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The Israeli military on Wednesday said its troops would remain in southern Lebanon after claiming that the implementation period for a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah had been extended – a move fiercely contested by Beirut and Hezbollah.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun rejected reports that Beirut had agreed to extend the ceasefire deal, saying he had repeatedly insisted that Israel must withdraw before the February 18 deadline.
It came as Israeli jets appeared to break the sound barrier above Beirut, rattling nerves and windows ahead of the withdrawal deadline. Fighter jets could be heard flying low above the city.
The sound of sonic booms – as well as explosions – were a constant presence for residents of the capital during Israel's war on Lebanon. They were often regarded as psychological ploy used by Israel.
In a meeting with the Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel on Wednesday, Mr Aoun urged the European Union to ensure Israel kept to the February 18 deadline to leave Lebanon.
New Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Tuesday night that his government was deeply committed to ensuring Israel withdraws from the country on time.
Israel had already extended the implementation of the deal from January 26 until February 18, and is now attempting another delay.
Israel's public broadcaster Kan TV claimed that the US has authorised it to remain at several points in Lebanon.
The Israeli military's Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee said “the period of implementation of the agreement has been extended” without specifying until when. He warned residents against returning to their homes in southern Lebanon and said that those who do would “put themselves in danger”.
About 22 people were killed on January 26 when Israel opened fire on residents seeking to return to their homes in the south. Under a US-mediated ceasefire deal agreed in November to end the 15-month conflict, Israel had 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah also had to withdraw north of the Litani River and dismantle its remaining infrastructure. The Lebanese Army would move into Israeli positions as the group withdrew.
The Israeli army has pulled out of many parts of southern Lebanon, but a handful of border villages remain under Israeli control. Israel continues to carry out demolitions of border villages, as it has done so for months.
After just under a year of cross-border attacks, Israel increased its bombings of Lebanon in September last year and then invaded the country. It killed most of Hezbollah's commanders, and caused widespread damage to infrastructure.
At least 4,000 people were killed in Israeli air strikes in Lebanon. Vast areas of the country – particularly in southern Lebanon, south Beirut and the Bekaa Valley – were flattened.
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
Results
UAE beat Nigeria by five wickets
Hong Kong beat Canada by 32 runs
Friday fixtures
10am, Tolerance Oval, Abu Dhabi – Ireland v Jersey
7.30pm, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi – Canada v Oman
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Tomorrow 2021
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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
UNSC Elections 2022-23
Seats open:
- Two for Africa Group
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- One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
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Countries so far running:
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Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
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Voy!%20Voy!%20Voy!
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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