BEIRUT: Lebanese Premier Najib Mikati said on Friday that the Israeli attacks on Lebanon are “completely unacceptable.”
After a Cabinet meeting, he said that the Foreign Ministry “will submit a request to the UN Security Council to take a decision for an immediate ceasefire and the implementation of Resolution 1701, which Lebanon adheres to and has reaffirmed in international forums.
“A diplomatic solution is on the table, and Hezbollah, as a partner in the government, agrees to implement Resolution 1701. Most importantly, an immediate ceasefire is necessary.”
The official Lebanese stance came after Israeli strikes expanded to include the capital, Beirut, and the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL in the south.
Lebanon’s military said two of its soldiers were killed and three others were wounded after an Israeli airstrike targeted a military post in Yatter, southern Lebanon.
By noon on Friday, the death toll rose to 2,198 since the beginning of confrontations, including women and children. The number of the injured reached 10,329.
Mikati said Lebanon has become “a victim of Israeli arrogance, which continues unchecked and violates our sovereignty before the eyes of the world, emboldened by the disturbing silence regarding its massacres.
“The Israeli attack on UNIFIL is a condemnable crime and a matter for the international community, whose sanctity is being violated.”
The observation tower in UNIFIL’s Naqoura headquarters was hit by a heavy airstrike on Friday, marking the second attack on the international forces within 24 hours. The new attack resulted in the injury of two Sri Lankan soldiers, one of them critically.
A UNIFIL source told Arab News: “The Israeli attacks covered military sites of UNIFIL units during their incursion attempts into Lebanese territory. They entered a Nepalese force’s site in the border town of Blida and smashed cameras and lighting equipment. They also broke into the site of the Irish (force) … in the town of Maroun Al-Ras and destroyed its assets and broke into the site of the Ghanaian force in the town of Yaroun and committed the same aggression.
“In the 2006 war, UNIFIL were not subjected to this type of aggression, as they retreated to their barracks and remained there. The number of those forces at that time did not exceed 3,500 peacekeepers, but today, the situation is different, as the UNIFIL include 10,500 soldiers, and their deployment is wider as they have more sites in the border area.”
UNIFIL recently received threats to retreat from their positions to a depth of 5 km. However, the source said that this retreat would still be subject to new threats and that the UNIFIL commander cannot make such a decision, which is entrusted to the UN Security Council.
According to the source, “at the moment, UNIFIL has stopped all their patrols in the south and remained in barracks and did not use their right to self-defense mentioned in Resolution 1701. Their centers in the areas of deployment are facing shortages of food supplies, with reserves expected to last between one and two weeks, depending on the location.”
In this context, Reuters quoted two sources familiar with Hezbollah operations as saying that “Hezbollah is preparing for a long war of attrition in south Lebanon. It still has a considerable stockpile of weapons, including its most powerful precision missiles, which it has yet to use. Hezbollah’s command was disrupted for the first few days after Nasrallah’s Sept. 27 assassination until it established a new ‘operations room’ 72 hours later.”
Hezbollah later denied the report, calling it “pure fiction.”
Israeli army spokesperson, Capt. Ella Waweya, published a video of Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi wandering around Lebanon’s southern border region.
In the video, Halevi said: “We will not stop until we ensure that we can safely return the residents. If anyone considers rebuilding new terrorist infrastructure, the Israeli army will destroy it again.”
A video was shared of Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari in the southern village of Blida, displaying military belongings and ammunition allegedly “inside the homes of the southerners, for the purpose of breaking into the border.”
Rescue teams continued to remove rubble in Noueiri and Basta in Beirut, as the Israeli raids on Thursday destroyed two residential buildings, killing 22 civilians and injuring 117.
Reports said the head of Hezbollah’s security apparatus Wafiq Safa, who was targeted by the raids on Beirut, was in a hospital in the capital.
There is conflicting information on whether Safa sustained a critical injury or was killed following the attack.
Following the difficult night that Beirut witnessed, reconnaissance planes hovered over Lebanon around the clock.
Israel raided about 30 villages in the south, destroying a building in Jebchit and killing four people.
Three people were also killed as a result of an Israeli raid on Arzoun, Tyre.
Moreover, an Israeli drone raided the Civil Defense center in Tayr Debba.
Israeli raids mainly targeted Bekaa, specifically Bodai in west Baalbek, Al-Keiyal in Baalbek, Khodor, Douris, the Nabi Chit valley, the Saraaine Al-Tahta valley, and the border village of Hawsh Al-Sayyid Ali between Hermel and Syria.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, carried out a series of military operations against the Israeli army.
According to its statements, the militant group targeted “a gathering of soldiers in the Yiftah settlement and its surroundings, technical equipment in the Al-Abbad site with a guided missile, and a gathering of soldiers in the Kfar Szold settlement.”
It also targeted “a gathering of soldiers in the Yaara settlement” and carried out “an aerial attack with a fleet of attack drones against the air force command base in Kiryat Eliezer in Haifa.”
Israeli media outlets reported that “a building in the industrial zone of Kiryat Bialik in the Haifa district was directly hit by missiles launched from Lebanon,” adding that “an anti-armor missile injured two people in Yir’on in the upper Galilee.”
They estimated that “about 30 missiles have been launched from southern Lebanon toward the Galilee since the morning.”
The Israeli army stated in the afternoon that “Hezbollah launched 65 rockets from Lebanon toward Israel,” adding that “sirens sounded in Shomera in the Galilee.”
Lebanon calls for UN decision on ceasefire as Israeli strikes expand
https://arab.news/ph2sv
Lebanon calls for UN decision on ceasefire as Israeli strikes expand
- A diplomatic solution is on the table, and Hezbollah, as a partner in the government, agrees to implement Resolution 1701
- The official Lebanese stance came after Israeli strikes expanded to include the capital, Beirut, and the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL in the south
Syria interior ministry says Sweida clashes have ‘halted’
- Violence between the Druze and Bedouin groups that began on July 13 has left an estimated 940 dead
DAMASCUS: Tribal fighters have been evacuated from Syria’s southern city of Sweida and violent clashes have ceased, the country’s interior ministry said late Saturday.
“After intensive efforts by the Ministry of Interior to implement the ceasefire agreement, following the deployment of its forces in the northern and western regions of Sweida Governorate, the city of Sweida was evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighborhoods were halted,” interior ministry spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba said in a post on Telegram.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on the Syrian government’s security forces to prevent “jihadists from entering and ”carrying out massacres“ in the conflict-stricken south of the country.
”If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent Daesh and any other violent terrorists from entering the area and carrying out massacres,“ Rubio said in a statement posted to X.
Sectarian clashes between armed Bedouin forces and the Druze in the community’s Sweida heartland had drawn in Syria’s Islamist-led government, Israel and other armed tribes.
US-brokered negotiations have sought to avert further Israeli military intervention, with Syrian forces agreeing to withdraw from the region.
“The US has remained heavily involved over the last three days with Israel, Jordan and authorities in Damascus on the horrifying & dangerous developments in southern Syria,” Rubio said.
He called for the Syrian government to “hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.”
“Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately,” Rubio added.
Once in control of large swathes of Syria, the Daesh was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 largely due to the efforts of Kurdish-led forces supported by an international coalition.
Violence between the Druze and Bedouin groups that began on July 13 has left an estimated 940 dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
The count included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 165 of whom were summarily executed, according to the Observatory.
The monitor also included 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin in the toll.
Gaza’s ‘tragic story’ shows ‘unraveling of international law,’ Pakistan’s Ambassador to UN Asim Iftikhar Ahmad tells Arab News
- As Pakistan assumes Security Council’s rotating presidency, its permanent representative decries international failure to put pressure on Israel
- Views upcoming conference on Saudi-France-led two-state solution as “another golden opportunity … to reaffirm support for Palestinian cause”
NEW YORK CITY: A long-standing advocate of the Palestinian cause, Pakistan is using its presidency of the UN Security Council to help refocus global attention on the crisis in Gaza and the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, outlined his country’s vision in a wide-ranging interview with Arab News as the South Asian country assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council
“It’s a tragic story. It is an unraveling of international law, international humanitarian law,” Ahmad said, decrying the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the international community’s failure to pressure Israel to put an end to it.
Reiterating his country’s position at the UN, he said: “We want clear movement in the direction of Palestinian statehood, on the basis of the right to self-determination, on the basis of international legitimacy and UN Security Council resolutions.”
He also highlighted the significance of the upcoming conference on implementing the two-state solution — to be co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France from July 28 to 30 — calling it “another golden opportunity for the international community to come together and to reaffirm that support for the Palestinian cause.”
Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister are expected to attend, offering the country’s full political and diplomatic backing.
In preparation, Ahmad said Pakistan has actively participated in eight preparatory roundtables addressing the political, security, humanitarian and legal dimensions of the two-state solution.
“We have described how we are going to support many of those actions,” he said.
Regarding coordination with Saudi Arabia and others involved in ceasefire negotiations, Ahmad noted that while Pakistan is “not directly involved,” it remains in close contact with key stakeholders.
“We hope that this ceasefire should be announced sooner rather than later,” he said.
Asked whether Pakistan would consider normalizing relations with Israel if a Palestinian state were recognized and the violence in Gaza ended, Ahmad was unequivocal.
“There are no indications, unfortunately, from the Israeli side on moving forward with recognition,” he said. “What we are looking at this point of time is Palestinian statehood in the context of the two-state solution.”
Another unresolved conflict concerns the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan.
In May, India launched Operation Sindoor, firing missiles at what it claimed were militant targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, in retaliation for a deadly April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, that killed 26 civilians.
India, which has accused Pakistan of supporting terrorism in Indian-administered Kashmir, said that Pakistan-based insurgents were behind the attack — claims that Islamabad denies.
Pakistan responded to India’s attacks with missile, drone and artillery strikes along the Line of Control and on military installations, in what it called Operation Bunyan-ul-Marsoos, sparking intense cross-border exchanges until a ceasefire was brokered on May 10.
Ahmad linked these events to the broader unresolved status of the region.
“This recurring conflict was the result of Indian unprovoked aggression against Pakistan, which Pakistan had to respond to in accordance with the right to self-defense, in accordance with the UN Charter,” he said.
He welcomed international mediation efforts and reiterated Pakistan’s position. “We want to have this dialog with India. We want to address the issues between us, and in particular the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.”
He restated the legal basis for Pakistan’s claims. “This position derives itself from the resolutions of the UN Security Council on Jammu and Kashmir,” which call for a plebiscite for the Kashmiri people.
However, “that plebiscite has not been held because India has refused to comply.”
Ahmad argued that lasting peace in South Asia is unlikely without resolving this “core issue.”
Turning to the credibility of the Security Council itself, Ahmad was blunt in his critique. “It’s very clear; resolutions are there. The problem is about implementation,” he said, citing both Kashmir and Palestine as long-neglected issues.
He referred to Article 25 of the UN Charter, which affirms that all Security Council resolutions are binding, whether under Chapter VI or Chapter VII.
“There should be a review, an assessment of how the Security Council has been able to implement many of its resolutions,” he said.
He proposed that special envoys or representatives of the secretary-general could help advance implementation. “More important than adopting those resolutions is to have them implemented,” he said.
Ahmad spoke at length about the leadership role Pakistan envisioned at the Security Council — including its commitment to multilateralism and its strategic engagement across UN agencies.
Beyond peace and security, Pakistan remains actively engaged in the UN’s development, humanitarian and environmental work.
“Pakistan, being a developing country, has development challenges. We are particularly impacted by climate change,” said Ahmad, recalling the devastating floods that have repeatedly afflicted the country in recent years.
He highlighted Pakistan’s leadership in climate diplomacy, emergency response and poverty reduction through collaboration with specialized UN agencies.
“We are among the lead countries who are leading this international discourse on development, on climate change,” he said.
According to Ahmad, Pakistan is active not only in New York, but also across other UN hubs — including Geneva, Rome and Nairobi — contributing to human rights, sustainable development and climate resilience.
On issues from Palestine and Kashmir to Security Council reform, he said, Pakistan is pushing for action grounded in the UN Charter and international law. As Ahmad sees it, the July presidency is an opportunity “to bring that focus back” to the principles on which the UN was founded.
At the heart of this approach is a renewed emphasis on multilateralism — a value Ahmad calls “the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy.”
In an increasingly divided world, he stressed that “the attachment to the UN, the charter, international law, and this ability for the member states to work together through the UN” remains vital.
Pakistan, he said, aims to advance peace and security through constructive cooperation with all member states, both inside and outside the council.
Reflecting that goal, Pakistan’s signature open debate next week will focus on “how we can better use multilateralism and peaceful settlement of disputes to promote international peace and security.”
The aim, he added, is to “bring that discussion back to the council” and reaffirm the tools provided in the UN Charter — particularly Chapter VI on peaceful dispute resolution, Chapter VIII on regional arrangements, and the secretary-general’s role in preventive diplomacy.
“We want to bring together and reaffirm the commitment of the Security Council to really utilize these tools,” Ahmad said.
Although some expected Pakistan’s signature event to spotlight national concerns, Ahmad clarified that the debate “is not specific to any situation.” Rather, it is intended to promote “a comprehensive approach to conflict prevention, preventive diplomacy,” and “peacefully address disputes.”
“Pakistan does not believe that we are in the Security Council only to promote our own issues or agendas. Our agenda is broad, based on international law,” he said.
Ahmad argued that such a holistic approach is essential to resolving many of the crises currently on the council’s agenda — including Gaza and Kashmir.
Sudan crisis worsens as violence escalates in Kordofan and Darfur
- “The suffering in Kordofan deepens with each passing day,” Mercy Corps Country Director for Sudan, Kadry Furany, said in a statement
CAIRO: Fighting in Sudan’s Kordofan region that has killed hundreds and ongoing violence in Darfur — the epicenters of the country’s conflict — have worsened Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, with aid workers warning of limited access to assistance.
The UN said more than 450 civilians, including at least 35 children, were killed during the weekend of July 12 in attacks in villages surrounding the town of Bara in North Kordofan province.
“The suffering in Kordofan deepens with each passing day,” Mercy Corps Country Director for Sudan, Kadry Furany, said in a statement. “Communities are trapped along active and fast-changing front lines, unable to flee, unable to access basic needs or lifesaving assistance.”
Sudan plunged into war after simmering tensions between the army and its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, escalated to fighting in April 2023.
BACKGROUND
The violence has killed at least 40,000 people and created one of the world’s worst displacement and hunger crises.
In recent months, much of the fighting has been concentrated in the Darfur and Kordofan regions.
On Thursday, the UN human rights office confirmed that since July 10, the RSF has killed at least 60 civilians in the town of Bara, while civil society groups reported up to 300 people were killed, the office said.
A military airstrike on Thursday in Bara killed at least 11 people, all from the same family.
Meanwhile, between July 10 and 14, the army killed at least 23 civilians and injured over two dozen others after striking two villages in West Kordofan.
An aid worker with Mercy Corps said his brother was fatally shot on July 13 during an attack on the village of Um Seimima in El-Obeid City in North Kordofan.
Furany said that movement between the western and eastern areas of the Kordofan region is “practically impossible.”
The intensified fighting forced Mercy Corps to temporarily suspend operations in three out of four localities, with access beyond Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, now being in “serious doubt,” Furany said, as a safe sustained humanitarian corridor is needed.
Mathilde Vu, an aid worker with the Norwegian Refugee Council who is often based in Port Sudan, said that fighting has intensified in North Kordofan and West Kordofan over the past several months.
West Bank ‘plane chalet’ helps aviation dreams scale newer heights
- Red and white concrete ‘plane’ has become a local landmark
- ‘So many kids want to come,’ said 27-year-old Harsha, who built the guest house in the hills of the northern West Bank. However, the price tag, between $300 and $600 per night, is out of reach for most Palestinians, particularly as unemployment soars due
QAFFIN, West Bank: A guest house in the shape of a plane would stand out anywhere in the world, but in the occupied West Bank, devoid of airports, Minwer Harsha’s creation helps aviation dreams take flight.
“So many kids want to come,” said 27-year-old Harsha, who built the guest house in the hills of the northern West Bank, within view of the separation barrier between Israel and the Palestinian territory.
“And that’s the goal: Since we don’t have planes or airports, people come here instead,” he said.
Harsha said he designed the concrete plane himself, with a master bedroom in the cockpit and a children’s bedroom in the tail.
The price tag, between 1,000 and 2,000 shekels (about $300-$600) per night, is out of reach for most Palestinians, particularly as unemployment soars due to the war in Gaza.
He has nonetheless been pleased with the reactions to his chalet, having initially faced skepticism.
“I wanted to bring something unique, something new to the area and to Palestine,” Harsha said of the unit, which opened a month ago.
Since its launch, his red and white concrete plane has become a local landmark, featuring in local media and on social networks.
Harsha said he originally wanted to place a Palestinian flag on his chalet and call it the “Palestinian Queen,” but avoided such signs out of caution.
The guest house is located in the West Bank’s Area C, which covers more than 60 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli control.
“I just made it look like a plane. I avoided politics entirely because of the hardships our people are going through,” he said.
“We’re a people who are constantly losing things — our land, our rights, our lives.”
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and frequently demolishes homes it says are built without permission in the mostly rural Area C.
Though no airport currently services the Palestinian territories, both the West Bank and Gaza once had their own terminals, in East Jerusalem and the southern Gaza city of Rafah, respectively.
Both were closed during the Second Intifada, the Palestinian uprising of the early 2000s, and what remains of East Jerusalem’s airport is now isolated from the rest of the West Bank by Israel’s separation barrier.
Despite difficulties and threats of demolition, Harsha believes that Palestinians can find freedom and fulfilment in projects like his.
“I encourage everyone who has land to work on it and invest in it — with creativity and ambition,” he said, flanked by his two brothers who helped him build the unit.
Harsha himself has more plans for his land.
“After this airplane, we’ll build a ship next year,” he said.
“It will be something unique and beautiful,” he said, pointing out that while many West Bank Palestinians have seen planes flying overhead, a large number of people from the landlocked territory have never seen a real ship at all.
Sudan PM vows to rebuild Khartoum on first visit to war-torn capital
- “Khartoum will return as a proud national capital,” Idris said
- Idris on Saturday visited the army headquarters and the city’s airport, two national symbols
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris on Saturday pledged to rebuild Khartoum on his first visit to the capital, ravaged by more than two years of war, since assuming office in May.
Touring the city’s destroyed airport, bridges and water stations, the new premier outlined mass repair projects in anticipation of the return of at least some of the millions who have fled the violence.
“Khartoum will return as a proud national capital,” Idris said, according to Sudan’s state news agency.
The war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in the heart of the capital in April 2023, quickly tearing the city apart.
Tens of thousands are estimated to have been killed in the once-bustling capital which 3.5 million people have fled, according to the United Nations.
According to Khartoum state’s media office, Idris on Saturday visited the army headquarters and the city’s airport, two national symbols whose recapture along with the presidential palace earlier this year cemented the army’s victory in the capital.
But reconstruction is expected to be a herculean feat, with the government putting the cost at $700 billion nationwide, around half of which in Khartoum alone.
The army-aligned government, which moved to Port Sudan on the Red Sea early in the war and still operates from there, has begun to plan the return of ministries to Khartoum even as fighting rages on in other parts of the country.
Authorities have begun operations in the capital to properly bury corpses, clear thousands of unexploded ordnances and resume bureaucratic services.
On a visit to Sudan’s largest oil refinery, the Al-Jaili plant just north of Khartoum, Idris promised that “national institutions will come back even better than they were before.”
The refinery — now a blackened husk — was recaptured in January, but the facility which once processed 100,000 barrels a day will take years and at least $1.3 billion to rebuild, officials told AFP.
Idris is a career diplomat and former UN official who was appointed in May by army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, Sudan’s de facto leader, to form an administration dubbed a “government of hope.”
The war has created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises, with nearly 25 million
people suffering dire food insecurity and over 10 million internally displaced across the country.
A further four million people have fled across borders.
In Sudan’s southern Kordofan and western Darfur regions, the fighting shows no signs of abating, with the paramilitaries accused of killing hundreds in recent days in attempts to capture territory.
