Morocco, Israel Sign Cooperation Agreements

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (R) and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid signed cooperation agreements in Rabat on Wednesday FADEL SENNA AFP
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (R) and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid signed cooperation agreements in Rabat on Wednesday FADEL SENNA AFP
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Morocco, Israel Sign Cooperation Agreements

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (R) and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid signed cooperation agreements in Rabat on Wednesday FADEL SENNA AFP
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (R) and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid signed cooperation agreements in Rabat on Wednesday FADEL SENNA AFP

The foreign ministers of Morocco and Israel signed three accords on Wednesday during the first visit by a top official from the Jewish state since ties were normalized last year.

Nasser Bourita and his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid signed agreements on political consultations, aviation and culture.

Lapid told reporters the accords would "bring our countries innovation and opportunities for the benefit of our children -- and their children -- for years to come".

Israel and Morocco struck a deal last year after then US president Donald Trump recognized Morocco's contested sovereignty in Western Sahara.

"Today, we are restoring peace, restoring friendship," Lapid said, AFP reported.

Morocco was the fourth Arab state to establish ties with Israel last year after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

Bourita said that during his talks with Lapid, the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories was raised.

"King Mohammed VI insists on the need to break the current impasse and resume negotiations, as the only means of reaching a solution based on two states living side by side on the 1967 borders," Bourita said.

The monarch had reassured Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas after the normalization of ties that Morocco would continue to support the Palestinian cause.

"It is urgent that measures be taken today to restore confidence and maintain calm, to open a political horizon to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Bourita said.

Lapid said he preferred to focus on the normalization of ties between Israel and Arab countries.

"Something is happening in the region," he said.

On Thursday, Lapid will officially open Israel's diplomatic representation in the capital Rabat.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Lapid's visit "significant for Israel, Morocco, and the broader region".

"The United States will continue to work with Israel and Morocco to strengthen all aspects of our partnerships and create a more peaceful, secure, and prosperous future for all the people of the Middle East," Blinken said in a statement.

The American embassy in Rabat said that ties between the two countries generated "real benefits" for both sides including direct commercial flights and economic cooperation.

Before the Bourita-Lapid meeting, the Israeli delegation visited the royal mausoleum, where kings Hassan II and Mohammed V are buried.

Lapid is also expected to visit the Beth-El synagogue in Casablanca on his two-day visit, the Israeli foreign ministry said.

"Proud to represent Israel during this historic visit," Lapid wrote on Twitter, just after his flight operated by Israeli national airline El Al landed.

His visit comes a little over two weeks after direct flights were launched between Israel and Morocco.

Morocco and Israel maintained liaison offices in the 1990s, before closing them during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, that raged from 2000 to 2005.

Lapid's visit to Rabat follows a June trip to the United Arab Emirates, where he inaugurated the new Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi.

It comes just days before Israel is due to require all travelers returning from Morocco to quarantine following a review of the risks of Covid-19 infection.

Last December Israel and Morocco signed agreements on water, aviation and finance, when a delegation of Israeli officials arrived on a first direct flight between Rabat and Tel Aviv.

And in July, the two countries signed a cyber defense cooperation accord in Rabat.



UN Inquiry Finds Israeli Forces Shield Settlers during Attacks on Palestinians

Men attempt to extinguish a fire in a field in the Palestinian town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank on June 6, 2026, after a reported arson attack by Israeli settlers according to local officials. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Men attempt to extinguish a fire in a field in the Palestinian town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank on June 6, 2026, after a reported arson attack by Israeli settlers according to local officials. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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UN Inquiry Finds Israeli Forces Shield Settlers during Attacks on Palestinians

Men attempt to extinguish a fire in a field in the Palestinian town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank on June 6, 2026, after a reported arson attack by Israeli settlers according to local officials. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Men attempt to extinguish a fire in a field in the Palestinian town of Huwara in the occupied West Bank on June 6, 2026, after a reported arson attack by Israeli settlers according to local officials. (Photo by JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured and displaced Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli security forces provide protection to settlers, a UN inquiry said on Tuesday.

The report by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that Israeli authorities have enabled settler attacks through financial and military support, in a climate of impunity fostered by judicial and law-enforcement bodies, Reuters said.

It said attacks on Palestinian villages and agricultural land have surged since 2023, rising by 130%, including incidents involving groups of masked assailants. Israeli security forces have routinely accompanied settlers and acted as a shield for the violence, the report said.

The Israeli Prime Minister Office and military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel rejects charges that its troops shield settlers during attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, saying ‌such actions are rogue ‌incidents that violate military protocol and are investigated. Israeli and Palestinian rights groups say ‌such investigations ⁠rarely lead to ⁠punishment.

Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live among millions of Palestinians on land Israel captured in a 1967 war, where Palestinians hope to build a state. Most countries and the UN's top court consider such settlements a violation of international law, which Israel disputes citing historical and biblical ties to the land.

At least seven Palestinians were killed and 832 injured last year, with violence continuing into 2026 in the form of near-daily attacks, according to the United Nations.

“The increasing participation of Israeli security forces in settler attacks amounts to a de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers,” the report found.

It said such violence has been ⁠used to advance state policy, including the unlawful occupation, displacement of Palestinians and the annexation ‌of Palestinian territory.

The Commission documented cases of assaults, abductions and abuse of Palestinian ‌children by settlers. In one incident on April 19, 2025, a 12-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother were abducted at knifepoint, dragged ‌to an olive grove and tied to a tree with plastic restraints until their family intervened. In July 2024, the ‌International Court of Justice issued a non-binding advisory opinion that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and its settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible, in its strongest findings to date on the conflict.

The Commission also said settlers committed or threatened sexual violence to instill fear and harassed Palestinian women.

“The relentless, daily assaults by Israeli settlers against Palestinians are intolerable — and must end,” said the commission's ‌head, S. Muralidhar, an Indian former senior judge. He urged the international community to pressure Israel to dismantle settlements and outposts and curb the violence.

Despite periodic condemnations and ⁠the dismantling of some unauthorized outposts, ⁠Israeli authorities have not taken sustained measures to stop the attacks, the report said.

HAMAS VIOLATIONS

The report said it was also gravely alarmed by serious abuses it documented in the Gaza Strip, another Palestinian territory, by the militant group Hamas which controls it.

Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the findings.

The commission found that Hamas-affiliated forces were involved in at least 60 of 249 documented cases of executions and severe physical violence in 2024 to 2025, including beatings with metal pipes and bone-breaking as punishment for alleged collaboration with Israel or looting aid.

In two instances, 11 men were publicly executed. The Commission said these acts amount to war crimes and violations of international law.

The Commission found that October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas and other armed groups, which killed 1,200 people and involved hostage-taking and destruction of property, amounted to war crimes. The attacks precipitated an Israeli assault on Gaza which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed much of the territory.

A previous report by the Commission found that Israel had committed genocide during its military offensive in Gaza, and that senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had incited these acts. Israel rejected those allegations as "scandalous".


Pakistan, Lebanon Army Chiefs Meet as Middle East Mediation Drags On

This handout photograph taken and released on June 9, 2026 by Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) shows Pakistan's Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (R) speaking with General Rodolphe Haykal, Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces during their meeting in Rawalpindi. (Photo by Handout / Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released on June 9, 2026 by Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) shows Pakistan's Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (R) speaking with General Rodolphe Haykal, Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces during their meeting in Rawalpindi. (Photo by Handout / Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) / AFP)
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Pakistan, Lebanon Army Chiefs Meet as Middle East Mediation Drags On

This handout photograph taken and released on June 9, 2026 by Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) shows Pakistan's Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (R) speaking with General Rodolphe Haykal, Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces during their meeting in Rawalpindi. (Photo by Handout / Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released on June 9, 2026 by Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) shows Pakistan's Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir (R) speaking with General Rodolphe Haykal, Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces during their meeting in Rawalpindi. (Photo by Handout / Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) / AFP)

The heads of the Pakistani and Lebanese armed forces agreed to boost cooperation on Tuesday as they met in Pakistan with peace talks over the Middle East war dragging on.

Pakistan has been mediating between the United States and Iran to end the months-long conflict, with Tehran insisting that any deal should include Lebanon, where Israel has been fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah, reported AFP.

Lebanese army chief Rodolphe Haykal left on Saturday to meet his powerful Pakistani counterpart Asim Munir, with a Lebanon-based source telling AFP the visit was linked to the broader peace talks.

The two military commanders discussed "matters of mutual interest, (the) evolving regional security environment, defense cooperation and prospects for enhancing bilateral military relations", a statement from the media wing of the Pakistani military said on Tuesday.

Munir "underscored (the) Pakistan Army's commitment to expanding defense collaboration with the Lebanese Armed Forces," it said, after Haykal received a guard of honor ahead of the meeting in the city of Rawalpindi.

Conflict in Lebanon has become a centerpiece of weeks of stop-start efforts to bring a formal end to the war.

Armed hostilities flared further during Haykal's visit, though both Iran and Israel indicated on Monday that they had halted the fighting.

US President Donald Trump, who has expressed frustration at the slow progress of peace talks, said on Tuesday that negotiators were in the "final throes" of reaching a deal.

Lebanon was drawn into the war when Hezbollah militants fired rockets at Israel on March 2 to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iran's supreme leader.

Israel responded with an extensive campaign of airstrikes and a ground invasion that have killed nearly 3,600 people. Exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have not stopped despite an ongoing truce.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said a US-Iranian agreement to end the war was "about to be achieved" when fresh fighting between Iran and Israel erupted on Sunday.

Even after an April 17 ceasefire agreement began, the Israeli military announced a so-called Yellow Line inside Lebanese territory about a dozen kilometers from its northern border where its ground troops are fighting with Hezbollah, who have fired rockets at Israel.


Lebanon Caught between US, Iran in Reclaiming its Independent Decision-making

 Lebanese army soldiers carry the coffin of captain Elie Khoury, who was killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral procession in Kfar Jarra, southern Lebanon, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP)
Lebanese army soldiers carry the coffin of captain Elie Khoury, who was killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral procession in Kfar Jarra, southern Lebanon, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP)
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Lebanon Caught between US, Iran in Reclaiming its Independent Decision-making

 Lebanese army soldiers carry the coffin of captain Elie Khoury, who was killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral procession in Kfar Jarra, southern Lebanon, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP)
Lebanese army soldiers carry the coffin of captain Elie Khoury, who was killed on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral procession in Kfar Jarra, southern Lebanon, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP)

Iran’s attack on Israel in retaliation to Israeli strikes on Sunday on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, carried several messages.

It was seen as an attempt to reinforce its claim over Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its confrontation with the United States and Israel that it can use in the ongoing negotiations in Pakistan.

It remains to be seen if Iran has succeeded in seizing the initiative in this file and tie Lebanon’s stability to its own negotiations with the US, or if the attack deepened the Lebanese state’s drive to separate the Lebanese file from the Islamabad talks and further pursue the US-sponsored negotiations with Israel.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun openly slammed Iran last week for using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” in its negotiations with the US and demanded that it cease interfering in its internal affairs. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has been adamant that Lebanon be included in the Pakistan negotiations, putting it at odds with the Lebanese state.

Head of the Saydet El Jabal Gathering, former MP Fares Souaid noted that since 1969, Lebanon has witnessed several conflicts between foreign powers over usurping the country’s independent decision-making and holding negotiations on its behalf with or without consulting it.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization tried to do so decades ago, then it was followed by the Syrian regime, under Hafez al-Assad, that imposed hegemony over Lebanon for several years and now, the country finds itself in the Iranian sphere of influence, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“The Lebanese state, represented by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, has now succeeded in reclaiming the initiative for the first time since 1969,” Souaid added.

This has been achieved with evident US support after Washington realized the importance of separating the Lebanese file from Iran and preventing Tehran from negotiating in its name, he went on to say.

“Iran has been trying to claim that the Lebanese negotiations with Israel are a farce and that Lebanon will be unable to achieve its demands, or impose an Israeli withdrawal without it. Iran has been claiming that it alone will be able to achieve this [for Lebanon], but it will fail,” stressed Souaid.

This handout photograph taken and released on June 9, 2026 by Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) shows Pakistan's Army Chief and Field Marshal Asim Munir (R) speaking with General Rodolphe Haykal, Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces during their meeting in Rawalpindi. (Handout / Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) / AFP)

The Iranian embassy in Beirut posted on its social media an image of two clasped hands, with one covered with the Lebanese flag and the other the Iranian one, and the statement “always with you” in Lebanese dialect.

The post sparked hundreds of comments in support and criticism from users about Iranian and Lebanese interests.

Souaid noted the “sharp division in Lebanon between one camp that wants the country to be a mere bargaining chip for Iran, and another that wants to consolidate the authority of the Lebanese state and its independent decision-making.”

“The state is committed to its independent decision-making, while Iran is trying to usurp it through sparking a war in Lebanon and exploit the Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs as if to say that it alone holds the keys to the solution,” he added.

“Iran will not succeed in reclaiming Lebanon’s decision-making or again impose its authority over the country,” he stressed.

Army commander in Pakistan

Amid the developments, Lebanese army commander Rodolphe Haykal was in Islamabad at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart Asim Munir .

The military has not revealed details about the visit.

An informed source confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he was visiting at his counterpart’s invitation and that the trip was coordinated with President Aoun.

Pakistan has expressed its readiness to offer assistance to the Lebanese army in terms of its deployment in the South after the Israeli withdrawal, it said, noting that Islamabad enjoys the trust of the Americans, Iranians and the Israelis given its role in the mediation efforts between the US and Iran.