BEIRUT: Amos Hochstein, US envoy for energy affairs, arrived in Beirut on Tuesday to look into ways to resume Lebanese-Israeli maritime border demarcation talks that have been stalled since November 2020.
Arab News learned that Hochstein is scheduled to meet on Wednesday with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati along with other officials.
It is noteworthy that Wednesday is an official holiday in Lebanon, and officials are scheduled to participate in a Christian celebration.
The country is awaiting ideas from Hochstein to find a way to resume indirect negotiations hosted by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
One of the issues that needs resolving is the disputed Qana gas field, which is included in the licensing round that Lebanon has launched for drilling and exploration companies to start bidding on. Negotiations reached a stalemate only one month after their launch in October 2020.
US mediator arrives in Beirut to resume Lebanese-Israeli border talks
https://arab.news/gx3wq
US mediator arrives in Beirut to resume Lebanese-Israeli border talks
Strikes kill nine Iran-backed fighters near Iraq-Syria border: security officials
- Iraqi authorities denounced the “blatant attacks” on bases that belong to the Hashed Al-Shaabi
- Nine fighters were killed and another 10 wounded in the strikes
BAGHDAD: Air strikes killed at least nine Iran-backed fighters in Iraq on Thursday near the Iraqi-Syrian border, two senior security officials told AFP.
Iraqi authorities denounced the “blatant attacks” on bases that belong to the Hashed Al-Shaabi, a former paramilitary group now integrated into the regular army, which also encompasses brigades from Iran-backed armed groups.
Nine fighters were killed and another 10 wounded in the strikes that targeted a base housing the US-blacklisted Harakat Ansar Allah Al-Awfiya, two security officials said.
“The base was destroyed, and the rescue teams who arrived at the site were also targeted,” one of the officials said on condition of anonymity.
The base belongs to the Hashed Al-Shaabi or the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) whose positions have been repeatedly targeted in attacks blamed on the United States and Israel since the start of the war.
The PMF said nine of its members were killed in Thursday’s attack.
It accused the US of striking its sites, and said that these bases “had no role in targeting US bases in Iraq or elsewhere.”
The PMF added that “all fighters killed were carrying out their official duties, and some were stationed near the borders.”
And it called the Hashed Al-Shaabi an “essential part of Iraq’s security apparatus.”
Iraq has long been a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, with the country’s successive governments struggling to balance relations between the two rivals.
It was immediately dragged into the Middle East war triggered when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of several Iran-backed groups, have been claiming daily attacks against US bases in Iraq.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani denounced what he called “blatant attacks” on the PMF, whose members were “performing their sacred duty within the missions of our security forces.”
“This systematic and repeated aggression, and the targeting of sites and headquarters without distinction, is not merely a military violation. It represents a desperate attempt to create confusion” and weaken Iraq’s security.
