Region

Sunday, February 08, 2026 | Daily Newspaper published by GPPC Doha, Qatar.

Region

This handout picture released by the Lebanese Government Press Office shows Prime Minister Salam being showered with confetti as he is received by locals during a tour in the heavily-damaged southern village of Dhayra, near the border with Israel. – AFP

PM vows to rebuild ruined border towns in Lebanon

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam visited heavily damaged towns near the Israeli border Saturday, pledging reconstruction. It was his first trip to the southern border area since the army said it finished disarming Hezbollah there, in January. Swathes of south Lebanon’s border areas remain in ruins and largely deserted more than a year after a US-brokered November 2024 ceasefire sought to end hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group. Lebanon’s government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army last month said that it had completed the first phase of its plan to do so, covering the area between the Litani River and the Israeli border about 30km (20 miles) further south. Visiting Tayr Harfa, around 3km from the border, and nearby Yarine, Salam said that frontier towns and villages had suffered “a true catastrophe”. He vowed authorities would begin key projects including restoring roads, communications networks and water in the two towns. Locals gathered on the rubble of buildings to greet Salam and the delegation of accompanying officials in nearby Dhayra, some waving Lebanese flags. In a meeting in Bint Jbeil, further east, with officials including lawmakers from Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement, Salam said that authorities would “rehabilitate 32km of roads, reconnect the severed communications network, repair water infrastructure” and power lines in the district. Last year, the World Bank announced it had approved $250mn to support Lebanon’s post-war reconstruction, after estimating that it would cost around $11bn in total. Salam said funds including from the World Bank would be used for the reconstruction and rehabilitation projects. The second phase of the government’s disarmament plan for Hezbollah concerns the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, around 40km south of Beirut. Israel, which accuses Hezbollah of rearming, has criticised the army’s progress as insufficient, while Hezbollah has rejected calls to surrender its weapons. Despite the truce, Israel has kept up regular strikes on what it usually says are Hezbollah targets and maintains troops in five south Lebanon areas. Lebanese officials have accused Israel of seeking to prevent reconstruction in the heavily damaged south with repeated strikes on bulldozers, excavators and prefabricated houses. Visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Friday that the reform of Lebanon’s banking system needed to precede international funding for reconstruction efforts. The French diplomat met Lebanon’s army chief Rodolphe Haykal Saturday, the military said.

Ambulances carrying Palestinians patients and war-wounded people, accompanied by relatives, get ready to leave the Gaza Strip for their treatment abroad through the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, days after it was opened by Israel for a limited number of people, in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on February 3, 2026. Dozens of injured Palestinians and their companions entered Egypt from Gaza on January 1, the first day of a limited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, a source on the Egyptian side of the border told AFP. The reopening, demanded by the United Nations and aid groups, is a key part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump's truce plan for Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain dire after two years of war. (Photo by Bashar Taleb / AFP)

Gazans begin crossing to Egypt for treatment after partial Rafah reopening

Sick and wounded Gazans began crossing into Egypt to seek medical treatment on Monday after Israel permitted a limited reopening of the Palestinian territory's Rafah border post. Around 150 people were due to leave the territory on Monday, and 50 to enter it, according to Egyptian officials, more than 20 months after Israeli forces fighting in Gaza closed the crossing. "Three ambulances have arrived so far carrying a number of the sick and injured, who were immediately screened upon arrival to determine to which hospital they will be transferred," an Egyptian health official told AFP. The partial resumption of operations comes after Gaza's civil defence reported dozens killed in a wave of Israeli strikes over the weekend. The border crossing with Egypt is Gaza's only gateway to the outside world that does not lead to Israel, and is a key access point for both people and goods.The partial resumption began on Sunday in a tightly restricted pilot phase that did not involve travel of people, and came after months of appeals from aid groups. Israeli troops still control more than half of Gaza, while the rest remains under Hamas authority. The Rafah crossing had been briefly opened in early 2025, but has been largely shut since it was seized by Israeli forces in May 2024. No aid entry The director of Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, said there were 20,000 patients in the territory in urgent need of treatment, including 4,500 children. Egypt's health ministry reported that 150 hospitals and 300 ambulances had been prepared to receive Palestinian patients. It said 12,000 doctors and 30 rapid deployment teams had been allocated to work with those transferred.