Israel and Hamas Have Different Reasons for Pursuing Gaza Deal
If Israel and Hamas complete negotiations brokered by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, they would pause the nearly two-year-old war in Gaza, free Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and allow more humanitarian aid into the hunger-striken enclave.
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Yahoo
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Russia's Lavrov meets Iran's Araqchi, renews offer to help solve conflict
(Reuters) -Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met on Sunday with his Iranian counterpart at the BRICS summit, and restated Moscow's offer to help resolve disputes around Tehran's nuclear programme, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. A ministry statement said Lavrov, in his talks in Rio de Janeiro with Abbas Araqchi, issued a new denunciation of Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran last month, "including the bombing of nuclear energy infrastructure under safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency." Lavrov, the statement said, stressed that all issues surrounding Iran's nuclear programme had to be resolved through diplomacy. "Moscow expressed its readiness to offer its assistance in finding mutually acceptable solutions, including the corresponding initiatives put forward earlier by the Russian president," it said. Araqchi held talks in Moscow in the middle of the 12 days of conflict last month. Iran denies it has any intention of developing nuclear weapons. Russia, which has a strategic partnership with Iran, though without a mutual defence provision, says Tehran has the right to a peaceful nuclear energy programme. Russia has said it is ready to act as a mediator in the crisis pitting Iran against Israel and the United States and has offered to store Iranian uranium.
Yahoo
an hour ago
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Hezbollah chief says won't surrender under Israeli threats
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Sunday his group would not surrender or lay down its weapons in response to Israeli threats, despite pressure on the Lebanese militants to disarm. His speech came ahead of a visit Monday by US envoy Thomas Barrack during which Lebanese authorities are due to respond to a request to disarm Hezbollah by year's end, according to a Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "This (Israeli) threat will not make us accept surrender," Qassem said in a televised speech to thousands of his supporters in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, during the Shiite Muslim religious commemoration of Ashura. Lebanese leaders who took office in the aftermath of a war between Israel and Hezbollah last year that left the Iran-backed group severely weakened have repeatedly vowed a state monopoly on bearing arms, while demanding Israel comply with a November ceasefire that sought to end the hostilities. Qassem, who succeeded longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah after an Israeli strike killed him in September, said the group's fighters would not abandon their arms and asserted that Israel's "aggression" must first stop. Israel has continued to strike Lebanon despite the November ceasefire, mainly saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites and operatives and accusing Beirut of not doing enough to disarm the group. Later Sunday, Lebanon's official National News Agency reported a series of Israeli strikes in the country's south and east, a day after authorities said one person was killed and six others wounded in Israeli raids in the south. - 'Not now, not later' - Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli frontier. Israel was to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but has kept them deployed in five areas that it deemed strategic. Lebanese authorities say they have been dismantling Hezbollah's military infrastructure in the south near the Israeli border. Qassem said Israel must abide by the ceasefire agreement, "withdraw from the occupied territories, stop its aggression... release the prisoners" detained during last year's war, and that reconstruction in Lebanon must begin. Only then "will we be ready for the second stage, which is to discuss the national security and defence strategy" which includes the issue of group's disarmament, he added. Supporters dressed in black for Ashura marched through Beirut's southern suburbs before his speech, waving Hezbollah banners as well as the Lebanese, Palestinian and Iranian flags. Some also carried posters of the slain leader Nasrallah. Hussein Jaber, 28, originally from south Lebanon, said the group's weapons "can't be handed over, not now, not later. Those who think Hezbollah will turn in its arms are ignorant." In his speech, Qassem also said his movement "will not accept normalisation... with the Israeli enemy", after Israel's top diplomat said his government was "interested" in such a move. Lebanon, which is technically still at war with Israel, did not comment. Syria, also mentioned by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, said it was "premature" to discuss normalisation. - 'No pilgrims' - Shiites in other countries around the region were also marking Ashura, which commemorates the death of the Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in a seventh century battle in modern-day Iraq. Iraq saw the largest commemorations on Sunday, particularly in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. In south Lebanon, hundreds of people participated in commemorations in Nabatiyeh, an area regularly targeted by Israeli strikes. Local resident Ali Mazraani told AFP that there were fewer people than usual "because of the situation in the south and the Israeli strikes that destroyed the market and several areas of the city". In Sunni Muslim majority Syria, several hundred faithful marked Ashura under the protection of security forces at the Sayyida Zeinab shrine south of Damascus, an AFP correspondent said. Syria's Shiite minority has been worried since Sunni Islamists in December toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, who was backed by Iran. Unlike in previous years, there were no processions in the Sayyida Zeinab area, where pro-Iran groups used to be heavily entrenched before Assad's ousting. "The Syrian state has bolstered its protection at this time," said Jaafar al-Amine, an official at the holy site. "This year, there have been no pilgrims from other countries" like Iran, Iraq or Lebanon, he added. mam-at-str/lg/dcp
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Netanyahu vows to ‘expand circle of peace,' push for elimination of Hamas ahead of Trump meeting
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has a key opportunity to 'expand the circle of peace' in the Middle East and vowed to eliminate Hamas as he heads to Washington to meet with President Trump. Before boarding the US-bound plane on Sunday, Netanyahu said he and Trump can secure big changes to the region — while also insisting that Israel will not agree to a cease-fire deal that includes Hamas' continued existence in Gaza, the Times of Israel reported. 'We are determined to ensure that Gaza will no longer constitute a threat to Israel,' he told reporters. 'That means, we will not allow a situation that encourages more kidnappings, more murders, more executions, more invasions.' 4 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is flying to Washington, DC, on Sunday to meet with President Trump. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 4 The prime minister is facing daily protests as Israelis call for him to accept a cease-fire deal with Hamas to secure the freedom of the remaining hostages. REUTERS 'That means one thing: eliminating Hamas's military and governing capabilities. Hamas will not be there,' he added. That remains a massive sticking point in ending the war in Gaza. Previous cease-fire proposals fell apart after Israel and Hamas failed to reach a compromise on how the war should end, with the Jewish state rejecting any deal that saw the de facto governors of the Gaza Strip stay. Netanyahu said his delegation, which is traveling to Qatar to meet with mediators, have been instructed to reach a deal under those terms again. Netanyahu maintains that the Israeli military should occupy Gaza indefinitely, with the role of governors transferred to local officials without any known ties to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank. 4 Netanyahu said he was certain President Trump would help secure the type of cease-fire deal Israel is seeking, which would see Hamas eliminated from the Gaza Strip. Getty Images 4 Smoke billows over the Gaza strip following another round of Israeli airstrikes on Sunday. AFP via Getty Images The last truce fell apart in March after Israel opted out of discussions for a permanent end to the war, with Hamas reiterating that it would not agree to demilitarize as a condition for peace. Netanyahu appeared confident that he could 'advance' his ideal outcome in his looming meeting with Trump, touting that the two have already achieved so much following the 12-day war with Iran, which saw Israel and the US bomb Tehran's nuclear facilities. 'We have already transformed the Middle East beyond recognition, and we now have a chance to bring a great future to the state of Israel, the people of Israel and the entire Middle East,' Netanyahu said. The current deal being discussed in Doha calls for a 60-day cease-fire in which Hamas would agree to free 10 living hostages, as well as the bodies of 18 captives. Hamas currently holds 50 hostages after 639 days of war, only 20 of whom are believed to still be alive, according to Israeli officials.
