UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – These remarks come as diplomatic efforts have recently redoubled to end the war between Israel and the Lebanese pro-Iran movement.
Israeli National Security Minister takes a dim view of potential ceasefire in Lebanon, while Iranian Supreme Leader judges ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu “insufficient”. Le Figaro takes stock of the situation in the Middle East this Monday, November 25.
Ceasefire in Lebanon would be “a big mistake,” says Israeli minister
A right-wing nationalist ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled on Monday, November 25, that a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, currently being discussed, would be “a big mistake”. An agreement with Lebanon would be “a big mistake” et “a missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah”estimated Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, on X.
These remarks come as diplomatic efforts have recently redoubled to end the war between Israel and the Lebanese pro-Iran movement. Since September 23, Israel has been carrying out massive strikes in Lebanon against Hezbollah which, after the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 on Israeli soil, had opened a “support front” to the Palestinian Islamist movement by firing rockets into Israeli territory.
Since September 30, its army has also been carrying out land incursions into southern Lebanon. During a tour of Lebanon and Israel last week, the US president’s special envoy, Amos Hochstein, reported “further progress” towards a truce. “As I already warned in Gaza, I now also warn: Prime Minister, it is not too late to end this agreement! We must continue until absolute victory!”insisted Ben Gvir.
New Israeli strikes in Lebanon
The Israeli army carried out new strikes on Monday against Hezbollah in Lebanon, where its troops are engaged in intense fighting with the pro-Iranian movement in the south, at a time when the international community is intensifying its pressure on the belligerents for a ceasefire.
Intensely shelled on Sunday by Israeli aircraft, the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, were targeted by three new strikes on Monday morning, after an Israeli evacuation order, according to the official Lebanese agency Ani. The Israeli army claimed to have struck there “several Hezbollah command centers”.
Israel says it struck around 25 Hezbollah-linked targets in an hour
The Israeli army said on Monday that it had struck around 25 targets linked to the Islamist movement Hezbollah in around Beirut and several other places in Lebanon in an hour.
«Among the targets struck were command centers of the Executive Council (of the movement, editor’s note), as well as intelligence collection and control centers, where Hezbollah commanders and agents were located.“, indicated the army in a press release, mentioning strikes in Nabatiyeh, Baalbeck, the Bekaa plain and the southern suburbs of Beirut, in particular.
Lebanese Health Ministry announces death of 12 people in Israeli strikes
Twelve people were reported killed in Israeli strikes in two areas of the Tire district in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
In separate statements, the ministry reported “six dead” and reports “human remains” requiring identification, as well as four injured in a strike on a road near the city of Tyre. Another raid in the locality of Maaraka made “six dead and four injured”including one in intensive care.
Iran’s Supreme Leader says ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu ‘insufficient’
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ruled on Monday “insufficient” the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Benjamin Netanyahu, and considered that the Israeli Prime Minister deserved a “death sentence”.
The Court, ICC, issued arrest warrants on Thursday against Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The arrest warrant against Netanyahu “is insufficient”Ayatollah Khamenei said Monday in a speech in Tehran, in his first speech on this subject.
“A death sentence must be handed down for these criminal leaders”added the Iranian leader, referring to Netanyahu and Gallant. The ICC, a court based in The Hague in the Netherlands, can impose sentences of up to 30 years in prison, or in exceptional circumstances life imprisonment, but its judges cannot impose a death sentence.
