BEIRUT: Lebanon is a “place of hope” and “should not be a platform for aggression,” visiting Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah said on Sunday in Beirut.

On the second day of his visit to the capital, the minister renewed a commitment during separate meetings with Lebanese officials to a “Kuwaiti, Gulf, Arab and international message for Lebanon to not be a platform for any aggression, and for all borders to be controlled by the state.”

The minister met on Sunday with President Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi.

After his talks with the Kuwaiti minister, Aoun stressed Lebanon’s “firm keenness to preserve the best relations with the Arab countries.”

The Kuwaiti minister held talks with Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Saturday night.

He also met Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib, who is expected to visit Kuwait on Saturday.

Kuwait currently chairs the ministerial council of the Arab League.

Al-Sabah said that the visit was among various international efforts aimed at rebuilding confidence between Lebanon and the international arena.

The Kuwaiti minister’s statements had three central themes.

The first was a message of “sympathy, solidarity, synergy and love for the brotherly Lebanese people.”

Secondly, Al-Sabah urged Lebanese officials to adopt a position of neutrality and ensure that the country “will not be a platform for any aggression, while refraining from interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries in general, and the Gulf in particular.”

His third message stressed a regional desire “to see a stable, secure and strong Lebanon by implementing international and Arab resolutions.”

Al-Sabah said that Lebanon “will review the messages I have conveyed to the Lebanese officials and … we will soon receive a response.”

Lebanon’s ties with Gulf states plunged into a new crisis in October after comments by former Lebanese information minister George Kordahi criticizing the conflict in Yemen.

Kuwait was one of several members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, that responded to Kordahi’s remarks by expelling the Lebanese ambassador and recalling its envoy to Beirut.

Aoun said in a tweet on Sunday that Lebanon was keen on maintaining “the best relations” with the Gulf states and that the Kuwaiti proposals would be discussed before an appropriate position was announced.

Some linked Al-Sabah’s visit to the return of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Lebanon, but the Kuwaiti minister denied such a link.

He stressed: “The visit has nothing to do with internal Lebanese affairs. We do not interfere in Lebanese affairs.”

Hariri will announce on Monday his final decision on whether or not he will run in upcoming parliamentary elections.

His media office said that the former premier will deliver a speech at 4 p.m. on Monday from his residence.

For the second day in a row, hundreds of Hariri supporters flocked outside his home in the capital, demanding that he run in the election.

Addressing his supporters, Hariri said: “I have listened to you today and I want you to listen to me tomorrow.

“I assure you that my blood is yours, and this house’s doors will always be open to receive you all.”

He told journalists: “Sometimes one has to take a step back in order to move forward.”

Supporters carried pictures of Hariri along with the Lebanese and Future Movement flags, chanting slogans in support of the former prime minister.

They calling on Hariri to rescind his decision to refrain from running for elections, asking him not to abandon his supporters.

“Hariri and the Future Movement are among the country’s main political symbols, and we will not accept their abandonment,” one supporter said.

His decision is expected to have profound repercussions on the electoral process and Lebanese politics at large.

In his Sunday sermon, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi reiterated the importance of Lebanon’s neutrality.

“However, it’s unfortunate that this concept is completely absent from the speeches of officials and Lebanon thus remains hostage to regional axes,” Al-Rahi added.

During his joint press conference on Sunday with the Lebanese interior minister, Al-Sabah said: “We discussed the issue of drug smuggling from Lebanon, and we appreciate what Lebanon is doing.”

He added: “We demanded mechanisms to ensure that shipments do not reach Kuwait and the rest of the region, and that Lebanese authorities should do this to restore confidence.

“There is a general desire for all Lebanese borders and outlets to be controlled by the state and for Lebanon to become more secure and stable.”

Mawlawi, Lebanon’s interior minister, said: “I reiterate the position of Lebanon and the Interior Ministry that rejects any verbal abuse of Kuwait. We discussed all issues related to border control and drug smuggling.”

A government source told Arab News: “The messages that Al-Sabah conveyed are the outcome of contact between France, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and they go in line with the principles contained in the Mikati government’s ministerial statement.”

The source added: “These messages will be discussed, and the Lebanese foreign minister will deliver Lebanon’s response during his visit to Kuwait.”

The source also commented on the possibility of Hezbollah ignoring these principles — as it has repeatedly done by insulting Gulf countries.

They said that the Lebanese government’s position “is the only one that matters, because it represents all of Lebanon.”

The government position is based on the ministerial statement that stresses Lebanon’s neutrality and insists on friendly relations with Arab and Gulf countries, the source added.

JEDDAH: Daesh militants launched a new wave of attacks on a jail in northern Syria on Sunday as the death toll from four days of fighting rose to 136.

More than 100 terrorists first attacked the Kurdish-run Ghwayran jail in Hasakeh city on Thursday to free hundreds of Daesh members, including prominent leaders, in the most significant operation since its “caliphate” was defeated in Syria nearly three years ago

Amid intense fighting since then, the militants have freed prisoners and seized weapons stored at the jail, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the monitoring group based in Britain.

“At least 84 Daesh members and 45 Kurdish fighters, including internal security forces, prison guards and counter-terrorism forces, have been killed,” the Observatory said. Seven civilians had also died in fighting in the city, the largest in northeastern Syria, it said.

The battles continued on Sunday as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, closed in on Daesh targets inside and outside the jail.

Kurdish forces said the militants staged a new attack on the prison in an attempt to break the SDF security cordon and support prisoners who were still in control of some parts of the jail.

The SDF said its forces had sealed off the area around the prison and “Daesh fighters located within the gates … can no longer escape.” The Observatory said the SDF had secured most of the area and much of the jail itself, apart from some cell blocks where militants had yet to surrender.

Hundreds of civilians fled the area. Daesh fighters were “entering homes and killing people,” said one man fleeing on foot carrying a child wrapped in a blanket. “It was a miracle we made it out. The situation is still very bad. After four days, violent clashes are still ongoing.”

Hamsha Sweidan, 80, who had been trapped in her home near the jail, said civilians were left without bread or water as the battle raged. “We have been dying of hunger and thirst,” she said as she crossed into SDF-held areas in Hasakeh city. “Now, we don’t know where to go.”

Ghwayran is the largest prison in Syria holding Daesh militants, housing up to 3,500, including over 600 under the age of 18. Daesh claimed their attack on Thursday had freed 800. The SDF said they had recaptured about 100 escaped prisoners, leaving hundreds still on the loose.

However, the anti-Daesh coalition insisted the prison attack would leave Daesh weaker because many militants involved in the fighting had been killed.

“The coalition is confident in its assessment that the recent Daesh escape attempt will not pose a significant threat,” it said. “While Daesh remains a threat, it is clearly no longer the force it once was.”

TUNIS: Four people died after a boat carrying Europe-bound migrants on the Mediterranean Sea sank off Tunisia’s coast, the Tunisian Defense Ministry said Friday.
Defense Ministry spokesman Mohamed Zekri said navy divers rescued 21 people on Thursday night and seven were still missing. The boat was heading to Italy, Zekri said.
Local media reported that a 10-year-old girl was among those who died.
Survivors told authorities that the boat had left the island of Kerkennah, near the port city of Sfax, carrying 32 Tunisians.
The UN has estimated that 20 percent of about 115,000 migrants who reached Europe by sea last year started the journey from Tunisia. Social unrest has gripped the North African country has for years as the economy worsened and unemployment reached 18 percent.
The central Mediterranean route, which runs from North Africa to southern Italy, is the busiest and deadliest migration route to Europe. People travel from Libya and Tunisia in crowded boats and at the mercy of the smugglers they pay to get them across the sea.
About 60,000 people arrived in Italy by sea last year, and some 1,200 died or disappeared on the journey, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
On Wednesday, an amphibious unit of Tunisia’s navy rescued 23 people from a sinking boat as they left Tunisia for Italy, according to the Tunisian Defense ministry. It said 13 of the passengers were from Mali and 10 were from the Ivory Coast.

LONDON: A Syrian child born with no limbs after his mother endured a gas attack during her pregnancy is set to receive four prosthetic replacements in Italy following a charity campaign.

Thanks to donations totalling €114,000 ($129,000), Mustafa Al-Nazzar, 6, will be treated by world-leading doctors at the INAIL prosthetic center near Bologna.

“It will be a complicated job, but we aim to allow Mustafa to live an autonomous life,” said Gregorio Teti, technical director of the center that has worked with Alex Zanardi, the Formula One driver who lost his legs in a crash. 

Al-Nazzar’s mother was pregnant when the Syrian regime dropped gas bombs on Idlib province in 2016. The event has been linked to the boy’s condition.

Like so many others caught up in the regime’s oppression and the ongoing conflict, the family fled to Turkey, where Al-Nazzar was photographed being held in the air by his father, who lost a leg following a bomb attack. 

The famous photo captures their beaming smiles despite the suffering they have both endured.

The photographer was honored by the Siena International Photo Awards, which diverted the world’s eyes to the photo, inspiring the organizers of the prize to launch a charity appeal for Al-Nazzar.

“We feared that after the attention to the photo died down, the boy would get no help,” said Luca Venturi, the prize founder.

The Italian government has assisted with visas to bring the whole family to Italy, including Al-Nazzar’s two younger sisters. The Catholic Church has offered the family an apartment. 

Teti said Al-Nazzar’s new limbs could be adjusted to work thanks to small movements the boy makes in his shoulders and torso, which will require lengthy training sessions. 

Venturi said: “As he grows he will need to change limbs, while translators will be needed until the family can learn Italian. We are aiming to get to €400,000 raised.”

Al-Nazzar’s father told Italian media: “Mustafa is really happy, he has said he will finally be able to walk, hug me and go to school on his own.”

LONDON: A British-Iranian dual national imprisoned in Iran will begin a hunger strike on Sunday in support of an American former hostage of Tehran who is staging his own hunger strike outside the nuclear talks in Vienna.

Anoosheh Ashoori is staging the strike in solidarity with Barry Rosen, 77, who, as then-press attache at the US Embassy in Tehran, was held hostage for 444 days between 1979 and 1981.

Ashoori was arrested in August 2017 and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for espionage. He is now jailed in Evin prison in Tehran.

His wife Sherry said: “We are extremely concerned for his health as he approaches his 68th birthday, but having failed to see any progress in the UK Foreign Office’s efforts to secure his release, and no sign of the welfare of hostages held by Iran currently being a priority of Western governments, he will begin his hunger strike.”

Rosen says hostages should be released as part of a new nuclear deal, and has also been joined on hunger strike by Lebanese US resident Nizar Zakka, who was detained by Iran between 2015 and 2019.

Rosen told The Guardian: “I am receiving heart-rending messages from Iranians, and I am absolutely humbled that Anoosheh is doing this in support of me.

“I support him completely in return and I urge him to be careful and look after himself. I am starting to feel tired and weak, but I am determined to continue.

“I am here to call on the Americans and the Europeans to make the release of the hostages a condition of any agreement to renew the Iran nuclear deal.

“This has been going on for 40 years, and people are being thrown in jail with no evidence. There has to be an agreement that this will end.”

Rosen said he is concerned that Western countries are not taking Iran’s hostage-taking strategy seriously. “It is like herding cats. Each country seems to deal with its dual national hostages on its own,” he added.

“There is no sense of commonality, so they leave Iran to pick each country off. Something is missing here. The Iranians seem to be dividing and ruling.

“I decided to do this (campaign) two weeks ago. I am just an individual, and thought I might be a lone eagle, but it feels like a movement might be starting.”