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Hezbollah Dampens Mood in Lebanon-Israel Marine Border Talks by Slamming US

US Envoy for Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein, second left, sits next to US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, first left, as they meet with Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, third left, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, center, and Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, right, at the presidential palace, in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 1, 2022. (Dalati & Nohra)
US Envoy for Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein, second left, sits next to US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, first left, as they meet with Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, third left, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, center, and Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, right, at the presidential palace, in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 1, 2022. (Dalati & Nohra)
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Hezbollah Dampens Mood in Lebanon-Israel Marine Border Talks by Slamming US

US Envoy for Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein, second left, sits next to US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, first left, as they meet with Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, third left, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, center, and Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, right, at the presidential palace, in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 1, 2022. (Dalati & Nohra)
US Envoy for Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein, second left, sits next to US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, first left, as they meet with Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, third left, Lebanese President Michel Aoun, center, and Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, right, at the presidential palace, in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 1, 2022. (Dalati & Nohra)

Hezbollah dampened the positive mood that prevailed during US Envoy for Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein's meeting with Lebanese officials over the demarcation of the marine border with Israel, by criticizing Washington and accusing it of preventing Beirut from extracting its offshore gas and oil.

Hochstein had paid a two-day visit to Lebanon on Sunday and Monday where he met with senior officials over the demarcation of the contested border.

At the conclusion of his trip, he said he remained optimistic about making progress towards a deal and looked forward to returning to the region to make a "final arrangement".

He then traveled to Tel Aviv by land through the Naqoura border crossing in Lebanon.

A senior Lebanese government source said Hochstein had passed on an Israeli proposal that provided Lebanon with "nothing south of Line 23" - a maritime line that was originally Lebanon's demand during negotiations.

Additionally, Israel would allow Lebanon to explore the entire Qana Prospect, an area with the potential to hold hydrocarbons which crosses beyond Line 23.

Lebanon informed Hochstein it was seeking guarantees it could commence exploration in its southern Block 9 in an area already awarded to a consortium led by French oil major Total as soon as an agreement is signed, the source said.

The United States in 2020 stepped up long-running efforts to mediate an agreement. Tensions over the issue escalated in June as Israel moved towards extracting hydrocarbons while Lebanon's exploration process remained paused.

Lebanon and Israel are located in the Levant Basin, where a number of big sub-sea gas fields have been discovered since 2009. Israel already produces and exports gas.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah party has threatened military action if Lebanon is prevented from exploiting what it deems to be its offshore rights. But it has also said it will respect the decision of the Lebanese government.

Hezbollah kept up its rhetoric by accusing the US of preventing Lebanon for 12 years from exploiting its offshore wealth.

Hezbollah MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan said the US has been barring Lebanon from "extracting its oil and gas when it is in most need of them to help it overcome its economic crisis."

"By siding with the Israeli enemy, the Americans have prevented European companies from drilling in Blocks 4 and 9," he alleged.

Hezbollah’s opponents dismissed the criticism.

Democratic Gathering MP Marwan Hamadeh said: "We are presented with a rare opportunity to demarcate the border. This opportunity may not happen again for reasons that go beyond [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah’s threats."

The Americans presented advanced ideas about the demarcation and have improved Lebanon’s conditions, he added.

Hochstein "did not bring maps with him, but he brought ideas," continued Hamadeh.

He informed Lebanese officials that Israel was ready to discuss offering the entire Qana Prospect in return for Lebanon to offer concessions related to Line 23.

Lebanon demanded its full rights in Blocks 8, 9, and 10 and Qana , said the MP.

"The devil is in the details" regarding Lines 23 and 29, he added.

Moreover, Hamadeh ruled out the possibility of a war erupting over the border "from now until the end of August."

"We must seize the opportunity provided to us to demarcate the border. This is the first time the mediation and Lebanon are this serious. Israel, Europe and the world are in need of gas," he stressed.

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Arab World

Lebanon PM Pledges Reconstruction on Visit to Ruined Border Towns

This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
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Lebanon PM Pledges Reconstruction on Visit to Ruined Border Towns

This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra near the border with Israel on February 7, 2026. (Lebanese Government Press Office / AFP)

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam visited heavily damaged towns near the Israeli border on Saturday, pledging reconstruction.

It was his first trip to the southern border area since the army said it finished disarming Hezbollah there, in January.

Swathes of south Lebanon's border areas remain in ruins and largely deserted more than a year after a US-brokered November 2024 ceasefire sought to end hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

Lebanon's government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army last month said it had completed the first phase of its plan to do so, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border about 30 kilometers (20 miles) further south.

Visiting Tayr Harfa, around three kilometers from the border, and nearby Yarine, Salam said frontier towns and villages had suffered "a true catastrophe".

He vowed authorities would begin key projects including restoring roads, communications networks and water in the two towns.

Locals gathered on the rubble of buildings to greet Salam and the delegation of accompanying officials in nearby Dhayra, some waving Lebanese flags.

In a meeting in Bint Jbeil, further east, with officials including lawmakers from Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement, Salam said authorities would "rehabilitate 32 kilometers of roads, reconnect the severed communications network, repair water infrastructure" and power lines in the district.

Last year, the World Bank announced it had approved $250 million to support Lebanon's post-war reconstruction, after estimating that it would cost around $11 billion in total.

Salam said funds including from the World Bank would be used for the reconstruction and rehabilitation projects.

The second phase of the government's disarmament plan for Hezbollah concerns the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around 40 kilometers south of Beirut.

Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticized the army's progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.

Despite the truce, Israel has kept up regular strikes on what it usually says are Hezbollah targets and maintains troops in five south Lebanon areas.

Lebanese officials have accused Israel of seeking to prevent reconstruction in the heavily damaged south with repeated strikes on bulldozers, excavators and prefabricated houses.

Visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Friday said the reform of Lebanon's banking system needed to precede international funding for reconstruction efforts.

The French diplomat met Lebanon's army chief Rodolphe Haykal on Saturday, the military said.

Arab World

Over 2,200 ISIS Detainees Transferred to Iraq from Syria, Says Iraqi Official

One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)
One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)
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Over 2,200 ISIS Detainees Transferred to Iraq from Syria, Says Iraqi Official

One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)
One of the American buses transporting ISIS fighters, according to a security source from the Syrian Democratic Forces, heads from Syria towards Iraq, in Qamishli, Syria, February 7, 2026. (Reuters)

Iraq has so far received 2,225 ISIS group detainees, whom the US military began transferring from Syria last month, an Iraqi official told AFP on Saturday.

They are among up to 7,000 ISIS detainees whose transfer from Syria to Iraq the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced last month, in a move it said was aimed at "ensuring that the terrorists remain in secure detention facilities".

Previously, they had been held in prisons and camps administered by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.

The announcement of the transfer plan last month came after US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack declared that the SDF's role in confronting ISIS had come to an end.

Saad Maan, head of the security information cell attached to the Iraqi prime minister's office, told AFP on Saturday that "Iraq has received 2,225 terrorists from the Syrian side by land and air, in coordination with the international coalition", which Washington has led since 2014 to fight IS.

He said they are being held in "strict, regular detention centers".

A Kurdish military source confirmed to AFP the "continued transfer of ISIS detainees from Syria to Iraq under the protection of the international coalition".

On Saturday, an AFP photographer near the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria saw a US military convoy and 11 buses with tinted windows.

- Iraq calls for repatriation -

ISIS seized swathes of northern and western Iraq starting in 2014, until Iraqi forces, backed by the international coalition, managed to defeat it in 2017.

Iraq is still recovering from the severe abuses committed by the extremists.

In recent years, Iraqi courts have issued death and life sentences against those convicted of terrorism offences.

Thousands of Iraqis and foreign nationals convicted of membership in the group are incarcerated in Iraqi prisons.

On Monday, the Iraqi judiciary announced it had begun investigative procedures involving 1,387 detainees it received as part of the US military's operation.

In a statement to the Iraqi News Agency on Saturday, Maan said "the established principle is to try all those involved in crimes against Iraqis and those belonging to the terrorist ISIS organization before the competent Iraqi courts".

Among the detainees being transferred to Iraq are Syrians, Iraqis, Europeans and holders of other nationalities, according to Iraqi security sources.

Iraq is calling on the concerned countries to repatriate their citizens and ensure their prosecution.

Maan noted that "the process of handing over the terrorists to their countries will begin once the legal requirements are completed".

Arab World

Drone Attack by RSF in Sudan Kills 24, Including 8 Children, Doctors’ Group Says

Displaced Sudanese wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement camp in the Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on February 6, 2026. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement camp in the Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on February 6, 2026. (AFP)
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Drone Attack by RSF in Sudan Kills 24, Including 8 Children, Doctors’ Group Says

Displaced Sudanese wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement camp in the Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on February 6, 2026. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese wait to receive humanitarian aid at the Abu al-Naga displacement camp in the Gedaref State, some 420km east of the capital Khartoum on February 6, 2026. (AFP)

A drone attack by a notorious paramilitary group hit a vehicle carrying displaced families in central Sudan Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, a doctors’ group said.

The attack by the Rapid Support Forces occurred close to the city of Rahad in North Kordofan province, said the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war.

The vehicle transported displaced people who fled fighting in the Dubeiker area of North Kordofan, the doctors’ group said in a statement. Among the dead children were two infants, the group said.

The doctors’ group urged the international community and rights organizations to “take immediate action to protect civilians and hold the RSF leadership directly accountable for these violations.”

There was no immediate comment from the RSF, which has been at war against the Sudanese military for control of the country for about three years.

Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023 when a power struggle between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.

The devastating war has killed more than 40,000 people, according to UN figures, but aid groups say that is an undercount and the true number could be many times higher.

It created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with over 14 million people forced to flee their homes. It fueled disease outbreaks and pushed parts of the country into famine.