Syria expected to hold parliamentary election in September, official says
Voting for the People's Assembly is expected to take place from September 15 to 20, added the official, Mohammed Taha.
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Arab News
14 minutes ago
- Arab News
A father's grief and a nation's hope: Lebanon awaits justice 5 years after Beirut blast
BSALIM: George Bezdjian remembers searching for his daughter, Jessica, after a massive explosion at Beirut's port five years ago. He found her at the St. Georges Hospital where she worked as a nurse. The hospital was in the path of the blast and was heavily damaged. He found his daughter lying on the floor as her colleagues tried to revive her. They weren't able to save her. She was one of four medical staff killed there. 'I started telling God that living for 60 years is more than enough. If you're going to take someone from the family, take me and leave her alive,' he told The Associated Press from his home in Bsalim, some 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away from the port. He sat in a corner where he put up portraits of Jessica next to burning incense to honor her. 'I begged him, but he didn't reply to me.' The Aug. 4, 2020 blast in Beirut's port tore through the Lebanese capital after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate detonated in a warehouse. The gigantic explosion killed at least 218 people, according to an AP count, wounded more than 6,000 others and devastated large swathes of Beirut, causing billions of dollars in damages. It further angered the nation, already in economic free-fall after decades of corruption and financial crimes. Many family members of the victims pinned their hopes on Judge Tarek Bitar, who was tasked with investigating the explosion. The maverick judge shook the country's ruling elite, pursuing top officials, who for years obstructed his investigation. But five years after the blast, no official has been convicted as the probe stalled. And the widespread rage over the explosion and years of apparent negligence from a web of political, security and judicial officials has faded as Lebanon's economy further crumbled and conflict rocked the country. Judge Bitar had aimed to release the indictment last year but it was stalled by months of war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group that decimated large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, killing some 4,000 people. In early 2025, Lebanon elected President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and a Cabinet that came to power on reformist platforms. They vowed that completing the port probe and holding the perpetrators to account would be a priority. 'There will be no settlement in the port case before there is accountability,' Salam said Sunday. Bitar, apparently galvanized by these developments, summoned a handful of senior political and security officials in July, as well as three judges in a new push for the case, but was unable to release an indictment over the summer as had been widely expected. However, the judge has been working on an additional phase of his investigation — now some 1,200 pages in length — aiming for the indictment to be out by the end of the year, according to four judicial officials and two security officials. They all spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Before completing his own report, he is waiting to receive a fourth and final report from France, which has conducted its own probe into the blast given that several of those killed are citizens of the European country. Bitar since 2021 had received three technical reports, while the fourth will be the French investigation's conclusion, which also looks at the cause of the explosion, the officials added. Bitar is also looking to hear the testimonies of some 15 witnesses, and is reaching out to European and Arab countries for legal cooperation, the officials said. He hopes that some European suspects can be questioned about the shipment of ammonium nitrate and the vessel carrying them that ended up in the Beirut Port. Despite the malaise across much of the troubled country, Kayan Tlais, brother of port supervisor Mohammad Tlais who was killed in the blast, is hopeful that the indictment will see the light of day. He says he's encouraged by Bitar's tenacity and Lebanon's new leadership. 'We do have judges with integrity,' he said. 'The president, prime minister, and all those who came and were voted in do give us hope … they are all the right people in the right place.' The port and the surrounding Beirut neighborhoods that were leveled in the deadly blast appear functional again, but there are still scars. The most visible are what's left standing of the mammoth grain silos at the port, which withstood the force of the blast but later partly collapsed in 2022 after a series of fires. Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh Sunday classified them as historical monuments. There was no centralized effort by the cash-strapped Lebanese government to rebuild the surrounding neighborhoods. An initiative by the World Bank, Europe and United Nations to fund recovery projects was slow to kick off, while larger reconstruction projects were contingent on reforms that never came. Many family and business owners fixed their damaged property out of pocket or reached out to charities and grassroots initiatives. A 2022 survey by the Beirut Urban Lab, a research center at the American University of Beirut, found that 60 percent to 80 percent of apartments and businesses damaged in the blast had been repaired. 'This was a reconstruction primarily driven by nonprofits and funded by diaspora streams,' said Mona Harb, a professor of urban studies and politics at AUB and co-founder of the research center. But regardless of how much of the city is rebuilt and through what means, Aug. 4 will always be a 'dark day of sadness,' says Bezdjian. All that matters to him is the indictment and to find who the perpetrators are. He tries to stay calm, but struggles to control how he feels. 'We will do to them what every mother and father would do if someone killed their child, and if they knew who killed their son or daughter,' he said. 'What do you think they would do?'
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
UN Security Council to meet on Gaza hostages: Israeli ambassador
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency session on the hostages in Gaza, Israel's ambassador said Sunday, as outrage built over their fate in the war-torn enclave, where experts say a famine is unfolding. Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, posted the announcement on social media amid anger over videos showing two of the hostages held by Palestinian militant group Hamas emaciated. Danon said that the Council 'will convene this coming Tuesday for a special emergency session on the dire situation of the hostages in Gaza.' The videos make references to the calamitous humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned a 'famine is unfolding.' Israel has heavily restricted the entry of aid into Gaza, while UN agencies, humanitarian groups and analysts say that much of what Israel does allow in is looted or diverted in chaotic circumstances. Many desperate Palestinians are left to risk their lives seeking what aid is distributed through controlled channels. Earlier Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross to get food to the hostages. In response, Hamas said that it would allow the agency access to the hostages but only if 'humanitarian corridors' for food and aid were opened 'across all areas of the Gaza Strip.' The Al-Qassam Brigades said it did 'not intentionally starve' the hostages, but they would not receive any special food privileges 'amid the crime of starvation and siege' in Gaza. Over recent days, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released three videos showing two hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war. The images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David, both of whom appeared weak and malnourished, have fueled renewed calls in Israel for a truce and hostage release deal.
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan condemns recent ‘storming' of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli minister
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the recent 'storming' of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Monday, saying that such actions were a violation of international law and imperil the prospects for peace in the Middle East. Ben-Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Sunday and said he prayed there, challenging rules covering one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East. Under a delicate decades-old 'status quo' arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there. The move drew condemnations from Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan, who both opposed Ben Gvir's visit by saying that it was a violation of international law. 'Pakistan unequivocally condemns the recent act of storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli ministers, accompanied by settler groups and shielded by Israeli police,' Sharif wrote on social media platform X. 'This sacrilege against one of Islam's holiest sites is not only an affront to the faith of over a billion Muslims but also a direct assault on international law and the collective conscience of humanity.' The Pakistani prime minister said Israel's 'shameless actions' are deliberately inflaming tensions in Palestine and the wider region, noting that it was pushing the Middle East closer to further instability and conflict. Sharif reiterated Islamabad's call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the revival of a 'credible' process for a two-state solution, that leads to an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. Pakistan, which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, has consistently condemned Israeli military actions and called for the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Palestinian territory. The South Asian country last month used its presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to refocus global attention on the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel's war on Gaza began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, and abducted another 251. They are still holding 50 captives, around 20 believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties. Israel has disputed its figures, but hasn't provided its own account of casualties.
