Source: Reuters
Security & Justice
Lebanon Receives Interpol Warrant for Syrian Regime's Air Force Intelligence Chief
Lebanon has received an Interpol warrant issued by the United States for the arrest of Jamil Hassan, the former chief of Syria’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate. Judicial sources told Al Arabiya/Al Hadath that the warrant was handed over to Lebanon’s Public Prosecutor, Judge Jamal Al-Hajjar, on Thursday. The judge promptly disseminated it to all relevant security agencies.
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Lebanon’s Border Villages Face Renewed Devastation Amid Israeli Withdrawal
The Israeli army withdrew from the southern Lebanese village of Bani Hayyan on Friday morning, two days after entering the area in the Marjayoun district. According to local reports, Israeli forces demolished multiple homes as they retreated.
Friday, December 20, 2024
Opinion
Lebanon After the Assads
The United States has important equities in Lebanon, including a desire for a generally friendly government’s economic and political stability; security cooperation; long-standing relations with the large Christian community in Lebanon and Lebanese diaspora in the United States; and ultimately peace between Israel and Lebanon within a broader regional settlement. Achieving these objectives will require navigating a tumultuous period in the country’s history following a war between Hezbollah and Israel that has devastated a large part of the country, exacerbating Lebanon’s already challenging economic conditions. But perhaps the most important dynamic will be how a likely Sunni-dominated state of uncertain composition in Syria will differ in its intentions toward Lebanon from the previous Alawite-led minoritarian Assad regime.
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Europe’s Syrian Dilemma
The news of the sudden and unexpected demise of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has met a mixed response in Europe. The jubilation that a murderous dictator and close ally of Russia and Iran has fallen is not just good for the Syrian people but serves as a morale booster for Eastern Europeans wondering whether Russia can be defeated
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Sports
Cristiano Ronaldo Unveils New Private Jet Worth $73 Million
Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the richest global athletes, has unveiled his upgraded private jet reportedly worth $73 million. With its top-notch design, exceptional speed and range of 7500 nautical miles, the Gulfstream G650 is among the fastest jets in the world.
Monday, December 16, 2024
Guardiola Accepts Man City May Need to Sign More Players to Cope with Schedule
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes he will need a bigger squad to handle soccer’s ever-expanding fixture schedule.
Saturday, December 14, 2024
Monday 30 August 2021 14:05:51
Israeli PM Plays Down Defence Chief's Talks with Palestinian Leader
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sought on Monday to play down any notion of a move towards renewed peace negotiations with the Palestinians after the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian meeting in years.
Hours after Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met, the main Israeli media outlets quoted "a source close to the prime minister" as saying: "There is no diplomatic process with the Palestinians, nor will there be one."
The session, which was not announced in advance, covered only "routine issues", according to the source. Hussein Al Sheikh, a member of Abbas' Fatah Central Committee, said the talks included "all aspects" of Palestinian-Israeli relations.
Gantz, who heads a centrist party, and Abbas convened two days after Bennett, a far-right politician who opposes Palestinian statehood, met in Washington with U.S. President Joe Biden, who backs the idea.
A White House statement said Biden reiterated to Bennett his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and "underscored the importance of steps to improve the lives of Palestinians".
Bennett did not mention Palestinians in public remarks at the White House that focused largely on arch-enemy Iran's nuclear programme.
Gantz has called in the past for resumption of a peace process with the Palestinians, who aspire to a state of their own in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel captured those territories in the 1967 Middle East war.
But any renewed movement on the issue could shake the foundations of Bennett's government of left-wing, rightist, centrist and Arab parties that in June ended Benjamin Netanyahu's 12-year run as prime minister.
In a sign of friction over Palestinian statehood from within the coalition, Mossi Raz, a legislator from the left-wing Meretz party, said dismissal of prospects for renewed peace talks by the Bennett source was "outrageous".
"A peace process is an Israeli interest," Raz wrote on Twitter.
A statement from Gantz's office made no mention of peacemaking, saying only that he and Abbas discussed the security and economic situation in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, an enclave run by Abbas's Hamas Islamist rivals.
The meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah marked the first time Israeli and Palestinian talks at such a senior level have been confirmed since peace U.S.-brokered peace negotiations collapsed in 2014.
The source quoted by Israeli media said Bennett had given Gantz the go-ahead to see Abbas.
