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The United States is presenting “concrete” ideas to ease the crisis in Lebanon, a U.S. official said, while voicing opposition to any Israeli ground invasion to target Hezbollah.
“We’ve got some concrete ideas we’re going to be discussing with allies and partners this week to try to figure out the way forward on this,” the senior U.S. official said as world leaders gathered in New York for the U.N. General Assembly.
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French presidential envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian will arrive in Beirut on Monday, media reports said.
Full StoryThe United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, begins an official visit to Israel today, Monday, her office said.
She is set to meet with senior Israeli officials to discuss recent developments, the office said in a statement.
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A missile hit the al-Wardiyet area between the Jbeil district towns of Almat and Ehmej on Monday, as Israeli warplanes targeted Lebanon’s western mountain range.
Full StoryAn Israeli military official said Israel is focused on aerial operations and has no immediate plans for a ground operation.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with regulations, said more than 300 strikes on Lebanon's south and east on Monday are aimed at curbing Hezbollah's ability to launch more strikes into Israel.
Full StoryMore than 200 people, including women and children, were killed Monday and more than 1000 were wounded as the Israeli military said it had targeted more than 300 Hezbollah sites in Lebanon in an unprecedented wave of air strikes.
"So far more than 300 Hezbollah sites have been targeted" since Monday morning, the military said in a statement. It earlier said more than 150 air strikes were carried out within just one hour, between 6:30 am and 7:30 am.
Full StoryIsraeli warplanes carried out dozens of airstrikes on areas across south Lebanon and West Bekaa on Saturday, as Hezbollah rockets targeted north Israel and reached Safad.
Hezbollah said it fired salvos of Katyusha rockets at five Israeli military positions in northern Israel and another in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, as the Israeli army said it was striking “Hezbollah targets” in south Lebanon.
Full StoryAmbassador James Kariuki, UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N., has said that the UK is working to de-escalate and end the cycle of violence in Middle East, during a U.N. Security Council meeting on the latest developments in the region.
"This past year has seen continuous and devastating violence across the region. Civilians have suffered on a dreadful scale on both sides of the Blue Line. The explosions in Lebanon this week and Israel’s strike in southern Beirut today are the latest in a deadly cycle of violence, and we are deeply concerned by civilian casualties resulting from those incidents. That children were among them is particularly distressing. Our condolences go to the families of the civilians killed," Kariuki said.
Full StoryHezbollah said it launched Katyusha rockets at a north Israel intelligence base it blamed for targeted killings, claiming its first attack after Israel launched a deadly strike on the group's south Beirut stronghold, a day after the group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israel for the device blasts carnage.
The Iran-backed group said its fighters had targeted "the main intelligence headquarters in the northern region responsible for assassinations... with volleys of Katyusha rockets", adding the attack was "in response to the Israeli enemy's attacks" on south Lebanon.
Full StoryIsraeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said Hezbollah would “pay an increasing price” as Israel claims to be seeking to make conditions near its border with Lebanon safe enough for residents to return.
"Hezbollah is feeling chased and the sequence of our military operations will continue," Gallant added, in a possible hint that Israel was behind the deadly pager and walkie-talkie blasts that rocked Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday leaving 37 people dead and around 3,000 injured, many of them severely.
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