US team tells Aoun: ‘We want to see a new phase of stability in Lebanon’

President Joseph Aoun meets with US delegation headed by Ronny Jackson, along with US ambassador Lisa Johnson in Beirut. (X @LBpresidency)
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Updated 22 February 2025
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US team tells Aoun: ‘We want to see a new phase of stability in Lebanon’

  • Hezbollah uses social media influencers to cover Nasrallah’s funeral procession

BEIRUT: The US “wants to witness a new era of peace and stability in Lebanon and the Middle East amid the many changes happening in the region,” US Congressman Ronny Jackson said in Beirut on Saturday.

His assurance came during a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun as US diplomatic efforts toward Lebanon continued with government leaders seeking US intervention to pressure Israel into withdrawing from the five strategic hills it still occupies.

President Aoun received US Congressman Darrell Issa and his delegation on Friday evening.

Following the meeting, Darrell said that UN Resolution 1701 had taken years to reach the stage where it was at today.

“However, in less than 60 days, we witnessed a quasi-full cooperation between both the Lebanese and Israeli sides.”

He added that the Israelis withdrew from most Lebanese territories, except for five areas. The Lebanese Army has strengthened its control over the Lebanese lands.

“However, what has not yet happened, and what I discussed with President Aoun and other leaders this week, is the destruction of large weapon depots.

“Every day, there are explosions due to the destruction of weapons and the discovery of new tunnels full of firearms.

“Therefore, there will be a longer transitional period to eliminate the arms,” Issa said.

“Both sides understand that the full implementation of resolution 1701 will eventually take place, which includes Israel’s return to historically recognized borders, ensuring both Lebanese and Israeli sides can live without the fear of crossing each other’s borders with weapons.”

Amid the diplomatic drive, Lebanese Army Command requested to “retain the majority of military personnel of all ranks on duty on Sunday, Feb. 23.”

The military move is in parallel with the funeral proceedings of former Hezbollah chiefs Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, five months after their assassination in Israeli raids on Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The Lebanese state has officially become involved in the funeral proceedings of Nasrallah and Safieddine through the direct supervision of the security leadership.

The security chiefs attended Friday’s meeting led by President Aoun.

The army command has also moved to suspend all drone permits issued in Beirut and its surrounding areas.

It had previously announced that there would be a temporary freeze on all firearm permits, while Hezbollah “strictly prohibited its supporters from firing shots during the funeral proceedings.”

The Israeli threat remained a key concern for both the organizers and participants in the funeral proceedings, especially since Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement have not ceased.

The Israeli army opened fire at a car on the outskirts of the border village of Houla, setting it ablaze.

An Israeli military drone launched a stun grenade near a citizen on a farm on the outskirts of Kfarchouba.

The General Directorate of Internal Security implemented special traffic measures ahead of the funeral of Nasrallah and Safieddine, which began on Friday night and will continue until the end of the funeral, “as large numbers of citizens are expected to attend.”

Hezbollah’s higher committee for the funeral (of Nasrallah) finalized the arrangements for the proceedings, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and conclude at 4 p.m. at the Camille Chamoun sports stadium at the southern entrance to Beirut.

The procession will then reach the old airport road, where Nasrallah will be laid to rest.

Hussein Fadlallah, the head of the committee, described the funeral as an “exceptional event that the world would not forget.”

Meanwhile, information about official attendees continued to surface.

It was confirmed on Saturday that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri would attend the funeral in person.

An Iranian official said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would also attend.

Al-Masirah TV, affiliated with Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, reported that “a high-level delegation departed from Sanaa International Airport to attend the funeral, led by Yemen’s Grand Mufti Shams Al-Din Sharaf Al-Din.”

A security source told Arab News: “Delegations from Tehran will arrive in Beirut via a third country. This is due to Lebanon’s suspension of flight permissions for Iranian planes to land at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, following Israeli threats to target the airport.”

The source said: “The news circulating among Hezbollah’s supporters about 400,000 travelers arriving at the airport for Nasrallah’s funeral is highly exaggerated. This number requires at least 2,000 planes to transport them from abroad.

“We estimate that the number of arrivals from abroad until Friday night does not exceed 40,000, half Lebanese citizens.”

Lebanese citizens holding French citizenship received a text message from the French Consulate in Beirut urging “all its (French) nationals in Lebanon to refrain from using the airport road and limit their movements on Sunday.”

Hezbollah invited numerous social media influencers, both Arab and foreign, to cover the funeral.

These include Americans such as Jackson Hinkle, as well as Europeans, Latin Americans, Iraqis, Yemenis, Palestinians, Algerians and Bahrainis.

Media coverage was organized for them in the southern suburbs of Beirut and several southern border towns, providing them with materials, images and statements that were made available to various journalists, focusing on resistance and the devastation caused by the Israeli enemy.

Social media platforms witnessed the emergence of pages dedicated to the occasion, encouraging people to participate in the funeral, which is regarded as a “day of farewell.”

This call to action comes amid challenging weather conditions, particularly as a polar storm has affected Lebanon since Saturday.

The storm has resulted in road closures from the Bekaa and southern regions toward the capital due to snow and ice accumulation, with temperatures dropping to unprecedented levels.

Wounded members of Hezbollah, who sustained injuries to their eyes and limbs from pager explosions, participated in these calls to the public.

 


Israel says attacks on Iran are ‘nothing’ compared with what is coming

Iranian Red Crescent volunteers gather in front of a building destroyed in an Israeli strike in Tehran on June 14, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 20 min 53 sec ago
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Israel says attacks on Iran are ‘nothing’ compared with what is coming

  • Netanyahu said Israel’s strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear program possibly by years but rejected international calls for restraint

JERUSALEM/DUBAI: Iran and Israel traded missiles and airstrikes on Saturday, the day after Israel launched a sweeping air offensive against its old enemy, killing commanders and scientists and bombing nuclear sites in a stated bid to stop it building an atomic weapon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear program possibly by years but rejected international calls for restraint, saying the attack would be intensified.
“We will hit every site and every target of the Ayatollahs’ regime, and what they have felt so far is nothing compared with what they will be handed in the coming days,” he said in a video message.
In Tehran, Iranian state TV reported that around 60 people, including 20 children, had been killed in an attack on a housing complex, with more strikes reported across the country. Israel said it had attacked more than 150 targets.
In Israel, air raid sirens sent residents into shelters as waves of missiles streaked across the sky and interceptors rose to meet them. At least three people were killed overnight. An Israeli official said Iran had fired around 200 ballistic missiles in four waves.
US President Donald Trump has lauded Israel’s strikes and warned of much worse to come unless Iran quickly accepts the sharp downgrading of its nuclear program that the US has demanded in talks that had been due to resume on Sunday.
But with Israel saying its operation could last weeks, and urging Iran’s people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers, fears have grown of a regional conflagration dragging in outside powers.
The United States, Israel’s main ally, helped shoot down Iranian missiles, two US officials said.
“If (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei continues to fire missiles at the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said.
Iran had vowed to avenge Friday’s Israeli onslaught, which gutted Iran’s nuclear and military leadership and damaged atomic plants and military bases.
Tehran warned Israel’s allies that their military bases in the region would come under fire too if they helped shoot down Iranian missiles, state television reported.
However, 20 months of war in Gaza and a conflict in Lebanon last year have decimated Tehran’s strongest regional proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, reducing its options for retaliation.
Lawmaker and military general Esmail Kosari said Iran was reviewing whether to close the Strait of Hormuz, the exit point for oil shipped from the Gulf.
Nights of blasts and fear in Israel and Iran
Iran’s overnight fusillade included hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, an Israeli official said. Three people, including a man and a woman, were killed and dozens wounded, the ambulance service said.
In Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv, emergency services rescued a baby girl trapped in a house hit by a missile, police said, but later on Saturday Tel Aviv beaches were busy with people enjoying the weekend.
In the western suburb of Ramat Gan, near Ben Gurion airport, Linda Grinfeld described her apartment being damaged: “We were sitting in the shelter, and then we heard such a boom. It was awful.”
The Israeli military said it had intercepted surface-to-surface Iranian missiles as well as drones, and that two rockets had been fired from Gaza.
In Iran, Israel’s two days of strikes destroyed residential apartment buildings, killing families and neighbors as apparent collateral damage in strikes targeting scientists and senior officials in their beds.
Iran said 78 people had been killed on the first day and scores more on the second day, many of them when a missile brought down a 14-story apartment block in Tehran.
State TV said 60 people were believed to have been killed there, though the figure was not officially confirmed.
It broadcast pictures of a building flattened into debris and the facade of several upper storys lying sideways in the street, while slabs of concrete dangled from a neighboring building.
“Smoke and dust were filling all the house and we couldn’t breathe,” 45-year-old Tehran resident Mohsen Salehi told Iranian news agency WANA after an overnight air strike woke his family.
Fars News agency said two projectiles had hit Mehrabad airport, located inside the capital, which is both civilian and military.
With Iran’s air defenses heavily damaged, Israeli Air Force chief Tomer Bar said “the road to Iran has been paved.”
In preparation for possible further escalation, reservists were being deployed across Israel. Army Radio reported units had been positioned along the Lebanese and Jordanian borders.
Iranian nuclear sites damaged
Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence, and said the bombardment was designed to avert the last steps to production of a nuclear weapon.
A military official on Saturday said Israel had caused significant damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz and Isfahan, but had not so far taken on another uranium enrichment site, Fordow, dug into a mountain.
The official said Israel had “eliminated the highest commanders of their military leadership” and had killed nine nuclear scientists who were “main sources of knowledge, main forces driving forward the (nuclear) program.”
Tehran insists the program is entirely civilian in line with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and that it does not seek an atomic bomb.
However, it has repeatedly hidden some part from international inspectors, and the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday reported it in violation of the NPT.
Iranian talks with the United States to resolve the nuclear dispute have stuttered this year.
The next meeting was set for Sunday but Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday that continuing the talks while Israel’s “barbarous” attacks lasted was unjustifiable.


We will recognize the State of Palestine soon, Macron tells Asharq News

French President Emmanuel Macron holds a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday. (File/Reuters)
Updated 14 June 2025
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We will recognize the State of Palestine soon, Macron tells Asharq News

  • French president: ‘I have agreed with the Saudi crown prince to postpone the New York conference to a date in the near future’

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron pledged, in statements to Asharq News on the sidelines of a meeting with journalists and representatives of Palestinian and Israeli civil society institutions, that his country will recognize the State of Palestine at an upcoming conference that France will organize with Saudi Arabia in New York.
In response to a question about whether there are conditions for recognizing the Palestinian state, Macron said: “There are no conditions. Recognition will take place through a process that includes stopping the war on Gaza, restoring humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, releasing Israeli hostages, and disarming Hamas.”
He stressed: “This is one package.”
Macron indicated that France and Saudi Arabia have agreed to postpone the UN conference they are co-organizing, which was originally scheduled to take place in New York next week. He noted that current developments have prevented Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from traveling to New York.
Macron explained that he had spoken several times with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday and Palestinian President Abbas, and it was agreed to “postpone the meeting to a date in the near future.”
He also claimed that the president of Indonesia, which currently does not officially recognize Israel, had pledged to do so if France recognizes the State of Palestine. Macron emphasized “the need for maintaining this dynamic.”
The International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine, scheduled to be held in New York from June 17-20 and co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, outlined in its paper a commitment to the “two-state solution” as the foundational reference. The paper defines a timeline for implementation, outlines the practical obligations of all parties involved, and calls for the establishment of international mechanisms to ensure the continuity of the process.
Asharq News obtained a copy of the paper, which asserts that the implementation of the two-state solution must proceed regardless of local or regional developments. It ensures the full recognition of a Palestinian state as part of a political solution that upholds people’s rights and responds to their aspirations for peace and security.
The paper highlights that the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and the war on Gaza have led to an unprecedented escalation in violence and casualties, resulting in the most severe humanitarian crisis to date, widespread destruction, and immense suffering for civilians on both sides, including detainees, their families, and residents of Gaza.
It further confirms that settlement activities pose a threat to the two-state solution, which it states is the only path to achieving a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in the region. The paper notes that the settlement activities undermine regional and international peace, security, and prosperity.
According to the paper, the conference aims to alter the current course by building on national, regional, and international initiatives and adopting concrete measures to uphold international law. The conference will also focus on advancing a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace that ensures security for all the people of the region and fosters regional integration.
The conference reaffirms the international community’s unwavering commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution, highlighting the urgent need to act in pursuit of these objectives.


Iranian media claims Israeli pilots captured, IDF denies

Updated 14 June 2025
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Iranian media claims Israeli pilots captured, IDF denies

DUBAI: The Iranian army has claimed they have downed a third Israeli F-35 fighter jet since Israel’s attacks began on Friday.

State Iranian media, Tehran Times, reported that one pilot is believed to have been liquidated and another captured by Iranian forces.

However, the Israeli Defense Forces denied the claims dubbing the news “fake”.

“This news being spread by Iranian media is completely baseless” the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday the launch of “Operation Rising Lion” against Iran in an effort to deter the Iranian threat of nuclear weapons to Israel. Netanyahu confirmed the operation will continue until the mission is accomplished.


Closure of Strait of Hormuz seriously being reviewed by Iran, lawmaker says

Updated 14 June 2025
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Closure of Strait of Hormuz seriously being reviewed by Iran, lawmaker says

  • The Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Oman and Iran, is the world’s most important gateway for oil shipping

The closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz was being seriously reviewed by Iran, IRINN reported, citing statements by Esmail Kosari, a member of the parliament’s security commission.

The Strait of Hormuz, which lies between Oman and Iran, is the world’s most important gateway for oil shipping.


Jordan reopens airspace to civilian aircraft

Updated 14 June 2025
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Jordan reopens airspace to civilian aircraft

  • Jordan said airlines would be provided with the “necessary” information to notify passengers and stakeholders of the latest data on air traffic

DUBAI: Jordan has reopened its airspace to civilian aircraft on Saturday, signaling belief there was no longer an immediate danger of further attacks after crossfire between Israel and Iran disrupted East-West travel through the Middle East.
But the country “is continuing to assess risks to civil aviation and monitor developments after Jordan’s airspace was reopened this morning,” a statement from the civil aviation authority said, and reported by state-run Petra news.
The Kingdom on Friday closed its airspace to all flights due to the barrage of missiles and rockets from Iran.
The statement also said airlines would be provided with the “necessary” information to notify passengers and stakeholders of the latest data on air traffic.
Lebanon’s government also temporarily reopened its airspace on Saturday.
Lebanon reopened its airspace on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. (0700 GMT).
The airspace will be shut again starting from 10:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) until 6:00 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Sunday, NNA reported, citing the Lebanese civil aviation authority.