Israel's AI targeting system and Hezbollah's disarming conditions
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The National
an hour ago
- The National
Donald Trump to meet Nato Secretary General in Washington on Monday
Donald Trump is set to host Nato's Secretary General Mark Rutte in Washington this week, after the US President resumed weapons shipments to Ukraine. On Sunday, Nato said Mr Rutte would meet Mr Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, and members of Congress. The White House has not yet confirmed the visit. Mr Rutte's trip comes after Mr Trump last week said he would make a 'major statement' about Russia on Monday. It comes after weeks of Mr Trump showing increasing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin 's continued strikes on Russia. Last week he said he was ' strongly looking ' at imposing new sanctions on Moscow. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday said the US would begin selling weapons to European allies that they can then provide to Ukraine. 'Putin has calculated that we would get tired and Europe would get weary – he made a huge mistake,' Mr Graham said in an interview on CBS. 'Nato is bigger and stronger, and we're more committed than ever to make sure he does not take Ukraine by force.' William Taylor, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, said Mr Trump will probably reinforce his commitment to Nato during his meeting with Mr Rutte. 'When Putin hears that the Americans and the rest of Nato are solid, he has to re-evaluate,' Mr Taylor told Fox News on Sunday. 'So this is part of that activity.' The development comes after the Trump administration earlier this month had announced that it would pause some weapons shipments to Ukraine, including critical air defence interceptors and precision munitions due to concerns over declines in US stockpiles. Mr Trump later changed course and said transfers would continue via Nato countries. Critics said slowing weapons transfers plays into Mr Putin's hands and could prolong the war, leaving Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian missile and drone attacks. Officials have also challenged whether US stockpiles were running low. Mr Trump took office in January on a promise to swiftly end the war in Ukraine. He said weapons assistance to Ukraine was a waste of US taxpayers' money. Under his 'America First' approach to foreign policy, he sought to end US military support for Kyiv and reversed decades of foreign policy by initially seeking rapprochement with Mr Putin. But in recent weeks, Mr Trump seemingly changed his tune on Russia, and its leader. 'He's very nice all the time but it turns out to be meaningless,' Mr Trump said last week. Meanwhile, Mr Graham, a Trump ally, is co-sponsoring a bill in the Senate for additional sanctions on Russia, which includes a 500 per cent tariff increase on goods imported from countries who continue to buy Russian oil. Mr Graham said Mr Trump had approved pushing the legislation. 'I don't want to get ahead of the President, but stay tuned about seized assets,' Mr Graham said on Sunday.
Al Etihad
2 hours ago
- Al Etihad
Tight security at Club World Cup final Trump is to attend
13 July 2025 21:52 East Rutherford (dpa)The planned presence of United States President Donald Trump has led to tight security around the Club World Cup final between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea later on Sunday.A large police force and secret service agents were present at MetLife Stadium to the safeguard the match to be attended by around 70, faced more rigid entry checks than at previous matches at the venue. So did media representatives who were not checked by volunteers as at past games but by security personnel. Cameramen and photographers were asked to open their entire equipment for searches. MetLife Stadium will next year also hold the World Cup final on July 19.
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
Lebanon faces existential threat unless it addresses Hezbollah weapons, US envoy warns
Lebanon risks being taken over by regional powers unless Beirut acts to address Hezbollah's weapons stockpiles, US special envoy Tom Barrack warned on Friday. Mr Barrack, who is the special envoy for Syria and US ambassador to Turkey, told The National in an exclusive interview that Lebanon needs to resolve the issue or else it could face an existential threat. 'I honestly think that they are going to say 'the world will pass us by'. Why? You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn't move, it's going to be Bilad Al Sham again,' he said, using the historical name for the Syria region. 'Syrians say Lebanon is our beach resort. So we need to move. And I know how frustrated the Lebanese people are. It frustrates me.' Mr Barrack said the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are ready to help if Lebanon takes the lead. On Saturday, Mr Barrack posted on social media that his comments were intended to praise 'Syria's impressive strides'' rather than being a 'threat to Lebanon'. 'I can assure that Syria's leaders only want co-existence and mutual prosperity with Lebanon, and the United States is committed to supporting that relationship between two equal and sovereign neighbours enjoying peace and prosperity,' he said on X. Last month, Mr Barrack presented Lebanese officials with a proposal to disarm Hezbollah and implement economic reforms, to help lift the country out of its six-year financial crisis – one of the worst in modern history. The US proposal ties reconstruction aid and a halt to Israeli army operations to Hezbollah's full disarmament across the country. Since a US-brokered ceasefire began in November, the Iran-backed group has withdrawn most of its troops from the Israeli border. Israel insists it must be disarmed nationwide. In response to the proposal, Lebanese authorities submitted a seven-page document calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from disputed territory, including Shebaa Farms, and reaffirming state control over all weapons while pledging to dismantle Hezbollah's arms in south Lebanon. The document stopped short of agreeing to disarm Hezbollah nationwide. 'I thought it was responsive, very responsive,' Mr Barrack said, while acknowledging that sticking points remain. 'There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement … it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it." He stressed the urgency for Lebanon to act. When asked if Hezbollah agreeing to lay down its arms and become a purely political party would prompt President Donald Trump's administration to remove the group from the US foreign terrorist list, as it did with Hayat Tahrir Al Sham in Syria, Mr Barrack declined to elaborate. 'I'm not running from the answer, but I can't answer it,' he told journalists in New York earlier on Friday. Asked why Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun has not publicly committed to a disarmament timetable, Mr Barrack said: 'He doesn't want to start a civil war.' The Lebanese armed forces are widely viewed as the 'best, neutral, reliable mediator' in the current crisis but face severe funding shortages due to Lebanon's economic collapse, Mr Barrack said. He noted that despite the Lebanese army's credibility, it operates 'on a shoestring budget', forcing UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, Unifil, to fill the gap with 10,000 troops. 'God bless the United Nations and the Unifil troops, but they don't really have command and control over harsh things,' Mr Barrack said. Mr Barrack acknowledged that any attempt to fully disarm Hezbollah could be volatile and risk sparking a civil war. He suggested a possible path could involve Hezbollah agreeing to voluntarily disarm its heavy weapons, including rockets and drones, handing them over to monitored depots under a 'mechanism' involving the US, France, Israel and the Lebanese army. Mr Barrack said the Lebanese army lacks the resources and manpower to take on such a mission. 'We don't have the soldiers on the ground for the LAF to be able to do that yet, because they don't have the money. They're using equipment that's 60 years old,' he said. As a result, Hezbollah argues it cannot rely on the Lebanese army for protection, he added. 'Hezbollah is looking at it saying, 'We can't rely on the LAF. We have to rely on ourselves because Israel is bombing us every day, and they're still occupying our land,'' he said, referring to disputed border areas known as the 'five points". Mr Barrack said addressing these security concerns, while preventing escalation into conflict, would require international support to strengthen Lebanon's army and a mechanism to manage heavy weapons, with buy-in from all sides. He said the US has approached its Gulf partners to seek funding for the Lebanese armed forces but has faced resistance. 'The US is going to our valued Gulf partners and saying, 'We want money to go to the LAF,'' he said. 'Why do the Gulf partners not want to do that? Because they've given so much money to Lebanon in the past that's gone to the corrupt leaders. So they're saying, 'Yeah, we're done.'' He noted that Gulf states are reluctant to invest further without assurances that funds will bypass Lebanon's entrenched political elite and corruption. 'This is the big dilemma,' Mr Barrack said, adding that without sustained support for the Lebanese army, it will remain under-resourced, complicating any efforts to stabilise the country and reduce Hezbollah's hold. 'We need to help bolster the LAF,' Mr Barrack said. 'We can do it hand-in-hand with the Gulf countries, hand-in-hand with Unifil, as we redefine what their role is on a continued basis.'
