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Shiite Clerics Reject Call for Lebanon’s Neutrality, Qabalan Calls it 'Treason'

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai greets his audience at the patriarchate in Bkerki, north of Beirut, March 15, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Wadih Shlink
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai greets his audience at the patriarchate in Bkerki, north of Beirut, March 15, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Wadih Shlink
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Shiite Clerics Reject Call for Lebanon’s Neutrality, Qabalan Calls it 'Treason'

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai greets his audience at the patriarchate in Bkerki, north of Beirut, March 15, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Wadih Shlink
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai greets his audience at the patriarchate in Bkerki, north of Beirut, March 15, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Wadih Shlink

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros al-Rai urged the Lebanese top authorities to affirm Lebanon’s neutrality “for the sake of the country and the best of all its components.”

“The Lebanese do not want any party to unilaterally decide the fate of Lebanon, along with its people, territory, border, identity, coexistence formula, system, economy, culture and civilization,” Rai said during last Sunday Mass’ sermon.

“I issued the appeal… to the international community to declare Lebanon’s neutrality for the sake of its own good and the good of all its components,” he added.

However, a number of Shiite clerics voiced their rejection to calls for Lebanon’s neutrality and dissociation from regional conflicts.

While attention turns to the sermon of al-Rai this Sunday, ministerial sources close to President Michel Aoun position said that the latter considers that Lebanon’s neutral stance required a national consensus.

Such issues constitute contentious materials and necessitate dialogue and national consensus, the sources said, voicing Aoun’s position.

While Lebanese political parties, such as the Lebanese Forces, Al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Kataeb, have expressed full support to the stances of the Maronite patriarch, Hezbollah and Amal Movement are avoiding to comment on the matter.

Shiite parliamentary sources, however, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “There is no neutrality in the conflict with Israel… and there is no discussion over it.”

Shiite clerics, from various religious institutions, have expressed rejection of neutrality in the existing political discourse. The deputy head of the Supreme Shiite Islamic Council, Sheikh Ali Al-Khatib, said on Thursday: “The talk about a neutral position of the oppressed towards the oppressor does not make sense, even if it was made by good faith, as it comes at a time of increasing pressure on Lebanon.”

Jaafari Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan said that neutrality “in this battle is forbidden and considered as treason.”

“There is no neutrality in the war for the homeland; no neutrality in the interests of the country, no neutrality in the battle of truth, no neutrality in the battle of independence and sovereignty… nor in the face of the financial blockade… the crocodiles of the internal and external monetary financial game,” he said.

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Arab World

One Syrian Security Member Killed in ISIS Attack in Raqqa

Syrian Internal Security vehicles patrol near Ain al-Arab in eastern Aleppo province after authorities said 20 suspects were arrested in connection with attacks on security checkpoints and facilities. (SANA file)
Syrian Internal Security vehicles patrol near Ain al-Arab in eastern Aleppo province after authorities said 20 suspects were arrested in connection with attacks on security checkpoints and facilities. (SANA file)
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One Syrian Security Member Killed in ISIS Attack in Raqqa

Syrian Internal Security vehicles patrol near Ain al-Arab in eastern Aleppo province after authorities said 20 suspects were arrested in connection with attacks on security checkpoints and facilities. (SANA file)
Syrian Internal Security vehicles patrol near Ain al-Arab in eastern Aleppo province after authorities said 20 suspects were arrested in connection with attacks on security checkpoints and facilities. (SANA file)

Syria's Interior Ministry said on Monday that one of its security personnel had been killed as its forces thwarted an attack by two ISIS militants on a command headquarters of the country's internal security forces in the city of Raqqa.

According to a ministry statement, two suicide attackers attempted to storm the facility. Security ‌personnel engaged the pair, ‌neutralizing one of them, ‌while ⁠the second detonated ⁠an explosive vest after being surrounded.

Three security personnel were also wounded in the attack, the statement added.

Earlier, the Syrian state news agency had cited the Interior Ministry's spokesperson as saying that preliminary information indicated at least ⁠two ministry personnel were killed in ‌a suicide attack on ‌a ministry camp in Raqqa.

In February, ISIS ‌declared a new phase of operations against ‌the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa and has since carried out a spate of attacks, including one that killed four Syrian security personnel near ‌Raqqa.

Last year, Sharaa's government joined the US-led coalition fighting ISIS.

At the peak of its power during the Syrian civil war a decade ago, ISIS controlled around a quarter or more of Syria, before being driven out of the territory by a US-led coalition and other foes.

Arab World

Dutch Court Jails ‘Assad Torturer’ for 26 Years for Torture, Rape

A demonstrator stands on a photograph of President Bashar al-Assad during a protest outside the Syrian consulate in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Dec. 8, 2024. (Getty Images/AFP)
A demonstrator stands on a photograph of President Bashar al-Assad during a protest outside the Syrian consulate in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Dec. 8, 2024. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Dutch Court Jails ‘Assad Torturer’ for 26 Years for Torture, Rape

A demonstrator stands on a photograph of President Bashar al-Assad during a protest outside the Syrian consulate in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Dec. 8, 2024. (Getty Images/AFP)
A demonstrator stands on a photograph of President Bashar al-Assad during a protest outside the Syrian consulate in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Dec. 8, 2024. (Getty Images/AFP)

A Dutch court Monday sentenced a Syrian man to 26 years in jail for the torture and rape of opponents of former president Bashar al-Assad during the country's civil war.

The 58-year-old man, identified as Rafik A., was head of the interrogation unit of the National Defense Force (NDF) in the western Syrian city of Salamiyah in 2013 and 2014.

The paramilitary NDF violently suppressed dissent against the Assad regime and imprisoned and tortured opponents.

The court said victims were "handcuffed and blindfolded, beaten with various objects and kicked for prolonged periods, folded up inside a car tire, hung upside down, or electrocuted, often being forced to be naked."

A. was also found guilty of sexually abusing multiple victims and raping one of them, the court said.

"Time and again, the suspect created conditions of mortal terror, threat, pain, hopelessness and powerlessness," said the court in The Hague.

He was convicted of 19 counts of crimes against humanity against eight victims.

The court said the sentence was justified by "the exceptional gravity of the offences and the suffering of the victims".

It was the first time anyone had been tried in the Netherlands for sexual violence as a crime against humanity.

A. arrived in the Netherlands in 2021 and won temporary asylum, settling in the central town of Druten with his family.

Police arrested him shortly afterwards following a tip.

During his trial, A. denied the charges against him which he dismissed as a "conspiracy".

His lawyers said A. himself was tortured by militias and is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Several European countries are trying suspects from the Syrian civil war under the legal tool of universal jurisdiction, allowing judges to rule on alleged serious crimes committed abroad.

Similar cases have been heard in France, Germany, Sweden, Belgium and Austria.

Arab World

Palestinian Leader Abbas Announces Presidential Election in Early 2027

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (AFP file photo)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (AFP file photo)
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Palestinian Leader Abbas Announces Presidential Election in Early 2027

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (AFP file photo)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (AFP file photo)

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has issued a decree calling for presidential elections in early 2027 and for legislative elections to be held in November of this year, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, without saying if he would run. 

Abbas, 90, won the last Palestinian presidential election in 2005 with a mandate of four years, meaning his term should have expired in 2009. 

However his term was extended and no presidential election has been held since, with Abbas ruling by presidential decrees, courting criticism at home and abroad. 

"President Mahmoud Abbas announced that presidential elections will be held in early 2027," Wafa said, citing a statement from the presidency. 

The nonagenarian leader's decree also calls for legislative elections to take place in November of this year, it added. 

In his decree, Abbas emphasized he was "fully prepared to organize the Palestinian National Council elections scheduled for November, which include the general legislative elections in the homeland and elections abroad". 

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) is the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which has over 700 members from the Palestinian territories and abroad. 

The last legislative elections in the Palestinian territories were held in 2006, when Hamas won, defeating Abbas' Fatah party, which had previously dominated Palestinian politics. 

As a result, the Palestinian Legislative Council, which is the parliament of Abbas' Palestinian Authority, has not met since 2007. 

Holding elections is part of the reforms demanded by the international community, which supports the Palestinian Authority financially. 

Palestinian legal researcher Mahmud Al-Afranji said there was both political will and international pressure on the Palestinian Authority to hold the elections. 

But he told AFP that a lack of guarantees that elections would be held in occupied east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip remained "an obstacle to holding the legislative elections". 

In 2021, Abbas announced legislative and presidential elections to be held in May and July of that year respectively. 

They were then postponed indefinitely due to the absence of guarantees that voting could take place in east Jerusalem, which Israel has occupied since 1967. 

In April, Palestinians went to the polls to elect municipal council heads in the occupied West Bank, in the first vote since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023.