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Report: Israel's West Bank Settlement Activity Surged in 2019

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020 photo, a view of the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Efraim on the hills of the Jordan Valley. An Israeli watchdog group tells The Associated Press that Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank surged ahead in 2019, maintaining a rapid pace that has drawn strength from the friendly policies of the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020 photo, a view of the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Efraim on the hills of the Jordan Valley. An Israeli watchdog group tells The Associated Press that Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank surged ahead in 2019, maintaining a rapid pace that has drawn strength from the friendly policies of the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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Report: Israel's West Bank Settlement Activity Surged in 2019

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020 photo, a view of the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Efraim on the hills of the Jordan Valley. An Israeli watchdog group tells The Associated Press that Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank surged ahead in 2019, maintaining a rapid pace that has drawn strength from the friendly policies of the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020 photo, a view of the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Efraim on the hills of the Jordan Valley. An Israeli watchdog group tells The Associated Press that Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank surged ahead in 2019, maintaining a rapid pace that has drawn strength from the friendly policies of the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Peace Now, a monitoring group opposing Israeli settlements, said on Tuesday that the West Bank saw a surge in settlements' construction in 2019.

The watchdog group released a report during which it highlighted the rise in Israel's average annual construction rate to 25%.

It attributed the surge in settlements' action to the lenient policy of US President Donald Trump since he took office in 2017.

"In my opinion, they´re trying to take advantage of the window of opportunity that they have under the Trump administration, knowing that it might change in a few months," said Hagit Ofran, a researcher for the group.

"There was no such supportive administration for the settlements previously, ever."

Most of the world considers the West Bank, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, to be occupied territory and Israeli settlements illegal obstacles to peace, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The Palestinians, with wide international backing, seek all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem, also captured in 1967, as parts of a future independent state.

With nearly 500,000 settlers now living in the West Bank, and over 220,000 more in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians say the chances of establishing a state in those territories are quickly dwindling.

Last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government approved plans to build thousands of new homes, laying the groundwork for a sharp spike in construction in the coming years. That included an explosion in plans for new settlement projects approved early this year.

According to the Peace Now figures, Israel began construction on 1,917 new homes in the West Bank last year. That marked a slight dip from 2,100 construction starts in 2018. But overall, Israel has begun construction on an average of 2,267 homes per year since Trump took office, compared to an annual average of 1,807 units during the Obama administration.

That new annual construction could house roughly an addition 9,000 people per year in settlements, based on Peace Now's estimate of four people per a household.

According to AP, Peace Now gathers its data from official Israeli sources and by conducting aerial photography of settlements.

For his part, Oded Revivi, mayor of the settlement of Efrat and the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha settler council, said it was "no secret" that the Trump administration has been more tolerant of construction.

"If we still have the same players, Netanyahu and Trump, I predict the figures you will see in 2020, or more accurately 2021, will actually be higher than 2019," he said.

Netanyahu, fighting for his political life, took a number of pro-settlement steps while campaigning for re-election early this year.

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Arab World

Head of Arab World Institute in Paris Resigns over Epstein-linked tax Fraud Probe

(FILES) France's former culture minister and president of Paris's famed Arab World Institute (AWI), Jack Lang, poses on January 28, 2013 in Paris. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP)
(FILES) France's former culture minister and president of Paris's famed Arab World Institute (AWI), Jack Lang, poses on January 28, 2013 in Paris. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP)
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Head of Arab World Institute in Paris Resigns over Epstein-linked tax Fraud Probe

(FILES) France's former culture minister and president of Paris's famed Arab World Institute (AWI), Jack Lang, poses on January 28, 2013 in Paris. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP)
(FILES) France's former culture minister and president of Paris's famed Arab World Institute (AWI), Jack Lang, poses on January 28, 2013 in Paris. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP)

France’s former Culture Minister Jack Lang has resigned as head of a Paris cultural center over alleged past financial links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that prompted a tax investigation.

Lang was summoned to appear at the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the Arab World Institute, on Sunday, but he submitted his resignation.

He is the highest-profile figure in France impacted by the release of Epstein files on Jan. 30 by the US Department of Justice, known for his role as a culture minister under Socialist President François Mitterrand in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Foreign Ministry confirmed his resignation Saturday evening.

The financial prosecutors' office said it had opened an investigation into Lang and his daughter, Caroline, over alleged “aggravated tax fraud laundering.”

French investigative news website Mediapart reported last week on alleged financial and business ties between the Lang family and Jeffrey Epstein through an offshore company based in the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea.

Jack Lang's name was mentioned more than 600 times in the Epstein files, showing intermittent correspondence between 2012 and 2019. His daughter was also in the released files.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has “taken note” of Lang's resignation and began the process to look for his successor, the foreign ministry said.
Lang headed the Arab World Institute since 2013.

Arab World

Lebanon PM Pledges Reconstruction on Visit to Ruined Border Towns

This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
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Lebanon PM Pledges Reconstruction on Visit to Ruined Border Towns

This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam visited heavily damaged towns near the Israeli border on Saturday, pledging reconstruction.

It was his first trip to the southern border area since the army said it finished disarming Hezbollah there, in January.

Swathes of south Lebanon's border areas remain in ruins and largely deserted more than a year after a US-brokered November 2024 ceasefire sought to end hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

Lebanon's government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army last month said it had completed the first phase of its plan to do so, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border about 30 kilometers (20 miles) further south.

Visiting Tayr Harfa, around three kilometers from the border, and nearby Yarine, Salam said frontier towns and villages had suffered "a true catastrophe".

He vowed authorities would begin key projects including restoring roads, communications networks and water in the two towns.

Locals gathered on the rubble of buildings to greet Salam and the delegation of accompanying officials in nearby Dhayra, some waving Lebanese flags.

In a meeting in Bint Jbeil, further east, with officials including lawmakers from Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement, Salam said authorities would "rehabilitate 32 kilometers of roads, reconnect the severed communications network, repair water infrastructure" and power lines in the district.

Last year, the World Bank announced it had approved $250 million to support Lebanon's post-war reconstruction, after estimating that it would cost around $11 billion in total.

Salam said funds including from the World Bank would be used for the reconstruction and rehabilitation projects.

The second phase of the government's disarmament plan for Hezbollah concerns the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around 40 kilometers south of Beirut.

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.

Despite the truce, Israel has kept up regular strikes on what it usually says are Hezbollah targets and maintains troops in five south Lebanon areas.

Lebanese officials have accused Israel of seeking to prevent reconstruction in the heavily damaged south with repeated strikes on bulldozers, excavators and prefabricated houses.

Visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Friday said the reform of Lebanon's banking system needed to precede international funding for reconstruction efforts.

The French diplomat met Lebanon's army chief Rodolphe Haykal on Saturday, the military said.

Arab World

Over 2,200 ISIS Detainees Transferred to Iraq from Syria, Says Iraqi Official

One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)
One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)
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Over 2,200 ISIS Detainees Transferred to Iraq from Syria, Says Iraqi Official

One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)
One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)

Iraq has so far received 2,225 ISIS group detainees, whom the US military began transferring from Syria last month, an Iraqi official told AFP on Saturday.

They are among up to 7,000 ISIS detainees whose transfer from Syria to Iraq the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced last month, in a move it said was aimed at "ensuring that the terrorists remain in secure detention facilities".

Previously, they had been held in prisons and camps administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.

The announcement of the transfer plan last month came after US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack declared that the SDF's role in confronting ISIS had come to an end.

Saad Maan, head of the security information cell attached to the Iraqi prime minister's office, told AFP on Saturday that "Iraq has received 2,225 terrorists from the Syrian side by land and air, in coordination with the international coalition", which Washington has led since 2014 to fight IS.

He said they are being held in "strict, regular detention centers".

A Kurdish military source confirmed to AFP the "continued transfer of ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq under the protection of the international coalition".

On Saturday, an AFP photographer near the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria saw a US military convoy and 11 buses with tinted windows.

- Iraq calls for repatriation -

ISIS seized swathes of northern and western Iraq starting in 2014, until Iraqi forces, backed by the international coalition, managed to defeat it in 2017.

Iraq is still recovering from the severe abuses committed by the extremists.

In recent years, Iraqi courts have issued death and life sentences against those convicted of terrorism offences.

Thousands of Iraqis and foreign nationals convicted of membership in the group are incarcerated in Iraqi prisons.

On Monday, the Iraqi judiciary announced it had begun investigative procedures involving 1,387 detainees it received as part of the US military's operation.

In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency on Saturday, Maan said "the established principle is to try all those involved in crimes against Iraqis and those belonging to the terrorist ISIS organization before the competent Iraqi courts".

Among the detainees being transferred to Iraq are Syrians, Iraqis, Europeans and holders of other nationalities, according to Iraqi security sources.

Iraq is calling on the concerned countries to repatriate their citizens and ensure their prosecution.

Maan noted that "the process of handing over the terrorists to their countries will begin once the legal requirements are completed".