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Hezbollah Threatens Israel, Intensifies Attack on US

London-based Energean’s drill ship begins drilling at the Karish natural gas field offshore Israel in the east Mediterranean May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ari Rabinovitch
London-based Energean’s drill ship begins drilling at the Karish natural gas field offshore Israel in the east Mediterranean May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ari Rabinovitch
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Hezbollah Threatens Israel, Intensifies Attack on US

London-based Energean’s drill ship begins drilling at the Karish natural gas field offshore Israel in the east Mediterranean May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ari Rabinovitch
London-based Energean’s drill ship begins drilling at the Karish natural gas field offshore Israel in the east Mediterranean May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ari Rabinovitch

Hezbollah intensified its attack on the United States, accusing it of “working to weaken and blackmail Lebanon to subject it to Israeli conditions.”

The party has also threatened Israel over the border dispute and the oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean.

With the arrival in June of the Energean vessel to the coast of Haifa to begin gas extraction from the Karish field, Hezbollah officials repeated their threats, saying that the party would not allow Israel to produce gas without Lebanon obtaining its rights to explore energy in its territorial waters. They set September 2022 as a deadline to reach a border settlement mediated by the United States.

Deputy head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council Sheikh Ali Damoush said that the US was seeking to “weaken and blackmail Lebanon to subject it to Israeli conditions,” adding that the party, in return, “was working to impose power equations that Lebanon possesses to achieve its demands and rights.”

“The resistance in Lebanon is no longer just an option for liberation and defense; with the equations it imposes on the enemy, it has become a means to restore wealth and rights and save Lebanon from its economic and living crises,” he stated.

A Lebanese newspaper close to Hezbollah published reports on Friday, saying that the party’s missile capabilities had developed “to reach areas exceeding 450 kilometers.”

It quoted a military leader in the party as saying: “The resistance in Lebanon has capabilities that match its needs, capabilities that do not exist even in Iran.”

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Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
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Syrian Govt Visits Notorious Al-Hol Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)
A view of the Al-Hol camp. (AFP file)

A Syrian government delegation visited a notorious camp in the Kurdish-administered northeast that hosts families of suspected ISIS group members, the new authorities' first visit, both sides said Saturday.

Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to ISIS, more than five years after the group’s territorial defeat in Syria.

Kurdish administration official Sheikhmous Ahmed said "a tripartite meeting was held on Saturday in the Al-Hol camp" that included a government delegation, another from the US-led international coalition fighting ISIS, and Kurdish administration members.

Al-Hol is northeast Syria's largest camp, housing some 37,000 people from dozens of countries, including 14,500 Iraqis, in dire conditions.

Discussions involved "establishing a mechanism for removing Syrian families from Al-Hol camp", Ahmed said.

The visit comes more than two months after interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, agreed to integrate the Kurds' civil and military institutions into the national government.

The deal also involved guaranteeing the return of all Syrians to their hometowns and villages.

No progress has yet been reported on the administration's integration into the new government.

In Damascus, interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba told reporters Al-Hol is "part of the agreement" signed by Sharaa and Abdi.

He said the issue requires "a comprehensive societal solution for the families who are victims" of ISIS.

In February, the Kurdish administration said that in coordination with the United Nations, it aimed to empty camps in the northeast of thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees, including suspected relatives of extremists, by the end of the year.

Al-Hol includes a high-security section for families of foreign ISIS fighters.

Ahmed said the fate of those families "is linked to the countries that have nationals (in the camp), and to the international coalition", which supported Kurdish-led forces who fought ISIS, detaining its fighters and their relatives.

The Kurds have repeatedly called on countries to repatriate their citizens, but foreign governments have allowed home only a trickle, fearing security threats and a domestic political backlash.

It is unclear who will administer prisons holding thousands of ISIS fighters in the northeast, with Abdi saying in February the new authorities wanted them under Damascus's control.