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Arab World

Jerusalem Tensions High as Thousands Head to Al-Aqsa after Clashes

A Palestinian man prays as Israeli police gather during clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid tension in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in Jerusalem's Old City, on Friday. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man prays as Israeli police gather during clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid tension in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in Jerusalem's Old City, on Friday. (Reuters)
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Jerusalem Tensions High as Thousands Head to Al-Aqsa after Clashes

A Palestinian man prays as Israeli police gather during clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid tension in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in Jerusalem's Old City, on Friday. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man prays as Israeli police gather during clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid tension in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, in Jerusalem's Old City, on Friday. (Reuters)

Israel said it was beefing up security forces on Saturday in anticipation of more confrontations with Palestinian protesters, a day after fierce clashes at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Tensions have mounted in the city, the occupied West Bank and Gaza throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, amid growing anger over the potential eviction of Palestinians from Jerusalem homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers.

Thousands of Palestinians were expected to return to Al-Aqsa Mosque after dark fell for the sacred Muslim night of Laylat al-Qadr.

Television footage showed buses of Muslim worshippers from Israeli Arab cities being stopped by police on the main highway to Jerusalem.

Word of the roadblock spread on social media, drawing hundreds of young men from nearby Arab villages and from Jerusalem.

Dozens drove their cars the wrong way down the now-empty Jerusalem-bound lanes, picking up fellow Muslims who had abandoned their own vehicles to start the uphill trek on foot.

Some chanted in Arabic: "With our souls and our blood, we will redeem you, Al-Aqsa!"

Police said it was stopping only those planning to take part in riots before the buses were allowed to proceed. Scuffles broke out and footage showed officers firing stun grenades.

On Friday, police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards rock-hurling Palestinian youths at the mosque in the walled Old City on the Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount plaza sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

At least 205 Palestinians and 18 Israeli officers were injured in Friday's confrontations, which drew international condemnations and calls for calm.

Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai said more officers were being deployed in Jerusalem on Saturday.

"The right to protest will be preserved, but riots will be answered firmly and with zero tolerance. I call on everyone to act responsibly and with restraint," Shabtai said in a statement.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that law and order would be maintained in Jerusalem as would the right to worship.

Clashes have erupted nightly in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah - a neighborhood where numerous Palestinian families face eviction in a long-running legal case.

The Israeli military said it was boosting troops in the West Bank and near the Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have sent incendiary balloons over the border, igniting brushfires in Israeli territory.

A military spokesman said extra forces there would largely be firefighting ones.

Call for border protests
Gaza groups issued a call for protests along the border with Israel. "We salute the ppl. of Al-Aqsa, who oppose the arrogance of the Zionists & we call on our ppl. in Palestine to support their brothers by all means," Moussa Abu Marzouk, a leader of the armed group Hamas that rules Gaza, said on Twitter.

Tension was expected to remain high over the next few days.

Israel's Supreme Court will hold a hearing on the Sheikh Jarrah evictions on Monday, the same day that Israel marks Jerusalem Day - its annual celebration of its capture of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East war.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel claims the entire city as its eternal, indivisible capital. Its annexation of the eastern section was not recognized internationally.

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Arab World

Building Collapse in Lebanon's Tripoli Kills 13, Search for Missing Continues

Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
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Building Collapse in Lebanon's Tripoli Kills 13, Search for Missing Continues

Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)

The death toll from the collapse of a residential building in the Lebanese city of Tripoli rose to 13, as rescue teams continued to search for missing people beneath the rubble, Lebanon's National News ‌Agency reported ‌on Monday. 

Rescue ‌workers ⁠in the ‌northern city's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood have also assisted nine survivors, while the search continued for others still believed to be trapped under the ⁠debris, NNA said. 

Officials said on ‌Sunday that two ‍adjoining ‍buildings had collapsed. 

Abdel Hamid Karameh, ‍head of Tripoli's municipal council, said he could not confirm how many people remained missing. Earlier, the head of Lebanon's civil defense rescue ⁠service said the two buildings were home to 22 residents, reported Reuters. 

A number of aging residential buildings have collapsed in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, in recent weeks, highlighting deteriorating infrastructure and years of neglect, state media reported, ‌citing municipal officials. 

 

Arab World

Salam Concludes Visit to South Lebanon: Region Must Return to State Authority

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (L) holds bouquets of flower as he stands next to the mayor of the heavily-damaged southern village of Kfar Shouba, near the border with Israel, during his visit on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (L) holds bouquets of flower as he stands next to the mayor of the heavily-damaged southern village of Kfar Shouba, near the border with Israel, during his visit on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Salam Concludes Visit to South Lebanon: Region Must Return to State Authority

Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (L) holds bouquets of flower as he stands next to the mayor of the heavily-damaged southern village of Kfar Shouba, near the border with Israel, during his visit on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam (L) holds bouquets of flower as he stands next to the mayor of the heavily-damaged southern village of Kfar Shouba, near the border with Israel, during his visit on February 8, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed on Sunday to work on rebuilding infrastructure in southern villages that were destroyed by Israel during its last war with Hezbollah.

On the second day of a tour of the South, he declared: “We want the region to return to the authority of the state.”

He was warmly received by the locals as he toured a number of border villages that were destroyed by Israel during the conflict. His visit included Kfar Kila, Marjeyoun, Kfar Shouba and Kfar Hamam. He kicked off his tour on Saturday by visiting Tyre and Bint Jbeil.

The visit went above the differences between the government and Hezbollah, which has long held sway over the South. Throughout the tour, Salam was greeted by representatives of the “Shiite duo” of Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement, as well as MPs from the Change bloc and others opposed to Hezbollah.

In Kfar Kila, the locals raised a banner in welcome of the PM, also offering him flowers and an olive branch. The town was the worst hit during the war with Israel, which destroyed nearly 90 percent of its buildings and its forces regularly carrying out incursions there.

Salam said the town was “suffering more than others because of the daily violations and its close proximity to the border.”

He added that its residents cannot return to their homes without the reconstruction of its infrastructure, which should kick off “within the coming weeks.”

“Our visit underlines that the state and all of its agencies stand by the ruined border villages,” he stressed.

“The government will continue to make Israel commit” to the ceasefire agreement, he vowed. “This does not mean that we will wait until its full withdrawal from occupied areas before working on rehabilitating infrastructure.”

Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil noted that the people cannot return to their town because it has been razed to the ground by Israel and is still coming under its attacks.

In Marjeyoun, Salam said the “state has long been absent from the South. Today, however, the army has been deployed and we want it to remain so that it can carry out its duties.”

“The state is not limited to the army, but includes laws, institutions, social welfare and services,” he went on to say.

Reconstruction in Marjeyoun will cover roads and electricity and water infrastructure. The process will take months, he revealed, adding: “The state is serious about restoring its authority.”

“We want this region to return to the fold of the state.”

MP Elias Jarade said the government “must regain the trust of the southerners. This begins with the state embracing and defending its people,” and protecting Lebanon’s sovereignty.

MP Firas Hamdan said the PM’s visit reflects his keenness on relations with the South.

Ali Murad, a candidate who ran against Hezbollah and Amal in Marjeyoun, said the warm welcome accorded to Salam demonstrates that the “state needs the South as much as the people of the South need the state.”

“We will always count on the state,” he vowed.

Hezbollah MP Hussein Jishi welcomed Salam’s visit, hoping “it would bolster the southerners’ trust in the state.”

Kataeb leader MP Sami Gemayel remarked that the warm welcome accorded to the PM proves that the people of the South “want the state and its sovereignty. They want legitimate institutions that impose their authority throughout Lebanon, without exception.”

Arab World

Three Dead After Flooding Hits Northwest Syria

A child watches as civil defense teams open flooded roads in Idlib. (SANA)
A child watches as civil defense teams open flooded roads in Idlib. (SANA)
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Three Dead After Flooding Hits Northwest Syria

A child watches as civil defense teams open flooded roads in Idlib. (SANA)
A child watches as civil defense teams open flooded roads in Idlib. (SANA)

Two children and a Syrian Red Crescent volunteer have died as a result of flooding in the country's northwest, state media said on Sunday.

The heavy rains in Syria's Idlib region and the coastal province of Latakia have also wreaked havoc in displacement camps, according to authorities, who have launched rescue operations and set up shelters in the areas.

State news agency SANA reported "the death of a Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer and the injury of four others as they carried out their humanitarian duties" in Latakia province.

The Syrian Red Crescent said in a statement that the "a mission vehicle veered into a valley", killing a female volunteer and injuring four others, as they went to rescue people stranded by flash floods.

"A fifth volunteer was injured while attempting to rescue a child trapped by the floodwaters," it added.

SANA said two children died on Saturday "due to heavy flooding that swept through the Ain Issa area" in the north of Latakia province.

Authorities said Sunday they were working to clear roads in displacement camps in flooded parts of Idlib province.

The emergencies and disaster management ministry said 14 displacement camps in part of Idlib province were affected, with tents swamped, belongings swept away and around 300 families directly impacted.

Around seven million people remain internally displaced in Syria, according to the United Nations refugee agency, some 1.4 million of them living in camps and sites in the country's northwest and northeast.

The December 2024 ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad after more than 13 years of civil war revived hopes for many to return home, but the destruction of housing and a lack of basic infrastructure in heavily damaged areas has been a major barrier.