Middle East
Israel hits Hezbollah HQ in Beirut with heavy airstrikes
The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah’s central headquarters in Beirut’s southern suburbs yesterday in an attack that shook the Lebanese capital and sent thick clouds of smoke over the city.
Over 30,000 crossed into Syria from Lebanon
Well over 30,000 people, mainly Syrians, have crossed into Syria from Lebanon in the past 72 hours, the UN refugee agency said yesterday, amid an escalating conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah that has killed hundreds of people in Lebanon.
Israeli strikes kill 92 in Lebanon in past 24 hours: ministry
Israeli strikes have killed 92 people in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said late Thursday
Israel rejects truce proposal from US
Israel yesterday rejected global calls for a ceasefire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, defying its biggest ally the US and pressing ahead with strikes that have killed hundreds in Lebanon and heightened fears of an all-out regional war.
Iraqi Islamic Resistance drone hits Israel’s port
The pro-Iran Islamic Resistance in Iraq group said it attacked Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat Wednesday as another group urged more attacks amid soaring tensions over Gaza and Lebanon.
Israeli forces battle Hamas in Gaza Strip
Israeli forces battled Hamas-led fighters in the northern and southern Gaza Strip yesterday, and Palestinian health officials said Israeli military strikes across the enclave had killed at least 31 Palestinians overnight.
Lebanon says Israeli airstrikes kill at least 492, residents flee from south
"Israel's war is not with you, it's with Hezbollah. For too long Hezbollah has been using you as human shields," Netanyahu said to the Lebanese people
Israel says operations in Lebanon will continue until safe for evacuees to return
Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said, "We have entered a new phase, the title of which is the open-ended battle of reckoning"
Blinken leaves ME without Gaza truce
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken headed home yesterday after failing to secure a Gaza ceasefire, warning both Israel and Hamas his plan may be the last chance to avert a broader war.
Israeli air strike hits Gaza school
Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza City yesterday, killing at least 12 people, while top US diplomat Antony Blinken was in Egypt for talks on a Gaza ceasefire.
Hezbollah fires ‘rocket barrages’
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it launched several rocket salvos at Israeli army positions in the annexed Golan Heights yesterday “in response” to Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon the previous day.
Last chance to end Gaza violence
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned yesterday that the latest push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal was probably the best and possibly last opportunity, urging Israel and Hamas towards an elusive agreement.
Israel launches fresh strikes across Gaza
Israeli strikes killed 25 people in Gaza yesterday, including six children, Palestinian health authorities said, ahead of a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to try to push forward ceasefire talks.
Gaza truce an ‘illusion’
A senior Hamas official yesterday dismissed optimistic talk by US President Joe Biden that a Gaza truce is nearer after negotiations in the Gulf emirate of Qatar.
Gaza’s undertakers stack ‘graves on top of graves’
Undertakers are working like bricklayers in a Gaza cemetery, piling cinder blocks into tight rectangles, side by side, for freshly dug graves.
Gaza death toll tops 40,000
Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 40,005 Palestinians since October 7, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said yesterday, as there was no let-up in Israeli strikes across the enclave.
Colonel dies after coalition strike in Syria
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps yesterday said one of its colonels has died of wounds suffered in an air strike it blamed on the US-led coalition in Syria.
Hamas to stay out of new Gaza truce talks
The Palestinian group Hamas said yesterday it would not take part in a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks slated for today in Qatar, dimming hopes for a negotiated truce that Iranian sources say could hold back an Iranian attack on Israel.`