French legislators divided over a lawmaker caught buying drugs

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French legislators divided over a lawmaker caught buying drugs

2024-10-23 19:55 Last Updated At：20:01

PARIS (AP) — French politicians are deeply divided over the fate of lawmaker Andy Kerbrat, caught last week buying synthetic drugs, and whether his breaking the law should push him to resign.

Kerbrat, of the far-left France Unbowed party, acknowledged the facts via a statement on X on Tuesday, asking his electors for forgiveness and blaming his personal drug consumption on “personal problems and psychological fragilities.”

The 34 year-old also said he “will fight against his addiction” and “follow a treatment protocol” before resuming his parliamentary activity.

Kerbrat was not arrested and was heard at the police station where he went freely the following day.

Leftist lawmakers came to the rescue, embracing Kerbrat's argument that his personal use is, before all else, the symptom of a greater public health issue.

France Unbowed party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon on X expressed his “very friendly support" to the fight against addiction.

Sen. Melanie Vogel of the Greens party wished the congressman “good luck” for his treatment, stressing that “drug use and addictions have always been public health issues." She also criticized the nation's tendency to “always go for repression instead of what matters most: care.”

Sandrine Rousseau, also a Greens lawmaker, told reporters that she didn't think Kerbrat should resign. People who use synthetic drugs, she said, are often “fragile” and "sometimes with psychological problems.”

Others strongly disagree.

France's conservative Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau called on Kerbrat to “draw the consequences of his actions”.

“A deputy has a duty to set an example,” Retailleau wrote on X. "While drug crimes take hold in France, with its procession of violence, it is not tolerable to see a lawmaker buying synthetic drugs from a street dealer.”

Laurent Jacobelli, another lawmaker from The Republicans party, said that while Kerbrat might be in need of treatment, “he is above all guilty, he violated the law, and for someone who is supposed to write it, it is rather embarrassing.”

Opinion pieces in several media outlets also criticized what they see as an inappropriate defense strategy.

French magazine Marianne recalled Kerbrat's recent stance in the media on drug trafficking and its consequences.

A few days before the incident, Kerbrat had signed an online petition calling for the new government “to take urgent and specific measures” and address a “growing phenomenon.”

Israeli strikes pound Lebanese coastal city after residents evacuate

2024-10-23 19:59 Last Updated At：20:00

TYRE, Lebanon (AP) — Israeli jets struck multiple buildings in Lebanon's southern coastal city of Tyre on Wednesday, sending large clouds of black smoke into the air.

The state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike on the nearby town of Maarakeh killed three people. There were no reports of casualties in Tyre, where the Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings prior to the strikes.

Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group meanwhile fired another barrage of rockets into Israel, including two that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv before being intercepted. A cloud of smoke could be seen in the sky from the hotel where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was staying on his latest visit to the region to try to renew cease-fire talks.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes, after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. All-out war erupted in Lebanon last month after Israeli strikes killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his senior commanders. Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon earlier this month.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that one of its airstrikes in recent weeks killed Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah leader and cleric who was widely expected to succeed Nasrallah.

Tyre, a provincial capital, had largely been spared in the Israel-Hezbollah war, but strikes in an around the city have intensified recently.

The 2,500-year-old city, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Beirut, is known for its pristine beaches, ancient harbor and imposing Roman ruins and hippodrome, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is among Lebanon’s largest cities and a vibrant metropolis popular with tourists.

The buildings struck on Wednesday were between several heritage sites, including the hippodrome and a cluster of seaside sites associated with the ancient Phoenicians and the Crusaders.

The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings a couple hours prior for dozens of buildings in the heart of the city. It told residents to move north of the Awali River, dozens of kilometers (miles) to the north.

Avichay Adraee, an Israeli military spokesman, said on the platform X that there were Hezbollah assets in the area of the evacuation warning, without elaborating or providing evidence.

The city is in southern Lebanon, where the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah has a strong presence, and its legislators are members of the group or its allies. But Tyre is also home to civilians with no ties to the group, including a sizable Christian community.

First responders from Lebanon’s Civil Defense used loudspeakers to warn residents to evacuate the area and helped older adults and others who had difficulty leaving. Ali Safieddine, the head of the Civil Defense, told The Associated Press there were no casualties.

Dr. Wissam Ghazal, a health official in Tyre, said the strikes hit six buildings, flattening four of them, around 2 1/2 hours after the evacuation warnings. People displaced by the strikes could be seen in parks and sitting on the sides of nearby roads.

Over 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the conflict began late last year, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Over a million people have fled their homes since September.

On the Israeli side, attacks have killed around 60 people, half of them soldiers. Near-daily rocket barrages have emptied out communities across northern Israel, displacing some 60,000 people. In recent weeks Hezbollah has extended its range, launching scores of rockets every day and regularly targeting the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Most of the projectiles are intercepted or fall in open areas.

Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

Follow AP’s war coverage at  https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war