Witkoff meets Arab ministers in Qatar on Gaza's future | LIVE

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Informed sources told al-Manar that "the Americans and Israelis believe that the role of the cease-fire monitoring committee, in its military and security aspects, is now over, and that it is necessary to form a diplomatic and political committee."

"However, Lebanon rejected this proposal, as the diplomatic and political aspect implies normalization with the enemy," the channel reported.

Arab foreign ministers met in Qatar with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by a 15-month war between Israel and Hamas, the Gulf state announced.

"Arab foreign ministers discussed the Gaza reconstruction plan, approved at the Arab League summit held in Cairo on March 4, 2025. They also agreed with the U.S. envoy to continue consultations and coordination on this plan, as a basis for reconstruction efforts," the Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

(Photo released by the South Lebanon Water Authority)

The South Lebanon Water Authority announced that it has completed maintenance work at the Wadi al-Slouqi water station (Marjayoun), which was damaged by Israeli attacks. The authority stated that this station supplies water to the towns of Ramadieh, Shaaytieh, Kneisseh, Malikieh, Bayad and Jbeil al-Botm.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that "no one is expelling Palestinians" from Gaza. He spoke to reporters in the Oval Office alongside Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.

The Israeli army, quoted by Haaretz, said in a statement that on Tuesday, "Israeli aircraft attacked dozens of targets of the former Assad regime in southern Syria, including radars and detection equipment used for aerial intelligence, military headquarters, and storage sites for weapons and military equipment."

According to the army, 22 fighter jets participated in the attack, dropping more than 60 munitions.

An Israeli drone is flying at a very low altitude over the Bekaa, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the region.

Arab foreign ministers agreed to continue consultations and coordination with U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy regarding Egypt's Gaza reconstruction plan, during a meeting in Doha, according to a joint statement.

Consultations will continue with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who will serve as a "basis for reconstruction efforts" in the Gaza Strip, the statement said.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called U.S. threats "reckless" after Donald Trump sent a letter to Tehran calling for negotiations and warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.

"The United States is brandishing a military threat. In my opinion, this threat is reckless," Ayatollah Khamenei said during a meeting with students, AFP reported. "Iran is capable of retaliating and will undoubtedly strike back."

France will not accept further lifting of sanctions against Syria if the atrocities that killed more than 1,000 civilians in the west and center of the country in recent days remain unpunished, the government warned on Wednesday, AFP reported.

"It goes without saying that we will not be able to accept further lifting of sanctions if we do not have guarantees that the abuses will not go unpunished," said the Minister Delegate for Francophonie, Thani Mohamed Soilihi, before the senators.

"France condemns all abuses against civilians, regardless of their community, and regardless of the perpetrators, whether they are groups affiliated with the Bashar al-Assad regime or terrorist groups," he explained. "This country will not be able to regain its stability and prosperity without a political process that guarantees the security and rights of all communities."

Soilihi later welcomed the agreement reached between the new Syrian government and the Kurds.

The Lebanese army announced that it had "removed a barbed wire fence in the Birket Riche region in the south." According to the army, the wire was "recently installed by elements of the enemy Israeli forces inside Lebanese territory."

It added that an Israeli army unit also installed an earth embankment near a Lebanese army post on the outskirts of Rmaish (Bint Jbeil) and that measures are underway to remove it.

Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, delivered a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump to the Iranian foreign minister, according to Iranian state media cited by Reuters.

Hamas said the announcement by Yemen's Houthi rebels to resume attacks on ships they believe are linked to Israel demonstrated their "commitment" to the Palestinian cause.

"This is a genuine commitment to supporting our Palestinian people and their resistance, and it puts real pressure on us to break the unjust siege of Gaza," Hamas said in a statement, quoted by AFP, after the Iran-backed Houthis said they would resume attacks after their ultimatum expired without Israel having restored humanitarian aid to the war-torn Palestinian territory.

At least 8,500 new people (1,791 families, including 63 Lebanese families residing in Syria) arrived in Lebanon following the recent violent clashes on the Syrian coast, according to Lebanese authorities and the UNHCR.

Initial estimates indicate that this new wave of refugees is concentrated in 17 villages in the Akkar Governorate. Other areas in North Lebanon, including Tripoli, Koura and Zgharta, also received new arrivals, but in smaller numbers (around 2,000), with the exact number of arrivals still being determined.

Details here. 

Occupied West Bank

Jenin Gov. Kamal Abu al-Rub told Al-Jazeera on Wednesday that Israeli forces are trying to expand their military operation across the entire governorate “by all possible means” to make it uninhabitable.

He said the Israeli army raided four towns simultaneously at dawn, besieging residential buildings and forcing residents to flee. Israeli forces are also turning many citizens’ homes into military barracks, he added.

Separately, the Israeli army said Wednesday it had arrested 12 Palestinians suspected of “terrorism” in Qabatiya, south of Jenin, interrogated dozens of others, and seized “a large weapons cache.”

Lebanon/Israel

A senior Israeli official told the Times of Israel that the goal of Israel’s new negotiations with Lebanon is to “achieve normalization” between the two countries.

Following a meeting Tuesday night between Israeli military officials and their American, French, and Lebanese counterparts, the official said another round of talks would take place between political representatives from both Israel and Lebanon.

“This means official Israeli diplomacy inside Lebanon,” the official told the Israeli newspaper.

“I am coming by trying the diplomatic route and delivering results,” the official added, paraphrasing what Israel hopes President Joseph Aoun will tell the Lebanese people, according to the Times of Israel.

Gaza cease-fire

U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Qatar on Wednesday to push Hamas and Israeli representatives toward an agreement on extending the Gaza cease-fire, Haaretz reported.

An Israeli official said the intense negotiations should quickly determine whether the two sides can resolve their differences over the second phase of the agreement.

This round of talks began Monday night in Doha, while Israel has warned it will resume military operations if the negotiations fail.

South Lebanon

An Israeli Merkava tank was seen advancing toward the outskirts of Ramieh, in the Bint Jbeil district, residents told our correspondent in the South.

Syria

The European Union welcomed the establishment of an investigative commission by Syria’s new leadership in a statement cited by AFP.

“We welcome the commitments made by the transitional authorities, particularly the creation of an investigative commission to hold perpetrators accountable, in accordance with international legal standards,” the EU’s diplomatic service said.

“Everything must be done to prevent such crimes from happening again,” the statement continued on behalf of the bloc’s 27 member states.

The EU also condemned “attacks by pro-Assad militias against security forces” as well as “horrific crimes against civilians, including summary executions, allegedly committed by armed groups supporting the security forces of the transitional authorities.”

Occupied West Bank

The Israeli army raided the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported.

According to local sources, Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades while storming homes in the Dar Mahmoud neighborhood.

Earlier, similar raids took place in the towns of Shuqba, west of Ramallah, and Bani Na’im, east of Hebron. Several Palestinians were also arrested in Tulkarem and Jenin, Al-Jazeera reported.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Office said at least 30 people were arrested during overnight Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank.

Lebanon

Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel welcomed the ongoing negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on border demarcation and the release of prisoners.

“It is confirmed day after day that when institutions are fully established and the State fully exercises its authority over sovereign issues, achievements follow,” he wrote on his X account. “From the cease-fire agreement to the Israeli withdrawal, from the repatriation of prisoners to the negotiations on border demarcation, all are proof of the State's ability to defend the national interest without depending on anyone else.”

South Lebanon

The Israeli army opened fire this morning on farmers working on the outskirts of Wazzani, near the Sarda farm, according to the town's municipal president Ahmad al-Mohammad, who spoke to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the South.

Mohammad reported that no one had been injured and that a number of farmers had left their fields to take refuge in safe areas.

The official described the recurrent shootings against the village's farmers as “an act of terror” and called for “a solution to this problem.”

Occupied West Bank

The Israeli military said it demolished the home of Palestinian Ali Khalil overnight in the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya. Khalil was accused of killing an Israeli in the city last summer, according to the Times of Israel.

The newspaper reported that Khalil, a member of Islamic Jihad, was killed in an Israeli drone strike in August.

Israel has a policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly attacks.

Gaza cease-fire

Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanoua accused Israel of backtracking on a cease-fire agreement to obstruct negotiations.

In a statement cited by Haaretz, he said Hamas has been flexible “at various stages of the negotiations” to reach a compromise with Israel.

“We are waiting for the next steps in the negotiations in Doha to move forward with implementing the second phase,” he said, adding that Hamas’ main demands include “resuming humanitarian aid” and “guaranteeing an end to hostilities.”

Gaza

A second Palestinian was shot and killed by the Israeli army in Khan Younis, local Al Jazeera correspondents reported.

Earlier, another person was killed in Rafah, also by Israeli army gunfire. The military opened fire in several areas of southern Gaza on Wednesday morning.

Gaza cease-fire

Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh condemned Hamas for engaging in direct talks with “foreign parties” as part of the Gaza cease-fire negotiations, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Ramallah accused Hamas of “dividing the national Palestinian position by opening lines of communication with foreign parties,” saying the move undermined “the Arab position on Palestine, especially Egypt’s Gaza reconstruction plan” and “efforts to counter attempts to displace Palestinians from their homeland.”

The statement did not specify which foreign party Hamas had contacted, but it came days after the United States confirmed it had held unprecedented talks with Hamas members about securing the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Lebanon

Israeli drones are flying at low altitudes over Hermel, according to our correspondent in the region. Aircraft were also heard over Beirut and its southern suburbs, according to witnesses and the National News Agency.

Iran/U.S.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said an Arab country would deliver “a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump” to Iranian authorities.

Araghchi also called a U.N. Security Council meeting on Iran’s nuclear program “a new and strange process,” questioning the “good faith” of the states that requested it, Reuters reported.

Gaza

Doctors Without Borders condemned Israel for using humanitarian aid “as a bargaining chip” in Gaza, where residents lack access to vital supplies such as electricity and food.

“Israeli authorities are once again normalizing the use of aid as a tool” in cease-fire negotiations, said Myriam Laaroussi, the group’s emergency coordinator, in a statement.

Syria

A former Syrian diplomat, Noureddine al-Labbad, who defected from the Assad regime, was shot dead along with his brother in southern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday, citing AFP.

Gunmen stormed Labbad’s home in the city of al-Sanamayn, about 50 kilometers south of Damascus, on Tuesday night, opening fire on him and his brother before fleeing, the rights group said.

Labbad had served as a diplomat under Assad until his defection in 2013, according to the organization. He had returned to Syria two weeks ago from France, where he had represented the opposition Syrian National Council.

Security forces imposed a curfew in the city after several cars were set on fire and grenades exploded following the attack, according to an AFP journalist. The curfew was lifted Wednesday morning.

Israel

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prioritizing his political survival over efforts to secure the release of hostages in Gaza.

“The price of ending the war is a political one that Netanyahu does not want to pay,” Lapid said, according to Al Jazeera.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Gadi Eisenkot echoed Lapid’s remarks, telling Israeli Army Radio that Netanyahu is seeking to “bring the hostages back without making concessions,” implying that political considerations were hindering negotiations.

Syria

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani is expected to attend a donor summit for Syria in Brussels on March 17, a European official told Reuters on Wednesday. It will be the first time Syria is officially represented at the annual conference.

The official said Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, is not expected to attend the donor meeting, contradicting an earlier report from a Syrian source and two diplomats who had told Reuters he was expected.

The annual conference, organized by the European Union, aims to “mobilize international support for an inclusive and peaceful transition.” It will be the first held since the ouster of Bashar Assad in December. In previous years, Syrian civil society representatives were invited to participate, but the Syrian state was not.

The United States has welcomed the agreement in Syria between the new Damascus authorities and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes the integration of all civil and military institutions of the Kurdish autonomous administration into the Syrian state.

“The United States reaffirms its support for a political transition that demonstrates credible, non-sectarian governance as the best path to avoiding further conflict,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Syria

More than three months after the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime, Syria remains in flux. The investigative commission, appointed by the Syrian presidency to probe last week’s violence in the country’s west, has reaffirmed its commitment to justice and preventing extrajudicial retaliation after more than 1,200 civilians were killed in a former regime stronghold.

“The ‘New Syria’ is determined to ensure justice, uphold the rule of law, protect citizens’ rights and freedoms, prevent extrajudicial reprisals, and eliminate impunity,” said commission spokesman Yasser al-Farhane at a press conference in Damascus on Tuesday.

Syria

Turkish armed forces continue operations against Kurdish militants in northern Syria, a Turkish Defense Ministry official said, according to Reuters. The statement comes after an agreement between the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the new government in Damascus.

The Turkish official did not provide details on the nature or location of the operations. Ankara considers the SDF, which controls much of northeastern Syria, a “terrorist organization” linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which recently announced its dissolution.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us for today's live coverage of the cease-fires in Lebanon and Gaza and the events in the region, namely the escalation of violence along the Syrian coast. Make sure to read today's Morning Brief to catch up on yesterday's key events.