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Asharq Al-Awsat
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Salam: Disarming Militias is a Lebanese Need Not Just a Foreign Demand
A much-anticipated meeting between Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam ended without a decisive outcome on a response to a set of US proposals, one of which reportedly includes a demand for Hezbollah to disarm. However, Salam described the talks as 'positive,' signaling continued dialogue with Berri once he receives the group's official position. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat by phone, Salam said the pair discussed the ideas put forward by US presidential envoy Tom Perriello. Salam stressed the importance of implementing understandings brokered by the United States and France last November to halt hostilities along the southern border. 'This requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory and to cease its aggression that threatens stability. In parallel, the Lebanese state must fulfill its duty and assert its sovereign authority across all its land. That includes the exclusive right to bear arms and to decide on matters of war and peace,' he said. He argued that the measures should not be subject to debate over sequencing. 'All of them should be implemented as swiftly as possible.' Salam said Lebanon needs a 'mechanism' to execute these commitments and that once it becomes clearer through ongoing contacts, it will be presented to the cabinet for approval. 'Only the Council of Ministers can take such a decision,' he said. He confirmed that he would meet Berri again soon and remains in constant communication with the president to reach the necessary consensus. Berri, he noted, is also awaiting Hezbollah's feedback on key aspects of the US paper. 'We are engaging constructively with the American ideas,' Salam added. 'They're not scripture — we will debate them with the envoy in hopes of reaching the desired outcomes.' He underscored that issues of sovereignty and the state's monopoly over arms are 'urgent Lebanese needs before being foreign demands. Lebanon deserves to be a normal state — one governed by peace, stability, and the rule of law, where the state alone defends its citizens and makes national decisions.' Salam briefed Berri on his recent trip to Qatar and developments related to a US proposal aimed at de-escalating cross-border tensions, during talks that also addressed mounting Israeli violations in the south, including an airstrike on Nabatieh. In a statement following the meeting, the Speaker's office said the two leaders reviewed political and security developments in Lebanon and the wider region, particularly in light of Israel's continued breaches of the ceasefire agreement. Salam's visit came amid growing momentum for a possible cabinet session to finalize a framework that would enshrine the state's exclusive control over weapons. The meeting followed a working session held Friday at the presidential palace between President Joseph Aoun and Salam to advance discussions on the US-backed proposal. If Berri, Aoun, and Salam reach consensus on the draft, the document is expected to be presented to the cabinet for approval. It reportedly consists of three main pillars: the issue of Hezbollah's arms and all non-state weapons, a package of structural reforms, and the future of Lebanese-Syrian relations. Once approved, the paper would be relayed to the US envoy to deliver to both Israel and Syria. In what appeared to be a message of political de-escalation, Hezbollah sent conciliatory signals to the Lebanese state over the weekend. Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, head of the group's religious authority, urged the government to fulfill its commitments to 'liberate every inch of land, rebuild, and stand by its people.' 'Our hand is extended,' Yazbek said. 'We want to live as one, and for Lebanon to serve as a model of coexistence among its diverse communities.' He insisted Hezbollah acts 'with awareness and wisdom' and does not rush into decisions. 'Despite all the hostile media and distortion campaigns, our call remains one for national and human unity under God.' Yazbek also warned that Israel 'has no security and no peace,' adding, 'We haven't slept, and we will not sleep.' Meanwhile, MP Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, head of the Baalbek-Hermel parliamentary bloc, called on the Lebanese state to intensify its stance against what he described as Israel's blatant aggression. 'The government must push harder, and urge the international sponsors and the Quintet Committee to step up their roles. But we believe the American side is neither neutral nor impartial — it is complicit in the aggression,' he said. Hajj Hassan described the Israeli airstrikes on Nabatieh and other areas as 'an attack on all of Lebanon, not just a specific faction or region,' aimed at pressuring the country and its resistance forces.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Monitor accuses Sudan army of major strike on Darfur market
A Sudanese monitor accused the army Tuesday of conducting an air strike on a rebel-held town's market, in what would be one of the deadliest single attacks in the country's nearly two-year war. Both the Emergency Lawyers group of volunteer legal professionals and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said the attack in the western region of Darfur caused hundreds of casualties. It comes days after the army reclaimed the presidential palace in Khartoum -- a major victory against the RSF. The lawyers, who document atrocities on both sides of Sudan's war, said army warplanes carried out "an indiscriminate air strike on Tora market in North Darfur, killing hundreds of civilians and seriously wounding dozens". The RSF, which controls nearly all of Darfur where the United States has accused it of committing genocide, said the "massacre" on Monday "killed and wounded hundreds". A spokesperson for the Emergency Lawyers, requesting anonymity for their safety, told AFP an exact toll was not immediately possible "due to the large number of charred bodies" being counted and identified. AFP could not independently verify a toll or reach local medics due to a telecommunications blackout in Darfur. The army, which has been fighting the RSF in the conflict since April 2023, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Footage shared on social media in the aftermath of the strike purportedly showed what appeared to be charred bodies on burnt ground, with piles of debris still smoking. AFP was unable to independently verify the footage from the Monday market, where residents of nearby towns flock every week. In nearly two years, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted more than 12 million and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises. - Civilian toll - Amid the near-total breakdown of Sudan's healthcare system, exact tolls have been difficult to confirm since the war began. The United States' former Sudan envoy Tom Perriello in May last year said some estimates were as high as 150,000 killed. Across the country, attacks on markets, villages and displacement camps have regularly left over 100 dead at a time. In December, the lawyers' group reported a similar army air strike on a North Darfur market that killed over 100, with the United Nations confirming a toll of "at least 80". Last month, a three-day RSF assault on central Sudan villages claimed hundreds of lives, with the army-backed government giving a toll of 433, while the monitor said over 200 were killed. Darfur, a vast region the size of France, has faced some of the war's worst violence, including reports of barrel bombs on civilian areas, paramilitary attacks on famine-hit displacement camps and rampant ethnic violence. Though the paramilitary has deployed highly equipped drones in Darfur, the army retains the advantage in the skies with its warplanes, regularly striking RSF positions across the region. North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, east of Tora, is the only regional state capital the RSF has not conquered, despite besieging the city for ten months and regularly attacking the displacement camps that surround it. According to analysts, the RSF is likely to intensify its campaign to consolidate its hold on the region, following its defeats in Khartoum. The army on Friday recaptured the presidential palace and a clearing operation has since pushed RSF fighters out of key state institutions in central Khartoum. Since the war began, both sides have been accused of targeting civilians, including indiscriminately shelling markets and residential neighbourhoods. The RSF has specifically been accused of ethnically motivated mass killing, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting. ab/nda/bha/dv
