Lebanese officials have received a response to their proposal to US special envoy Thomas Barrack over the disarmament of Hezbollah, as at least 12 people were killed when Israel launched air strikes on the Bekaa Valley on Tuesday.
The response, described as “a collection of ideas”, was delivered via the US embassy in Beirut, a Lebanese source familiar with the talks confirmed. However, the source did not say whether the US had set a timeline for Hezbollah to disarm by the end of the year, as some Lebanese media reports have suggested.
The US embassy in Beirut declined to comment. "These are private diplomatic discussions, and we have no further details to offer at this time," it said.
At least 12 people were killed when Israel bombed Wadi Faara in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley on Tuesday afternoon.
Lebanon’s health ministry said multiple air strikes were carried out, one of which hit a Syrian refugee camp. At least seven Syrian refugees were killed in that strike alone, which came as Israel launched a series of attacks on the region on Tuesday. Another 12 were injured in Tuesday's attacks.
The Lebanese Parliament convened on Tuesday for a session to question the government over its performance since taking office this year. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam was named as Lebanon's head of government in January, resigning as president of the International Court of Justice to take the role.
“Time is passing, and we ask you to establish a timeline in a cabinet session for state control and the restriction of arms to the state alone,” Georges Adwan, a member of the Lebanese Forces party, a Christian faction which opposes Hezbollah, told Mr Salam at the start of the session.
As that session began, Israel carried out a wave of attacks on the eastern Bekaa Valley against compounds allegedly used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.
The Israeli military said fighter jets carried out “numerous strikes” against military compounds that were used for training and planning attacks against Israel. There were no immediate reports of fatalities.
The military statement said that since Israel had "eliminated" Radwan force commanders in September, "the unit has been operating to re-establish its capabilities".
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the attacks were a “clear message” to the Lebanese government and Hezbollah.
Mr Barrack was recently in Beirut to receive the response to a US proposal that aims to disarm Hezbollah and move on with economic reforms to get Lebanon out of its nearly six-year economic crisis.
The US plan ties reconstruction aid and a halt to Israeli army operations to Hezbollah’s full disarmament around the country.
Mr Barrack told The National at the weekend that Lebanon faced an existential threat if the issue of Hezbollah's weapons was not resolved soon. Mr Barrack is also the US Special Envoy for Syria and ambassador to Turkey.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion," he said. "Remember, we have an agreement … it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it."
Since the US-brokered ceasefire took hold in November, the armed group has pulled back almost all of its troops from the Israeli border, though Israel insists it must be disarmed nationwide.
Despite the truce, the Israeli army continues to bomb southern Lebanon almost daily and maintains control over five military posts along the southern border. It has also occasionally targeted Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley since the ceasefire.
Last week, it said its troops pressed further into south Lebanon on ground operations to dismantle alleged Hezbollah infrastructure, before retreating.
Hezbollah is strongly resistant to calls to disarm while Israel continues to occupy five points of Lebanese territory and bombs Lebanon daily.
The specs
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Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champioons League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
