Israel-Lebanon negotiations postponed until October, drug arrests in the Bekaa Valley, and Hamas warning of Israeli crimes in Jerusalem

An American official said on Friday that the next round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon scheduled for Rome has been postponed to October.

The official, who requested anonymity, said that although the talks will not be held as scheduled in September, the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors will meet at the State Department in Washington next week “to discuss current developments and continue implementing” the framework agreement reached in June.

Today, Friday, the Lebanese security services arrested three people in the Bekaa region, after they caught them red-handed while using and possessing drugs.

An informed security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that an Army Intelligence patrol raided a drug abuse den in the town of Al-Ain in the Bekaa Valley, and arrested the Syrian Suleiman Hilal Al-Assad, the cousin of former Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, along with two Lebanese, one of whom is the son of Noah Zuaiter, who is detained by the Lebanese judiciary in cases related to drug trafficking.

The source explained that the patrol transferred the detainees to the Intelligence Directorate in the Ministry of Defense, where preliminary investigations began with them under the supervision of the competent judiciary.

The source denied reports that Suleiman al-Assad was wanted by the Syrian authorities. He also denied that he was an officer with the rank of brigadier general in the Syrian army, stressing that he is a civilian and young, provided that investigations reveal the full circumstances of the case.

On Friday, the Palestinian Hamas movement warned of “escalating war crimes” committed by the Israeli government and its army, and of “the repercussions of its announcement of a large-scale military operation in the Shuafat refugee camp and the town of Anata, northeast of the occupied city of Jerusalem, and the accompanying severe siege, closure of entrances, bulldozing of infrastructure, and widespread arrests of citizens.”

Hamas said, in a press statement today, reported by the Palestinian Al-Aqsa TV, that “The city of Jerusalem, its towns, and its camps will remain purely Palestinian, and that the occupation’s attempts to isolate it, Judaize it, and impose its control over it will be destroyed in the face of the steadfastness of its people, their will, and their steadfastness on their land, and the occupation’s war machine will not succeed in passing its settlement plans and projects.” Our people will remain steadfast and cling to their land and rights until the aggression is defeated and the occupation is ended.”

According to what was reported by the German News Agency, Hamas called on the countries of the world, officially and popularly, to “take broad and effective action to pressure the occupation to stop its aggression, hold its leaders accountable for their crimes, and provide all forms of support and assistance to our people in the face of the occupation’s escalating aggression.”