GLOBAL TODAY

Tag: Lebanon

  • Islamist leader among 2 dead in air strikes on Lebanon

    BEIRUT – A leader from Hamas-aligned Jamaa Islamiya was killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike, the Lebanese Islamist group and Israel’s military said, as the health ministry reported another dead in a separate raid.

    Israel has continued to carry out regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November truce with militant group Hezbollah that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities between the foes including two months of all-out war.

    Lebanon’s civil defense said “an Israeli drone targeted a car” near the coastal town of Damour, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Beirut, and rescuers recovered a man’s body.

    Jamaa Islamiya in a statement announced the death of Hussein Atwi, calling him “an academic leader and university professor” and saying an Israeli drone strike “targeted his car as he was traveling to his workplace in Beirut.”

    The Israeli army said the air force had “eliminated” Atwi, calling him “a significant terrorist in the Jamaa Islamiya terrorist organization.”

    A Lebanese security official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Atwi was a leader of Jamaa Islamiya’s armed wing, the Al-Fajr Forces.

    The official said Israel had previously targeted Atwi during its recent war with Hezbollah.

    An AFP photographer saw the charred wreckage of a car at the scene. The Lebanese army had cordoned off the area and forensic teams were conducting an inspection.

    Jamaa Islamiya, closely linked to both Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel before the November 27 ceasefire.

    The Israeli military said Atwi had been “involved in planning and advancing terrorist activity from Lebanon into Israeli territory” and had operated “in coordination with Hamas in Lebanon.”

    It said he had “carried out rocket attacks, coordinated terrorist infrastructure… and advanced attempts to infiltrate into Israeli territory.”

    Also Tuesday, Lebanon’s health ministry said an “Israeli enemy” strike in south Lebanon’s Tyre district killed one person.

    Under the truce, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters north of Lebanon’s Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

    Israel was to withdraw all its forces from south Lebanon, but troops remain in five positions that it deems “strategic.”

    Israel on Sunday said it had killed two senior Hezbollah members in strikes on Lebanon.

    Lebanese authorities have said Israeli fire has killed some 190 people since the ceasefire.

    After unclaimed rocket fire against Israel in late March, Lebanon’s army said last week it had arrested several Lebanese and Palestinian suspects, while a security official said they included three Hamas members.

    AN-AFP

  • Lebanon says one killed in Israeli strike in south

    BEIRUI – Lebanon reported Thursday that one person was killed by an Israeli air strike in the country’s south, hours after Israel said it had attacked sites there belonging to Hezbollah.

    The health ministry said: “the raid carried out by the Israeli enemy on the locality of Aitaroun left one dead,” a day after Israeli strikes in the same region killed two people.

    The Israeli military said earlier that it had struck “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites” in southern Lebanon overnight, without offering details.

    The military added that it would “operate against any attempts by Hezbollah to rebuild or establish a military presence under the guise of civilian cover.”

    Despite a November 27 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes in Lebanon.

    Hezbollah, significantly weakened by the war, insists it is adhering to the ceasefire, even as Israeli attacks persist.

    Rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel has also been reported since the truce was struck, although no group has claimed responsibility for the launches.
    On Wednesday, the Lebanese army said it had arrested several people suspected of firing rockets at Israel from Lebanon.

    A security official told AFP that three of those detained were members of Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally Hamas.

    AN-AFP

  • 1 killed in Israeli airstrike on S. Lebanon

    BEIRUT – The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced Wednesday that one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in the southern border region, bringing the total number of deaths from Israeli attacks to three within approximately 24 hours.

    A statement issued by the ministry said that “the drone strike carried out by the Israeli enemy on a vehicle … resulted in one fatality.”

    It added, “Today, the death toll from yesterday’s Israeli strike on the village of Aitaroun rose to two, after a 17-year-old boy who had been seriously injured succumbed to his wounds.”

    Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated in an updated report that “at least 71 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect on November 27 of last year.”

    “Among the victims were 14 women and 9 children, and over 92,000 people remain displaced from their homes,” it added.

    Since Nov. 27, 2024, a ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel has been in place, ending over a year of clashes sparked by the war in Gaza.

    Despite the agreement, the Israeli army continues to carry out occasional strikes in Lebanon, claiming they are aimed at eliminating “Hezbollah threats,” and has maintained a military presence at five key points inside Lebanese territory along the border.

    XINHUA

  • Israel kills Hamas ‘commander’ in Lebanon strike

    Residents pass between damaged cars at the site where an apparent Israeli airstrike earlier hit an apartment, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)

    SIDON – Israel said it killed a commander of Palestinian militant group Hamas on Friday in a strike in the Lebanese port city of Sidon that also killed his adult son and daughter.

    Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the strike as a “flagrant attack on Lebanese sovereignty” and a breach of the November 27 ceasefire with Israel.

    “Overnight, the (army and the domestic security agency Shin Bet) conducted a targeted strike in the Sidon area, eliminating the terrorist Hassan Farhat, commander of Hamas’s western arena in Lebanon,” the Israeli military said in a statement.

    It alleged that Farhat had orchestrated multiple attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians during the hostilities that followed the outbreak of war in Gaza in October 2023.

    They included rocket fire on the Israeli town of Safed on February 14, 2024 that killed an Israeli soldier, the military added.

    The strike on a flat in a residential area of Sidon killed the official and his adult son and daughter, a Palestinian official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    An AFP correspondent saw the fourth-floor flat still on fire after the strike, which caused heavy damage to the apartment block and neighboring buildings and sparked panic in the densely populated neighborhood.

    Lebanese state media had reported the 3:45 am (0045 GMT) strike on Sidon, saying at least three people were killed.

    “A hostile drone raided a residential apartment… causing two successive explosions that led to a fire and extensive damage,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

    Emergency workers rushed to the scene where they recovered “the bodies of three martyrs,” NNA said.

    The Lebanese prime minister called for “maximum pressure on Israel to force it to halt these continual attacks which target various districts, many of them residential areas.”

    Israel struck south Beirut earlier this week, killing a Hezbollah Palestinian liaison officer in only the the second raid on the capital since a November ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group.

    The Lebanese health ministry reported four dead in that strike, including a woman.

    Lebanese leaders condemned the attack but Israel said it was in response to recent unclaimed rocket fire that Hezbollah insists it had no hand in.

    Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah spiralled into all-out conflict last September, and the group remains a target of Israeli air strikes despite the November 27 ceasefire.

    Under the truce, Hezbollah is supposed to redeploy its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

    Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems “strategic.”

    AN-AFP

  • Three killed in Israeli strike targeting Hezbollah militant in Beirut

    This picture taken early on April 1, 2025 shows a damaged building after an Israeli strike in southern Beirut. (AFP)

    BEIRUT – At least three people were killed and seven wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Tuesday, the Lebanese health ministry said, further testing a shaky four-month ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-aligned group.

    The Israeli military said in a statement that it attacked a Hezbollah militant “who had recently directed Hamas operatives and assisted them.”

    Israel resumed a ground and air campaign in the Gaza enclave last month, demanding that Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, lay down its arms.

    The strike in Beirut appeared to have damaged the upper three floors of a building in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh, a Reuters reporter at the scene said, with the balconies of those floors blown out. The glass on the floors below was intact, indicating a target strike. Ambulances were at the scene to recover casualties.

    There was no evacuation warning issued for the area ahead of the strike, and families fled in the aftermath to other parts of Beirut, according to witnesses.

    AN

  • UN peacekeepers fired upon by Israeli army in S. Lebanon: spokesperson

    BEIRUT, March 29 – A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol came under fire from the Israeli army on Saturday afternoon along the Blue Line, which separates Lebanon and Israel, according to a statement from UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti.

    The statement said, “UNIFIL peacekeepers reported that the Israeli army fired warning shots from a machine gun across the Blue Line.”

    The incident occurred during a scheduled reconnaissance patrol near the village of Rmeish in southern Lebanon, located in the central sector of the border area. UNIFIL said “no one was harmed” and called the incident “a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.”

    In a separate incident on the same day, UNIFIL peacekeepers reported that an Israeli army patrol directed laser beams at them, targeting their bodies and eyes.

    Tenenti condemned the actions, stating, “Any action that endangers the safety of UN peacekeepers while they carry out their mandated duties is unacceptable … We are following up on these incidents with the Israeli army.”

    UNIFIL facilities have previously been targeted amid ongoing clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. The UN mission has accused the Israeli army of targeting its positions, which has also drawn international criticism.

    XINHUA

  • Israel hits building in Beirut’s southern suburbs, first since truce

    Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs following Israeli strike after issuing an evacuation warning for the area, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, March 28, 2025. REUTERS

    Israel’s air force conducted a large strike on a building in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on Friday, a Reuters reporter said, the first heavy bombardment there since a truce deal in November ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah.

    Israel’s military said it hit a drone storage facility in the area belonging to Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

    The strike, which was heard across Beirut and produced a large column of black smoke, followed an evacuation order by the Israeli military for the neighbourhood and three smaller targeted drone strikes on the building intended as warning shots, security sources told Reuters.

    The evacuation order sent residents of the area into a panic, rushing to escape on foot as traffic clogged the streets out of the area, Reuters reporters in the area said.

    Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold known as Dahiyeh, were pounded last year by Israeli strikes that killed many of the group’s top leaders, including its powerful chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a September air attack.

    A U.S.-brokered truce in November put an end to the fighting and mandated that southern Lebanon be free of Hezbollah fighters and weapons, that Lebanese troops deploy to the area and that Israeli ground troops withdraw from the zone.

    But the truce has been shaken over the last week by two cases of outgoing fire from southern Lebanon – several rockets fired on March 22 and another set fired on Friday morning.

    Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the Lebanese government bore direct responsibility for the attack and said that as long as there was no peace in Galilee “there will be no peace in Beirut either.”

    Israeli ministers have vowed to ensure that the tens of thousands of Israelis who evacuated their homes in border areas when Hezbollah began bombarding the area in 2023 would be able to return safely.

    But with more Israeli units deployed around Gaza, where a separate ceasefire has also broken down, it remained unclear whether Israel was prepared for any wider intervention.

    Hezbollah denied links to either attack. No other group has claimed responsibility.

    But Israel’s statement confirming its raid on Dahiyeh said that the Friday morning rocket fire “constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and a direct threat to the citizens of the State of Israel.”

    It added that the Lebanese state bears responsibility for upholding the agreement.

    Israel also bombarded Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon on Friday after intercepting the incoming rocket fire, the Israeli military said.

    Israel has vowed a strong response to any threats to its security, prompting fears that last year’s conflict – which displaced more than 1.3 million people in Lebanon and destroyed much of the country’s south – could resume.

    Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, in Paris to meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, said in a written statement from France that the onus was on the international community to “put an end to these attacks and force Israel to abide by the agreement, just as Lebanon is committed to it.”

    REUTERS

  • 6 killed in Israeli army strikes on vehicles in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire

    ANKARA – Six people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on three vehicles in southern Lebanon on Thursday, in the latest Israeli violation of a ceasefire agreement, health authorities said.

    Three people lost their lives in a strike targeting a car in the town of Yohmor Al-Chaqif, Lebanon’s Public Health Emergency Operations Center said in a statement.

    The Health Ministry said that two more people were also killed in a drone strike on a car in the southern town of Barashit.

    One more Lebanese was killed and two others injured when Israeli warplanes hit a car in the town of Maaroub, the state news agency NNA reported.

    No information was yet available about the people inside the targeted vehicles.

    The Lebanese broadcaster also reported Israeli artillery shelling on the Chaqif region in southern Lebanon early Thursday.

    A fragile ceasefire had been in place in Lebanon since November, ending months of cross-border warfare between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which escalated into a full-scale conflict in September.

    Lebanese authorities reported over 1,250 Israeli violations of the ceasefire, including at least 100 fatalities and more than 330 injuries.

    Under the ceasefire deal, Israel was supposed to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon by Jan. 26, but the deadline was extended to Feb. 18 after it refused to comply. It still maintains a military presence at five border outposts.

    ANADOLU, 27.3.2025

  • Lebanon says Israel strikes killed four people

    An “Israeli enemy strike on a car in Yohmor al-Shaqeef led to the death of three people,” said a health ministry statement reported by the National News Agency. (X/@abouhadi80)

    BEIRUT – Lebanon said Thursday that Israeli strikes killed four people in the country’s south, with Israel saying it struck Hezbollah operatives.

    The strikes were the latest in a series on south Lebanon, despite a November ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah after more than a year of hostilities.

    An “Israeli enemy strike on a car in Yohmor Al-Shaqeef led to the death of three people,” said a health ministry statement reported by the National News Agency.

    The agency said a drone targeted a vehicle near the town, in a strike that came at the same time as artillery shelling.

    The Israeli military said in a statement that “several Hezbollah terrorists were identified transferring weapons in the area of Yohmor in southern Lebanon,” adding that the army “struck the terrorists.”

    The NNA earlier Thursday reported that “one person was killed and another wounded in the Israeli drone targeting… of a car in the town Maaroub,” also in south Lebanon.

    The Israeli military said that overnight, the air force “struck and eliminated… a battalion commander” in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force in the Derdghaiya area, near Maaroub.

    It accused him of having “advanced and directed numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians” and troops during the war, and of also directing “terror attacks against Israel’s Home Front” in recent months.

    Israel has continued to carry out raids in Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire, striking what it says are Hezbollah military targets that violated the truce agreement.

    Last weekend saw the most intense escalation since the truce, with Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killing eight people, according to Lebanese officials.

    Israel’s raids were in response to rocket fire, the first to hit its territory since the ceasefire.

    No party has claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, which a military source said originated north of the Litani River, between the villages of Kfar Tebnit and Arnoun, near the zone covered by the ceasefire deal.
    Hezbollah, heavily weakened by the war, denied involvement.

    Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to pull its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

    Israel was to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but still holds five positions in south Lebanon that it deems strategic.

    AN-AFP

  • Hezbollah rejects normalization with Israel, condemns Israeli violation in Lebanon

    BEIRUT, March 26 – Hezbollah Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, reaffirmed on Wednesday that Lebanon will not accept any normalization of ties with Israel, and condemned Israel’s ongoing violations in southern Lebanon.

    Speaking at the Jerusalem Forum, Qassem emphasized that “Hezbollah and the Lebanese resistance have stood firm, preventing Israel from achieving its objectives in Lebanon,” emphasizing that normalization remains off the table, according to al-Manar TV channel.

    He reiterated Hezbollah’s commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, calling on the Lebanese state to exert pressure on international actors to fully implement ceasefire agreements and uphold Lebanon’s rights.

    Hezbollah has consistently opposed any political or diplomatic engagement with Israel, citing the continued occupation of Lebanese territory, including the Israeli-annexed Shebaa Farms area and Kfarchouba hills, he said, noting the group maintains that steadfast resistance is the only way to safeguard Lebanon’s sovereignty and deter further Israeli aggression.

    Qassem praised Palestinian resilience, particularly in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. “The Palestinian people have paid a heavy price, but they remain unyielding in their fight for their land, dignity, and rights,” he said.

    Qassem also condemned what he described as a U.S.-Israeli strategy to reshape the region by undermining the Palestinian cause and expanding Israeli territorial control. He warned that the resistance front, including Hezbollah and its regional allies, remains committed to countering these efforts.

    XINHUA

en en