Page 31 - Latest Updates on Iran-Israel conflict: What to expect next

Lebanese fishers hope ceasefire with Israel means a return to normal life

The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brought hope for normality back to many in southern Lebanon on Friday, including fishermen who have long launched their single-engine wooden boats into the Mediterranean at dawn. During the last two months of its year fighting Hezbollah, Israel imposed a siege on southern Lebanon that kept hundreds of fishers at this ancient Phoenician port on shore, upending their lives and the industry. While less important than destruction and displacement, the port siege cut many people off from the key ingredients for traditional Lebanese dishes like sayadiyeh fish and rice boiled in fish sauce or fried and grilled fish eaten with dips such as hummus and tabbouleh or fattoush salads. The loss of fish damaged a deep association with home, but now the possibility of renewed Lebanese fishing on the country's southern coast is helping fuel hope for a brighter future. On Friday, a few boats went out close to the shore as fishers in the port worked on the

Israelis wary of returning to north, don't trust ceasefire with Hezbollah

Dean Sweetland casts his gaze over a forlorn street in the Israeli community of Kibbutz Malkiya. Perched on a hill overlooking the border with Lebanon, the town stands mostly empty after being abandoned a year ago. The daycare is closed. The homes are unkempt. Parts of the landscape are ashen from fires sparked by fallen Hezbollah rockets. Even after a tenuous Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire designed to let Israelis return to the north, the mood here is far from celebratory. The ceasefire is rubbish, said Sweetland, a gardener and member of the kibbutz's civilian security squad. Do you expect me to ring around my friends and say, All the families should come home?' No." Across the border, Lebanese civilians have jammed roads in a rush to return to homes in the country's south, but most residents of northern Israel have met the ceasefire with suspicion and apprehension. Hezbollah could still come back to the border, and who will protect us when they do? Sweetland asked. Israel's governm

Iran plans to install new uranium-enrichment centrifuges, says IAEA report

More enrichment capacity means Iran can enrich uranium more quickly, potentially increasing the nuclear proliferation risk

Displaced Lebanese return from Syria as ceasefire with Israel holds

Thousands of people made the crossing back into Lebanon from Syria on the second day of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, after nearly 14 months of fighting. At the Jousieh border crossing in the Qusair area of Syria's Homs province, on Lebanon's northeastern border, bumper-to-bumper cars lined up on Thursday waiting to be cleared for crossing. All four lanes were taken up by cars making their way into Lebanon, while those waiting to cross into Syria had to use an offroad. Of the six border crossings between Lebanon and Syria, two remain functional after Israeli airstrikes forced the others shut. The two countries share a border 375 kilometres long. Over 600,000 people fleeing Lebanon poured into Syria in the past year, most of them after the war between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in mid-September. The cross-border flow was a striking reversal in fortunes given that Lebanon is still hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees who fled the war in their country that began

Stock Market Close Highlights: Sensex adds 230pts, Nifty atop 24,250; NTPC Green, Adani shares shine

Stock Market Highlights: NTPC Green Energy, which made its debut today, ended higher by 8.74 per cent at Rs 121.25 on the NSE, from its IPO allotment price of Rs 108

Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire holds as Lebanese residents return to homes

A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah appeared to be holding Wednesday, as residents in cars heaped with belongings streamed back toward southern Lebanon despite warnings from the Israeli and Lebanese military that they stay away from certain areas. If it holds, the ceasefire would bring an end to nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated in mid-September into all-out war and threatened to pull Hezbollah's patron Iran and Israel into a broader conflagration. It could give some reprieve to the 1.2 million Lebanese displaced by the fighting and the tens of thousands of Israelis who fled their homes along the border with Lebanon. The US- and France-brokered deal, approved by Israel late Tuesday, calls for an initial two-month halt to fighting and requires Hezbollah to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops are to return to their side of the border. Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and UN ..

Israel strikes crossings with Syria for first time, says Lebanon minister

Strikes came moments after US President Joe Biden announced that a ceasefire would come into effect at 4 am local time (0200 GMT) on Wednesday to halt hostilities

Trump's team claims credit for Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal by Biden

The Biden administration kept President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration closely apprised of its efforts to broker the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah that is slated to go into effect early Wednesday, according to the outgoing Democratic administration. Trump's team, meanwhile, was quick to spike the football and claim credit for the rare spot of good news for a Democratic administration that's been dragged down by the grinding Mideast conflict. "Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump," Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, Trump's choice for his national security adviser, said in a post on X on Tuesday, shortly before the Israel Cabinet signed off on the agreement. "His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won't be tolerated. I'm glad to see concrete steps towards deescalation in the Middle East." The Biden administration's reported coordination with Trump's team on its efforts to forge the ceasefire in Lebanon i

Israel, Hezbollah start a ceasefire after nearly 14 months of fighting

Israel has approved a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon's Hezbollah that would end nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the war in the Gaza Strip. The ceasefire agreed on Tuesday would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza, where Hamas is still holding dozens of hostages and the conflict is more intractable. Hours before the ceasefire with Hezbollah was to take effect, Israel carried out the most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs since the start of the conflict and issued a record number of evacuation warnings. At least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities, as Israel signalled it aims to pummel Hezbollah before the ceasefire takes hold at 4 am local time on Wednesday. Another huge airstrike shook Beirut shortly after the ceasefire was announced. There appea

UK PM Keir Starmer welcomes ceasefire deal between Israel, Hezbollah

Keir Starmer said that the UK and its allies will continue to be at the forefront of efforts to break the ongoing cycle of violence in pursuit of long-term, sustainable peace in the Middle East

Israel-Hezbollah peace deal designed to ensure end of hostilities: Biden

President Joe Biden has announced that Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah have accepted a US-brokered peace deal that is designed to be a "permanent cessation" of hostilities between the two sides. As part of the ceasefire, Israel will gradually withdraw its troops from Lebanon over the next 60 days, Biden said in his address to the nation from the White House on Tuesday, shortly after Israel's Security Cabinet approved the accord. According to reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented to the Security Cabinet the agreement aimed at ending months-long fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah which was ignited by the Gaza conflict and has killed and displaced thousands. Biden said he spoke with Netanyahu and Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati. "I'm pleased to announce that their governments have accepted the United States' proposal to end the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. I want to thank President Macron of France for his partnership in ...

Israel strikes Lebanon as leaders draw closer to ceasefire with Hezbollah

Israel's military launched airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday, unleashing explosions throughout the country and killing at least 12 while Israeli leaders appeared to be closing in on a negotiated ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group. Israeli strikes hit commercial and residential buildings in Beirut as well as in the port city of Tyre. Military officials said they targeted areas known as Hezbollah strongholds. They issued evacuation orders for Beirut's southern suburbs, and strikes landed across the city, including metres from a Lebanese police base and the city's largest public park. The barrage came as officials indicated they were nearing agreement on a ceasefire, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Security Cabinet prepared to discuss an offer on the table. Airstrikes kill at least 12 Massive explosions lit up Lebanon's skies with flashes of orange, sending towering plumes of smoke into the air as Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs ...

Israel-Hezbollah close to ceasefire deal: Israeli envoy to Washington

On Sunday, Hezbollah fired at least 250 rockets and drones into Israel, wounding several people

Israeli strikes kill dozens across Lebanon, 29 dead in Beirut attack

The Beirut airstrike is just one of several across the country as Israel continues its aggressive military campaign against Hezbollah

Iran braces for Trump takeover with economy buckling from sanctions

As Trump prepares for a second term as US president, all eyes are on whether he will revive his so-called maximum pressure policy against Iran that came to mark his first spell

Israel strikes central Beirut, 20 killed as diplomats push for ceasefire

Israeli airstrikes Saturday in central Beirut killed at least 20 people, officials said, as the once-rare attacks on the heart of Lebanon's capital continued without warning while diplomats scrambled to broker a cease-fire. Lebanon's Health Ministry said 66 people were wounded in the strikes, which were the fourth in central Beirut in less than a week. The escalation comes after US envoy Amos Hochstein travelled to the region in pursuit of a deal to end months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that has erupted into full-on war. Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon's population. On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardment in northern Israel and the fighting. An eight-storey building is turned to rubble The 4 am strikes destroyed an eight-storey building in central Beirut. Hezbollah ..

Airstrikes hit central Beirut's Basta, destroying at least one building

A series of Israeli airstrikes hit central Beirut's Basta neighbourhood early Saturday, destroying at least one building and leaving a crater in the ground. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said Israeli war planes completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles. It was not immediately clear how many people were injured or killed, but ambulances rushed to the scene. The Israeli military did not issue a warning for residents to evacuate prior to the strike and did not immediately issue a statement on it. The strikes, which occurred around 4 am local time, came after a day of heavy bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs and the southern coastal city of Tyre. The Israeli military had issued evacuation notices prior to those strikes. Heavy ground fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants was ongoing in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops have pushed farther from the border. The escalation comes after US envoy Amos Hochstein travelled t

US rejects ICC arrest warrants against Israeli PM, defence minister

Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the 'antisemitic' decision of the ICC in a statement on his social media platform comparing it to the infamous Dreyfus trial

ICC issues arrest warrants for Israel PM Netanyahu, Hamas officials

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have condemned ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan's request for warrants as disgraceful and antisemitic

Iran, Israel among rivals to showcase their arms at Vietnam defence expo

China's state-owned defence giant Norinco Group, which is subject to U.S. sanctions, will attend, Le Quang Tuyen, deputy head of the defence industry department, said on the sidelines