Iranian ambassador condemned for ‘insult’ to grand mufti of Lebanon

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (NNA)
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Updated 30 August 2022
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Iranian ambassador condemned for ‘insult’ to grand mufti of Lebanon

  • Kingdom rejects attempts to use Islam as shield for political purposes, says ambassador
  • Minister highlights pressures, problems in Lebanon's prisons

BEIRUT: The Kingdom rejects attempts to use Islam as a shield for political purposes fueling hatred, extremism, and terrorism, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari said on Monday.

His remarks followed his meeting with Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian.

Derian was one of the most prominent figures of national unity in Lebanon and the Kingdom was keen on respecting all Islamic and Christian figures and positions as they were entrusted with the unity, Arabism, and coexistence of Lebanon, he added.

He also said the Kingdom supported promoting unity and rapprochement between the Lebanese.

His visit to Dar Al-Fatwa coincided with criticism of a statement from Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, during his visit to Derian last week.

Amani described him as “the mufti of Sunnis” instead of his official title “the grand mufti of Lebanon.”

According to a Dar Al-Fatwa source, it is the first time a diplomat has made such a mistake.

The faux pas came amid a time of high political tension in Lebanon between Hezbollah and its allies and those calling for Lebanon’s sovereignty and the exit of Iran.

Political figures condemned the ambassador’s mistake, saying he had reduced Derian’s role “and his speech is meant to cause strife.”

According to Lebanese laws, the grand mufti is the direct president of all Muslim scholars and the supreme reference for Islamic endowments.

He performs all the powers granted to him under the laws and Islamic regulations.

He also meets all local muftis across Lebanon to look into the religious and social conditions of Muslims in their regions and provide scholars with the necessary instructions.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Sammak, secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Dialogue Committee, told Arab News that the grand mufti was considered the first official religious reference in Lebanon.

According to Al-Sammak, the Iranian ambassador corrected his mistake but was late in doing so and in handling the chaos caused, adding that he did it after many political and religious figures had condemned his statement.

The Iranian diplomat clarified two days after his visit to Dar Al-Fatwa that Iran “is keen on maintaining  Islamic unity and respecting all religious references.”




Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian. (AFP)

He added: “We have a good fraternal relation with Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian that reflects authentic Islamic and national values. This relation cannot be strained by those who misinterpreted what was said without taking into consideration the meaning and the essence.”

After meeting Bukhari, Derian praised the efforts of Saudi Arabia in strengthening and deepening the culture of moderation, supporting the affairs of the Islamic and Arab worlds, and upholding justice and fairness in the world.

He also praised the role of the Kingdom — led by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — in supporting Islamic and Arab affairs, as well as the special attention given to Lebanon and its keenness on ensuring the safety, security, and stability of Lebanon and the Lebanese.

Lebanon’s Supreme Shariah Council, which held a meeting last Saturday that was presided over by Derian, allocated a part of its statement to call on King Salman, the Saudi crown prince, and the Gulf Cooperation Council to stand by Lebanon and not give up on it during its crisis.

The council said Lebanon was of Arab nationality and affiliation and would always be with its Arab brothers.

Imad Al-Hout MP, from the Islamic Group, was among those who called on the Iranian ambassador to apologize for his “intentional or unintentional mistake.”

Mohammed Sleiman MP said: “The Iranian diplomacy fell in the trap of its own actions adopted to divide the Lebanese people.”

He said Dar Al-Fatwa and its mufti could not be subjected to division nor represent only a segment of the Lebanese and Muslims.

He added: “Your apology cannot amend your statements as long as your actions show that you seek to divide people based on their religions and confessions to create discord between the people of the same country.”

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi stressed the importance of security amid the difficult circumstances that Lebanon was enduring.

He warned of prison overcrowding and lack of discipline, revealing that rigorous inspection operations had been carried out in the buildings of the Central Roumieh Prison since Sunday.

Cellphones and knives manufactured inside the prison had been found, and he called on inmates to be patient and for the judiciary to accelerate the prosecution process.

He said about 79 percent of prisoners had yet to be sentenced and that 43 percent of prisoners were foreign.

Lebanon's number of inmates is three times greater than the capacity of its prisons, which created pressure amid the depreciation of the national currency and increased the ministerial burden, he said.


Israel intercepts missile, Houthis claim attack

Updated 4 sec ago
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Israel intercepts missile, Houthis claim attack

  • The latest missile fire comes a day after Israel said it had intercepted two missiles in 12 hours — both claimed by the Houthis

The Israeli military said on Saturday it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, the third such attack claimed by the Houthis in two days.
The Houthis, who control swaths of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree, in a video statement on Saturday, said the group had targeted a military installation in central Israel “using a Palestine 2 hypersonic ballistic missile.”
An Israeli military statement earlier said that “a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted” after air raid sirens sounded in several areas of the country.
A journalist in Jerusalem said sirens were heard in the city.
The latest missile fire comes a day after Israel said it had intercepted two missiles in 12 hours — both claimed by the Houthis.
The Houthis had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war.
But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The move triggered a response from the US military, which began hammering the militia with near-daily airstrikes starting March 15 in a bid to keep them from threatening shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
US strikes on the Houthis began under former President Joe Biden, but intensified under his successor, Donald Trump.
Since March, the US says it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen.
The Houthi-run Saba news agency said that US strikes hit the capital Sanaa and the neighboring districts of Bani Hashish and Khab Al-Shaaf.

 


Jordan, UK explore deepening trade ties under partnership agreement

Updated 47 min 22 sec ago
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Jordan, UK explore deepening trade ties under partnership agreement

  • Talks in Amman discuss progress made under 2021 deal and explore further avenues of collaboration
  • Trade envoy Iain McNicol outlines Britain’s 'keenness' to strengthen trade ties

AMMAN: Jordan and the UK have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening economic and trade cooperation under the framework of their 2021 bilateral partnership agreement, the Jordan News Agency reported.

During talks in Amman on Saturday, Minister of Industry, Trade, and Supply Yarub Qudah met with British Trade Envoy to Jordan, Kuwait, and Palestine, Iain McNicol, to discuss progress made under the deal and explore further avenues of collaboration.

Philip Hall, the British ambassador to Jordan, also attended the meeting.

According to a statement from the Jordanian Ministry of Industry, the discussions touched on efforts to streamline rules of origin and the development of mechanisms to monitor the agreement’s implementation; chief among them the launch of a Partnership Council and technical committees.

Qudah highlighted several ongoing challenges, including the complexity of the rules of origin, and the comparatively high costs of compliance and export for Jordanian producers.

He stressed the need to review the terms of the current agreement to ensure Jordanian products are granted preferential access to UK markets— particularly in light of the United Kingdom’s Developing Countries Trading Scheme, which offers more favorable terms to other nations.

McNicol affirmed Britain’s “keenness” to deepen trade ties with Jordan and expressed support for improving the Kingdom’s investment environment.

He also emphasized the UK’s commitment to sustainable trade initiatives, including support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and stimulating British investment in Jordan’s “vital” productive sectors.

Looking ahead, both sides agreed to accelerate preparations for the upcoming Jordanian-British Business Forum, which they said would provide a key platform to strengthen private-sector ties and explore new areas of economic cooperation.


Hamas armed wing releases video of apparently injured Israeli hostage

Updated 13 min 50 sec ago
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Hamas armed wing releases video of apparently injured Israeli hostage

  • Media identified the hostage as Russian-Israeli Maxim Herkin, who turns 37 at the end of May
  • He referred to himself only as “Prisoner 24” in the footage and was not identified by Hamas

JERUSALEM: The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, released a video Saturday showing an Israeli-Russian hostage who appeared to have been injured in a strike on the Palestinian territory.
In the undated four-minute video, the hostage, wearing bandages on his head and left arm spoke in Hebrew, implying he had been wounded in a recent Israeli bombardment.
AFP and Israeli media identified the hostage as Russian-Israeli Maxim Herkin, who turns 37 at the end of May. His family urged media not to disseminate the video.
He referred to himself only as “Prisoner 24” in the footage and was not identified by Hamas.
He was shown lying on the ground and referred to Israel’s Independence Day celebrations on Thursday as upcoming, suggesting the video was filmed shortly beforehand.
AFP was unable to determine the health of Herkin, who gave a similar message to other hostages shown in videos released by Hamas, urging pressure on the Israeli government to free the remaining captives.


Militants in the territory still hold 58 hostages seized in Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel. The army says 34 of them are dead. Hamas is also holding the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a previous war in Gaza in 2014.
Herkin also appeared in a previous video released by Hamas in early April, wearing a small bandage on his right wrist and a bandage on his cheek and ear. In that video, he appeared alongside a second hostage Israeli media identified as soldier Bar Kuperstein.
Palestinian militants had abducted the two men from the Nova music festival during the Hamas attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
A truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas came into force on January 19, largely halting more than 15 months of fighting. During the six-week ceasefire militants handed over 33 hostages, eight of them dead.
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid deadlock over next steps in the ceasefire.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 2,396 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,495.
The Israeli government says its renewed offensive aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.
Since the end of the truce, Hamas has released several videos of hostages. The latest images come as efforts by mediators to broker a new truce have stalled.
Herkin, had emigrated to Israel from Ukraine with his mother.
Before being taken from the Nova festival, Herkin, father of a young girl, had written to his mother: “All is well. I’m coming home.”


UN envoy condemns intense wave of Israeli airstrikes on Syria

Updated 03 May 2025
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UN envoy condemns intense wave of Israeli airstrikes on Syria

  • UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, denounced the strikes
  • “I strongly condemn Israel’s continued and escalating violations of Syria’s sovereignty, including multiple airstrikes in Damascus and other cities,” Pedersen wrote

HARASTA, Syria: The United Nations special envoy for the Syrian Arab Republic condemned Saturday an intense wave of Israeli airstrikes as Israel said its forces were on the ground in Syria to protect the Druze minority sect following days of clashes with Syrian pro-government gunmen.
The late Friday airstrikes were reported in different parts of the capital, Damascus, and its suburbs, as well as southern and central Syria, local Syrian media reported. They came hours after Israel’s air force struck near Syria’s presidential palace after warning Syrian authorities not to march toward villages inhabited by Syrian Druze.
Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X the strikes targeted a military post and anti-aircraft units. He also said the Israeli troops in Southern Syria were “to prevent any hostile force from entering the area or Druze villages” and that five Syrian Druze wounded in the fighting were transported for treatment in Israel.
Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported Saturday that four were wounded in central Syria, and that the airstrikes hit the eastern Damascus suburb of Harasta as well as the southern province of Daraa and the central province of Hama.
UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, denounced the strikes on X.


“I strongly condemn Israel’s continued and escalating violations of Syria’s sovereignty, including multiple airstrikes in Damascus and other cities,” Pedersen wrote Saturday, calling for an immediate cease of attacks and for Israel to stop “endangering Syrian civilians and to respect international law and Syria’s sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and independence.”
Four days of clashes between pro-government gunmen and Druze fighters have left nearly 100 people dead and raised fears of deadly sectarian violence.
The clashes are the worst between forces loyal to the government and Druze fighters since the early December fall of President Bashar Assad, whose family ruled Syria with an iron grip for more than five decades.
Israel has its own Druze community and officials have said they would protect the Druze of Syria and warned Islamic militant groups from entering predominantly Druze areas. Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of airstrikes since Assad’s fall and captured a buffer zone along the Golan Heights.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria.
Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.


Groups fear Israeli proposal for controlling aid in Gaza will forcibly displace people

Updated 03 May 2025
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Groups fear Israeli proposal for controlling aid in Gaza will forcibly displace people

  • Israel has not detailed any of its proposals publicly or put them down in writing
  • “Israel has the responsibility to facilitate our work, not weaponize it,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN agency

TEL AVIV: Israel has blocked aid from entering Gaza for two months and says it won’t allow food, fuel, water or medicine into the besieged territory until it puts in place a system giving it control over the distribution.
But officials from the UN and aid groups say proposals Israel has floated to use its military to distribute vital supplies are untenable. These officials say they would allow military and political objectives to impede humanitarian goals, put restrictions on who is eligible to give and receive aid, and could force large numbers of Palestinians to move — which would violate international law.
Israel has not detailed any of its proposals publicly or put them down in writing. But aid groups have been documenting their conversations with Israeli officials, and The Associated Press obtained more than 40 pages of notes summarizing Israel’s proposals and aid groups’ concerns about them.
Aid groups say Israel shouldn’t have any direct role in distributing aid once it arrives in Gaza, and most are saying they will refuse to be part of any such system.
“Israel has the responsibility to facilitate our work, not weaponize it,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN agency that oversees the coordination of aid Gaza.
“The humanitarian community is ready to deliver, and either our work is enabled ... or Israel will have the responsibility to find another way to meet the needs of 2.1 million people and bear the moral and legal consequences if they fail to do so,” he said.
None of the ideas Israel has proposed are set in stone, aid workers say, but the conversations have come to a standstill as groups push back.
The Israeli military agency in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, known as COGAT, did not respond to a request for comment and referred AP to the prime minister’s office. The prime minister’s office did not respond either.
Since the beginning of March, Israel has cut off Gaza from all imports, leading to what is believed to be the most severe shortage of food, medicine and other supplies in nearly 19 months of war with Hamas. Israel says the goal of its blockade is to pressure Hamas to free the remaining 59 hostages taken during its October 2023 attack on Israel that launched the war.
Israel says it must take control of aid distribution, arguing without providing evidence that Hamas and other militants siphon off supplies. Aid workers deny there is a significant diversion of aid to militants, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution.
Alarm among aid groups
One of Israel’s core proposals is a more centralized system — made up of five food distribution hubs — that would give it greater oversight, aid groups say.
Israel has proposed having all aid sent through a single crossing in southern Gaza and using the military or private security contractors to deliver it to these hubs, according to the documents shared with AP and aid workers familiar with the discussions. The distribution hubs would all be south of the Netzarim Corridor that isolates northern Gaza from the rest of the territory, the documents say.
One of the aid groups’ greatest fears is that requiring Palestinians to retrieve aid from a small number of sites — instead of making it available closer to where they live — would force families to move to get assistance. International humanitarian law forbids the forcible transfer of people.
Aid officials also worry that Palestinians could end up permanently displaced, living in “de facto internment conditions,” according to a document signed by 20 aid groups operating in Gaza.
The hubs also raise safety fears. With so few of them, huge crowds of desperate Palestinians will need to gather in locations that are presumably close to Israeli troops.
“I am very scared about that,” said Claire Nicolet, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders.
There have been several occasions during the war when Israeli forces opened fire after feeling threatened as hungry Palestinians crowded around aid trucks. Israel has said that during those incidents, in which dozens died, many were trampled to death.
Given Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people, global standards for humanitarian aid would typically suggest setting up about 100 distribution sites — or 20 times as many as Israel is currently proposing — aid groups said.
Aside from the impractical nature of Israel’s proposals for distributing food, aid groups say Israel has yet to address how its new system would account for other needs, including health care and the repair of basic infrastructure, including water delivery.
“Humanitarian aid is more complex than food rations in a box that you pick up once a month,” said Gavin Kelleher, who worked in Gaza for the Norwegian Refugee Council. Aid boxes can weigh more than 100 pounds, and transportation within Gaza is limited, in part because of shortages of fuel.
Experts say Israel is concerned that if Hamas seizes aid, it will then make the population dependent on the armed group in order to access critical food supplies. It could use income from selling the aid to recruit more fighters, said Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at two Israeli think tanks, the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute.
Private military contractors
As aid groups push back against the idea of Israel playing a direct distribution role within Gaza, Israel has responded by exploring the possibility of outsourcing certain roles to private security contractors.
The aid groups say they are opposed to any armed or uniformed personnel that could potentially intimidate Palestinians or put them at risk.
In the notes seen by AP, aid groups said a US-based security firm, Safe Reach Solutions, had reached out seeking partners to test an aid distribution system around the Netzarim military corridor, just south of Gaza City, the territory’s largest.
Aid groups urged each other not to participate in the pilot program, saying it could set a damaging precedent that could be repeated in other countries facing crises.
Safe Reach Solutions did not respond to requests for a comment.
Whether Israel distributes the aid or employs private contractors to it, aid groups say that would infringe on humanitarian principles, including impartiality and independence.
A spokesperson for the EU Commission said private companies aren’t considered eligible humanitarian aid partners for its grants. The EU opposes any changes that would lead to Israel seizing full control of aid in Gaza, the spokesperson said.
The US State Department declined to comment on ongoing negotiations.
Proposals to restrict who can deliver and receive aid
Another concern is an Israeli proposal that would allow authorities to determine if Palestinians were eligible for assistance based on “opaque procedures,” according to aid groups’ notes.
Aid groups, meanwhile, have been told by Israel that they will need to re-register with the government and provide personal information about their staffers. They say Israel has told them that, going forward, it could bar organizations for various reasons, including criticism of Israel, or any activities it says promote the “delegitimization” of Israel.
Arwa Damon, founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance, says Israel has increasingly barred aid workers from Gaza who had previously been allowed in. In February, Damon was denied access to Gaza, despite having entered four times previously since the war began. Israel gave no reason for barring her, she said.
Aid groups are trying to stay united on a range of issues, including not allowing Israel to vet staff or people receiving aid. But they say they’re being backed into a corner.
“For us to work directly with the military in the delivery of aid is terrifying,” said Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam’s policy lead for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. “That should worry every single Palestinian in Gaza, but also every humanitarian worker.”