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Hezbollah Opens Workshops to Repair Drones in Homs Countryside

The highway linking the Syrian capital Damascus to Homs. (AFP)
The highway linking the Syrian capital Damascus to Homs. (AFP)
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Hezbollah Opens Workshops to Repair Drones in Homs Countryside

The highway linking the Syrian capital Damascus to Homs. (AFP)
The highway linking the Syrian capital Damascus to Homs. (AFP)

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has recently established workshops in Syria to manufacture artillery, rockets, and landmines and repair drones and various kinds of weapons, said sources in the southeastern countryside of Homs.

Sources said the workshops were established under the supervision of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) experts in a fortified depot of armories and ammunition in Maheen “strategic” area in the southeastern countryside of Homs, which is the second-largest arms warehouse in Syria.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) sources, many Maheen citizens are now working for local Iranian-backed militias, following the regime and yjr militias’ control of the area in early 2017, supported by Russian aerial bombardment.

Earlier this week, reliable sources informed the war monitor that Russian forces had withdrawn completely from Palmyra military airport in the eastern countryside of Homs.

“All Russian troops left the airport by a military hovercraft before Russian troops pulled their helicopters out of the airport,” the sources said.

However, the nature of this withdrawal remained unidentified. It is not clear whether it is a tactical withdrawal and forces will return anytime, or whether it is a complete withdrawal for specific purposes.

SOHR sources said the Russian helicopters and forces that left Palmyra airport headed to Tifor airport in the countryside of Homs.

Therefore, Hezbollah and Iran-backed Afghan “Fatemiyoun” militia now control the Palmyra military airport, where some regime soldiers and officers are also present.

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Arab World

Iraq Denies US Claims Deputy Oil Minister Helped Iran Evade Sanctions

A view of the Shuaiba oil refinery southwest of Basra, Iraq. (Reuters/File Photo)
A view of the Shuaiba oil refinery southwest of Basra, Iraq. (Reuters/File Photo)
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Iraq Denies US Claims Deputy Oil Minister Helped Iran Evade Sanctions

A view of the Shuaiba oil refinery southwest of Basra, Iraq. (Reuters/File Photo)
A view of the Shuaiba oil refinery southwest of Basra, Iraq. (Reuters/File Photo)

Iraq's oil ministry has denied US accusations against its deputy minister, who the United States hit with sanctions over alleged support to Iran as Washington escalates pressure on Baghdad to break with Iranian-linked groups.

The US State Department on Thursday announced sanctions on Ali Maarij al-Bahadli, saying he "abused his government position to divert Iraqi oil in support of the Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies."

It accused him of fraudulently mixing Iraqi and Iranian oil as part of a scheme to help Iran avoid sanctions.

His ministry said late Thursday that "it denies the accusations" against Bahadli and stressed "the importance of transparency in addressing all... accusations on the basis of evidence and facts," according to the INA state news agency.

The ministry said it was prepared to investigate the matter, but added that "crude oil export operations, marketing, loading onto tankers, and related procedures" were not part of Bahadli's job.

After entities run by an Iraqi businessman were sanctioned over the same accusations last year, Iraq's state oil marketing company SOMO denied that any oil mixing operations were taking place in the country's ports or territorial waters to help Iran.

The United States has unilateral sanctions against Iranian oil, seeking to punish any country or company that buys it.

Arab World

Emergency Declared in Libya's Zawiya Refinery amid Clashes Near Facility

Reuters file photo of Libya's Sharara oilfield
Reuters file photo of Libya's Sharara oilfield
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Emergency Declared in Libya's Zawiya Refinery amid Clashes Near Facility

Reuters file photo of Libya's Sharara oilfield
Reuters file photo of Libya's Sharara oilfield

An emergency was declared in Libya's Zawiya refinery, west of the capital Tripoli, amid clashes near the facility, ⁠two engineers told ⁠Reuters on Friday.

Zawiya, 40 km (25 miles) west ⁠of Tripoli, is home to Libya's biggest functioning refinery, with a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day.

The refinery ⁠is ⁠connected to the country's 300,000 bpd Sharara oilfield.

Arab World

More than Half of Lebanon Population Depends on Aid, Says EU Official

European Union Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib arrives for a meeting of the College of European Commissioners in Brussels, Belgium, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman
European Union Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib arrives for a meeting of the College of European Commissioners in Brussels, Belgium, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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More than Half of Lebanon Population Depends on Aid, Says EU Official

European Union Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib arrives for a meeting of the College of European Commissioners in Brussels, Belgium, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman
European Union Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib arrives for a meeting of the College of European Commissioners in Brussels, Belgium, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman

More than half of Lebanon's population depends on humanitarian aid, a European Union official said on Friday, as Israel continues its attacks on the country despite a ceasefire in the two-month-long war with militant group Hezbollah.

"At present, more than three million people, meaning more than half of the population here in Lebanon, depend on humanitarian aid to survive," EU crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib told reporters after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut.

Lahbib said that since the start of the war on March 2 the 27-member bloc has provided 100 million euros in aid and sent six planes carrying humanitarian aid, with a seventh expected on Saturday.

Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 2,700 people and displaced over one million since early March, according to authorities.

The UN launched an emergency appeal in March for $308 million in humanitarian aid for Lebanon, but in two months it has raised just $126 million, according to UN agencies.

Lahbib, who said that the ceasefire has opened "a narrow window of hope", called for Hezbollah "to cease its attacks and be disarmed" and said that "Israel must put an end to its bombardments".

"For a ceasefire to lead to peace, courage is needed -- political courage to address the root causes of this conflict."

Israel and Lebanon are set to hold a third round of talks in Washington next week to end the war, despite Hezbollah's opposition to direct negotiations.