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Plan to Secure Needs of Lebanese Expatriates

Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti. NNA file photo
Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti. NNA file photo
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Plan to Secure Needs of Lebanese Expatriates

Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti. NNA file photo
Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti. NNA file photo

Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti has been seeking to find solutions to the Lebanese expatriates, mostly students, who couldn’t return to Lebanon before the closure of Rafik Hariri International Airport as part of the measures announced by the authorities to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

A large number of expatriates, particularly those living in Dubai, Italy and Turkey, have resorted to social media to plead with the authorities to bring them back home or facilitate bank transfers so that their families could send them their allowances.

Lebanese banks have been enforcing harsh and informal capital controls on money transfers and withdrawals since October.

The social media campaign has embarrassed ambassadors and consulates who have been accused of failing to fulfill their responsibilities.

Since March 19, Lebanon has been under lockdown and its land borders, seaports and airport are shut down until April 12.

Hitti held this week extensive meetings with several Foreign Ministry committees to tackle the problem of expatriates wishing to return home, and the means to secure bank transfers abroad or increase the limits for USD cash withdrawals from ATMs.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Hitti’s plan was sent to the cabinet, which decided to form a committee representing the foreign, finance, health and information ministries to discuss their next steps.

Lebanese expatriates are mainly based in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Many of them were not allowed to return home after failing to take the required tests for the coronavirus.

On Thursday, Hitti told MTV that Lebanese stuck abroad will only be allowed to return on special fights if their tests for the coronavirus come negative.

In its daily report on the COVID-19 disease, the Lebanese health ministry said Friday that the number of laboratory-confirmed cases at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital and other accredited university hospital laboratories, in addition to private laboratories, in the past 24 hours has reached 391, marking an increase of 23 cases.

It said a coronavirus patient in his eighties, suffering from chronic diseases, was pronounced dead at the Saint George University Hospital.

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Arab World

French Judges Probe War Crimes Complaint against Israeli Army in Lebanon

File: Israeli heavy machinery bulldozes houses in Mansouri, as seen from Hinniyeh, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)
File: Israeli heavy machinery bulldozes houses in Mansouri, as seen from Hinniyeh, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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French Judges Probe War Crimes Complaint against Israeli Army in Lebanon

File: Israeli heavy machinery bulldozes houses in Mansouri, as seen from Hinniyeh, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)
File: Israeli heavy machinery bulldozes houses in Mansouri, as seen from Hinniyeh, Southern Lebanon, September 19, 2026. (Reuters)

France has opened a judicial investigation into a war crimes complaint over an Israeli strike on a residential building in Lebanon, a lawyer told AFP on Tuesday.

French-Lebanese artist Ali Cherri, whose parents were killed in the Beirut strike in 2024, filed the complaint as a civil party this year with the International Federation for Human Rights, Cherri's lawyer Clemence Bectarte explained.

The crimes against humanity unit of the Paris Judicial Court has appointed two investigating judges to the case, she added, hailing the move as "a first".

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian militants Hamas, opened a front against neighboring Israel at the start of the Gaza war after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

The hostilities, which escalated into open war in September 2024, have left more than 4,000 dead in Lebanon and forced more than a million people to flee.

Seven civilians, including Cherri's father and mother, aged 87 and 77, were killed in the bombing of their 12-storey apartment building in central Beirut on November 26, 2024, according to the complaint seen by AFP. Three floors were destroyed.

The strike occurred "just a few hours before the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect," the complaint stated, citing detailed research by Amnesty International and Forensic Architecture into the incident.

AFP has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

Cherri told AFP he had taken legal action "for the dignity of all civilian victims".

"For nearly two years, I have been fighting... to ensure that the Israeli bombing that killed my parents and five other civilians does not go unpunished," he said.

"What happened to my parents is not an isolated case... I hope this investigation will help break the impunity enjoyed by Israeli officials responsible for attacks against civilians in Lebanon and Palestine," he added.

- Several investigations underway -

While the judicial investigation marks a first over alleged war crimes by Israeli forces in Lebanon, other cases are pending.

French-Lebanese man Mohamad H., represented by lawyer Emmanuel Daoud, has sought action after losing his mother, sister, and two nephews in strikes on the southern city of Tyre during the night of April 16-17.

In another case, a French entrepreneur born in Lebanon has accused the Israeli army of uprooting 600-century-old olive trees belonging to his family in a village in southern Lebanon.

France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT), which handles war crimes, has opened an investigation into allegations of torture and war crimes related to the Israeli forces' interception of humanitarian flotillas bound for Gaza in 2025 and 2026.

The PNAT also asked a Paris judge to open a war crimes investigation into the deaths of two French children in an Israeli bombing in Gaza in October 2023, while ruling out charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, according to sources close to the case.

Arab World

Sudan Files Complaint Against Ethiopia at UN Security Council Over Drone Attacks

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meets Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem in New York on September 24 (UN). 
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meets Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem in New York on September 24 (UN). 
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Sudan Files Complaint Against Ethiopia at UN Security Council Over Drone Attacks

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meets Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem in New York on September 24 (UN). 
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meets Sudanese Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem in New York on September 24 (UN). 

Sudan has filed complaints against Ethiopia with the UN Security Council and the African Union Peace and Security Council over what Khartoum described as attacks on civilian facilities by drones launched from Ethiopian territory, according to a statement from the Sudanese Foreign Ministry.

Khartoum accuses Addis Ababa of siding with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting the Sudanese army for more than three years, leaving the country divided into areas controlled by the rival forces.

Ethiopia, for its part, accuses Sudan of supporting rebels in its Tigray region.

The attacks exchanged between the two sides have fueled unprecedented tensions between the neighboring countries, raising fears that Sudan’s war could spill across its borders.

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry declared that “the terrorist militia’s use of Ethiopian territory to target Sudanese territory constitutes a hostile act that places Ethiopia before international law.”

Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, headed by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, had previously reported that more than 180 drones launched from Ethiopian territory had attacked Sudan this year.

According to a council report, the attacks killed or wounded around 500 civilians, striking residential areas, hospitals, power stations and fuel facilities.

Both sides in Sudan’s war rely heavily on drones, with direct confrontations declining as aerial attacks intensify in the country’s west and south.

The United Nations has warned of an increase in drone attacks, which have killed more than 1,100 people since the beginning of the year, including more than 300 in the past month alone.

The war, now in its fourth year, has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions within Sudan and beyond its borders, while famine has spread across several areas.

Recent attacks on power stations in army-controlled areas have caused widespread electricity outages in Khartoum, Al-Jazira, White Nile and Gedaref states.

Reports indicated that around 15 power stations were targeted between October 20 and November 1, while the Emergency Lawyers group announced on Sunday that 15 stations had been targeted in October alone.

Arab World

Lebanese Army Rejects Direct Coordination with Israel Before Withdrawal from South

The entrance to the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in South Lebanon as the Lebanese Army deployed following the withdrawal of Israeli forces on July 21, 2026. (Reuters)
The entrance to the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in South Lebanon as the Lebanese Army deployed following the withdrawal of Israeli forces on July 21, 2026. (Reuters)
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Lebanese Army Rejects Direct Coordination with Israel Before Withdrawal from South

The entrance to the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in South Lebanon as the Lebanese Army deployed following the withdrawal of Israeli forces on July 21, 2026. (Reuters)
The entrance to the village of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh in South Lebanon as the Lebanese Army deployed following the withdrawal of Israeli forces on July 21, 2026. (Reuters)

The Lebanese Army has rejected Israeli demands for direct military coordination while Israeli forces continue to occupy Lebanese territory, fearing the move could undermine negotiations and draw the military into domestic political disputes.

The army wants to preserve the trust it has built with communities in South Lebanon, even as it cracks down on gunmen and weapons traffickers and expands its deployment in areas outside Israeli control.

Washington has conveyed Israel’s demand for direct coordination between the two armies, which would replace the existing US-mediated mechanism, the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon (MCG4L).

The group oversees implementation of the “framework agreement”, coordination arrangements and assistance with military deployments, beginning in designated pilot areas.

Israel repeated its demand during the eighth round of military-only talks in Tampa, Florida.

President Joseph Aoun backs the army’s refusal. Visitors to the president told Asharq Al-Awsat that he had personally instructed the military not to establish direct contact with Israeli forces.

“It is still far too early to discuss such a step,” Aoun told his visitors. “Under the current circumstances, direct communication is impossible while the Israeli army continues to occupy our territory and attack it every day.”

Indirect coordination

Sources familiar with contacts between the army and Lebanon’s political leadership explained that the military insists coordination with Israel remain indirect, either through the US military or the United Nations, as under previous UN-chaired tripartite and five-party committees.

The army wants an international witness to any discussions, particularly after what the sources described as negative experiences with Israel.

They cited Israel’s refusal to acknowledge the Lebanese Army’s progress in implementing the first phase of the government’s plan to bring weapons under exclusive state control south of the Litani River before fighting resumed on March 2.

Political and domestic concerns

The army’s position also reflects Israel’s continued occupation of Lebanese territory and its refusal to withdraw, halt attacks or offer political concessions that could strengthen Beirut’s negotiating position, according to the sources.

They stressed that the military does not oppose negotiations and has participated in US-mediated talks in Rome and the United States under the framework agreement.

But the army is determined to avoid becoming a target of domestic political disputes over direct negotiations with Israel.

“The military wants to preserve its standing as a national institution trusted across Lebanon’s political and sectarian divides,” the sources explained.

They warned that “direct coordination could expose the army to criticism whenever Israeli forces carried out attacks or violations, weakening public confidence in the institution.”

“Such divisions could also obstruct its mission to implement Cabinet decisions on bringing all weapons under state control and extending government authority across Lebanese territory.”

US praise

The sources reported that the Lebanese Army had faced no opposition from residents south of the Litani River while implementing the first phase of the government’s weapons-control plan.

It collected 2.7 million weapons and pieces of ammunition without coordinating with any domestic party, including Hezbollah, they noted.

The army also pursued and arrested gunmen, people who opened fire and those transporting weapons, while maintaining local support.

US Central Command praised its operations and recognized the difficulties of working in heavily damaged areas, according to the sources.

These included clearing roads, restoring basic living conditions and helping residents return to their villages, particularly in designated pilot areas.

The sources highlighted US military support for the army’s civil-military operations, which have enabled it to carry out its mission without confrontation with local communities.