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"
Attend mosque or be punished
Afghan government employees must attend mosque five times a day or face punishment, Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said yesterday in his latest edict.
Turkey joins South Africa’s Israel ‘genocide’ case at ICJ
Turkey yesterday joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Gaza City braces for fresh offensive
Israel ordered residents and displaced Palestinians to evacuate the Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya areas of Gaza City yesterday, as reports said a “large scale” Israeli army operation is expected to begin there soon.
US working ‘round the clock’ to avert Middle East war
The United States said it was working “round the clock” to avert an all-out war in the Middle East, as Israel remained on high alert yesterday for potential Iranian retaliation for two high-profile killings.
75 migrants rescued off Greece
The Greek coastguard yesterday said it had rescued 75 migrants in an area where one of the Mediterranean’s worst migrant shipwrecks occurred last year.
Iran has ‘legal right’ to punish Israel
Iran said yesterday it has the “legal right” to respond to the assassination in Tehran last week of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, an attack blamed on Israel amid the Gaza offensive.
Israel returns more than 80 Palestinian bodies to Gaza
Israel returned the bodies of more than 80 Palestinians killed in its military offensive in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 more people yesterday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
Israel presses on with deadly raids in Gaza
An Israeli airstrike hit a tent inside a hospital compound in central Gaza, killing at least five people, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed yesterday to 33, Gaza health officials said, after another round of talks ended without result.
Aftermath of hamas leader’s killing: Fears of Middle East war grow
Fears of a regional Middle East war grew yesterday after the assassination of Hamas’s political leader, blamed on Israel, triggered vows of vengeance from Iran-backed Middle East groups.
Israel’s ‘end getting closer than ever’
Hamas’ top leader Ismail Haniyeh was buried in Qatar yesterday following his assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran as senior officials of Hamas and other mourners said their fight against Israel would intensify.