BEIRUT: Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has directed his country’s permanent representative to the UN to file an “urgent complaint against Israel for breaching Lebanese airspace.”
Israel this week admitted carrying out “a raid against targets on Syrian territory from Lebanese airspace.”
Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council, chaired by President Michel Aoun, met on Friday in the presence of Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri, other ministers and heads of the security forces. The council directed Bassil to submit a complaint to the UN Security Council.
“The presentation made by the security leaders during the meeting of the council confirmed that the Israelis used Lebanese airspace to launch a raid on Syria,” Interior Minister Nohad Al-Mashnouq told Arab News.
“It’s normal for Lebanon to lodge a complaint to the Security Council because we don’t accept any strike from Lebanese airspace, whether from the Israelis or anyone else. Strikes will exacerbate the situation without any valid justification. Lebanon should play no part in the ongoing regional tension.”
State Minister for Combatting Corruption Nicolas Tueni said in a statement: “The Israeli enemy using Lebanese airspace to launch its raids is a clear violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.”
He added: “What the enemy has done is mainly to evade Russian air defenses; it is another attempt to drag Lebanon into the midst of wars in the region and an attempt to undermine the victories of our army and our slain soldiers.
“It is living proof of Israeli violence, knowing that Lebanon and its people have defeated the enemy several times which led to the collapse of Israeli military deterrence forces. The Israeli leaders will not dare to venture again into Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, a meeting was held between the commander in chief of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Gen. Michael Perry, and the heads of the municipalities of villages in Tyre.
He said UNIFIL is “working day and night” to defuse tensions along the Lebanese-Israeli border, “in cooperation with our colleagues and strategic partners in the Lebanese Army.”
The American Embassy in Lebanon said the US Central Command’s director of strategy, plans and policy, Maj. Gen. George Smith, met with Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun and congratulated the army on its recent success in border operations against militants.
Smith “met with senior Lebanese military counterparts to discuss areas of cooperation to further develop the army’s capabilities as the sole defender of Lebanese territory and Lebanese borders,” the embassy said in a statement.
Lebanon to complain to UN about Israeli violation of airspace
Lebanon to complain to UN about Israeli violation of airspace
WEF panel told grassroots aid workers keep Sudan afloat even as conflict puts them at risk
- Speakers warned that without urgent action to protect humanitarian access and support local responders, Sudan’s crisis will continue to deepen and destabilize the wider region
LONDON: Grassroots Sudanese aid groups are filling critical humanitarian gaps left by limited international access, but their volunteers are facing hunger, arrest and deadly risks as the conflict enters its fourth year, speakers warned at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
More than 20 million people in Sudan are facing acute hunger, while more than 11 million have been displaced, making it the largest displacement crisis in the world. As fighting continues and access for international agencies tightens, community-led networks have become a primary lifeline for civilians across the country.
“We need to strengthen local capacity and support community-led solutions like Emergency Response Rooms and mutual aid groups, with a more localized and decolonized humanitarian response,” said Hanin Ahmed, a Sudanese activist and Emergency Response Room leader.
Ahmed described how volunteers were delivering food, medical support and protection services in areas that international organizations struggled to reach. However, she warned that these efforts came at immense personal cost.
Volunteers are often displaced themselves, facing food insecurity, arrest, kidnapping, and in some cases, killing by the warring parties. Famine, she said, was no longer confined to traditionally affected regions.
“There is famine not only in Darfur, but also in Khartoum, the capital,” Ahmed told the panel, pointing to widespread unemployment, disease outbreaks, and rising cases of gender-based violence across multiple states.
Despite the scale of the crisis, Ahmed emphasized that Sudanese communities retained both the willingness and capacity to recover if adequately supported.
“Sudanese people are willing to resolve this war if supported,” she said.
Panelists stressed that hunger in Sudan was not driven by a lack of aid, but by deliberate barriers to its delivery.
“The story of Sudan’s war is a story of impunity,” said David Miliband, president and chief executive officer of the International Rescue Committee.
“To tackle impunity, we need to challenge restrictions on humanitarian access, end sieges, and address the profiteering that fuels the conflict,” he added.
Miliband said that while humanitarian funding remained critically low, access constraints were the primary factor preventing life-saving assistance from reaching civilians. Only 28 percent of the UN humanitarian appeal for Sudan had been funded, he said, compounding the effects of obstruction on the ground.
Meanwhile, where assistance was available, needs continued to outstrip capacity. Barham Salih, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, described visiting refugee-hosting areas along Sudan’s borders, where people arrived after experiencing extreme violence, deprivation and trauma.
“Ten liters of water per person per day is far below emergency standards,” Salih said.
“Only 16 percent of those who need mental health support are receiving it, and only one in three families in need of shelter actually have access,” he added.
Salih stressed that statistics failed to capture the scale of human suffering. “Behind every number is a human life,” he said, recounting testimonies of abuse, rape and killings from refugees who had crossed the border only hours earlier.
As humanitarian systems inside Sudan continue to falter, the consequences are increasingly felt beyond its borders.
Neighboring countries including Chad, Kenya, Egypt and Uganda are hosting large numbers of Sudanese refugees despite limited infrastructure and resources.
“What starts in Sudan does not stay in Sudan,” Miliband said. “This is a crisis with regional implications.”
While host governments have kept borders open and adopted inclusive policies that allow refugees access to services and livelihoods, panelists warned that generosity alone could not sustain the response without stronger international support.
The discussion in Davos highlighted that Sudan’s humanitarian crisis was shaped not by a lack of solutions, but by who is allowed to deliver aid, where, and under what conditions.
