US mediator to be informed of unified Lebanese stance on maritime rights

Lebanon’s caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayad, gestures as he meets with US senior adviser for energy security Amos Hochstein in Beirut on Monday. (Reuters)
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Updated 13 June 2022
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US mediator to be informed of unified Lebanese stance on maritime rights

  • Tensions mount amid dispute over drilling between Lebanon and neighbor Israel

BEIRUT: On Monday, a few hours before the arrival of Amos Hochstein, the US mediator in the indirect negotiations to demarcate the maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel, President Michel Aoun confirmed to the UN Special Coordinator in Lebanon Joanna Wronecka that the “Lebanese side will inform Hochstein of a unified stance regarding the proposals to resume these negotiations that preserve Lebanon’s rights.”

Talks between the two neighbors stopped after Israel rejected a Lebanese proposal to consider Line 29 as a negotiating line, and after the Lebanese rejected the Israeli Line 1 and Hof Line proposals.

Wronecka expressed the willingness of the UN to contribute to resuming the negotiations, praising the “wisdom of President Aoun and his role in this critical period of the history of Lebanon.”

The president told a delegation of lawmakers: “(Israel) is acting contrary to international laws and resolutions, taking advantage of the silence of the international community regarding its violations of the UN Security Council resolutions.”

Aoun denied “any connection between the demarcation negotiations and the issue of leasing gas and electricity from Egypt and Jordan, or the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.”

The president added that “drilling in Block 1 stopped due to unconvincing reasons presented by the drilling company,” noting that “there were international pressures on it to prevent it from continuing to drill.”

He said he would lead the negotiations, and “upon reaching an agreement the Council of Ministers will have to approve it and refer it to Parliament according to the procedures, which is something that did not occur with Line 29.”

Reports circulating in Lebanon suggest that Hochstein had already sent a proposal to the Lebanese government last March to demarcate the maritime borders based on drawing Line 23 in a zigzag in order to give Lebanon the whole of the Qana field.

The delegation Aoun addressed had asked him to swiftly amend decree 6433, issued in 2011, which adopted Line 23 as the base to start negotiations with Israel to demarcate the maritime borders, and to send it to the international agencies according to the rules, in order to fix Line 29 as the border line with Israel, giving Lebanon an additional area of 1,430 square kilometers according to a study by the Lebanese Army.

Lebanon invited Hochstein to Beirut against the backdrop of the arrival of the Energean liquified natural gas production unit to Karish field, in the disputed maritime area between Lebanon and Israel.

Lebanon wishes to “continue the indirect Lebanese-Israeli negotiations to demarcate the maritime borders as soon as possible, in order to prevent any escalation that could jeopardize stability in the region.”

Gen. Joseph Aoun confirmed on Monday during a meeting with officers of the General Staff that “the army’s mission regarding demarcation of the maritime borders was concluded upon the end of its technical mission,” adding that he stands “behind the political authority in any decision that it takes.”

On Sunday, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Force Aviv Kochavi threatened to create “a border belt of fire on the border villages of south Lebanon and massive destruction in the whole country if war breaks out.”

This declaration came against the backdrop of a hardened stance by Hezbollah over the past few days, based over fears Israel might start drilling in the disputed Karish field.

Coinciding with the arrival of the US mediator to Lebanon, UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti confirmed that a UNIFIL patrol was intercepted on Sunday by a group of villagers.

Tenenti said that “our patrols always perform their duties without interceptions or threats except in rare cases, and this is not the first time that our forces become subject to an aggression attempt.”

The interception, which is the fourth this year for UNIFIL units, targeted a Spanish patrol that was carrying out a routine activity in its zone of deployment in the eastern sector, south of the Litani river.


Israel calls ICC prosecutor’s bid for PM arrest warrant a ‘historical disgrace’

Updated 58 min 9 sec ago
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Israel calls ICC prosecutor’s bid for PM arrest warrant a ‘historical disgrace’

  • Katz denounced the move as a “scandalous decision” that amounted to “a frontal attack... on the victims of October 7“
  • The minister added that Israel would establish a special committee to fight the ICC prosecutor’s efforts to secure a warrant

JERUSALEM: Israel on Monday slammed as a “historical disgrace” an application by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The prosecutor, Karim Khan, applied for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as top Hamas leaders on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Khan “in the same breath mentions the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense of the State of Israel alongside the abominable Nazi monsters of Hamas — a historical disgrace that will be remembered forever.”
The prosecutor said he was seeking warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes including “wilful killing,” “extermination and/or murder” and “starvation.”
Katz denounced the move as a “scandalous decision” that amounted to “a frontal attack... on the victims of October 7” when Hamas launched their attack on Israel, sparking the Gaza war.
The minister added that Israel would establish a special committee to fight the ICC prosecutor’s efforts to secure a warrant, and also embark on a diplomatic push against it.
Katz said he planned to “speak with foreign ministers in leading countries of the world so that they oppose the prosecutor’s decision and announce that, even if orders are issued, they do not intend to enforce them on the leaders of the State of Israel.”


35,562 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive since Oct. 7 — health ministry

Updated 20 May 2024
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35,562 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive since Oct. 7 — health ministry

  • 106 Palestinians were killed and 176 injured in the past 24 hours

DUBAI: More than 35,562 Palestinians have been killed and 79,652 injured in the Israeli military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday.
One hundred and six Palestinians were killed and 176 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.


Source close to Hezbollah says 4 dead in Israeli strikes on Lebanon

Updated 20 May 2024
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Source close to Hezbollah says 4 dead in Israeli strikes on Lebanon

  • The source close to Hezbollah told AFP that “at least four Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli raids on two different sites in southern Lebanon“
  • The Israeli military said fighter jets struck “a Hezbollah terrorist cell”

BEIRUT: A source close to Hezbollah said four fighters were killed Monday in south Lebanon, with the Iran-backed group announcing two dead and a retaliatory attack, while Israel claimed strikes.
Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, has traded near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
The source close to Hezbollah told AFP that “at least four Hezbollah fighters were killed in Israeli raids on two different sites in southern Lebanon,” identifying the locations as Naqura on the coast and Mais Al-Jabal, a border village to the east.
The Shiite Muslim movement said two of its fighters, both from Naqura, had been killed, without providing further details.
The Israeli military said fighter jets struck “a Hezbollah terrorist cell” and a launch post in the Mais Al-Jabal area, while Israeli army “artillery fired to remove a threat” in the Naqura area.
Hezbollah said it launched a heavy rocket attack at an Israeli army barracks in the country’s north “in retaliation” for the Naqura strike, while also announcing other attacks on Israeli positions.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli strikes on Mais Al-Jabal and Naqura, where it said Israel fired near Hezbollah-affiliated rescue personnel and wounded a civilian.
The fighting has killed at least 423 people in Lebanon, mostly militants but also including 82 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 14 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed on its side of the border.
The violence has raised fears of all-out conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which went to war in 2006.


War monitor says Israeli strikes kill six pro-Iran fighters in Syria

Updated 20 May 2024
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War monitor says Israeli strikes kill six pro-Iran fighters in Syria

  • A Hezbollah source said that at least one fighter from the group was killed in Israeli strikes in the Qusayr area

Beirut: A war monitor said at least six pro-Iran fighters were killed Monday in Israeli strikes in Syria near the Lebanese border, in an area where Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group holds sway.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “Israeli strikes targeted two positions of pro-Iran groups in the Homs region,” including “a Hezbollah site in the Qusayr area” near the border where “six Iran-backed fighters were killed.”
The Observatory did not specify their nationalities.
A Hezbollah source told AFP that at least one fighter from the group was killed in Israeli strikes in the Qusayr area.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
On Saturday, the Observatory said an Israeli drone strike near the Lebanese border targeted a vehicle carrying “a Hezbollah commander and his companion,” without reporting casualties.
Hezbollah did not announce any deaths among its ranks on Saturday.
On May 9, Israeli strikes on Syria targeted facilities belonging to Iraq’s Al-Nujaba armed movement, the Observatory and the pro-Iran group said, with Damascus saying an unidentified building was attacked.
The Israeli military has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in its northern neighbor in 2011, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
But the strikes increased after Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7, when the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack against Israel.
Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more since it erupted in 2011 after Damascus cracked down on anti-government protests.


ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu

Updated 20 May 2024
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ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Netanyahu

  • Karim Khan believes Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Monday he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in connection with their actions during the seven-month war between Israel and Hamas.

Karim Khan said that he believes Netanyahu, his defense minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders — Yehia Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.

The prosecutor must request the warrants from a pre-trial panel of three judges, who take on average two months to consider the evidence and determine if the proceedings can move forward.

Israel is not a member of the court, and even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But Khan’s announcement deepens Israel’s isolation as it presses ahead with its war, and the threat of arrest could make it difficult for the Israeli leaders to travel abroad.

Both Sinwar and Deif are believed to be hiding in Gaza as Israel tries to hunt them down. But Haniyeh, the supreme leader of the Islamic militant group, is based in Qatar and frequently travels across the region.

There was no immediate comment from either side.

Israel launched its war in response to an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 others hostage. The Israeli offensive has killed over 35,000 Palestinians, at least half of them women and children, according to the latest estimates by Gaza health officials. The Israeli offensive has also triggered a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, displacing roughly 80 percent of the population and leaving hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of starvation, according to UN officials.

Speaking of the Israeli actions, Khan said in a statement that “the effects of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, together with other attacks and collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza are acute, visible and widely known. ... They include malnutrition, dehydration, profound suffering and an increasing number of deaths among the Palestinian population, including babies, other children, and women.”

The United Nations and other aid agencies have repeatedly accused Israel of hindering aid deliveries throughout the war. Israel denies this, saying there are no restrictions on aid entering Gaza and accusing the United Nations of failing to distribute aid. The UN says aid workers have repeatedly come under Israeli fire, and also says ongoing fighting and a security vacuum have impeded deliveries.

Of the Hamas actions on Oct. 7, Khan, who visited the region in December, said that he saw for himself “the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications filed today. Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability.”

After a brief period of international support for its war, Israel has faced increasing criticism as the war has dragged on and the death toll has climbed.

Israel is also facing a South African case in the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide. Israel denies those charges.