KUWAITIS OPT TO RETURN FROM BEIRUT DESPITE CURRENT STABILITY

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KUWAIT CITY, June 23: Kuwait International Airport welcomed the return of 226 passengers, mostly citizens, on the first flight from Lebanon following warnings and calls to return issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs due to ongoing security developments in the region. The first Kuwait Airways Boeing 777 plane landed at 3 a.m. at T4 Airport. The flight had departed for Beirut Airport the previous evening, as announced by Kuwait Airways. Many returning citizens were grateful to the political leadership and the government for their concern and efforts to ensure their safety. They appreciated the facilities provided from the moment they boarded the plane until they arrived in Kuwait. Passengers praised the smooth procedures and comfort provided by Kuwait Airways and the facilitation of departure processes for those wishing to return. They noted that while conditions in Beirut are currently stable, they chose to return home in response to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs advisories, anticipating any potential emergencies.

Meanwhile, thousands of fighters from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are ready to come to Lebanon to join the militant Hezbollah group in its battle with Israel if the simmering conflict escalates into a full-blown war, officials with Iran-backed factions and analysts say. Almost daily exchanges of fire have occurred along Lebanon’s frontier with northern Israel since fighters from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip staged a bloody assault on southern Israel in early October that set off a war in Gaza. The situation to the north worsened this month after an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Hezbollah military commander in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah retaliated by firing hundreds of rockets and explosive drones into northern Israel. Israeli officials have threatened a military offensive in Lebanon if there is no negotiated end to push Hezbollah away from the border.

Over the past decade, Iran-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan fought together in Syria’s 13-year conflict, helping tip the balance in favor of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Officials from Iran-backed groups say they could also join together again against Israel.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech Wednesday that militant leaders from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other countries have previously offered to send tens of thousands of fighters to help Hezbollah, but he said the group already has more than 100,000 fighters. “We told them, thank you, but we are overwhelmed by the numbers we have,” Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah said the battle in its current form is using only a portion of Hezbollah’s manpower, an apparent reference to the specialized fighters who fire missiles and drones. But that could change in the event of an all-out war. Nasrallah hinted at that possibility in a speech in 2017 in which he said fighters from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan “will be partners” of such a war. Officials from Lebanese and Iraqi groups backed by Iran say Iran-backed fighters from around the region will join in if war erupts on the Lebanon-Israel border. Thousands of such fighters are already deployed in Syria and could easily slip through the porous and unmarked border. Some of the groups have already staged attacks on Israel and its allies since the Israel-Hamas war started Oct. 7.

The groups from the so-called “axis of resistance” say they are using a “unity of arenas strategy” and they will only stop fighting when Israel ends its offensive in Gaza against their ally, Hamas. “We will be (fighting) shoulder to shoulder with Hezbollah” if an all-out war breaks out, one official with an Iran-backed group in Iraq told The Associated Press in Baghdad, insisting on speaking anonymously to discuss military matters. He refused to give further details.

The official, along with another from Iraq, said some advisers from Iraq are already in Lebanon. An official with a Lebanese Iran-backed group, also insisting on anonymity, said fighters from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, Afghanistan’s Fatimiyoun, Pakistan Zeinabiyoun and the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen known as Houthis could come to Lebanon to take part in a war.

By Muhammad Al-Musleh
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff and Agencies

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