Creation of a Palestinian state “progress” ceasefire in Lebanon, bombing in Homs… Le Figaro takes stock of the Middle East conflict.

Iran says “the world is waiting” for Trump to end wars in Gaza and Lebanon

“The world is waiting” that the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will put “immediately” end Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref told a summit of Arab and Muslim countries in Riyadh on Monday. “The US government is the primary supporter of the Zionist regime’s actions. [Israël]and the world awaits the promise of this country’s new government to put an immediate end to the war against the innocent populations of Gaza and Lebanon.”said Mohammad Reza Aref.

Aref also described Israel’s assassinations of the leaders of Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah as “an act of God”. “organized terrorism”.He was speaking at a summit of Arab and Muslim countries in Riyadh on Monday. “Operations labeled with the misleading phrase ‘targeted assassinations’, in which Palestinian elites and leaders of other countries in the region are killed one by one or en masse, are nothing short of organized terrorism.”said Iran’s First Vice-President.

State media report Israeli strike in far north Lebanon

Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike on a house in the northern region of Akkar, with a local official saying it was one of the farthest attacks from the Lebanese-Israeli border since open warfare between Israel and Hezbollah began.

“An enemy strike targeted a house in the village of Ain Yaacoub”located in northern Lebanon some 150 km from the Israeli border, the official ANI news agency reported, with local official Rony al-Hage telling AFP that displaced people were living in the house and that it was the most northerly attack ever carried out by Israel since the war broke out in September.

At least seven dead in Israeli strike on southern Lebanese town

At least seven people, “mostly women and children”were killed on Monday evening in an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Saksakieh, according to the Ministry of Health. According to the official Lebanese news agency ANI, the strike “targeted a house” in this coastal town relatively far from the border with Israel, and rescue workers are searching the rubble for missing persons.

New sanctions on the horizon against Israeli settlers

The French Foreign Minister indicated on Monday that new sanctions could be taken against Israeli settlers. “soon” against extremist Israeli settlers. “We have taken sanctions, sanctions at national level against violent settlers, and sanctions at European level.”declared Jean-Noël Barrot, stressing that “this sanctions regime had already been activated twice, and could be activated a third time soon”..

For Israel, the creation of a Palestinian state is not a “realistic position”.

Wanting to establish a Palestinian state is not “today” a project “realistic”said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar at a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday. “In a word? No”replied Gideon Saar, asked about the prospect of reviving the so-called Abraham Accords with the election of Donald Trump as US president and the possibility of extending normalization between Israel and several Arab countries to Saudi Arabia in exchange for the creation of a Palestinian state. “A Palestinian state (…) will be a Hamas state”.he added, “I don’t think that position is realistic today, and we have to be realistic.”.

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Saudi Crown Prince calls for immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon…

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salmane, on Monday called for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, at the opening of the Arab League/Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in Riyadh. “We call on the international community to assume its responsibilities (…) by immediately putting an end to the Israeli attacks against our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon.”said the Crown Prince, who accused Israel of committing a “grave breach of international law”. “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.

… and calls on Israel to respect Iran’s sovereignty and refrain from attacking its territory.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince also declared that Israel must “respect the territorial sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran”. and “refrain from attacking its territory”at the opening of the Arab League/Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in Riyadh. He described Iran as “sister republic”a sign of warming relations between the two countries, which in March 2023 put an end to a seven-year diplomatic row thanks to a rapprochement negotiated under the aegis of China.

Israel notes “some progress” towards a ceasefire in Lebanon

Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, also reported “some progress” towards a ceasefire in Lebanon. “some progress” for a ceasefire in Lebanonwhere the Israeli army launched a major military offensive against the Islamist movement Hezbollah in mid-September. “There is some progress”he said in response to a question about the prospects for such a truce. “We’re working on this with the Americans”.he added at a press conference in Jerusalem.

Lebanon’s prime minister says an “unprecedented” crisis threatens his country’s existence

For his part, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati asserted that an “unprecedented” crisis was threatening his country’s existence. “unprecedented” threatened his country’s existence. He also called on the international community to “continue to send aid to Lebanon”.at a summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Fires west of Jerusalem, no link with Yemen missile launch

The fires that broke out west of Jerusalem have no connection with the interception of a missile launch from Yemen claimed by the Houthi rebels, the Israeli fire department announced on Monday. Initially, the fire department and the Israeli army had reported that fires in the Bet Shemesh area, some 20 km from Jerusalem, had been caused by debris resulting from the interception of a missile from Yemen.

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“The outbreak of fire, which was limited – two cars and some brush burned – is of criminal origin, according to the elements we have recovered”Oudi Gal, spokesman for the Jerusalem area fire department, told AFP. “The link was made with the interceptions because of the temporal coincidence between them and the outbreak of fire and because interceptions often cause fires, but in this case it’s not related.”he added, adding that the fires had been brought under control.

Hezbollah official says Israeli army still not occupying any village in southern Lebanon

Hezbollah media officer Mohammad Afif, said on Monday that the Israeli army was still not occupying any villages in southern Lebanon. where it launched a ground offensive on September 30. “After 45 days of bloody battles, the Israeli enemy is still unable to occupy a single village.” in southern Lebanon, the official assured a press conference in the southern suburbs of Beirut, pounded by Israeli aircraft.

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He assured that Hezbollah fighters had been able to repel the Israeli army at Khiam, some six kilometers from the border, and that it had unsuccessfully “attempted to penetrate on several fronts in Bint Jbeil”.another border village. Since September 30, the Israeli army has been making incursions into Lebanese territory and dynamiting buildings in border villages, without settling there. Hezbollah has accused the Israeli army of wanting to create a “no man’s land at the border.

Mohammad Afif denied “the allegations” by Israel that Hezbollah’s missile stockpile has diminished as a result of its daily strikes on Lebanon. “How can our missile stock diminish when a few days ago we targeted the suburbs of Tel Aviv (…) and employed Fateh missiles for the first time?”he asked.

Official Syrian media report strike near Homs

The official Syrian news agency Sana reported on Monday that a “Israeli aggression” targeting the Homs regionin central Syria, the day after a deadly strike near Damascus. According to Sana, “Israeli aggression” targeted “the area around Chinchar, south of Homs”.. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) reported that the Israeli raid was aimed at “an ammunition warehouse”. of the Lebanese Hezbollah, which is waging open war against Israel.