Lebanon President Says 'Necessary to Negotiate' with Israel

 President Joseph Aoun speaks at the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. (AFP)
President Joseph Aoun speaks at the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. (AFP)
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Lebanon President Says 'Necessary to Negotiate' with Israel

 President Joseph Aoun speaks at the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. (AFP)
President Joseph Aoun speaks at the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. (AFP)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called for negotiations with Israel on Monday, after US President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire in Gaza.

In October 2023, Iran-backed Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas in the Gaza war.

Months of hostilities escalated into all-out war in September 2024, before a ceasefire was agreed two months later.

Israel has continued to strike Lebanon, saying it is hitting Hezbollah targets, but according to the United Nations over 100 civilians have been killed since the truce.

"The Lebanese state has previously negotiated with Israel under American and United Nations auspices, resulting in an agreement to demarcate the maritime border... so what prevents the same thing from happening again to find solutions to the outstanding issues," Aoun said according to a presidency statement.

"Today, the general atmosphere is one of compromise, and it is necessary to negotiate," he added, specifying that "the form of this negotiation will be determined in due time".

The US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on Friday.

There are no formal ties between Israel and Lebanon.

"We cannot be outside the current path in the region, which is the path of crisis resolution," Aoun said, stating it was "no longer possible to tolerate more war, destruction, killing, and displacement".

The United States began efforts to help demarcate the land border between Lebanon and Israel in 2023, after sponsoring an agreement on the maritime border between the two countries in 2022.

However, the violence between Hezbollah and Israel froze those efforts.

The current demarcation line between the two countries, drawn by the United Nations in 2000, includes 13 disputed points.

Israel is also occupying five border points it considered strategic after its war with Hezbollah.

In a speech to the United Nations in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "peace between Israel and Lebanon is possible", calling on Beirut to "begin direct negotiations" with his country.

Under US and Israeli pressure, Lebanon's government is seeking to disarm Hezbollah, and the Lebanese army has drawn up a plan to do so beginning in the country's south.

Aoun said "Israel continues to send military and bloody messages to pressure us", hoping to reach a time now when "Israel commits to halting military operations against Lebanon and the negotiating process begins".



Abbas Calls on Hamas to Disarm, Israel to Withdraw from Gaza

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (dpa)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (dpa)
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Abbas Calls on Hamas to Disarm, Israel to Withdraw from Gaza

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (dpa)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (dpa)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan in Gaza demands Israel’s withdrawal from the enclave and for Hamas and other armed groups to turn over their weapons to his Palestinian Authority.

Speaking during a telephone call with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Abbas added that his priority now lies in implementing Trump’s plan to end the war, stop the bloodshed and ease the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza and prevent their displacement.

The implementation of the second phase will pave the way for the deployment of Palestinian police and the international stabilization force in Gaza and the launch of the reconstruction phase in an organized and effective manner, he explained.

Parallel steps must be carried out in the occupied West Bank to put an end to Israeli measures that are undermining the two-state solution, Abbas continued.

He demanded an end to Israeli settler violence against the Palestinian people, an end to settlement expansion and annexation policies, and an end to Israeli policies that are harming the Palestinian economy and government’s ability to meet its commitments to the people.

Abbas reiterated his condemnation of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, saying the movement “must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons.”

He renewed Palestine’s commitment to recognize Israel and the two-state solution, “so that an independent Palestinian state can coexist side by side by Israel in peace and security.”

Abbas and Merz held their call hours before the German leader arrived in Israel on an official visit.


Sudanese Paramilitary Drone Attack Kills 50, Including 33 Children in Kordofan

FILE - Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit patrol during a rally for Dagalo, in Garawee town, north of Sudan, Saturday, June 15, 2019. (AP Photo)
FILE - Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit patrol during a rally for Dagalo, in Garawee town, north of Sudan, Saturday, June 15, 2019. (AP Photo)
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Sudanese Paramilitary Drone Attack Kills 50, Including 33 Children in Kordofan

FILE - Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit patrol during a rally for Dagalo, in Garawee town, north of Sudan, Saturday, June 15, 2019. (AP Photo)
FILE - Sudanese soldiers from the Rapid Support Forces unit patrol during a rally for Dagalo, in Garawee town, north of Sudan, Saturday, June 15, 2019. (AP Photo)

A drone attack by the Sudanese paramilitary forces hit a kindergarten in south-central Sudan, killing 50 people, including 33 children, a doctors’ group said.

Paramedics on the scene in the town of Kalogi in South Kordofan state were targeted in “a second unexpected attack," Sudan Doctors’ Network said in a statement late Friday.

Emergency Lawyers, a rights group tracking violence against civilians in Sudan reported in a statement Saturday the second strike on paramedics treating survivors in Kalogi and said “a third civilian site near the previous two” was also attacked, reported The Associated Press.

The group condemned the attack, blaming the paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, for the strikes, calling them “a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children, and vital civilian infrastructure.”

The death toll is expected to be higher, but communication blackouts in the area have made it difficult to report casualties.

Thursday's attack is the latest in the fighting between the RSF, and the Sudanese military, who have been at war for over two years. It is now concentrating in the oil-rich Kordofan states.

“Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights,” said UNICEF Representative for Sudan Sheldon Yett in a statement Friday.

“Children should never pay the price of conflict,” said Yett.

He said UNICEF urges all parties “to stop these attacks immediately and allow safe, unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to reach those in desperate need.”

Hundreds of civilians were killed throughout the Kordofan states in the last few weeks as intensified fighting shifted from Darfur after the RSF took over the besieged city of el-Fasher.

Sudanese military aerial strikes on Sunday killed at least 48 people, mostly civilians, in Kauda, South Kordofan.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned that Kordofan could face new atrocities like those in el-Fasher.

Separately, the RSF condemned in a statement Friday a drone strike on the Chad-Sudan border, accusing the Sudanese military of being behind it and posted a video showing billowing black smoke. This couldn't be independently verified and it is unclear whether there were casualties in this strike. There was no immediate comment from the Sudanese military.

RSF’s violent takeover of el-Fasher was marked with executions of civilians, rapes and sexual assaults, and other atrocities. Thousands escaped and thousands more are feared killed or trapped in the city.

The RSF and the Sudanese military have been fighting for power over Sudan since 2023. More than 40,000 people were killed in the war, according to the World Health Organization, and 12 million displaced. However, aid groups say the true death toll could be way higher.


Türkiye FM Says SDF Showing No Intent to Honor Deal to Integrate into Syrian State

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during an interview with Reuters at the 23rd edition of the annual Doha Forum, in Doha, Qatar, December 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during an interview with Reuters at the 23rd edition of the annual Doha Forum, in Doha, Qatar, December 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
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Türkiye FM Says SDF Showing No Intent to Honor Deal to Integrate into Syrian State

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during an interview with Reuters at the 23rd edition of the annual Doha Forum, in Doha, Qatar, December 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during an interview with Reuters at the 23rd edition of the annual Doha Forum, in Doha, Qatar, December 6, 2025. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Türkiye's foreign minister said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are signaling "no intention" of honoring their deal to integrate into Syrian state structures and are instead trying to circumvent it.

Hakan Fidan said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the Doha Forum that Ankara was not giving the Syrian government a "blank cheque" to “oppress” minorities, adding that everyone in Syria "must feel safe and free".

The minister also said Israel’s "destabilization policies" in Syria were the main obstacle to efforts to rebuild unity in the country.