Turkey, Qatar and Libya’s Government of National Accord have agreed to grant Syrian, Somali, and Tunisian mercenaries Libyan passports and integrate them into the GNA forces under Turkish supervision, sources confirmed to Al Arabiya.

“The supervision and training under Turkey will be held within the al-Watiya airbase and Tripoli International Airport with Qatari financial support and assigning them to specific tasks, including securing and protecting government headquarters that belong to al-Wefaq (GNA) so that the government will not be blackmailed by the Libyan local militias,” one source said.

Qatar and Turkey signed an agreement on Tuesday to send military advisers and instructors for the armed forces of Libya’s GNA government.

“We have reached an agreement with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Qatar’s (minister) Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah on tripartite cooperation to build a military institute for training,” said the GNA’s Deputy Defense Minister Salah al-Namrouch.

A UN-backed tribunal on Tuesday (18 August) found a member of the Hezbollah Shiite movement guilty over the 2005 murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri.

The long-awaited decision prompted mixed reactions, with the late Hariri’s son Saad telling journalists outside the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) he “accepted the tribunal’s verdict.”

“Everybody’s expectation was much higher than what came out today, but I believe that the tribunal came out with a result that is satisfying. We accept it,” said Saad Hariri, also a former prime minister, after attending the hearing at the STL’s heavily fortified courthouse.

Salim Ayyash, 56, was convicted in absentia by the STL based in the Netherlands, over a huge suicide bombing in Beirut that killed the Sunni billionaire politician and 21 other people.

“The trial chamber finds Mr Ayyash guilty beyond reasonable doubt as a co-perpetrator of the assassination of Rafic Hariri,” said David Re, presiding judge of the tribunal.

Addressing victims of the attack, he said: “We sincerely hope the verdict today will give you some sort of closure.”

But judges said there was not enough evidence to convict Assad Sabra, 43, Hussein Oneissi, 46, and Hassan Habib Merhi, 54, over the blast, which changed the face of the Middle East.

The judges also said there was no evidence to directly link Syria — the former military overlord in Lebanon — or Hezbollah’s leadership to the attack.

Sentencing for Ayyash will be decided at a later date. He faces life imprisonment if he is ever brought before the court.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has refused to hand over the four defendants and rejected the court’s legitimacy.

Mobile phone plot

Judges said there was sufficient evidence to show that Ayyash was at the centre of a network of mobile phone users who scoped out Hariri’s movements for months before his assassination.

A still-unidentified suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden Mitsubishi truck blew himself up as Hariri’s motorcade passed on the Beirut waterfront on Valentine’s Day in 2005.

Prosecutors had said Ayyash was a ringleader of the group, while Oneissi and Sabra allegedly sent a fake video to the Al-Jazeera news channel claiming responsibility on behalf of a made-up group. Merhi was accused of general involvement in the plot.

The judges said evidence also linked phones used in the attack to Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine — who was indicted by the court but is believed to have been killed in the Damascus area in May 2016.

The Hariri bombing triggered mass protests that drove Syrian forces out of Lebanon after three decades.

But the court said there was not enough evidence to tie Damascus to the crime.

“Syria and Hezbollah may have had motives to eliminate Mr Hariri and his political allies, however there is no evidence that the Hezbollah leadership had any involvement in Mr. Hariri’s murder and there is no direct evidence of Syrian involvement,” Re said.

Nevertheless, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, welcoming the verdict, said it “helps confirm what the world is increasingly recognizing — that (Hezbollah) and its members are not defenders of Lebanon as they claim to be but constitute a terrorist organization dedicated to advancing Iran’s malign sectarian agenda.”

An EU spokesperson said “the European Union reiterates the need to fight impunity and strengthen accountability and the rule of law at the international level”.

“We hope that the judgment today will be given appropriate follow-up,” the EU statement added.

A lawyer for Oneissi slammed the prosecution’s case, saying “it was obvious from the start it would not hold,” against his client.

He was happy for Oneissi, but at the same time sad that hundreds of millions of dollars (euros) was spent on “such an empty dossier and on evidence that was obviously poor from the start,” Vincent Courcelle-Labrousse told journalists.

The hearing opened with a minute’s silence for victims of the explosion that devastated Beirut two weeks ago, killing 177 people. The verdicts were initially scheduled for August 7 but postponed because of the blast.

‘Heinous crime’

The UN Security Council agreed in 2007 to establish the court billed as the world’s first international tribunal set up to probe terrorist crimes.

It opened its doors in 2009, although the Hariri trial itself did not formally start until 2014.

The court has cost at least $600 million to operate and has so far heard only four cases, two of them for contempt of court about news reports with information about confidential witnesses.

Hariri was Lebanon’s Sunni premier until his resignation in 2004 over Syria’s role as powerbroker in the country.

Judge Re said Hariri’s assassination was “political” and was prompted by his decision to move away from Syria and the sending of representatives to an opposition meeting where participants agreed to call for Damascus’ immediate and total withdrawal from Lebanon.

Observers have voiced fears that the verdict, whichever way it went, could spark violence on the streets in Lebanon.

Tuesday’s verdict came as thousands of Beirut residents have expressed anger at the authorities after the port blast triggered by a warehouse fire that set off large amounts of stored ammonium nitrate.

The disaster led to the Lebanese government’s resignation and compounded Lebanon’s severe economic crisis.

President Tayyip Erdogan escalated his war of words with the European Union after EU officials expressed their solidarity with Greece in the row between Ankara and Athens over oil and gas exploration rights, like reported by thearabweekly.com.

European Union foreign ministers on Friday said Ankara’s actions were antagonistic and dangerous after a meeting requested by Athens.

Tensions between NATO members Greece and Turkey have risen in the past week after Turkey sent the Oruc Reis survey vessel, escorted by warships, to map out possible oil and gas drilling in territory over which both countries claim jurisdiction.

“We will never bow to banditry on our continental shelf. We will not back down against the language of sanctions and threats,” Erdogan said in the northeastern city of Rize.

The Oruc Reis, which is between Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete, will continue work until Aug. 23, he added. The vessel has been shadowed by Greek frigates and on Wednesday warships from the two sides were involved in a mild collision.

EU foreign ministers met via video conference on Friday and said Turkey’s naval movements would lead to a “heightened risk of dangerous incidents”.

They said a deterioration in the relationship with Turkey was having far-reaching strategic consequences for the entire European Union, well beyond the eastern Mediterranean.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief expressed “full solidarity” with Greece and Cyprus and urged a “immediate de-escalation” by Turkey after EU foreign ministers held urgent talks Friday on high military tensions over offshore drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean.

Cyprus and Greece are EU members, while Turkey is not. Josep Borrell, the 27-nation bloc’s foreign policy chief, tweeted after the end of the talks: “Eastern Med: Full solidarity (with) Greece&Cyprus. Calling for immediate deescalation by Turkey and reengaging in dialogue.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said before the talks that “the provocations” that are happening in the eastern Mediterranean “can’t continue.”

“Nor can the Turkish drilling,” he said. “We are working toward a direct dialogue between the parties that would contribute to finding a solution for this issue.” Maas added that there should be no drilling during any negotiations.

Apart from backing from its EU partners, Athens is seeking a commitment for potential EU sanctions against Turkey. Greek officials said a list of possible sanctions against Ankara is being drafted and will be discussed at the next foreign ministers’ meeting in Berlin later this month.

In a strong show of support this week, France pledged to boost its military presence in the eastern Mediterranean and sent two warships to the area Thursday for joint drills with the Greek navy. France also deployed two fighter planes to Crete.

The death toll in the August 4 explosion at the Beirut port has now reached 163. More than 6,000 people were injured. Large parts of the city were destroyed. The latest information detailed this week by Reuters suggests that Lebanese authorities were warned in the weeks prior to the explosion of the need to secure the 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in Hangar 12 at the port, like reported by meforum.org.

Public anger in Lebanon is now at white heat. Demonstrators in Beirut this week occupied a number of government buildings. The resignation of prime minister Hassan Diab and a number of other ministers has had little effect on the public mood. The resignation will not trigger elections or anything resembling real change. Lebanon has long experience with “caretaker” governments, whose terms stretch on for months or even years, lacking any mandate or capability for taking significant decisions.

The focus of public anger is on the corrupt, shoddy and inefficient nature of governance in Lebanon. The explosion at the port was the most extreme and dramatic manifestation of a deep decay infecting every part of Lebanese public life and infrastructure. This is a country well on the way toward a “failed state” status. In March, Lebanon for the first time defaulted on $1.2 billion in foreign debts. The Lebanese pound has experienced a 70% drop in value since October. The country is experiencing hyperinflation.

But while the focus of international coverage of Lebanon since the blast has been on the corrupt, graft-ridden and inefficient nature of Lebanese public life, this is only part of the picture of the country’s malaise – and not the most significant element.

Beneath the morass of Lebanon’s debased political culture, there is another structure. This structure is not, in general, corrupt. It is not inefficient. It is not unaware of where its assets are placed, and it is not subject to replacement by elections, or by street demonstrations. This structure is the Hezbollah deep state. It is the true arbiter of power in Lebanon, both visible and invisible.

On the overt level, the parliamentary bloc controlled by Hezbollah maintains control of 74 seats in the 128-member parliament. This enabled it to dictate the composition of the now-collapsing cabinet (19 out of 30 portfolios were affiliated with its bloc). It will give Hezbollah a powerful voice in deciding the content of its replacement.

Hezbollah possesses a military force, according to an estimate by the Janes Information Group, of 25,000 full-time fighters, along with 20,000-30,000 reservists. The official army, the Lebanese Armed Forces, has 72,000 personnel, but it is riven with sectarian division. Thus, Hezbollah has an armed capacity in Lebanon superior to all competitors, including the army of the nominal state.

But it is at the unseen level that the power of the Hezbollah deep state is at its most profound. The head of the country’s most powerful security organ, the General Directorate of General Security (GSDG), is General Abbas Ibrahim. Ibrahim is a close ally of Hezbollah. This is no great secret in Lebanon. Ibrahim is close to, and appears regularly in public with, Wafiq Safa, the head of Hezbollah’s security apparatus. Safa, meanwhile, as described by Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt with admirable simplicity, “decides what the army and security forces can do.”

Behind Safa is Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. And behind him is the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is the structure against which there is no right of appeal in Lebanon.

The GSDG, as the main internal security service, is set to play a prominent role in the internal investigation of the explosion at the port.

Ibrahim’s friend and comrade Safa, meanwhile, was described by the US Treasury Department in July 2019 as having “exploited Lebanon’s ports and border crossings to smuggle contraband and facilitate travel on behalf of Hezbollah, undermining the security and safety of the Lebanese people, while also draining valuable import duties and revenue away from the Lebanese government.” That is, Hezbollah’s deep state is about to investigate itself.

It is not difficult to imagine the results of the Hezbollah power structure’s self-investigation. The “mystery” of who exactly owned 2,750 tons of an explosive material known to be favored by Hezbollah – in a port known to be under the security control of Hezbollah – will no doubt be deemed another of the baffling riddles of the Orient.

It is important, nevertheless, that any remaining obscurity regarding who really holds power in Lebanon be dispelled. One enthusiastic supporter of Hezbollah tweeted this week, “The Lebanese government can resign 100 times. But Hezbollah won’t disarm.” That succinctly sums up the reality.

It is the Hezbollah power structure that prevents the possibility of normal practices at Lebanon’s entry and exit points. It does so because these points, and the clandestine transportation and storage of war materials at and through them, are essential elements in its deployment for a future conflict with Israel.

If a new prime minister is found, a new cabinet cobbled together, a “national unity” government declared and international largesse then piled on Lebanon, the beneficiaries of the blast in the port will be the Hezbollah power structure.

This would come as a welcome relief for the movement at a time when it is facing unprecedented difficulties. As the dominant force in government, Hezbollah has been unable to shield itself from public criticism for the disastrous economic collapse of recent months. International financial bodies are reluctant to bail Lebanon out without a commitment to financial transparency. The Hezbollah power structure prefers opacity, behind which it conceals itself. As a result, having defaulted on its debts, Lebanon remains without a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund.

The Gulf states that might have once helped have turned their backs on Lebanon because of its domination by Hezbollah.

Iran, Hezbollah’s patron, is unable to offer substantial help because the US policy of maximum pressure has placed it deep in its own economic crisis. The full results of Iran’s hostile takeover of Lebanon are thus currently becoming apparent.

Khalid al-Bari, writing in the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat newspaper this week, noted that “Hezbollah is the only group of criminals who creates transnational security, military, and economic crises that destroy lives, and no one touches them; they are here to stay.”

Western governments need to grasp the fact of Hezbollah and Iran’s full spectrum ownership of Lebanon at the present time. They should then understand the implications of this. And they should then design policy to contain or change it. Anything else risks turning the disastrous explosion at the Beirut port into a windfall for the true rulers of Lebanon – the IRGC and its local franchise, Hezbollah.

A Greek and a Turkish navy vessel reportedly collided on Wednesday in the area south of Crete where where the Turkish seismic research vessel Oruc Reis is conducting surveys accompanied by warships of the Turkish Navy.

According to reports, there was a collision between the Limnos frigate and the Turkish vessel Kemal Reis.

Greek defense sources say that the Turkish frigate was damaged, in contrast to the Greek one, which participated in Thursday’s Greek-French joint exercise in the region.

Neither Athens or Ankara have confirmed the incident. On Wednesday evening, Greek Premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on the danger of an accident in the eastern Mediterranean: “Let everyone know that the risk of an accident lurks when so many troops are concentrated in a limited area. And the responsibility in such a case will be borne by the one who causes these conditions,” Mitsotakis said.

Turkey may again create a headache for Europe. While Ankara is pursuing a blackmail strategy in the West, threatening to let migrants into Europe, it is turning Libya into a terrorist rear base by transferring militants from Idlib and northern Syria to Tripoli, like reported by eureporter.co.

Turkey’s regular intervention in Libyan politics once again raises the issue of the neo-Osmanist threat, which will affect not only the stability of the North African region, but also the European one. Given that Recep Erdogan, by trying on the role of sultan, allows himself to blackmail Europeans by intimidating the influx of migrants. This destabilization of northern Africa may also lead to a new wave of migration crisis.

The key problem, however, is Turkey’s strained relations with its allies. The situation in the region is largely determined by the strained relations between Turkey and Russia. Given the diametrically different interests in both Syria and Libya, we can talk about a weakening of cooperation between the states: it is not so much like a stable alliance, but rather a complex game of two long-standing frenemies, with periodic attacks and scandals against each other.

The cooling of relations is illustrated in the second part of the Russian film “Shugaley”, which highlights Turkey’s neo-Osmanist ambitions and its criminal links with the GNA. The central characters of the film are Russian sociologists who were kidnapped in Libya and who Russia is trying to bring back to their homeland. The importance of the return of sociologists is discussed at the highest level, in particular, this problem was raised by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in June 2020 during a meeting with a delegation from the Libyan GNA.

The Russian side is already openly criticizing Turkey’s role in Libya, as well as emphasizing the supply of terrorists and weapons to the region. The authors of the movie express hope that Shugaley himself is still alive, despite constant torture and human rights violations.

The plot of “Shugaley” covers several topics painful and inconvenient for the Government: torture in Mitiga prison, an alliance of terrorists with the government of Fayez al-Sarraj, the permissiveness of pro-government militants, the exploitation of resources of Libyans in the interests of a narrow circle of elites.

Depending on Ankara’s wishes, the GNA pursues a pro-Turkish policy, while Recep Erdogan’s forces are increasingly integrated into the government’s power structures. The film speaks transparently about mutually beneficial cooperation – the GNA receives weapons from the Turks, and in return, Turkey realizes its neo-Ottomanist ambitions in the region, including the economic benefits of rich oil deposits.

“You are from Syria, aren’t you? So you’re a mercenary. You fool, it wasn’t Allah who sent you here. And the big guys from Turkey, who really want Libyan oil. But you don’t want to die for it. Here they send idiots like you here,” says Sugaley’s main character to a militant working for the GNA criminal agencies. On the whole, all this just illustrates the reality: In Libya, Turkey is trying to promote the candidacy of Khalid al-Sharif, one of the most dangerous terrorists close to al-Qaeda.

This is the root of the problem: in fact, al-Sarraj and his entourage – Khalid al-Mishri, Fathi Bashaga, etc. – are selling the country’s sovereignty so that Erdogan can quietly continue to destabilize the region, strengthen terrorist cells and benefit – while at the same time jeopardizing security in Europe. The wave of terrorist attacks in European capitals from 2015 is something that could happen again if northern Africa is filled with terrorists. Meanwhile, Ankara, in violation of international law, claims a place in the EU and receives funding.

At the same time, Turkey regularly intervenes in the affairs of European countries, strengthening its lobby on the ground. For example, a recent example is Germany, where the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) is investigating four suspected supporters of the Turkish right-wing extremist “Grey Wolves” in the country’s armed forces.

The German government has just confirmed in response to a request from the Die Linke party that Ditib (“Turkish-Islamic Union of the Institute of Religion”) is cooperating with extreme Turkish-oriented “Grey Wolves” in Germany. The response from the German Federal Government referred to cooperation between Turkish extreme right extremists and the Islamic umbrella organization, the Turkish-Islamic Union of the Institute of Religion (Ditib), which operates in Germany and is controlled by the Turkish state body, the Office of Religious Affairs (DIYANET).

Would it be an appropriate decision to allow membership of the EU to Turkey, which by means of blackmail, illegal military supplies and integration into the structures of power, the army and intelligence is trying to strengthen its position both in northern Africa and in the heart of Europe? The country that is not able even to cooperate with its allies like Russia?

Europe must reconsider its attitude towards Ankara’s neo-Osmanist policy and prevent the continuation of blackmail – otherwise the region risks facing a new terrorist era.

Israel carried out retaliatory strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday following a spate of arson attacks on Israeli communities in the western Negev, like reported by jns.org.

On Tuesday, incendiary balloons launched from Gaza caused some 60 separate fires in western Negev communities. Firefighters and JNF personnel, as well as Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) workers and volunteers, battled to keep the destruction to a minimum.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit reported that fighter jets, helicopters and tanks had attacked a number of Hamas targets in Gaza.

“The IDF views any terrorist activity aimed at Israel seriously and will continue to do whatever is necessary in the face of attempts to harm the citizens of Israel,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“The Hamas terrorist organization is responsible for what happens in Gaza and what comes out of it, and will bear the ramifications for terrorist acts against Israelis,” the statement continued.

The head of the Eshkol Regional Council, Gadi Yarkoni, said on Tuesday in response to the wave of arson attacks from Gaza that “we are deep into an escalation of arson balloon attacks that are burning our fields.”

Yarkoni said that without the quick response of the IDF, firefighters and volunteers, the fires would have caused much worse damage.

“Thanks to the wonderful, devoted security people in the council’s security branch, who work with the IDF and the Fire and Rescue Services, the INPA, and the JNF, we are luckily managing to get a handle on the fires quickly and prevent them from spreading and causing agricultural damage,” said Yarkoni.

The solution to the security tensions between Israel and Gaza must come from the leadership, he added.

“The repeated escalations are the result of an ongoing impasse in peace talks with Gaza, and the residents of the western Negev are the first ones to pay the price. Just like I get up every morning and remind myself that before anything else, I am here to serve my residents, I expect the Cabinet ministers to remember their obligation to the security of the citizens who live near the border,” said Yarkoni.

Following a tour of the Hatzorim Airbase earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel viewed the wave of attacks from Gaza “with utmost gravity,” according to a statement from his office.

“You will see the results of this very quickly,” said Netanyahu, adding, “It is more important that Hamas and Islamic Jihad see the harsh implications of this ordeal. It will have harsh results and a very heavy price.”

The Israeli premier emphasized that the warning applied to all Iranian proxy forces, in Gaza and beyond.

“I would like to make it clear to all of Iran’s proxies, including in Gaza: Balloon terrorism will have a heavy price. We will not tolerate this. We will take action and exact a heavy price. They should remember that we have done this in the past, because we will do it now as well,” said Netanyahu.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum on Tuesday commented on the closure of the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza as a result of the escalation along the border, calling the decision “an aggressive step, for which Israel will pay.”

Despite last Tuesday’s explosion in Beirut – which left at least 158 people dead, dozens missing and thousands injured and homeless – Lebanon’s biggest problem is Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, like reported by jpost.com.

“While Nasrallah is our greatest enemy to the north, he is Lebanon’s biggest problem from within Lebanon. We see the tragedy that happened in Lebanon… just think about what would happen if that would be repeated with Iranian weapons in Lebanese villages,” he said. “We are dealing with enemies who are operating and storing weapons in a civilian environment. If we have no choice but to fight, it might have difficult implications.”

In his first briefing to the committee as defense minister and the first address by a defense minister to the committee since November, Gantz said the Lebanon blast could have been worse because Hezbollah keeps explosives in the homes of civilians.

“The fact is that in Lebanon there are homes with a guest room and a missile room. And when that missile explodes, the guest room won’t stay intact and Lebanese society will pay a heavy price,” he said.

Gantz also said that Israel needs to continue to take action with the rest of the world to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. He said Israel must stop Iran from opening a terror branch in Syria and is working against Tehran from establishing itself in the war-torn country and other countries in the region through a variety of means.

“Iran is continuing to try to achieve nuclear capabilities. It has proxies in many countries around the world and in the region. We must not ignore this danger,” he said, adding that “continuing pressure on Iran and our determined actions to continue the embargo on Iran must remain a top priority.”

Addressing the current fight over the state budget, Gantz said that political stability is necessary in light of regional realities. He said the IDF needed the certainty of a long-term budget to be able to function better. He recalled that as IDF chief of staff, he prepared three different plans, and none of them were given a budget.

According to him, the “failure to approve a multi-year plan for the IDF is a criminal inefficiency.”

“Once there is a stable budget, the system is able to function efficiently, and utilize the resources well within itself and with the defense industries,” Gantz said.

Due to the country’s successive elections and political stalemate, Israel’s military has had no budget for the past two years and has been operating on monthly allowances based on a twelfth of its 2018 budget.

With no budget, the IDF had to delay procurement and long-term projects and cancel training programs.

While the military’s budget for the Momentum multi-year plan has not yet been agreed upon with the Finance Ministry, the IDF says that the resources available to it along with changes in internal priorities will allow the army to implement many of the decisions of the plan.

If not, the military believes that there will be a risk to Israel’s national security.

Gantz also warned that if elections are initiated, a new haredi (ultra-Orthodox) draft bill would not be passed, which he said was very necessary.

Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Zvi Hauser (Derech Eretz) said security concerns do not permit elections.

“[Iranian Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei and Nasrallah are hoping for elections in Israel,” Hauser said.

Tuesday’s massive explosion in Beirut is still reverberating around the beleaguered Mediterranean nation as anger grows over the apparent negligence and corruption that facilitated the ruinous blast, like reported by newsweek.com.

The ammonium nitrate that exploded in the port of Beirut had been left on site for six years, despite repeated warnings that it posed a huge risk to the densely populated city.

As Beirutis mourn the dead, search for the missing and clear the debris-filled city streets, their anger is once again falling on the political elite that has long been unable to deliver desperately needed reforms and progress while enriching themselves and their affiliates.

One of the most powerful political factions is Hezbollah—the Iranian-backed Islamist political party-cum-militia the effectively controls the south of Lebanon. The party wields massive influence in the country and effectively operates as a state within a state, even fighting its own wars with Israel to the south.

On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron became the first foreign leader to visit devastated Beirut since the explosion. Met in the street by locals appealing for help, the French leader used his visit to urge Hezbollah and other political groups to end the lethargy and prevarication that has come to define Lebanese politics.

“If reforms are not carried out, Lebanon will continue to sink,” Macron said, according to Reuters. “What is also needed here is political change. This explosion should be the start of a new era.”

The French president promised to organize an international aid conference to seek funds to support Lebanon, telling locals: “I guarantee you, this aid will not go to corrupt hands.” Macron also vowed to deliver difficult “home truths” to Lebanon’s leaders and push for more “transparent governance.”

Macron addressed Hezbollah directly, calling on the group to prioritize the needs of Lebanese rather than its Iranian backers. “If they defend the interests of the Lebanese people, let them find a solution to electricity and to the problems of the people instead of serving the interests of a foreign country,” he said, according to Al-Masdar News.

Hezbollah has been behind multiple major terrorist attacks both in Lebanon and abroad. This includes the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, which killed 241 U.S. military personnel.

Its political and military wings are considered terrorist organizations in nations including the U.S., the U.K, Germany, Canada and Israel. The European Union considers Hezbollah’s military wing a terrorist organization.

The group has been a major target for President Donald Trump’s administration, which has accused Hezbollah of nefarious activity across the Middle East, in Europe and as far away as South America.

Hezbollah’s affiliation with Iran makes it a natural enemy of Saudi Arabia—the Sunni Muslim totalitarian monarchy that has battled Tehran for regional supremacy for decades. Soon after the Beirut explosion, Saudi-linked social media accounts began peddling conspiracy theories and disinformation seeking to tie Hezbollah to the blast.

The hashtag “Hezbollah’s Ammonia Burns Beirut” began trending within 24 hours of the explosion, though there is no indication that the group was in any way involved in the tragedy.

The Daily Beast cited unnamed intelligence sources as saying that the online disinformation campaign is being driven by four verified Saudi-linked accounts, which in recent years have been engaged in disinformation campaigns undermining Iranian interests.

Some in the U.S. have also speculated—without providing any clear evidence—that Hezbollah weapons may have been involved in Tuesday’s explosion. Fox News cited “multiple sources” that said Hezbollah exerted some element of control over the port of Beirut.

“There is a possibility that fireworks, petrol and weapons were stored together,” another intelligence source told Fox News. “Officially, the blast happened at the fireworks and petrol warehouse.”

An investigation is underway into the cause of the explosion, which killed at least 157 people, injured more than 5,000 and left 300,000 homeless.

Reuters reported that a fire started at warehouse 9—according to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International possibly as a result of welding—before spreading to warehouse 12 where some 2,750 tons of explosive ammonium nitrate was stored.

Israeli forces foiled an attempt to place bombs along the border with Syria, opening fire and hitting four “terrorists,” the Israel Defense Forces said after midnight Sunday, like reported by toi.com..

The incident comes with the military on high alert for an attack by Hezbollah, which is seeking revenge for a fighter killed in an airstrike attributed to Israel.

“A short time ago, an IDF force foiled an attempt to place explosive devices along the border with Syria,” the army said in a statement. “Special forces that were carrying out an ambush near an IDF post in the southern Golan Heights spotted a cell with a number of terrorists planting explosive devices along the border.”

The army said “an IDF force and an aircraft opened fire together on the four-member cell and hit them.”

There were no casualties to the IDF.

The statement noted that IDF forces in the north were on a high level of alert and warned Syria that that Israel holds Damascus responsible for any attacks emanating from it’s territory.

While the statement only said the terrorists were “hit,” an IDF spokesperson tweeted they were now “former terrorists” and indicated they were killed.

The incident came amid peak tensions in the area as the military braced for violence by Hezbollah along the border after an alleged attempted attack by the terror group last Monday. Hezbollah has also been active in Syria, where it fought in support of the Assad regime.

Over the past weeks, Hezbollah has threatened some form of retaliation for the death of one of its fighters last week in Syria in an airstrike that it attributed to Israel, but which the Jewish state has not officially acknowledged conducting.

Bracing for the attack, the IDF said it was sending additional “advanced” firepower in the form of precision-guided surface-to-surface missiles, additional combat intelligence units and special forces to the area.

Last Monday, the IDF said it thwarted an attempt by Hezbollah to send a team of fighters into the Israeli-controlled territory of Mount Dov, also known as Shebaa Farms, to carry out an attack. According to the military, the Hezbollah cell made it a few meters across the border before IDF troops opened fire at the operatives — apparently not hitting them, but driving them back into Lebanon.

Hezbollah officially denied that an attack had taken place, but did not explicitly dispute that its members had crossed into the Israeli-controlled enclave.

Israeli defense officials scoffed at the terror group’s denial, saying the infiltration attempt had been filmed by military security cameras and that the operatives who took part in it were armed. The IDF did not release film of the incident.

The terror group said a reprisal for its fallen operative in Syria was still to come.

The IDF said the decision to send the additional units to the IDF Northern Command was made in light of a “situational assessment.”

Those reinforcements joined an infantry battalion, additional Iron Dome missile defense batteries and other troops that were sent to the Northern Command last week when Hezbollah first began indicating it planned to carry out an attack along the border as revenge for its fallen operative.

Following the incident on Monday, Israel conveyed messages to Lebanon, through third parties, that it did not want the border altercation to devolve into a war.

In the past, Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate for losses of its fighters in Syria with attacks on Israel. This was the case in September, when the terror group fired three anti-tank guided missiles at Israeli military targets along the Lebanese border, narrowly missing an IDF armored ambulance with five soldiers inside, after the IDF killed two of its fighters in Syria the month before.