BEIRUT: Top Lebanese officials have urged Washington and Paris to press Israel to uphold a ceasefire, after dozens of military operations on Lebanese soil that Beirut has deemed violations, two senior Lebanese political sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
Deadly Israeli strikes on south Lebanon and Hezbollah rocket launches on an Israeli military post on Monday have put a US-brokered ceasefire between the two in an increasingly fragile position less than a week after it came into effect.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally who negotiated the deal on behalf of Lebanon, spoke to officials at the White House and French presidency late Monday and expressed concern about the state of the ceasefire, the sources said.
Neither the French presidency nor the foreign ministry were immediately available to comment. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke to his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on Monday, saying both sides should adhere to the ceasefire.
US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters on Monday that the ceasefire “is holding” and that the US had “anticipated that there might be violations.”
The truce came into effect on Nov. 27 and prohibits Israel from conducting offensive military operations in Lebanon while requiring Lebanon to prevent armed groups, including Hezbollah, from launching attacks on Israel. It gives Israeli troops 60 days to withdraw from south Lebanon.
A monitoring mechanism chaired by the United States is tasked with monitoring, verifying and helping enforce the truce, but it has yet to begin work.
Berri on Monday urged it to “urgently” ensure Israel halts its breaches, saying Beirut had logged at least 54 Israeli violations of the ceasefire so far.
Israel says its continued military activity in Lebanon is aimed at enforcing the ceasefire and does not violate its obligations under the truce.
Mikati on Monday met in Beirut with US General Jasper Jeffers, who will chair the monitoring committee, and stressed the need for Israeli troops to swiftly withdraw.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that France’s representative to the committee, General Guillaume Ponchin, will arrive in Beirut on Wednesday and that the committee would hold its first meeting on Thursday.
“There is an urgency to finalize the mechanism, otherwise it will be too late,” the source said, referring to Israel’s gradual intensification of strikes despite the truce.
Miller said the monitoring mechanism would begin its work “in the coming days.”
At least 12 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese authorities said, in the deadliest day since the ceasefire came into effect.
They included six people in the southern town of Hariss and another four people in the southern town of Taloussa, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Lebanon asked US, France to press Israel to halt truce breaches, say sources
https://arab.news/g265d
Lebanon asked US, France to press Israel to halt truce breaches, say sources
- The truce came into effect on Nov. 27 and prohibits Israel from conducting offensive military operations in Lebanon
- Lebanon’s parliament speaker says Beirut had logged at least 54 Israeli violations of the ceasefire so far
Judge shot at Istanbul court by her prosecutor ex-husband
- The incident took place inside a courthouse on the Asian side of Istanbul
- Kahraman received first aid at the scene before being rushed to hospital
ISTANBUL: A judge was shot Tuesday at an Istanbul courthouse by her public prosecutor ex-husband, who was prevented from firing a second shot by a day-release prisoner serving tea, Turkish media reported.
The incident took place inside a courthouse on the Asian side of Istanbul at around 1:00 p.m. (1000 GMT), DHA news agency said.
Judge Asli Kahraman sustained serious injuries when her ex-husband, Muhammet Cagatay Kilicaslan, opened fire, hitting her in the groin, Sozcu newspaper reported.
He was about to fire again but was stopped by a man who was serving tea, a convict out on day release who was working at the court, both sources said.
Kahraman received first aid at the scene before being rushed to hospital, where she was said to be in stable condition.
Kilicaslan was arrested and was due to appear at Istanbul’s main courthouse later on Tuesday, Sozcu said.
The incident drew sharp condemnation from the We Will Stop Femicides platform.
“A female judge was shot with a firearm by her former husband, a prosecutor, in full view of everyone at the Istanbul Kartal Anatolian Courthouse, the very place where perpetrators should be punished,” it said in a statement on X.
“Women can be shot with firearms even inside courthouses.”
Turkiye does not collate official figures on femicides, leaving the job to women’s organizations which collect data on murders and other suspicious deaths from press reports.
Figures compiled by We Will Stop Femicides show that in 2025, 294 women were killed by men and 297 women were found dead under suspicious circumstances.
Of that number, just over one in three — or 35 percent — were killed by their husbands, while 57 percent were killed with firearms.
Rights groups say the deaths classed as suspicious or as suicide in Turkiye has risen since Ankara withdrew from an international convention on violence against women in 2021.
That agreement, dubbed the Istanbul Convention, requires countries to set up laws aimed at preventing and prosecuting violence against women.
