A picture taken from northern Israel, along the border with southern Lebanon on March 4, 2024, shows smoke billowing following Israeli bombardment on the Lebanese village of Markaba. (Credit: Jalaa Marey/AFP)
Want to get the Morning Brief by email? Click here to sign up.
Catch up on yesterday’s LIVE coverage of Day 150 of the Gaza war here.
A truce in Gaza “will not systematically extend to Lebanon,” US envoy Amos Hochstein said after a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Amid an international scramble to align Israel and Hamas’s terms for a cease-fire deal, Hochstein’s comments reaffirm the rift between Hezbollah’s vow to cease cross-border attacks in tandem with the Gaza truce — as was the case last November — and Israel’s refusal to do the same before guaranteeing the safe return of its displaced northern residents. Hochstein said the US was working “with international partners to promote a peaceful solution in Lebanon,” one form of which was suggested in a February proposal by France pre-conditioning Lebanese-Israeli land border dispute negotiations with Hezbollah’s withdrawal 10 kilometers from the border.
Relatives of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut Port Blast held their monthly vigil commemorating the tragedy that killed over 220 people, injured over 6,500 and destroyed swathes of the capital. The relatives denounced the continued paralysis of the probe into the blast, which has continuously been interrupted for years at a time in the “1308 days” lamented during the vigil. The probe remains suspended due to complaints calling for lead investigator Judge Tarek Bitar’s dismissal, on which no ruling can be issued before a quorum is restored to the plenary chamber of the Court of Cassation. The appointments are allegedly awaiting a sign-off from caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil, who has been the target of several protests by blast victims’ relatives. Bitar’s attempt to relaunch the probe after a year of suspension last January was met with a lawsuit by former Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat who ordered security forces to not enforce the investigator’s decisions.
Court of Appeal Public Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun yesterday issued a search warrant for Byblos Bank Chairman Semaan Bassil after repeatedly failing to summon him for complaints over the bank’s foreign transfers before and after 2019, a judicial source told L’Orient Today. The judicial source added that Byblos Bank is accused of non-compliance with central bank Circular no. 158, which allows eligible depositors to withdraw $300-400 deposited before Nov. 19, 2019 — mediating commercial banks’ informal restrictions on depositors’ access to their foreign currency funds since the onset of the crisis. In subpoenaing Bassil, Judge Aoun aims to determine if other board members made significant transfers abroad as she claims one senior Byblos Bank official has allegedly done. The records enabling such an investigation remain protected under banking secrecy laws. Last March, caretaker Aoun sued Bank Audi, Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL) and their chiefs for maintaining banking secrecy on the accounts of their chairperson, board members, auditors and supervisory committees — which the financial institutions claimed was within their rights while refusing to comply with her document requests. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, at the time, instructed security forces to not enforce Aoun’s decisions owing to commercial banks’ requests to dismiss her from the case. An earlier attempt at legal proceedings against commercial banks, including several asset freezes, led to an Association of Banks in Lebanon strike.
An Israeli attack on a Hezbollah-affiliated health organization center killed three people in Adaisseh (Marjeyoun) after an unclaimed anti-tank missile launch from Lebanon killed one person and injured several others in northern Israel. The three victims were members of the Islamic Health Association, whose Adaisseh center was completely destroyed, according to security and medical sources speaking to L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the region. It is the third attack on civil defense centers in Lebanon since Oct. 8, the organization says, after two other attacks in February and January that jointly killed four people. The attack on Adaisseh came amid several Israeli strikes reported across southern Lebanon. The missile fired from Lebanon earlier in the day killed an Indian national working on a plantation in Margaliot and injured several others, Israeli news source Haaretz reported. Hamas — which last week announced its first attack from Lebanon in months — the Amal Movement, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, al-Jamaa al-Islamiya and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party have all reportedly participated in Hezbollah’s “support front” for Gaza though none have claimed to be behind the attack.
Three suspected thieves have been arrested for allegedly plundering tons of crops from southern Lebanese orchards whose owners had fled Israeli shelling, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) announced yesterday. The ISF said the accused came under suspicion after having “sold [to vegetable shops] crops similar to those stolen [including walnuts and avocados]” from Klayaa and Burj al-Malook (Marjayoun). More than 90,000 people have been displaced from southern Lebanon since Oct. 8, according to the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Israel’s continued attacks near the border region and its use of incendiary munitions have ravaged agricultural land and plantations,
Hezbollah claimed to have stopped two Israeli military units separately attempting to infiltrate into Lebanon on Thursday night. Hezbollah said it foiled the first attempt with a rocket strike and thwarted the second by detonating an explosive device. Since Oct. 8, Israel has announced the interception of several border crossers, many of whom it killed in the process. The Al-Quds Brigades of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the infiltration attempt flagged by Israeli forces on the third day of the war that left several of its members dead. US officials this month told CNN they are working under the assumption that Israel is planning a ground incursion into Lebanon within months if no diplomatic solution to the border clashes is reached.
At least 30,534 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s health ministry. Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz traveled to Washington after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged for ramped-up aid deliveries to Gaza and US Vice President Kamala Harris issued the first call by a senior US official for an “immediate ceasefire” in the enclave. The Israeli army killed a 16-year-old in the biggest raid in years on Ramallah early yesterday. Later the same day, Hamas representative Osama Hamdan urged Palestinians throughout the Middle East “to transform each day into a period of confrontations during the holy month of Ramadan” — before which international mediators hoped to achieve a cease-fire.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “‘Hezbollah tunnels in Jbeil': Unverified claim or real concern?”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz