BEIRUT: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Lebanon Thursday on a “visit of solidarity,” he said, after a long-stalled presidential election and a devastating war between armed group Hezbollah and Israel.
“I have arrived in Beirut on a visit of solidarity with the Lebanese people,” Guterres posted on X.
“A window has opened for a new era of institutional stability with a state fully able to protect its citizens and a system that would allow the tremendous potential of the Lebanese people to flourish,” he added.
“We will do everything to help keep that window open wide.”
His deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Guterres would meet political officials and visit UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon during his trip which would last until Saturday.
Lebanon’s deeply divided political class last week finally elected a new president, Joseph Aoun, after two years of deadlock.
Aoun on Monday named Nawaf Salam, until recently the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, to form a government.
Since Wednesday Salam has been consulting political parties ahead of drawing up a list of cabinet members.
Guterres is visiting the country as the deadline approaches for full implementation of a November 27 ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in southern Lebanon.
Under the truce, which ended two months of all-out war between both sides, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws before January 26.
Hezbollah is due to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border with Israel, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in south Lebanon.
UN’s Guterres in Lebanon on ‘visit of solidarity’
https://arab.news/bbyau
UN’s Guterres in Lebanon on ‘visit of solidarity’
- Guterres will meet political officials and visit UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon during his trip which will last until Saturday
Syrian authorities arrest 3 suspects linked to Coastal Shield Brigade over ‘terrorist threats’
- They are accused of planning attacks on internal security sites and the army in Latakia governorate
LONDON: Syrian authorities arrested the alleged leaders of a criminal group affiliated with militant organization the Coastal Shield Brigade in the city of Latakia on Monday.
Jaafar Ali Alia (also known as Lt. Abbas), Rashid Ghiath Alia and Ali Abdul Sattar Khalilo are accused by the Ministry of Interior of targeting internal security sites and the army in Latakia governorate.
“The cell’s members appeared in video clips threatening to carry out terrorist attacks against sites belonging to the Ministries of Interior and Defense,” the Interior Ministry said.
Authorities allege that Miqdad Fatiha, a former Syrian Republican Guard commander and head of the Coastal Shield Brigade, provided the cell with financial and logistical support.
Fatiha has been on the run since the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024. Last month, the UK imposed sanctions on him and several other former Assad regime officials over their involvement in violence in Syrian coastal towns that resulted the deaths of hundreds of people in March 2025.
On Sunday, authorities arrested Haider Ali Othman in Al-Qardaha, the hometown of the Assad clan, on charges of inciting violence and chaos during protests last month in Latakia.
