Hezbollah-Israel conflict holds crisis-weary Lebanese hostage in their own country

Retired servicemen remove razor wire barricade outside Lebanon’s central bank during a demonstration demanding inflation-adjustments to their pensions, in Beirut on March 30, 2023. (AFP/File)
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Updated 16 July 2024
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Hezbollah-Israel conflict holds crisis-weary Lebanese hostage in their own country

  • More than 435 people have been killed and 96,000 have been displaced in southern Lebanon since Oct. 8 last year
  • Lebanon is already in the throes of a crippling economic crisis, with some 44 percent living in poverty

DUBAI: As Hezbollah and Israel continue to engage in cross-border attacks, which began with the start of the war in Gaza last year, regular Lebanese citizens find themselves surviving in an atmosphere of tension and uncertainty.

Israel so far has stopped short of opening a second front in Lebanon while it seemingly implements a scorched-earth policy in Gaza in retaliation for the deadly attacks Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas carried out in southern Israel on Oct. 8 last year.

The tit-for-tat exchanges have grown in intensity, with two Israeli civilians killed by a Hezbollah rocket barrage in the Golan Heights on Tuesday. Just hours prior to this, an Israeli strike in Syria killed a former bodyguard of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The death toll in south Lebanon continues to mount with more than 435 people killed and over 96,000 internally displaced, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

There has also been a steady rise in the number of senior Hezbollah officials being assassinated. The most recent of these was Mohammed Nimah Nasser, commander of the Aziz Unit responsible for the western sector of southern Lebanon.




A man stands next to a Hezbollah party flag jammed into the wreckage of a vehicle near buildings destroyed during previous Israeli military fire on the southern Lebanese village of Aita Al-Shaab, near the border with northern Israel on June 29, 2024. (AFP)

Lebanon is already weighed down by the combined impact of economic collapse, soaring poverty and political dysfunction. With no diplomatic breakthrough achieved so far in efforts to contain hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, many live in fear of an all-out war, a scenario that could prove further devastating.

Lebanon has also been without a president for nearly two years, relying on Najib Mikati’s leadership as caretaker of the government. Unending quarrels and shifting alliances within parliament make critical decision-making impossible, while rampant corruption remains the status quo.

According to the May 2024 Lebanon Situation Report from the World Food Programme, the country’s food security has deteriorated rapidly, with the report predicting that just under a quarter of the population will be food insecure by September 2024.

Lebanon’s poverty rates have more than tripled over the past decade, with another May report from the World Bank finding that 44 percent of the total population now lives in poverty.




People line up in front of a bakery to buy bread in Lebanon’s southern city of Sidon on June 22, 2022. (AFP)

Conditions have compelled households to undertake a variety of coping strategies that include cutting back on food consumption, non-food expenses, and health expenditures, which will likely lead to severe long-term consequences.

More than half the population also now depends on aid for survival while the rest continue to struggle to secure basic life necessities such as fuel and electricity.

On July 2, Walid Bukhari, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Lebanon, announced an aid package of $10 million through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.

The aid will help launch 28 projects across Lebanon, adding to the 129 relief, humanitarian, and development projects KSrelief has implemented in the country to date.




A World Bank report in May said that 44 percent of the total population in Lebanon now lives in poverty. (AFP)

Bukhari said the Saudi support was a continuation of the “commitment of the leadership in Saudi Arabia to help humanitarian efforts and promote stability and development in Lebanon with the highest standards of transparency and accountability.”

He also said the support is a “solidarity approach adopted by the Kingdom toward the Lebanese people, based on the duty of true Arab brotherhood and teachings of Islam.”

While gestures are often appreciated by the Lebanese public, many remain skeptical of their own government’s ability to distribute the aid evenly and fairly.




In July, Saudi Arabia announced an aid package of $10 million for Lebanon through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center. (SPA/File)

Joseph, a 40-year-old Lebanese from Jounieh who did not want his full name to be used, said he was doubtful that the ones in need would see a cent from any aid packages.

“We have vultures, not politicians. We would not be in this predicament if we had decent leadership,” he told Arab News.

INNUMBERS

  • 435+ People, mostly combatants, killed in south Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023.
  • 96,000+ People internally displaced in south Lebanon during the same period.
  • 200+ Drones and rockets fired at Israel from Lebanon in first four days of July.

Another Lebanese citizen, who also did not want to reveal his full name, also likened the situation in the country to a tale of two cities.

“The ones who are well off are always out and about in Beirut in areas like Gemayze and Mar Mikhael where most of the pubs are,” Samer told Arab News.

“They have no notion of war, nor do they fear one, because they know they can leave. The others who have fallen on hard times are at home trying to figure out ways to make do at the end of every month. Everyone is talking about the US elections and what outcome it will have on our country.”

Joseph said that a growing number of his friends and family members have begun taking sedatives just to continue functioning.

“The uncertainty has everyone in a chokehold. We had problems prior to the Gaza war and now we’re caught in the middle, not knowing what might become of us and our jobs. We have become hostages in our own country.”




A Lebanese protester holds a sign as fuel tankers block a road in Beirut during a general strike by public transport and workers unions over the country’s economic crisis, on January 13, 2022. (AFP)

Since Lebanon has no adequate social safety net, mental health services range from unaffordable private care to support from local and international nongovernmental organizers that offer free or low-cost consultations.

A study done last year by the mental health NGO Embrace showed that the suicide rates in Lebanon are among the highest in the last 10 years, having increased by 21 percent since 2022. Over 81 percent of suicide cases involved men, with young people aged 23 to 32 the most at risk.

Lebanon’s economic collapse, the 2020 Beirut port blast, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by war speculation and uncertainty, have taken a heavy toll on its citizens’ mental health.




More than half the population in Lebanon now depends on aid for survival while the rest continue to struggle to secure basic life necessities such as fuel and electricity. (AFP)

This week, a mental health strategy was launched in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Dr. Rabih Chammay, the head of the National Mental Health Programme in Lebanon, said that strengthening mental health during crises is a top priority.

The National Mental Health Strategy 2024-2030 will aim to reform and ensure mental health services to those in need for a minimal cost.

Beirut-based Majed, 34, who works both in and outside Lebanon, does not see any signs of impending war except for high-risk areas like the south and Bekaa Valley.

“I also think it depends on where you stay in Lebanon, but I would assume conversations in communities that live in and around Beirut might have a different case.

“But we are seeing precautionary measures in case an all-out war takes place. I think everyone hopes that things will de-escalate but know there’s a good chance a war might happen.

“Even if people don’t live in high-risk areas, this would impact them in so many ways: in terms of their ability to travel if the airport gets hit, availability of fresh produce for people to be able to eat, and we’ll definitely see an increase in crime, especially in the cities.”




A Hezbollah fighter is seen standing at attention in an orange field near the town of Naqura on the Lebanese-Israeli border on April 20, 2017. (AFP/File)

Citing his family’s preparation, Majed said: “My mother keeps talking about leaving Beirut and going to stay in the summer house in Chouf. She also is keeping it fully set up in case a war breaks out. She has bought an additional freezer and is now stocking it up.

“Dual citizens will rely on evacuations, especially if they come from America or European countries. I guess in such a situation, optionality is a privilege.”

To date, seven countries have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid traveling there, while five countries warned their citizens to be alert and avoid certain areas.




A house lies in ruins in the border area of Shebaa in southern Lebanon, following an Israeli strike on April 27, 2024. (AFP)

In retaliation to the killing of its senior commander Nasser in Tyre, Hezbollah has so far launched 200 rockets and drones into northern Israel.

As violent standoffs between the two powers continue to mount, civilians in southern Lebanon are war-weary but on guard. For Lebanese Ali Shdid, however, the current situation has become a reality of life that one ought to make peace with.

“No one wishes for war. No one. But we will not be threatened into submission, nor will we cower,” he told Arab News.

“If Israelis think we will cave due to their threats and bravado, they got it twisted. We will welcome war on all its fronts.”

 


Pact for $4.5m signed to aid 4,400 stranded Gazans in West Bank

Palestinians shop at a market in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank on April 19, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 55 min 3 sec ago
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Pact for $4.5m signed to aid 4,400 stranded Gazans in West Bank

  • “Thousands of Palestine refugees from Gaza remain trapped in the West Bank, trapped in this crisis situation,” UNRWA Commissioner-General said

CAIRO: The Qatar Red Crescent and the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) signed an agreement on Sunday, with $4.5 million from a Qatari state development fund, to aid more than 4,400 stranded Palestinian workers and patients from Gaza in the West Bank.
“Cash assistance will represent vital support for those displaced who have not been able to return to the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Strip last October,” a statement from the Qatar’s state news agency said.
“Thousands of Palestine refugees from Gaza remain trapped in the West Bank, trapped in this crisis situation, stranded from their loved ones and livelihoods,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.
Since Israel’s blockade of Gaza began in 2007, movement in and out of the Strip has been heavily restricted, forcing individuals to seek medical care, education, or jobs in the West Bank, while escalating violence often closes borders, trapping those in need of essential services.


Egypt condemns killing of activist by Israeli forces in the West Bank

Activists mourn the body of slain Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi at the Rafidia hospital morgue in Nablus.
Updated 08 September 2024
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Egypt condemns killing of activist by Israeli forces in the West Bank

  • Ministry extends condolences to government of Turkiye and its people

CAIRO: Egypt condemned the killing of US-Turkish activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

Ahmed Abu Zeid, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, condemned the killing of Eygi, which occurred south of Nablus.

In a statement issued by the ministry, Abu Zeid extended his condolences to the Turkish government and people and offered his sympathies to the family of the deceased.

He said the death is a further example of the daily Israeli violations against Palestinian civilians and their supporters, adding to the various forms of violence and disregard for human rights they face in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He also condemned the moral crisis faced by the international community due to the atrocities committed against civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories over decades.

Eygi, 26, was shot and killed on Friday in the village of Beita, near Nablus, during a nonviolent protest against settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and escalating settler violence against Palestinian homes and landowners.

 


Eight-year-old found dead in Turkiye after national search effort

The body of Narin Guran was found in a bag in a river in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.
Updated 08 September 2024
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Eight-year-old found dead in Turkiye after national search effort

  • “Narin Guran was found dead wearing the same clothes as the last time she was seen,” said Zorluoglu

ANKARA: The body of an eight-year-old girl who had been missing in Turkiye for 19 days has been found after an enormous manhunt, the interior minister said on Sunday.
The body of Narin Guran was found in a bag in a river in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, around one kilometer from the village where she lived with her family, Diyarbakir governor Murat Zorluoglu told reporters.
“Unfortunately, the lifeless body of Narin, who went missing in the village of Tavsantepe... has been found,” Turkish interior minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
She disappeared on August 21, sparking a huge search effort in Turkiye, with a number of well-known figures joining a social media campaign called “Find Narin.”
“Narin Guran was found dead wearing the same clothes as the last time she was seen,” said Zorluoglu.
“Based on the first observations, she was put into a bag after she was killed. The bag was then placed in the river, hidden under branches and rocks so as not to raise suspicion,” he added.
Diyarbakir prosecutors have detained 21 people, said Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc.
The girl’s uncle was arrested last week on suspicion of murder and “deprivation of liberty.”
“Our president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is following the case closely to guarantee that the ongoing investigation continues thoroughly and that those who took Narin’s life answer before the law,” the president’s communications director Fahrettin Altun said on X.
Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish party DEM has called for a march to take place in Diyarbakir on Sunday evening.
“Narin was killed in an organized manner. Those responsible for this murder, which has saddened us all, must be revealed and held accountable before an impartial and independent justice system,” DEM wrote on X.
Tunc said on X that “those responsible for Narin’s death will be brought to justice.”


Sudan rejects UN call for ‘impartial’ force to protect civilians

Updated 08 September 2024
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Sudan rejects UN call for ‘impartial’ force to protect civilians

PORT SUDAN: Sudan has rejected a call by UN experts for the deployment of an “independent and impartial force” to protect millions of civilians driven from their homes by more than a year of war.
The conflict since April last year, pitting the army against paramilitary forces, has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The independent UN experts said Friday their fact-finding mission had uncovered “harrowing” violations by both sides, “which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
They called for “an independent and impartial force with a mandate to safeguard civilians” to be deployed “without delay.”
The Sudanese foreign ministry, which is loyal to the army under General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, said in a statement late Saturday that “the Sudanese government rejects in their entirety the recommendations of the UN mission.”
It called the UN Human Rights Council, which created the fact-finding mission last year, “a political and illegal body,” and the panel’s recommendations “a flagrant violation of their mandate.”
The UN experts said eight million civilians have been displaced and another two million people have fled to neighboring countries.
More than 25 million people — upwards of half the country’s population — face acute food shortages.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on a visit to Sudan on Sunday, said: “The scale of the emergency is shocking, as is the insufficient action being taken to curtail the conflict and respond to the suffering it is causing.”
In Port Sudan, where government offices and the United Nations have relocated to due to the intense fighting in the capital Khartoum, Tedros called on the “world to wake up and help Sudan out of the nightmare it is living through.”
The Sudanese foreign ministry statement accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Burhan’s former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, of “systematically targeting civilians and civilian institutions.”
“The protection of civilians remains an absolute priority for the Sudanese government,” it said.
The statement added that the UN Human Rights Council’s role should be “to support the national process, rather than seek to impose a different exterior mechanism.”
It also rejected the experts’ call for an arms embargo.


Iran’s president to visit Iraq on first foreign trip

Updated 08 September 2024
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Iran’s president to visit Iraq on first foreign trip

  • Pezeshkian will head a high-ranking Iranians delegation to Baghdad to meet senior Iraqi officials

TEHRAN: Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian will visit neighboring Iraq on Wednesday, state media reported Sunday, in what will be his first trip abroad since he took office in July.
Pezeshkian will head a high-ranking Iranians delegation to Baghdad to meet senior Iraqi officials.
The visit comes at the invitation of Iraq’s premier, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, the official IRNA news agency quoted Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad Mohammad Kazem Al-Sadegh as saying.
The two countries will sign memoranda of understanding on cooperation and security, Sadegh said, without elaborating.
He said the agreements were to have been signed during a planned visit to Iraq by Iran’s late president, Ebrahim Raisi.
But Raisi was killed in May along with the then foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, when their helicopter crashed on a fog-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran.
Since taking office, Pezeshkian has vowed to “prioritize” strengthening ties with the Islamic republic’s neighbors.
Relations between Iran and Iraq, both Shiite-majority countries, have grown closer over the past two decades.
Tehran is one of Iraq’s leading trade partners, and wields considerable political influence in Baghdad where its Iraqi allies dominate parliament and the current government.
In March 2023 the two countries signed a security agreement covering their common border, months after Tehran struck Kurdish opposition groups in Iraq’s north.
They have since agreed to disarm Iranian Kurdish rebel groups and remove them from border areas.
Tehran accuses the groups of importing arms from Iraq and of fomenting 2022 protests that erupted after the death in custody of Iranian-Kurd woman Mahsa Amini.
In January, Iran launched a deadly strike in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, saying it had targeted a site used by “spies of the Zionist regime (Mossad).”
On Saturday, an exiled Iranian Kurdish group said one of its activists, Behzad Khosrawi, had been arrested in Iraq’s northern city of Sulaimaniyah and handed over to “Iranian intelligence.”
Local Asayesh security forces said Khosrawi was arrested “because he did not have residency” in the Kurdish region, and denied he had any connection to “political activism.”