Lebanon Threatens Israel After Gas Drilling Rig Enters Karish Gas Field

Author: Rhonda Published: June 5, 2022

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7 Sivan 5782 – June 5, 2022

A natural gas drill rig in the Mediterranean.

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Mikati issued a warning to Israel on Sunday after a ship carrying a new offshore gas-drilling rig operated by the British-Greek Energean energy firm entered Israeli territorial waters on the way to the Karish natural gas field.

Lebanon insists the gas field, claimed by Israel, is located within its maritime territorial waters.

Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah warned Thursday the terrorist organization “will not allow Israel to produce natural gas in the disputed territories.”

Lebanese General Security directorate head Abbas Ibrahim issued a separate threat: “As long as there is no agreement on the maritime borders (with Israel – Abu Ali), Lebanon will respond as if its sovereignty and rights have been violated. The entire area north of point 29 is disputed, and the enemy has no right to extract natural gas from that area. This would infringe on Lebanese natural resources, Lebanese sovereignty, and Lebanese rights,” blogger Abu Ali Express reported.

The blogger added that the reference to “Point 29” is a new claim by Beirut, one that adds parts of the Karish natural gas reservoir and triples the size of the maritime zone disputed by Lebanon, despite opposition from American mediators in the dispute.

According to the Lebanese a-Nahar news outlet, the Energean gas rig had already crossed Point 29 and was being anchored into place in preparation for operations.

“Israel did not heed the warnings issued by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and his threat to stop the ship, which will start drilling operations in the disputed area, taking advantage of the weakness of the Lebanese position and its differences over the demarcation lines,” the Lebanese news outlet reported.

“If things are moving towards escalation…[either] Lebanon will turn to the international community and the United Nations to form a pressure force to stop the drilling, the clash will advance negotiations, or the American envoy for the demarcation, Amos Hochstein, will move on shuttle tours in the region to settle the crisis,” a-Nahar predicted.

Putin threatens strikes on new targets if West gives Ukraine long-range missiles

Author: Rhonda Published: June 5, 2022

‘We will draw the appropriate conclusions,’ Russian leader warns after Kyiv struck in missile barrage for first time since end of April

By BLAISE GAUQUELIN and QUENTIN TYBERGHIENToday, 6:16 pm

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on June 2, 2022. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Sunday that Moscow will hit new targets if the West supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles, hours after several explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

If Kyiv is provided with such missiles “we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our arms… to strike targets we haven’t hit before,” Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

He did not specify which targets he meant.

Putin’s comments came after the United States last week announced that it would supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems.

Ukrainian officials earlier on Sunday said Russian missiles hit railway infrastructure sites in the first such strikes on Kyiv since April 28.

Russia said that it had destroyed tanks supplied to Ukraine by eastern European countries during the strikes.

“High-precision, long-range missiles fired by the Russian Aerospace Forces on the outskirts of Kyiv destroyed T-72 tanks supplied by eastern European countries and other armored vehicles that were in hangars,” Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

One person was wounded and AFP reporters saw several buildings with blown-out windows near one of the sites that was targeted.

Leonid, a 63-year-old local resident who used to work at the facility, said he heard three or four explosions.

“There is nothing military there but they are bombing everything,” he said.

Vasyl, 43, said he heard five blasts.

“People are afraid now,” he said, walking back to his damaged home with two loaves of bread.

Ukrainian authorities did not want to identify the precise locations of the explosions for security reasons.

Severodonetsk ‘divided’

Meanwhile, in the east of the country, the battle for control of Severodonetsk raged on.

The city is the largest still in Ukrainian hands in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, where Russian forces have been advancing gradually after retreating or being beaten back from other parts of the country, including Kyiv.

Luhansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said that Russian forces had lost ground in the city and it was now “divided in two.”

“The Russians were in control of about 70 percent of the city, but have been forced back over the past two days,” he said on Telegram.

“They are afraid to move freely around the city.”

Russia’s army on Saturday claimed some Ukrainian military units were withdrawing from Severodonetsk, but Mayor Oleksandr Striuk said Ukrainian forces were fighting to retake the city.

“We are currently doing everything necessary to re-establish total control” of the city, he said in an interview broadcast on Telegram.

‘Put Russia in its place’

Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions forced to flee and towns turned into rubble since Putin ordered an all-out assault on his pro-Western neighbor on February 24.

Western powers have imposed increasingly stringent sanctions on Russia and supplied arms to Ukraine, but divisions have emerged on how to react.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday Putin had committed a “fundamental error” but that Russia should not be “humiliated” so that a diplomatic solution could be found.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reacted Saturday by saying such calls “only humiliate France” and any country taking a similar position.

“It is Russia that humiliates itself. We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place,” he said.

Despite diplomatic efforts, the conflict has raged in the south and east of the country.

The press service of the Ukrainian president’s office on Sunday reported nine civilians killed in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions from shelling.

Fears over food

Apart from the human toll, the conflict has caused widespread damage to Ukraine’s cultural heritage.

On Saturday, Ukrainian officials reported a large Orthodox wooden monastery, a popular pilgrimage site, had burnt down and blamed Russia for the shelling.

Moscow continues to prove “its inability to be part of the civilized world,” Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said in a statement.

Russia’s defense ministry blamed “Ukrainian nationalists” for the blaze.

Russian troops now occupy a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, according to Kyiv, and Moscow has imposed a blockade on its Black Sea ports, sparking fears of a global food crisis. Ukraine and Russia are among the top wheat exporters in the world.

The United Nations said it was leading intense negotiations with Russia to allow Ukraine’s grain harvest to leave the country.

The UN has warned that African countries, which normally import over half of their wheat consumption from Ukraine and Russia, face an “unprecedented” crisis.

Food prices in Africa have already exceeded those in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and the 2008 food riots.

‘Game of survival’

Away from the battlefield, Ukraine will be fighting for victory over Wales in Sunday’s play-off final as the war-torn country aims to reach its first football World Cup since 2006.

“We all understand that the game with Wales will no longer be about physical condition or tactics, it will be a game of survival,” said Ukraine player Oleksandr Zinchenko.

“Everyone will fight to the end and give their all, because we will play for our country.”

Israel, Saudi Arabia make deal for security arrangements in Straits of Tiran for flyover rights

Author: Rhonda Published: June 3, 2022

To show that Bennett’s government is weak, politicians may reject the law that gives settlers in the West Bank the same legislative status as an Israeli resident.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

Published: JUNE 2, 2022 22:15

Updated: JUNE 2, 2022 22:47

PRIME MINISTER Naftali Bennett leads a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem last month.

(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL)

If one wants to measure the depth to which right-wing politicians in the opposition will sink, one need look no further than their plan to clarify in the Knesset on Monday that West Bank settlers do not live in Israel.

It’s the legislative equivalent of bombing one’s own house.

Indeed, the Likud party – the very party that promised to annex the settlements – now wants to vote to destroy the legislation that ties them to Israel.

These are the same politicians who exclusively use the phrase “Judea and Samaria” rather than “West Bank,” or “communities” instead of “settlements,” to drive home the message that these areas are part of sovereign Israel.

To demonstrate that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government has no capacity to rule, these politicians plan to reject the law that gives settlers in the West Bank the same legislative status as a resident of Israel.

PRECARIOUS PRIME minister: ‘Naftali [Bennett] already fell.’ (credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)

The law was put in place soon after Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan during the Six Day War in 1967, and has been renewed every five years without fanfare. It is a legislative go-around that allows for Israeli civilian life in Area C of the West Bank to function, even though the area is under IDF military rule.

Politicians on the left and the right renewed the legislation so that its existence would be overlooked. It remained outside of the domestic political and international debate that often dominates every action in the West Bank.

The ulterior motives

The need for its renewal is a technicality that has been exploited by the opposition, which hopes that its failure to pass and the ensuing chaos would doom Bennett’s government and lead to an election.

It is such a high stakes gamble that prompted the Yesha Council, including its leader David Elhayani and its CEO, Yigal Dilmoni, to urge politicians in the Likud and the religious-Zionist party to vote in favor of the bill.

Projected real-life consequences

Erasure of the law presents security concerns, as it would prevent the Israeli police from operating in the West Bank.

No less important would be the erasure of many of the civilian laws that allow settlers to function. They would effectively be viewed as Israelis living outside the county, and would lose access to rights granted to Israelis in sovereign Israel.

This would include, for one, driving licenses and car registration. An Israeli living in Germany, for example, cannot apply for an Israeli driver’s license. Should the law fail to pass, neither will the Israeli living in Ma’aleh Adumim. The story is the same if the car is stolen – insurance will not apply.

The same is true for national insurance and state health insurance. Budding attorneys who live in the settlements will not be able to register for the bar, and young adults cannot be drafted into the army.

Tax laws are not applicable nor are inheritance laws or adoption laws.

“If this law is not renewed, chaos will descend,” said Dilmoni, adding that both the security of the area and civilian life there were at risk.

“It could drag the area into anarchy,” he said.

He urged politicians to forgo the power battle and to renew the law.

“Anyone who cares about life in Judea and Samaria must vote for this bill.”

Yigal Dimoni

Some pundits have speculated that the risk is cosmetic. The vote to renew can fail on Monday, but the legislation can be brought back and passed either by the time the legislation expires at the end of June or soon after.

This brief time, in which the rights are revoked, might cause problems the way a strike would, but the issues would disappear once the bill was restored.

The fear is what happens if the bill is rejected and the government falls, thereby creating an unduly prolonged period in which civilian life grinds to a halt.

For almost 55 years, Israel has quietly reaffirmed the right of its citizens to live with full rights outside its sovereign borders, effectively making those communities de-facto islands of Israeli sovereignty.

Not passing the bill could be the kind of statement that awakens international opposition to reinstating the legislation, should it be absent for a prolonged period.

It effectively gives credence to those who want to see the settlements evacuated.

Time will tell

On Monday, the passage or failure of the bill will first be an issue of domestic politics. If the settlements are annexed in the future or a resolution to the conflict is reached, this debate will remain an internal one.

But if the status quo continues, it is likely that the next battle to renew the bill won’t be between the government and the opposition, but between Israel and the international community.

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