Region

DUBAI — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Monday to discuss economic cooperation, the UAE's official news agency said.

Sheikh Mohammed emphasised in the meeting the need to "build effective partnerships with the countries of the world", according to the WAM news agency.

The Emirati president also spoke of "the importance of reaching peaceful solutions to crises" around the world, while Zelensky thanked the United Arab Emirates for its "contribution" to the exchange of prisoners between Kyiv and Moscow, WAM said.

It added that the two countries also signed an "economic partnership agreement".

Zelensky arrived in the UAE ahead of Tuesday talks between US and Russian officials in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Washington and Moscow have said their top diplomats, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will lead the delegations.

A source close to the Saudi government told AFP it expected the officials to hold a preparatory meeting ahead of a possible summit between US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

As Moscow and Washington are preparing for a summit between their two leaders, Europe and Kyiv are worried they will try to settle the three-year war in Ukraine without them.

The Ukrainian president posted a video of himself getting off the plane in Abu Dhabi and holding talks with officials.

"Our top priority is bringing even more of our people home from captivity," Zelensky said on X.

"We will also focus on investments and economic partnership, as well as a large-scale humanitarian programme," he added.

The UAE has been an important mediator between Russia and Ukraine, helping with prisoner exchanges and the return of Ukrainian children from Russia throughout the three-year war.

Zelensky said last week that he planned to also visit Turkey and Saudi Arabia in the coming days.

On Friday he clarified that he had no plans to meet with Russian or US officials in Riyadh.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanese official media said one person was killed Monday in an Israeli strike in the southern city of Sidon on the eve of a deadline in fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah.

The raid came as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged sponsors of the deal to help pressure Israel to withdraw troops by Tuesday's deadline.

"A body... was retrieved from the car that was targeted by the Israeli strike" in the coastal city, "after firefighters extinguished the fire", the official National News Agency said.

It said that "investigations are continuing to know the identity of the individual targeted".

An AFP photographer saw soldiers and first responders inspecting the mangled, burnt-out wreckage of the vehicle.

The ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group has been in effect since November 27, after more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war during which Israel launched ground operations.

Under the deal, Lebanon's military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was later extended to February 18.

Hizbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River -- about 30 kilometres from the border -- and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

"We are continuing contacts on several levels to push Israel to respect the agreement and to withdraw on the scheduled date, and return the prisoners," Aoun said, according to a presidency statement.

"The sponsors of the deal should bear their responsibility to assist us," he added.

'Impossible' to return

A committee involving the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel and UN peacekeepers is tasked with ensuring any ceasefire violations are identified and dealt with.

Hizbollah chief Naim Qassem on Sunday said it was the government's responsibility to ensure the Israeli army fully withdraws by Tuesday's deadline.

Last week, Lebanon's parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, a Hizbollah ally, said Washington had told him that while Israel would withdraw on February 18, "it will remain in five locations".

Lebanon has rejected the demand.

On Sunday, Israel said it carried out strikes in Lebanon targeting Hizbollah military sites, as official media reported three raids in the country's east.

The National News Agency also said Israeli gunfire killed a woman in the border town of Hula on Sunday as people tried to go home.

On Saturday, Israel said it targeted a senior militant from Hizbollah's aerial unit, as Lebanese official media reported two dead in an Israeli strike in the south.

Karim Bitar, lecturer in Middle East studies at Sciences-Po university in Paris, said "it appears that there is a tacit if not an explicit US agreement to extend the withdrawal period".

"The most likely scenario is that Israel would maintain control over four or five hills that basically oversee most of south Lebanon's villages," he said.

Ramzi Kaiss from Human Rights Watch said Monday that "Israel's deliberate demolition of civilian homes and infrastructure" was making it "impossible for many residents to return".

BEIRUT — Lebanon's president voiced concern Monday that Israel may not fully withdraw its forces by the deadline the following day, as Israel said it killed a Hamas commander in south Lebanon.

Officials in Lebanon have demanded Israel's full withdrawal by Tuesday, after Israeli forces missed an earlier January cut-off under a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah.

"We are afraid that a complete withdrawal will not be achieved tomorrow," President Joseph Aoun said in a statement from his office.

"The Lebanese response will be through a unified, comprehensive national position," he added.

The Israeli military said it killed "the head of Hamas' operations department in Lebanon" in an air strike, after Lebanon's official National News Agency said a raid targeted a vehicle in the coastal city of Sidon.

In a statement, it said Mohammed Shahine "was eliminated after recently planning terror attacks, directed and funded by Iran, from Lebanese territory against the citizens of the state of Israel".

An AFP photographer saw soldiers and first responders inspecting the mangled, burnt-out wreckage of the vehicle.

Israel has repeatedly targeted Hamas officials in Lebanon since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 and Hizbollah initiated cross-border hostilities with Israel over the conflict.

The Israel-Hizbollah ceasefire has been in effect since November 27, after more than two months of all-out war during which Israel launched ground operations.

Ceasefire sponsors

Under the deal, Lebanon's military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was later extended to February 18.

Hizbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River,  about 30 kilometres from the border,  and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

"We are continuing contacts on several levels to push Israel to respect the agreement and to withdraw on the scheduled date, and return the prisoners," Aoun said earlier Monday.

"The sponsors of the deal should bear their responsibility to assist us," he added.

A committee involving the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel and UN peacekeepers is tasked with ensuring any ceasefire violations are identified and dealt with.

Hizbollah chief Naim Qassem on Sunday said it was the government's responsibility to ensure the Israeli army fully withdraws by Tuesday's deadline.

Last week, Lebanon's parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, a Hizbollah  ally, said Washington had told him that while Israel would withdraw on February 18, "it will remain in five locations".

Lebanon has rejected the demand.

Karim Bitar, lecturer in Middle East studies at Sciences-Po University in Paris, said "it appears that there is a tacit if not an explicit US agreement to extend the withdrawal period".

"The most likely scenario is that Israel would maintain control over four or five hills that basically oversee most of south Lebanon's villages," he said.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Israel's prime minister in Jerusalem on Sunday for talks on the Gaza ceasefire, launching a Middle East tour a day after the latest hostage-prisoner exchange.

On his first visit to the region as Washington's top diplomat, Rubio is expected to push US President Donald Trump's widely condemned proposal to take control of Gaza and relocate its more than 2 million residents.

The scheme that Trump outlined earlier this month, while Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu visited Washington, lacked details. Trump said Palestinians had "lived a miserable existence" in Gaza and suggested the coastal territory could become the "Riviera of the Middle East", following redevelopment after more than 15 months of war.

Netanyahu welcomed the idea but foreign leaders have largely rejected it.

Rubio arrived hours after Hamas freed three Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners -- the sixth swap under a fragile ceasefire which the United States helped mediate along with Qatar and Egypt.

"At any moment the fighting could resume. We hope that the calm will continue and that Egypt will pressure Israel to prevent them from restarting the war and displacing people," said Nasser Al Astal, 62, a retired teacher in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis.

Washington, Israel's top ally and weapons supplier, has said it is open to alternative proposals from Arab governments but insists that, for now, "the only plan is Trump's".

In January, then-US secretary of state Antony Blinken outlined a roadmap for post-war Gaza, warning it required Israel to accept a path to a Palestinian state -- something Netanyahu's government opposes.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisisaid the establishment of a Palestinian state is "the only guarantee" of lasting Middle East peace

Regional states including Saudi Arabia have repeatedly called for a Palestinian state, existing alongside Israel.

Rubio is due to also visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Overnight, Israel said it received a shipment of US-made bombs, after the previous Biden administration blocked a shipment of heavy 2,000-pound ordnance.

Brink of collapse 

Hamas and Israel are implementing the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire that began on January 19 but nearly collapsed last week.

Israel had warned Hamas it must free three living hostages by the weekend or face renewed fighting.

The freed hostages -- Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov, 29, and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn, 46 -- returned to emotional family reunions.

Flanked by armed and masked Hamas fighters on a stage, they had to undergo a last-minute ordeal of speaking in front of the crowds.

Israel freed 369 Palestinian prisoners, mostly Gazans detained during the war, but also some serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis.

Footage aired by Israeli media showed Palestinian prisoners in sweatshirts bearing a Star of David and the slogan: "We will not forget and we will not forgive."

They tore them off upon reaching Gaza and burned them in a bonfire at the reception point in Khan Yunis.

Since the truce began last month, 19 Israeli hostages have been released in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Out of 251 people seized in Hamas' October 7, 2023 sudden attack on Israel that sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.

Heightened tensions

Negotiations on a second phase of the truce, aimed at securing a more lasting end to the war, could begin this week in Doha, a Hamas official and another source familiar with the talks have said.

On Saturday, a former Israeli negotiator said his country missed two chances last year to reach a truce and hasten hostage releases, which Netanyahu's office denied.

Trump has warned of repercussions for neighbouring Egypt and Jordan unless they accept displaced Gazans under his plan.

Diplomats say Egypt is leading efforts to propose an alternative focused on training a new security force and appointing local Palestinian leaders.

Rubio said he believed Arab states were "working in good faith", but insisted Hamas must have no future 

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,264 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

On Sunday, Hamas said an Israeli air strike killed three police officers near south Gaza's Rafah. Israel said it struck "several armed individuals" in south Gaza.

It is at least the second Israeli air strike in Gaza since the ceasefire began.

BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities said Saturday that more than 25 people have been arrested following an attack on a United Nations convoy that wounded two peacekeepers, including the force's outgoing deputy commander.

UN and Lebanese officials have condemned Friday's attack, which came as Hizbollah   supporters blocked the road to the country's only international airport for a second night over a decision to bar two Iranian flights from landing.

On Saturday, an AFP correspondent said tear gas was fired to disperse a crowd that again blocked the road to the airport after the Iran-backed group called for a sit-in.

Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar told reporters that "more than 25 people have been arrested by Lebanese army intelligence", with another person detained by the security services.

"This does not mean these detainees carried out the attack... but the investigations will show who is responsible," he said, adding that violations would be treated "with all seriousness".

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon has demanded a "full and immediate investigation" after one of its vehicles was set on fire in the attack, which wounded outgoing deputy force commander Chok Bahadur Dhakal, who was heading home to Nepal after completing his mission.

UNIFIL deputy spokesperson Kandice Ardiel told AFP a second Nepalese peacekeeper was also wounded.

UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the attack.

"Such attacks are absolutely unacceptable... The safety and security of UN personnel and property must be respected at all times," his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.

"Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law... and may constitute war crimes," he added.

BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities said Saturday that more than 25 people had been arrested following an attack on a United Nations convoy the day before that wounded two peacekeepers, including the force's outgoing deputy commander.

UN and Lebanese officials have condemned Friday's attack, which came as Hizbollah supporters for a second night blocked the road to the country's only international airport over a decision barring two Iranian planes from landing there.

"More than 25 people have been arrested by Lebanese army intelligence", with another person detained by the security services, Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar told reporters after an emergency security meeting Saturday.

"This does not mean these detainees carried out the attack... but the investigations will show who is responsible," he said.

The army and security agencies would bolster measures to "maintain security and stability", Hajjar added, and violations would be treated "with all seriousness".

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon [UNIFIL] has demanded an investigation after one of its vehicles was set on fire during the incident, which wounded outgoing deputy force commander Chok Bahadur Dhakal, a Nepalese national who was heading home after ending his mission.

UNIFIL deputy spokesperson Kandice Ardiel told AFP a second Nepalese peacekeeper was also wounded and hospitalised.

President Joseph Aoun vowed "the attackers will receive their punishment", and said "security forces will not be lenient with any party that tries to upset stability and civil peace", according to a statement from the presidency on X.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam strongly condemned the "criminal attack" and promised to arrest the perpetrators during a conversation with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and UNIFIL Commander General Aroldo Lazaro.

SANAA — Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels on Thursday threatened to launch new attacks if the United States and Israel go ahead with plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza.

"We will take action by firing missiles and drones and launching maritime attacks if the United States and Israel implement their plan to displace" Palestinians from Gaza, rebel leader Abdul Malik Al Huthi said in a televised speech.

US President Donald Trump's plan to move Gaza's inhabitants and redevelop the territory has been widely condemned in the Arab world.

The Huthis have launched scores of attacks on Israeli targets and Red Sea shipping during the Israel-Hamas war.

"I call on the armed forces to be ready to take military action in the event that the criminal Trump carries out his threat," Huthi said on the rebels' Al Masirah TV station.