A senior US military official is joining international efforts in Beirut to implement the recently brokered Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, which came into effect on November 26. Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT) Major General Jasper Jeffers arrived on Wednesday, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM). He will co-chair the oversight mission alongside President Joe Biden’s envoy, Amos Hochstein,…
Lebanon’s Hezbollah group fired heavy rocket barrages at Israel on Sunday, with Israeli media reporting that a building had been hit near Tel Aviv, after a powerful Israeli airstrike killed at least 29 people in Beirut the day before. Israel also struck Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, where intensified bombardment over the last two weeks has…
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed that the United States was dedicated to a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon and urged Israel to improve “dire” conditions in Gaza, in a call Saturday with his Israeli counterpart. Austin “reiterated US commitment to a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon that allows Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return safely to their…
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said in a speech broadcast Wednesday that the response to recent deadly Israeli strikes on Beirut would be on “central Tel Aviv.” “The response must be expected on central Tel Aviv,” Qassem said, after deadly strikes on three central Beirut districts in recent days, one of which killed Hezbollah’s spokesman Mohammed…
US envoy Amos Hochstein said he will travel to Israel on Wednesday to try to secure a ceasefire ending the war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group after declaring additional progress in talks in Beirut. Hochstein arrived in Beirut on Tuesday, seeking to clinch a ceasefire agreement after the Lebanese government and Hezbollah agreed to a US ceasefire proposal,…
Israel bombed central Beirut again Monday, killing five people a day after previously rare strikes in the same area killed 10, and as rocket fire from Lebanon killed one and injured others in Israel. For weeks Israeli airstrikes have pounded the now largely emptied southern Beirut stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah, but raids on the city center…
Lebanon agreed to most of the US draft proposal; Netanyahu says Israel will keep attacking regardless US President Joe Biden’s special envoy for Lebanon left Washington for Beirut on Monday in a last-ditch effort by the outgoing administration to mediate a ceasefire between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel. Beirut acknowledged that it had agreed to a US draft…
US envoy Amos Hochstein will travel to the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday for talks on a ceasefire between militant group Hezbollah and Israel, a Lebanese political source told Reuters on Monday. Lebanese media outlet Voice of Lebanon also reported the visit, quoting Lebanese member of parliament Kassem Hashem. The US has submitted a new…
Lebanon’s Hezbollah has expressed openness to a ceasefire proposal drafted by the US to end the devastating war with Israel, officials and diplomatic sources said late Sunday. While there has been no explicit agreement on the draft Washington delivered to Beirut last week, the group has provided “positive indications” that it is prepared for a deal, according…
A strike hit the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut on Saturday, AFPTV footage showed, shortly after the Israeli army issued a new call to evacuate the area. AFPTV video showed a plume of smoke rising over the buildings in the area. Shortly before the strike, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X…
Iran will back any decision taken by Lebanon in talks to secure a ceasefire with Israel, a senior Iranian official said on Friday, signaling Tehran wants to see an end to a conflict that has dealt heavy blows to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. Ali Larijani, an advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, spoke during a visit…
Israeli officials are in talks with US President-elect Donald Trump and Jared Kushner to negotiate an immediate ceasefire deal in Lebanon with the help of Western and Russian cooperation, and create an early foreign policy win for Trump, according to a report citing three current and former Israeli officials briefed on the meeting. The Washington…
Iran-backed Lebanese group still has ability to conduct attacks abroad, official adds A top US intelligence official said Tuesday that Hezbollah’s capabilities had been significantly degraded, but their ground forces along the border with Israel remain largely intact. The official also said that the Lebanese group, armed and funded largely by Iran, still had the ability to…
Lebanon’s prime minister accused Israel of rejecting a ceasefire after the Israeli military bombed the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut for the first time this week on Friday. At least 10 strikes hit the southern suburbs before dawn after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings, with AFPTV footage showing explosions and clouds of smoke. “The…
Prospects of a ceasefire between Israel and its foes Hamas and Hezbollah ran aground on Friday as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 68 people in the Gaza Strip, according to medics in the Palestinian enclave, and battered Beirut’s southern suburbs. The Israeli military said it killed senior Hamas official Izz al-Din Kassab in an airstrike…
