Page 16 - Lebanon

Top Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri killed in Israeli drone strike in Beirut

An explosion in Beirut on Tuesday killed Saleh Arouri, a top official with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and three others, officials with Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah said. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the blast killed four people and was carried out by an Israeli drone. Israeli officials declined to comment. If Israel is behind the attack it could mark a major escalation in the Middle East conflict. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to retaliate against any Israeli targeting of Palestinian officials in Lebanon. Hamas official Bassem Naim confirmed to The Associated Press that Arouri was killed in the blast. A Hezbollah official speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations also said Arouri was killed. Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas' military wing, had headed the group's presence in the West Bank. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before the Hamas-Israel war began on Octo

Israeli airstrike in Syria kills another Iranian general; toll rises to 3

An Israeli airstrike Monday in a Damascus neighbourhood killed a high-ranking Iranian general, Iranian state media said. The killing of Razi Mousavi, a long-time adviser of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Syria, comes as clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border between Hezbollah and Israel continue to intensify with fears of the Israel-Hamas war sparking a regional spillover with Iran-backed groups. The Israeli strikes killed two other generals earlier this month in Syria. Israel struck the Sayida Zeinab neighbourhood, located near a Shiite Muslim shrine, Iran's official news agency IRNA and Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. IRNA described Mousavi as a close companion of Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force who was slain in a US drone strike in Iraq in January 2020. Neither the Israeli military nor Syrian state media immediately issued a statement about the attack. Though IRNA didn't provide other

Indictment against Hezbollah figure says he helped plan Argentina bombing

A high-ranking member of Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organisation was charged with terrorism offences, including the bombing of a building in Argentina in 1994 that killed 85 people, in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court. Samuel Salman El Reda, 58, who remains at large and is believed to be in Lebanon, was described by federal authorities as the leader of terrorist activity carried out by Hezbollah since at least 1993. From 1993 to 2015, he conspired to support terrorists in Lebanon, Argentina, Panama, Thailand and elsewhere, the indictment said as it listed six aliases for El Reda, including Salman Ramal, Sulayman Rammal, Salman Raouf Salman and Hajj. He faces conspiracy charges and a count alleging he provided material support to a terrorist organisation. Assistant Attorney General Matthew G Olsen said in a release that El Reda nearly three decades ago helped plan and execute the heinous attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish community centre that murdered 85 ...

A negotiated outcome is best way to end Lebanon-Israel tension, says US NSA

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday that he has discussed with Israeli officials the volatile situation along the Lebanon-Israel border, adding that a negotiated outcome is the best way to reassure residents of northern Israel. Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, Sullivan said that Washington won't tolerate threats by Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, which has been attacking Israeli military posts along the border since a day after the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7. Over the past two months, Israel has evacuated more than 20,000 of its citizens from towns and villages along the border with Lebanon, some of whom have expressed concerns that they have no plans to return home as long as Hezbollah fighters are deployed on the Lebanese side of the border. We need to send a clear message that we will not tolerate the kinds of threats and terrorist activity that we have seen from Hezbollah and from the territory of Lebanon, Sullivan told reporters in ...

Struck a manned Hezbollah observation post in Lebanon, says Israel

In addition, the IDF said it identified a group of operatives at an anti-tank missile launch site, from where the attack was conducted earlier. According to IDF, the site and operatives were struck

Israeli military 'regrets' casualties in attack that harmed Lebanese troops

In a rare apology, Israeli Defence Forces on Wednesday expressed regret at an inadvertent attack in which a Lebanese soldier was killed while it targeted a Hezbollah-linked post and said the incident is under review. Clashes at Israel's northern border with Lebanon have intensified with regular exchanges of fire since the war broke out in Gaza between Hamas militants and Israel on October 7. Israeli forces have mainly responded to attacks from the Shia faction Hezbollah, backed by Iran, which has claimed that it was unaware of the October 7 attack, calling its origin and execution local in nature. In addresses to supporters, the faction's leader Hasan Nasrallah has distanced his organisation and its Iranian masters from any responsibility in the October 7 incident but expressed support for Hamas raising fears of a possible wider conflagration in the region. Israel has issued stern warnings but taken every possible step to keep the escalation at its northern border in check. It has

Israeli drone fires missiles at aluminum plant in southern Lebanese market

An Israeli drone fired two missiles at an aluminum plant outside the southern Lebanese market town of Nabatiyeh early on Saturday, causing a fire and widespread damage, National News Agency said. There was no word on casualties. The Israeli strike near the village of Toul is the first to hit the area since the 34-day war in 2006 between Israel and Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group, and far from the border. NNA said firefighters and ambulances rushed to the area, but it did not mention casualties of the strike that occurred around dawn. Journalists who tried to reach the factory were prevented by Hezbollah members. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike at the factory but it did say that the Israeli army is currently striking Hezbollah targets. It said further details will follow. A day after the October 7, attack by the Palestinian militant Hamas group on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, Hezbollah started carrying o

Lupin, Amman Pharma collaborates for exclusive marketing of Ranibizumab

Lupin Limited has partnered with pharmaceutical manufacturer Amman Pharmaceuticals Industries for exclusive marketing and commercialisation of Ranibizumab in the West Asian region

Israel-Hamas war could threaten fragile economies in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan

Economic crises are rippling through the countries bordering Israel, raising the possibility of a chain reaction from the war with Hamas that further worsens the financial health and political stability of Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon and creates problems well beyond. Each of the three countries is up against differing economic pressures that led the International Monetary Fund to warn in a September report that they could lose their "sociopolitical stability." That warning came shortly before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, triggering a war that could easily cause economic chaos that President Joe Biden and the European Union would likely need to address. The possible fallout is now starting to be recognized by world leaders and policy analysts. For a Biden administration committed to stopping the Israel-Hamas war from widening, the conflict could amplify the economic strains and possibly cause governments to collapse. If the chaos went unchecked, it could spread across a region that

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Hezbollah official says his group already 'is in heart' of Israel-Hamas war

A top official with Hezbollah vowed that Israel will pay a high price whenever it starts a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and said Saturday that his militant group based in Lebanon already is in the heart of the battle. The comments by Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, came as Israel shelled and made drone strikes in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah fired rockets and missiles toward Israel. Hezbollah said six of its fighters were killed Saturday, the highest daily toll since the violence began two weeks ago. For Hezbollah, heating up the Lebanon-Israel border has a clear purpose, Kassem said: We are trying to weaken the Israeli enemy and let them know that we are ready. Hamas officials have said that if Israel starts a ground offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah will join the fighting. Exchanges of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border have picked up in the two weeks since the attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that killed over 1,400 civilians and soldiers in ...

Israel clears out city near Lebanon amid concerns over two-front war

The Israel-Lebanon border has seen constant, but so far limited, clashes since a war in Gaza erupted two weeks ago

Israel pounds Gaza, evacuates town near Lebanon ahead of ground offensive

Israel bombarded Gaza early Friday, hitting areas in the south where Palestinians had been told to seek safety, and it began evacuating a sizable Israeli town in the north near the Lebanese border, the latest sign of a potential ground invasion of Gaza that could trigger regional turmoil. Palestinians in Gaza reported heavy airstrikes in Khan Younis in the south, and ambulances carrying men, women and children streamed into the town's Nasser Hospital, Gaza's second largest, which is already overflowing with patients and people seeking shelter. On Thursday, Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordered ground troops to prepare to see Gaza from the inside, hinting at a ground offensive aimed at crushing Gaza's militant Hamas rulers nearly two weeks after their bloody incursion into Israel. Officials have given no timetable for such an operation. Over a million people have been displaced in Gaza, with many heeding Israel's orders to evacuate the northern part of the sealed-off coastal

Protesters in Lebanon decry Gaza blast with security forces near US Embassy

Hundreds of protesters clashed Wednesday with Lebanese security forces in a Beirut suburb near the US Embassy during demonstrations in support of both Gaza's civilian residents and the militant group Hamas in its war with Israel. The protest in the Aukar neighbourhood came as US President Joe Biden made a show of solidarity with Israel during his visit there Wednesday, a day after an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital killed hundreds of people and prompted mass protests. Biden offered his assessment that the explosion was not the result of a strike by the Israeli military. The Palestinian group Hamas, which rules Gaza, and many Arab countries accuse Israel of striking the hospital, while the Israeli military claims it was a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Gaza. Demonstrators holding Palestinian flags and the flags of various Palestinian factions took down a security wall and cut a barbed wire barrier on a winding road that leads to the U.S. Embassy outsid

Amid Israel-Hamas conflict, US warns citizens not to travel to Lebanon

The updated advisory issued by the US department asked its citizens to reconsider their travel plans due to terrorism, civil unrest, armed conflict and crime in the region

5 Hezbollah fighters killed as tensions flare along Lebanon-Israel border

Clashes erupted on Tuesday along the Lebanon-Israel border that left five Hezbollah fighters dead, marking the largest number of casualties for the militant group in a single day as tensions with Israel escalate. Israeli forces and armed groups in Lebanon have engaged in a series of low-level skirmishes since the outbreak of the latest war in Gaza between the Israeli military and the Hamas militant group. Hezbollah has announced the death of 10 militants since skirmishes began. Israeli military Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi threatened that Israel would retaliate aggressively should Hezbollah escalate. This is a war on the home, Halevi said after meeting with Israeli troops near the northern border with Lebanon. If Hezbollah makes a mistake, it will be annihilated. The escalation comes amid fears that the war could spread into Lebanon, where Hezbollah has expressed strong support to the militant Palestinian group Hamas. Israel considers the heavily-armed group in Lebanon an even big

IDF foils infiltration bid by terrorist cell from Lebanese territory

Taking to X, the Israel Defence Forces stated, "The IDF thwarted an attempted infiltration by a terrorist cell from Lebanese territory

US involvement deterred Hezbollah from joining war on Israel: Report

In addition to quickly fielding U.S. aid to Israel, the U.S. has bolstered its presence in the region to deter further aggression

Israel Defence Forces carries out fresh strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have struck the Hezbollah "military infrastructure" in Lebanon as a retaliatory move to Sunday's fire, The Times of Israel reported.The attacks were in reaction to Sunday's fire from Lebanon that was directed against Israel.Notably, on Sunday morning, six anti-tank guided missiles were fired towards an Israeli town and military outposts near the Lebanon border, killing at least one civilian, according to The Times of Israel.Nine further rockets were also fired at Nahariya, a city in the north, and adjacent towns, however, there were no reports of any casualties.The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has been cautioned by the United States and its allies against escalating the conflict in Israel. This comes after the deployment of US military assets to prevent a potential widening of the war, multiple US officials aware of the matter told CNN.At this point, senior administration officials do not believe that Hezbollah is likely to join Hamas' war in force ...

Reuters videographer killed in Lebanon by Israeli shelling laid to rest

A Reuters videographer killed in Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon was laid to rest in his hometown on Saturday in a funeral procession attended by hundreds of people. Draped in a Lebanese flag, Issam Abdallah's body was carried on a stretcher through the streets of the southern town of Khiam, from his family's home to the local cemetery. Dozens of journalists and Lebanese lawmakers attended the funeral. Abdallah was killed Friday evening near the village of Alma al-Shaab in south Lebanon when an Israeli shell landed on a gathering of international journalists covering exchange of fire along the border between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group. The Lebanese army said in a statement Saturday that Israeli troops fired a shell the day before hitting a civilian car used by journalists killing Abdallah and wounding others. The army said that other areas in south Lebanon at the time were targeted by an Israeli helicopter gunship and artillery, including