Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of commander Ahmed Shehimi, who was killed in an Israeli raid in Syria early on March 29, during his funeral procession in southern Beirut, on April 1, 2024. (Credit: Ibrahim Amro/AFP)
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Catch up on yesterday’s LIVE coverage of Day 179 of the Gaza war here.
Hezbollah announced that one of its members was killed in the Israeli strikes on the Iranian embassy’s consular annex in Damascus. Hezbollah and Iran, the party’s patron, have vowed to retaliate against the strike. The Lebanese Foreign Ministry decried the attack as a threat to “regional and international peace and security.” Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri — who also leads the Amal Movement party that has fought and had members killed alongside Hezbollah in southern Lebanon since Oct. 8 — condemned the attack in his own name as well as on “behalf of the Parliament,” and other Lebanese officials shared similar comments. At least 266 Hezbollah members have been killed in both Lebanon and Syria since Oct. 8. Last month, Reuters reported on a previously unpublicized meeting between Hezbollah and Iranian security officials during which the party’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, relinquished direct Iranian military involvement in the case that a total war breaks out with Israel. Iranian security officials told Reuters Iran wants to avoid an expansion of the conflict and greater involvement, citing the resulting increased US presence in the region.
Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar announced a plan to deport Syrians in Lebanon who do not meet the ministry’s criteria for being among the “actual displaced” by the more than decade long civil war. The plan includes dismantling the homes, residential dwellings and tents of Syrians deemed outside of this category. Hajjar did not specify how an upcoming survey would discriminate among Syrians in Lebanon, while calling for funding to help the “actual displaced” in proportion to their “numbers and needs.” The latest measures follow a series of restrictions on Syrians in Lebanon, the most recent of which was issued by Beirut’s governor last month compelling Syrians to register with the municipality to access lodging and freelance work. Last year, international rights groups warned against mass deportations of Syrians from Lebanon — considering Syria unsafe for return — amid ramped-up restrictions targeting the displaced population. Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi last October blamed Syrians for commiting up to 30 percent of crimes reported in Lebanon, providing nothing to back up his claim.
At least 32,916 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the latest figures from the enclave’s health ministry. An Israeli strike killed at least seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen in Gaza. The relief workers were unloading cargo delivered by sea to circumvent stringent Israeli restrictions and the difficulties delivering aid in Gaza, where famine is an increasingly real threat to more than two million people. A Palestinian man in Gaza described to Reuters that attempting to reach international aid in Gaza was a “death mission.” The Palestinian Health Ministry says Israel last month killed more than 100 Palestinians awaiting aid, while at least seven people have drowned attempting to reach shipments that were accidentally dropped asea. “Delivering aid safely is no longer feasible,” Anera, a group providing aid to refugees in the region, said, announcing a halt to its operations in Gaza citing the strike and the “still-unexplained” killing of one of its workers less than a month ago. At least 176 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), marking the “highest number of aid workers killed in any conflict.” Amid international condemnation of the attack, Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu said it was “a tragic case of [Israel’s] forces unintentionally hitting innocent people” in Gaza, saying that “it happens in war” and claiming his government is attempting to prevent such killings from repeating.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “Arab troops in Gaza soon?”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz