BEIRUT: Lebanon named the president’s diplomatic adviser as new foreign minister on Monday after Nassif Hitti quit the post, blaming a lack of political will to enact reforms to halt a financial meltdown which he warned could turn Lebanon into a failed state.
Foreign donors have made clear there will be no aid until Beirut makes changes to tackle state waste and corruption, which are behind the crisis that is the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since a 1975-1990 civil war.
“Will this cry of deep frustration move Lebanon to finally work on reforms, on measures taking care of the Lebanese, sinking every day deeper into poverty and desperation?” tweeted United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis.
In his resignation statement, Hitti cited “the absence of an effective will to achieve structural, comprehensive reform.”
President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab accepted the resignation and appointed Charbel Wehbe, Aoun’s diplomatic adviser since 2017, as foreign minister.
Wehbe, 67, is a former secretary general of the ministry.
“MULTIPLE BOSSES“
Hitti, a former ambassador to the Arab League, was appointed in January when Diab’s cabinet took office with the support of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its allies.
“I took part in this government to work for one boss called Lebanon, then I found in my country multiple bosses and contradictory interests,” Hitti said. “If they do not come together in the interest of rescuing the Lebanese people, God forbid, the ship will sink with everyone on it.”
Hitti also had differences with Diab and was frustrated at being sidelined, sources close to the ministry said. Diab appeared to criticize France’s foreign minister for tying aid to reforms and a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when visiting Beirut last month.
A spokesperson for Diab’s office said the cabinet was focused on moving ahead with a forensic audit of the central bank and “a wide range of other reforms.”
Talks with the IMF, which the heavily indebted state entered in May after a sovereign default, are on hold due to a row over the scale of vast financial losses between the government, the banking sector and lawmakers from the main parties.
Lebanese foreign minister quits over slow reforms, Aoun adviser takes over
https://arab.news/veuey
Lebanese foreign minister quits over slow reforms, Aoun adviser takes over
- Charbel Wehbe has been appointed as foreign minister
- Hitti’s resignation is a blow to Hassan Diab’s government
Jordan condemns Israeli settlers’ ‘terror attacks’ on Palestinian villages in West Bank
- Foreign ministry spokesman says Jordan ‘rejects these attacks and the escalation of settler terrorism against the Palestinian people’
LONDON: Jordan on Thursday condemned “terror attacks” by Israeli settlers that resulted in the killing of four Palestinians in two towns in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs blamed the Israeli forces for the settlers’ “terrorist attacks” in the village of Kafr Malik, where three Palestinians were killed by soldiers and several others injured during clashes between residents and settlers.
Sufian Qudah, the foreign ministry spokesman, said Jordan “rejects these attacks and the escalation of settler terrorism against the Palestinian people.”
He said that Israeli government policies incite violence against Palestinians and give settlers “the impunity” to carry out “more crimes against the Palestinian people.”
He reaffirmed Jordan’s call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and an end to the ongoing Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave since late 2023.
On Wednesday, four Palestinians were killed in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, including three in the village of Kafr Malik and a 15-year-old boy, Rayan Tamer Houshiyeh, who was shot by Israeli troops in Al-Yamoun, northwest of Jenin.
In a separate incident, 13-year-old Ammar Mutaz Hamayel succumbed to his injuries on Monday after being shot by Israeli forces. Hamayel was from Kafr Malik, which has a population of about 2,500 Palestinians. The village is 17 kilometers northeast of Ramallah and is surrounded by the Israeli settlement of Kokhav HaShahar.
No known intelligence that Iran moved uranium, US defense chief says
“I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise,” Hegseth said.
After the strikes, several experts also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of Fordow before the strike early Sunday morning and could be hiding it and other nuclear components in locations unknown to Israel, the US and UN nuclear inspectors.
They noted satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showing “unusual activity” at Fordow on Thursday and Friday, with a long line of vehicles waiting outside an entrance to the facility. A senior Iranian source told Reuters on Sunday most of the near weapons-grade 60 percent highly enriched uranium had been moved to an undisclosed location before the US attack. Hegseth’s comments denying those claims came at a news briefing where he accused the media of downplaying the success of US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program following a leaked, preliminary assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggesting they may have only set back Iran by months.
Hegseth said the assessment was low confidence, and, citing comments from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, said it had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged by recent US strikes, and that it would take years to rebuild.
Russia says against Iran suspending IAEA cooperation
- Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow wanted continuing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA(Reuters)
MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday spoke out against Moscow’s key ally Iran suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), after Iranian lawmakers voted in favor of halting work with the UN nuclear agency.
“We are interested in continuing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, so that everybody respects Iran’s repeated statements that Iran does not have and will not have plans to develop a nuclear weapon,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.
The decision by Iranian lawmakers, taken after a 12-day war that saw Israeli and US strikes on nuclear sites, still requires the approval of Iran’s Guardian Council, a body empowered to vet legislation.
Lavrov said the decision was of “an advisory nature” to Iran’s executive branch.
Moscow provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even as the United States launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend.
Russia and Iran signed a milestone strategic agreement earlier this year, but it does provide for mutual assistance in the case of aggression.
Iran is Russia’s second close ally to come under pressure in the Middle East in recent months, after Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria was toppled last December.
It could be a sign that Russia’s influence in the region is waning, as Moscow has to relocate resources and divert attention to its Ukraine offensive, according to Nikita Smagin, an independent expert on Russia-Iran relations.
Russia “is potentially losing its status as a superpower, at least as it perceived in the Middle East,” he told AFP, adding that “its allies are being simply knocked out of the game, one after another.”
Palestinians reject Israeli claims of Hamas looting Gaza aid
- Rights groups say Gaza and its population of more than two million face famine-like conditions due to Israeli restrictions
GAZA CITY: A committee representing influential families in Gaza on Thursday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s accusation that some aid entering the war-torn Palestinian territory was being looted by Hamas.
After Israel imposed a more than two-month blockade on Gaza, aid began being allowed in at a trickle in late May.
Rights groups say Gaza and its population of more than two million face famine-like conditions due to Israeli restrictions, with chaotic scenes and near-daily deaths marring aid distribution.
In a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz published late Wednesday, Netanyahu said there was “information received today indicating that Hamas is once again taking control of humanitarian aid entering the northern Gaza Strip and stealing it from civilians.”
He announced that he had instructed the military to draft a plan “to prevent Hamas from seizing the aid.”
A statement from Gaza’s higher committee for tribal affairs — a non-Hamas affiliated committee created during the war — on Thursday rejected the claim that Hamas was stealing aid.
“Gaza’s tribal leaders affirmed that all aid is fully secured under their direct supervision and is being distributed exclusively through international agencies,” the committee representing influential families said.
“The securing of aid has been carried out purely through tribal efforts,” it added.
The statement rejected Netanyahu’s comments as “false claims” and called for a United Nations delegation to determine if aid was being correctly dispatched in Gaza.
AFP footage from Wednesday showed a truck convoy led by a UN vehicle carrying aid into northern Gaza after entering through the Zikim gate, south of the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Masked and armed young men could be seen riding atop the large aid bundles on the five trucks.
The men told AFP they were protecting the convoy from being looted before reaching its final destination.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shared a video on Telegram on Thursday appearing to show masked, armed men standing on top of aid trucks.
“Today, what was known all along is becoming clear: Hamas is taking control of the food and goods,” the caption said, calling on Netanyahu to halt the entry of aid into Gaza.
AFP could not independently verify whether the video shared by Ben Gvir showed a truck after being looted by Hamas or being protected from theft by locals.
Israel began allowing a trickle of aid into Gaza at the end of May, much of it going through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and bypassing the UN-led distribution mechanism.
An officially private effort with opaque funding, GHF’s operations have been marred by chaotic scenes, deaths and neutrality concerns, with the UN and major aid groups refusing to work with it.
The GHF has denied responsibility for deaths near its aid points.
Israel opposition chief asks Trump not to ‘interfere’ in Netanyahu trial
- Trump said the Netanyahu trial “should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero,“
- Lapid said: “We are thankful to President Trump, but... the president should not interfere in a judicial trial in an independent country“
JERUSALEM: Israel’s opposition leader on Thursday criticized US President Donald Trump for saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial should be canceled, warning him against interfering in internal affairs.
Trump on Wednesday described the case against Netanyahu as a “witch hunt,” echoing the Israeli premier’s dismissal of the corruption charges which he has flatly rejected.
In a message on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the Netanyahu trial “should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero,” after the end of a 12-day war with Iran.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said in an interview with news website Ynet: “We are thankful to President Trump, but... the president should not interfere in a judicial trial in an independent country.”
Lapid, of the center-right Yesh Atid party, backed a statement by one of Netanyahu’s coalition allies, Simcha Rothman of the far-right Religious Zionism party, who called for Trump to stay out of the court case.
“It is not the role of the president of the United States to interfere in legal proceedings in the State of Israel,” said Rothman, who chairs the Israeli parliament’s judicial affairs committee.
Rothman, a vocal critic of what he argues is judicial overreach, however said that “the management of Netanyahu’s cases is transforming the image of the State of Israel from a regional and global power into a banana republic.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the leader of another far-right party in Netnayhua’s coalition, branded the trial as politically motivated.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said it was “distorted, unreasonable, contrary to the basic sense of justice” to continue Netanyahu’s trial at war, backing Trump’s call to drop the charges against the Israeli leader.
Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. During his current term since late 2022, his government has proposed a series of far-reaching judicial reforms that critics say were designed to weaken the courts.
In the trial that has been delayed many times since it began in May 2020, Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing.
In a first case, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewelry and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors.
Two other cases allege that Netanyahu attempted to negotiate more favorable coverage in two Israeli media outlets.
Netanyahu has requested multiple postponements in the proceedings, most recently citing the ongoing war in Gaza since April 2023, later in Lebanon and earlier this month in Iran.
