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Netanyahu's visit to the Lebanese border included an assessment with the commanders regarding the operational picture
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An Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a US government-funded broadcaster is believed to be detained by Iran for months now, authorities said Sunday, further raising the stakes as Tehran threatens to retaliate over an Israeli attack on the country. The imprisonment of Reza Valizadeh, acknowledged to The Associated Press by the US State Department, came as Iran marked the 45th anniversary of the American Embassy takeover and hostage crisis on Sunday. It also followed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatening both Israel and the US the day before with "a crushing response as long-range B-52 bombers reached the Middle East in an attempt to deter Tehran. Valizadeh had worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that's overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In February, he wrote on the social platform X that his family members had been detained in an effort to see him return to Iran. In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two
Sharing a post on X, the IDF wrote, 'Commander of the Hezbollah Nasser Unit's Missiles and Rockets Array, Jaafar Khader Faour, was eliminated in the area of Jouaiyya in southern Lebanon'
An Israeli military official said Saturday that Israeli naval forces captured a senior Hezbollah operative in north Lebanon. The operation took place in the northern Lebanese town of Batroun, the official said without providing the name of the person they detained. Earlier on Saturday, Lebanese authorities said it was investigating whether Israel was behind the capture of a Lebanese sea captain who was taken away by a group of armed men who had landed on the coast of Batroun on Friday. The operative has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated, the official said.
Iran's supreme leader on Saturday threatened both Israel and the US with a crushing response over attacks on Iran and its allies. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke as Iranian officials are increasingly threatening to launch yet another strike against Israel after its Oct. 26 on the Islamic Republic that targeted military bases and other locations and killed at least five people. Any further attacks from either side could engulf the wider Middle East, already teetering over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and Israel's ground invasion of Lebanon, into a wider regional conflict just head of the US presidential election this Tuesday. The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front," Khamenei said in video released by Iranian state media. The supreme leader did not elaborate on the timing of the attack, nor the scope. The 85-year-old .
Perched on a hilltop a short walk from the Israeli border, the tiny southern Lebanese village of Ramyah has almost been wiped off the map. In a neighbouring village, satellite photos show a similar scene: a hill once covered with houses, now reduced to a gray smear of rubble. Israeli warplanes and ground forces have blasted a trail of destruction through southern Lebanon the past month. The aim, Israel says, is to debilitate the Hezbollah militant group, push it away from the border and end more than a year of Hezbollah fire into northern Israel. Even United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanese troops in the south have come under fire from Israeli forces, raising questions over whether they can remain in place. More than 1 million people have fled bombardment, emptying much of the south. Some experts say Israel may be aiming to create a depopulated buffer zone, a strategy it has already deployed along its border with Gaza. Some conditions for such a zone appear already in place, ...
Latest news updates: Catch all the latest news developments from across the world here
Latest news updates: Catch all the latest news developments from across the world here
Palestinian officials said Thursday that an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank killed at least three people. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike and third by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military said its forces were targeting militants in the area of the Nur Shams refugee camp, which has seen repeated battles in recent months. The military said it eliminated a Hamas militant in the area who was involved in planning attacks on Israelis. Meanwhile, mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict. Hezbollah's newly named leader, Naim Kassem, said the militant group will keep fighting in its war with Israel until it is offered cease-fire terms it deems acceptable. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Lebanon, according to government estimates. Lebanon's Heath Ministry said more than 2,800 .
The United States and other mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict during the Biden administration's final months. Negotiations on both fronts have been stalled for months and none of the warring parties have shown any sign of backing down from their demands. Senior White House officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein are scheduled to visit Israel on Thursday for talks on possible cease-fires in both Lebanon and Gaza, and the release of hostages held by Hamas. CIA Director Bill Burns will go to Egypt to discuss those efforts, according to a US official who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A proposal to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah calls for a two-month cease-fire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the country's southern border, two other officials familiar
Hezbollah's newly named leader Naim Kassem said in his first public comments aired Wednesday that the militant group will keep fighting in its ongoing war with Israel until it is offered cease-fire terms it deems acceptable. "If the Israelis decide to stop the aggression, we say that we accept, but according to the conditions that we see as suitable," Kassem said, speaking from an undisclosed location in a pre-recorded televised address. "We will not beg for a cease fire as we will continue (fighting)... no matter how long it takes." The speech came as international mediators have launched a new push for negotiated cease-fires in Lebanon and Gaza. More than 2,790 people have been killed and 12,700 wounded in Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel, drawing retaliation, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. The conflict escalated sharply last month and Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon at the beginning of October. Some 1.2 million .
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant labels Sheikh Naim Qassem's appointment a 'temporary' measure while predicting his term would not last
"Temporary appointment. Not for long," Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant posted on X with a photo of Qassem
Among the terrorists killed in south Lebanon was Abbas Adnan Moslem, the commander of the Aitaroun area in Hezbollah's elite Radwan unit
Israel's latest strike against Iran may actually de-escalate regional tensions - for now, at least
The White House indicated that Israel's strikes on Iran should end direct exchange of fire between the two enemy countries, while warning Tehran of consequences should it respond. A senior White House official said the administration believed the Israeli operation should close out the direct military exchange between Israel and Iran, and said other allies were in agreement. United States President Joe Biden was updated throughout the day on Friday as the operation was developing and by his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, as the operation was carried out by the Israelis, the official said. The official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, said the Israeli operation was extensive, it was targeted, it was precise. The official underscored that the US had no involvement in the strike.
Multiple explosions were heard in the Iranian capital Tehran but there was no immediate confirmation of casualties. Israel did not elaborate on the exact nature of its strikes
The Israeli military launched strikes early Saturday on military targets in Iran, officials said. It wasn't immediately clear what the targets were. Iranian state media reported the sound of explosions around Iran's capital, Tehran, without immediately elaborating. An Israeli military statement said that Israel has the right and the duty to respond. The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since October 7 on seven fronts including direct attacks from Iranian soil, the statement read. It also did not elaborate on the targets. Iranian state television later identified some of the blasts as coming from air defense systems, without offering more details. Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks on Israel in recent months. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below.