Nasrallah speech sparks fears of power vacuum in Lebanon

On Monday, a meeting was held between 16 MPs from the Force of change bloc, along with a number of other independent and opposition MPs to ‘agree on a legislative agenda.’ (AFP/File)
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Updated 10 August 2022
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Nasrallah speech sparks fears of power vacuum in Lebanon

  • Hezbollah secretary-general raised prospect of a government forming without a new president being elected in September
  • Force of Change Bloc holds meeting in Parliament with eye on opposing Hezbollah

BEIRUT: Doubts were cast over the upcoming presidential election in Lebanon later this year, after Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah called on Lebanese officials “to form a government that enjoys its full powers to assume its responsibilities, whether or not a new president is elected,” on Tuesday.

It was the first time Nasrallah mentioned publicly the possibility of not holding the presidential elections, raising fears of a political vacuum in the crisis-stricken country, similar to that which preceded President Michel Aoun’s election in 2016, and which lasted over two years.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati was tasked on June 23 with forming a new Cabinet, which he presented to Aoun after parliamentary elections last May.

However, Mikati’s lineup did not satisfy Aoun, who said the prime minister’s choices undermined him. Communication between the two has been fraught since then, and all attempts to revive forming a government have stalled.

Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri said in a statement he thought a resolution to the impasse at this stage would require “a miracle.”

As things stand, on Sept. 1, Parliament will turn into the elective body of the office of the president, with several rounds of voting set to take place to appoint a new head of state.

Ali Darwish, a member of Lebanon’s Parliament, told Arab News: “Each party has the right to express its opinion on the next political phase the way it deems convenient. Certainly, a government enjoying its full powers is better than a caretaker government. It is a sound demand because a government enjoying its full powers can take decisions.

“We want these elections to take place, just like other events — electing a new Parliament, and tasking the prime minister with the formation of a new government — to be carried out on time. Electing a new president for the country provides stability.”

On Monday, a meeting was held between 16 MPs from the Force of Change bloc, along with a number of other independent and opposition MPs.

The stated objective of the meeting was to “hold discussions in order to agree on a legislative agenda and coordinate on future duties, such as approving the general budget, the financial reform plan and the legislations necessary for the country.”

However, political observers believe the meeting was an early move to identify a candidate to replace Aoun.

If these MPs were able to attract other moderate colleagues, they could form a significant force in Parliament opposing Hezbollah and its allies, potentially preventing a candidate aligned with Hezbollah from being elected president.

Darwish said: “What happened in Parliament last Monday serves the democratic game and the country’s interest, and we approve of it. We do not favor confrontational diversity, as we are in a crucial phase of the economic crisis we are facing and we need everyone’s solidarity.

“Every political party in Lebanon has its own agenda. I hope the presidential elections will be held on time and the democratic game will be fully reflected.”

He added: “Complex files are awaiting the next president, such as the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, the approval of an economic recovery plan, the restructuring of the public sector, and the maritime border demarcation, which requires a complete ruling system.”

Lebanese Forces MP Fadi Karam told Arab News: “Through his speech, Nasrallah insists on keeping the state incapacitated and paralyzed, so Hezbollah can impose its conditions on everyone.”

Karam said the meeting was “a positive event, and an attempt to unify the opposition in the face of Hezbollah, so we can have a majority that represents the people and faces (down) Hezbollah’s plan.”

Hadi Abou El-Hassan of the Progressive Socialist Party said: “The parliamentary elections didn’t limit decision-making to one party. This allows settlement and agreement on broad topics.”

He added: “As a patriotic Lebanese, I can’t link the fate of a country to the fate of Iran, but everyone knows that Lebanon isn’t independent in its decision-making.”


Yemen, Iran will be left ‘unrecognizable’ if attacks continue says Israeli envoy

Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon delivers remarks during Israeli Independence Day celebrations at the UN Headquarters.
Updated 6 sec ago
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Yemen, Iran will be left ‘unrecognizable’ if attacks continue says Israeli envoy

  • UN Ambassador Danny Danon was speaking at Israeli Independence Day celebrations
  • Warning came as Israel ‘fully disabled’ Sanaa airport in retaliatory strikes on Tuesday

NEW YORK CITY: Israel’s UN ambassador threatened Yemen’s Houthi militia and Iran in remarks made during Israeli Independence Day celebrations.

“If the Houthis and their Iranian masters want to play with fire, they will find their own lands unrecognizable,” Danny Danon said on Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York City.

The warning came as Israel launched a series of attacks on Yemen in retaliation for a Houthi missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv days earlier.

Israeli jets struck Sanaa’s international airport as well as the Red Sea port of Hodeidah on Tuesday.

The Yemeni capital’s airport was left “fully disabled” by the attack, the Israeli military said in a statement.

Washington and the Houthi militia on Tuesday also reached a deal to end the militia’s attacks on Red Sea shipping.

But the ceasefire, mediated by Oman, does not include an agreement to limit Houthi strikes on Israel, officials from the militia said later.

Dozens of ambassadors and Jewish community leaders took part in the Independence Day event in New York City.

Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots football team who has deep ties to Israel, also attended.

Danon said: “Israel is not a footnote in history — it is a driving force in history. Even after 77 years of independence, we are still forced to fight for our very right to exist in security and peace.

“But time and again we have shown the world the unbeatable spirit of the Jewish people — the ability to turn suffering into strength, isolation into unity and despair into hope.”

Malawi’s ambassador to the UN, Dr. Agnes Chimbiri-Molande, also took part in the event. She recently joined an Israeli-organized delegation to Auschwitz as part of the March of the Living organization.

Chimbiri-Molande said: “Visiting Israel was a powerful and unforgettable experience for me. I stood in the face of destruction — but also in the face of hope.

“Israel is a living example to the world of how one can continue to build and believe, even when attempts are made repeatedly to destroy it.”

Kraft, founder of the Stand Up to Jewish Hate initiative, has led extensive pro-Israel campaigning efforts in the US. Last year, he likened nationwide university protests against the war in Gaza to the forces that led to the rise of Nazism in Germany during the 1930s.

Kraft said at the Israeli ission’s event: “Today more than ever we must stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel. The Jewish people have contributed to the entire world — in science, technology, medicine and humanity.

“It is time for the world to recognize and protect this contribution.”


Syrian leader heads to France in first European trip

Updated 07 May 2025
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Syrian leader heads to France in first European trip

  • Sharaa, who will hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, received an exemption from the United Nations to travel to Paris as he remains on a terrorism sanctions list
  • The two leaders will discuss how to ensure Syria’s sovereignty and security, the handling of minorities after recent attacks against Alawites and Druze

PARIS: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will visit Paris on Wednesday, his first trip to Europe since the overthrow of Bashar Assad in December, as he seeks international support for his efforts to bring greater stability to his war-shattered country.
Sharaa, who will hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, received an exemption from the United Nations to travel to Paris as he remains on a terrorism sanctions list for his previous leadership of Islamist armed group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a former Al-Qaeda affiliate.
The two leaders will discuss how to ensure Syria’s sovereignty and security, the handling of minorities after recent attacks against Alawites and Druze, counterterrorism efforts against Daesh militants and the coordination of aid and economic support, including an easing of sanctions, French officials said.
The visit marks a diplomatic boost for Sharaa from a Western power at a time when the United States is refusing to recognize any entity as the government of Syria and keeping sanctions in place.
“We are not writing a blank cheque and we will judge (him) on actions,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told TF1 TV channel on Wednesday.
He added that Paris wanted to ensure that Syria focused on fighting impunity to curtail sectarian violence and its full engagement in tackling Daesh militants.
“If Syria were to collapse today it would be like rolling out a red carpet for Islamic State,” Barrot said.
The Franco-Alawite Collective is holding a protest against Sharaa in central Paris on Wednesday afternoon.
The same group filed a legal complaint on April 11 to the Paris prosecutor, seen by Reuters, aimed at Sharaa and some of his ministers for genocide and crimes against humanity over the mass killings in March of Alawaites in the country’s coastal region.

CAUTIOUS RAPPROCHEMENT
France welcomed Assad’s fall and has increasingly fostered ties with Sharaa’s transitional authorities. Macron recently held a trilateral video meeting with Sharaa and Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun as part of efforts to ease tensions on the border.
France last month appointed a charge d’affaires in Damascus with a small team of diplomats as a step toward fully reopening its embassy.
Paris believes it has a card to play in Syria, having cut ties with Assad in 2012 and having refused thereafter to restore ties with his government even after opposition fighters were badly defeated and confined to northern pockets of the country.
It traditionally backed a broadly secular exiled opposition and Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, where it already has special forces.
Over the past months France played an intermediary role between Sharaa and the Kurds as the United States began reducing its presence and the new Syrian leader looked to bring the area back under centralized control from Damascus.
A French presidency official said Paris had been holding talks with the Americans on how to handle Washington’s withdrawal and how France could play a bigger role.
With the World Bank estimating reconstruction costs in Syria at more than $250 billion, Sharaa is in desperate need of sanctions relief to kickstart an economy battered by 14 years of civil war. During that period the US, the European Union and Britain imposed tough sanctions on the Assad government.
The EU has lifted some sanctions, while some others that target individuals and entities are due to expire on June 1.
Syria hopes the EU will not renew those measures. Their renewal needs consensus among all 27 member states, although the bloc could opt for a limited renewal or delist key institutions such as the Central Bank or other entities that are needed for economic recovery, including energy, infrastructure, finance.


Sisi: Greece, Egypt set to sign deal to boost ties

Updated 07 May 2025
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Sisi: Greece, Egypt set to sign deal to boost ties

  • The two countries seek to step up political coordination to help safeguard stability in the Eastern Mediterranean
  • The leaders were expected to stress respect for international law amid the Gaza war

ATHENS: Greece and Egypt will sign a “strategic partnership” agreement on Wednesday as the two countries seek to step up political coordination to help safeguard stability in the Eastern Mediterranean, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said.
“Our relations are traditional and historical. We have the basis to enhance this relationship,” said El-Sisi during a televised meeting with Greek President Constantine Tassoulas in Athens. “We will have today the chance to sign a joint declaration for a strategic partnership.”
El-Sisi is due to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, more than a year after they agreed to set up a cooperation board of senior officials from both countries to improve ties. The two leaders were expected to reaffirm their joint stance over the need to respect international law to promote peace in a turbulent region amid the ongoing war in Gaza, a Greek government official said.
Migration was also expected to top the agenda of bilateral talks as European governments have long been worried about the risk of instability in Egypt, a country of 106 million people where economic adversity has pushed increasing numbers to migrate.
Egypt largely shut off irregular migration from its north coast in 2016, but the Greek islands of Crete and Gavdos have seen a steep rise in migrant arrivals, mostly from Afghanistan and Egypt. The European Union last year announced a 7.4 billion euro ($8.40 billion) funding package and an upgraded relationship with Egypt, in part of a push to stem migrant flows from Egypt to Europe.

Last month, its executive arm included Egypt, where human rights have come under scrutiny, on a list of “safe countries” where failed asylum seekers could be returned.


Houthi spokesperson: US-Houthi ceasefire deal does not include Israel

Updated 07 May 2025
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Houthi spokesperson: US-Houthi ceasefire deal does not include Israel

  • The US and the Houthis agreed a ceasefire, mediators announced
  • The deal would ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea
  • The Houthis said attacks on Israel will continue

DUBAI: A ceasefire deal between Yemen's Houthis and the United States does not include operations against Israel "in any way, shape or form," the group's chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters on Wednesday.

Abdulsalam statement came after Israeli military reported on Wednesday that it had intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV) launched from the east.

The US and the Houthis agreed a ceasefire, mediators announced, saying the deal would ensure "freedom of navigation" in the Red Sea where the Houthis have attacked shipping for months.
The agreement comes after President Donald Trump announced that the US would end attacks against the Houthis after they agreed to stop harassing ships, though he made no direct mention of recent attacks on ally Israel.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi on Tuesday said that "following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides".
"Neither side will target the other... ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping" in the Red Sea, he added in a statement.
At the White House, Trump said the Houthis had "capitulated" after a seven-week US bombing campaign that left 300 dead, according to an AFP tally of Huthi figures.
The Houthis' political leader Mahdi al-Mashat did not comment on the accord but promised a "painful" response to deadly Israeli strikes in retaliation for missile fire at Israel's main airport.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam told Al-Masirah television channel that any US action would garner a response. "If the American enemy resumes its attacks, we will resume our strikes," he said.
"The real guarantee for the accord is the dark experience that the United States has had in Yemen," he added.
Mashat said attacks on Israel, the United States' main ally in the region, "will continue" and go "beyond what the Israeli enemy can withstand".
The Houthi have been attacking Israel and merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since late 2023, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.


Aid agencies slam Israeli plans for Gaza aid distribution

Updated 07 May 2025
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Aid agencies slam Israeli plans for Gaza aid distribution

  • The blockade will continue until a large-scale evacuation of the population from northern and central areas to the south
  • The government has said that cutting off aid is the best way to pressure Hamas to release 59 Israeli hostages held in Gaza
  • Berlin feels a special responsibility toward Israel due to Germany’s legacy of the Holocaust and is traditionally cautious in its criticism of the government

JERUSALEM/GENEVA:: Aid agencies have criticized Israeli plans to take over distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and use private companies to get food to families after two months in which the military has prevented supplies from entering the enclave.
Israel has provided few details about its plans, announced on Monday as part of an expanded operation that it says could include seizing the entire Gaza Strip.
For the moment, the blockade will continue until a large-scale evacuation of the population from northern and central areas to the south, where there will be a specially designated area cleared near the southern city of Rafah, Israeli officials have said.
They said those entering the zone will be vetted by Israeli forces to ensure that supplies do not reach Hamas, with what aid agencies have described as special “hubs” to handle distribution.
Israel has already cleared around a third of the territory to create “security zones” and the aid plan, combined with plans for moving much of the population to the south, has reinforced fears that the overall intention is full occupation.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said on Tuesday the plan was “the opposite of what is needed” and other agencies also questioned the plan, which they have only been briefed on verbally, according to two aid officials.
“It is totally wrong that a party to the conflict – in this case Israel — should be in control of lifesaving aid for civilians,” Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council said on the social media platform X.
“This new Israeli aid plan is both totally insufficient to meet the needs in Gaza, and a complete breach of all humanitarian principles,” he said.
COMPLEXITY OF DISTRIBUTION
Aid officials have frequently accused Israel of deliberately disregarding the complexity of aid distribution in an environment such as Gaza, laid waste by 19 months of a war that has destroyed much of its infrastructure and displaced almost all of its 2.3 million population several times.
They say the latest plans appear to echo previous Israeli ones for “humanitarian bubbles” or “civilian islands” that were rejected earlier in the war.
Israel has accused agencies including the United Nations of allowing large quantities of aid to fall into the hands of Hamas, which it accuses of seizing supplies intended for civilians and using them for its own forces.
“If Hamas continues to steal the aid from the people as well as earning money from it, the war will continue forever,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement.
The government has said that cutting off aid is the best way to pressure Hamas to release 59 Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
However, aid agencies say the plan would mean stripping vital protection from aid deliveries and effectively compel a transfer of civilians from the north to the south, contributing to conditions that could lead to their being forced out of Gaza permanently.
Israeli hard-liners have made no secret of their desire to see the Palestinian population moved out of Gaza, with politicians including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declaring the plan would result in a full occupation of Gaza.
An earlier Israeli plan, known as the General Eiland plan, foresaw severe restrictions on aid to Gaza as a way of choking off supplies to Hamas, and Israeli hard-liners have often harked back to the plan.
With many Palestinians believing that Israel’s ultimate aim is to use aid as leverage to force them to leave and to occupy Gaza, one aid official said, fundamental mistrust of Israel could undermine the system.
“Would you be comfortable with your enemy providing you with aid?” the official asked.

New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed concern about Israel’s plans to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and said his new foreign minister would travel to Israel at the weekend.
“It must be clear that the Israeli government must fulfil its obligations under international law and that humanitarian aid must be provided in the Gaza Strip,” he told ARD television late on Tuesday.
“We view the developments of the last few days with considerable concern,” he said, adding Israel had the right to defend itself but must live up to its humanitarian obligations.
Berlin feels a special responsibility toward Israel due to Germany’s legacy of the Holocaust and is traditionally cautious in its criticism of the government.
In February, Merz drew criticism from some for saying he had invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and would find a way for him to visit without being arrested under a warrant by the International Criminal Court.
Israel announced its plans on Monday as part of an expanded operation it says could include seizing the entire Gaza Strip. (