Lebanese | Pakistan

• Qassem says talks will bring Lebanon ‘nothing but shame, humiliation’ • Salam accuses group of ‘helping Israel’ • Talks between both sides continue in Rome BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s chief said on Tuesday that direct talks between Lebanon and Israel would bring only “humiliation” for Lebanon and accused authorities of helping Israel, prompting Lebanon’s prime minister to hit back. The statement came as Lebanon and Israel were preparing to hold a fresh round of direct talks in Rome under US sponsorship, the seventh such meeting since the outbreak of the US-Iran war. “All the direct negotiations will bring Lebanon nothing but shame, humiliation, disappointment and successive concessions,” Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a televised address. He said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun “has not acted as an arbiter, nor as a unifying figure, but has become biased and divisive, which is incompatible with his role and with Lebanon’s strength”. The head of the Iran-backed group also accused Lebanese authorities of having “...

The Lebanese army commander held a meeting with Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on Tuesday, during which the two exchanged views on the evolving regional security environment. The military’s media affairs wing said in a statement that Lebanese armed forces’ Commander-in-Chief General Rodolphe Haykal called on CDF Munir at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. He was presented a guard of honour by a smartly turned-out tri-services contingent upon his arrival at the GHQ, the statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations said. “During the meeting, both dignitaries exchanged views on matters of mutual interest, evolving regional security environment, defence cooperation and prospects for enhancing bilateral military relations,” it added. The discussions focused on strengthening professional interactions, training cooperation and institutional linkages between the armed forces of the two countries, the statement said. It said Field Marshal Munir reaffirmed during...

UN experts have called for an international investigation into the killing of three Lebanese journalists in an Israeli strike, saying Israel had not provided “credible evidence” of their supposed links to armed groups. The three journalists, including Al Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib, were killed on March 28 in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon. “We denounce strongly what has now become a standard, dangerous practice of Israel to target and kill journalists and then claim, without providing any credible evidence, that they were involved with armed groups,” the experts said in a statement. The Israeli army claimed that Shoeib was a member of the Radwan force, an elite unit of Hezbollah, operating “under the guise of a journalist”. According to the experts, Israel’s only “evidence” for its claims was a photoshopped image of the journalist. Israel also confirmed it killed journalist Fatima Ftouni of Al Mayadeen and her brother, cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, alleging he was “an additional terrorist in Hezbollah...