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Lebanon: George Abdallah Released after 40 Years in French Jail

TOPSHOT - This photograph taken during a visit of French leftist party La France Insoumise (LFI)'s MP Andree Taurinya shows pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah looking on in his prison cell in Lannemezan, southwestern France, on July 17, 2025, after an appeals court ordered his release.(Photo by Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP)
TOPSHOT - This photograph taken during a visit of French leftist party La France Insoumise (LFI)'s MP Andree Taurinya shows pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah looking on in his prison cell in Lannemezan, southwestern France, on July 17, 2025, after an appeals court ordered his release.(Photo by Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP)
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Lebanon: George Abdallah Released after 40 Years in French Jail

TOPSHOT - This photograph taken during a visit of French leftist party La France Insoumise (LFI)'s MP Andree Taurinya shows pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah looking on in his prison cell in Lannemezan, southwestern France, on July 17, 2025, after an appeals court ordered his release.(Photo by Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP)
TOPSHOT - This photograph taken during a visit of French leftist party La France Insoumise (LFI)'s MP Andree Taurinya shows pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah looking on in his prison cell in Lannemezan, southwestern France, on July 17, 2025, after an appeals court ordered his release.(Photo by Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP)

One of France's longest-held inmates, the pro-Palestinian Lebanese activist Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, will be released and deported on Friday, after more than 40 years behind bars for the killings of two diplomats.

At around 3:40 am (01:30 GMT), a convoy of six vehicles left the Lannemezan penitentiary with lights flashing, AFP journalists saw, though they were unable to catch a glimpse of the 74-year-old grey-bearded prisoner.

Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris.

The Paris Court of Appeal had ordered his release "effective July 25" on the condition that he leave French territory and never return.

He had been eligible for release since 1999, but his previous requests were denied as the United States -- a civil party to the case -- consistently opposed him leaving prison.

Inmates serving life sentences in France are typically freed after fewer than 30 years.

Once out of prison, Abdallah is set to be transported to the Tarbes airport where a police plane will take him to Roissy for a flight to Beirut, according to a source close to the case.

Abdallah's lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, visited for a final time on Thursday. "He seemed very happy about his upcoming release, even though he knows he is returning to the Middle East in an extremely tough context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations," Chalanset told AFP.

AFP visited Abdallah last week after the court's release decision, accompanying a lawmaker to the detention center.

The founder of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions (FARL) -- a long-disbanded Marxist anti-Israel group -- said for more than four decades he had continued to be a "militant with a struggle".

The appeals court in February noted that Abdallah "had not committed a violent action since 1984" and that Abdallah "today represented a past symbol of the Palestinian struggle".

The appeals judges also found the length of his detention "disproportionate" to the crimes and given his age.

Abdallah's family said they plan to meet him at Beirut airport's "honor lounge" before heading to their hometown of Kobayat in northern Lebanon where a reception is planned.

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Arab World

Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

At least two people were killed and four rescued from the rubble of a multistory apartment building that collapsed Sunday in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, state media reported.

Rescue teams were continuing to dig through the rubble. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the building when it fell.

The bodies pulled out were of a child and a woman, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Dozens of people crowded around the site of the crater left by the collapsed building, with some shooting in the air.

The building was in the neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, one of the poorest areas in Lebanon’s second largest city, where residents have long complained of government neglect and shoddy infrastructure. Building collapses are not uncommon in Tripoli due to poor building standards, according to The AP news.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry announced that those injured in the collapse would receive treatment at the state’s expense.

The national syndicate for property owners in a statement called the collapse the result of “blatant negligence and shortcomings of the Lebanese state toward the safety of citizens and their housing security,” and said it is “not an isolated incident.”

The syndicate called for the government to launch a comprehensive national survey of buildings at risk of collapse.

Arab World

Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank, The AP news reported.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

The United Nations' highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.

Arab World

Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on humanitarian aid convoys and relief workers in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

In a statement reported by SPA, secretary-general's spokesperson Jamal Rushdi quoted Aboul Gheit as saying the attack constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of their means of survival.

Aboul Gheit stressed the need to hold those responsible accountable, end impunity, and ensure the full protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities in Sudan.