BEIRUT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on the UN chief to move UN peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon out of “harm’s way.”
Netanyahu’s appeal to UN chief Antonio Guterres comes a day after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, refused to withdraw from the border area despite five of its members being wounded in Israeli fire in recent days.
“Mr Secretary General, get the UNIFIL forces out of harm’s way. It should be done right now, immediately,” Netanyahu said in a video statement issued by his office, in what were his first comments on the issue.
Netanyahu, speaking at a cabinet meeting, said Israeli forces had asked UNIFIL several times to leave but it had “met with repeated refusals” that provided a “human shield to Hezbollah terrorists.”
“Your refusal to evacuate the UNIFIL soldiers makes them hostages of Hezbollah. This endangers both them and the lives of our soldiers,” Netanyahu said.
“We regret the injuring of UNIFIL soldiers and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injuring. But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone.”
UNIFIL has refused to leave its positions in southern Lebanon.
“There was a unanimous decision to stay because it’s important for the UN flag to still fly high in this region, and to be able to report to the Security Council,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told AFP in an interview on Saturday.
Tenenti said Israel had asked UNIFIL to withdraw from positions “up to five kilometers (three miles) from the Blue Line” separating both countries, but the peacekeepers refused.
That would have included its 29 positions in Lebanon’s south.
UNIFIL, a mission of about 9,500 troops of various nationalities that was created in 1978, is tasked with monitoring a ceasefire that ended a 33-day war in 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah.
Forty nations that contribute to the peacekeeping force in Lebanon said on Saturday that they “strongly condemn recent attacks” on the peacekeepers.
“Such actions must stop immediately and should be adequately investigated,” said the joint statement, posted on X by the Polish UN mission and signed by nations including leading contributors Indonesia, Italy and India.
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Netanyahu tells UN chief to move peacekeepers in Lebanon out of ‘harm’s way immediately’
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Netanyahu tells UN chief to move peacekeepers in Lebanon out of ‘harm’s way immediately’
- Netanyahu’s appeal to UN chief Antonio Guterres comes a day after UNIFIL refused to withdraw
Iraq says it will prosecute Daesh detainees sent from Syria
- Iraq government says transfer was pre-emptive step to protect national security
- Prosoners have been held for years in prisons and camps guarded by the Kurdish-led SDF
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said on Thursday it would begin legal proceedings against Daesh detainees transferred from Syria, after the rapid collapse of Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria triggered concerns over prison security.
More than 10,000 members of the ultra-hard-line militant group have been held for years in about a dozen prisons and detention camps guarded by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria’s northeast.
The US military said on Tuesday its forces had transferred 150 Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq and that the operation could eventually see up to 7,000 detainees moved out of Syria.
It cited concerns over security at the prisons, which also hold thousands more women and children with ties to the militant group, after military setbacks suffered by the SDF.
A US official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 200 low-level Daesh fighters escaped from Syria’s Shaddadi prison, although Syrian government forces had recaptured many of them.
Iraqi officials said Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani mentioned the transfer of Daesh prisoners to Iraq in a phone call with Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa on Tuesday, adding that the transfers went ahead following a formal request by the Iraqi government to Syrian authorities.
Iraqi government spokesperson Basim Al-Awadi said the transfer was “a pre-emptive step to protect Iraq’s national security,” adding that Baghdad could not delay action given the rapid pace of security and political developments in Syria.
Daesh emerged in Iraq and Syria, and at the height of its power from 2014-2017 held swathes of the two countries. The group was defeated after a military campaign by a US-led coalition.
An Iraqi military spokesperson confirmed that Iraq had received a first batch of 150 Daesh detainees, including Iraqis and foreigners, and said the number of future transfers would depend on security and field assessments. The spokesperson described the detainees as senior figures within the group.
In a statement, the Supreme Judicial Council said Iraqi courts would take “due legal measures” against the detainees once they are handed over and placed in specialized correctional facilities, citing the Iraqi constitution and criminal laws.
“All suspects, regardless of their nationalities or positions within the terrorist organization, are subject exclusively to the authority of the Iraqi judiciary,” the statement said.
Iraqi officials say under the legal measures, Daesh detainees will be separated, with senior figures including foreign nationals to be held at a high-security detention facility near Baghdad airport that was previously used by US forces.
Two Iraqi legal sources said the Daesh detainees sent from Syria include a mix of nationalities, with Iraqis making up the largest group, alongside Arab fighters from other countries as well as European and other Western nationals.
The sources said the detainees include nationals of Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and Sweden, and other European Union countries, and will be prosecuted under Iraqi jurisdiction.
More than 10,000 members of the ultra-hard-line militant group have been held for years in about a dozen prisons and detention camps guarded by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria’s northeast.
The US military said on Tuesday its forces had transferred 150 Daesh detainees from Syria to Iraq and that the operation could eventually see up to 7,000 detainees moved out of Syria.
It cited concerns over security at the prisons, which also hold thousands more women and children with ties to the militant group, after military setbacks suffered by the SDF.
A US official told Reuters on Tuesday that about 200 low-level Daesh fighters escaped from Syria’s Shaddadi prison, although Syrian government forces had recaptured many of them.
Iraqi officials said Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani mentioned the transfer of Daesh prisoners to Iraq in a phone call with Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa on Tuesday, adding that the transfers went ahead following a formal request by the Iraqi government to Syrian authorities.
Iraqi government spokesperson Basim Al-Awadi said the transfer was “a pre-emptive step to protect Iraq’s national security,” adding that Baghdad could not delay action given the rapid pace of security and political developments in Syria.
Daesh emerged in Iraq and Syria, and at the height of its power from 2014-2017 held swathes of the two countries. The group was defeated after a military campaign by a US-led coalition.
An Iraqi military spokesperson confirmed that Iraq had received a first batch of 150 Daesh detainees, including Iraqis and foreigners, and said the number of future transfers would depend on security and field assessments. The spokesperson described the detainees as senior figures within the group.
In a statement, the Supreme Judicial Council said Iraqi courts would take “due legal measures” against the detainees once they are handed over and placed in specialized correctional facilities, citing the Iraqi constitution and criminal laws.
“All suspects, regardless of their nationalities or positions within the terrorist organization, are subject exclusively to the authority of the Iraqi judiciary,” the statement said.
Iraqi officials say under the legal measures, Daesh detainees will be separated, with senior figures including foreign nationals to be held at a high-security detention facility near Baghdad airport that was previously used by US forces.
Two Iraqi legal sources said the Daesh detainees sent from Syria include a mix of nationalities, with Iraqis making up the largest group, alongside Arab fighters from other countries as well as European and other Western nationals.
The sources said the detainees include nationals of Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and Sweden, and other European Union countries, and will be prosecuted under Iraqi jurisdiction.
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