BEIRUT: Lebanon is unable to pay its soldiers enough, the army warned Wednesday ahead of a UN-backed conference during which donors will seek to shore up one of the bankrupt country’s key institutions.
Unlike previous conferences designed to provide training, weapons or equipment for Lebanon’s armed forces, the virtual meeting hosted by France on Thursday aims to offer the kind of humanitarian assistance usually reserved for countries grappling with conflict or natural disaster.
“We are in need of food parcels, health care assistance and support with soldiers’ pay,” a military source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“The devaluation of the Lebanese pound is affecting soldiers and they are in need of support. Their salaries are not enough anymore.”
Lebanon’s economic crisis, which the World Bank has labelled as one of the world’s worst since the 1850s, has eaten away at soldiers’ pay and slashed the military’s budget for maintenance and equipment, further threatening the country’s stability.
Already mid last year, the army said it had scrapped meat from the meals offered to on-duty soldiers, due to rising food prices.
“We are doing the impossible to ease the suffering and the economic woes of our soldiers,” army chief Joseph Aoun said in a speech on Tuesday.
“We are forced to turn to allied states to secure aid, and I am ready to go to the end of the world to procure assistance so that the army can stay on its feet.”
Around 20 countries, including the United States, EU member states, Gulf countries, Russia and China have been invited to take part in the conference alongside UN representatives.
It follows a visit by Aoun last month to Paris, where he warned that the army could face even darker days without emergency support.
“The Lebanese army is going through a major crisis, which could get worse due to the deteriorating economic and social situation in Lebanon, which may worsen when subsidies are lifted,” he said.
He was referring to a government plan to scrap subsidies on essential goods such as fuel, food and flour to shore up dwindling foreign currency reserves.
A source close to French Defense Minister Florence Parly said Wednesday that the crisis was alarming as the Lebanese military is the “key institution” maintaining security in the country.
The army has highlighted “very specific needs” for milk, flour, medicine, fuel and spare parts for maintenance, the source said, in requests amounting to “several tens of thousands of euros.”
The aid was needed “as soon as possible,” the source said, stressing “the urgency of the situation.”
Whether or not the aid would be in cash or in kind was to be discussed on Thursday.
France is expected to announce deliveries of medical equipment to combat the coronavirus and spare parts for armored vehicles and helicopters.
The United States pledged to make a contribution during a meeting Tuesday in Brussels between Parly and her American counterpart Lloyd Austin.
The Lebanese army has been relying heavily on food donations from allied states since last summer’s monster port explosion in Beirut that killed more than 200 people and damaged swathes of the capital.
France, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey are among the army’s main food donors.
Iraq and Spain have offered medical assistance.
The United States remains the biggest financial backer of the Lebanese military.
It has bumped up funding for the army by $15 million for this year to $120 million.
Aram Nerguizian of the Carnegie Middle East Center said the “Paris conference is meant to prompt partner nations to think creatively about how to help the LAF (army) through 2021.”
In a report published on Wednesday, he said the assistance would “allow the command of the armed forces to focus on its missions — border security, counterterrorism, internal stability — as opposed to fighting a singular battle to maintain the LAF’s stability, with no real Lebanese government assistance.”
Lebanon too broke to pay soldiers enough, army warns ahead of donor meet
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Lebanon too broke to pay soldiers enough, army warns ahead of donor meet
- "We are in need of food parcels, healthcare assistance and support with soldiers' pay," a military source told AFP
- Lebanon's economic crisis has eaten away at soldiers' pay and slashed the military's budget for maintenance and equipment
Fighting with ‘heavy weaponry’ in Sudan’s El-Fasher: UN
- The United States last month warned of a looming rebel military offensive on the city, a humanitarian hub that appears to be at the center of a newly opening front in the country’s civil war
PORT SUDAN: A senior UN official expressed concern late Saturday at reports that heavy weapons were being used in fighting in the Sudanese city of El-Fashur.
Wounded civilians were being rushed to hospital and civilians were trying to flee the fighting in the Darfur region, said a statement from Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Sudan.
“I am gravely concerned by the eruption of clashes in (El-Fashur) despite repeated calls to parties to the conflict to refrain from attacking the city,” said Nkweta-Salami.
“I reiterate — the violence threatens the lives of over 800,000 civilians” who live in the city.
“I am equally disturbed by reports of the use of heavy weaponry and attacks in highly populated areas in the city center and the outskirts of (El-Fashur), resulting in multiple casualties,” she added.
The United States last month warned of a looming rebel military offensive on the city, a humanitarian hub that appears to be at the center of a newly opening front in the country’s civil war.
Tunisian police arrest prominent lawyer critical of president
- Dozens of lawyers took to the streets in protest on Saturday night, carrying banners reading “Our profession will not kneel” and “We will continue the struggle” Saied came to power in free elections in 2019
TUNIS: Tunisian police stormed the building of the Deanship of Lawyers on Saturday and arrested Sonia Dahmani, a lawyer known for her fierce criticism of President Kais Saied, and then arrested two journalists who witnessed the confrontation, a journalists’ syndicate said.
Two IFM radio journalists, Mourad Zghidi and Borhen Bsaiss, were arrested, an official in the country’s main journalists’ syndicate told Reuters. The incident was the latest in a series of arrests and investigations targeting activists, journalists and civil society groups critical of Saied and the government. The move reinforces opponents’ fears of an increasingly authoritarian government ahead of presidential elections expected later this year.
Dahmani was arrested after she said on a television program this week that Tunisia is a country where life is not pleasant. She was commenting on a speech by Saied, who said there was a conspiracy to push thousands of undocumented migrants from Sub-Saharan countries to stay in Tunisia. Dahmani was called before a judge on Wednesday on suspicion of spreading rumors and attacking public security following her comments, but she asked for postponement of the investigation.
The judge rejected her request. Dozens of lawyers took to the streets in protest on Saturday night, carrying banners reading “Our profession will not kneel” and “We will continue the struggle” Saied came to power in free elections in 2019. Two years later he seized additional powers when he shut down the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree before assuming authority over the judiciary.
Since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, the country has won more press freedoms and is considered one of the more open media environments in the Arab world. Politicians, journalists and unions, however, say that freedom of the press faces a serious threat under the rule of Saied. The president has rejected the accusations and said he will not become a dictator.
In Tel Aviv, Eurovision fans hope world shows Israel some love
- Israel ranks with Croatia and Switzerland as one of the bookmakers’ favorites to succeed Sweden and take home the colorful and kitschy competition watched by more than a hundred million people
TEL AVIV: Eurovision fans gathered in Tel Aviv Saturday to watch the show taking place in Sweden on big screens said they were hoping voters would finally show Israel some love.
The mood was electric at the packed Layla bar in Tel Aviv as the show got underway, with the crowd going wild when Israel’s contestant Eden Golan appeared on screen, jumping up and down and waving Israeli flags.
With her long lavender-streaked hair and matching nails, Golan performed her tune wearing a white chiffon gown billowing in the artificial wind and smoke filling the stage.
If Israel were to win, it would mean that “maybe we are not hated so much, and that the music really won,” said Tal Bendersky, draped in an Israeli flag.
The 23-year-old from southern Israel told AFP he had come to Layla, which prides itself as “the best gay bar in Tel Aviv,” “to celebrate with all the people that love the Israeli people.”
“Hopefully in the end, we will celebrate as much as we can, when she will hopefully win.”
A win for Israel would mean “we are loved in the world, and we have support of the world,” Yarden Arak, 33, told AFP.
Israel ranks with Croatia and Switzerland as one of the bookmakers’ favorites to succeed Sweden and take home the colorful and kitschy competition watched by more than a hundred million people.
But a win by Israel could be a stretch, given the fierce controversy that has surrounded its participation in this year’s edition of the competition as it continues to bombard and besiege Gaza.
The war started with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized hostages, of whom Israel estimates 128 remain in Gaza, including 36 who the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,971 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Before the competition began, police in the host city Malmo said at least 5,000 people were demonstrating in the streets outside the venue.
Golan’s song “Hurricane” is an adaptation of an earlier version named “October Rain,” which she modified after organizers deemed it too political because of its apparent allusions to the Hamas attack.
The EBU — which oversees the event — confirmed in March the participation of Golan, despite calls for her exclusion from thousands of musicians around the world.
More recently, nine of the acts, seven of whom are finalists, have called for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
Shortly before she took to the stage, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz hailed her in a post on X, formerly twitter.
“Eden proudly stands against immense hatred and anti-Semitism. Tonight, let’s show all the haters who’s leading the way!” he wrote.
And in Tel Aviv, hopes remained high, with many dismissing the protests, saying the demonstrators did not understand what Israel was going through since Hamas’s attack sparked the war.
“No one feels what we feel... They don’t know the facts, but it’s okay,” said Victoria Shishko, a 33-year-old Tel Aviv resident born in Ukraine.
“We know the truth and we will survive,” she told AFP, voicing confidence that Israel could win the contest.
That would show “that people really love us and they believe us and they stand with us,” she said.
“We deserve it. We are kind and good people and we hope to win.”
Others said they felt bad for Golan.
“I can’t imagine what Eden is going through,” said Alec Snyder, a 29-year-old Tel Aviv resident born in Los Angeles.
“Given the drama... I really hope Israel wins. I’m rooting for us tremendously,” he told AFP.
“It’s going to be tough, but we have a wonderful song, and I am sure we will do really well tonight.”
SDF hands over 2 Daesh members suspected in 2014 mass killing of Iraqi troops
- Iraq has, over the past several years, put on trial and later executed dozens of Daesh members over their involvement in the Speicher massacre
BEIRUT: Syria’s US-backed Kurdish-led force has handed over to Baghdad two Daesh militants suspected of involvement in mass killings of Iraqi soldiers in 2014, a war monitor said.
The report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights came a day after the Iraqi National Intelligence Service said it had brought back to the country three Daesh members from outside Iraq. The intelligence service did not provide more details.
Daesh captured an estimated 1,700 Iraqi soldiers after seizing Saddam Hussein‘s hometown of Tikrit in 2014. The soldiers were trying to flee from nearby Camp Speicher, a former US base.
BACKGROUND
Daesh captured an estimated 1,700 Iraqi soldiers after seizing Saddam Hussein‘s hometown of Tikrit in 2014.
Shortly after taking Tikrit, Daesh posted graphic images of Daesh militants shooting and killing the soldiers.
Farhad Shami, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said the US-backed force handed over two Daesh members to Iraq.
It was not immediately clear where Iraqi authorities brought the third suspect from.
The 2014 killings, known as the Speicher massacre, sparked outrage across Iraq and partially fueled the mobilization of militias in the fight against Daesh.
Iraq has, over the past several years, put on trial and later executed dozens of Daesh members over their involvement in the Speicher massacre.
The Observatory said the two Daesh members were among 20 captured recently in a joint operation with the US-led coalition in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, once the capital of Daesh’s self-declared caliphate.
Despite their defeat in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in March 2019, the extremist sleeper cells are still active and have been carrying out deadly attacks against SDF and Syrian government forces.
Shami said a car rigged with explosives and driven by a suicide attacker tried on Friday night to storm a military checkpoint for the Deir El-Zour Military Council. This Arab majority faction is part of the SDF in the eastern Syrian village of Shuheil.
Shami said that when the guards tried to stop the car, the attacker blew himself up, killing three US-backed fighters.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but it was similar to previous explosions carried out by IS militants.
The SDF is holding over 10,000 captured Daesh fighters in around two dozen detention facilities, including 2,000 foreigners whose home countries have refused to repatriate them.
Protesters return to streets across Israel, demanding hostage release
- Family members of the hostages, carrying pictures of their loved ones still in captivity, joined the crowds that demonstrated in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV: Thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government do more to secure the release of hostages being held in the Gaza Strip by Islamist group Hamas.
Family members of the hostages, carrying pictures of their loved ones still in captivity, joined the crowds that demonstrated in Tel Aviv.
One of them was Naama Weinberg, whose cousin Itai Svirsky was abducted during Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israeli towns and, according to Israeli authorities, was killed in captivity. In a speech she referenced a video Hamas made public on Saturday, claiming that another of the Israeli captives had died.
“Soon, even those who managed to survive this long will no longer be among the living. They must be saved now,” Weinberg said.
As the evening progressed, some protesters blocked a main highway in the city before being dispersed by police, who used water cannons to push back the crowd. At least three people were arrested.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack sparked the devastating war in Gaza, now raging for nearly seven months.
