War-torn Lebanon forms its first government in 2 years
Lebanon’s new prime minister has formed the country’s first full-fledged government since 2022.
President Joseph Aoun announced in a statement that he accepted the resignation of the former caretaker government and signed a decree with new Prime Minister Nawaf Salam forming the new government.
Salam’s cabinet of 24 ministers, split evenly between Christian and Muslim sects, was formed less than a month after he was appointed, and comes at a time when Lebanon is scrambling to rebuild its war-battered southern region and maintain security along its southern border after a devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah.
A US-brokered ceasefire deal ended the war in November. Though Hezbollah did not endorse Salam as prime minister, the Lebanese group did engage in negotiations with the new prime minister over the Shia Muslim seats in government, as per Lebanon’s power-sharing system.
Israeli army says it struck Hamas weapons depot in Syria
A military statement says a Hamas weapons cache in the Deir Ali area in southern Syria has been bombed by Israeli jets.
The army claimed Hamas and other Palestinian groups are “exploiting Syrian soil to establish Iranian-directed terrorist activity”.
“The [military] will continue to strike the Hamas terrorist organisation wherever it tries to establish itself and will act against all attempts by terrorist organisations to establish themselves and strengthen themselves in order to prevent a threat to the security of the State of Israel,” the army said.
There was no comment from Syrian authorities or Hamas on the Israeli claim.
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