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☆ Concern rising among Biden officials that Israel is planning incursion into Lebanon
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Alex Marquardt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“We are operating in the assumption that an Israeli military operation is in the coming months,” one senior Biden administration official said. That deal would likely postpone an Israeli incursion, US officials believe. “Some Israeli officials suggest that it is more of an effort at creating a threat that they can utilize. A second senior Biden administration official said there are elements inside the Israeli government and military in favor of an incursion. Benjamin Netanyahu Ariel Tagar/USA Today“Once the war is over, his expiration date arrives,” the first senior administration official said.

Persons: Biden, ”, “, let’s, Let’s, ’, Israel, Herzi, Amos Hochstein, Amos Hochstein Michael Brochstein, Amos, Hochstein, Yoav Gallant, It’s, ” Gallant, Ziv, Jalaa Marey, Benjamin Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu Ariel Tagar Organizations: CNN, Biden, “, Israel, US, Getty, Lebanese Armed Forces, United Nations, UNIFIL, Bibi Locations: Israel, Lebanon, Israeli, Gaza, “, Washington, The State, Beirut, Baalbek, Israel's, Safed, AFP, ” Israel, Golan

Israeli airstrikes inside Lebanon on targets associated with the Hezbollah militia hit deeper than any in recent years on Monday, targeting an area close to the Syrian border. The Israeli military said that its fighter jets had struck Hezbollah air defenses in the Bekaa Valley, about 60 miles from the Israeli border. It said that the strikes were in response to a surface-to-air missile attack that downed an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon. At least two Hezbollah fighters were killed in the Israeli airstrikes and at least six other people were wounded, according to Bachir Khodor, mayor of the nearby city of Baalbek. The fighting has displaced more than 150,000 people on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border and left hundreds dead.

Persons: Bachir Khodor Organizations: Mr, Lebanese Locations: Lebanon, Bekaa, Baalbek, Israel, Lebanese

☆ War-Inflicted Slowdown Ends Robust Year for Tourism in Middle East
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Christine Chung | More About Christine Chung | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which erupted in early October, has halted international tourism to Israel and severely blunted travel to neighboring countries in a ripple effect spreading across the entire Middle East. While the slowdown in international visitors is only one of the war’s economic repercussions in the region, it poses a significant threat to the economies of Egypt, Jordan and other nations heavily dependent on tourism and has swiftly reversed a banner year of travel in the Middle East. The war has affected all segments of the travel industry, with international travel operators scaling back or postponing excursions, cruise lines redeploying ships and airlines dramatically reducing service. And many travelers, heeding government warnings and their own worries, are increasingly wary about visiting the region, prompting waves of cancellations. “We foresaw the Middle East evolving into the ‘New Europe’ with the Iran-Saudi Arabia rapprochement and Saudi Arabia’s integration into the tourism system,” said Khaled Ibrahim, a Cairo-based consultant for Amisol Travel Egypt and a member of the Middle East Travel Alliance.

Persons: ”, Khaled Ibrahim, —, Hussein Abdallah, hasn’t Organizations: Amisol Travel, East Travel Alliance, UNESCO Locations: Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Europe, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Saudi, Cairo, Amisol Travel Egypt, Lebanon, Beirut, Baalbek

☆ Fact Check: Video shows floods in Lebanon in 2018, not West Bank in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A video showing a torrent of mud and water inundating the village of Ras Baalbek, Lebanon in 2018 has been miscaptioned online as floods in Jericho in the West Bank. A user on Facebook (archived) shared the video with the caption: “Happening now! Reuters geolocated the buildings visible in the video to Google Map satellite imagery of the village of Ras Baalbek. Reports from June 2018 say heavy rain resulted in major floods in Ras Baalbek. The video shows floods in Lebanon in 2018.

Persons: Read Organizations: West Bank, Facebook, YouTube, American University of Beirut, Reuters, Google, Thomson Locations: Ras Baalbek, Lebanon, Jericho, Jordan, Lebanese, Baalbek

Members of Hezbollah carry the coffin of Hezbollah member Abbas Shuman, who was killed in southern Lebanon amidst tension between Israel and Hezbollah, during his funeral in Baalbek, Lebanon, October 23, 2023. With most of its fighters killed in Israeli drone strikes, Hezbollah has unveiled its surface-to-air missile capability for the first time, declaring on Sunday it downed an Israeli drone. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel would unleash devastation on Lebanon if a war did start. Hezbollah lost 263 fighters in the 2006 war, when Israel hit sites all over Lebanon during a more than month-long conflict. The war erupted after Hezbollah launched a raid into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.

Persons: Abbas Shuman, Amr Alfiky, Israel, Sunday's, Yoav Gallant, Benjamin Netanyahu, Jama'a, Bashar al, Assad, Nabil Boumonsef, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Laila Bassam, Tom Perry, Ari Rabinovitch, Edmund Blair Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Israeli, FORCE Hezbollah, Lebanon's, Hezbollah, Thomson Locations: Lebanon, Israel, Baalbek, BEIRUT, Lebanese, Iran, Lebanon's, Hamas, Israeli, Gaza, Tehran's, Syria, Jabal Safi, Jerusalem, Beirut

☆ What to know about Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed group on Israel’s border
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Islamist movement with one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East. The origins of the groupHezbollah emerged from the rubble of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, when Israeli forces took almost half of Lebanon’s territory. This included Beirut, where Israeli forces, along with right-wing Israel-allied Christian Lebanese militias, laid siege to the western part of the capital to drive out Palestinian militants. A terror designationIn Lebanon, Hezbollah is officially considered a “resistance” group tasked with confronting Israel, which Beirut classifies as an enemy state. Hezbollah is a group from the Shia branch of Islam, while Hamas is Sunni.

Persons: Israel –, –, Sabra, Shatila, Hassan Nasrallah, Marwan Naamani, Israel, Mustafa Badreddine, Hamas haven’t, Bashar al, Assad, Nasrallah, Francesca Volpi, ’ Organizations: CNN, Commission, Christian Lebanese, Embassy, Hezbollah, Hamas, Gaza, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Israel’s Locations: Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Hamas, Gaza, Beirut, Lebanese, Palestinian, Islamic Republic, Tehran, Argentina, Buenos Aires, East, Syria, Iraq, Islam, Baalbek, Lebanon's Bekaa, Israel’s, Golan

☆ Roiuri de lăcuste au invadat Libanul după o schimbare a direcţiei vântului
▼ + stars: | 2021-04-26 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +1 min

Ministerul Agriculturii, aflat în stare de alertă, a declarat luni că efective importante de lăcuste au fost distruse.Până în prezent nu au fost înregistrate pierderi considerabile în agricultură, însă există îngrijorarea că mai multe roiuri ar putea fi împinse de vânt spre sudul ţării, a declarat pentru Reuters ministrul interimar al Agriculturii, Abbas Mortada. Însă regiunile din sudul Libanului deţin mai multe terenuri agricole. "Suntem pregătiţi pentru orice se poate întâmpla", a declarat Mortada.Organizaţia Naţiunilor Unite pentru Alimentaţie şi Agricultură (FAO) a indicat că evenimentul este neobişnuit pentru această zonă, o schimbare a direcţiei vântului împingând lăcustele din Arabia Saudită până în Iordania şi mai departe în Siria şi Liban. ''Este un eveniment foarte rar... locurile de reproducere sunt pe coasta Mării Roşii, coasta nordică a Arabiei Saudite, aşa că ele au fost împinse de vânt în Iordania şi Siria'', a spus Maurice Saade, reprezentatul FAO în Liban. ''Până în prezent (situaţi) este sub control şi în mod cert personal nu văd niciun motiv de panică'', a precizat el.

Persons: Abbas Mortada, Maurice Saade Organizations: Ministerul Agriculturii, Agriculturii, Arabiei Saudite Locations: Libanul, Libanului deţin, Arabia Saudită, Iordania, Siria, Liban, Arabiei

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