Opposition Rallies Cry Against Dragging Lebanon to War

Opposition parties and figures are seen at the Maarab meeting on Saturday. (Lebanese Forces)
Opposition parties and figures are seen at the Maarab meeting on Saturday. (Lebanese Forces)
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Opposition Rallies Cry Against Dragging Lebanon to War

Opposition parties and figures are seen at the Maarab meeting on Saturday. (Lebanese Forces)
Opposition parties and figures are seen at the Maarab meeting on Saturday. (Lebanese Forces)

The Lebanese opposition launched on Saturday a rallying cry against parties that are “tampering with Lebanon’s security and dragging the Lebanese people” towards conflict and towards “countries that sponsor illegal organizations.”

It called for the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 and the deployment of the army along Lebanon’s entire borders. It urged bolstering the monitoring of the entire border with Syria and the implementation of the agreement on the return of Syrians back to their country.

The Lebanese Forces organized on Saturday a meeting of opposition groups. Held at Maarab, the meeting, “1701 in Defense of Lebanon”, was attended by parties, lawmakers, politicians, activists and journalists, from across Lebanon’s sectarian spectrum, who are opposed to Hezbollah.

The meeting was notably boycotted by some parties that share the LF’s views, while others, such as the Kataeb party, sent representatives. Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel and MPs from his party did not attend the meeting.

The Progressive Socialist Party, National Moderation bloc, Saydet Al Jabal gathering, and the National Council to End the Iranian Occupation in Lebanon declined to attend the meeting.

Some observers said the failure to attract a large number of opposition parties may have rendered the Maarab meeting a “failure”. The LF and other participants said however, that the meeting served its purpose and delivered the message it wanted to send.

Former minister, MP Ashraf Rifi described the meeting as “excellent”.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he added that the meeting was necessary given the circumstances in Lebanon, comparing it to the 2005 Bristol Gathering that helped galvanize the opposition against Syrian hegemony over Lebanon.

LF sources described the Maarab meeting as successful, saying it underlined the demand to defend and consolidate Lebanon’s sovereignty.

“The meeting was not aimed at forming a political front,” they told Asharq Al-Awsat.

They highlighted the timing of the meeting, explaining that Lebanon is in danger and so it was “necessary to launch a political cry and this is what happened.”

“Whoever declined the invite had their reasons and considerations. What matters is that this political cry was made, and we didn’t expect anything more than that,” they stressed.

On what the meeting was expected to yield, they replied: “More of the same. We will continue to do what we have been doing. We will exert more pressure and follow diplomatic efforts that are pushing for the implementation of resolution 1701, which bothers Hezbollah.”

“The implementation of the resolution is the only demand the international community is making. It is essential to avert Lebanon from being dragged to war,” they added.

The meeting’s concluding statement underscored three main issues.

“First: The possession of weapons outside state security institutions, led by the army, and carried by any party regardless of their motives, is a threat to Lebanese sovereignty and a flagrant violation against the security of the entire Lebanese people,” it said, demanding the immediate laying down of these arms.

“Second: The Lebanese army is trusted by all Lebanese people and so, it has the right and duty to protect the borders and Lebanese sovereignty against any foreign attack, especially from Israel,” continued the statement.

“Third: The Lebanese government, even in its caretaker capacity, alone has the responsibility to implement and apply Lebanese laws and international resolutions,” it continued.

“Based on the above and the developments in southern Lebanon and the possibility that they may take a turn for the worst, the gatherers appeal to the caretaker government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati to immediately issue orders for the deployment of the army in regions south of the Litani River and along the entire border with Israel,” it said.

“Such a step would have a massive political impact and the deployment could act as a decisive deterrence force against any Israeli plots and possible offensive against Lebanese sovereignty,” it went on to say.

It also called for tightening security along the border with Syria and closing all illegal crossing through which weapons, people, funds, goods, illicit material and criminals continue to be smuggled.

LF leader Samir Geagea said the meeting was aimed at drafting with a small roadmap to attempt to prevent Lebanon from being dragged to war and stress the need to implement resolution 1701 in full, which has been an issue of consensus by successive governments.

Moreover, he noted that Lebanon is living in a state of the “non-state” with the existence of a “statelet that has usurped the country’s military decisions.”

The meeting was held to discuss “what can be done in wake of diplomatic reports that have warned that the situation in the South could deteriorate,” he added.

He warned that allowing Hezbollah to maintain its line of action is a threat to the whole of Lebanon, remarking that facts have demonstrated that the Iran-backed party is incapable of defending Lebanon against Israel.

Hezbollah claims that its operations against Israel are aimed at supporting Gaza, when in fact, they have not helped Gaza in any way, he stated. “Rather, the fighting has cost Lebanon dearly in losses of life and damage to southern villages and regions. It has also led to massive economic losses,” he said.

“Iran’s intervention itself has done more harm than good to the Palestinian cause,” he added.

Hezbollah has also played a negative role as attested by the international community against it and Iran, he continued.

“So, the main winners in the scenario are Iran and Israel, while Palestine is the biggest loser,” Geagea noted.



An Israeli Strike that Killed 3 Lebanese Journalists Was Most Likely Deliberate

A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)
A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)
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An Israeli Strike that Killed 3 Lebanese Journalists Was Most Likely Deliberate

A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)
A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP)

An Israeli airstrike that killed three journalists and wounded others in Lebanon last month was most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime, an international human rights group said Monday.
The Oct. 25 airstrike killed three journalists as they slept at a guesthouse in southeast Lebanon in one of the deadliest attacks on the media since the Israel-Hezbollah war began 13 months ago.
Eleven other journalists have been killed and eight wounded since then, Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad said.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, and women and children accounted for more than 900 of the dead, according to the Health Ministry. More than 1 million people have been displaced since Israeli ground troops invaded while Hezbollah has been firing thousands of rockets, drones and missiles into Israel - and drawing fierce Israeli retaliatory strikes.
Human Rights Watch determined that Israeli forces carried out the Oct. 25 attack using an air-dropped bomb equipped with a US produced Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, guidance kit.
The group said the US government should suspend weapons transfers to Israel because of the military´s repeated "unlawful attacks on civilians, for which US officials may be complicit in war crimes."
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the report.
The Biden administration said in May that Israel’s use of US-provided weapons in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but that wartime conditions prevented US officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
The journalists killed in the airstrike in the southeastern town of Hasbaya were camera operator Ghassan Najjar and broadcast technician Mohammed Rida of the Beirut-based pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen TV, and camera operator Wissam Qassim, who worked for Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.
Human Rights Watch said a munition struck the single-story building and detonated upon hitting the floor.
"Israel’s use of US arms to unlawfully attack and kill journalists away from any military target is a terrible mark on the United States as well as Israel," said Richard Weir, the senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Weir added that "the Israeli military’s previous deadly attacks on journalists without any consequences give little hope for accountability in this or future violations against the media."
Human Rights Watch said that it found remnants at the site and reviewed photographs of pieces collected by the resort owner and determined that they were consistent with a JDAM guidance kit assembled and sold by the US company Boeing.

The JDAM is affixed to air-dropped bombs and allows them to be guided to a target by using satellite coordinates, making the weapon accurate to within several meters, the group said.
In November 2023, two journalists for Al-Mayadeen TV were killed in a drone strike at their reporting spot. A month earlier, Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and seriously wounded other journalists from France´s international news agency Agence France-Presse and Qatar´s Al-Jazeera TV on a hilltop not far from the Israeli border.