Israel's moves to secure Lebanon, Syria borders could fuel new threats: analysts
This Week in Asia Politics Published: 6:00pm, 30 Jan 2025 Israel 's continued occupation of southern Lebanon and adjacent areas of Syria reflects a US-backed move to secure the Jewish-majority state's borders, analysts say.
But by attempting to impose an 'ideal solution' to the threat posed by Lebanese Hezbollah and address uncertainty arising from the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, analysts warned that Israel could destabilise the new non-hostile governments of both countries, thereby fuelling threats against itself. Israel's refusal to withdraw from parts of southern Lebanon on Sunday, in accordance with the terms of a ceasefire struck in November with Iranian ally Hezbollah, 'presents an immediate political challenge' to the new government in Beirut, as well as to US President Donald Trump 's administration, said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Houston-based Rice University's Institute for Public Policy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the decision two days before the January 25 deadline, claiming that the agreement 'has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state' by deploying troops in previously Hezbollah-dominated southern areas and ensuring the group had withdrawn its forces to the Litani River, about 30km north of the Israeli border.
03:29
Ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah militants takes effect Ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah militants takes effect
Israel's ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, last week acknowledged facing challenges in persuading the Trump administration to support the decision.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTHK
an hour ago
- RTHK
China-US trade talks under way in London
China-US trade talks under way in London China and US trade officials meet in Lancaster House in London. Photo: Reuters The first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism opened in London on Monday Vice Premier He Lifeng attended the meeting with the US delegation including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at Lancaster House. The meeting is aimed at shoring up a fragile truce in a trade dispute sparked by US tariffs that has roiled the global economy. The talks are expected to last at least a day and followed negotiations in Geneva last month that brought a temporary respite in the trade war. Lutnick did not attend the Geneva talks at which the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other. President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump spoke by phone last Thursday in an attempt to put relations back on track. The meeting in London was helped by news that Beijing on Saturday approved some applications for rare-earth exports, while US aviation giant Boeing is to start sending commercial jets to China for the first time since April. (Agencies)
RTHK
an hour ago
- RTHK
China-US trade talks under way in London
China-US trade talks under way in London China and US trade officials meet in Lancaster House in London. Photo: Reuters The first meeting of the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism opened in London on Monday Vice Premier He Lifeng attended the meeting with the US delegation including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at Lancaster House. The meeting is aimed at shoring up a fragile truce in a trade dispute sparked by US tariffs that has roiled the global economy. The talks are expected to last at least a day and followed negotiations in Geneva last month that brought a temporary respite in the trade war. Lutnick did not attend the Geneva talks at which the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other. President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump spoke by phone last Thursday in an attempt to put relations back on track. The meeting in London was helped by news that Beijing on Saturday approved some applications for rare-earth exports, while US aviation giant Boeing is to start sending commercial jets to China for the first time since April. (Agencies)
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Why Xi's decision to talk to Trump during trade crisis speaks volumes
Chinese President Xi Jinping's decision to speak to US President Donald Trump directly last week, the first such call in four months, spoke volumes about the importance to Xi of finding a way through the morass of Sino-US relations. Xi's decision ran counter to the long-standing Chinese diplomatic approach during Sino-US tensions of the Chinese president refusing calls from the US president despite persistent entreaties. The White House had repeatedly predicted a Xi-Trump phone call only to fall silent when it did not materialise. Xi was almost certainly wary of speaking to Trump because of his track record of embarrassing foreign leaders , but I believe the central reason is rooted in the risk aversion in ties with Washington that has characterised Chinese foreign policy since the normalisation of relations in the 1970s. When I recently asked a Chinese academic why it is so hard for Xi to pick up the phone, he said that direct leader-to-leader negotiations in a time of crisis were not in the DNA of the Communist Party leadership. The historical record gives us ample evidence of this. As student protests rocked Beijing in 1989, ultimately ending in military forces suppressing the movement in Tiananmen Square, US president George H.W. Bush repeatedly requested a phone call with China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. The Chinese refused. Perplexed, Bush asked my China analytic team at the CIA why Deng would not take his call and why, during the crisis, Deng had disappeared from public view. Bush wondered whether he was sick or had been ousted. We explained that we had intelligence he was still in charge but that it was typical of Chinese leaders to 'go to ground' during a domestic crisis and not reappear or talk to foreign leaders until they were sure that the situation had stabilised.
