Source: Asharq Al-Awsat
Security & Justice
Captured Hezbollah Operative May Have Been Israeli Double Agent, Report Suggests
The alleged senior Hezbollah operative abducted by Israeli special forces last week in Batroun may have been operating as a double agent, according to a report by The Telegraph.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Lebanon’s Probe into Israeli Raid Expected to Take Days as Security Officials Weigh Theories
Lebanese authorities are ramping up investigations into an Israeli commando raid last week in the northern coastal city of Batroun, during which Imad Amhaz, a Hezbollah official, was snatched.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Monday 5 August 2024 16:52:37
Hamas Seeks to Name Haniyeh’s Successor as Soon as Possible
Informed Hamas sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that until Sunday, no person had been chosen to head the movement’s political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.
The sources confirmed that there are ongoing consultations in an attempt to implement the movement’s by-laws, amid a vacuum in many senior positions in the Shura Council and its executive body.
On Saturday, Hamas said in a statement that it had “begun a broad consultation process in its leadership and Shura institutions to choose a new head of the movement” following Haniyeh’s assassination, which was blamed on Israel.
Several potential candidates can be chosen to assume the position, including Khaled Meshaal, Musa Abu Marzouk, Yehya Al-Sanwar, Khalil Al-Hayya, and Zaher Jabareen.
Asharq Al-Awsat sources suggest that Meshaal is likely to be selected as head of the movement to replace Haniyeh until the end of the war, perhaps before holding early elections at the end of the current stage.
According to the sources, the presence of prominent leaders from within the movement abroad, specifically in Qatar, will help in overcoming the current crises and trying to expedite the steps to choose the prospective personality.
Meshaal is the former head of Hamas, and has lived in exile since 1967, moving between Jordan, Qatar, Syria, and other countries.
He was chosen as head of the movement’s political bureau after Israel assassinated the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and after him, his successor in the Palestinian territories, Abdulaziz Al-Rantisi.