‘No One in Lebanon Wants to Normalize with Israel,’ says PM Nawaf Salam
CrossFireArabia- March 26, 2025
Lebanon doesn’t want to normalize with Israel, pure and simple. Despite increasing pressure from the US administration, the government in Beirut is against any normalization moves with Israel.
“No one in Lebanon wants normalization with Israel,” says Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. “It is rejected by all Lebanese people,” he added.
The comments of the newly-elected Lebanese Prime Minister, made Wednesday, to a delegation from the Lebanese Press Editors Association, are trending on the social media.
“International and Arab diplomatic pressure on Israel to halt its attacks has not been exhausted,” noting that “no one wants normalization with Israel in Lebanon, which is rejected by all Lebanese,” as carried by the naharnet website.
Salam said Lebanon would not establish ties with Israel even though the latter still controls five border posts in Lebanon and which have “have no military or security value, but Israel holds them to keep pressure on Lebanon.”
Local media reports have emerged about US pressure on Lebanon to reach “an agreement that is less than normalization and more than an armistice” with Israel according to Anadolu.
A ceasefire was reached by the two countries at the end of last November after a fully-fledged war that began in September following months of cross-border fire.
Israel has repeatedly violated the terms of the ceasefire since then with 1,250 violations, 100 deaths and 330 injuries as reported by the Lebanese authorities.
Israel was supposed to withdraw from Lebanon by 26 January, 2025, extended the deadline to 18 February and still refuses to comply maintaining a outposts at five border-points.
Israel Kills One of Its Prisoners, Injures Two in Latest Gaza Attack – Hamas Official
- CrossFireArabia
- March 18, 2025
One Israeli prisoner was killed and two others injured in Tuesday’s attack on the Gaza Strip that was launched by the Israeli army in the early morning hours according to a Hamas official who requested anonymity.
He explained that the death and injury occurred as a result of Israeli airstrikes that were unleashed on the different parts of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas is holding 59 prisoners, and sources estimate that half of them are alive, while the rest were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and in Israeli attempts to free them.
During the exchange deal, approximately 150 Israeli prisoners were released from Gaza in exchange for 1,700 Palestinian prisoners. The exchange did not include Israeli soldiers or senior Palestinian prisoner leaders according to Jo24.
Trump Orders US-Israeli Airstrikes on Yemen
- CrossFireArabia
- March 15, 2025
The Houthis on Saturday said the US and Israeli airstrikes targeted the capital Sanaa, as President Donald Trump announced strikes on targets in Yemen.
According to 26 September Net, the website affiliated with the Houthi-run Defense Ministry, local sources said “American-Israeli aircraft launched a series of airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa.”
“Powerful explosions were heard as a result of the strikes,” the sources said according to Anadolu.
The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah television channel also reported that Sanaa was targeted. It said the strikes targeted residential neighborhoods in Shu’aub district, north of the capital.
Trump on Truth Social said he ordered the military to launch “powerful” and “decisive” action against the Houthis.
“Your time is up, and your attacks must stop, starting today. If they don’t, hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before,” Trump said.
Witnesses told Anadolu that airstrikes also hit the Geraf neighborhood in northern Sanaa, resulting in powerful explosions.
Details on casualties or damage caused by the attacks were not immediately available.
In solidarity with Gaza, Houthis had attacked Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea with missiles and drones since late 2023, disrupting global trade.
The group halted its attacks when the Gaza ceasefire was declared in January.
But it threatened to resume the attacks when Israel blocked all aid into Gaza after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire in early March.
