US and Europe warn Lebanon's Hezbollah to ease strikes on Israel and back off from wider Mideast war
U.S., European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants from spiraling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months.
The Latest | Rockets fired from Lebanon after Israel kills Hezbollah commander
Scores of rockets were fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel on Wednesday morning, hours after Israeli airstrikes on a southern Lebanese village killed four officials from the militant Hezbollah group including the most senior military commander to be killed since clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border began eight months ago.
Iran's foreign minister accuses US of giving Israel 'green light' to attack consulate in Syria
Iran’s foreign minister has accused the United States of giving Israel the “green light” for a strike on its consulate building in Syria that killed seven Iranian military officials, including two generals.
3 UN military observers, a Lebanese interpreter wounded in blast while patrolling southern border
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon says three United Nations military observers and a Lebanese interpreter have been wounded when a shell exploded near them while patrolling the southern Lebanese border.
Lebanese Sunni militant group head says coordination with Shiite Hezbollah is vital to fight Israel
The head of a Lebanese Sunni political and militant group that has joined the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel on Lebanon’s border says the conflict has helped strengthen cooperation between the two groups.
Israeli airstrikes killed 10 Lebanese civilians in a single day. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate
Lebanon's state-run news agency says the civilian death toll from two Israeli strikes in Lebanon the day before has now risen to 10, making it the single deadliest day since in more than four months of near-daily cross-border exchanges.
Israel and Lebanon are prepping for a war neither wants, but many fear it's becoming inevitable
The prospect of a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia terrifies people on both sides of the border, but some see it as an inevitable fallout from Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Apparent Israeli strike kills senior Hamas figure in Beirut and raises fears conflict could expand
An apparent Israeli strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut has killed Hamas’ No. 2 political leader, marking a potentially significant escalation of Israel’s war against the militant group and heightening the risk of a wider Middle East conflict.
France urges Lebanese leaders to work on bringing calm along the border with Israel
France’s foreign minister is urging Lebanese leaders to work on reducing tensions along the border with Israel, warning that the raging Israel-Hamas war, now in its third month, could spread to other parts of the region.
Major Iranian-backed militant group vows to expand conflict if U.S. airstrikes continue
A major Iranian-backed militant group in Iraq has warned it may strike additional U.S. targets after U.S. warplanes killed multiple militants in response to the first use of a short-range ballistic missile against U.S. forces at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq.
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US offers $10 million reward for info on Hezbollah operative
WASHINGTON – The United States on Monday offered a $10 million reward for information on a Hezbollah operative who was convicted last year in the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik Hariri. Ayyash is a senior member of Hezbollah's Unit 121, an assassination squad that the department said reports to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The announcement said Ayyash is known to have been involved in efforts to harm American troops in the past. An international tribunal convicted Ayyash in absentia and sentenced him to five life sentences on charges related to the 2005 suicide truck bombing in Beirut that killed Hariri and 21 other people. Three other Hezbollah members had been acquitted in August of all charges that they also were involved in the killing that sent shock waves through the Middle East.
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Family, friends bid farewell to slain Lebanese publisher
Scores of friends and family members bid Slim farewell Thursday in a ceremony attended by western diplomats and organized in his home in the southern suburb of Beirut amid tight security. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)BEIRUT – Friends and family members of a slain Lebanese publisher and harsh Hezbollah critic bid him farewell on Thursday at his home in southern Beirut, at a ceremony held amid tight security and attended by Western diplomats. Friends and diplomats flooded Slim’s family house in the Beirut southern suburb, a stronghold of Hezbollah. Salma Mershak, Slim’s mother and a historian, called on the Lebanese to protect his legacy and the country from descending into violence. Ambassador Dorothy Shea, standing next to Slim's family at the tightly-secured gathering.
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Amid crisis, Hezbollah 'bank' a lifeline for some Lebanese
As more Lebanese fall into poverty in the country's economic crisis, increasing numbers are turning to the financial arm of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group for help. He could still pull out the dollars in his account at the al-Qard al-Hasan Association, the financial arm of the militant Hezbollah group. Stepping in where the state and financial institutions have failed, Hezbollah is providing a vital lifeline for some Lebanese. Over the past year, the al-Qard al-Hasan association has seen a significant increase in clients, despite it being under U.S. Treasury sanctions since 2007. That has proven a boon for the al-Qard al-Hasan association, as some turned to it as an alternative to store their cash.
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Israeli PM to UN: Hezbollah storing missiles in Beirut
Israel has long accused Hezbollah of storing weapons and maintaining military posts in civilian areas, especially in the southern suburbs of Beirut and southern Lebanon, both strongholds of support for the Iran-backed militant group. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah denied Netanyahu's allegations, insisting the group does not store missiles in civilian facilities. If Hezbollah is storing missiles in this facility, then there is not enough time to remove them,” Nasrallah said in a televised address. Israel believes Hezbollah has tens of thousands of rockets and missiles capable of hitting virtually anywhere in Israel, but precision guidance would make them far more lethal. Iran insists it has never sought nuclear weapons and that its atomic program is for civilian purposes.
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Macron 'ashamed' of Lebanon's political leaders amid crisis
Lebanon's prime minister-designate Moustapha Adib resigned Saturday amid a political impasse over government formation, dealing a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to break a dangerous stalemate in the crisis-hit country. And he clung to his proposed road map to break Lebanon’s political stalemate despite Saturday’s resignation of its prime minister-designate, which throws Macron’s plan into question. “I’m ashamed of the Lebanese political leaders. Ashamed,” Macron repeated in a news conference Sunday in which he gave a brutal assessment of Lebanon’s power brokers. Prime minister-designate Moustapha Adib rejected those conditions and stepped down Saturday, throwing the country into further uncertainty and further delaying foreign aid.
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Israel to hold US-mediated talks with Lebanon on sea border
JERUSALEM – Israel will hold rare talks with Lebanon next month in an effort to resolve a longstanding maritime border dispute, an Israeli official said Saturday. The official said Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz will lead the Israeli delegation in talks mediated by the United States. Israel and Lebanon have no diplomatic relations and are technically in a state of war. They each claim about 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea as within their own exclusive economic zones. Israel invaded Lebanon during the country's 1975-1990 civil war to battle Palestinian militants who had launched cross-border attacks, and it occupied a strip of territory in southern Lebanon until 2000.
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Powerful blast rocks Hezbollah stronghold in south Lebanon
BEIRUT – A powerful explosion shook a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, sending thick grey smoke billowing over the village, but the cause was not clear. The Lebanese army said the blast occurred in a building in the southern village of Ain Qana, above the port city of Sidon, and that it was investigating. Hezbollah members imposed a security cordon around the blast area Tuesday, barring journalists from reaching it. A Hezbollah official said there were no casualties from Tuesday's explosion and that no Hezbollah members were targeted. A Lebanese security official in southern Lebanon said the explosion occurred in a Hezbollah arms depot in the village, but did not elaborate on the cause.
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Israel attacks Hezbollah posts after shots fired at soldiers
The Israeli military said attack helicopters have struck observation posts of the militant Hezbollah group along the Lebanon border after shots were fired at Israeli troops. Israel has been bracing for a possible attack by Hezbollah since an Israeli airstrike killed a Hezbollah fighter in neighboring Syria last month. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)JERUSALEM Israeli attack helicopters struck observation posts of the militant Hezbollah group along the Lebanon border overnight after shots were fired at Israeli troops operating in the area, the military said Wednesday. Earlier, Israeli troops fired flares and smoke shells along the heavily guarded border. Tensions have also risen between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
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Lebanon's Hariri resigns after nationwide protests
(CNN) - Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced he was resigning on Tuesday, succumbing to the demands of protesters who have staged nationwide demonstrations for nearly two weeks. The three-time prime minister has led a national unity government, which included some of his political adversaries, for less than two years. On Oct. 17, the government proposed imposing a tax on Whatsapp calls, along with other austerity measures, sparking nationwide protests that paralyzed the country. Hariri's resignation could deepen the latest unrest and exacerbate the economic crisis. Even if Hariri's resignation marks a possible return to old rifts, it also represents a step forward for Lebanon's protesters.
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Protesters demand 'downfall' of political class in Lebanon
Many protesters called for the resignation of the government and demanded the "downfall" of a political class that has ruled the country since the start of its 15-year civil war in 1975. Protester Msheimish Msheimish was carrying his six-month-old daughter outside government headquarters on Friday when he leaned over an army barrier to speak to a soldier. Several other protesters called for a military takeover to remove a political ruling class that many view as incompetent and corrupt. Largest protests since 2015Security forces clashed with protesters outside government HQ in downtown Beirut in the early hours of Friday morning. The ISF called on protesters to refrain from "chaos and violence."
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Feds: New Jersey man scouted US for potential Hezbollah attacks
Alexei Saab, a 42-year-old Lebanon native and naturalized US citizen, was charged in an indictment Thursday with nine offenses, which include providing material support to Hezbollah, the US Justice Department said. Hezbollah had given him extensive training in Lebanon, and made him a member of its wing that plans terror attacks outside of Lebanon, the Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), the Justice Department says. While he was in Lebanon in 2003, a Hezbollah handler asked him to prepare a detailed guide to New York City. During an investigation, the FBI found photographs of these locations in Saab's electronic devices, the Justice Department says. US counterterrorism officials have not publicly released estimates of how many Hezbollah members are suspected of being in the country.
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Israel, Lebanon skirmishes flare, fade
Farout was sitting at a park some 400 meters from the demarcation line separating Israel and Lebanon. In July 2006, the group kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in disputed territory between the two countries. But in its first standoff with Hezbollah since 2015, Israel fired several rounds at open fields along the demarcation line. When war broke out between Hezbollah and Israel in early July 2006, it had few friends to lose. Outside of Lebanon, Hezbollah may find its activities less circumscribed, working to prop up President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and supporting Iranian-backed groups around the region.