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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

The Grand Turk
Turkey seized 1,300 pagers en route to Lebanon days after pager attack — Naharnet
2025-05-07
[NAHARNET] Ottoman Turkish intelligence services intercepted a shipment of over 1,300 pagers in Istanbul that were en route to Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
, just days after an Israeli Mosssad
...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...
 operation targeting similar devices held by Hezbollah members, Ottoman Turkish news outlet Sabah reported Tuesday.
How about the ones on the way to Iran?
According to the report, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) received information about the shipment and began inspecting ports and airports, eventually discovering that the delivery was scheduled for September 27.

The shipment reportedly arrived in Turkey on September 16, one day before a series of pager explosions occurred in Lebanon. It consisted of four pallets sent from Taiwan via a cargo flight from Hong Kong. The 61 boxes, weighing approximately 850 kilograms, were declared as ''food processors'' on the shipping manifest.

Ottoman Turkish security forces, accompanied by a bomb disposal unit, opened the boxes and discovered 1,300 pagers, including devices manufactured by Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, alongside about 710 detonators, batteries and cables. The shipment also contained 144 mini handheld blenders, cameras and additional electronic components.

The pagers were immediately sent to a lab, where Ottoman Turkish officials claimed they found ''a highly flammable white explosive substance -- approximately 3 grams (0.1 oz) -- hidden inside the batteries.''

Similar material was reportedly found in the associated detonators.

The owner of the Istanbul-based company listed as the shipment's recipient was questioned and claimed his firm provides customs consulting services rather than freight or shipping. Ottoman Turkish media added that President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
 raised the issue in a December conversation with former Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, informing him of the seizure and destruction of the pagers.

The Israeli Mossad's so-called ''pager operation'' was launched on September 17 over concerns it would soon be exposed. On the operation's first day, Hezbollah members' pagers detonated in Lebanon and Syria. A day later, on September 18, their walkie-talkies went kaboom! as well.

According to a Rooters investigation published in October last year, the pagers sent to Lebanon in February 2023 contained miniature plastic explosives embedded in batteries, along with a novel detonation system that was undetectable via standard X-ray screening.

The rigged batteries were engineered to appear normal but held only about one-third the energy capacity expected for their size. Experts cited in the report noted that while a standard 35-gram (1.2 oz) battery would typically provide 8.75 watt-hours, the modified battery held just 2.22 watt-hours -- suggesting much of the internal volume was taken up by explosives.

On 17 and 18 September 2024, thousands of handheld pagers and hundreds of walkie-talkies intended for use by Hezbollah went kaboom! simultaneously in two separate events across Lebanon and Syria, in an Israeli attack nicknamed Operation Grim Beeper.

According to an unnamed Hezbollah official, the attack took 1,500 Hezbollah fighters out of action due to injuries. According to the Lebanese government, the attack killed 42 people, including 12 civilians, and injured 4,000 civilians.

Victims' injuries included losing fingers, hands and eyes, as well as brain shrapnel. The incident was described as Hezbollah's biggest security breach since the start of the Israel—Hezbollah conflict in October 2023.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Sharaa reportedly discussed Hezbollah weapons, refugees with Mikati in Damascus — Naharnet
2025-02-07
[NAHARNET] The toppling of former Syrian President Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
, who had strong ties to Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and Hezbollah, has crippled Hezbollah's ability to bounce back by cutting off a vital weapons-smuggling route through Syria.

Syria's new president and Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
's caretaker Prime Minister met last month in Damascus and discussed the relations between the two countries. In the meeting, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa vowed that Syria will no longer allow the smuggling of weapons and money to Hezbollah, a local media report said.

The report, published Thursday in al-Akhbar, said al-Sharaa criticized Hezbollah and Iran for intervening in Syria's civil war. Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to bolster Assad's forces when the civil war broke out in 2011. Assad had long played a strategic role in Iran's "axis of resistance", particularly in facilitating the supply of weapons to Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.

Al-Sharaa told Lebanese PM Najib Mikati that Hezbollah and Iran must "reconsider their policies in the region," al-Akhbar said.

Apart from the weapons-smuggling, Mikati and al-Sharaa discussed the land border demarcation between the two countries, the fate of thousands of missing Lebanese who disappeared at the hands of Assad's troops, and the repatriation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to Syria.

The new Syrian President demanded patience from Mikati for the demarcation and the repatriation of Syrians. He said all prisons have been emptied from prisoners and warned the Lebanese PM against "Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 group's attempts" to form cells in north Lebanon.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israeli airstrikes wound 24 in Lebanon despite ceasefire
2025-01-29
[GEO.TV] Israeli strikes maimed 24 people in south Leb
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
 Tuesday despite a ceasefire in force for more than six weeks, the Lebanese health ministry said.

The first strike hit the southern town of Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa, wounding 20 people, the ministry said, updating a previous toll of 14 injured.

It added that another strike on the neighbouring town of Zawtar maimed four people.

At around 7:30 pm, an Israeli drone carried out "a strike with a guided missile targeting a small vegetable truck" in Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The town lies north of the Litani River but only around 10 kilometres (seven miles) from the Israeli border.

The view from Israel:
IDF says it struck Hezbollah arms convoy in Lebanon

[israelTimes] Lebanon PM condemns strike, also says Israel freed 9 Lebanese POWs and calls for release of 9 more; IDF again warns displaced southern Lebanese against returning after deadly riots

The IDF said it targeted a truck and other Hezbollah vehicles used to transfer weapons on Tuesday in southern Leb
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
 in violation of the ceasefire agreement. Lebanon’s health ministry reported fourteen people maimed in the Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
"The truck and vehicles were struck after being monitored by the IDF while transferring the weapons," the military added.

The strike came as the IDF again warned Lebanese civilians against returning to villages in southern Lebanon, where Israel has said it would remain until February 18. Israel had been due to withdraw by January 26, but said it could not do so as the Lebanese army had not yet deployed in those areas.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that at around 7:30 p.m., "a strike with a guided missile targeting a small vegetable truck" in Nabatieh al-Fawqa, which lies north of the Litani River but just 10 kilometers (seven miles) from the Israeli border.

Under the deal, Hezbollah must pullback north of the Litani — some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Israel — while Israel is entitled to strike threats it considers imminent, and forward less imminent threats to a monitoring committee comprising representatives of Lebanon, Israel, La Belle France, the United States and UNIFIL.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati assailed the strike on Nabatieh al-Fawqa. During a phone call with US General Jasper Jeffers, who chairs the monitoring committee, Mikati urged a firm stance to guarantee Israel implements its commitments, according to a statement from the premier’s office.

Mikati also said Tuesday that Israel had freed nine Lebanese prisoners of war, whose identities and affiliations were unclear, under the terms of the six-week-old ceasefire deal. He called on Israel to free nine more prisoners, and thanked the Red Thingy, which welcomed the release. Israel has yet to comment on the statement.

Mikati had already appealed to the United States on Sunday to use its influence with Israel to secure the release of Lebanese detained by Israel during the war.

A source close to Hezbollah told AFP on Monday that seven of the terror group’s operatives had been captured in the fighting.

IDF troops also detained some Lebanese on Sunday — Israel’s original deadline for withdrawal — amid deadly protests as displaced residents tried to return to southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s health ministry has said 24 people were killed and over 130 maimed by IDF gunfire in demonstrations on Sunday, and another two were killed and 17 maimed in demonstrations again on Monday.

The military has issued warnings to the displaced residents not to return, and accused Hezbollah of "provocations" in the protests, where returning residents were seen hoisting the Iran-backed terror group’s insignia. In an interview Monday, a leading Christian Lebanese politician accused Hezbollah of sending displaced residents to a "certain death" by pushing them to return.

On Tuesday, Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language front man, again cautioned displaced southern Lebanese to stay away as Israeli troops in the area work to "enable the effective deployment of the Lebanese army, and dismantle and remove the Hezbollah terror group."

"I remind you that the agreement period has been extended and IDF forces are still deployed on the ground. The deployment process is taking place gradually and in some sectors, it is being postponed and requires more time to ensure that Hezbollah cannot re-establish its strength there," he said.

"Hezbollah, as usual, puts its narrow interests above the interests of the Lebanese state and tries through its mouthpieces to heat up the situation, despite being the main reason for the destruction of the south," he added.

The IDF front man said that "until further notice, all previously published instructions remain in effect," and the military will update when it is safe to return to the border villages.

The United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
 High Commissioner for Refugees reported in December, days after the ceasefire began, that some 1.3 million Lebanese had been displaced in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Hezbollah’s near-daily attacks on Israeli border towns forced the displacement of some 60,000 northern Israelis.

Unprovoked, Hezbollah began firing at the north on October 8, 2023 — a day after thousands of Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
-led gunnies stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israel and Lebanon extend truce, with IDF troop withdrawal deadline moved to Feb. 18
2025-01-28
[IsraelTimes] Hezbollah said to call on Lebanese civilians to provoke clashes with IDF; Katz warns truce violators on northern or southern borders will ‘pay the full price’

Israel and Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
 have agreed to extend the deadline for Israeli troops to depart southern Lebanon until February 18, after the 60-day deadline stipulated in a ceasefire agreement that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war in late November passed on Sunday and Israel requested more time.

Israel has said that it needs to stay longer because the Lebanese army has not deployed to all areas of southern Lebanon, as agreed, to ensure that terror group Hezbollah does not reestablish its presence there. The Lebanese army has said it cannot deploy until Israeli forces withdraw.

The White House said in a statement Sunday that "the arrangement between Lebanon and Israel, monitored by the United States, will continue to be in effect until February 18, 2025." It added that the respective governments "will also begin negotiations for the return of Lebanese prisoners captured after October 7, 2023."

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on October 8, 2023, with rocket and drones one day after its ally Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
 attacked Israel in the south in a devastating onslaught.

US President Donald Trump
...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried....
’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff said in response to the announcement that "the Israeli government was great, they’re a great partner of the United States, they’re a principled ally for us, and they’ve done pretty good work over in Lebanon."

Speaking to news hounds he said that if the developments are any indication of the two sides’ ability to overcome "blips," there is reason to be positive about the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire holding further.

Announcement of the extension came the day the deadline passed for Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon.

There was no specific comment from the Israeli government but Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media platform X that "we will continue to vigorously enforce the ceasefires in the north and south. Anyone who violates the rules or who threatens the IDF — will pay the full price."

Katz was referring as well to a ceasefire in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
 war that began last Sunday and that has also seen bumps along its path in the past few days.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati also confirmed the extension of the Lebanon ceasefire.

After talks with the US, Mikati said Monday the government would "continue implementing the ceasefire agreement until February 18, 2025."

However,
the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits...
 Hezbollah has reportedly rejected the extension and is urging south Lebanese residents to continue confrontations with the IDF. Deadly festivities took place Sunday when hundreds of Lebanese marched on Israeli soldiers, many of them carrying Hezbollah banners, ignoring warning shots and calls to turn back. Lebanese health officials said Israeli soldiers killed 22 people in the violence.

The al-Akhbar outlet, considered a mouthpiece for Hezbollah, wrote Monday that "what happened yesterday will be completed today, with more popular crowds, from the people of the border villages...where people will not wait for permission to complete the process of removing the occupation forces from the last sites they still occupy."

Sources told the outlet that Hezbollah informed aligned Lebanese politician Mohammad Raad that it "does not participate in any internal or external communications regarding extending the 60-day period, and that it adheres to the text of the agreement and the necessity of the enemy’s withdrawal without any delay."

Hezbollah, badly weakened by Israel during the war, has put the onus on the Lebanese state to ensure the IDF’s withdrawal, describing Israel’s failure to leave southern Lebanon by the deadline as a violation of the agreement.

The ceasefire deal stipulates that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south. The Lebanese military was to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew.

Israel’s military says its forces have continued to uncover and seize Hezbollah weapons in prohibited areas and that the Lebanese army is not keeping to its part of the deal.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Sharaa calls Aoun as Lebanon and Syria pledge firm ties
2025-01-14
[NAHARNET] Syria's new ruler and Lebanon's prime minister have pledged to build lasting ties during the first visit by a Lebanese head of government to Damascus since the civil war started in 2011.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati's trip came after Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus last month, bringing an end to the rule of Bashar al-Assad.

Previous Lebanese governments refrained from visits to Syria amid tensions at home over militant group Hezbollah's support for Assad during the conflict.

Syria's new leader Ahmad al-Sharaa said he hoped to turn over a new leaf in relations, days after crisis-hit Lebanon finally elected a president this week following two years of deadlock.

"There will be long-term strategic relations between us and Lebanon. We and Lebanon have great shared interests," said Sharaa.

It was time to "give the Syrian and Lebanese people a chance to build a positive relationship," he said, adding he hoped Joseph Aoun's presidency would usher in an era of stability in Lebanon.

Sharaa said the new Syria would "stay at equal distance from all" in Lebanon, and "try to solve problems through negotiations and dialogue."

Mikati said ties should be based on "mutual respect, equality and national sovereignty."

The new authorities in Syria also said Sharaa had phoned Aoun to congratulate him Saturday.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Nawaf Salam named PM with sweeping 84 votes as Hezbollah decries ''exclusion'' — Naharnet
2025-01-14
[NAHARNET] Prominent Lebanese diplomat and judge Nawaf Salam was named PM-designate on Monday after he won sweeping support from legislators, as Hezbollah accused some parties of "staging an ambush aimed at disintegration, partitioning, elimination and exclusion."
They noticed.
The Presidency, which issued a decree naming Salam as PM-designate, said the latter received 84 votes as caretaker PM Najib Mikati received only nine votes and 35 MPs refrained from naming anyone.

Salam is currently serving as the head of the International Court of Justice and his nomination was made by Western-backed groups as well as independents in the Lebanese parliament. Salam is backed by Saudi Arabia and western countries.

Monday's nomination of Salam during binding consultations with President Joseph Aoun is a major blow to Hezbollah, which is also a powerful political party, after its militant wing was weakened by a 14-month war with Israel.

Salam will have a difficult mission ahead of him, as Lebanon truce with Israel that ended the nearly Israel-Hezbollah war. Salam will also have to work on getting the small nation out of its historic five-year economic meltdown.

Salam's nomination and last week's selection of the country's army commander Aoun as president is likely to lead to flow of funds from Western and oil-rich Arab nations to Lebanon to help in the reconstruction process.

Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc meanwhile voiced regret over the manner in which Salam was nominated.

''Our meeting with the president was to express our regret over those who want to harm the presidential tenure's consensual start,'' the head of the bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, said after the bloc's meeting with Aoun.

According to media reports, the bloc asked for the postponement of its meeting with Aoun until Tuesday before eventually reversing its decision.

''Once again some are staging an ambush aimed at disintegration, partitioning, elimination and exclusion, in a deliberate and spiteful manner,'' Raad decried.

''We made a positive step upon the election of the president and we were hoping to meet the hand that had always boasted about being extended, but it suddenly was severed,'' the MP added.

''It is our right to demand a government to respect the National Pact, and any government that contradicts with coexistence has no legitimacy. We will monitor and carry on with all due calm and wisdom and we will watch their actions for removing the occupier from our land, returning the captives, reconstruction and the correct implementation of 1701 in a manner that preserves national unity,'' Raad went on to say.
Related:
Nawaf Salam 05/26/2024 'When genocidal terrorists praise ruling, justice was not served'
Nawaf Salam 03/21/2023 Franjieh: A 'life-or-death' candidate for Speaker Berri

Nawaf Salam 06/14/2022 Bassil warns against Line 29, says won't name Miqati as PM

Related:
Joseph Aoun 01/13/2025 IDF targets suspects in south Lebanon with drone strike
Joseph Aoun 01/13/2025 Hezbollah, Amal Message in Lebanon: Here We Are!
Joseph Aoun 01/12/2025 Weakening of Hezbollah allowed Lebanon to fill vacant presidency — Naharnet

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
IDF targets suspects in south Lebanon with drone strike
2025-01-13
[IsraelTimes] US envoy Hochstein said to assure officials in Beirut that Israel will complete withdrawal by January 26, as Lebanese military says it finished deploying in area IDF has left

The military said late Saturday that it carried out a dronezap against three suspects on the Lebanese side of Mount Dov, close to the border, two weeks before Israeli forces are set to withdraw from Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
 under the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.

The three suspects were apparently killed in the strike. It was unclear if they were armed or what their intentions were.

Hours earlier, another drone struck in south Lebanon "to remove a threat" after several Hezbollah operatives were spotted leaving a building known to be used by the terror group, the IDF said. According to Lebanese media, the strike occurred in the southern village of Kounine. Lebanon’s health ministry reported two people maimed.

Under the terms of the November 27 ceasefire agreement, which ended 14 months of war with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group is to withdraw north of the Litani River — some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Israel — while Israel must withdraw from southern Lebanon by January 26, to be replaced by the Lebanese Armed Forces and international peacekeeping force UNIFIL.

Washington has reportedly assured Beirut that Israel would complete the withdrawal in time, and the LAF said Saturday that it had finished deploying in south Lebanon’s western sector following Israel’s withdrawal from there.

Israeli officials have reportedly indicated that the IDF could stay in south Lebanon past the deadline for withdrawal if the Lebanese army does not replace the Israeli presence there quickly enough. The IDF has also accused the Lebanese Armed Forces of failing to accede to a request to act against Hezbollah missile launchers situated in south Lebanon in violation of the agreement.

However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
 Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday that the state would start disarming Lebanon’s south, and on Thursday, new Lebanese President Joseph Aoun pledged in his inauguration speech that the state would hold a monopoly on power — a thinly veiled threat against Hezbollah’s extensive arsenal.

Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Don Smilzo looked for an avenue of escape. The only window opened a hundred feet above the moat. The nearest of the hired assassins hold a bloody axe.
The window was looking better all the time....
 Hezbollah-aligned newspaper al-Akhbar reported Saturday that US envoy Amos Hochstein, who visited Lebanon last week, told his interlocutors that he had obtained from Israel a detailed timeline for the IDF withdrawal from Lebanon’s south.

According to the report, the last day of the IDF presence will be January 26 — the end date for the initial, 60-day period of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal.

Hochstein, who brokered the deal, was said to have requested that, as Beirut gears up to replace the IDF presence, the Lebanese military strengthen its units and ensure that Hezbollah hands over all its arms south of the Litani.

Al-Akhbar said Hochstein was updated by his Lebanese counterparts that there is an existing agreement to that effect between the Lebanese Armed Forces and the terror group.

The LAF said on X Saturday that, following an Israeli withdrawal, it is deploying to the southwestern border towns and villages of Naqoura, Aalma ash-Shaab, Dhayra, Aitaroun, Bint Jbeil, Tayr Harfa, Majdal Zoun, Salhani, and Qouzah.

The LAF warned locals to stay away from the area until engineering units have scanned the towns and villages, and cleared them of unwent kaboom! ordnance and other debris.

The Lebanese military said it was working to strengthen its positions in the area, in coordination with UNIFIL and the five-member committee supervising the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. The committee comprises representatives of Israel, Lebanon, La Belle France, the US and UNIFIL
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon’s PM vows to disarm country’s south after new president threatens Hezbollah
2025-01-11
[IsraelTimes] Najib Mikati signals intent to enforce Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire amid warnings IDF could stay in Lebanon past deadline should Beirut fail to rein in Iran-backed terror group

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday that the state will begin disarming southern Leb
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
, and particularly the area south of the Litani River, to establish its presence there, in line with the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group.

Israeli officials have reportedly accused the Lebanese Armed Forces of failing to deploy quickly enough across southern Lebanon, and warned that this could lead the IDF to remain there past the end of January — the ceasefire agreement’s deadline for an Israeli withdrawal.

In his statement Friday, Mikati said: "We are in a new phase — in this new phase, we will start with south Lebanon and south Litani specifically in order to pull weapons so that the state can be present across Lebanese territory."

Mikati’s statement echoed comments made by Lebanese Armed Forces chief Joseph Aoun after he was elected president on Thursday, at the end of a two-year stalemate.

The US- and Saudi-backed general, whom Hezbollah opposed, vowed after his election that the Lebanese government would hold "a monopoly" on the right to carry arms — a thinly veiled threat against the Iran-backed terror group’s extensive arsenal.

Israel and Hezbollah have accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement, which ended 14 months of war.

On Sunday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would be "forced to act" if Hezbollah does not recede north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Israel — as stipulated by the agreement.

And last week, the IDF said it struck Hezbollah rocket launchers south of the Litani "after the request [to remove the threat] was not handled by the Lebanese army."

Meanwhile,
...back at the Alamo, Davy was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results...
 the IDF has advised some 60,000 northerners displaced by Hezbollah’s rocket fire not to return home until March — a month after the initial, 60-day phase of the November 27 ceasefire agreement.

Over the years, the Lebanese Armed Forces have failed to enforce two UN Security Council resolutions demanding the disarmament of all of Lebanon’s various militias, and the withdrawal of Hezbollah north of the Litani.

The current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah is the latest attempt by the United States to get the Lebanese army to enforce the 19-year-old measure amid hopes it would now be possible with Hezbollah severely weakened.

The agreement came two months after Israel escalated operations in Lebanon — all but decimating Hezbollah’s leadership — in a bid to end Hezbollah’s persistent attacks.

Unprovoked, Hezbollah started attacking Israel on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed terror group stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Related:
Najib Mikati 01/07/2025 US envoy says Israeli forces have begun withdrawing from second south Lebanon town
Najib Mikati 12/29/2024 Two of Assad’s relatives arrested as they tried to fly out of Lebanon, officials say
Najib Mikati 12/24/2024 Lebanese PM, UNIFIL call for Israel to withdraw troops faster than ceasefire demands

Related:
Litani River: 2025-01-08 Defanged but still dangerous, Hezbollah will try to regain its bite, experts predict
Litani River: 2025-01-07 US envoy says Israeli forces have begun withdrawing from second south Lebanon town
Litani River: 2025-01-05 Reports: IDF may extend south Lebanon presence for 30 more days as Hezbollah regroups
Related:
Lebanese Armed Forces: 2025-01-08 Defanged but still dangerous, Hezbollah will try to regain its bite, experts predict
Lebanese Armed Forces: 2025-01-08 US general tasked with enforcing Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire praises work of Lebanese army
Lebanese Armed Forces: 2025-01-05 Reports: IDF may extend south Lebanon presence for 30 more days as Hezbollah regroups
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US envoy says Israeli forces have begun withdrawing from second south Lebanon town
2025-01-07
[IsraelTimes] Hochstein admits ceasefire not going as smoothly as hoped, but insists it’s still on track to succeed, with Lebanese army replacing IDF and ensuring Hezbollah can’t rebuild

US envoy Amos Hochstein, visiting Beirut on Monday, said Israeli forces began withdrawing from a south Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
 border town more than halfway into a fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah.

It is the second such pullout since the ceasefire came into effect on November 27, coming after United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
 peacekeepers and Lebanon’s prime minister late last month called on the Israeli army to speed up its withdrawal from Lebanon’s south.

"The Israeli military started its withdrawal from Naqura... and back into Israel proper today, south of the Blue Line," Hochstein told news hounds, referring to the UN-demarcated boundary between the two countries.

"These withdrawals will continue until all Israeli forces are out of Lebanon completely, and as the Lebanese army continues to deploy into the south and all the way to the Blue Line," he added after meeting with parliamentary speaker Nabih Knobby Berri

...perennial Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
, an ally of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

"I have no reason not to expect that all parties — all parties — will remain committed to implementing the agreement that they agreed to," he said after meeting Prime Minister Najib Mikati, and following accusations from Israel and Hezbollah that each side was violating the deal.

’ON THE RIGHT TRACK’
Under the terms of the ceasefire that Hochstein helped to broker, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws over a 60-day period.

Hezbollah is to pull its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

The Lebanese military said Monday that "army units have stationed around the town of Naqura... and began deploying there in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon," referring to UNIFIL, whose headquarters is in Naqura.

The deployment came "in parallel with the Israeli enemy’s withdrawal," the statement said, and coincided "with a meeting of the five-member committee" overseeing the ceasefire that was also attended by Hochstein.

Specialized units will survey Naqura to help remove unwent kaboom! ordnance, the army statement added, urging people "not to approach the area."

A committee composed of Israeli, Lebanese, French and US delegates alongside a UNIFIL representative is tasked with ensuring any ceasefire violations are identified and dealt with.

Hochstein said he co-chaired the third meeting of the committee on Monday together with United States Major General Jasper Jeffers, adding that "the mechanism is working well."

He said that while the ceasefire implementation may not have proceeded "as quickly as some wanted... what I heard in Naqura today gives me hope that we’re on the right track."

IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani has said Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanese towns has been slower than anticipated because of a lack of Lebanese army troops ready to take over.

Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday accused Hezbollah of not withdrawing beyond the Litani River as stipulated, and of not meeting other terms of the ceasefire after Hezbollah accused Israel of violations.

On December 11, Lebanon’s army said it deployed around the border town of Khiam in coordination with UNIFIL, also following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area. The US military said it was the first such Israeli force withdrawal and subsequent Lebanese army deployment under the ceasefire.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Two of Assad’s relatives arrested as they tried to fly out of Lebanon, officials say
2024-12-29
[IsraelTimes] Wife, daughter of Duraid al-Assad, ex-president’s cousin and son of ‘Butcher of Hama’ Rifaat, said to have been smuggled into Lebanon and sought to reach Egypt with fake documents

Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
’s cousins were arrested Friday at the Beirut airport, where they attempted to fly out with allegedly forged passports, Lebanese judicial and security officials said. Assad’s uncle departed the day before.

Rasha Khazem and her daughter, Shams, were smuggled illegally into Leb
...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
 and were trying to fly to Egypt when they were arrested, according to five Lebanese officials familiar with the case. They were being detained by Lebanese General Security.

Khazem is married to Duraid al-Assad, whose father, Rifaat al-Assad, is the younger brother and former vice president of the late Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father and predecessor.

Rifaat al-Assad, 87, had flown out of Lebanon on Thursday using his real passport, and was not stopped, the Lebanese officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
 because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Two Lebanese security officials had told Rooters on Friday that Rifaat al-Assad had fled to Dubai.

Swiss federal prosecutors had in March indicted Rifaat al-Assad on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering murder and torture more than four decades ago, when he had led the artillery unit that shelled the city of Hama and killed thousands, earning him the nickname the "Butcher of Hama."

Tens of thousands of Syrians are believed to have entered Lebanon illegally on the night of December 8, when the Assads’ 50-year regime was toppled as bully boy forces entered Damascus.

Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah reportedly helped smuggle some Assad allies out of Lebanon and put them up in high-end Beirut hotels. The report, from a Lebanese newspaper opposed to Hezbollah, sparked uproar among politicians in Lebanon, which Syria had occupied for some three decades until 2005.

The Lebanese security and judicial officials said that more than 20 members of the former Syrian Army’s notorious 4th Division, military intelligence officers and others affiliated with Assad’s security forces were arrested earlier in Lebanon. Some of them were arrested when they attempted to sell their weapons.

Lebanon’s public prosecution office also received an Interpol notice requesting the arrest of Jamil al-Hassan, the former director of Syrian intelligence under Assad. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati previously told Rooters that Lebanon would cooperate with the Interpol request to arrest al-Hassan.


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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese PM, UNIFIL call for Israel to withdraw troops faster than ceasefire demands
2024-12-24
No.
[IsraelTimes] Prime Minister Mikati urges US, France to push for accelerated IDF pull-out from southern Lebanon, even as Israel continues to find Hezbollah weapons in border area

United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
 peacekeepers and Leb
...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
’s prime minister called on Monday for the Israel Defense Forces to speed up its withdrawal from the country, nearly a month into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group.

"UNIFIL strongly urges accelerated progress in the IDF’s withdrawal from and the LAF’s (Lebanese army) deployment in south Lebanon," the force said in a statement.
Why? What are you hiding? What are you protecting?
It called on "all actors to cease and refrain from violations of (Security Council) Resolution 1701 and any actions that could jeopardize the fragile stability that currently prevails," referring to the 2006 agreement that ended the Second Lebanon War and served as a basis for the more recent ceasefire deal in November.

The UNIFIL statement came after Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the United States and La Belle France should put pressure on Israel to complete its withdrawal faster.

The United States and La Belle France, along with Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL, make up the committee tasked with maintaining communication between the parties to the ceasefire and ensuring any violations are identified and dealt with.

As part of the truce agreement, the Lebanese army and peacekeepers will deploy in southern Lebanon, as the Israeli army pulls out over a period of 60 days.

The IDF under the ceasefire agreement has until late January to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and, in the meantime, it continues to operate against and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure.

"In order for the army to be able to fully accomplish its missions, the committee must... put pressure on the Israeli enemy to bring an end to all the violations" of the ceasefire, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in the town of Khiam during a tour of the south.

"It is necessary to put pressure on the parties to the ceasefire agreement, namely the French and the Americans, to accelerate the process before the expiration of the 60-day period," he added, going on to accuse Israel of "dragging its feet."

On December 11, the Lebanese army reported that it had deployed around Khiam, five kilometers (3.1 miles) from the border, in coordination with UNIFIL, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.

ACCUSATIONS OF VIOLATIONS
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Monday that "the Israeli enemy continues its invasion and attacks on southern Lebanese territories," where it has "raised the Israeli flag" on a hill between the towns of Bayada and Naqura.

The NNA frequently reports instances of Israel dynamiting homes in border villages.

For its part, the Israeli army stated on Monday that it was continuing its defensive activities in the south "in accordance with the agreement," adding that it had "seized and dismantled various weapons and military equipment from a warehouse."

The truce in southern Lebanon went into force on November 27, after more than a year of cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that began when the Iranian-backed terror group started attacking Israel with rockets and drones on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
 bandidos turbans invaded Israel from Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, starting the ongoing multi-front war.

Fearing a similar Hezbollah onslaught, Israel evacuated residents of border towns. Hezbollah’s persistent rocket fire prevented some 60,000 displaced northerners from returning home. In a bid to stop the rocket fire, Israel stepped up operations against Hezbollah in late September, all but decimating the terror group’s leadership.

Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas all seek to destroy Israel.

Mikati said that he wanted to resolve any questions over the Blue Line — the UN-demarcated boundary between Lebanon and Israel — "so there will be no justification for any Israeli occupation of our land."

He also said he was working with "the World Bank, the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
, Arab countries, and our international partners to create a trust fund" for reconstruction efforts.

The World Bank estimated in October that the fighting had caused physical damage amounting to "at least $3.4 billion" in Lebanon.
Related:
UNIFIL: 2024-12-14 Lebanon says 1 killed in Israeli strike on border town that IDF left amid ceasefire
UNIFIL: 2024-12-13 Gen. Michael Kurilla traveled to Beirut, Lebanon and met with Gen. Joseph Aoun, Commander of the Lebanon Armed Forces
UNIFIL: 2024-12-12 IDF confirms withdrawal from southern Lebanon’s Khiam in accordance with ceasefire
Related:
Najib Mikati 12/16/2024 Mikati calls on Syrians to return home from Lebanon
Najib Mikati 12/14/2024 Hezbollah said to have helped Assad officials flee to Lebanon, sparking furor in Beirut
Najib Mikati 12/12/2024 IDF confirms withdrawal from southern Lebanon’s Khiam in accordance with ceasefire

Related:
Bayada: 2024-11-26 Fierce Israel-Hezbollah clashes in Khiam
Bayada: 2024-11-25 IDF: Over 150 Hezbollah sites raided, dozens of operatives killed in recent south Lebanon ground ops
Bayada: 2022-07-19 Russian-Turkish Joint Patrol In Syria’s Kobani Precedes Tehran’s Summit
Related:
Naqura: 2024-10-11 UN says some peacekeepers moving as Israel blasted over fire on UNIFIL posts
Naqura: 2024-09-03 2 said killed in Israeli airstrike on vehicle in south Lebanon
Naqura: 2024-06-01 3 lightly hurt in rocket barrage from Lebanon; air force shoots down drone over Acre
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Mikati calls on Syrians to return home from Lebanon
2024-12-16
[NAHARNET] Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has called for Syrians who sought refuge in his country to return home following the fall of Syria's longtime leader, Bashar al-Assad.

"The consequences of the Syrian war made Lebanon home to the largest number of refugees per capita, with one-third of our population comprising of Syrian refugees", Mikati said Saturday at a Rome political festival.

"The strain on our resources has been substantial, worsening existing economic trouble and creating fierce competition for jobs and services," he said in English.

"Today, and after the political transformation in Syria, the best resolution to this issue is for Syrians to go back to their homeland," he said.

Authorities say Lebanon, population 5.8 million, currently hosts around two million Syrians, while more than 800,000 are registered with the United Nations -- the highest number of refugees per capita in the world.

Many fled Syria after its civil war began following the repression of anti-government protests in 2011.

Mikati told a festival held by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party that "the international community, particularly Europe, should assist in the return of Syrians".

They should do so "by engaging in early recovery efforts in secure areas with Syria", he said.
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