Arab League: Date of Algiers Arab Summit Missing Starting Date

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General ambassador Hossam Zaki during a press conference in Algiers on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Algerian media)
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General ambassador Hossam Zaki during a press conference in Algiers on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Algerian media)
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Arab League: Date of Algiers Arab Summit Missing Starting Date

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General ambassador Hossam Zaki during a press conference in Algiers on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Algerian media)
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General ambassador Hossam Zaki during a press conference in Algiers on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Algerian media)

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Hossam Zaki said the date of the Arab summit scheduled to be held in Algeria hasn’t been determined yet.

“The date of the summit will be specified based on consultations between the host country and the rest of the member states,” Zaki told a press conference, noting that it will be held following the holy month of Ramadan.

He affirmed Algeria’s preparedness to host this major event, adding that it is sharing all its arrangements with the Arab League.

Zaki also touched on attempts to achieve Arab reconciliation and reunification, noting that it depends on the success of the preliminary consultations and dialogues.

Officials from the Algerian Foreign Ministry discussed on Wednesday with an Arab League delegation, headed by Zaki, the logistical and organizational preparations for the upcoming Arab summit, expected to be held in March.

“In preparation for hosting the upcoming Arab summit in Algeria, a coordination meeting was held at the headquarters of the foreign ministry, co-chaired by Ambassador Nor-Eddine Aouam, the Special Envoy in charge of the Palestinian cause, the Middle East and Libya, and Zaki, who was accompanied by high-ranking delegation from the AL General Secretariat,” read a foreign ministry statement.

The visiting delegation’s agenda includes holding coordination meetings with the subcommittees emanating from the National Committee charged with preparing and organizing for the next Arab Summit, in addition to visits to several establishments and facilities that will host the work of the Arab League Council at the summit level and its preceding preparatory meetings.

The delegation arrived in Algiers on Monday to meet with representatives of the National Committee charged with preparing for the summit.



Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
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Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)

Some 29 Lebanese border villages have been “completely destroyed” by Israel, revealed Mohamed Chamseddine, policy research specialist at Information International.

Vidoes have been circulating on social media of dozens of houses in a Lebanese border village being detonated simultaneously by the Israeli army. Israel has been adopting this scorched earth policy since October in an attempt to set up a buffer zone along the border.

In one video, soldiers can be heard chanting a countdown before the detonation of several houses followed by celebrations.

Chamseddine told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel has destroyed 29 villages dotted across 120 kms from the Naqoura area in the west to Shebaa in the east.

The villages of Aita al-Shaab, Kfar Kila, Adeisseh, Houla, Dhayra, Marwahin, Mhaibib, and al-Khiam have been completely destroyed along with some 25,000 houses, he added.

Last month, the detonations in Adeisseh and Deir Seryan were so powerful that they caused tremors that were initially mistaken for earthquakes.

Experts are in agreement that Israel is completely wiping out villages and all signs of life, including trees, to turn the area into a buffer zone so that residents of northern Israel can return to their homes.

They also believe that the scorched earth policy means that residents of the South won’t be able to rebuild and replant what they lost once a ceasefire is reached and they can return home.

Brig. Gen. Hassan Jouni, former deputy chief of staff of operations in the Lebanese Armed Forces, said Israel wants to be create a 3 km-deep buffer zone along its border with Lebanon.

Israel is destroying everything in that area, leaving it exposed so that any possible threat there can be easily spotted, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

However, he remarked that Israel is not keeping its forces deployed in the South, so it won’t be able to hold any territory and keep these areas destroyed. Any political agreement will inevitably call for the return of Lebanese residents back to their villages where they will rebuild their homes, he explained.

The Lebanese state will in no way agree for the border strip to remain uninhabited and destroyed, Jouni stressed.

“In all likelihood, Israel already knows this, and its actions are part of a psychological war to punish the residents of those villages and towns because they are Hezbollah’s popular support base. Israel wants to drive a wedge between the people and Hezbollah. It is as if it is saying: ‘See how the party was unable to protect your homes,’” he went on to say.

Moreover, Jouni said Israel is mistaken if it believes that a buffer zone will restore security to its northern settlements because those areas can be targeted from beyond the border region.

So, what is taking place on the ground is in effect Israel just going to the extreme in violating international law, he added. “Its claims that it is targeting weapons and ammunition caches do not fool anyone because from a military standpoint, these caches are not stored along the border, but deeper in a country.”