The Trump administration’s approach to Lebanon remains a mystery. It’s not so much that US officials haven’t articulated the outcomes they would like to see in the country, but rather they do not seem to be doing much to achieve them. Worse, their actions are discrediting a president and government eager to collaborate with Washington.
What were the main aims of the US envoy Amos Hochstein, who came to Beirut last year to finalise a ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel? It was to implement an expanded version of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which imposed, among other things, Hezbollah’s disarmament south of the Litani River (as well as a disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, in line with Resolution 1559).
Mr Hochstein strengthened the implementation mechanism of Resolution 1701 by giving Israel a side letter allowing it to target Hezbollah’s weapons even after the ceasefire was implemented if the Lebanese failed to end any violations. Politically, his aim was to subsequently sponsor talks between Lebanon and Israel on delineating their land border, resolving outstanding disagreements over border points and, therefore, removing any justification for Hezbollah to retain its weapons.
Most importantly, the ceasefire agreement introduced a mechanism to end Israel’s occupation of Lebanese territory in a period that “should not exceed 60 days”. This deadline ended in January. However, the Israelis insisted on remaining in five Lebanese hills along the border, because they did not want Hezbollah to plant its flags there and dissuade Israeli inhabitants of the north from returning to their homes.
The Trump administration went along with this, and there are no indications of when, or even if, the Israelis will fully pull their forces out of Lebanon. Since then, the Lebanese army has continued to remove arms south of the Litani, but there has been no progress on Lebanon’s demands: a full Israeli withdrawal; the return of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel; and demarcation of the Lebanon-Israel land border.
Unless the Americans change direction, they will weaken the very people they seek to bolster against Hezbollah
In March, there was a report that Lebanon and Israel had agreed to establish working groups to address the three outstanding issues. However, this was incorrect. The Lebanese do not want to establish working groups because it could create a semblance of normalisation with Israel they want to avoid, and Lebanon neither holds Israeli prisoners nor occupies Israeli land, making committees for these matters unnecessary.
Instead, the Lebanese prefer to operate in the framework of a military technical committee, similar to the one involved in delineating the maritime border with Israel in 2022. The position of the Trump administration in this regard appears to be unclear. While the Americans would like to see the Lebanese talk to the Israelis, on her last visit to Beirut in April the US envoy Morgan Ortagus did not raise the issue of the three committees, only negotiations in general.
According to news reports, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam proposed that Ms Ortagus resume the shuttle diplomacy of her predecessor, Mr Hochstein. While the accounts were that she had reacted positively to the proposal, nothing since then has indicated that she intends to act on it. This makes the Lebanese feel they are in limbo.
No less disconcerting to them is that the monitoring committee established by the ceasefire agreement has done nothing to curtail repeated Israeli violations of the agreement. Indeed, the Lebanese were frustrated with the long absences of the US general heading the committee, Jasper Jeffers. When he finally arrived in Beirut in April, it was only to introduce his successor, General Michael Leeney, who, according to the US embassy in Beirut, will be “a full-time senior US military leader in Beirut”.
If this was a US concession to the Lebanese, it was hardly enough. The Israeli occupation is damaging the credibility of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Mr Salam, who have affirmed that Hezbollah must surrender its weapons and allow the Lebanese army to defend Lebanon’s borders. Instead, Hezbollah officials have now made discussion of the party’s arms conditional on an Israeli withdrawal.
Nor is there any indication Ms Ortagus did much to advance matters while in Beirut. The US embassy posted on social media platform X that her discussions had been “frank”, appearing to suggest that the Americans had pressed the Lebanese to accelerate Hezbollah’s disarmament. We appear to be in a stalemate where the Lebanese cannot advance on the party’s weapons until Israel pulls its forces out of the south, while the US won’t press Israel on a withdrawal until Hezbollah agrees to surrender its arms.
More absurd, the Israelis have violated the ceasefire agreement negotiated by the US thanks to the US side letter allowing them to do so. In other words, Washington has put forth two incompatible agreements. If that’s its strategy, it makes little sense.
The US aim is, allegedly, to prop up the Lebanese state as a counterweight to Hezbollah so it can negotiate a surrender of the party’s weapons. However, it is ludicrous to think this can be done by demonstrating how powerless the state is when facing Israel. Unless the Americans change direction, they will weaken the very people they seek to bolster against Hezbollah, which can only gain from this anomalous situation.
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Wolves 2 (Traore 80', 90 4')
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
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- 600-seat auditorium
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Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
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Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
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Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
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UNpaid bills:
Countries with largest unpaid bill for UN budget in 2019
USA – $1.055 billion
Brazil – $143 million
Argentina – $52 million
Mexico – $36 million
Iran – $27 million
Israel – $18 million
Venezuela – $17 million
Korea – $10 million
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USA – $2.38 billion
Brazil – $287 million
Spain – $110 million
France – $103 million
Ukraine – $100 million
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How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
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TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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