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Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London to the United States embassy on Saturday to protest against President Donald Trump’s proposal that the US “take over” Gaza.Waving Palestinian flags and placards saying “Hands off Gaza,” several thousand people walked from Whitehall in Westminster over the River Thames to the embassy in Nine Elms.Earlier this month, Trump stunned the world when he suggested the US could redevelop the war-ravaged Gaza Strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.His proposal envisages resettling Palestinians elsewhere, with no plan for them ever to return.Other western leaders and the Arab world have widely condemned the idea.Protesters held banners that read, “Stand up to Trump” and “Mr Trump, Canada is not your 51st state. Gaza is not your 52nd.””I think it’s completely immoral and illegal and also impractical and absurd,” 87-year-old Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos told AFP.”You simply cannot deport two million people, especially that the surrounding countries already said that they wouldn’t take them, not out of the goodness of their heart but because it would destabilise those countries.”So it’s not going to happen but it does a lot of damage simply stating that as an endgame,” he added.The march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), was the 24th major pro-Palestinian protest in Britain’s capital since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.A heavy police presence was deployed as officers kept protesters away from a counter-march called “Stop the Hate”, where participants waved Israeli flags.Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,264 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.On Saturday, Hamas released three Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian inmates freed by Israel, completing the latest swap of a fragile Gaza truce deal.

Palestinian militants released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian inmates freed by Israel, completing the latest swap despite fears the Gaza truce deal was near collapse.An AFP journalist saw masked Hamas gunmen parade the hostages onto a stage before a crowd in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis.Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn were made to make statements into a microphone before being handed over to the Red Cross and taken back home to Israeli territory, after being held for more than 16 months.Clutching gift bags given by their captors, the three men, flanked by fighters, called for the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ceasefire deal.Not long after, a busload of Palestinian prisoners departed Israel’s Ofer Prison and were greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, an AFP journalist said.More buses took inmates from an Israeli prison in the Negev desert to the Gaza Strip, according to another AFP journalist.Saturday’s swap, the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19, came after Hamas had threatened to pause hostage releases over alleged Israeli violations, while Israel had threatened to resume the war if it did.Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.The latest release led to tears of joy among friends and family members.”Finally, Sasha can be surrounded by his loved ones and begin a new path,” Trupanov’s family said in a statement.Dekel-Chen’s wife, Avital, said in a call to her sister aired by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster: “My breath has returned. He looks so handsome.”Dekel-Chen finally learned the name of his youngest daughter, born two months after his capture.- Next phase -Later in the day, hundreds of Palestinians freed by Israel reached Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, where they made victory signs and waved to a jubilant crowd.In the West Bank, one freed inmate, Amir Abu Radaha, said: “I’ve returned to my family and I’ve returned anew, born again.”Charged with intentionally causing death and being a member of an illegal organisation, according to Israel’s justice ministry records, Abu Radaha had spent almost 32 years in jail.Israel confirmed it had released a total of 369 prisoners.According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group, those to be freed included 36 serving life sentences, 24 of whom were due for deportation under the terms of the truce deal.The deportees, with shaven heads, later arrived by bus on the Egyptian side of the border, an AFP correspondent said.Images broadcast on Israeli media showed Palestinian prisoners ahead of their release wearing sweatshirts featuring the prison service logo, a Star of David, and the slogan: “We will not forget and we will not forgive.”Negotiations on a second phase of the ceasefire, meant to lay out steps towards a more permanent end to the war, are expected to begin next week.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel’s top backer and one of the truce mediators, is due to arrive in Israel late Saturday ahead of expected talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the truce.Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement after Saturday’s hostage release that the United States “must compel” Israel to adhere to the truce deal “if it truly cares about the prisoners’ (hostages) lives”.Israel’s military chief, Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, said that even though efforts continue to bring home the remaining captives, the military is “simultaneously preparing offensive plans”.An Israeli campaign group, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, warned in a statement against the deal’s “collapse”.- ‘Welcome back’ -A crowd gathered in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv to watch a live feed of the exchange. Many carried Israeli flags and posters with messages including “Sorry and welcome back” and “Complete the ceasefire”.Last week’s release sparked anger in Israel and beyond after the freed hostages were paraded onstage, with their emaciated state sparking concern over conditions in captivity.There were also fears for Palestinians in Israeli custody after several were hospitalised following their release last week.The Red Crescent said four of those released on Saturday were also transferred to hospital in the West Bank.After Saturday’s swap, the Red Cross said more must be done by all sides for “dignified” hostage-prisoner releases.The ceasefire has been under massive strain since US President Donald Trump proposed a takeover of the Gaza Strip under which the territory’s population of more than two million people would be moved to Egypt or Jordan.Arab countries have come together to reject Trump’s plan.A joint statement from the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem also said Gazans “must not be forced into exile”.Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,264 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.burs/it/ami

The UK government on Saturday named two Britons detained in Iran as Craig and Lindsay Foreman, with their family saying they are determined to ensure the pair’s “safe return”.The two are currently being held in Kerman, a city and province in southeast Iran, the family said in a statement issued by the British foreign ministry.”This unexpected turn of events has caused significant concern for our entire family, and we are deeply focused on ensuring their safety and well-being during this trying time,” they said.The family added that it was “united in our determination to secure their safe return”.”We truly appreciate the outpouring of support from friends, family, and the community, which has provided us with strength and encouragement as we face this ordeal,” said the statement.The BBC reported that the couple are in their early 50s and were on a motorbike trip around the world when they were detained in January.According to social media posts, the duo crossed into Iran from Armenia in December and were gradually making their way to Australia.Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed on Friday that it was “providing consular assistance to two British nationals detained in Iran” and were in contact with Iranian authorities.That came after Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported on Wednesday that two British nationals were being held in central Kerman province on unspecified security offences.IRNA said British Ambassador Hugo Shorter “met with the two security suspects” at the Kerman prosecutor’s office.The UK government advises against all travel to Iran.It says British and British-Iranian dual nationals are “at significant risk of arrest, questioning or detention”.Several other Europeans are held in custody in Iran, which has conducted multiple prisoner exchanges with Western governments in recent years.In an Instagram post, Lindsay Foreman acknowledged that travelling to Iran was “slightly scary” and they were doing so “despite the advice” of friends, family and the UK foreign ministry.”Yes, we’re aware of the risks. But we also know the rewards of meeting incredible people, hearing their stories, and seeing the breathtaking landscapes of these regions could far outweigh the fear,” she wrote.

A bus carrying a group of Palestinian prisoners released Saturday by Israel under the Gaza ceasefire deal arrived to a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, according to an AFP journalist.Wearing traditional keffiyeh scarves, the freed prisoners were hoisted onto the crowd’s shoulders. They hugged relatives before heading to a quick health checkup, the journalist reported.Many in the crowd waved yellow flags of the Fatah movement which dominates the Palestinian Authority, while one prisoner kissed a baby as soon as he stepped off the bus.The Israeli Prison Service confirmed it had freed 369 prisoners from the Ofer and Kziot prisons near Ramallah and Gaza respectively, after transferring them “from several prisons across the country”.Among those released in Ramallah Saturday was Amir Abu Radaha, who had spent almost 32 years in jail.”I’ve returned to my family and I’ve returned anew, born again. Today is a new birthday”, he told AFP from their home in the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah.He had been charged with intentionally causing death and being a member of an illegal organisation, according to Israel’s justice ministry records.  Abu Radaha said that during the time he’d spent in jail no period had been as hard as the 15 months while war had raged in Gaza.His sister expressed joy after a sleepless night.”I kept thinking about whether Amir would be released this time or not”, she told AFP.Unlike previous releases, the prisoners wore jackets rather than openly displaying their prison garb.- ‘Grotesque gestures’ -Earlier Saturday, images broadcast on Israeli public television showed Palestinian prisoners ahead of their release wearing sweatshirts featuring the prison service logo, a Star of David, and the slogan: “We do not forget and we do not forgive.”In a statement, the Palestinian militant group Hamas condemned the Arabic slogan on the prisoners’ sweatshirts, calling it “racist” and a “flagrant violation of humanitarian laws”.Earlier Saturday, during the release of three Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis, militants forced the captives to address onlookers in Hebrew in a choreographed release where signs carried messages in Hebrew, Arabic and English.Elior Levy, a commentator on Israel’s public broadcaster, criticised the prison service’s use of the uniforms as “stupid and infantile”.”This very idiotic act puts Israel in the same line as Hamas’ grotesque gestures in releasing the hostages,” he wrote on X. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group had said Israel was to release 369 inmates in the latest exchange.The inmates were freed in exchange for three Israelis held hostage in Gaza. It was the latest such swap under a January 19 ceasefire deal that ended more than 15 months of war ignited by Hamas’s unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.Israel had warned Hamas that it must free three living hostages this weekend or face a resumption of the war, after the group said it would pause releases over what it described as Israeli violations of the Gaza truce.

Holding up signs reading “sorry and welcome back” and “complete the ceasefire”, hundreds of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv’s “Hostages Square” on Saturday to watch Hamas release three Israeli hostages from Gaza.In smaller groups, friends and relatives of the released men — Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov, 29, and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn, 46 — shed tears of joy at the sight of their loved ones, who were made to address a crowd in Gaza from a stage alongside rifle-wielding militants.All three men were taken from Nir Oz, a kibbutz community near the Gaza border, during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 which sparked the war.Dekel-Chen’s wife, Avital, who gave birth to the couple’s third daughter two months after her husband was seized, was waiting for him at an army base in southern Israel.”My breath has returned. He looks so handsome,” she said following his release in a call to her sister aired by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster.Other relatives of Dekel-Chen said they were relieved to see him alive.”I am excited, and I see that he looks OK, and I want to hug him,” his mother-in-law told Kan, wiping away tears.Dekel-Chen’s sister-in-law said: “Thank God that everything is OK and they were on their feet.”They watched the release from the town of Carmei Gat in southern Israel, where some residents of Nir Oz have moved to since the attack.- ‘A new path’ -In Kfar Saba, in central Israel, a friend of the Horn family, Ronnie Milo, told AFP that she was experiencing “unimaginable joy” on seeing him return alive.Ronli Nissim, of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group, said: “It’s an emotional roller coaster, and also very bittersweet.””Every time someone comes back… we are just a jumble of emotions,” she said.”But then we’re thinking about everyone who’s left behind, and we know that they are mistreated, we know that they’re in hell, and they’re just waiting to be released.”So far under the Gaza truce, 19 Israeli hostages have been released in exchange of hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli custody.The 42-day first phase of the truce stipulates the release of a total of 33 hostages, including eight Israel says are dead, in exchange for some 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.Out of the 251 people abducted during the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants, 70 remain in Gaza, with half of them dead according to the Israeli military.In Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Trupanov’s friends and family clapped, cheered and cried as they watched the 29-year-old, who had been held by Hamas’s ally Islamic Jihad, step out of a car in Gaza.In a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, Trupanov’s family said they were grateful to see him return.”Finally, Sasha can be surrounded by his loved ones and begin a new path,” said the statement, adding that they did not know if Trupanov was “aware that his father, Vitaly, was murdered on October 7”. “This knowledge –- or lack thereof -– will completely transform his homecoming from a day of great joy to one of deep mourning for his beloved father,” they said.

Their voices monotone and their faces staring mostly ahead, three Israeli hostages spoke in Hebrew on a Gaza stage before walking to freedom on Saturday, after more than 16 months of captivity in the Palestinian territory.The carefully choreographed handover to the Red Cross in Gaza came as part of an ongoing ceasefire deal with Israel.Compared to three emaciated captives released last week, Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn appeared in better health as they emerged from a white car. They clutched gift bags and a certificate to mark the end of their captivity, but the three men had to undergo a last minute ordeal of speaking on a microphone in Hebrew just before the release.The men — flanked by five masked fighters brandishing assault rifles — were forced to speak in front of the crowds but in an apparent address to Israelis, urging the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ongoing ceasefire deal.The voice of Dekel-Chen, whose third daughter was born during his captivity, trembled slightly at the beginning of his address at the ceremony filmed by photographers in military fatigues.Scenes a week earlier in Gaza’s central city of Deir el-Balah, where pale and thin hostages were forced to speak on stage, provoked immediate outrage in Israel.They also prompted the International Committee of the Red Cross to call on Hamas to ensure subsequent swaps are more private and dignified.This week, one by one, the men dressed in tracksuits were led to Red Cross vehicles and driven away after a few minutes on stage. Moments earlier a Red Cross official had filled out paperwork as part of the swaps, on a table where an hourglass had been placed.”Time is running out” read an accompanying message in Hebrew, Arabic and English.- Show of force -Before the swap, fighters arrived to form a cordon around a cleared area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip.Bunting in the colours of the Hamas and Palestinian flags was strung across the cleared area as strains of militant anthems blared out over loud speakers. Hundreds of armed men were in attendance. Some wore the green headbands of Hamas’s Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades. Others, from Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, wore black headbands for what has become a weekly show of force under the truce deal that began on January 19.All wore black masks, leaving only their eyes visible.Crowds of onlookers stood behind, waiting to catch a glimpse of the hostages. Some clustered on a mound of dirt, cleared by bulldozers during the war, to get a better view. After five previous exchanges the militants had erected a larger and more elaborate backdrop to stage Saturday’s handover ceremony.- ‘No displacement’- But just metres behind lay a crumpled  building, destroyed in the 15 months of war with Israel, its concrete floors spilling forward to the ground. At the centre of the platform, a large image showing the Dome of the Rock in the Israeli-annexed Old City of Jerusalem showed fighters in the foreground moving towards the Muslim holy site.The approaching silhouetted fighters were depicted carrying the flags of Middle East countries — including those of Egypt, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.”Oh Jerusalem, bear witness we are your soldiers,” a slogan above the image read.To one side, another poster showed what appeared to be former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar seated on a red chair inside a destroyed building, a scene reminiscent of moments before his killing in October.The mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack which sparked the war in Gaza, and who was killed by Israel on 16 October, 2024, was shown looking through a hole in the wall, again towards the Dome of the Rock, accompanied by a message in the three languages: “No displacement except to Jerusalem.”Since the ceasefire came into effect, 19 hostages have been freed from Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

Their voices monotone and their faces staring mostly ahead, three Israeli hostages spoke in Hebrew on a Gaza stage before walking to freedom on Saturday, after more than 16 months of captivity in the Palestinian territory.The carefully choreographed handover to the Red Cross in Gaza came as part of an ongoing ceasefire deal with Israel.Compared to three emaciated captives released last week, Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn appeared in better health as they emerged from a white car. They clutched gift bags and a certificate to mark the end of their captivity.The three men — flanked by five masked fighters brandishing assault rifles — spoke on a microphone to the crowds, urging the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ongoing ceasefire deal.The voice of Dekel-Chen, whose third daughter was born during his captivity, trembled slightly at the beginning of his address at the ceremony filmed by photographers in military fatigues.Scenes a week earlier in Gaza’s central city of Deir el-Balah, where pale and thin hostages were forced to speak on stage, provoked immediate outrage in Israel.They also prompted the International Committee of the Red Cross to call on Hamas to ensure subsequent swaps are more private and dignified.This week, one by one, the men dressed in tracksuits were led to Red Cross vehicles and driven away after a few minutes on stage. Moments earlier a Red Cross official had filled out paperwork as part of the swaps, on a table where an hourglass had been placed.”Time is running out” read an accompanying message in Hebrew, Arabic and English.- Show of force -Before the swap, fighters arrived to form a cordon around a cleared area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip. Bunting in the colours of the Hamas and Palestinian flags was strung across the cleared area as strains of militant anthems blared out over loud speakers. Hundreds of armed men were in attendance. Some wore the green headbands of Hamas’s Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades. Others, from Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades, wore black headbands for what has become a weekly show of force under the truce deal that began on January 19.All wore black masks, leaving only their eyes visible.Crowds of onlookers stood behind, waiting to catch a glimpse of the hostages. Some clustered on a mound of dirt, cleared by bulldozers during the war, to get a better view. After five previous exchanges the militants had erected a larger and more elaborate backdrop to stage Saturday’s handover ceremony.- ‘No displacement’- But just metres behind lay a crumpled  building, destroyed in the 15 months of war with Israel, its concrete floors spilling forward to the ground. At the centre of the platform, a large image showing the Dome of the Rock in the Israeli-annexed Old City of Jerusalem showed fighters in the foreground moving towards the Muslim holy site.The approaching silhouetted fighters were depicted carrying the flags of Middle East countries — including those of Egypt, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.”Oh Jerusalem, bear witness we are your soldiers,” a slogan above the image read.To one side, another poster showed what appeared to be former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar seated on a red chair inside a destroyed building, a scene reminiscent of moments before his killing in October.The mastermind of the October 7, 2023 attack which sparked the war in Gaza, and who was killed by Israel on 16 October, 2024, was shown looking through a hole in the wall, again towards the Dome of the Rock, accompanied by a message in the three languages: “No displacement except to Jerusalem.”

Palestinian militants handed three Israeli hostages over to the Red Cross on Saturday, while buses carrying freed Palestinian prisoners rolled out of two Israeli jails in the latest exchange under an ongoing Gaza truce deal.An AFP journalist saw masked Hamas militants parade the hostages onto a stage in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis, where they were told to address the crowd before their handover to the Red Cross.Clutching gift bags given by their captors and a certificate to mark the end of their captivity, the three men, flanked by fighters, called for the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ceasefire deal.Not long after, a busload of Palestinian prisoners departed the Israeli-run Ofer Prison and was greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, an AFP journalist saw.More buses full of prisoners pulled out of an Israeli prison in the Negev desert heading towards Gaza, according to another AFP journalist.Saturday’s swap, the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19, came after fears that the deal between Israel and Hamas was near collapse. The Palestinian group had threatened to pause hostage releases over alleged violations, while Israel threatened to resume the war if it did, but on Friday both sides signalled the swap would go ahead as originally planned.Scores of militants were deployed and a crowd of onlookers turned out to watch the hostage release in Khan Yunis, as Palestinian nationalist music played in the background.A crowd also gathered in Tel Aviv’s “Hostages Square” to watch the exchange, with many carrying Israeli flags and posters with messages including “Sorry and welcome back” and “Complete the ceasefire”.The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had named the hostages as Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn. The Israeli military later confirmed all three were back in Israeli territory.They had been held by Gaza militants since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war 16 months ago.- More talks -The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said Israel was to release 369 inmates in exchange, with 24 of them expected to be deported.Almost all of the rest are “prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7”, the group said.After the deal had appeared to be on the brink of collapse, a Hamas official on Friday said the group expected talks on a second phase of the ceasefire to begin early next week. Another source familiar with the talks offered a similar timeline.The negotiations on the second phase are meant to lay out steps towards a more permanent end to the war.United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel’s top backer and one of the truce mediators, is due to arrive in Israel late Saturday ahead of expected talks with Netanyahu on the Gaza truce.Last week’s release sparked anger in Israel and beyond after the freed hostages were paraded onstage, with their emaciated state sparking concern over conditions in captivity.Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel, released in a previous exchange, said he was “starved and… tortured, both physically and emotionally” during his captivity.There were also fears for Palestinians in Israeli custody, and the Red Crescent said four of the released Palestinians were transferred to hospital.- Riyadh summit – The ceasefire has been under massive strain since US President Donald Trump proposed a takeover of the Gaza Strip under which the territory’s population of more than two million people would be moved to Egypt or Jordan.For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass displacement of their ancestors during Israel’s creation in 1948.The stage set up for the release on Saturday bore an illustrated poster appearing to depict the final moments of Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar, who Israeli forces killed in October. It showed the Al-Aqsa Mosque visible through a hole in the wall of a destroyed building along with the slogan: “No displacement except to Jerusalem”.Arab countries have come together to reject Trump’s plan, and Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for a summit on the issue.A joint statement from the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem on Saturday also spoke out against any forced displacement, saying Gazans “who have lived for generations in the land of their ancestors, must not be forced into exile, stripped of… their right to remain in the land that forms the essence of their identity”.The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.Netanyahu’s office said shortly after Saturday’s release that it was working with the United States to free the remaining hostages “as quickly as possible”, without offering specifics.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,239 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun vowed to punish the perpetrators of an attack on a United Nations peacekeeping convoy, with authorities set to hold an emergency meeting on Saturday.The UN and Lebanese authorities have condemned Friday’s attack, which came as Hezbollah supporters for a second night blocked the road to the country’s only international airport over a decision barring two Iranian planes from landing there.Aoun “emphasised that the attackers will receive their punishment” and said “security forces will not be lenient with any party that tries to upset stability and civil peace”, according to a statement from the presidency on X.The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has demanded an investigation after one of its vehicles was set on fire during the incident, which wounded Nepalese outgoing deputy force commander Chok Bahadur Dhakal as he was returning home.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam strongly condemned the “criminal attack” and promised to arrest the perpetrators during a conversation with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and UNIFIL Commander General Aroldo Lazaro. Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar has called an emergency security meeting on Saturday at 11:00 am (0900 GMT), and said he visited two injured UNIFIL officers in hospital, emphasising “the Lebanese government’s rejection of this attack”.The presidency’s statement said Aoun had also checked on the deputy commander’s condition and emphasised that the incident “cannot be allowed to be repeated”.Aoun also “followed up on developments regarding roadblocks, setting fires and riots, and issued directives to the army and security forces to put a stop to these practices”, the statement said, adding that the judiciary “has begun investigations on the ground”.There was no immediate official comment from Hezbollah. However, the group’s ally the Amal movement, led by powerful parliament speaker Nabih Berri, said “the attack on UNIFIL is an attack on south Lebanon” and that “blocking roads anywhere is an assault on civil peace”.- ‘Absolutely unacceptable’ -The army said Friday that several areas around the airport had seen “demonstrations marked by acts of vandalism and clashes, including assaults on members of the armed forces and attacks against vehicles”.Videos circulating on social media showed demonstrators, some hooded and carrying Hezbollah flags, attacking a man in military garb and another in civilian clothes near the torched UNIFIL vehicle.UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the incident, a spokesman said Friday.”Such attacks are absolutely unacceptable… The safety and security of UN personnel and property must be respected at all times,” the statement from spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.”Attacks against peacekeepers are in breach of international law… and may constitute war crimes,” the statement said, adding that “UNIFIL must be allowed unrestricted freedom of movement throughout Lebanon in the implementation of its mandated activities”.Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using Beirut airport to transfer weapons from Iran, claims Hezbollah and Lebanese officials have repeatedly denied.The Iran-backed group has a large popular base in Lebanon, though a year of hostilities with Israel and the ousting of the group’s ally Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria have left it weakened.Lebanon’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said Thursday it had “temporarily rescheduled” some flights, including from Iran, until February 18 as it was implementing “additional security measures”.The date coincides with the deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and for Hezbollah to vacate positions there, under a ceasefire deal that began on November 27.