The ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel exists “in name only”, a western diplomatic source has said, as Israel continues to hit Lebanon almost daily, despite a US-brokered deal that ended 14 months of fighting last November.
“It’s a ceasefire in name only. It's more of a de-escalation, as Israel strikes wherever and whenever it wants,” the western diplomatic source told The National.
Israel has breached the ceasefire thousands of times, according to data from Unifil, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. Breaches include air incursions, air strikes and ground operations.
The UN said on Wednesday that the Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 100 civilians in 10 months. The continuing attacks have threatened the legitimacy of Lebanon’s new government, the western diplomat added. The current Lebanese government has been widely welcomed by the international community as reformist and is the first to have initiated formal steps to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah.
“There is a kind of ‘Syrianisation’ of Lebanon”, the diplomatic source said.
During former Syrian president Bashar Al Assad’s rule, which ended last December, Damascus was an ally of both Hezbollah and Iran. Israel regularly struck Hezbollah weapons depots and convoys on Syrian territory, drawing little formal international condemnation.
“But the difference is that the Syrian regime was shunned by the international community, while this government is seen as reformist,” the western diplomat said.
Many observers view US-backed President Joseph Aoun and international lawyer Nawaf Salam, who was appointed Prime Minister in January, as an opportunity to push through reforms, including introducing a state monopoly on weapons, after years of leadership vacuum.
Despite this, the Israeli military has confirmed carrying out hundreds of air strikes on its northern neighbour since November 2024, saying they targeted Hezbollah positions.
Lebanon, however, says the strikes have also hit civilians and destroyed homes. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said: “We are still seeing devastating impacts of jet and drone strikes in residential areas, as well as near UN peacekeepers in the south.”
There have been no reports of deaths from rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel since the ceasefire, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said.
The war began when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Hamas, a day after the group’s deadly incursion into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that triggered the Gaza war. Israel responded with shelling and air strikes in Lebanon, escalating the clashes into a full-scale war by late September 2024.
Israeli forces killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, while 127 people were killed in Israel, among them 80 soldiers.
'Maintaining maximum pressure'
Under the November ceasefire terms, Hezbollah was to begin disarming starting south of the Litani River, about 30km from the Israeli border. Israel, in turn, was required to stop violating Lebanon’s airspace and withdraw its forces from five positions it occupies inside Lebanon.
Israel has remained in the five positions it deems strategic and has shown no sign it intends to leave, US envoy Tom Barrack said in an interview with The National.
In September, the Lebanese government agreed on a plan to disarm Hezbollah, a historic decision adopted under heavy US pressure. The plan did not set a firm deadline for implementation and acknowledged the army’s limited capabilities.
The Lebanese army said that 90 per cent of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure has been dismantled south of the Litani River.
“Lebanon, for its part, has come a long way, the issue of disarmament is now on the table, along with the adoption of several reform-orientated laws,” the western diplomat said.
Hezbollah has consistently refused any comprehensive disarmament plan as long as Israel continues to hit Lebanon and keeps troops inside Lebanese territory, in violation of the truce.
“Israel’s goal is to maintain maximum pressure. The problem is that the longer these strikes continue, the greater the risk that this government loses its legitimacy," the diplomat said. "At the same time, it strengthens Hezbollah’s argument that it must keep its weapons."
In face of stalemate, with Israel’s refusal to provide guarantees that it will uphold its side of the truce, and Hezbollah’s rejection to disarm without them, the future remains uncertain, the diplomatic source said.
“Whether the situation slides back into escalation or remains in a fragile status quo depends entirely on Benjamin Netanyahu's calculations. And those are hard to read,” they added.
Humanitarian law concerns
Meanwhile, OHCHR said that civilians are bearing the brunt of the conflict. Israeli strikes have prevented more than 80,000 residents from returning home, it said.
Border villages, razed by Israel during its intense two-month air campaign, as well as after the truce was signed, remain in ruins.
While cash-strapped Lebanese authorities are unable to cover the $11 billion bill estimated for reconstruction, Israel has also hampered rebuilding efforts, even minor ones, by destroying temporary structures and heavy machinery.
“Today, families are simply unable to make a start on rebuilding their homes and their lives, and instead are faced by the real and present danger of more strikes. Hundreds of damaged schools, health facilities, places of worship, among other civilian sites, are still no-go zones, or at best, only partly usable,” Mr Turk said.
On Thursday, an Israeli strike killed two engineers working for Jihad Al Bina, a Hezbollah-affiliated construction company, about 10km from the Israeli border. Jihad Al Bina helped rebuild parts of southern Lebanon after the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, with funding from Iran.
On Monday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli strike on an excavator in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
As a powerful militia and social service provider, Hezbollah oversees a network of civilian institutions. Political affiliation alone does not make a target legitimate under international humanitarian law.
On September 21, an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil killed five people, including three children. At their funeral, the coffins were draped with the Lebanese flag rather than Hezbollah’s, which is customary for the group’s supporters.
Mr Turk called for an independent and impartial investigation into the incident, along with other cases raising concerns about violations of international humanitarian law.
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Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Company%20profile
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
2 Bill Gates $98.3 billion
3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
5 Amancio Ortega $67.9 billion
6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
7 Larry Page $56.8 billion
8 Larry Ellison $56.1 billion
9 Sergey Brin $55.2 billion
10 Carlos Slim $55.2 billion
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- On sale: 2026
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List of alleged parties
May 15 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at
least 17 staff members
May 20 2020: PM and Carrie attend 'bring your own booze'
party
Nov 27 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary
Gavin Williamson
Dec 13 2020: PM and Carrie throw a flat party
Dec 14 2020: London mayor candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative
Party headquarters
Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
'O'
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
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Manchester United v Club America
When: Thursday, 9pm Arizona time (Friday UAE, 8am)
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
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