JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is headed to Washington on Sunday to discuss the next phase of the Gaza war and escalating hostilities on the border with Lebanon, where exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have stoked fears of wider conflict.
Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza, and the sides have been trading blows in the months since then. Hezbollah has said it will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
“We are prepared for any action that may be required in Gaza, Lebanon, and in more areas,” Gallant said in a statement before setting off to Washington, where he said he would meet his counterpart Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Earlier in June, Hezbollah targeted Israeli towns and military sites with the largest volleys of rockets and drones in the hostilities so far, after an Israeli strike killed the most senior Hezbollah commander yet.
US envoy Amos Hochstein visited Israel and Lebanon last week in an attempt to cool tensions, amid an uptick in cross-border fire and an escalation in rhetoric on both sides. An Israeli soldier was severely wounded on Sunday by a drone strike, the military said.
Some Israeli officials have linked the ongoing Israeli push into Rafah — the southern area of Gaza where it says it is targeting the last battalions of Hamas — to a potential focus on Lebanon.
Gallant appeared to make the same link in his statement.
“The transition to Phase C in Gaza is of great importance. I will discuss this transition with US officials, how it may enable additional things and I know that we will achieve close cooperation with the US on this issue as well,” Gallant said.
Scaling back Gaza operations would free up forces to take on Hezbollah, if Israel were to launch a ground offensive or step up its aerial bombardments.
POST-WAR PLAN
Officials have described the third and last phase of Israel’s Gaza offensive as winding down fighting while stepping up efforts to stabilize a post-Hamas rule and begin reconstruction in the enclave, much of which has been laid to waste.
Gallant, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, has sparred with the premier in the past few months, calling for a clearer post-war plan for Gaza that will not leave Israel in charge, a demand echoed by the White House.
Netanyahu has been walking a tightrope as he seeks to keep his government together by balancing the demands of the defense establishment, including ex-generals like Gallant, and far-right coalition partners who have resisted any post-Gaza strategy that could open the way to a future Palestinian state.
The head of Israel’s parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuli Edelstein, told Army Radio on Sunday that fighting Hezbollah would be complex either way, now or later.
“We are not in the right position to conduct fighting on both the southern front and the northern front. We will have to deploy differently in the south in order to fight in the north,” said Edelstein, also a Likud member.
Edelstein criticized a video by Netanyahu released last week in which the prime minister said the Biden administration was “withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel.” The video led to a spat with the White House.
President Joe Biden’s administration paused a shipment of 2,000 pound and 500-pound bombs in May over concerns about their impact if used in densely-populated areas of Gaza. Israel was still due to get billions of dollars worth of UA weaponry.
“I hope that in the discussions behind closed doors much more will be achieved than by attempts to create pressure with videos,” Edelstein said, referring to Gallant’s trip.
Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza was triggered when Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The offensive has killed more than 37,400 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and left nearly the entire population of the enclave homeless and destitute.
Israel’s defense chief to discuss Gaza war, Lebanon hostilities on US trip
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Israel’s defense chief to discuss Gaza war, Lebanon hostilities on US trip
- Visit comes amid concerns over conflict spreading
- Gallant wants clearer post-war plan for Gaza
Lebanese PM, speaker of UAE advisory parliament discuss regional issues
- Saqr Ghobash congratulated Nawaf Salam on forming a Lebanese government in February
- Salam praised the UAE for promoting regional stability, development
LONDON: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam discussed the strong fraternal relations between Abu Dhabi and Beirut with Saqr Ghobash, speaker of the UAE Federal National Council, on Thursday.
Ghobash made an official visit to Lebanon, where he extended the wishes of the Emirati leadership to Lebanon and its people for continued progress, prosperity and development, the Emirates News Agency reported.
Salam and Ghobash discussed ways to strengthen and expand cooperation in various cultural, economic and humanitarian fields, and exchanged views on several regional and international issues of mutual interest, WAM added.
Ghobash congratulated Salam on forming a Lebanese government in February and reaffirmed the UAE’s strong support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, stability and development. He said that the UAE is committed to providing unwavering support to the Lebanese people.
Salam praised the UAE for promoting stability and development across the region, and expressed appreciation for its continuous support of Lebanon during recent challenging times, WAM reported.
France says Tunisian political dissidents did not receive fair trial
- The comments by France came amid growing criticism of the government of President Kais Saied over its crackdown on dissent
- The French Foreign Ministry said: “We regret the failure to respect fair trial conditions“
TUNIS: France on Wednesday criticized the lengthy sentences handed down by a Tunisian court against opposition leaders and businessmen on conspiracy charges on the weekend, saying the conditions for a fair trial were not met.
The comments by France, the first country to speak out on the trial, came amid growing criticism of the government of President Kais Saied over its crackdown on dissent.
Rights groups said the mass conviction of dissidents is a disturbing indication of the authorities’ willingness to go ahead with its crackdown on peaceful dissent.
Tunisia’s opposition has said the trial was fabricated and aimed at silencing critical voices and consolidating the authoritarian rule.
“We learned with concern of the harsh sentences...against several individuals accused of conspiring against state security, including French nationals,” the French Foreign Ministry said.
“We regret the failure to respect fair trial conditions,” it added. Journalists, diplomats, and civil society were barred from attending the trial.
The trial highlights Saied’s full control over the judiciary since he dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree. He also dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges in 2022.
Forty people were prosecuted in the trial, which started in March. More than 20 have fled abroad since being charged.
Lawyers said the maximum sentence was 66 years for businessman Kamel Ltaif, while opposition politician Khyam Turki received a 48-year sentence.
The court also sentenced prominent opposition figures including Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbrak and Ridha BelHajj to 18 years in prison. They have been in custody since being detained in 2023.
Saied said in 2023 that the politicians were “traitors and terrorists” and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices.
The opposition leaders involved in the case rejected the charges and said they were preparing an initiative aimed at uniting the fragmented opposition to face the democratic setback in the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings.
Lebanon parliament approves changes to banking secrecy law
- The international community has long demanded major fiscal reforms to unlock billions of dollars in aid to restart the Lebanese economy
- The crash since 2019 has seen the local currency lose most of its value against the US dollar
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s parliament on Thursday approved amendments to banking secrecy legislation, a key reform demanded by the International Monetary Fund, as Lebanese officials hold meetings with global finance institutions in Washington.
A statement from speaker Nabih Berri’s office said parliament passed amendments to “the law related to banking secrecy” and to monetary legislation.
The international community has long demanded major fiscal reforms to unlock billions of dollars in aid to restart the Lebanese economy in the wake of a five-year economic collapse widely blamed on mismanagement and corruption.
The crash since 2019 has seen the local currency lose most of its value against the US dollar and has pushed much of the population into poverty, with ordinary people locked out of their savings.
The recent war between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group has worsened matters, with the cash-strapped country now also needing funds for reconstruction.
Lebanese rights group Legal Agenda said the amendments allow “banking supervisory and regulatory bodies... to request access to all banking information without linking the request to a specific objective.”
These bodies will now be able to access information including customer names and deposit details, and look into possible suspicious activity, the group said.
Lebanon has long had strict rules over bank account privacy that critics have said makes it susceptible to money laundering.
The cabinet had approved the amendment earlier this month, saying it would apply retroactively for 10 years from the date of request.
That means it would apply to the start of the economic crisis, when bankers were accused of assisting influential individuals to transfer large amounts of money overseas.
Parliament’s approval comes with Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, Economy Minister Amer Bizat and new central bank governor Karim Souaid in Washington for meetings with the World Bank and IMF.
Jaber said earlier this week that parliamentary approval of the banking secrecy amendment would give a “boost” to the delegation’s meetings.
In April 2022, Lebanon and the IMF reached conditional agreement on a $3-billion loan package, but painful reforms that the 46-month financing program would require have largely not happened.
In February, the IMF said it was open to a new loan agreement with Beirut following discussions with the newly appointed Jaber.
The new government has pledged to implement other required reforms, and approved draft legislation on restructuring the banking sector earlier this month.
UK ends sanctions on Syria defense, interior ministries
- Sanctions against various media groups and intelligence agencies were also lifted
- New Syrian government is aiming to persuade Western capitals that sanctions should be lifted
LONDON: The UK government announced on Thursday it was lifting sanctions that were imposed on Syria’s interior and defense ministries during the rule of the now-deposed Bashar Assad.
“The following entries have been removed from the Consolidated List and are no longer subject to an asset freeze – Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense,” the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a notice.
Sanctions against various media groups and intelligence agencies were also lifted, although Syria’s new rulers dissolved the Assad-era spy bodies in January.
Those targeted by the sanctions were “involved in repressing the civilian population in Syria” or had been “involved in supporting or benefitting from the Syrian regime,” said the notice.
The new Syrian government is aiming to persuade Western capitals that the militant origins of the rebels who toppled Assad in December, after 14 years in charge, are confined to the past, and that crippling international sanctions should be lifted.
Amnesty denounces Algeria over ‘alarming’ crackdown
- Amnesty said the 23 were detained “solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights”
- Amnesty singled out accelerated judicial procedures, which it said did not give several detainees time for adequate defense
TUNIS: Amnesty International on Thursday denounced what it called a “crackdown on peaceful dissent” in Algeria in response to an online protest campaign.
“Algerian authorities have intensified their relentless clampdown on peaceful dissent through arbitrary arrests and unjust prosecutions leading to lengthy prison sentences,” the rights group said in a statement.
It said the authorities have arrested and sentenced at least 23 activists and journalists over their purported support for an online protest movement dubbed Manich Radi (which loosely translates as “I do not agree“).
The campaign, Amnesty said, was launched in December 2024 “to denounce restrictions on human rights and difficult socioeconomic conditions in the country.”
Amnesty said the 23 were detained “solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights.”
Its regional director for the Middle East and North Africa Heba Morayef said: “The trajectory of suffocating online activism pursued by the Algerian authorities is alarming and must be reversed.
“Nothing can justify detaining and jailing people solely for having expressed dissatisfaction about political and socioeconomic conditions,” she added.
The crackdown coincided with the lead-up to the sixth anniversary in February of the pro-democracy Hirak movement.
Amnesty singled out accelerated judicial procedures, which it said did not give several detainees time for adequate defense.
Among several cases, it cited the March sentencing of activists Soheib Debbaghi and Mahdi Bazizi to 18-month jail terms for their ties to the “Manich Radi” movement.
Debbaghi was convicted of “publishing content harmful to national interest,” Amnesty said.
It urged the authorities in Algeria to “end their crackdown on peaceful dissent and stop punishing the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression.”
