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Confusion in Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel Benefits Hezbollah, Amal

A picture taken on March 9, 2018 along a highway in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre shows electoral billboards for the upcoming 2018 May parliamentary elections in Lebanon by Amal movement. Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP
A picture taken on March 9, 2018 along a highway in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre shows electoral billboards for the upcoming 2018 May parliamentary elections in Lebanon by Amal movement. Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP
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Confusion in Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel Benefits Hezbollah, Amal

A picture taken on March 9, 2018 along a highway in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre shows electoral billboards for the upcoming 2018 May parliamentary elections in Lebanon by Amal movement. Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP
A picture taken on March 9, 2018 along a highway in the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre shows electoral billboards for the upcoming 2018 May parliamentary elections in Lebanon by Amal movement. Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP

The decision of former Speaker Hussein Husseini to withdraw his candidacy from the May 6 parliamentary race in Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel district came to serve the so-called Shi’ite duo, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, and embarrassed the Free Patriotic Movement, which ended up striking an alliance with ex-regional secretary-general of the Baath party in Lebanon Fayez Shokr.

Husseini’s withdrawal on Sunday came a day before the final deadline for registration of lists.

His previous “Civil Resistance” list included Ali Zoaiter, Mohammad Haidar, Abbas Yaghi, Ali Sabri Hamadeh, Ghada Assaf, Massoud Al-Hujjeiri, Abdullah al-Shall, Free Patriotic Movement candidate Michel Daher and Shawki Fakhri.

Currently, there are five lists competing in the Baalbek-Hermel electoral district, mainly the list of the Shi’ite duo and another one supported by both the Mustaqbal Movement and the Lebanese Forces.

Candidates Daher and Ghada Assaf, who were both representing the FPM party in the Civil Resistance list, announced on Monday they are running on the list of Shokr, and said that their dispute with “Hezbollah” was not based on political grounds.

“Hezbollah is an ally, and therefore, we are not running against the party. We just want to change the same figures that have been elected as deputies in the past years,” Daher told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He said he hopes to break the list of the Shi’ite duo by winning two seats, one Shi’ite and one Christian.

The list supported by Mustaqbal and the LF was on Monday optimistic that it would win seats after the withdrawal of Husseini from the race.

However, Researcher at Information International Mohammed Shamseddine told Asharq Al-Awsat that Husseini’s withdrawal would serve the Shi’ite duo and not the other competing lists.

Other sources in Baalbek echoed Shamseddine’s view and said Husseini’s decision would definitely serve Hezbollah and Amal.

His withdrawal angered Abdullah al-Shall, a candidate running on Husseini’s list.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the former speaker’s move confused the list, particularly that it came immediately before the expiry of the deadline for the registration of tickets.

“Despite Husseini’s improper step, we will remain in the race,” he said, expressing confidence in the ability to win the Sunni seat in the district.

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Arab World

Iran Mobilizes Remnants of Fourth Division to Stoke Syria Unrest

Circulating images of Syria’s Fourth Division
Circulating images of Syria’s Fourth Division
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Iran Mobilizes Remnants of Fourth Division to Stoke Syria Unrest

Circulating images of Syria’s Fourth Division
Circulating images of Syria’s Fourth Division

The Syria TV website said Iran has been working since early December to mobilize remnants of the Fourth Division, which was linked to Iran and previously overseen by Maher al-Assad, the brother of fugitive President Bashar al-Assad, to inflame the situation in Syria.

Citing regional security sources, the website reported that Iran is utilizing Ghiyath Dalla, the former commander of the Fourth Division, along with Maj. Gen. Kamal Hassan, a former head of military intelligence, and Maj. Gen. Ghassan Bilal, who previously served in the Fourth Division’s command.

According to the sources, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has over recent months kept dozens of officers from the Fourth Division and military intelligence in camps it controls along the Iraqi border, in Lebanon’s Hermel area, and in areas under the control of formations linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party in eastern Syria, is pushing for their return to Syrian territory and the mobilization of former Assad regime elements for a new wave of security operations.

The New York Times recently published a report based on interviews with participants in those moves and a review of correspondence between them, showing that the former leadership figures are determined to reassert their influence in Syria, which remains gripped by tensions more than 13 years after the outbreak of civil war.

The newspaper said it had received credible information that some former figures in the Assad regime are working to build an armed insurgent movement from exile.

One of them is backing a lobbying campaign in Washington, estimated to cost millions of dollars, in the hope of securing control over Syria’s coastal region, the stronghold of the Alawite sect to which Assad and many of his senior military and security commanders belong.

Returning to the information cited by Syria TV, Iran has several objectives in fueling tensions in Syria. Chief among them is easing US pressure on Iran in the Iraqi arena along the Iranian border, where the US envoy to Baghdad is pressing Iraqi factions to disband.

Escalation in Syria would serve as a distraction and diversion from those efforts.

The report said pressure is also expected to intensify on Lebanon’s Hezbollah to complete the process of disarming, with the possibility that it could face new military operations, alongside a potential new Israeli attack on Iran.

Mobilizing remnants of the Assad regime and extending their presence in Syria would give Tehran and Hezbollah greater room to maneuver, rather than remaining confined to a defensive posture.

They could also be used in intelligence operations to track future Israeli movements preemptively.

 

Arab World

Somali President to Visit Türkiye After Israeli Recognition of Somaliland

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud delivers a joint press conference with the German Chancellor after talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud delivers a joint press conference with the German Chancellor after talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
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Somali President to Visit Türkiye After Israeli Recognition of Somaliland

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud delivers a joint press conference with the German Chancellor after talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, on November 5, 2024. (AFP)
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud delivers a joint press conference with the German Chancellor after talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, on November 5, 2024. (AFP)

Somalia's president is to visit Türkiye on Tuesday following Israel's recognition of the breakaway territory of Somaliland, Türkiye’s presidency said.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will hold talks "on the current situation in Somalia in the fight against terrorism, measures taken by the federal Somali government towards national unity and regional developments", Burhanettin Duran, head of the Turkish presidency's communications directorate, said on X.

Türkiye on Friday denounced Israel's recognition of Somaliland, a self-proclaimed republic, calling it "overt interference in Somalia's domestic affairs".

Somaliland declared independence in 1991.

The region has operated autonomously since then and possesses its own currency, army and police force.

It has generally experienced greater stability than Somalia, where Al-Shabaab militants periodically mount attacks in the capital Mogadishu.

Diplomatic isolation has been the norm -- until Israel's move to recognize it as a sovereign nation, which has been criticized by the African Union, Egypt, the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The European Union has insisted Somalia's sovereignty should be respected.

The recognition is the latest move by Israel that has angered Türkiye, with relations souring between the two countries in recent years.

Ankara has strongly condemned Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, and Israel has opposed Türkiye’s participation in a future stabilization force in the Palestinian territory.

Arab World

Iraq's Parliament Elects Al-Halbousi as Its New Speaker

The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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Iraq's Parliament Elects Al-Halbousi as Its New Speaker

The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraq's parliament on Monday elected a new speaker following overnight talks to break a political deadlock.

Haibet Al-Halbousi received 208 votes from the 309 legislators who attended, according to The AP news. He is a member of the Takadum, or Progress, party led by ousted speaker and relative Mohammed al-Halbousi. Twenty legislators did not attend the session.

Iraq held parliamentary elections in November but didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority. By convention, Iraq’s president is always Kurdish, while the more powerful prime minister is Shiite and the parliamentary speaker is Sunni.

The new speaker must address a much-debated bill that would have the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units become a formal security institution under the state. Iran-backed armed groups have growing political influence.

Al-Halbousi also must tackle Iraq’s mounting public debt of tens of billions of dollars as well as widespread corruption.

Babel Governor Adnan Feyhan was elected first deputy speaker with 177 votes, a development that might concern Washington. Feyhan is a member of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, a US-sanctioned, Iran-backed group with an armed wing led by Qais al-Khazali, also sanctioned by Washington.