EU suspends sanctions against key economic sectors in Syria | LIVE

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The European Union expressed its "concern" over the situation in the West Bank during a meeting in Brussels with the Israeli foreign minister.

"We are following the situation closely and we cannot hide our concern about the West Bank," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

Israel announced Sunday that it had expelled, with a ban on returning to their homes, some 40,000 Palestinians living in three refugee camps in the northern occupied West Bank, where the army has been conducting a vast operation for the past month. These operations come at a time when the truce in the Gaza Strip appears particularly fragile. The first phase, which came into force on Jan. 19 in Gaza, after 15 months of war, is supposed to end on March 1, but the negotiations planned for the rest of the process have still not started.

"The cease-fire is a real opportunity to break the cycle of violence. It is imperative to move on to the second phase," Kallas stressed at a joint press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. The second phase is supposed to definitively end the war, which the Israeli far-right allied with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes, threatening the survival of his government.

"I have heard the positions of all member states, I have responded to their concerns and I have presented the Israeli positions," Gideon Saar said at the end of this EU-Israel meeting in Brussels.

In the Gaza Strip, since the beginning of the truce, 29 Israeli hostages, including four deceased, have been handed over to Israel, in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian detainees.

The Israeli army said in a statement that it struck a rocket launching site in the Gaza Strip after a projectile fired from Palestinian territory fell inside it.

"Earlier today, a projectile launched [from the Gaza Strip] and falling inside ... was identified. Recently, the Israeli army struck the launch site from which the projectile was fired, as well as another launch site in the area," the army said.

The Red Cross said on Monday it was "deeply concerned" about the situation in the West Bank, according to an ICRC statement, on the sidelines of an Israeli military operation in the northern occupied West Bank.

"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned about the impact of the ongoing security operations on civilian populations in Jenin, Tulkarm, Tubas and other locations in the northern West Bank," the statement said, adding that "people are having difficulty accessing basic needs such as clean water, food, medical care and shelter."

Israeli jets are flying low over the Bekaa, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the region.

The Israeli military said a rocket fired from Gaza fell inside the Palestinian enclave and said an investigation was underway.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he influenced the decision to suspend the release of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, according to Haaretz.

"Our influence on decision-makers is very great, including on the decision not to release the 600 terrorists on Saturday night," he said at a meeting of the Religious Zionism party.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office announced on Saturday night that the release of Palestinian prisoners scheduled for Saturday had been postponed until the next hostages were released.

Occupied West Bank

Islamic Jihad has accused Israel of wanting to “annex the West Bank by force” after the Israeli army stepped up its operations in this Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, expelling tens of thousands of inhabitants.

On Sunday, Israel declared that its troops would remain for several months in three refugee camps in the northern West Bank, from which tens of thousands of inhabitants have been expelled, forbidden to return home, as part of a military operation that has been going on for over a month.

Syria

Members of the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeastern Syria and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have not received invitations to a national dialogue to be held in Damascus on Tuesday, officials said.

Farhad Shami, spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces, and Ilham Ahmad, a senior official with the autonomous administration, told Reuters on Monday that no members of their respective organizations had been invited to the conference.

Israel

Israel will refuse entry to Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament, on the orders of Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, in line with the recommendation of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism, Haaretz reports.

Hassan, who is due to land in Tel Aviv shortly from Brussels, has “constantly worked to promote boycotts against Israel, making numerous statements and publishing messages against Israel on social networks.”

Syria

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa will visit Jordan on Wednesday, where he will meet King Abdullah and discuss ties between the two neighboring countries, according to Reuters, which quotes two Jordanian officials.

Gaza

Friedrich Merz, leader of the victorious German Conservatives, has assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he can come to Germany despite the ICC arrest warrant, reports AFP.

Southern Lebanon

An Israeli drone dropped a sound bomb in the locality of Kfar Kila (Marjayoun) where residents were gathered, reports our correspondent Mountasser Abdallah, who adds that the incident did not cause any injuries.

Syria

The European Union has announced the suspension of sanctions against Syria targeting key economic sectors.

The foreign ministers of the 27 countries meeting in Brussels formally decided on this suspension, which concerns the banking, energy and transport sectors.

However, they could be reimposed if Syria's new leaders, who come from Islamist movements, fail to respect human rights or democratic values, European diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas assured them last month. “We want to act quickly, but the lifting of sanctions can be canceled if the wrong decisions are taken,” she said at the end of January, at a previous meeting of the 27 heads of diplomacy.

Occupied West Bank

The municipality of Jenin, in the northern West Bank, claimed that the Israeli army had demolished 120 houses in the refugee camp, and partially damaged dozens of others across the camp, in a statement quoted by Haaretz.

For several weeks now, the Israeli army has been carrying out almost daily operations in several West Bank towns and camps. Yesterday, Israel's Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, announced that the Israeli army had emptied this camp, as well as those in Tulkarem and Nour Chams, representing an evacuation of 40,000 Palestinians.

Lebanon

In southern Lebanon and the Bekaa, which were hit several times by Israeli aircraft on Sunday during Hassan Nasrallah's funeral, calm prevailed this morning and no incidents have yet been reported by our local correspondents, Mountasser Abdallah and Sarah Abdallah.

Former Hezbollah Secretary General Hachem Safieddine, who never actually led the party until he was killed in early October, is due to be buried in southern Lebanon this afternoon. A large popular ceremony for him and his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's figurehead for over 30 years, was held yesterday in the southern suburbs of Beirut, attracting tens of thousands of supporters.

Gaza

U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, has announced that he will travel “to the region this week, probably Wednesday” to negotiate and obtain “an extension of the first phase” of the cease-fire.

Gaza

Israel said yesterday, Sunday, that it was ready to resume fighting “at any time” in the Gaza Strip, while the planned negotiations on the continuation of the cease-fire have still not started. The decision announced by Israel on Saturday not to release over 600 Palestinian detainees as planned, following the surrender of six Israeli hostages, as long as the “humiliating ceremonies” surrounding the release of captives in Gaza continue, makes what happens next even more uncertain.

The second phase is supposed to put a definitive end to the war, something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right ally in Israel opposes, threatening the survival of his government.

“We are ready to resume intense fighting at any time, our operational plans are ready,” declared Netanyahu on Sunday, at a military ceremony in Holon (center) broadcast live. “We will fully achieve the objectives of the war, whether by negotiation or by other means,” he added. Shortly afterward, the Israeli army announced that it was “raising the operational alert level in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip.”

Gaza

Guterres also stressed the importance of the fragile cease-fire that has been in place in Gaza since Jan. 19. “We are witnessing a precarious cease-fire. We must avoid a resumption of hostilities at all costs,” he warned.

“The people of Gaza have already suffered too much. It's time for a permanent cease-fire, for the release of all remaining hostages, for irreversible progress towards a two-state solution, an end to the occupation and the creation of an independent Palestinian state, of which Gaza would be an integral part,” he said.

Occupied West Bank

The U.N. Secretary-General expressed his “grave concern” over the “rise in violence” in the West Bank and “calls for annexation,” addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“I am gravely concerned by the rise in violence and other violations committed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers, as well as by calls for annexation,” said Antonio Guterres.

Occupied West Bank

Israel announced yesterday, Sunday, that it had expelled some 40,000 Palestinians from three refugee camps in the north of the occupied West Bank, where the army has been conducting a vast operation for the past month. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had “instructed [the soldiers] to prepare for an extended stay” in these camps “for the coming year,” according to AFP.

For the first time since the end of the Second Intifada, the Palestinian uprising of 2000-2005, the Israeli army deployed tanks in the occupied West Bank. An AFP photographer saw a column taking up position in the Jenin camp.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East, notably in Lebanon, where the period of application of the terms of the cease-fire agreed on Nov. 27 between Israel and Hezbollah officially expired on Feb. 18, but where the Israeli army continues to occupy several positions.

We will also be following developments in Gaza, where the truce is in jeopardy, and the West Bank, the scene of a violent offensive by the Israeli army over the past month. We will also cover the situation in Syria, almost three months after the fall of the Assad regime on Dec. 8, 2024.