Smoke billows from the southern Lebanese village of Tayr Harfa near the border with Israel following an Israeli airstrike, on Feb. 12, 2024. (Credit: Kawnat Haju/AFP)
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Catch up on yesterday’s LIVE coverage of Day 129 of the Israel-Hamas war here.
Hezbollah announced the deaths of five of its members after Israeli strikes hit a building in Tayr Harfa and a building in Bint Jbeil along with strikes on Talousa. Another two members were injured in an Israeli strike on their car on the road to Maroun al-Ras. Residents across southern Lebanon reported drone strikes on houses in their areas. The Lebanese Army announced the discovery of an Israeli missile targeting Syria that landed in Akkar, northern Lebanon. Hezbollah announced several strikes on Israeli military equipment, along with an attack on a building in northern Israel in retaliation to the targeting of homes in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad said the party will “remain patient” facing Israel’s purported attempt to widen hostilities, reinterpreting Israel’s increased reliance on drone assassinations as a response “to the pain inflicted by [Hezbollah’s] strikes.”
The Burj Hammoud municipality is planning “imminent meetings” after a stabbing purportedly committed by a Syrian national provoked uproar among residents, some of whom demanded “measures … to organize the Syrian presence in the neighborhood.” A source within the Burj Hammoud municipality said they are planning “imminent meetings with security officials” to discuss the incident. Tashnag MP and former Beirut municipal council member Hagop Terzian relayed Burj Hammoud residents’ dismay at “chaos” in their neighborhood preceding “the influx of Syrians.” Terzian, citing overcrowding, called on local officials to “stop issuing domicile certificates unless the applicant has obtained a valid lease from the municipality.”
The Higher Judicial Council issued interim appointments for approximately 60 judges to courthouses across Lebanon. A judicial source told L’Orient Today the interim appointments would allow a boost in productivity at courthouses, where deaths, retirements and resignations have left remaining judges with an excessive caseload. Court Officers announced on Saturday that their strike demanding improved compensation will persist until the end of this week, preventing any operations except those submitted by the last day of the legal deadline.
At least 28,340 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s health ministry.
After an Israeli army incursion into Rafah that freed two Israeli abductees and left approximately 100 people dead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that “only continued military pressure” can release hostages still held by Hamas since Oct. 7. Hamas has claimed that Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed several hostages and were endangering others by impeding their access to healthcare. After Israel rejected Hamas’s counter-proposal for a cease-fire, more than one million Gazans successively displaced down the enclave to Rafah have braced for an Israeli military expansion to the border city.
European Union Foreign Policy chief Josep Borell suggested that the US, condemning the excessive death toll from the war, “should provide less arms” to Israel. The Dutch Court of Appeal yesterday banned the sale of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel — which the Dutch government is appealing in cassation to the Dutch Supreme Court.
In a report published yesterday, Amnesty International concluded that “contradict claims by Israeli authorities that their forces are taking increased precautions to minimize harm to civilians.”
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Orthodox Ethiopians celebrate Jesus' baptism in the mountains of Lebanon”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz
