Lebanon | Pakistan

• Set to meet Trump after latest round of talks with Israel, seeks US support for ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal • Hezbollah holds mass funeral, stages rally to reject disarmament • Israeli strikes, border violence persist despite truce; US renews travel warning amid regional security tensions BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun left Beirut on Saturday for Washington, where he is expected to meet Donald Trump, his office said, after the latest round of Lebanon-Israel talks wrapped up in Italy. Aoun will hold discussions “with several American officials on the situation in Lebanon and ways to strengthen the ceasefire”, particularly in the south, as well as on “the withdrawal of Israel from the Lebanese regions it occupies”, the presidency said. It will be the first trip to Washington by a Lebanese head of state since Michel Sleiman was received by Barack Obama in 2009. Israel and Lebanon, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, began US-sponsored negotiations in April aimed at reaching a peace deal an...

Iran demands end to Israeli aggression in Lebanon as part of its interim deal with Washington signed last month

Antonio Tajani says Italy communicated willingness to support 'dialogue for peace' to Israel, Lebanon last month

BEIRUT - The death toll from the Israeli aggression on Lebanon since March 2 has risen to 4,297, with 12,196 others wounded, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.

Includes a 'gradual' withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, without specifying timeline or areas covered

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that Sunday’s US-Iran talks in Switzerland were nearly “derailed” due to Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon, it emerged on Tuesday. In an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya, which was recorded before the talks began, DPM Dar said, “The parlays starting in Switzerland could have started a few days earlier, but Israel’s attacks on Lebanon derailed and stopped everything.” At the outset of the interview, DPM Dar recalled Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts since the start of the conflict on February 28, recalling the Pakistan-mediated ceasefire followed by the talks in Islamabad in April. “Those parlays were the first time direct talks between the US and Iran after 47 years, and Pakistan was asked to be the witness,” DPM Dar said. He said that Pakistan’s continued efforts after the Islamabad talks culminated in the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 18. “You see, during this period, Pakistan has been … very active. Not on...

• Truce under strain as Tel Aviv kills family of four, Lebanese soldier • Israel refuses to withdraw its troops from southern territory • Hezbollah warns unprovoked aggression will not pass without a response BEIRUT: Israeli strikes in Lebanon killed at least 20 people on Saturday, Lebanon’s state news agency said, one day after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect, underscoring the fragility of a truce aimed at halting months of escalating violence. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes and drones struck multiple civilian and structural locations in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah accused Israel of committing hundreds of blatant ceasefire violations and warned that the continued Israeli aggression “will not pass without a response”. The group noted that responsibility for the dangerous escalation lay solely with Israel and urged the US to place intense pressure on the Israeli regime to implement diplomatic agreements and halt its devastating attacks The Israeli mil...

Lebanon says 3,912 killed in Israeli attacks since March 2; Israel reports 36 deaths, including civilians

Lebanon - The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday said it struck over 70 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon, targeting rocket launchers and buildings allegedly used by the group to advance attacks, after the army issued evacuation warnings for over 20 locations.

BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on a military vehicle in southern Lebanon killed three soldiers, the Lebanese military said on Saturday, laying bare Israel’s continued aggression just days after the countries discussed a conditional truce during talks in the United States. Israel has launched an invasion into Lebanon, claiming it seeks to root out Hezbollah, which engaged in the wider Middle East war by launching retaliatory missiles against Israeli forces in response to US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader. Meanwhile, Lebanon has vowed that it will disarm Hezbollah over time, but has also denounced Israel’s invasion, accusing it of employing scorched-earth tactics to drive civilians out of southern towns and villages. In the latest incident, the Lebanese army said two officers and a soldier were killed in a strike on a military vehicle on the road between Khardali and Nabatieh. Tehran rejects claims it is using Lebanon as ‘bargaining chip’, urges Beirut to focus on ‘real foe’ Hezbollah dubbed the a...

Lebanon army chief to meet CDF Munir

Israel and Lebanon agreed on Wednesday to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a “complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after US-led talks in Washington. The two sides, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, also agreed to create “pilot zones” in which the Lebanese armed forces “will take exclusive control of the territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors”. The development came despite continued cross-border attacks earlier in the day, with Hezbollah saying it targeted Israeli troops and Israeli strikes killing at least ten people in southern Lebanon. Just hours after the agreement was announced, air raid alarms sounded in northern Israel with a “suspicious aerial target” identified without causing any casualties. The joint statement said the ceasefire was “contingent on a complete cessation” of fire by Hezbollah as well as evacuation of the group’s operatives from southern Lebanon. The meetings in Washington were the fourth round of direct talks b...

United States President Donald Trump lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the latter’s escalation in Lebanon in an expletive-laden phone call on Monday, according to American news outlet Axios. The report cited two US officials and a third source briefed on the phone call. It said that Trump called Netanyahu “crazy” and accused him of ingratitude, according to two of the sources, and also halted Israel’s plan to strike Beirut. On Monday, Trump said he had spoken to Netanyahu and through unnamed representatives with Hezbollah. Netanyahu agreed to call off a military raid on Beirut while Hezbollah agreed “all shooting will stop,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. Trump’s comments came after Iran’s news agency Tasnim reported Tehran had suspended dialogue with mediators in protest of Israel’s expanding offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah. Initially, Trump said he was not aware whether Iran had suspended the talks. He then told CNBC that he did not care if the talks were over. Bu...

• Strikes on Harouf medical centre kill six, including paramedics; at least five villages targeted • Evacuation warnings trigger another wave of displacement; civilians dismiss ceasefire as ‘meaningless’ BEIRUT: Israel launched a series of airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Saturday, striking at least five villages and prompting a new exodus of residents, despite a 45-day extension of a fragile truce agreed to only a day earlier. The ongoing Israeli bombardment and expanded evacuation warnings have fuelled deep scepticism about the ceasefire among the thousands of Lebanese already driven from their homes. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah positions, but Saturday’s strikes were preceded by an evacuation warning that covered nine villages. The attacks have expanded in scope in recent weeks, reaching areas north of the Litani River and farther from the border. Since the truce began, the Israeli military has repeatedly issued such warnings ahead of strikes, compounding the humanitarian crisis in the south....

Lebanon truce extended by 45 days

Four dead as Lebanon truce crumbles

Israel and Lebanon extended a shaky ceasefire by three weeks, President Donald Trump said on Thursday, as the United States remained at a standstill in negotiations with Iran to end the Middle East war. Trump announced the truce extension as he met with ambassadors of the two countries and despite recent Israeli strikes in Lebanon and fresh rocket fire from Hezbollah, which was not part of the talks in Washington. “I think there’s a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. The initial truce had been set to expire on Sunday. Still, the US president said earlier he was in no rush to end the war with Iran, adding that “the clock is ticking” for the Islamic republic as a third American aircraft carrier arrived in the Middle East. Iranian media reported blasts over the capital Tehran, a first since the ceasefire in the Middle East war came into effect two weeks ago. It was not clear what caused the explosions, though an Israeli security source told AFP ...

The Israeli military on Tuesday said two soldiers would receive 30 days of military detention and be removed from combat duty over the destruction of a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon. The decision comes after widespread condemnation of a photo shared online showing an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of the crucifix. The sculpture was located in the Christian village of Debl in south Lebanon, near the border with Israel. Publishing the conclusions of an inquiry into the incident, the military said: “The soldier who damaged the Christian symbol and the soldier who photographed the act will be removed from combat duty and will receive 30 days of military detention”. It said six additional soldiers who “were present at the scene and did not act to stop the incident or report it” had been summoned for “clarification discussions”. Israel has conducted airstrikes across Lebanon and invaded the country’s south after Hezbollah entered the Middle East war on March 2. The fightin...

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the foreign minister and the military on Monday condemned the desecration of a crucifix after it was smashed by an Israeli soldier in a Christian village in southern Lebanon. A photo that emerged online over the weekend shows a soldier taking the blunt side of an axe to a fallen sculpture of Jesus on the cross. It was posted by Younis Tirawi, who describes himself as a Palestinian reporter and has also posted images of Israeli soldiers’ misconduct in Gaza. Reuters verified the location of the image as Debel, one of the few villages in southern Lebanon where residents remained through an Israeli military campaign against Hezbollah that began on March 2. The cross was part of a small shrine in the garden of a family living on the edge of the village, said Fadi Falfel, a priest in Debel. “One of the Israeli soldiers broke the cross and did this horrible thing, this desecration of our holy symbols,” he said. Netanyahu said that the soldier’s actions went against Jewish ...

The Israeli military published for the first time a map of its new deployment line inside Lebanon on Sunday, bringing dozens of mostly abandoned Lebanese villages under its control, ​days after a ceasefire with Lebanon took effect. There was no immediate comment from Lebanese officials or ‌from Hezbollah. Israel and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to a US-backed ceasefire in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The deal, which followed the first direct talks in decades between Israel and Lebanon on April 14, is meant to enable broader US-Iran negotiations, ​but with Israeli forces maintaining positions deep inside southern Lebanon. Stretching east to west, the deployment line ​on the map runs 5-10 kilometres deep from the border into Lebanese territory, ⁠where Israel has said that it plans to create a so-called buffer zone. Israeli forces have destroyed Lebanese ​villages in the area, claiming their aim is to protect northern Israeli towns from Hezbollah attacks. It has ​created buffer zones in Syria and in Gaza...