Mikati: We Won’t Allow Harm to Security of Saudi Arabia or Gulf States

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati attends a joint press conference after his meeting with his Jordanian counterpart at the Grand Serail in Beirut, on September 30, 2021. (AFP)
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati attends a joint press conference after his meeting with his Jordanian counterpart at the Grand Serail in Beirut, on September 30, 2021. (AFP)
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Mikati: We Won’t Allow Harm to Security of Saudi Arabia or Gulf States

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati attends a joint press conference after his meeting with his Jordanian counterpart at the Grand Serail in Beirut, on September 30, 2021. (AFP)
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati attends a joint press conference after his meeting with his Jordanian counterpart at the Grand Serail in Beirut, on September 30, 2021. (AFP)

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati underlined the government’s commitment to restore normal relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, stressing that the phone call with the Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al Sabah, “falls within this framework.”

In a statement on Monday, Mikati said: “I renew the Lebanese government’s commitment to adopt the necessary and required measures to bolster cooperation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.”

He added that Lebanon “adheres to all decisions of the Arab League and of international legitimacy,” pledging to conduct “serious and concrete work” to implement their provisions “in a manner that guarantees Lebanon’s civil peace and national stability and fortifies its unity.”

Moreover, the Lebanese premier emphasized the country’s abidance by the Riyadh agreement for judicial cooperation and the extradition of wanted persons.

He said the government “will spare no effort to prevent the use of Lebanese financial and banking channels to carry out financial transactions that may affect the security of the Kingdom and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.”

He also stressed “commitment to the provisions of the Kuwaiti initiative.”



Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)

Israel has significantly expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

The report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month comes amid growing fears of annexation amid US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.

"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel’s advancing settlement.

"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers," he said.

Israel disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, alleging a chronic anti-Israeli bias. Its military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.