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Israel Defense Minister Says Hezbollah Chief ‘Playing with Fire’ That Will ‘Burn Lebanon’

People hold up portraits of Hezbollah leader, Naim Qassem, top, and slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as displaced residents drive back to their villages, in Jiyyeh, near Sidon, southern Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP)
People hold up portraits of Hezbollah leader, Naim Qassem, top, and slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as displaced residents drive back to their villages, in Jiyyeh, near Sidon, southern Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP)
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Israel Defense Minister Says Hezbollah Chief ‘Playing with Fire’ That Will ‘Burn Lebanon’

People hold up portraits of Hezbollah leader, Naim Qassem, top, and slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as displaced residents drive back to their villages, in Jiyyeh, near Sidon, southern Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP)
People hold up portraits of Hezbollah leader, Naim Qassem, top, and slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as displaced residents drive back to their villages, in Jiyyeh, near Sidon, southern Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP)

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Monday that Hezbollah's defiance would bring catastrophic consequences for Lebanon, after the group's leader rejected proposed direct talks between Israel and Lebanon. 

"Naim Qassem is playing with fire, and the fire will burn Hezbollah and all of Lebanon... If the Lebanese government continues to take cover under the wing of the Hezbollah terrorist organization -- fire will break out and engulf the cedars of Lebanon," Katz told UN envoy to Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, according to a statement issued by his office. 

"If the Lebanese government continues to take cover under the wing of the Hezbollah terrorist organization -- fire will break out and engulf the cedars of Lebanon."

Katz said that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun was "gambling with the future of Lebanon", adding that Israel would not accept a situation in which a ceasefire in Lebanon coexists with continued attacks on Israeli forces and communities in northern Israel.

He reiterated that "the Lebanese government must ensure that Hezbollah is disarmed, first of all south of the Litani up to the Blue Line, and afterwards throughout all of Lebanon," referring to the river that cuts through southern Lebanon.

Aoun on Monday said that the direct talks with Israel were aimed at ending the conflict with Hezbollah while accusing those who drew Lebanon into war of "treason", in an implicit rebuke of the Iran-backed armed group.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem on Monday rejected Lebanon's planned direct negotiations with Israel, calling them a "grave sin" that will destabilize Lebanon. 

Lebanon and Israel's US ambassadors held two meetings in Washington over the past weeks, the first of their kind in decades. 

The first meeting led to a truce in the Israel-Hezbollah war, while Beirut has been preparing for direct negotiations with the aim of striking a peace deal with Israel. The two countries have officially been at war since 1948. 

"We categorically reject direct negotiations with Israel, and those in power should know that their actions will not benefit Lebanon or themselves," Qassem said in a statement, aired by the group's channel Al-Manar. 

He called on authorities to "back down from their grave sin that is putting Lebanon in a spiral of instability". 

He added that the Lebanese government "cannot continue while it is neglecting Lebanon's rights, giving up land, and confronting its resistant people". 

Lebanese authorities have repeatedly stated that the goal of the US-sponsored negotiations is to stop the war, secure Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and return displaced people to their homes after the fighting forced more than a million people to flee. 

"These direct negotiations and their outcomes are as if they do not exist for us, and they do not concern us in the slightest," Qassem said. 

"We will continue our defensive resistance for Lebanon and its people," he added. 

"No matter how much the enemy threatens, we will not back down, we will not bow down, and we will not be defeated. 

"We will not give up our weapons... and the Israeli enemy will not remain on a single inch of our occupied land." 

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by firing rockets at Israel to avenge the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes. 

Since the truce went into force on April 17, Israeli strikes have killed at least 36 people, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures. 

Hezbollah has meanwhile claimed several attacks on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, as well as missile and drone launches at northern Israel, saying it is responding to Israeli "violations". 

According to details of the truce released by the US State Department, which said both Lebanon and Israel agreed to it, Israel reserves the right to continue targeting Hezbollah to prevent "planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks". 

Hezbollah strongly rejects this clause, saying the text of the agreement was not presented to the cabinet, in which the group and its allies are represented. 

"Has the government decided to work alongside the Israeli enemy against its own people?" Qassem said in his speech. 

Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed more than 2,500 people since March 2, according to Lebanese authorities. 

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Arab World

Board of Peace Has Met with UNRWA Despite Saying it Has No Gaza Role, Agency's Ex-chief Says

People walk past the UNRWA Vocational Training Center, where Israeli security forces have remained since raiding the facility on August 25, at the Qalandia refugee camp, south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, on August 27, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (AFP)
People walk past the UNRWA Vocational Training Center, where Israeli security forces have remained since raiding the facility on August 25, at the Qalandia refugee camp, south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, on August 27, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (AFP)
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Board of Peace Has Met with UNRWA Despite Saying it Has No Gaza Role, Agency's Ex-chief Says

People walk past the UNRWA Vocational Training Center, where Israeli security forces have remained since raiding the facility on August 25, at the Qalandia refugee camp, south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, on August 27, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (AFP)
People walk past the UNRWA Vocational Training Center, where Israeli security forces have remained since raiding the facility on August 25, at the Qalandia refugee camp, south of the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, on August 27, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP) (AFP)

As the US-created Board of Peace pushes ahead with plans to rebuild Gaza, it has said there’s no place for the UN body that for decades has provided support to displaced Palestinians. But the agency’s last chief says that behind the scenes, board members and others have been more open to working with the UN agency for Palestinians than it seems.

Israel wants the agency known as UNRWA out of Gaza and has repeatedly accused it of being infiltrated by Hamas militants, allegations the International Court of Justice says have not been substantiated. And yet UNRWA remains the territory’s largest aid provider, playing a key role in health and education.

Philippe Lazzarini, who led UNRWA until earlier this year, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview — his first since stepping down — that members of the Palestinian technocratic committee want to work with the agency. Another UN official shared with AP minutes from meetings where UNRWA and the committee discussed collaborating on plans for Gaza.

A Board of Peace official confirmed that board members had met multiple times with UNRWA officials.

And while the agency’s days are over, its programs “may persist if they are serving Gazans well,” the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Israel's Foreign Ministry did not respond when asked about these remarks.

UNRWA has more workers in Gaza than anyone else

There’s been no reconstruction in Gaza, almost a year since the ceasefire. Israel still prevents the entry of the Palestinian committee chosen by the Board of Peace to eventually govern the strip, saying Hamas must first disarm. The committee says it needs to be inside the strip to activate Gaza plans.

That's left UNRWA on the ground in Gaza, with far more workers than any other UN agency or nongovernmental organization. It props up about half of Gaza’s public health system, said Lazzarini, whose last working day was March 31. He plans to publish a book this year about his tenure.

“They want to get rid of the agency, but on the other hand they know that if you get completely rid of the agency today, it might have a further additional devastating impact on the population,” Lazzarini said.

During the war, sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, UNRWA temporarily took on a larger role, coordinating the entry and distribution of aid into the besieged Palestinian territory. Israel's attacks on the agency neutered that role, banning UNRWA international staff and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.

But UNRWA's core programs remained, Lazzarini said.

It still has around 11,000 Palestinian employees in Gaza. They conduct about 14,000 medical appointments daily, maintain water and waste management systems for over a million Palestinians, run digital literacy and math programs for over 280,000 children and staff temporary learning spaces for 60,000 more, UNRWA says.

UNRWA makes sure aid reaches people, Lazzarini said. “If you want the vaccine to end up in the mouths of the children, you still need the workforce, the presence of an agency like ours.”

UNRWA was told it's vital in planning Gaza's future Publicly, the agency has not been included in the Board of Peace’s planning for Gaza. At Wednesday's board briefing, members named various UN agencies as partners in the territory's reconstruction, but not UNRWA.

However, behind the scenes, the Palestinian committee that will eventually govern Gaza acknowledged that UNRWA is necessary for planning, Lazzarini said.

Two senior UN officials and the board official told the AP the board had met multiple times with UNRWA since the ceasefire was signed.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, confirmed at least three meetings between UNRWA officials and the Palestinian committee this year, most recently this month. Two took place during Lazzarini’s tenure.

Shortly before the end of his tenure, Lazzarini said, he spoke to Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority deputy minister who leads the Palestinian committee.

“Basically, he said, ‘I don’t know how I can succeed without you’,” Lazzarini said. Shaath and a spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.

An internal UN description of a Jan. 26 meeting in Cairo, held without UNRWA, said Shaath praised the agency, showed a clear intention to see it back on track and said the Palestinian committee's system would largely build on its work.

The Tony Blair Institute, a Board of Peace partner, also asked for UNRWA’s help and spoke to UNRWA personnel, one senior UN official said. The institute did not respond to a request for comment.

At a pledging conference for UNRWA on June 30, the agency's current acting chief, Christian Saunders, called it “vital” to efforts by the board and the Palestinian committee to move forward with the ceasefire.

But the Board of Peace official painted a different picture, saying the meetings focused on determining how UNRWA’s operations work in order to develop programs that are “far more efficient and accountable.”

“UNRWA’s days are over,” the official said. Still, its employees ”will remain if they pass vetting and are delivering on their mandate and not advancing ideology or Hamas interests.”

Lazzarini said it's an “absurd contradiction" — the Board of Peace says UNRWA is not wanted while UN member countries “expect it to deliver.”

“We continue to emphasize that UNRWA is indispensable,” Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, told journalists Thursday after over 50 countries attended a ministerial meeting on the agency at UN headquarters.

Lazzarini says he has faced personal attacks UNRWA was established to help Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.

In January 2024, Israel claimed, in many cases without providing evidence, that hundreds of Palestinians worked for the agency and that over a dozen of its employees took part in the Oct. 7 attack.

Lazzarini said that he was never given written evidence to back up the allegations despite asking Israel and UN member states, but that he doesn't regret his decision to fire the employees accused of taking part in the attack.

“I did because it was in the best interest of the agency and the population we were helping," Lazzarini said, adding that he has faced “extraordinary vicious, heinous attacks on social media” as well as being accosted in the streets, "in Geneva and in New York” and shouted at by "pro-Israeli groups.”

His book, “A Witness to Gaza: What Cannot Be Erased," will be published in French in October, with an English version to follow.

Arab World

Israeli Army Says 2 Soldiers Killed in Gaza

Palestinians walk amid war-damaged buildings in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians walk amid war-damaged buildings in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Israeli Army Says 2 Soldiers Killed in Gaza

Palestinians walk amid war-damaged buildings in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians walk amid war-damaged buildings in Gaza City, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Israel's army said Friday that two reserve soldiers were killed in Gaza, with a military source telling AFP they died in an explosion of an Israeli army drone.

"The IDF drone crashed at a military post in the Gaza Strip but did not explode. The soldiers approached the drone, which exploded moments later," the official said.

The army identified the soldiers as Nadav Kali, aged 24, and Ofek Moalem, 23, from its 7007th Battalion, 16th Brigade.

Arab World

‘Tripoli Cell’ Sparks Accusations Among Libya’s Rival Factions

Firefighters fought to contain a blaze burning at an oil facility in Libya’s key western oil town of Zawiya, on Aug. 12, 2006, a day after a drone strike ignited a gasoline-storage tank. AP
Firefighters fought to contain a blaze burning at an oil facility in Libya’s key western oil town of Zawiya, on Aug. 12, 2006, a day after a drone strike ignited a gasoline-storage tank. AP
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‘Tripoli Cell’ Sparks Accusations Among Libya’s Rival Factions

Firefighters fought to contain a blaze burning at an oil facility in Libya’s key western oil town of Zawiya, on Aug. 12, 2006, a day after a drone strike ignited a gasoline-storage tank. AP
Firefighters fought to contain a blaze burning at an oil facility in Libya’s key western oil town of Zawiya, on Aug. 12, 2006, a day after a drone strike ignited a gasoline-storage tank. AP

The dismantling of the alleged “sabotage cell” in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, has sparked accusations between the parties to Libya’s conflict, with each side pointing fingers over who is supporting the group.

On September 6, the Government of National Unity (GNU) announced the arrest of a cell accused of carrying out drone attacks on oil storage facilities and a power station in Tripoli and Zawiya. Since then, however, no further details have been released regarding the results of the investigation with five Libyans and several foreigners.

Some allege that Saddam Haftar, deputy commander-in-chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA), was behind the cell, claims that political analyst Omar Bousaada dismissed as “absurd accusations that no longer deceive anyone.”

The GNU’s Ministry of Defense had stated that it had also thwarted additional plots, including plans to target the South Tripoli power station as well as vital infrastructure and political, security, and military figures.

With the Public Prosecutor’s Office maintaining secrecy over the investigation into the detained cell members, some public figures have adopted narratives circulated by foreign media outlets, leading to intense political exchanges.

Libyan activist Ahmed Al-Zarrouq claimed that the Tariq Ben Zeyad Brigade, affiliated with the LNA, was responsible for the “sabotage cell” that targeted key facilities in Tripoli with the aim of creating crises in the capital.

Al-Zarrouq, a cousin of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, asserted that Saddam Haftar was behind the cell, which allegedly consisted of one Spaniard and four Libyans. He published their names and the roles they were assigned.

The Allibiya TV Channel, owned by the Al Ghad Media Group and considered close to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, echoed Al-Zarrouq’s narrative. The channel also cited unnamed sources claiming that Tripoli authorities had released the Spanish suspect accused of involvement in the cell under pressure from Saddam Haftar.

A security source close to the LNA denied the allegations, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that Libya’s political, military, and security climate is moving toward greater stability and that ending the country’s division through elections is within reach.

The source, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, argued that some factions in Libya benefit from division and fragmentation rather than stability. He questioned how such allegations could emerge at a time when military and security leaders in both Benghazi and Tripoli are publicly emphasizing the need to end the country’s split.

On September 19, Presidential Council Chairman Mohamed Al-Menfi revealed that Libya had formally approached the International Criminal Court (ICC) for technical, technological, and legal support to strengthen investigations into the cell.

Bousaada told Asharq Al-Awsat that “fabricated statements and frivolous accusations have become a trademark of failure” propagated by what he described as “factories of illusion,” which, he said, resort to manipulating narratives and manufacturing scenarios whenever they feel politically marginalized or operationally weakened.

He argued that linking Saddam Haftar to the cell “is not merely false, but a desperate attempt to obscure the reality that his camp is currently operating from a position of strength and possesses genuine negotiating leverage that has secured its presence in major regional and international decision-making capitals.”

In his statement, Al-Menfi said Libya had submitted its request to the ICC Prosecutor’s Office through official diplomatic channels, via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in coordination with the Ministry of Defense, to enhance cooperation in the ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile, the GNU Ministry of Defense insisted that the case remains under the jurisdiction of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and denied any attempt to negotiate with any party regarding the matter. The ministry reaffirmed that investigations are continuing to identify all individuals involved in the sabotage cell and any entities connected to it.