Hariri calls on international community to reject Israel's 'blatant violation' of Lebanese sovereignty

A Lebanese army soldier walks past military intelligence forensic investigators of inspecting the scene where two drones came down in the vicinity of a media center for Hezbollah earlier in the day, in the south of the capital Beirut on Aug. 25, 2019. (AFP)
Updated 26 August 2019
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Hariri calls on international community to reject Israel's 'blatant violation' of Lebanese sovereignty

  • The president met with the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon to discuss the latest developments
  • Israel struck a Palestinian base in eastern Lebanon near the border with Syria early on Monday

BEIRUT: Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri said Monday his government wants to avoid an escalation with Israel but the international community must reject Israel's "blatant violation" of Lebanese sovereignty.
Two drones crashed Sunday in Beirut suburbs prompting the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement to warn Israeli soldiers at the border to await a response.
"The Lebanese government sees it best to avoid any sliding of the situation towards a dangerous escalation but this requires the international community affirming its rejection of this blatant violation," Hariri told the ambassadors of the UN Security Council's five permanent members, his office said.

Al-Hariri also met Lebanon’s interior and defense ministers and with the army chief on Monday to discuss security issues, his office said.

Meanwhile, President Michel Aoun discussed the “Israeli assault” with the country’s United Nations Special Coordinator Jan Kubis, the president’s office said on Twitter.

A pro-Syrian Palestinian group on Monday accused Israel of carrying out a drone attack on one of its positions in Lebanon, hours after Hezbollah claimed it was targeted by a similar Israeli strike.
A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), which has close ties with Hezbollah and Syria’s government, said the strike caused only limited material damage.
“It was an Israeli strike with a drone,” spokesman Anwar Raja said.
There were no casualties, he said, as “the position targeted had been evacuated” before the alleged strike.
Lebanon’s state National News Agency (NNA) said “three hostile strikes” after midnight hit near the eastern town of Qusaya “where the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — General Command has military posts.”
“They responded will a barrage of anti-aircraft fire,” it said.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Qusaya is only about five kilometers from the Syrian border.
The PFLP-GC has positions in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley as well as in Al-Naaemeh just south of Beirut.
An NNA correspondent also reported on Monday that warplanes belonging to Israel have violated the Lebanese airspace and are currently flying over Marjeioun district at a medium altitude. 
In July 2015, a security official said a blast at a PFLP-GC base in Qusaya wounded seven people, while the Palestinian group blamed it on an Israeli strike.
Raja said the latest attack was Israel “saying that it is able to strike the axis of the resistance wherever it wants” referring to anti-Israeli forces like Hezbollah and its ally Iran.
He also denounced the strikes as “provocation” after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday threatened Israel over what he described as a targeted “drone attack” on his group’s stronghold in the south of Beirut.
“The time when Israeli aircraft come and bombard parts of Lebanon is over,” Nasrallah said.
“I say to the Israeli army along the border, from tonight be ready and wait for us,” he added. “What happened yesterday will not pass.”
Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, is a major political actor in Lebanon and also a key backer of the government in war-torn Syria.
The latest incident also came after Israel on Saturday launched strikes in neighboring Syria to prevent what it said was an Iranian attack on the Jewish state.
Nasrallah said the strike in Syria killed two Hezbollah members.
Israel did not confirm the alleged “drone attack” on Hezbollah’s stronghold.
(With Reuters and AFP)


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’We are with them’: Lebanon students rally for Gaza

Updated 24 sec ago
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’We are with them’: Lebanon students rally for Gaza

“We are Palestine’s neighbors. If we do not stand with them today, who will?” asked AUB student Zeina
Some students also carried banners declaring solidarity with south Lebanon, where Israel and Hamas-ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since October

BEIRUT: Hundreds of university students in Lebanon protested on Tuesday against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, inspired by recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have rocked US and European campuses, AFP correspondents said.
Dozens of students gathered at the prestigious American University of Beirut (AUB), some wearing the traditional Arab keffiyeh scarf that has long been a symbol of the Palestinian cause, an AFP photographer said.
“We are Palestine’s neighbors. If we do not stand with them today, who will?” asked AUB student Zeina, 23, declining to provide her surname.
“Around the world, students my age, from our generation, are the ones raising their voices,” she added.
The Gaza war began after Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attacks on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Hamas also took some 250 hostages. Israel estimates that 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 believed to be dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive, aimed at destroying Hamas, has killed at least 34,535 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
The protests came as Hamas said it was considering a plan for a 40-day ceasefire and the release of scores of hostages in exchange for larger numbers of Palestinian prisoners.
Some students also carried banners declaring solidarity with south Lebanon, where Israel and Hamas-ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily cross-border fire since October.
The protests came as similar demonstrations swept universities across the United States, posing a challenge to administrators trying to balance free speech with complaints that the rallies have veered into anti-Semitism.
Footage of police in riot gear called in by universities to break up the rallies has circulated worldwide, recalling the protest movement that erupted during the Vietnam War.
“We renew our demand to stop the American-backed Israeli genocide against Palestinians and urgently demand to stop Zionist (Israeli) attacks” on south Lebanon, a female student told the crowd at AUB, praising “the global student movement supporting our people.”
At the nearby Lebanese American University, dozens of students gathered, raising Palestinian flags and burning an Israeli one.
“We want to convey a message to our people in Gaza: we are with them... We have not forgotten them,” Lara Qassem, 18, told AFP.
In Lebanon, at least 385 people have been killed in months of cross-border violence, mostly fighters but also including 73 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 11 soldiers and nine civilians have been killed in the country’s north.

Arab-European ministerial statement: We endorse efforts toward achieving a Gaza ceasefire

Updated 24 min 6 sec ago
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Arab-European ministerial statement: We endorse efforts toward achieving a Gaza ceasefire

RIYADH: A joint statement from Arab and European foreign ministers highlighted critical priorities in addressing the ongoing conflict in Gaza, following a meeting in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday.

The statmenet called for the urgent need to halt all unilateral violations in Palestinian territories. It also called for the release of prisoners and hostages, putting an end to the war in Gaza and all illegal unilateral actions and violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

The meeting was chaired by Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. 

It was also attended by foreign ministers and representatives from Bahrain, Portugal, the European Union, Algeria, Jordan, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, the Arab League, Slovenia, France, Palestine, Qatar, Egypt, and the United Kingdom. 

Ministers reiterated their support for efforts aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Gaza. They emphasized the importance of establishing a unified Palestinian government in both the West Bank and Gaza.

Recognizing the significance of internal unity among Palestinians, the ministers have called for concerted efforts to overcome divisions and work towards a common goal of self-governance and statehood.

The statement also called for adopting a reliable and irreversible path towards implementing the two-state solution. 

Arab and European foreign ministers were gathered in Riyadh on the sidelines of a two-day World Economic Forum special meeting.