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Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said the Israeli military should invade Lebanon and push "hundreds of thousands of Lebanese" away from the border area.
Hezbollah has traded regular cross-border fire with Israel since the Gaza war began almost eight months ago, but clashes have intensified in recent days.
Full StoryOn the same scorching day last month, Israeli troops fought street battles with Hamas militants in Gaza, its fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.
As the war in the Gaza Strip nears its ninth month, Israel's military is getting pulled deeper into conflicts on multiple fronts and risks becoming overstretched, analysts told AFP.
Full StoryTwo Israeli drone strikes targeted Tuesday a car on the road between Libbaya and Yohmor in West Bekaa, deep inside Lebanon, and a motorbike in the coastal border town of Naqoura, killing one person, the latest in a slew of targeted drone attacks on vehicles in recent days.
"The strike targeting a motorcycle in Naqoura killed one person and wounded another," the National News Agency (NNA) said after earlier reporting an "enemy drone strike" in the area.
Full StoryIsraeli authorities were on alert for new brush fires Tuesday, after munitions fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah the previous evening ignited several across northern Israel.
The Israel Fire and Rescue Service said that dozens of firefighting teams worked through the night along with teams from the Nature and Park Service, army, police and other agencies before gaining control over the largest fires in the morning, an AFP journalist reported.
Full StoryIran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani met Tuesday with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a day after he arrived in Lebanon on his first official diplomatic visit since his predecessor died last month.
Bagheri discussed with Nasrallah "proposed solutions" for ending the war, the Iran-backed Lebanese group said.
Full StoryIran's acting foreign minister dismissed a Gaza cease-fire deal proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden and warned Israel against launching an all-out war on Lebanon during a visit to Beirut Monday, his first official diplomatic visit since his predecessor died last month.
Ali Bagheri Kani replaced Hossein Amirabdollahian, a hard-liner close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19 in a mountainous area near Iran's border with Azerbaijan, along with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and a delegation of other officials.
Full StoryThe newly-appointed U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert held her first meeting in Lebanon on Monday.
“It is a great privilege to have arrived in Beirut in my new capacity as U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon. I am extremely honored to have met with His Excellency, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, to mark the beginning of my first round of consultations with Lebanese officials,” she said after the meeting.
Full StoryParliament Speaker Nabih Berri has “dropped his mask” and “let no one dream of reaching a moment when Lebanon would have a supreme guide,” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said.
“Which Lebanese constitution article stipulates that prior to every presidential election, the parliament speaker would call for a dialogue table attended by the blocs to consult over the presidential vote? Today Berri has dropped his mask,” Geagea said in an interview with the al-Markazia news agency.
Full StoryA Lebanese Forces delegation started yesterday a visit to Qatar that will last until Thursday, the pro-LF Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday.
The delegation will represent LF leader Samir Geagea in meetings with top Qatari officials, comprising MPs Pierre Bou Assi and Melhem Riachi and LF executive committee member Joseph Jbeili.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri has been calling for dialogue over the presidential vote “as has been the norm,” and a norm in Lebanon is “stronger the constitution,” Hezbollah’s top MP Mohammad Raad has said.
“Michel Suleiman was elected after a dialogue session and Michel Aoun was elected after a dialogue session,” Raad added.
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