Omani FM Warns Against Military Confrontation in Strait of Hormuzhttps://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2135806/omani-fm-warns-against-military-confrontation-strait-hormuz
Omani FM Warns Against Military Confrontation in Strait of Hormuz
Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi (File photo: Reuters)
Oman works for easing of tension in the Arab Gulf region, however, a military confrontation in the region is not likely to happen now, announced Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi.
The Minister warned that a military confrontation is more likely to happen in the Strait of Hormuz than any other region in the Gulf, partially due to the increased number of military vessels.
In a dialogue session dedicated to addressing tension in the region on the sidelines of Munich Security Conference (MSC), Alawi said, “We keep contacts with the United States and Iran as part of our relations with the two countries. We feel that it is possible for the two to engage in dialogue. We work to ease tension in the region and we do not expect the occurrence of any military confrontation in the region at present.”
The Ministry’s official twitter account quoted Bin Alawi as saying: “Some have a right to feel anxious about the escalation of tension in the region,” adding that Iran is a “great country and a neighbour, and if we regulate our interests, that would give us a feeling of peace.”
Alawi pointed out that the massive presence of military vessels in the Strait might lead to the occurrence of any mistakes and increase tension. He called upon friends to consider the present risks to the security of navigation.
“There are a lot of military ships in the Hormuz (area) and our concern is there could be a mistake,” bin Alawi was quoted by Reuters.
The Strait of Hormuz is between Iran and Oman, with 33 km width at its narrowest point, and is the conduit for some 30 percent of all crude and other oil liquids traded by sea.
Friction between Iran and the West had led several nations to send task forces to guard shipping there, and Washington has blamed Tehran for attacks on international merchant vessels in or near the area, something Tehran denies.
Hezbollah’s Actions Raise Fears of Internal Escalation in Lebanonhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5331055-hezbollah%E2%80%99s-actions-raise-fears-internal-escalation-lebanon
Hezbollah’s Actions Raise Fears of Internal Escalation in Lebanon
A Lebanese army patrol in Beirut. (Lebanese Army)
Fears of renewed internal tensions are growing in Lebanon as Hezbollah steps up its confrontational rhetoric toward the authorities and its supporters take to the streets of Beirut and its southern suburbs.
Against a backdrop of regional upheaval and mounting pressure on Iran, the developments have raised questions about whether Hezbollah is seeking to challenge the government’s authority or preparing further moves at home in response to shifting regional dynamics.
Ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that while the possibility of escalation remained a concern, there was no indication that any such move was imminent. The sources insisted that security agencies would continue enforcing government decisions, regardless of Hezbollah’s objections, and ruled out concessions over recent security and judicial measures.
They described the Iran-backed group’s increasingly defiant statements, particularly over a seized explosives shipment last week, as a reaction to the authorities’ actions rather than a reason to reconsider them.
President Joseph Aoun is due to chair a meeting of security chiefs at the presidential palace Monday afternoon to review recent developments, including the explosives shipment.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, meanwhile, reaffirmed that lasting stability depends on extending state authority throughout Lebanon, even if gradually, through its own security forces. Decisions on war and peace, he stressed, must remain exclusively with the state and its constitutional institutions.
Salam contacted Army commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal and Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Raed Abdallah to commend the reinforced security presence across Greater Beirut following nighttime gatherings that had unsettled residents.
He also met Justice Minister Adel Nassar and Prosecutor General Rami al-Hajj to follow up on investigations into the explosives seized at Dahr al-Baidar and subsequent incidents, including efforts to arrest those involved in possessing or transporting illegal weapons.
He stressed that all action would be governed by the law.
The Lebanese army deployed at an entrance to Beirut's southern suburbs. (Lebanese Army)
Government refuses to back down
The government’s determination to retain exclusive control over weapons was echoed by Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi during the 52nd meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Iraq.
Raggi recalled the August 2025 decision to impose state monopoly over arms and extend state authority across the country.
He argued that sovereignty could not coexist with competing armed forces, nor could stability be achieved while decisions affecting the country were taken outside state institutions.
The increasingly tense atmosphere has also prompted warnings from Lebanese political figures.
MP Ibrahim Mneimneh suggested that the mobilization of Hezbollah supporters could be intended to prepare the ground for action at the right circumstances.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he argued that Hezbollah appeared to be seeking a return to the situation that prevailed before the government’s decisions on weapons monopoly, while demonstrating that those measures carried little practical weight.
He did not rule out a link to Iran’s regional calculations or the broader political and security arrangements taking shape in the region.
For Mneimneh, the decisive issue was how the state would respond to any challenge. Unless it seriously addressed weapons outside its control, he cautioned, “Lebanon would remain hostage to the same circumstances.”
He urged the authorities to begin implementing their decisions, particularly the pledge to keep Beirut free of weapons, describing it as an “essential step toward restoring state authority in the capital.”
Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Habchi, for his part, accused Hezbollah of invoking the threat of civil war to buy time.
“Any internal fighting at this stage would be disastrous for Hezbollah itself, calling for the government’s decisions to be implemented without ambiguity,” he urged.
A Hezbollah supporter raises the party's flag at a demonstration in Beirut's southern suburbs. (AFP)
Tensions on the ground
The Lebanese Army has deployed heavily in Beirut for several days, particularly around the southern suburbs and their entrances, amid concerns that Hezbollah supporters could stage further demonstrations.
The deployments coincide with ongoing investigations into the explosives seized at Dahr al-Baidar and a warehouse containing expired medicines.
On Friday evening, young men on motorcycles attempted to obstruct an Internal Security Forces patrol during a raid on the warehouse near the entrance to the southern suburbs. The army intervened, allowing the patrol to seal the premises.
Although Hezbollah denied any connection to the warehouse, reports alleged that a son of its secretary-general, Naim Qassem, was a partner in the business.
MP Paula Yacoubian repeated the allegation on Al Jadeed television Sunday, saying the other partner was the candidate backed by the Shiite political alliance for Lebanon’s pharmacists’ syndicate.
Qassem’s son denied involvement, saying the case was now in the hands of the relevant security and judicial authorities.
Hezbollah nevertheless protested the raid, insisting that operations in sensitive areas follow previously agreed coordination procedures - an apparent reference to arrangements that existed before the government’s recent decisions concerning its weapons.
The confrontation followed another dispute over a truck carrying around 780 kilograms of explosives seized by authorities at a Dahr al-Baidar checkpoint. Hezbollah acknowledged ownership of both the truck and its cargo, demanding their return and the release of those detained.
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah initially declared that the group “would not tolerate measures targeting it to satisfy US demands.”
On Sunday, he shifted responsibility for the mounting tensions onto the state, accusing the authorities of pushing Lebanon toward internal confrontation under American pressure.
He questioned who stood to benefit from such a confrontation and why the government appeared determined “to provoke tensions rather than defuse them.”
UN Agency Slashes Gaza Food Aid Over Funding, Warns Needs Persist https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5331047-un-agency-slashes-gaza-food-aid-over-funding-warns-needs-persist
A Palestinian man carries metal sheets past the ruins of buildings destroyed during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza City, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP)
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UN Agency Slashes Gaza Food Aid Over Funding, Warns Needs Persist
A Palestinian man carries metal sheets past the ruins of buildings destroyed during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza City, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP)
The World Food Program said Monday it would end monthly assistance to 500,000 people in Gaza due to a funding shortfall, despite acute needs in the war-battered Palestinian territory.
With the cutbacks, 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza -- still about half the population -- will be receiving either food or cash assistance each month from the UN agency, in reduced amounts.
The World Food Program said its efforts had mitigated the effects during a famine last year in Gaza -- a description of the situation disputed by Israel -- and warned that conditions had not improved to the point that it can take away aid.
"People are not safe. Airstrikes continue on a daily basis. People continue to be displaced," Shaun Hughes, the WFP country director, told AFP at the agency's office in east Jerusalem.
"Almost everybody remains without a permanent home to live in. And the humanitarian conditions are brutal," he said.
According to the latest assessments, 1.4 million people -- or two-thirds of Gaza's population -- are still "acutely food insecure" and need humanitarian assistance to survive, he said.
In August last year, the UN's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said that Gaza was suffering famine conditions. Israel, which has blockaded the territory and attacked it relentlessly since the unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on it by Hamas, described the finding as a lie.
The famine classification was lifted in December, two months after a US-brokered ceasefire was announced in Gaza. Israel has kept striking Gaza since then, vowing to kill anyone involved in the October 7 attack.
Since the ceasefire, the WFP has been able to step up assistance and had been reaching between 1.5 million and 1.8 million people every month.
"This has been a lifeline. But now, rather than being able to sustain and scale up that assistance, we're actually having to reduce it," Hughes said.
"And that's not because we don't have humanitarian access to deliver food; that's because we don't have funding."
- Less aid to each recipient -
In addition to reducing the number of people who receive rations, the WFP has been forced to shrink the content.
Families receiving food assistance will now get only one food parcel instead of two and a smaller bag of wheat flour, the WFP said in an operational note.
The 75,000 families who receive assistance in cash will see the amount reduced from 1,250 to 750 shekels ($400 to $240) per month.
The WFP is funded by governments as well as private donors. It has seen a sharp drop in resources, including after President Donald Trump returned to power in the United States and drastically slashed contributions to UN agencies as well as bilateral aid.
The agency says it needs about $450 million over the next six months for its operations in Gaza and the West Bank, but in 2026 it has only received about half the usual financing for the Palestinian territories.
In September, the agency also reduced by half the number of aid recipients in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, from 400,000 to 200,000.
"Now is not the time in the history of Palestine and Gaza to turn away from what is happening in Gaza," Hughes said.
The WFP says that conditions have moderately improved in Gaza but noted that needs could rise again with the onset of winter.
Israel has allowed more goods into Gaza under the terms of the Trump ceasefire but still imposes heavy restrictions, turning away shipments of anything that is seen as having potential military use -- a policy that has included blocking even prosthetic limbs, according to the United Nations.
Israel has ramped up longstanding criticism of the United Nations since the Gaza war, accusing the world body of bias and perpetuating dependency among Palestinians.
Israel Police Arrest Suspects Over Settler Attacks on US Journalist, European Diplomatshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5331019-israel-police-arrest-suspects-over-settler-attacks-us-journalist-european
Israeli settlers take part in a weekly tour in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Police Arrest Suspects Over Settler Attacks on US Journalist, European Diplomats
Israeli settlers take part in a weekly tour in Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, October 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli police said on Monday they had arrested 10 suspects as part of an investigation into violent incidents in the occupied-West Bank over the weekend, including separate attacks on a Washington Post photojournalist and European diplomats.
The arrests were made after calls from the United States, Israel's closest ally, to crack down on settler violence and for the perpetrators of the attack on the Washington Post photojournalist to be jailed. France, Belgium and Poland, whose diplomats were attacked, have also called on Israel to take action.
Police said the suspects were arrested in a pre-dawn operation on suspicion of involvement in acts of violence, violating a closed military zone order and illegal construction.
The suspects, who police have not identified, have been taken into custody for questioning. Israel's Army Radio reported that the suspects were Israeli citizens.
Prosecutions of Israeli settlers are rare.
A video released by the police of the pre-dawn operation appeared to show two slingshots, which are used to hurl stones, being found at one property. Police, military forces and the Shin Bet domestic security service took part in the operation.
Referring to the West Bank by its biblical name "Judea and Samaria", Israeli police commissioner Daniel Levy said the law applies to everyone, "regardless of identity or affiliation".
"The Israel Police is committed to professional, equal, and impartial law enforcement, based on evidence and in accordance with the law," he said in a statement announcing the arrests.
MASKED SETTLERS
Masked Israeli settlers were filmed on Friday assaulting Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, a US citizen, who was covering a Palestinian olive harvest in the West Bank. Levine was hospitalized after sustaining a number of injuries in the attack and underwent surgery on a finger.
On Saturday, French, Belgian and Polish diplomats as well as a French mayor were attacked by masked settlers in another part of the West Bank. A Belgian diplomatic vehicle was also damaged.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and the military have blamed "Israeli rioters" for the attack on the diplomats.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose religious-nationalist coalition is projected to lose its governing majority at the October 27 election, has been more circumspect.
He has said the diplomats entered a "sensitive area with a history of confrontations" and without coordinating with the military. He has also said that the facts of the attack on Levine were "unclear". Levine has said she was attacked by settlers and Israel's President Isaac Herzog has apologized.
Settler attacks on the Palestinians are surging, with at least 170 since September 27, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group. Journalists, Israeli activists and foreign observers have also been targeted.
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