Sunni preachers in ‘vote to save Lebanon’ plea

The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon during his visit. (AN photo)
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Updated 10 May 2022
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Sunni preachers in ‘vote to save Lebanon’ plea

  • Sermons to warn against ‘dangerous’ voter boycott in Sunday’s poll

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Sunni preachers have been told to issue a call in their Friday sermons for people to take part in the country’s parliamentary elections on May 15.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian, the Sunnis’ supreme religious authority, instructed preachers to urge Lebanese to head to the polling stations on Sunday, and elect those who would “preserve Lebanon, and the future of its children, its Arab identity and its legitimate institutions.”

Many Sunnis have said they will boycott the elections following a decision by the head of the Future Movement, former prime minister Saad Hariri, to step down from politics and not contest the poll.

Some say that the many electoral lists and numerous candidates in Beirut, Tripoli and Akkar make it difficult to choose Sunni MPs, with most voting only for the Future Movement in previous elections.

Derian has previously declared that “election is a duty and a necessity,” and warned of the “extremely dangerous” effects of a voter boycott on the representation of Sunnis in parliament.

Meanwhile, Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari visited several election hopefuls on Tuesday, including the Sunni candidate on the Zahle Sovereignty list, Bilal Hoshaimy. This electoral list includes activists who took part in the Oct. 17 protests.

Bukhari also visited current MP and candidate Michel Daher, who is running with the Independent Sovereigns list, which includes nonpartisan figures.

The incoming parliament will elect a new president to succeed Michel Aoun.

For the second day, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah addressed party supporters in the southern suburb of Beirut and singled out voters “who support the resistance, but do not want to vote because of the living crisis.”

Nasrallah described the upcoming election as a “political July war” — a reference to the July 2006 conflict with Israel — and said: “You must get out of your homes to exercise political resistance in order for us to have armed military resistance; if the resistance abandons its weapons, who will protect Lebanon?”

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri also urged his supporters to vote on Sunday. Before Berri’s speech, the Amal Movement candidate Qabalan Qabalan criticized the “clamor, chaos and madness” that accompanies election campaigns.

Qabalan said that his party hopes to renew political life and constitutional institutions in Lebanon in order to get the country out of the “deep pit” it is in.

“There is no need to raise the ceiling in political discourse, nor to provoke sectarian and political fanaticism in the hope of a vote or a seat or a majority here or there. We must admit that the country does not function by a system wherein a majority rules over a minority. A majority cannot subjugate a minority, no matter how powerful it is, because the foundations of this country are based on understanding among all its components and groups,” Qabalan said.

Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces party — which is engaged in a fierce battle against the Free Patriotic Movement — addressed supporters during an electoral meeting in which he criticized Aoun, saying that the presidency has become “a title for undermining Lebanon’s sovereignty, destroying its institutions and eroding the state; a title of hunger, poverty, humiliation and power cuts.”

The FPM is a Lebanese Christian group founded by Aoun in 2005.

Geagea said that Lebanon witnessed “the biggest lies and fraud undertaken by the FPM. Its goal was only to reach power, and when it achieved that, it forgot its promises.”


Sirens in north Israel after army detects Iranian missiles

Updated 6 sec ago
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Sirens in north Israel after army detects Iranian missiles

  • Israel and Iran on Tuesday accepted a ceasefire plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to end their 12-day war
  • Iran has not formally accepted a ceasefire

The Israeli military reported two missiles fired from Iran mid-morning on Tuesday, leading sirens to blare in the north several hours after US President Trump announced a ceasefire plan.

“Two missiles were launched from Iran and they were intercepted,” a military official told AFP on condition of anonymity, with the army saying people could leave shelters around 15 minuutes after the first alert.

Trump announced a phased 24-hour ceasefire process beginning at around 0400 GMT Tuesday, which Israel said it had agreed to. Iran has not formally accepted a ceasefire.

Israeli defence minister orders attacks on Iran after ceasefire 'violation'

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday he had ordered the country’s military to respond forcefully to what he said was Iran’s violation of a ceasefire with Israel.

The directive followed an announcement by the military that it had detected missile launches from Iran towards Israel.

Less than three hours earlier, US President Donald Trump had said that the ceasefire was now in effect.

Katz said the military had been instructed to carry out high-intensity operations against targets in Tehran.

Israel and Iran on Tuesday accepted a ceasefire plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to end their 12-day war. (AFP)

Israel and Iran accept ceasefire

Israel and Iran on Tuesday accepted a ceasefire plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to end their 12-day war that roiled the Middle East, after Tehran launched a retaliatory limited missile attack on a US military base in Qatar.

The acceptance of the deal by both sides came after Tehran launched a final onslaught of missiles targeting Israel that killed at least four people early Tuesday morning, while Israel launched a blitz of airstrikes targeting sites across Iran before dawn.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with Iran in coordination with Trump.


UN condemns ‘weaponization of food’ in Gaza

Updated 24 June 2025
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UN condemns ‘weaponization of food’ in Gaza

GENEVA: The United Nations on Tuesday condemned Israel’s apparent “weaponization of food” in Gaza, a war crime, and urged Israel’s military to “stop shooting at people trying to get food.”
“Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism is in contradiction with international standards on aid distribution,” the UN human rights office said in written notes provided before a briefing.
“Desperate, hungry people in Gaza continue to face the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risk being killed while trying to get food.”
The US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began food distribution operations in Gaza on May 26 after Israel completely cut off supplies into the occupied Palestinian territory for more than two months, sparking warnings of mass famine.
The UN said in May that “100 percent of the population” of the besieged territory were ” at risk of famine.”
The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF — an officially private effort with opaque funding — over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.
UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan warned in the briefing notes of “scenes of chaos around the food distribution points” of the GHF.
Since the organization began operating, “the Israeli military has shelled and shot Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points, leading to many fatalities,” he said.
He pointed to reports that “over 410 Palestinians have been killed as a result, (while) at least 93 others have also been reportedly killed by the Israeli army while attempting to approach the very few aid convoys of the UN and other humanitarian organizations.”
“At least 3,000 Palestinians have been injured in these incidents,” he said.
“Each of these killings must be promptly and impartially investigated, and those responsible must be held to account.”
Kheetan cautioned that the system “endangers civilians and contributes to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
“The weaponization of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime, and, under certain circumstances, may constitute elements of other crimes under international law,” he warned.
The UN rights office demanded immediate action to rectify the situation.
“The Israeli military must stop shooting at people trying to get food,” Kheetan said, also demanding that Israel “allow the entry of food and other humanitarian assistance needed to sustain the lives of Palestinians in Gaza.”
“It must immediately lift its unlawful restrictions on the work of UN and other humanitarian actors,” he said.
And he called on other countries to “take concrete steps to ensure that Israel — the occupying power in Gaza — complies with its duty to ensure that sufficient food and lifesaving necessities are provided to the population.”


Oman Air resumes flights as Iraq, Syria reopen airspace after Iran-Israel truce announcement

Updated 24 June 2025
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Oman Air resumes flights as Iraq, Syria reopen airspace after Iran-Israel truce announcement

  • Iraq reopened its airspace 12 days after closing it amid the Iran-Israel conflict

DUBAI: Oman Air announced on Tuesday the resumption of flights, as Iraq and Syria reopened their airspace following Israel and Iran’s acceptance of a ceasefire plan to end their 12-day war that had destabilized the region.

Iraq reopened its airspace 12 days after closing it amid the Iran-Israel conflict, aviation authorities confirmed. The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said the move came “following a comprehensive assessment of the security situation and coordination with relevant national and international authorities.”

The reopening of airspace and resumption of flights is expected to ease regional flight disruptions and allow airlines to resume more direct and efficient routes. 


Gaza rescuers say Israeli forces killed 21 people waiting for aid

Updated 24 June 2025
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Gaza rescuers say Israeli forces killed 21 people waiting for aid

  • Thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations in Gaza, as famine looms across the territory after more than 20 months of war

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli forces killed 21 people waiting for aid near a distribution site in the center of the Palestinian territory on Tuesday, the latest deadly incident targeting aid-seekers.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 21 people were killed and around 150 wounded “as a result of the Israeli occupation forces’ targeting of gatherings of citizens waiting for aid... in the central Gaza Strip with bullets and tank shells” in the early hours of Tuesday.

AFP has contacted the Israeli military for comment on the incident.

Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and authorities in the Palestinian territory.

Bassal added that five people were killed and several injured in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house in Gaza City at dawn.

Thousands of Palestinians have gathered daily in the hope of receiving food rations in Gaza, as famine looms across the territory after more than 20 months of war.

According to figures issued on Saturday by the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, at least 450 people have been killed and nearly 3,500 injured by Israeli fire while seeking aid since late May.

Many of those have been near sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to rescuers.

The privately run foundation’s operations in Gaza have been marred by chaotic scenes. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

Israel’s opposition leader on Tuesday called for an end to the war in Gaza, after Israel announced it had agreed to a ceasefire with Iran.

“And now Gaza. It’s time to finish it there too. Bring back the hostages, end the war,” Yair Lapid wrote on X.


Over 40 people, including children, killed in Sudan hospital attack, says WHO chief

Updated 24 June 2025
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Over 40 people, including children, killed in Sudan hospital attack, says WHO chief

  • Saturday’s attack on the Al Mujlad Hospital took place in West Kordofan, near the front line between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces

GENEVA: Over 40 people, including children and health care workers, were killed in an attack on a hospital in Sudan at the weekend, the head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
Saturday’s attack on the Al Mujlad Hospital took place in West Kordofan, near the front line between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for attacks on health infrastructure to stop, without saying who was responsible.