Page 17 - Hezbollah

US sends ship-based Navy fighter jets to Middle East to help protect Israel

About a dozen F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier have flown to a military base in the Middle East, as part of the Pentagon's effort to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and to safeguard U.S. troops, according to a U.S. official. The F/A-18s and a E-2D Hawkeye surveillance aircraft took off from the carrier in the Gulf of Oman and arrived at the undisclosed base on Monday, said the official. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the increased military presence in the region as officials worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in the wake of the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas' top political leader in Iran, in suspected Israeli strikes. Both groups are backed by Iran. The Navy jets' land-based deployment is expected to be temporary, because a squadron of Air Force F-22 fighter jets is enroute to the same base from their home station in Alaska. The roughly dozen F-2

US, allies push to avert possible Mideast war amid heightened tensions

The focus has been to prepare for and possibly blunt an attack by Iran, which has warned it will respond after blaming Israel for killing a top Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in a government

Israel-Hamas war: Hezbollah says it launched drone attack on north Israel

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack early Monday on northern Israel that the Israeli military said wounded two Israeli troops and set off a fire. The violence came as fears of an all-out regional war mount following the killings last week of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and Hamas' top political leader in Iran. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah said in a statement it targeted a military base in northern Israel in response to attacks and assassinations carried out by Israel in several villages in south Lebanon. The attack did not appear to be part of a more intense retaliation expected in response to the killing of Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut last week. The Israeli military said fire services were working to put out a fire that was ignited as a result of the attack in Ayelet HaShahar in the upper Galilee. Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, but th

US General arrives in Middle East as Iran prepares for attack on Israel

Three US and Israeli officials said that they expect Iran to launch an attack on Israel as early as Monday

US takes additional steps to support Israel's defence amid regional tension

On Saturday, the US issued an alert, calling its citizens to book any ticket available to leave Lebanon

Airlines avoid Mideast airspace, cancel Israel flights as tensions rise

Singapore Airlines on Friday appeared to no longer be using Iranian airspace for any of its routes

War with Israel in new phase after top militant killings: Hezbollah leader

Hezbollah's leader warned Thursday that the conflict with Israel has entered a "new phase," as he addressed mourners at the funeral of a commander from the group who was killed by an Israeli airstrike this week in Beirut. Meanwhile in Tehran, Iran's supreme leader prayed over the body of Hamas' political leader, who was killed in a presumed Israeli assassination. The back-to-back killings have increased fears of an escalation into a wider war, leaving the region waiting to see how Iran and ally Hezbollah will respond. Iran has vowed retaliation against Israel for the strike that killed Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Israel has not denied or confirmed responsibility for the killing. Israel did confirm it carried out the strike Tuesday in Beirut that killed Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur, along with an Iranian military adviser and at least five civilians. Israel said Shukur was behind a rocket attack days earlier that hit a soccer field in the

For Iran, calibrating response to Israeli strikes leaves no room for error

Two back-to-back strikes in Beirut and Tehran, both attributed to Israel and targeting high-ranking figures in Hamas and Hezbollah, have left Hezbollah and Iran in a quandary. Analysts agree that both strikes hit too close to home to pass without a response, and were serious security breaches for Iran and Hezbollah. Calibrating that response to restore deterrence without sparking an even more damaging escalation may be the most delicate balancing act in nearly a year of teetering on the brink of a regional war. Tuesday's rare strike in Beirut's southern suburbs killed a top Hezbollah commander who Israel says was responsible for a missile strike on a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teenagers. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the attack. While the target of the strike in Beirut was a military figure, it hit a densely populated urban neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital where Hezbollah has many of it

Who was Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, killed in an Israeli attack in Iran?

A prominent Palestinian political figure, Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran at the inauguration of Iran's new president and met with Iran's Supreme Leader

Israel carries out rare strike on Beirut, targeting top Hezbollah commander

Israel on Tuesday carried out a rare strike on Beirut, which it said killed the Hezbollah commander who was allegedly behind a weekend rocket attack that killed 12 young people in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. At least three other people were killed. Hezbollah did not immediately confirm the commander's death. The Israeli strike killed a woman and two children and wounded dozens of other people in escalating hostilities with the Lebanese militant group. An Israeli official said the target was Fouad Shukur, a top Hezbollah military commander whom the US blames for planning and launching the deadly 1983 Marine bombing in the Lebanese capital. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the details of the strike with the media. Shukur is also suspected in other strikes that killed Israeli civilians. Though Hezbollah issued a rare denial of involvement in the rocket attack Saturday in the town of Majdal Shams, Israel is holding the ...

How did strike on Golan Heights soccer field happen? Here's what we know

Two days after a rocket slammed into a soccer pitch in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights, killing 12 children, many questions remain about the attack on the Druze town of Majdal Shams. Israel accused Hezbollah in Lebanon of deliberately targeting civilians, while Hezbollah quickly issued a rare denial of any responsibility for the attack. With Israel vowing retaliation for the highest civilian death toll in Israel-held territory since Hamas' October 7 attack, diplomats rushed to prevent an escalation that could spiral into an all-out war after months of exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah over the border. Weapons experts told The Associated Press that evidence appears to point to a rocket from Lebanon hitting the field. But they raised the possibility that the hit on civilians was an accident. Here's what we know and what remains unclear about the attack. The strike The strike left a crater about 2 metres (yards) wide, breaking through the carpet of artificial grass where th

Israel retaliates against Hezbollah | Golan heights | Israel Hamas war | Israel Palestine conflict

After Israel alleged a rocked strike by Hezbollah on July 27, Israel has vowed to retaliate. Watch the video to know more.

Strike in Golan Heights kills at least 12, threatens to spark wider war

A rocket strike on Saturday at a soccer field killed at least 12 children and teens, Israeli authorities said, in the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country's northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. It raised fears of a broader regional war. Israel blamed Hezbollah for the strike in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, but Hezbollah rushed to deny any role. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far". The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, called it the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since the Hamas attack on October 7 that sparked the war in Gaza. He said 20 others were wounded. There is no doubt that Hezbollah has crossed all the red lines here, and the response will reflect that, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israeli Channel 12. We are nearing the moment in which we fa

After killing of commander, Hezbollah attacks Israel with over 200 rockets

The Israeli military said "numerous projectiles and suspicious aerial targets" had entered its territory from Lebanon, many of which it said were intercepted

Fires are most visible sign on border as Hezbollah-Israel fight continues

With cease-fire talks faltering in Gaza and no clear offramp for the conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border, the daily exchanges of strikes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces have sparked fires that are tearing through forests and farmland on both sides of the frontline. The blazes exacerbated by supply shortages and security concerns have consumed thousands of hectares of land in southern Lebanon and northern Israel, becoming one of the most visible signs of the escalating conflict. There is an increasingly real possibility of a full-scale war one that would have catastrophic consequences for people on both sides of the border. Some fear the fires sparked by a larger conflict would also cause irreversible damage to the land. Charred remains in Lebanon In Israel, images of fires sparked by Hezbollah's rockets have driven public outrage and spurred Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to declare last month that it is time for all of Lebanon to burn. M

US, Europe warn Hezbollah to ease strikes on Israel, back off from war

US, European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militants from spiralling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months. Hopes are lagging for a cease-fire anytime soon in Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza that would calm attacks by Hezbollah and other Iranian-allied militias. With that in mind, American and European officials are delivering warnings to Hezbollah, which is far stronger than Hamas but seen as overconfident, about taking on the military might of Israel, current and former diplomats say. They are warning that the group should not count on the United States or anyone else being able to hold off Israeli leaders if they decide to execute battle-ready plans for an offensive into Lebanon. And Hezbollah should not count on its fighters' ability to handle whatever would come next. On both sides of the Lebanese border, escalating strikes between Israel and Hezbollah, one of the .

Israel-Hezbollah conflict: Abandoned houses, scorched forests hint at war

A steady, if ugly, tit-for-tat between Israel and Hezbollah since the October outbreak of the Gaza war has been shifting into something more alarming

Scores of Iran-backed fighters to join Hezbollah in fight against Israel

Thousands of fighters from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are ready to come to Lebanon to join with the militant Hezbollah group in its battle with Israel if the simmering conflict escalates into a full-blown war, officials with Iran-backed factions and analysts say. Almost daily exchanges of fire have occurred along Lebanon's frontier with northern Israel since fighters from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip staged a bloody assault on southern Israel in early October that set off a war in Gaza. The situation to the north worsened this month after an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Hezbollah military commander in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah retaliated by firing hundreds of rockets and explosive drones into northern Israel. Israeli officials have threatened a military offensive in Lebanon if there is no negotiated end to push Hezbollah away from the border. Over the past decade, Iran-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan fought together in Syria's 13-ye

Why is Israel arch-enemy Hezbollah threatening a small EU country with war?

Hezbollah's threat came a day after Israel warned that the prospect of an 'all-out war' in Lebanon was 'getting very close'

Israel's famed Iron Dome system could fail, warn US officials. Here's why

The Iron Dome is the bottom rung of Israel's three-tier missile defence system, according to the country's Missile Defense Organization