Lebanon

'Get back to table, make a deal': Trump asks Netanyahu not to strike Iran

Iran launched missiles at Israel on Monday, marking the first Iranian missile attack since the April 8 ceasefire

Israel strikes Beirut despite truce, Iranian lawmker threatens to retaliate

Israel's strike on Beirut's outskirts and Iran's retaliation threat have raised fresh doubts over efforts to secure a broader US-Iran peace agreement

Israeli airstrike kills Lebanese soldiers days after ceasefire deal

An Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon Saturday killed several members of the Lebanese military, including a senior officer, the Lebanese army said, days after the two sides reached a new ceasefire deal. The airstrike on the road linking the city of Nabatiyeh with the town of Marjayoun occurred in the morning. The army did not give further details or release the names or ranks of the troops killed. Local TV stations reported that two members of the military were killed in the airstrike, including a brigadier general. The latest declared ceasefire came about through US-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon's government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities. The Lebanese militant group has refused the truce. The war began on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel, two days after Israel and the US began their attacks on Iran. Israel has since launched a ground invasion of Lebanon

Iran declares support for Hezbollah with wider peace deal in doubt

Tehran links any US-brokered peace deal to a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, complicating regional truce efforts

India condemns attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, seeks accountability

India has condemned the attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon that killed a Serbian Blue Helmet and injured two others, and called for an immediate and thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice. Sergeant Milovan Jovanovic, a Serbian peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), was killed when a mortar struck a UN position near Marji'yun in Sector East of the mission's area of operations on Wednesday. Two other peacekeepers from Spain and El Salvador were injured and are undergoing treatment at a UNIFIL medical facility in south Lebanon, the UN said. "Our sincere condolences to Serbia and to the family of the Serbian Blue Helmet of UNIFIL who was killed in this deplorable attack," India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni said in a social media post on Thursday. Blue Helmets refers to military personnel, police officers, and civilian experts serving under the operational command of the Uni

Hezbollah rejects ceasefire accord as strikes kill four in Lebanon

Hezbollah on Thursday rejected the latest ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and the Lebanese government, demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal. The announcement came as Israeli strikes killed at least four people, according to local authorities, and a UN peacekeeper was killed in the crossfire. Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, in a written statement read on TV, said the agreement's demand that Hezbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean "surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy's goals." "What we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel's withdrawal," he said. "We did not make any commitment to any party to stop resisting as long as there is occupation," he added. The ongoing fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for oil and gas whose closure has jolted the world economy. Iran has demanded tha

Israel, Lebanon renew ceasefire, agree to Hezbollah-free security zones

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of "pilot" security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned. In a joint statement released after a fourth round of US-mediated talks at the State Department, the two sides said the ceasefire "is contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives" from areas south of the Litani River. It was not immediately clear how the security zones would be established but the agreement calls for the Lebanese army to take full control of those areas. "These steps will enable progress towards a comprehensive peace and security agreement," the statement said. "All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon's future hostage." The latter is a reference to Iran, which supports

Strait of Hormuz to reopen 'immediately' once Iran deal is signed: Trump

US President also indicated his preference to keep the issue of reopening the strait separate from the continuing conflict in Lebanon, which has seen intensive Israeli strikes in the southern parts

What is Beaufort Castle, Lebanon's Crusade-era fortress seized by Israel

Perched above the Litani gorge, the 12th-century fortress played a key role during the Crusades and has remained strategically important through successive conflicts in southern Lebanon

'Everybody hates Israel now': Trump tells Netanyahu in call over Lebanon

According to a US official cited by Axios, Trump expressed immense frustration over what he perceived as a disproportionate military response to Hezbollah's strikes on Israel

Lebanon announces partial Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire as fighting continues

Early on Tuesday, the Israeli military said that it intercepted two projectiles that crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel, and that no injuries were reported

Will strike Beirut if Hezbollah attacks persist: Netanyahu tells Trump

The precise parameters of the tentative truce publicised by Trump continue to be shrouded in ambiguity, driven by contrasting signals emerging from Washington, Jerusalem, Hezbollah, and Beirut

Iran halts talks with US after Israel widens Lebanon offensive: Report

Negotiators will suspend "talks and the exchange of documents through mediators" the semi-official Tasnim new agency reported, citing a statement

US proposes new plan to ease Israel-Lebanon tensions amid fighting

In the latest advance, Israeli troops seized the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon, the military said earlier on Sunday

Oil prices climb over 2% as Israel intensifies operations in Lebanon

US crude futures rose $2.37 or 2.71 per cent to $89.73 a barrel as of 0028 GMT

Germany, UK voice concern over Israel's widening offensive in Lebanon

United Kingdom intensified the Western diplomatic push for immediate restraint, explicitly calling for a halt to the widening theatre of war

What to know as Israeli forces' Lebanon incursion complicates Iran deal

Israeli forces are making their deepest incursion inside Lebanon since they withdrew from the country over a quarter-century ago, despite a nominal U.S.-brokered ceasefire and the first direct talks between the countries in decades. The Israeli advance presents a challenge in the emerging deal to extend the Iran war ceasefire as Tehran wants any agreement to end fighting in Lebanon, too. Qatar called it a "dangerous escalation." Germany's foreign minister said it was cause for serious concern, according to German press agency dpa. There was no comment by the United States. On Sunday, Israeli forces seized a symbolic fort in southern Lebanon that offers commanding views across Lebanon and into northern Israel. The last time they seized it, they held it for 18 years. Israel says it is targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, which has a strong political presence in southern Lebanon and has launched thousands of missiles and drones at Israeli soldiers there and in norther

Israel seizes Lebanon's Beaufort castle in its deepest incursion in 26 yrs

Israeli troops have captured a strategic mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon in their deepest incursion into the country in more than a quarter century, the military said Sunday. The capture of Beaufort castle near the city of Nabatiyeh came after days of intense fighting and airstrikes in nearby villages where Israeli troops fought Hezbollah members in the rugged area. It marks a major gain for Israel in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began in early March. Israel and Lebanon have been at war since Israel was created in 1948, and are currently holding direct talks in Washington. The Israeli push came despite a nominal ceasefire that has been in place since April 17 and just days before the next round of talks are set to be held at the State Department on June 2 and 3. The Israeli army's Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a photograph on X showing Israeli troops walking outside the castle, and Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X that t

Israel, Lebanon agree to 45-day extension of ceasefire after US talks

Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of their ceasefire after another round of talks in Washington, the US State Department said Friday. It comes after two "productive" days of talks, and will be followed by more negotiations June 2-3, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said. A shaky truce between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon had been due to end on Sunday. "We hope these discussions will advance lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establishing genuine security along their shared border," Pigott said on social media.

Israel-Lebanon hold 3rd round of talks as fighting with Hezbollah continues

A third round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon kicked off in Washington Thursday, days before the expiration of a truce that reduced but did not stop the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Lebanese officials are hoping that the two-day negotiations will yield a new ceasefire deal and pave the way for tackling a series of thorny issues, including the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah. The Trump administration has been pushing for a breakthrough between the two neighbours that have been officially in a state of war since Israel was created in 1948. Hezbollah, however, is not part of those talks and has been vocally opposed to Lebanon engaging in direct negotiations with Israel. Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group have continued to trade near-constant fire across the border despite a US-brokered ceasefire on April 17. Initially a 10-day truce, it was then extended for another three ...