Lebanon Mourns Jean Obeid, a Man of Wisdom, Diplomacy

Former Minister and MP Jean Obeid passed away on Monday at the age of 82. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Former Minister and MP Jean Obeid passed away on Monday at the age of 82. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Lebanon Mourns Jean Obeid, a Man of Wisdom, Diplomacy

Former Minister and MP Jean Obeid passed away on Monday at the age of 82. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Former Minister and MP Jean Obeid passed away on Monday at the age of 82. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Lebanon mourned the passing away of former Minister and MP Jean Obeid, who died on Monday at the age of 82, due to health complications caused by COVID-19.

Politicians and figures from various political blocs and parties hailed Obeid’s wisdom and mediation role that he assumed since the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war.

President Michel Aoun described Obeid as a man of a wise and generous journey, at the political and national levels. He also praised his role in the political life, as deputy and minister, and the national stances he took during his career.

Speaker Nabih Berri mourned the former minister, saying in a statement: “With great sadness and sorrow, Lebanon and the House of Parliament have lost a national legislative figure who devoted his life working relentlessly to preserve Lebanon, the nation and the message.”

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said that with the departure of Obeid, the country has lost “a noble man who enriched political life with his wisdom and culture, sincere patriotism, generous morals and vitality in inventing ideas that protect Lebanon and coexistence.”

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, for his part, said: “My friend Jean Obeid passed away peacefully, just as he lived for years, torn up over the situation in Lebanon.”

“Late Jean Obeid was a symbol of moderation and coexistence,” Diab stressed, adding that Lebanon will miss “a great intellectual, who was well-versed in religion, politics, Arabism and history.”

The head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, described Obeid as “the last of the wise men to depart from Lebanon – a country that is mired in savagery, assassinations, and the three obstructing forces of ignorance, hatred and local and regional obscurantism.”

“The patriotic and Arab man with dignity and morals is gone. He considered that a person has no value away from the love of Christ and the justice of the Prophet. Beloved Jean Obeid, a friend of Kamal Jumblatt and Palestine, has passed away,” he added.



Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 30 Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 30 Palestinians in Gaza, Medics Say

A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)
A body arrives at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 31 October 2024. (EPA)

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 30 Palestinians since Monday night, Palestinian media and medics said on Tuesday, as the Israeli army tightened its siege on northern areas of the enclave.

An airstrike damaged two houses in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, where the army has carried out new operations since Oct. 5, and killed at least 20 people late on Monday, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA and Hamas media said.

The Gaza health ministry did not immediately confirm the toll. Four other people were killed in the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda around midnight on Monday, medics said.

Palestinian health officials said six people had also been killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City and Deir Al-Balah in the central area of the narrow enclave.

The Israeli military said, without giving details, that its forces had "eliminated terrorists" in the central Gaza Strip and Jabalia area. Israeli troops had also located weapons and explosives over the past day in the southern Rafah area, where "terrorist infrastructure sites" had been eliminated, it said.

Palestinians said the new attacks and Israeli orders for people to evacuate were aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, the authorities in Gaza say, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

The war began after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.