Hezbollah Says It Is Ready for Any Israeli Land Invasion in Lebanon

 People pass by buildings damaged in an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Cola, central Beirut, Lebanon September 30, 2024. (Reuters)
People pass by buildings damaged in an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Cola, central Beirut, Lebanon September 30, 2024. (Reuters)
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Hezbollah Says It Is Ready for Any Israeli Land Invasion in Lebanon

 People pass by buildings damaged in an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Cola, central Beirut, Lebanon September 30, 2024. (Reuters)
People pass by buildings damaged in an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Cola, central Beirut, Lebanon September 30, 2024. (Reuters)

Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem, in his first public address since Israel assassinated the group's chief Hassan Nasrallah last week, said the movement is ready to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon.

Israel will not achieve its goals, he said.

"We will face any possibility and we are ready if the Israelis decide to enter by land and the resistance forces are ready for a ground engagement," he said.

Israeli forces have dealt multiple blows to Hezbollah in a two-week wave of attacks on targets in Lebanon that has eliminated several commanders. The possibility that Israel's next move might be to send ground troops and tanks over the border is on many minds.

In other developments, the Palestinian group Hamas said an Israeli airstrike killed its leader in Lebanon in the city of Tyre on Monday, and another Palestinian organization said three of its leaders died in a strike in central Beirut - the first such hit inside the capital's limits.

The killings were the latest in a wave of intensified Israeli attacks on militant targets in Lebanon, part of a conflict also stretching from the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, to Yemen, and within Israel itself.

Hamas said its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was killed along with his wife, son and daughter, in a strike that targeted their house in a refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre in the early hours of Monday.

Another group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said three of its leaders were killed in a strike that targeted Beirut's Cola district.

This was the first time Israel had struck Beirut beyond its southern suburbs in a campaign which culminated in the assassination of Nasrallah last week in a succession of heavy air strikes.

The strike against the PFLP hit the upper floor of an apartment building, Reuters witnesses said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The latest attacks indicated Israel has no intention of slowing down its offensive on multiple fronts even after eliminating Nasrallah, who was Iran's most powerful ally in its "Axis of Resistance" against Israeli and US influence in the region.

Israel's intensified attacks against the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi militias in Yemen have prompted fears that Middle East fighting could spin out of control and draw in Iran and the United States, Israel's main ally.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Tehran would not leave any of Israel's "criminal acts" go unanswered. He was referring to the killing of Nasrallah and an Iranian Guard deputy commander, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan, who died in the same strikes on Friday.

Lebanon's Health Ministry says more than 1,000 Lebanese have been killed and 6,000 wounded in the past two weeks, without specifying how many were civilians. One million people - a fifth of the population - have fled their homes, the government says.

The escalation has put Beirut on edge, with Lebanese fearful that Israel will expand its military campaign.

"There is nothing else to say or add, except God save Lebanon," Beirut resident Nawel said. "What will happen to me is the same as what can happen to anyone."



Egyptian President Says Palestinian Cause Remains Top Priority

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026.  (AFP)
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026. (AFP)
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Egyptian President Says Palestinian Cause Remains Top Priority

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026.  (AFP)
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2026. (AFP)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday said the Palestinian cause is still “at the forefront of priorities” in the Middle East.

He told a panel at Davos that resolving Palestinian cause “is the core of regional stability, and a cornerstone to achieve a just and comprehensive peace.”

The Egyptian leader lauded US President Donald Trump’s efforts to help reach a ceasefire that stropped the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October.

The two leaders are expected to meet at Davos, said the Egyptian Presidency on Tuesday.

This ‌will be ‌the first ‌meeting ⁠between ​the ‌two leaders since the US announced it was launching the second phase of its plan to end the war in Gaza.

Sisi and ⁠Trump met in the ‌Red Sea resort ‍of Sharm ‍el-Sheikh in October during a ‍summit convened by Egypt to sign a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the ​war.


Israel’s Netanyahu Agrees to Join Trump’s Board of Peace

12 July 2025, Jerusalem: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, speaks at the press conference after talks at the seat of government. (dpa)
12 July 2025, Jerusalem: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, speaks at the press conference after talks at the seat of government. (dpa)
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Israel’s Netanyahu Agrees to Join Trump’s Board of Peace

12 July 2025, Jerusalem: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, speaks at the press conference after talks at the seat of government. (dpa)
12 July 2025, Jerusalem: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, speaks at the press conference after talks at the seat of government. (dpa)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Wednesday he had agreed to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, after his office earlier criticized makeup of the board’s executive committee.

The board, chaired by Trump, was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan. The Trump administration’s ambitions have appeared to balloon into a more sprawling concept, with Trump extending invitations to dozens of nations and hinting it will soon broker global conflicts.

Netanyahu’s office had previously said the executive committee, which includes Türkiye, a key regional rival, wasn’t coordinated with the Israeli government and “is contrary to its policy,” without clarifying its objections.

Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has criticized the board and called for Israel to take unilateral responsibility for Gaza’s future.

Others who have joined the board are the UAE, Morocco, Vietnam, Belarus, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Argentina. Others, including the UK, Russia and the executive arm of the European Union, say they have received invitations but have not yet responded.

It came as Trump traveled to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to provide more details about the board. There are many unanswered questions. It was not immediately clear how many or which other leaders would receive invitations.

When asked by a reporter Tuesday if the board should replace the UN, Trump said, “It might.”

He asserted that the world body “hasn’t been very helpful” and “has never lived up to its potential” but also said the UN should continue ”because the potential is so great.”

That has created controversy, with some saying Trump is trying to replace the UN. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday, “Yes to implementing the peace plan presented by the president of the United States, which we wholeheartedly support, but no to creating an organization as it has been presented, which would replace the United Nations.”

Told late Monday that French President Emmanuel Macron was unlikely to join, Trump said, “Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon.” A day later, Trump called Macron “a friend of mine”, but reiterated that the French leader is “not going to be there very much longer.”

The executive board’s members include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.

The White House also announced the members of another board, the Gaza Executive Board, which, according to the ceasefire, will be in charge of implementing the tough second phase of the agreement. That includes deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and rebuilding the war-devastated territory.

Nickolay Mladenov, a former Bulgarian politician and UN Mideast envoy, is to serve as the Gaza executive board’s representative overseeing day-to-day matters. Additional members include: Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, Rowan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan; Qatari diplomat Ali Al-Thawadi; Hassan Rashad, director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency; Emirati minister Reem Al-Hashimy; Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay; and Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands’ former deputy prime minister and a Mideast expert.

The board also will supervise a newly appointed committee of Palestinian technocrats who will be running Gaza’s day-to-day affairs.


UAE Forces Accused of Committing Violations against Detainees Held in Secret Prisons in Yemen

A view from inside the Dabba facility. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A view from inside the Dabba facility. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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UAE Forces Accused of Committing Violations against Detainees Held in Secret Prisons in Yemen

A view from inside the Dabba facility. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A view from inside the Dabba facility. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

United Arab Emirates forces are accused of running a secret prison in Yemen's Dabba area in the eastern city of Mukalla.

Asharq Al-Awsat toured the facility, bearing witness to the dire conditions in which the detainees were held as they waited in despair for their fate.

The walls themselves tell a story of despair with prisoners having etched pleas for mercy and prayers to God, with one prisoner writing a single word - "mother" - summing up his suffering.

Asharq Al-Awsat entered the facility as part of a tour for the media and rights groups. The UAE is accused of running several illegal prisons in Yemen, setting them up without coordination with the legitimate authorities.

Etchings on the wall by some of the detainees in the Dabba facility. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Minister of Media, Tourism and Culture Moammar Al-Eryani said these detention centers are not affiliated with the state.

Dabba, he added, embodies the illegal practices that used to happen outside the state's control.

The state did not task any local or foreign party to set up the detention centers where prisoners have been tortured, he said.

These practices are a flagrant violation of the Yemeni constitution, international law and humanitarian law, he stressed.

Minister of Media, Tourism and Culture Moammar Al-Eryani at the Dabba center. (Asharq Al-Awsat

"Cells" at Dabba were nothing more than steel containers of varying sizes, some as small as 1 mete by 50 centimeters.

Along with the writings on the wall, Asharq Al-Awsat noted the blood stains in the cells, reflecting the horrors the detainees had to endure.

Al-Eryani said the state was restoring the rule of law, not seeking to settle scores. "Opening these facilities to the media is a message that the state was not afraid of the truth. Rather it wants to document it and tackle the issue through legal means," he added.

"We are not asking for political cover, but support for the state of law," he urged.

A Yemeni military source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Dabba facility used to be a military air defense base.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he revealed that people were held in the prison without charge, while those freed usually ended up suffering from severe trauma.