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Arab World

Scores of Syrian Refugees Head Home from Lebanon

FILE - Syrian children play soccer by their tents at a refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, July 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - Syrian children play soccer by their tents at a refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, July 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
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Scores of Syrian Refugees Head Home from Lebanon

FILE - Syrian children play soccer by their tents at a refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, July 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - Syrian children play soccer by their tents at a refugee camp in the town of Bar Elias in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, July 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Scores of Syrian refugees headed home Saturday from eastern Lebanon in the second convoy in less than two weeks as Beirut attempts to organize a mass refugee return to the war-torn country.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the “voluntary return” Saturday included 330 Syrians who left from the eastern Bekaa Valley to Syria’s western Qalamoun region.

On Oct. 26, some 500 refugees returned to Syria, becoming the first group to return home in more than two years, The Associated Press reported.

Lebanon has given shelter to more than 1 million Syrian refugees but many claim the number is far higher. The UN refugee agency has registered about 825,000 Syrians but stopped counting them in 2015 at the request of Lebanese authorities. Earlier this year, officials touted a plan to return 15,000 refugees a month, which has so far failed to materialize.

In 2018, Lebanon began organizing “voluntary return” trips. Syrians would register to go back, then the list would be run by Syrian security officials to see if anyone on it was wanted for arrest or deemed a security threat to Damascus. Those names would be rejected and the original list whittled down to final names.

The returnees represent just a tiny fraction of the massive population of refugees who remain in Lebanon as the United Nations maintains that Syria is not safe for mass returns.

“The returnees have received guarantees from the Lebanese and Syrian authorities to return,” Lebanon’s caretaker Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar told reporters near the Syrian border on Saturday. He added that the international community should encourage such returns and if not then they “should be neutral in this case.”

The trips back were halted in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. At that point, some 21,000 refugees had returned to Syria this way, according to Lebanese officials. UNHCR says at least 76,500 Syrian refugees returned voluntarily from Lebanon since 2016, some in government-organized trips and some on their own.

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Arab World

Lebanon’s Ali al-Taher Back at Center of Escalation

The Ali al-Taher Heights, located east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kafr Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa in the foreground. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
The Ali al-Taher Heights, located east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kafr Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa in the foreground. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
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Lebanon’s Ali al-Taher Back at Center of Escalation

The Ali al-Taher Heights, located east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kafr Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa in the foreground. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
The Ali al-Taher Heights, located east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kafr Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa in the foreground. (Asharq Al-Awsat).

Intensified Israeli operations have thrust the Ali al-Taher Heights back to the forefront of tensions in southern Lebanon, days after the town of Mansouri came under Israeli attack.

Repeated artillery fire and strikes have targeted the heights and surrounding areas amid Israeli claims of underground military facilities in the area.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that his army was carrying out a “highly important operation” in Lebanon, specifically citing the targeting of operatives at Ali al-Taher.

Some assessments link the intensity of Israeli operations to the area’s strategic importance and the possibility that Israel may seek to expand its control there. Others view the developments within the broader issue of Hezbollah’s weapons, while the US position remains a key factor in determining the scope and timing of any wider Israeli action.

Heavy shelling

Ali al-Taher came under intense Israeli artillery fire overnight Sunday into Monday, continuing until dawn. Local reports said that more than 70 shells struck the area. The attacks continued Monday morning with drone strikes, while shelling hit the area between Zawtar and Mayfadoun.

Netanyahu adviser Dmitry Gendelman maintained that “Israel would remain in the security zone and act independently to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.

Gendelman said Ali al-Taher contained a Hezbollah command center, and claimed the destruction of a tunnel complex beneath Beaufort Castle, along with operations targeting the group’s infrastructure, personnel and weapons.

Israeli claims of having seized the hill come amid conflicting accounts over the nature of its presence there and underground facilities in the area. Reports have suggested that operatives remain inside a facility and that efforts are underway to encircle them and cut supply routes.

Missed opportunity

Retired Brig. Gen. Yaarob Sakher said Lebanon missed a “golden opportunity” at Ali al-Taher, arguing that Hezbollah could have handed the area over to the Lebanese Army as an additional pilot zone.

“There was a golden opportunity for Lebanon at Ali al-Taher,” Sakher told Asharq Al-Awsat. “Hezbollah could have handed it over to the Lebanese Army, which would enter and take control, but the party refused.”

In his assessment, the refusal gave Israel an opportunity to harden its position. He added that Hezbollah is unlikely to surrender the area because of its military significance.

“We do not know everything that is there, but Ali al-Taher appears to contain what could be described as a major operations room, alongside an extensive tunnel network believed to connect with other areas,” he explained.

Sakher added that circulating information points to the possible presence of weapons and ammunition depots and senior personnel, noting that Hezbollah’s determination to hold the area suggests it carries considerable importance.

Beyond Ali al-Taher

Retired Brig. Gen. Khaled Hamadeh, by contrast, cautioned against reducing the escalation to the fate of the heights, viewing the intensified bombardment as part of a broader Israeli course of action.

“The issue goes beyond Ali al-Taher, and we are heading toward further escalation,” Hamadeh told Asharq Al-Awsat, linking the developments to Israeli operations in other southern areas, including Mansouri and Zawtar.

In his view, Israel “will not allow any security or military surprise in areas it considers sensitive,” and the operations are intended to send a message beyond any single position on the ground.

“The fundamental issue is not Ali al-Taher or any particular military position, but Hezbollah’s weapons,” he stressed.

Israel is acting on the premise that the framework agreement with Lebanon requires the weapons to be addressed and that the current situation will leave the door open to further strikes, he remarked.

“The main problem lies in the lack of political will to disarm Hezbollah,” he added.

Arab World

Iraq Suspects Drone Attack Destroyed Tank Ammunition Stockpile Amid ‘Silent Battle’ With Militias

The Iraqi army takes part in a previous parade featuring US-made Abrams tanks (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office) 
The Iraqi army takes part in a previous parade featuring US-made Abrams tanks (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office) 
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Iraq Suspects Drone Attack Destroyed Tank Ammunition Stockpile Amid ‘Silent Battle’ With Militias

The Iraqi army takes part in a previous parade featuring US-made Abrams tanks (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office) 
The Iraqi army takes part in a previous parade featuring US-made Abrams tanks (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office) 

Iraqi authorities suspect a drone attack caused an explosion at a strategic ammunition depot at Camp Taji military base north of Baghdad in early August, security and intelligence sources said, inflicting extensive damage on stocks of ammunition for Iraqi army tanks and armored vehicles. Authorities had initially attributed the blaze to high temperatures.

Investigators now believe an unidentified drone was flying over the base shortly before an ammunition depot belonging to the 9th Armored Division exploded, destroying large quantities of ammunition for armored vehicles and US-made Abrams tanks, the sources said.

Two officers told Asharq Al-Awsat that investigators reviewed thermal-camera footage from the base showing a flying object approaching from the south shortly before the depot exploded.

“We lost most of our tank ammunition,” one officer said. “The 9th Armored Division now has no stockpile of shells — not even a single round — apart from the ammunition currently inside the tanks.”

Another intelligence officer said the depot was “most likely targeted by a drone.”

Iraq’s official news agency had quoted Defense and Interior Ministry officials on Aug. 2 as saying that high temperatures had caused a fire at an ammunition depot inside Camp Taji.

Although the initial account ruled out an attack, a senior military official told Asharq Al-Awsat that intelligence agencies were conducting a technical investigation to establish the circumstances.

Officials now view the incident as one of several signs that armed factions are attempting to “strip official security institutions of their weapons advantage.”

The targeted depot contained about 50,000 rounds, according to the sources, forming the main ammunition stockpile for one of the Iraqi army’s most important combat divisions. The full extent of the losses remains unclear.

The 9th Armored Division, based in Taji, is one of the army’s principal intervention units. A significant part of its arsenal is US-made, notably Abrams tanks and M113 armored personnel carriers.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Iraq recently sought urgent procurement contracts to replenish ammunition shortages, including rounds for US-made tanks and armored vehicles. The request is believed to be linked to losses from the Taji incident.

Neither the Defense Ministry spokesman nor the head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell responded to requests for comment.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Miqdad Miri, however, told a news conference Monday that “any drone launched without authorization will be treated as terrorism,” stressing that “all weapons must be under state control.”

‘Silent Battle’

An intelligence official told Asharq Al-Awsat that preliminary investigations found that an armed group had used a location south of Baghdad to launch the drone toward Taji.

Security and political officials said the attack pointed to efforts by factions resisting disarmament to deprive regular forces of military assets that give them an advantage over irregular groups.

The sources said armed factions were making contingency plans for any confrontation with Iraqi security forces, seeking to eliminate assets — including tank ammunition — that could tip the balance in favor of government forces.

An official in the Coordination Framework said the Iraqi government was engaged in a “silent and sensitive battle with hard-line groups” but wanted to avoid an open confrontation because of the domestic and regional risks.

A political official quoted the leader of an armed faction opposed to the government’s weapons-control plan as saying his group and others were prepared for a military confrontation if the government or the United States used force to disarm them.

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has set Sept. 30, 2026, as the deadline for US forces to withdraw from Iraq and for armed factions to place their weapons under state control.

Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and Harakat al-Nujaba, all aligned with Iran, continue to reject handing over their weapons. Activists close to the groups say the Axis of Resistance will not disarm even after US forces leave, while some have openly called, in a defiant reversal of the government’s policy, for “the state’s weapons to be placed in the hands of the factions.”

 

 

 

 

 

Arab World

Colombia Recognizes Israeli Claim Over Syria's Golan Heights

Colombia's new President Abelardo de la Espriella delivers a speech at the Pichincha Battalion after swearing in, in Cali, Colombia, on August 7, 2026. (AFP)
Colombia's new President Abelardo de la Espriella delivers a speech at the Pichincha Battalion after swearing in, in Cali, Colombia, on August 7, 2026. (AFP)
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Colombia Recognizes Israeli Claim Over Syria's Golan Heights

Colombia's new President Abelardo de la Espriella delivers a speech at the Pichincha Battalion after swearing in, in Cali, Colombia, on August 7, 2026. (AFP)
Colombia's new President Abelardo de la Espriella delivers a speech at the Pichincha Battalion after swearing in, in Cali, Colombia, on August 7, 2026. (AFP)

Colombia's newly appointed hard-right government on Monday recognized Israel's claim over the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria in 1967.

The United States was until now the only country to recognize Israel's annexation of the territory in 1981.

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella took power on Friday, following a bombastic campaign during which he promised tight relations with the US and Israel as a way to combat armed groups in his own country.

His foreign ministry announced recognition of Israel's claim on the same day that a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, killing at least 111 people and injuring dozens more.

"The Government of Colombia recognizes Israeli sovereignty over this territory, as well as that State's right to protect itself against external threats," read a statement published on X.

"Colombia recognizes that maintaining Israel's control and sovereignty over the Golan Heights is an essential component of its national defense," it added.

The United Nations maintains that the plateau is Syrian territory under Israeli military occupation.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar thanked his "good friend" De la Espriella for the recognition.

The pair had agreed on the move in the Colombian city of Barranquilla, he said, one day before De la Espriella's inauguration.

"Defensible borders are essential to guarantee the continued existence of the Jewish people in our historic homeland," Saar, who attended the swearing-in, posted on X.

Last month, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reiterated that the Golan Heights were part of Syria, describing Israeli occupation as "totally unacceptable."

De la Espriella's leftist predecessor Gustavo Petro had ardently criticized Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, severing diplomatic relations and halting Israeli arms imports into Colombia.

The US-backed millionaire now in office has promised to restore ties.

Last month, he said he planned to open a Colombian embassy in Jerusalem, which Israel regards as its capital, including the occupied Palestinian part.

This is not recognized internationally, however, and most countries conduct their diplomatic missions from Tel Aviv.