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Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin is accusing Israel of trying to prevent the world from seeing what its troops are doing in Lebanon and Gaza, and of working to undermine the United Nations.
Asked what Israel’s aim might be in demanding that UNIFIL peacekeepers leave their bases after a series of attacks, Martin said: “essentially to drive the eyes and ears out of south Lebanon and to give itself free rein.”
Full StoryAn Israeli airstrike hit near an aid convoy in Lebanon, wounding a driver and lightly damaging the trucks.
The humanitarian aid, which reached Beirut on Monday, was marked with the flags of Turkey and the United Arab Emirates as well as the Red Cross insignia.
Full StoryHezbollah on Sunday aired an audio recording of its slain leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah just over two weeks after an Israeli air strike killed him in southern Beirut.
"We count on you... to defend your people, your families, your nation, your values and your dignity, and to defend this holy and blessed land and this honorable people," said Nasrallah, who was killed on September 27, in a recording it said was made as he addressed the group's fighters during a military maneuver.
Full StoryHezbollah has threatened Israel with more attacks if its offensive in Lebanon continued, after a drone attack on a base near Israel's Haifa Sunday killed four soldiers.
Israel's military said four soldiers were killed in the attack, the deadliest such assault on an Israeli base since September 23, when Israel increased its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Full StoryHezbollah said its fighters fired artillery rounds at Israeli troops attempting an "infiltration" into south Lebanon on Monday, while also targeting soldiers elsewhere.
"During an enemy infantry force's attempted infiltration into Lebanese territory" near the border village of Markaba, Hezbollah fighters targeted the force "with artillery shells," a statement said, adding fighters targeted soldiers elsewhere with rockets, including in south Lebanon's Labbouneh area.
Full StoryIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed to strike Hezbollah without mercy following a deadly drone strike on a military base in Israel, and retaliation would extend to targets in Beirut.
"We will continue to mercilessly strike Hezbollah in all parts of Lebanon –- including Beirut. All this according to operational considerations. We have proven it recently and we will continue to prove it in the days to come," he said while visiting the military base hit by a Hezbollah drone on Sunday night.
Full StoryHezbollah said it targeted an Israeli naval base near north Israel's Haifa on Monday, a day after claiming a drone attack near the city that the Israeli military said killed four soldiers.
Hezbollah fighters launched "a rocket salvo" at the "Stella Maris" naval base near Haifa, the Lebanese group said in a statement, adding the attack was at the "service" of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the group's longtime leader who was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs last month.
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Hezbollah said it shelled Israeli troops inside a south Lebanon village on Monday, after earlier saying it targeted Israeli soldiers elsewhere along the border.
Full StoryHezbollah said it targeted a military barracks in central Israel on Monday, the latest attack claim after a deadly drone strike on an Israeli military base a day earlier.
Hezbollah fighters launched "a salvo of rockets" at the barracks "east of Netanya," a statement from the group said.
Full StoryThe European Union has condemned attacks on U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon and rejected allegations that U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is responsible for obstructing the Israeli army.
Sixteen EU countries are contributing to the UNIFIL peacekeeping force. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that “their work is very important. It’s completely unacceptable attacking United Nations troops.” Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that struck their positions, with most blamed on Israeli forces.
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