Arab League Slams US State Dept over Removal of 'Palestine' From Its Site

A general view of the Arab League delegates meeting in Cairo, Egypt December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A general view of the Arab League delegates meeting in Cairo, Egypt December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
TT

Arab League Slams US State Dept over Removal of 'Palestine' From Its Site

A general view of the Arab League delegates meeting in Cairo, Egypt December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A general view of the Arab League delegates meeting in Cairo, Egypt December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

The Arab League denounced the US State Department’s deletion from its website, of the name of the occupied Palestinian territories or the Palestinian Authority from the list of Middle East countries.

The League said the move was “a new hostile action that threatens to liquidate the Palestinian Cause.”

In a statement, Saeed Abu Ali, Arab League Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories, stressed that this [US] decision was strongly rejected by Arab countries as well as by the overwhelming majority of countries around the world, which expressed on more than one occasion their support for the Palestinian rights and adherence to the principles of law and international legitimacy.

This US measure will be added to the series of previous isolating moves, which have been rejected internationally, including by the Arab world, according to the League official.

He went on to say that the US decision would not affect “the determination and steadfastness of the Palestinian people and leadership in their just struggle to achieve their independence and complete the building of their state with the support of the Arab nation.”



Israel Carries Out More Airstrikes Deep inside Lebanon

File photo: This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Adaisseh during Israeli bombardment on January 22, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. (AFP)
File photo: This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Adaisseh during Israeli bombardment on January 22, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. (AFP)
TT

Israel Carries Out More Airstrikes Deep inside Lebanon

File photo: This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Adaisseh during Israeli bombardment on January 22, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. (AFP)
File photo: This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Adaisseh during Israeli bombardment on January 22, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. (AFP)

Israeli warplanes carried three airstrikes deep into eastern Lebanon on Friday for the second time since a ceasefire ended the war between Hezbollah and Israel a month ago, Lebanon’s state-run news agency said.
No casualties were reported in the strikes on the Bekaa Valley town of Qousaya and the target remained unclear. The Israeli military said its air force struck “infrastructure used to smuggle weapons via Syria” to Hezbollah near the Janta crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border, about 9 kilometers (5 miles) north of Qousaya. Israel accused Hezbollah’s Unit 4400 of overseeing smuggling operations from Iran through Syria, adding that it had killed the unit’s commander in early October, reported The Associated Press.
Since the ceasefire took effect on Nov. 27, the Israeli army has conducted near-daily operations in southern Lebanon, including shootings, house demolitions, excavations, tank shelling and airstrikes. These actions have killed at least 27 people, wounded more than 30 and destroyed residential buildings, including a mosque.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, said it has observed “concerning actions” by Israeli forces, including the destruction of homes and road closures.
On Thursday, the Lebanese army accused Israeli troops of breaching the ceasefire by encroaching into southern Lebanon. Israeli bulldozers erected dirt barricades to block roads in Wadi Al-Hujayr.
The Lebanese army later on Thursday said that following intervention by the ceasefire supervision committee, Israeli forces withdrew, and Lebanese soldiers removed the barriers to reopen the road in the area.
The US-brokered ceasefire, which ended the 14-month war, demands that Hezbollah and Israeli forces withdraw from southern Lebanon within 60 days, allowing Lebanese troops to gradually deploy south of the Litani River.