16, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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Hezbollah Introduces New Weapons, Tactics Against Israel as War in Gaza Drags On
A picture taken from Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel shows smoke billowing over a southern Lebanese village following Israeli bombardment on May 16, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
The Lebanese group Hezbollah this week struck a military post in northern Israel using a drone that fired two missiles. The attack wounded three soldiers, one of them seriously, according to the Israeli military.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has regularly fired missiles across the border with Israel over the past seven months, but the one on Thursday appears to have been the first successful missile airstrike it has launched from within Israeli airspace.
The group has stepped up its attacks on Israel in recent weeks, particularly since the Israeli incursion into the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. It has struck deeper inside Israel and introduced new and more advanced weaponry.
“This is a method of sending messages on the ground to the Israeli enemy, meaning that this is part of what we have, and if needed we can strike more,” said Lebanese political analyst Faisal Abdul-Sater who closely follows Hezbollah.
While the cross-border exchanges of fire have been ongoing since early October, “complex attacks” by Hezbollah began a few days after Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile barrage attack on Israel in mid-April.
In the past two weeks, Hezbollah has escalated further in response to the Israeli incursion into the city of southern Rafah in the Gaza Strip, a Lebanese official familiar with the group’s operations said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to detail military information to the media.
The Thursday afternoon attack by a drone carrying missiles came just days after Hezbollah launched three anti-tank guided missiles at an Israeli military post that controlled a surveillance balloon flying over the border. They released camera footage afterward to show they had hit their mark. Hours later, the Israeli military confirmed that the spy balloon had been shot down over Lebanon.
The night before, Hezbollah had carried out its deepest attack in Israel to date using explosive drones to strike at a base in Ilaniya near the city of Tiberias about 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Lebanon border. The Israeli military said the attack did not hurt anyone.
Rockets leave smoke trails behind as they are launched from southern Lebanon toward Israel on May 16, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Abdul-Sater, the analyst, said the Iran-led coalition known as the “Axis of Resistance”, which includes the Palestinian armed group Hamas, has warned that if Israeli troops launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah in an attempt to go after Hamas, other fronts will also escalate.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias claimed Wednesday that they attacked a US destroyer while Iran-backed militants in Iraq have said they fired a series of drones toward Israel in recent weeks after having gone relatively quiet since February.
Hezbollah's use of more advanced weaponry, including drones capable of firing missiles, explosive drones and the small type of guided missile known as Almas, or Diamond, that was used to attack the base controlling the balloon has raised alarms within the Israeli military.
“Hezbollah has been escalating the situation in the north,” said military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. “They’ve been firing more and more.”
In adapting its attacks, Hezbollah has also managed to reduce the numbers of fighters lost compared with the early weeks of the conflict.
The group has lost more than 250 fighters so far, compared with 15 Israeli troops since fighting broke out along the Lebanon-Israel border a day after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7.
According to a count by The Associated Press, Hezbollah lost 47 fighters in October and 35 in November, compared with 20 in April and 12 so far this month.
The official familiar with the group’s operations said Hezbollah had reduced the numbers of fighters along the border areas to bring down the numbers of casualties. While Hezbollah continues to fire Russian-made anti-tank Kornet missiles from areas close to the border, it has also shifted to firing drones and other types of rockets with heavy war heads — including Almas as well as Falaq and Burkan rockets — from areas several kilometers (miles) from the border.
Over the weekend, Hezbollah said it had launched a new rocket with a heavy warhead named Jihad Mughniyeh after a senior operative who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on southern Syria in 2015.
Eva J. Koulouriotis, a political analyst specialized in the Middle East and extremist groups wrote on the social media platform X that Hezbollah's recent escalation likely has several goals, including raising the ceiling of the group's demands in any future negotiations for a border deal, as well as raising military pressure on Israel's military in light of the preparations for the battle in Rafah.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed in a speech last week that “we will stand, we will achieve our goals, we will hit Hamas, we will destroy Hezbollah, and we will bring security.”
On Monday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah reiterated in a speech that there will be no end to the fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border until Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip come to an end.
“The main goal of Lebanon’s front is to contribute to the pressure on the enemy to end the war on Gaza,” Nasrallah said.
His comments were a blow to attempts by foreign dignitaries, including US and French officials, who have visited Beirut to try to put an end to the violence that has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.
A day after Nasrallah spoke, Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly visited Beirut and told Lebanon’s private LBCI TV station that she was pushing for a ceasefire.
“We need the people living in the south of Lebanon to be able to go back to their homes,” she said. “We need to make sure that the Israelis living in the northern part of Israel are able to get back to their homes also.”
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem warned Israel in a speech over the weekend against opening an all-out war.
“You have tried in the past and you were defeated and if you try again, you will be defeated,” he said, referring to the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah 34-day war that ended in a draw.
UNAMI: We are Witnessing an Iraq on Rise, Some Challenges Remainhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5021563-unami-we-are-witnessing-iraq-rise-some-challenges-remain
UNAMI: We are Witnessing an Iraq on Rise, Some Challenges Remain
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert - AFP
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said that the country looks different from the one to which the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) was first deployed some 20 years ago.
“We are, so to speak, witnessing an Iraq on the rise,” she said, noting that corruption, factionalism, impunity, undue interference in State functions and armed actors operating outside State control remain.
Her remarks came amid calls from Security Council members to draw down the United Nations mission in Iraq.
"While the government is tackling these scourges, feelings of marginalization and exclusion are spreading in and among certain components, which risk fanning the flames of intra- and inter-community tension. The recent increase in mass unannounced executions of individuals convicted under anti-terrorism laws is a cause for great concern," she added.
On the legislative front, Plasschaert said that despite the successful holding of local elections in 13 of the 15 federal governorates in December 2023, two provinces — Diyala and Kirkuk — remain at an impasse, with no immediate resolution in sight. "And six months of negotiations to replace Iraq’s parliamentary speaker have failed to produce results."
She highlighted that nearly 10 years after ISIS committed a genocide against the Yazidi people, "Sinjar still lies in ruins," expressing hope that the upcoming tenth anniversary will not be wasted but rather used — by all authorities, actors and stakeholders — “to unite and step up to the plate with the sole aim of serving the people of Sinjar”.
Guterres: War in Gaza is an Open Woundhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5021562-guterres-war-gaza-open-wound
UN Secretary-General António Guterres repeated his longstanding call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages held in the enclave, and unimpeded access for aid delivery, in remarks to the Summit of the League of Arab States in Bahrain on Thursday.
“The war in Gaza is an open wound that threatens to infect the entire region,” he said.
“In its speed and scale, it is the deadliest conflict in my time as Secretary-General – for civilians, aid workers, journalists, and our own UN colleagues.”
He stressed that nothing can justify the abhorrent 7 October terror attacks by Hamas against Israel, or the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
The Secretary-General warned against an assault on Rafah, which would be “unacceptable” as “it would inflict another surge of pain and misery when we need a surge in life-saving aid.”
He also voiced concern over the tensions in the occupied West Bank, highlighting the spike in illegal Israeli settlements, settler violence and excessive use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces, as well as demolitions and evictions.
The Secretary-General told Arab leaders that the only permanent way to end the cycle of violence and instability between Israelis and Palestinians is through a two-State solution.
“The demographic and historical character of Jerusalem must be preserved."
Saied Blasts Foreign 'Interference' in Tunisian Affairshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5021561-saied-blasts-foreign-interference-tunisian-affairs
A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)
Saied Blasts Foreign 'Interference' in Tunisian Affairs
A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)
Tunisian President Kais Saied on Thursday denounced foreign "interference" following international criticism of a recent arrests of political commentators, lawyers and journalists in the North African country.
Saied, who in 2021 orchestrated a sweeping power grab, ordered the foreign ministry to summon diplomats and "inform them that Tunisia is an independent state".
Speaking during a televised meeting, the president told Mounir Ben Rjiba, state secretary to the foreign ministry, to "summon as soon as possible the ambassadors of a number of countries", without specifying which ones.
Ben Rjiba was asked to "strongly object to them that what they are doing is a blatant interference in our internal affairs".
"Inform them that Tunisia is an independent state that adheres to its sovereignty," Saied added, AFP reported.
"We didn't interfere in their affairs when they arrested protesters... who denounced the war of genocide against the Palestinian people," he added, referring to demonstrations on university campuses in the United States and elsewhere over the Israel-Hamas war.
The European Union on Tuesday expressed concern that Tunisian authorities were cracking down on dissenting voices.
France denounced "arrests, in particular of journalists and members of (non-governmental) associations", while the United States said they were "in contradiction" with "the universal rights explicitly guaranteed by the Tunisian Constitution".
The media union said Wednesday that Decree 54 was "a deliberate attack on the essence of press freedom and a vain attempt to intimidate journalists and media employees and sabotage public debate".
US State Dept: Gaza Humanitarian Situation Still Deterioratinghttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5021261-us-state-dept-gaza-humanitarian-situation-still-deteriorating
People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
US State Dept: Gaza Humanitarian Situation Still Deteriorating
People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The United States said on Thursday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate and urged Israel to do more to allow sustained access for aid via southern and northern part of the enclave.
Speaking at a daily news briefing, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Washington continued to remain concerned that both travel and the flow of fuel into Gaza via Rafah crossing has "come to a complete halt."
The Gaza death toll has risen to 35,272, health officials in the Hamas-run coastal enclave said, and malnutrition is widespread with international aid efforts blocked by the violence and Israel's de-facto shutdowns of its Kerem Shalom crossing and the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Israel's tanks pushed into the heart of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Thursday, facing anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, while in the south, its forces pounded Rafah without advancing.
Israel Vows to 'Intensify' Operations in Gaza’s Rafahhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5021251-israel-vows-intensify-operations-gaza%E2%80%99s-rafah
Israel Vows to 'Intensify' Operations in Gaza’s Rafah
Palestinians who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip arrive with their belongings to Khan Yunis on May 15, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Israel vowed Thursday to "intensify" its ground offensive in Rafah, in defiance of global warnings over the fate of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians sheltering in Gaza's far-southern city.
According to AFP, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said "additional forces will enter" the Rafah area and "this activity will intensify".
"Hundreds of targets have already been struck and our forces are maneuvering in the area," Gallant said following a troop visit on Wednesday.
Israel's top ally the United States has joined other major powers in appealing for it to hold back from a full ground offensive against Hamas in Rafah, the last city in Gaza so far spared heavy urban fighting.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has countered that a ground assault on Rafah is vital to the army's mission of destroying Hamas to prevent any repetition of the October 7 attack that triggered the war.
2 Dead in Strike on Car in South Lebanonhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5021241-2-dead-strike-car-south-lebanon
This picture taken from a position near the northern Israeli border with Lebanon shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment in south Lebanon, on May 16, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
This picture taken from a position near the northern Israeli border with Lebanon shows smoke billowing during Israeli bombardment in south Lebanon, on May 16, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
Lebanese state-run media said an Israeli strike on a car in the country's south on Thursday killed two people, with Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers saying at least one of them was a group member.
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire since Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, now in its eighth month.
"Two people were martyred in the raid that targeted a car on the Ramadiya-Qana road," the official National News agency (NNA) said, after earlier reporting a drone strike.
A rescuer from the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health committee said an Israeli strike on a car in Qana had killed two young men, including a member of the Iran-backed movement.
Hezbollah earlier said it had launched "more than 60" rockets at Israeli military positions in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights in retaliation for overnight strikes that killed a Hezbollah member who Israel said was a field commander.
The strikes were "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks last night on the Bekaa region" in eastern Lebanon's Baalbek area, it said in a statement.
The Israeli army later said it had identified about "40 launches" from Lebanon towards the Golan Heights that caused no injuries before striking back at the sources of the fire.
According to AFP, it reported several more attacks from Lebanon on northern Israel, to which it had also responded with strikes.
Later, the Israeli military said an explosive drone launched from Lebanon hit the Metula area, severely wounding one soldier and lightly wounding two more.
Hezbollah said it had fired an "attack drone carrying two "S5" rockets" that targeted a vehicle at a position in Metula.
Aboul Gheit Emphasizes Arab, Int’l Rejection of Forced Displacement of Palestinianshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5021031-aboul-gheit-emphasizes-arab-int%E2%80%99l-rejection-forced-displacement-palestinians
Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaks during a press conference after the 33rd Arab Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Aboul Gheit Emphasizes Arab, Int’l Rejection of Forced Displacement of Palestinians
Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit speaks during a press conference after the 33rd Arab Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
The Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, stressed on Thursday Arab and international rejection of the forced displacement of the Palestinian people, condemning it morally, humanely, and legally.
He called on the international community to hold an international peace conference that embodies the two-state solution, which enjoys global consensus.
In his speech at the 33rd Arab Summit held in Manama, Aboul Gheit noted that peace in the region requires the immediate end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, noting that some Western countries have provided political cover for the Israeli occupation.
The secretary general added that the region's crises "remain unresolved, and the wounds have not healed," highlighting that the most dangerous situation is in Sudan, which threatens the survival of the state and the lives of millions.
He also pointed out that crises in several Arab countries, especially in Yemen and Libya, have exhausted the states and their people, who are still waiting for solutions and settlements that could restore normalcy.
Aboul Gheit reiterated that collective action is the way to achieve prosperity for all, saying that Arabs will only overcome their difficulties through solidarity and will only rise together.
Sisi Says Israel Evades Gaza Ceasefire Effortshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5020586-sisi-says-israel-evades-gaza-ceasefire-efforts
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, - File Photo by DPA
Israel continues to evade efforts to reach a ceasefire in its war with Hamas in Gaza, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country has mediated in the conflict, told Arab leaders at a summit in Manama on Thursday.
Sisi added that Israel is pursuing its military operations in Rafah, the southern border city between Egypt and Gaza, and using the city's border crossing from its Palestinian side "to tighten the siege of the enclave."
"We found Israel continuing to escape its responsibilities and evade efforts exerted to reach a ceasefire," Sisi said.
"Those who think that security and military solutions are able to secure interests or achieve security (are) delusional," Sisi stressed.
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