Lebanon's top political leaders are drafting a response to recent demands from the US, which include the addition of Hezbollah’s disarmament to the official government agenda as soon as possible, political sources told The National.
President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri are preparing a joint letter to reply to the issues listed in a document delivered by US special envoy Tom Barrack, who recently visited Beirut and has taken charge of the Lebanon file for Washington.
“It's going to include some of the narratives of Hezbollah and some of the narratives of President Aoun and some of Prime Minister Salam. It's bits and pieces from here and there,” said a political source.
Consultations among the three Lebanese leaders about their response are continuing, a source close to Mr Salam said. At least two meetings have been held so far, one on Saturday and another on Monday.
Sources previously told The National that the US wants Hezbollah to hand over its weapons within a set time frame, and for the cabinet to formally approve the process to give it legal weight.
They said the consultations over Lebanon's response were focused on the idea of rephrasing the US document to make it more acceptable to the Lebanese side, specifically by emphasising mutual steps from both Lebanon and Israel.
Israel continues to bomb south Lebanon nearly daily and occupy five points of Lebanese territory despite a ceasefire deal that ended its war with Hezbollah last year.
The Iran-backed paramilitary and political party was severely weakened by the war, with most of its top commanders killed and large chunks of its largest weapons destroyed – although not all of them.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah must withdraw all military equipment and fighters from southern Lebanon, and all non-state militant groups must be disarmed across the country. The Lebanese army has sent troops to those positions instead, as part of a continuing process.
The Lebanese government has accused Israel of breaching the truce more than 3,000 times. It says Hezbollah has abided by its side of the bargain.
The international community is also demanding real efforts to disarm Hezbollah in order for Lebanon to receive billions of dollars of international aid needed to rebuild the country after the war.
Mr Aoun insists he wants to bring all weapons under state control as soon as possible, but through diplomatic means.
Hezbollah has previously said that any talk about its weapons – a deeply sensitive matter and a discussion that was previously taboo – or a broader national defence strategy cannot happen until Israel withdraws from Lebanon.
Hezbollah's chief, Naim Qassem, questioned how it could possibly give up its weapons while Lebanon remained under attack from Israel.
The group stayed out of the recent 12-day war between Israel and Iran amid strong internal and external pressure.
While heavily bruised, Hezbollah is still believed to possess medium and long-range missiles, and it continues to command a broad Shiite support base.
Stage results
1. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Deceuninck-QuickStep 4:39:05
2. Michael Matthews (AUS) Team BikeExchange 0:00:08
3. Primoz Roglic (SLV) Jumbo-Visma same time
4. Jack Haig (AUS) Bahrain Victorious s.t
5. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Bora-Hansgrohe s.t
6. Tadej Pogacar (SLV) UAE Team Emirates s.t
7. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ s.t
8. Sergio Higuita Garcia (COL) EF Education-Nippo s.t
9. Bauke Mollema (NED) Trek-Segafredo s.t
10. Geraint Thomas (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers s.t
Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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England squad
Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, James Bracey, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Ben Foakes, Lewis Gregory, Keaton Jennings, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Amar Virdi, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
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SPECS
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
