04/08/2026

TUESDAY | AUG 4, 2026

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Issue Beirut port blast indictment, judiciary urged

Israel conveys ‘concerns’ on Gaza plan

TEL AVIV: Israel has conveyed concerns to the United States on a Gaza plan hailed by President Donald Trump after Hamas said it had agreed on disarmament, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said yesterday. “Israel has conveyed its comments and concerns on the proposed framework to our American counterparts. The version that has been made public does not reflect Israel’s positions,” said Doron Spielman, spokesman for the prime minister’s office. He said that Israeli intelligence had found that Hamas had been rearming and recruiting forces since a ceasefire announced by Trump in October, which has reduced the level of violence although Israel has kept up strikes. Hamas announced on Friday that it had agreed to the next stage of a deal that includes handing over weapons to a nascent Palestinian governing committee. Trump called the move a “major milestone” in efforts to end the devastating war that opened with the attack on Oct 7, 2023 and told reporters that Israel was “very happy” about the developments. But Netanyahu’s spokesman said that Hamas’s actions showed it was preparing for “further Oct 7-style massacres” and noted that the plan released by Trump’s Board of Peace called for Gaza to be “a deradicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours”. “That vision stands in direct contrast to the current reality and to Hamas’s stated intentions. The indispensable first step towards any lasting arrangement is the genuine, verifiable and irreversible demilitarisation of Hamas,” he said. “Anything short of full demilitarisation will leave Hamas with the capability to threaten Israel again.” An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier said that Israel, which still controls most of the Gaza Strip, would not withdraw forces under the plan without verifying disarmament by Hamas. Israel kept up strikes after the Hamas announcement, with Palestinian authorities on Sunday reporting that Israeli attacks killed at least 13 people. – AFP Trump AG nominee pacifies senators WASHINGTON: The US acting attorney-general said on Sunday he had reached an agreement with lawmakers and issued an order officially scrapping a US$1.8-billion (RM7.4 billion) compensation fund that has led to a standoff over his Senate confirmation. Todd Blanche’s announcement came after the Senate Judiciary Committee pushed back a vote on advancing his nomination owing to his continuing dispute with Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Cornyn and Tillis have said they will withhold support for Blanche until the Trump administration rescinds plans for a controversial US$1.8 billion “anti-weaponisation” fund for people claiming they have been victims of politically motivated prosecutions. “My team and I met committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions,” Blanche wrote on X. “We have enjoyed good faith discussions, and as a result issue the following order and update with regard to the May IRS settlement.” A signed order attached to Blanche’s post said: “The Attorney General’s May 18, 2026 Order establishing the Anti-Weaponisation Fund ... is rescinded and shall have no force or effect. “This order establishes beyond any doubt that there is no fund.” The Senate Judiciary Committee is due to vote on Blanche’s nomination today. – AFP

o Lebanese president pushes for accountability

The case, which is still with the public prosecutor, had been bogged down by political and legal wrangling since 2023, after Iran-linked Hezbollah led a campaign demanding Bitar’s removal and dozens of lawsuits also sought to remove him from the case. However, Bitar resumed his investigations last year as Lebanon’s balance of power shifted and Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam took office following a 2023-2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah, which weakened the group. Since then, several legal impediments to Bitar’s work have also been removed, including the lifting of a travel ban against him. Salam said on X that “there can be no settlement at the expense of justice, even if it is sometimes delayed”. He vowed “no cover for any official, no matter their position, whether in the Beirut port explosion case or any other issue. Accountability will not spare anyone.” – AFP

Nobody has been held accountable for the disaster, with victims and their families still demanding justice in a country long plagued by official impunity. Justice “means upholding rights, revealing the whole truth without any omission, and holding accountable” all those who were negligent or caused the catastrophe “whatever their position”, Aoun said. “The Lebanese judiciary is called today more than ever before to prove its independence and ability to deliver justice to the victims. The indictment is not just a legal procedure, but a right owed by the living to the martyrs and their families,” he said. In March, a judicial official told AFP that judge Tarek Bitar had completed his investigation involving some 70 defendants including politicians, security and military officials and civil servants. He referred the case to the public prosecutor who was to study it, present his opinion and then refer it back to Bitar to issue the indictment.

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun yesterday urged the judiciary to issue a long awaited indictment over the 2020 Beirut port blast, on the eve of the catastrophe’s sixth anniversary. “The issuing of the indictment by the investigating judge has become a necessity that can no longer be delayed,” Aoun said in a statement. The massive Beirut port explosion on Aug 4, 2020, killed more than 220 people, injured more that 6,500 and damaged swathes of the capital. Lebanese authorities have said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser had been stored haphazardly for years, despite repeated warnings.

Aftermath of the Beirut explosion on Aug 4, 2020. – AFPFILEPIC

Efforts underway to revive Iran-US deal TEHRAN: An Iranian lawmaker said yesterday that mediators were seeking to revive a deal that briefly halted the war between Iran and the United States in June.

violating its provisions. US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Washington and Israel had agreed to hold off on new strikes on Iran, provided a deal to end the months-long conflict was reached rapidly. In a post on his Truth Social website, Trump said he had agreed “to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to”. Ghashghavi, a former diplomat, said there was “constant exchange of views and discussion over proposals”, without elaborating. – AFP

memorandum of understanding, was reached with the involvement of Iran’s Gulf neighbour Qatar and eastern neighbour Pakistan, with negotiating sessions held in Islamabad. The deal included arrangements concerning the Strait of Hormuz and a resumption of diplomacy between Tehran and Washington for a broader deal. It also called for an end to the hostilities in Lebanon where Israel has been fighting the Hezbollah group. The agreement later collapsed after Iran and the United States accused each other of

Hassan Ghashghavi, spokesman for parliament’s national security commission, said in a video interview that “there is an effort underway to revive the 14-point Islamabad agreement, particularly by the mediators”. “They know that the main issue and, in fact, the key to the matter right now is the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, so yes, there is an exchange of views,” he said. The agreement, known as the Islamabad