Saudi Arabia announces $10 million in aid for Lebanon

Saudi’s Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari said on Tuesday the Kingdom would provide $10 million to Lebanon through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center. (X/@KSAembassyLB)
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Updated 02 July 2024
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Saudi Arabia announces $10 million in aid for Lebanon

  • KSrelief and Lebanon’s High Relief Commission signed a pact in Beirut to launch 28 projects across the country
  • Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the strong fraternal relationship between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia had deepened and solidified over the years

BEIRUT: Saudi’s Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari said on Tuesday the Kingdom would provide $10 million to Lebanon through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.
KSrelief and Lebanon’s High Relief Commission signed a pact in Beirut to launch 28 projects across the country.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the strong fraternal relationship between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia had deepened and solidified over the years.
The Kingdom, he said, “has always been by Lebanon’s side and supported it in times of hardship, serving as a safety valve that has preserved the unity of the Lebanese, regardless of their sect, denomination, or political party.”
Mikati said the gesture represented Saudi Arabia’s keenness for stability in Lebanon.
“I am confident that the Kingdom has been and will remain the bigger brother of Lebanon,” he said.
Mikati added: “Saudi constants toward Lebanon are reflected by the Kingdom’s actions and deeds, through the Taif Agreement, which we adhere to fully, and which still serves as the appropriate framework for managing Lebanon’s affairs.
“In all the meetings I held with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he expressed his support for Lebanon to emerge from its crisis, but on the condition that the required structural reforms are implemented and that Lebanese institutions play their full role, especially concerning electing a new president.
“This responsibility falls on us, the Lebanese, and what is required of us first and foremost is to carry out our duties with the support of friendly countries, foremost among them Saudi Arabia.”
The prime minister continued: “The person who led Saudi Arabia and its youth to the leadership and pioneering positions … will not find it difficult to be a support for his brothers in Lebanon. We look forward to the Kingdom’s care and fraternal gesture toward my country Lebanon so that it can rise again.”
Ambassador Bukhari said the Saudi support was a continuation of the “commitment of the leadership in Saudi Arabia,” led by King Salman and the crown prince, “to help humanitarian efforts and promote stability and development in Lebanon with the highest standards of transparency and accountability.”
The Kingdom’s support “comes as a continuation of the solidarity approach adopted by the Kingdom toward the Lebanese people, based on the duty of true Arab brotherhood and teachings of Islam,” he added.
Saudi Arabia has already launched 129 relief, humanitarian and development projects for Lebanon, covering many sectors.
Bukhari said KSrelief was a leading international organization with the purpose of providing relief to communities hit by disasters and crises.
“Since its establishment, KSrelief launched more than 7,000 humanitarian projects with a total value of $129.68 billion in 169 countries,” Bukhari added.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair, head of the Higher Relief Committee, signed a pact of joint cooperation with Abdulrahman Al-Quraishi, director of KSrelief in Lebanon.
The Kingdom’s support coincided with ongoing hostilities between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
On Tuesday, an Israeli guided missile targeted farmers in Al-Zalutiyah, a town in the western sector, killing a Lebanese civilian. An Israeli drone also launched three missiles at Taybeh power plant, causing a fire and a power outage.


Italy summons Israeli ambassador after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon: govt source

Updated 3 sec ago
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Italy summons Israeli ambassador after UN peacekeepers wounded in Lebanon: govt source

The UNIFIL force said that Israeli tank fire on its headquarters wounded two members

ROME: Italy’s defense minister summoned the Israeli ambassador Thursday, a government source told AFP, after the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said it had been hit by Israeli tank fire.
The UNIFIL force, which has some 10,000 peacekeepers in south Lebanon, said that Israeli tank fire on its headquarters wounded two members, as Israeli troops battle Hezbollah militants on the border.

UN inquiry accuses Israel of crime of ‘extermination’ in destruction of Gaza health system

Updated 11 min 27 sec ago
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UN inquiry accuses Israel of crime of ‘extermination’ in destruction of Gaza health system

  • A statement released ahead of a full report accused Israel of “relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” in the war
  • “Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” said Pillay

GENEVA: A United Nations inquiry said on Thursday it found that Israel carried out a concerted policy of destroying Gaza’s health care system in the Gaza war, actions amounting to both war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.
A statement by ex-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay released ahead of a full report accused Israel of “relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities” in the war, triggered by Hamas militants’ deadly cross-border attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“Children in particular have borne the brunt of these attacks, suffering both directly and indirectly from the collapse of the health system,” said Pillay, whose report will be presented to the UN General Assembly on Oct. 30.
Israel says that Gaza’s militants operate from the cover of built-up populated areas including private homes, schools and
hospitals
and that it will strike them wherever they emerge, while also trying to avoid harming civilians. Hamas denies hiding militants, weapons and command posts among civilians.
The UN inquiry’s statement also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles and restricting permits for patients to leave the besieged Gaza Strip.
As an example, it cited the death of a Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, in February along with family members and two medics who came to rescue her from under Israeli fire.
The World Health Organization says over 10,000 patients requiring urgent medical evacuation have been prevented from leaving Gaza since the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was shut in May. The Palestinian health ministry says nearly 1,000 medics have been killed in Gaza in the past year in what the WHO called “an irreplaceable loss and a massive blow to the health system.”
The statement said the treatment of both Palestinian detainees in Israel and hostages seized by Hamas fighters in the Oct. 7 attack had been investigated and it accused both sides of involvement in torture and sexual violence.
The Commission of Inquiry has a broad mandate to collect evidence and identify suspected perpetrators of international crimes committed in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. It bases its findings on a range of sources including interviews with victims and witnesses, submissions and satellite imagery.
The COI has previously alleged that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war, and that Israel’s actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses. The term is reserved for the most serious international crimes knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians.
Israel has not cooperated with the inquiry, which it says has an anti-Israel bias. The COI has accused Israel of obstructing its work and preventing investigators from accessing both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Sometimes, the evidence gathered by such UN-mandated bodies has formed the basis for war crimes prosecutions and could be drawn on by the International Criminal Court.


Man wounded in Israel stabbing attack dies: hospital

Updated 40 min 47 sec ago
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Man wounded in Israel stabbing attack dies: hospital

  • “Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the medical team, the injured person was pronounced dead,” said a statement
  • Palestinian militant group Hamas praised the Hadera attack, calling it a “heroic stabbing operation“

JERUSALEM: A man wounded in a stabbing rampage in the Israeli town of Hadera has died of his wounds, the hospital where he was being treated said on Thursday.
Rafael Mordechai Fishof was one of the six people wounded in what police called a “terrorist attack” on Wednesday in four locations of Hadera, before the assailant was “neutralized.”
“Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the medical team, the injured person was pronounced dead,” said a statement from the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, where Fishof had been admitted.
“Yesterday, at the hospital, we prayed for his recovery and now our hearts are broken by this difficult news,” Hadera mayor Nir Ben Haim said in a statement, referring to Fishof, 35, a father of six.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, with which Israeli forces are locked in a fierce war in Gaza, praised the Hadera attack, calling it a “heroic stabbing operation.”
Hamas also called for “more painful strikes against the occupation (Israel).”
Israeli authorities have not provided information about the suspect but Israeli media identified him as Ahmad Jabareen, 36, an Israeli citizen from the Arab town of Umm Al-Fahm.
The Hadera attack came more than a week after seven people were killed in a shooting and stabbing claimed by Hamas in the Israeli commercial hub Tel Aviv.
Palestinian militants have carried out several attacks on Israelis since October 7 last year, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, sparking war in Gaza.


Iraq repatriates 706 people from Syria camp

Updated 53 min 12 sec ago
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Iraq repatriates 706 people from Syria camp

  • Al-Hol houses relatives of suspected Daesh group militants alongside refugees
  • The security source told AFP that “706 people, or 181 families, returned to Iraq from Al-Hol and were transferred to the Al-Jadaa“

BAGHDAD: Iraq repatriated 706 people from Syria’s Al-Hol camp, home to tens of thousands of people including family members of suspected militants, a security source said Thursday.
More than 43,000 Syrians, Iraqis and other foreigners from at least 45 countries are held in the squalid and overcrowded camp in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria.
Al-Hol houses relatives of suspected Daesh group militants alongside refugees.
The security source, who requested anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to the media, told AFP that “706 people, or 181 families, returned to Iraq from Al-Hol and were transferred to the Al-Jadaa,” a camp near the northern city of Mosul.
It is the fourth group of Iraqis brought back from Al-Hol in a year, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
Repatriation of family members of suspected Daesh members has stirred controversy in Iraq, where the militant group seized large swathes of land before being defeated in late 2017.
To mitigate tensions, upon arrival in Iraq, authorities usually keep returnees from Al-Hol for weeks or even months at what officials describe as a “psychological rehabilitation” facility in Al-Jadaa camp, where they also undergo security checks before returning home.


Egypt, Somalia leaders visit Eritrea amid regional tensions

Updated 48 min 41 sec ago
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Egypt, Somalia leaders visit Eritrea amid regional tensions

  • Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia meet in Asmara
  • Cairo has also long been at odds with Addis Ababa, particularly over the vast Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile

NAIROBI: The leaders of Egypt, Eritrea and Somalia were due to hold a three-way summit in Asmara on Thursday against a backdrop of heightened tensions in the Horn of Africa region.
Concerns about security and stability in the volatile area have mounted since Ethiopia in January signed a controversial deal with the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland, giving it long-sought access to the sea.
The maritime agreement infuriated Mogadishu and highlighted regional rivalries as relations soured between Ethiopia and Somalia.
The summit between Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia will focus on “bolstering the ties between the three countries as well as matters of regional security and stability,” Eritrea’s information ministry said on X.
Mohamud, who has already visited Eritrea several times, held separate talks with Isaias shortly after his arrival late Wednesday, the ministry said.
They spoke of the need to bolster cooperation “in the heavy tasks of the maintenance of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence, and unity of Somalia; which remains a prerequisite for its development against the backdrop of enormous challenges in the past two decades,” it added.
El-Sisi — whose government is siding with Somalia in its standoff with Ethiopia — flew in on Thursday and will also meet Isaias before the tripartite summit, the ministry said.
The agreement between Addis Ababa and Somaliland would see Ethiopia, one of the biggest landlocked countries in the world, lease a stretch of coastline from Somaliland for a naval base and port.
But Mogadishu — which like the rest of the international community refuses to recognize Somaliland’s 1991 declaration of independence — has described it as an assault on its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Somalia reacted by growing closer to Ethiopian rival Egypt, with the two countries signing a major military deal in August and Cairo pledging troops for a new African Union mission against the Al-Shabab jihadist group.
Cairo has also long been at odds with Addis Ababa, particularly over the vast Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile which it says threatens its water supply.
El-Sisi’s office said his visit would focus on building relations with Eritrea and address “efforts to establish stability and security in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea in a manner that supports development and serves the interests of the peoples of the region.”
Relations between Addis Ababa and Asmara have also been deteriorating recently, even though troops from Asmara backed Ethiopian government forces in the brutal 2020-2022 war against Tigrayan rebels.
Last month Ethiopian Airlines said it was suspending flights to Asmara because of “difficult” operating conditions.
Dubbed the “North Korea” of Africa, Eritrea has been ruled with an iron fist by Isaias since it formally declared independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after three decades of war.