Category: 2. World

No casualties in Greece as fires in southern Crete and the port of Rafina are put out; two die after blaze in western Turkiye.

A wildfire on the Greek island of Crete that forced the evacuation of 5,000 people has been extinguished, officials say.

Some 230 firefighters and six helicopters worked at the scene near the resort town of Ierapetra, where residents had to leave their homes and visitors their accommodation on Wednesday evening.

Reporting from the nearby village of Agia Fotia, Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos said there was “no active fire front” by Friday morning. Still, he added, helicopters were operating in the area to ensure there were no flare-ups.

The fire left forest trees and some olive trees burned but caused no casualties. Two local MPs told Al Jazeera efforts were under way for the return of the people who were evacuated after the blaze broke out.

Elsewhere in mainland Greece, a fire fanned by strong winds that erupted near the port town of Rafina, about 30km (18 miles) east of the capital, Athens, was brought under control on Thursday evening, authorities said.

However, firefighting crews remained on alert as winds remained strong.

The fire, which led to the evacuation of 300 people, destroyed a few houses and vehicles, local mayor Dimitris Markou told public broadcaster ERT.

It also disrupted ferries to and from tourist islands in the western Aegean Sea.

Greece has so far been spared the heatwave roasting parts of Europe, particularly Spain, Portugal and France. But starting this weekend, temperatures will rise and reach up to 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas of the country.

Two dead in Turkiye

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Turkiye, a local forestry worker was killed while trying to contain a fire near the western town of Odemis, while an 81-year-old resident died from smoke inhalation, authorities said.

These were the first deaths in a series of wildfires that have forced thousands of people to flee.

Separately, hundreds of firefighters, supported by aircraft and helicopters, were deployed to battle a wildfire near the Aegean coastal town of Cesme, a popular vacation destination about 190km (120 miles) west of Odemis.

That fire, which began on Wednesday, forced the evacuation of three neighbourhoods and led to road closures. Television footage showed flames racing through dry vegetation on both sides of a highway.

Over the past week, Turkiye has battled hundreds of wildfires fuelled by strong winds, extreme heat and low humidity.

The blazes have damaged or destroyed about 200 homes.

Hot dry weather is not unusual for Greece and Turkiye at this time of year. Devastating summer wildfires are common in both countries, with experts warning that climate change is intensifying conditions.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Let me begin with a fundamental question.

What does it mean to have a voice in the global financial system?

Voice is not simply the ability to speak.

Voice is the capacity to shape outcomes, to negotiate from strength and to transform individual vulnerabilities into collective resilience.

The expert group on debt warns of a silent debt crisis.

Today, 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt services than on health or education.

3.4 billion people.

These countries paid around 920 billion dollars in debt service last year alone.

Yet in every major forum where debt solutions are negotiated, borrower countries sit across from a united front of creditors, while they themselves remain negotiating alone.

This asymmetry is not inevitable.

It is a choice, and today we are here to make a different choice.

The Compromiso de Sevilla, in its clause 48 (i) recognizes, and I read, “the commitment, the imperative to support the establishment of borrower-led forums that enable countries to share experiences, strategies and good practices, and to promote responsible borrowing and lending standards”.

This is an extremely important outcome of the Compromiso de Sevilla – one we must celebrate and pursue.

So my fellows will refer to this.

So let me share with you some points to discuss and follow for the operationalization of the forum that was included in Annex 1 of the expert group report.

• Create a knowledge repository, a South-South learning platform, where countries share real experiences.
• Promote responsible practices, establishing common principles for sovereign borrowing and lending.
• Amplify your voice, ensuring borrower countries have real weight in negotiations, making sure their numbers add up.
• Provide technical assistance for legal financial strategic advisory service on innovative instruments.
• Strengthen debt management, partnering with existing programs to build capacity.

And if we can do this, we can really make a difference.

We also have to be aware of why former initiatives have struggled.

We have learned from them.

And so here the important thing is that countries will lead this exercise and that we will partner with other entities to make it real.

So this is a critical recommendation from the 11 actions identified by the expert group to unlock sustainable finance.

And I think that the Compromiso de Sevilla is clear, and we are here to support it and to operationalize it as needed with the consultation and the leadership of the countries and the partners.

Thank you very much.

BEIRUT: Hezbollah has begun a major strategic review in the wake of its devastating war with Israel, including considering scaling back its role as an armed movement without disarming completely, three sources familiar with the deliberations say.

The internal discussions, which aren’t yet finalized and haven’t previously been reported, reflect the formidable pressures the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group has faced since a truce was reached in late November.

Israeli forces continue to strike areas where the group holds sway, accusing Hezbollah of ceasefire violations, which it denies. It is also grappling with acute financial strains, US demands for its disarmament and diminished political clout since a new cabinet took office in February with US support.

The group’s difficulties have been compounded by seismic shifts in the regional power balance since Israel decimated its command, killed thousands of its fighters and destroyed much of its arsenal last year.

Hezbollah’s Syrian ally, Bashar Assad, was toppled in December, severing a key arms supply line from Iran. Tehran is now emerging from its own bruising war with Israel, raising doubts over how much aid it can offer, a regional security source and a senior Lebanese official told Reuters.

Another senior official, who is familiar with Hezbollah’s internal deliberations, said the group had been holding clandestine discussions on its next steps. Small committees have been meeting in person or remotely to discuss issues including its leadership structure, political role, social and development work, and weapons, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The official and two other sources familiar with the discussions indicated Hezbollah has concluded that the arsenal it had amassed to deter Israel from attacking Lebanon had become a liability.

Hezollah “had an excess of power,” the official said. “All that strength turned into a weak point.”

Under the leadership of Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed last year, Hezbollah grew into a regional military player with tens of thousands of fighters, rockets and drones poised to strike Israel. It also provided support to allies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Israel came to regard Hezbollah as a significant threat. When the group opened fire in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in 2023, Israel responded with airstrikes in Lebanon that escalated into a ground offensive.

Hezbollah has since relinquished a number of weapons depots in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese armed forces as stipulated in last year’s truce, though Israel says it has struck military infrastructure there still linked to the group.

Hezbollah is now considering turning over some weapons it has elsewhere in the country — notably missiles and drones seen as the biggest threat to Israel — on condition Israel withdraws from the south and halts its attacks, the sources said.

But the group won’t surrender its entire arsenal, the sources said. For example, it intends to keep lighter arms and anti-tank missiles, they said, describing them as a means to resist any future attacks.

Hezbollah’s media office did not respond to questions for this article.

Isreal’s military said it would continue operating along its northern border in accordance with the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, in order eliminate any threat and protect Israeli citizens. The US State Department declined to comment on private diplomatic conversations, referring questions to Lebanon’s government. Lebanon’s presidency did not respond to questions.

For Hezbollah to preserve any military capabilities would fall short of Israeli and US ambitions. Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon’s armed forces were to confiscate “all unauthorized arms,” beginning in the area south of the Litani River — the zone closest to Israel.

Lebanon’s government also wants Hezbollah to surrender the rest of its weapons as it works to establish a state monopoly on arms. Failure to do so could stir tensions with the group’s Lebanese rivals, which accuse Hezbollah of leveraging its military might to impose its will in state affairs and repeatedly dragging Lebanon into conflicts.

All sides have said they remain committed to the ceasefire, even as they traded accusations of violations.

PART OF HEZBOLLAH’S ‘DNA’

Arms have been central to Hezbollah’s doctrine since it was founded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to fight Israeli forces who invaded Lebanon in 1982, at the height of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war. Tensions over the Shiite Muslim group’s arsenal sparked another, brief civil conflict in 2008.

The United States and Israel deem Hezbollah a terrorist group.

Nicholas Blanford, who wrote a history of Hezbollah, said that in order to reconstitute itself, the group would have to justify its retention of weapons in an increasingly hostile political landscape, while addressing damaging intelligence breaches and ensuring its long-term finances.

“They’ve faced challenges before, but not this number simultaneously,” said Blanford, a fellow with the Atlantic Council, a US think tank.

A European official familiar with intelligence assessments said there was a lot of brainstorming underway within Hezbollah about its future but no clear outcomes. The official described Hezbollah’s status as an armed group as part of its DNA, saying it would be difficult for it to become a purely political party.

Nearly a dozen sources familiar with Hezbollah’s thinking said the group wants to keep some arms, not only in case of future threats from Israel, but also because it is worried that Sunni Muslim jihadists in neighboring Syria might exploit lax security to attack eastern Lebanon, a Shiite-majority region.

Despite the catastrophic results of the latest war with Israel — tens of thousands of people were left homeless and swathes of the south and Beirut’s southern suburbs were destroyed — many of Hezbollah’s core supporters want it to remain armed.

Um Hussein, whose son died fighting for Hezbollah, cited the threat still posed by Israel and a history of conflict with Lebanese rivals as reasons to do so.

“Hezbollah is the backbone of the Shiites, even if it is weak now,” she said, asking to be identified by a traditional nickname because members of her family still belong to Hezbollah. “We were a weak, poor group. Nobody spoke up for us.”

Hezbollah’s immediate priority is tending to the needs of constituents who withstood the worst of the war, the sources familiar with its deliberations said.

In December, Secretary General Naim Qassem said Hezbollah had paid more than $50 million to affected families with more than $25 million still to hand out. But there are signs that its funds are running short.

One Beirut resident said he had paid for repairs to his apartment in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs after it was damaged in the war only to see the entire block destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in June.

“Everyone is scattered and homeless. No one has promised to pay for our shelter,” said the man, who declined to be identified for fear his complaints might jeopardize his chances of receiving compensation.

He said he had received cheques from Hezbollah but was told by the group’s financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan, that it did not have funds available to cash them. Reuters could not immediately reach the institution for comment.

Other indications of financial strain have included cutbacks to free medications offered by Hezbollah-run pharmacies, three people familiar with the operations said.

SQUEEZING HEZBOLLAH FINANCES

Hezbollah has put the onus on Lebanon’s government to secure reconstruction funding. But Foreign Minister Youssef Raji, a Hezbollah critic, has said there will be no aid from foreign donors until the state establishes a monopoly on arms.

A State Department spokesperson said in May that, while Washington was engaged in supporting sustainable reconstruction in Lebanon, “this cannot happen without Hezbollah laying down their arms.”

Israel has also been squeezing Hezbollah’s finances.

The Israeli military said on June 25 that it had killed an Iranian official who oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars in transfers annually to armed groups in the region, as well as a man in southern Lebanon who ran a currency exchange business that helped get some of these funds to Hezbollah.

Iran did not comment at the time, and its UN mission did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters.

Since February, Lebanon has barred commercial flights between Beirut and Tehran, after Israel’s military accused Hezbollah of using civilian aircraft to bring in money from Iran and threatened to take action to stop this.

Lebanese authorities have also tightened security at Beirut airport, where Hezbollah had free rein for years, making it harder for the group to smuggle in funds that way, according to an official and a security source familiar with airport operations.

Such moves have fueled anger among Hezbollah’s supporters toward the administration led by President Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam, who was made prime minister against Hezbollah’s wishes.

Alongside its Shiite ally, the Amal Movement, Hezbollah swept local elections in May, with many seats uncontested. The group will be seeking to preserve its dominance in legislative elections next year.

Nabil Boumonsef, deputy editor-in-chief of Lebanon’s Annahar newspaper, said next year’s poll was part of an “existential battle” for Hezbollah.

“It will use all the means it can, firstly to play for time so it doesn’t have to disarm, and secondly to make political and popular gains,” he said.

Hamas says it is consulting other Palestinian groups before giving a formal response to the latest proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal put forward by the US.

President Donald Trump said on Friday morning that expected to know within 24 hours whether Hamas has agreed to the plan.

On Tuesday, Trump said Israel had accepted the conditions necessary for a 60-day ceasefire, during which the parties would work to end the 20-month war.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military is continuing to bomb targets across the Gaza Strip.

Local journalists reported hearing explosions and gunfire as Israeli helicopter gunships and artillery struck the southern Khan Younis area on Friday morning.

Overnight, at least 15 Palestinians were killed in strikes on two tents housing displaced people in Khan Younis, the local Nasser hospital said.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on the strikes, but it did say its forces were “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities”.

In a statement issued early on Friday, Hamas said it was discussing with the leaders of other Palestinian factions the ceasefire proposal that it had received from regional mediators Qatar and Egypt.

Hamas said it would deliver a “final decision” to the mediators once the consultations had ended and then announce it officially.

The proposal is believed to include the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 other hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Fifty hostages are still being held in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.

One of Hamas’s key demands is the resumption of unrestricted food and medical aid into Gaza, and the proposal reportedly says sufficient quantities would enter the territory immediately with the involvement of the United Nations and Red Cross.

It is said the plan would also include a phased Israeli military withdrawal from parts of Gaza.

Above all, Hamas wants a guarantee that Israeli air and ground operations will not resume after the end of the 60-day ceasefire.

The proposal is believed to say that negotiations on an end to the war and the release of the remaining hostages would begin on day one.

Donald Trump told reporters early on Friday that he expected to know “over the next 24 hours” whether the proposals would be accepted by Hamas.

The hope then would be the resumption of formal, indirect, talks ahead of a planned visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington next week.

“We sure hope it’s a done deal, but I think it’s all going to be what Hamas is willing to accept,” US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Israel’s Channel 12 TV on Thursday.

“One thing is clear: The president wants it to be over. The prime minister wants it to be over. The American people, the Israeli people, want it to be over.”

Netanyahu meanwhile promised to secure the release of all the remaining hostages during a visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community near the Israel-Gaza border where a total of 76 residents were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 that triggered the war.

“I feel a deep commitment, first of all, to ensure the return of all of our hostages, all of them,” he said. “We will bring them all back.”

He did not, however, commit to ending the war. He has insisted that will not happen until the hostages are freed and Hamas’s military and governing capabilities are destroyed.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.