Lebanon’s Al-Rahi Objects to Appointment of New Army Chief amid Presidential Vacuum 

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is seen during his sermon on Sunday. (Maronite Patriarchate on Facebook)
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is seen during his sermon on Sunday. (Maronite Patriarchate on Facebook)
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Lebanon’s Al-Rahi Objects to Appointment of New Army Chief amid Presidential Vacuum 

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is seen during his sermon on Sunday. (Maronite Patriarchate on Facebook)
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is seen during his sermon on Sunday. (Maronite Patriarchate on Facebook)

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi declared on Sunday his objection to the appointment of a new commander of the army amid the vacuum in the presidency.

Lebanon has been without a president since November 2022 after the term of Michel Aoun ended with political blocs bickering over a successor.

Army commander Joseph Aoun is expected to retire in January, leaving the top military post vacant. Officials have been debating appointing a successor.

Under normal circumstances, the government would be tasked with appointing a new army commander. Given the presidential vacuum, it is now operating in a caretaker capacity, which bars it from making state appointments.

During his Sunday sermon, Rahi warned that attempts to name a new commander would undermine the unity of the military and trust in its leadership.

He therefore called on politicians to elect a president as soon as possible.

This is the “easiest” way to resolve “all political problems” and restore normal functioning at state institutions, he remarked.

He called on officials to “abandon their narrow, personal and sectarian interests,” and to prioritize the needs of the people.

This will help safeguard Lebanon’s unity, diversity and coexistence between Muslims and Christians, he stressed.

The Free Patriotic Movement has been pushing for the appointment of a new army commander, while its rival Lebanese Forces has been seeking the extension of the current commander’s term.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the Progressive Socialist Party and Sunni lawmakers have proposed delaying Joseph Aoun’s release from service and the appointment of a presidential council.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.