DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Opinion: Unable to ‘win’ in Gaza, Israel sets its sights elsewhere
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Opinion Hussein Ibish | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —An eerie relative calm has descended on the Middle East — Gaza obviously excluded — since a highly alarming exchange of missile, rocket and drone attacks by Israel and Iran in recent weeks. Now, the recent exchange of direct military attacks with Iran might have sealed Lebanon’s fate, unless team Biden can restrain Israel. On April 1, Israel struck an Iranian diplomatic facility in Damascus, killing a number of senior Iranian officials including Brig. As Israel’s forces moved south through Gaza, obliterating Hamas brigades with relative ease, its thinking relatively quickly turned north again. If this happens, a primary US goal regarding the Gaza war — conflict containment — would be shattered not by Washington’s adversaries, but ironically by its closest regional partner.

Persons: Hussein Ibish, Read, Biden, Israel, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, Haji Rahimi, Hossein Amirollah, Louai Beshara, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Charbel Mallo, Israel —, Joe Biden Organizations: Gulf States Institute, Israel, CNN, Biden, Hezbollah, Brig, Iran’s, Quds Force, Getty, Iranian, Israeli Locations: Washington, East, Gaza, Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Iranian, Damascus, Brig, Syria, AFP, Tehran, United States, Kafr Kila, Lebanese

☆ Israel’s Claim of Killing ‘Half’ of Hezbollah Commanders in Southern Lebanon Draws Skepticism
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Euan Ward | Hwaida Saad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel’s defense minister has said that the country’s military has eliminated half of Hezbollah’s commanders in southern Lebanon. But analysts doubt whether Israel’s increasing use of targeted killings would weaken the militant group. “Half of the Hezbollah commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated,” Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said during a visit on Wednesday to Israeli troops along the northern border with Lebanon. “The other half are in hiding,” he added, without providing a specific number or evidence of his claim. A Hezbollah official and a senior Lebanese intelligence official, both of whom spoke anonymously to discuss the sensitive subject, denied Mr. Gallant’s numbers on Thursday.

Persons: Yoav Gallant, ”, Israel’s Organizations: Hezbollah Locations: Lebanon, Israel, Lebanese

☆ Hezbollah Claims Drone Attack 10 Miles Inside Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Euan Ward | More About Euan Ward | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Tuesday claimed that it had made its deepest attack into Israel since October, striking with aerial drones north of the city of Acre and setting off sirens across the country’s northern coastline. In the latest strike, it said it had launched a drone attack on an Israeli military barracks roughly 10 miles from the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said that fighter jets had targeted “military structures” in the area where Hezbollah were operating, according to a statement. The drone attack in Israel came after targeted killings by Israel of two Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, both of whom the Israeli military claimed were involved in Hezbollah’s aerial operations. Last week, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a drone and missile attack into northern Israel that left one soldier dead and 16 soldiers and two civilians injured, in one of the group’s most damaging attacks in Israel in recent months.

Persons: “, Hwaida Saad, Johnatan Reiss, Arijeta Lajka Organizations: Hezbollah, The New York Times Locations: Lebanese, Israel, Acre, Gaza, Hanin, Lebanon

☆ Oil prices retreat as U.S. crude build, rate cut concerns come to the fore
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract for May , which expires on Monday, fell 12 cents to $83.02 a barrel. Iran is the third largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, according to Reuters data. ANZ analysts said in a note that volatility in the Middle East will keep oil markets "jittery". On Saturday, a blast at an Iraqi military base killed a member of a security force that includes Iran-backed groups. Separately, on Sunday, Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said it downed an Israeli drone that was on a combat mission in southern Lebanon.

Persons: Brent, Tina Teng, Austan Goolsbee Organizations: West Texas, Chicago Federal, Energy, U.S . House, Organization of, Petroleum, ANZ, Hezbollah Locations: Israel, Iran, U.S, Ukraine, China, Iraqi, Sunday, Lebanese, Lebanon, Gaza

A view across the demarcation into Metula, Israel as seen from the Lebanese side of the demarcation line. But a Lebanese source familiar with the matter ruled this out. Hezbollah may only be compelled to join an Iranian war effort if the strike leads to further escalation, the same Lebanese source said. It provided a glimpse of how Hezbollah might attempt to overwhelm Israel’s defensive systems as Iran conducts its expected attack. From one of Spain’s bases near the demarcation line, there is a clear view of a microcosm of Lebanon’s long-standing border issues with Israel.

Persons: Kafr, Lebanon CNN —, ”, Juan Garcia Martinez, Charbel Mallo, —, Mohammad Reza Zahidi, “, Ali Khamenei, Sina Toosi, Yemen’s Houthis, ” Nasrallah, Israel –, Mallo, CNN Hezbollah’s, Hector Alonso, CNN’s MJ Lee, Natasha Bertrand, Zeena Saifi, Oren Liebermann Organizations: Lebanon CNN, CNN, UN, United Nations, Iran’s, Center for International, Hezbollah, Spanish UNIFIL, Israel Locations: Kafr Kila, Lebanon, Galilee, Spanish, Israel, Metula, Lebanese, Iran, Damascus, UNIFIL, Iranian, Gaza, Ghajar, Syrian, al

☆ Strike in Damascus Is an Escalation in Israel’s Undeclared War With Iran
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Steven Erlanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel’s bombing of an Iranian Embassy building in Damascus, which killed senior Iranian military and intelligence officials, is a major escalation of what has long been a simmering undeclared war between Israel and Iran. Iran promises major retaliation, but neither Israel nor Iran wants a major shooting war, given the stakes for both countries. Even so, the danger of a miscalculation is ever-present, as both countries press for advantage in Gaza and southern Lebanon. For Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who presumably approved such a sensitive attack, the successful elimination of such key Iranian military figures is a political coup. It comes at a time when demonstrations calling for his resignation have increased in intensity, as the war against Hamas drags on and Israeli hostages remain in Gaza.

Persons: Iran’s, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Iranian Embassy Locations: Iranian, Damascus, Israel, Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen

☆ Three UN military observers, a Lebanese interpreter wounded in blast while patrolling southern border
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Three United Nations military observers and a Lebanese interpreter were wounded Saturday while patrolling the southern Lebanese border after a shell exploded near them, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said. The military observers are part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, which supports the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL. The three military observers, from Chile, Australia, and Norway, were unarmed, he said. The blast came as clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah militants escalated in recent weeks. Local Lebanese media, citing security officials, said an Israeli drone strike targeted the observers in the southern village of Wadi Katmoun near the border town of Rmeich.

Persons: Andrea Tenenti, Tenenti, Najib Mikat Organizations: United Nations Headquarters, Security, Three United Nations, United Nations Truce, Organization, UN, Associated Press, UNIFIL, Local, IDF Locations: Israel, Gaza, New York, U.S, Lebanese, Lebanon, UNIFIL, Chile, Australia, Norway, Local Lebanese, Israeli, Wadi Katmoun, Rmeich

BEIRUT (AP) — Four United Nations military observers were wounded Saturday while patrolling the southern Lebanese border after a shell exploded near them, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said. The military observers are part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, which supports the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL. Local Lebanese media, citing security officials, said an Israeli drone strike targeted the observers in the southern village of Wadi Katmoun near the border town of Rmeich. Hezbollah-run television station Al-Manar said the drone strike wounded three officers from Australia, Chile, and Norway, as well as a Lebanese interpreter. UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion.

Persons: Manar, Andrea Tenenti, ” Tenenti Organizations: United Nations, United Nations Truce, Organization, Local, IDF, Associated Press Locations: BEIRUT, Lebanese, Lebanon, UNIFIL, Local Lebanese, Israeli, Wadi Katmoun, Rmeich, Australia, Chile, Norway, Israel, Gaza

☆ Syria Blames Israel for Deadly Attack in Aleppo
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Gaya Gupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the strikes, but it has previously acknowledged carrying out hundreds of assaults on Iran-linked targets in Syria. Friday’s attack was at least the second deadly attack in Syria in less than a week. On Tuesday, airstrikes in eastern Syria killed several people. The Iranian state news media said that Israel was responsible, while the Syrian state news agency attributed it to American forces. The Tuesday strikes killed a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to Iranian state news media reports.

Persons: —, SANA, Ali Abdulhassan Naim, Yoav Gallant, “, ”, Firas Makdesi, Saleh al, Bashar al, Assad, al, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir V, Putin, Israel, Johnatan Reiss Organizations: Syrian Observatory, Human Rights, —, Lebanese, Hezbollah, Reuters, United Nations, Pentagon, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, World Health Organization Locations: Syrian, Aleppo, Britain, Syria, Lebanese, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria’s, Israeli, Damascus, Beirut, United States, Russia

Hezbollah militants fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel from Lebanon on Wednesday, in what they said was retaliation for an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon overnight. The militants’ barrage came as pro-Palestinian protesters turned up the pressure on the government in neighboring Jordan to sever ties with Israel. It also came as the United States said a previously canceled meeting with an Israeli delegation in Washington to discuss a planned offensive into the southern Gazan city of Rafah would be rescheduled. For months, Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group based in Lebanon, has traded fire with Israeli forces across the border, and on Wednesday, the Israeli military said its forces had targeted a “significant terrorist operative” near the town of al-Habbariyeh in southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s Ministry of Health, which said the Israeli strike had hit an emergency medical center and killed seven paramedics, denounced it as “unacceptable.”

Persons: ” Organizations: Lebanon’s Ministry of Health Locations: Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, United States, Washington, Gazan, Rafah, Iranian, al, Lebanon’s

☆ Israeli tank 'likely' opened fire on reporters with a heavy machine gun, says report
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( Rebecca Rommen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A UN investigation found that an Israeli tank deliberately targeted identifiable journalists. AdvertisementA UN inquiry found that an Israeli tank killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah in southern Lebanon on October 13, 2023. A second report commissioned by Reuters affirmed that the Israeli tank crew "likely" opened machine gun fire on the journalists. AdvertisementThe report states, "It is considered a likely scenario that a Merkava tank, after firing two tank rounds, also used its machine gun against the location of the journalists." While some journalists like Abdallah were directly targeted, many of the slain media professionals were killed during Israeli bombardments.

Persons: Issam Abdallah, —, Abdallah, O'Brien, Israel, Al, Wael Al, Hamza Al, Mustafa Thuraya, Hamza, Dahdouh, Ahmad Hasaballah, RSF, Hamza al, Khan Younis, Wael Organizations: UN, Amnesty International, Service, Israel Defense Forces, Hezbollah, Reuters, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, Rights Watch, Al, BI, Ministry of Defense, Protect Journalists, International Criminal Locations: Lebanon, Israel, Al Jazeera, Israeli, Khiam, Al Jazeera Gaza, Rafah, Gaza, Al Jazeera's Gaza

Israel Defense Forces fighter jets carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah targets Friday, after the military said it detected several rocket launches from southern Lebanon. "Following the strike on the military post, secondary explosions were identified, indicating that weapons were located inside the post," the IDF claimed. On its Telegram channel, Hezbollah confirmed that the group carried out artillery strikes on Israeli military sites Friday. A senior US official told CNN: "Washington is unaware of the reports of a March 15 deadline. It has also been updated with the details of a report about a possible March 15 deadline for Hezbollah.

Persons: CNN's Zeena Saifi, Becky Anderson Organizations: Israel Defense Forces, IDF, Lebanese, CNN, Hamas Locations: Lebanon, Marwahin, Labbouneh, Israel, Washington, Gaza, Iran

Smoke billows above the Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil during Israeli bombardment on February 28. “We are operating in the assumption that an Israeli military operation is in the coming months,” one senior Biden administration official said. An Israeli military operation is a distinct possibility.”The leadership of Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed paramilitary group, has expressed support for Palestinians and condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza. There have been months of daily, deadly cross-border strikes by both Israel and Hezbollah that have displaced tens of thousands of Lebanese and Israeli residents from their homes. That deal would likely postpone an Israeli incursion, US officials believe.

Persons: Bint Jbeil, Jalaa Marey, Biden, ”, “ Organizations: Getty, Biden, Hezbollah Locations: Lebanese, AFP, Israel, Lebanon, Israeli, Iran, Gaza

☆ 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

☆ Oil prices roughly flat as unclear demand scenario weighed
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Oil prices meandered on Friday as investors pondered slowing demand forecast by an influential group and weak U.S. retail sales data that sparked optimism about U.S. interest rate cuts. Oil prices meandered on Friday as investors pondered slowing demand forecast by an influential group and weak U.S. retail sales data that sparked optimism about U.S. interest rate cuts. The U.S. Commerce Department report showed retail sales dropped 0.8% in January, the biggest fall since February 2023. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales dipping 0.1%. OPEC on Tuesday stuck to its much steeper growth forecast at 2.25 million bpd.

Persons: Hiroyuki Kikukawa Organizations: Brent, . West Texas, Reserve, U.S . Commerce Department, Reuters, NS, Nissan Securities, International Energy Agency, Organization of, Petroleum Locations: U.S, Paris, East, Lebanon, Gaza

Israel’s military launched new attacks on targets in Lebanon on Thursday, a day after its strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 10 civilians, the most in months of cross-border fighting. On Thursday, Lebanon’s state media reported that 10 civilians had been killed in the Israeli strikes, including seven members of one family in the city of Nabatieh. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, on Thursday condemned the Israeli military “aggression” and requested that an urgent complaint against Israel be brought before the U.N. Security Council, according to a statement from his office. Soon after, Israel’s military said that its fighter jets had carried out more strikes inside Lebanon against Hezbollah targets. Hezbollah, a key ally of Hamas, has vowed to respond to the Israeli strikes — and Israeli leaders signaled that they, too, were prepared to fight.

Persons: Najib Mikati, ”, Israel, Yoav Gallant, Lloyd J, Austin III, Gallant, Herzi Halevi Organizations: Lebanese, . Security, Hamas Locations: Lebanon, Nabatieh, Gaza, United States, Israel

BEIRUT (AP) — The civilian death toll from two Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon has risen to 10, Lebanese media reported Thursday, making the previous day the deadliest one in more than four months of cross-border exchanges. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate for the strikes, which hit in the city of Nabatiyeh and a village in southern Lebanon, just hours after projectiles from Lebanon killed an Israeli soldier. The fire from Lebanon earlier Wednesday struck the northern Israeli town of Safed, killing a female Israeli soldier and wounding eight people. The war began with the surprise attack in southern Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah. Government institutions, schools and the Lebanese University were to close on Thursday in protest of the airstrikes.

Organizations: National News Agency, Hezbollah, Hamas, Government, Lebanese University Locations: BEIRUT, Lebanon, Lebanese, Nabatiyeh, Souaneh, Safed, Israeli, Israel, Gaza, Palestinian

☆ What Is Hezbollah, the Group Backing Hamas Against Israel?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +7 min

Lebanon's Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israeli forces across the frontier since its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza and Israel went to war on Oct. 7. The exchanges are the deadliest since a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. Both Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have said they do not seek all-out war, and the conflict has largely been contained to areas near the border. Hezbollah demonstrated its military advances in 2006 during a five-week war with Israel, which erupted after it crossed into Israel, kidnapping two soldiers and killing others. The Gaza conflict has rippled across the Middle East, where Hezbollah has inspired and supported other Iranian-backed groups.

Persons: Hossein Amirabdollahian, Bashar al, Assad, WHAT'S, Benjamin Netanyahu, Washington, Lebanese Shi'ites, Rafik al, Hariri, spiralled, Hassan Nasrallah, Tom Perry, Edmund Blair, William Maclean Organizations: Israel, Iran's, Guards, Islamic, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, United, . Marine, U.S . Locations: BEIRUT, Lebanon, Lebanese, Hamas, Gaza, Israel, Israeli, Nabatieh, al, Iran, Tehran, The U.S, Syria, ISRAEL, Irag, Yemen, U.S, Jordan . Saudi Arabia, LEBANON, Saudi, Beirut, United States

SCENES OF PANIC IN HOSPITAL WARDNasser Hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, has been the latest focus of operations that have gutted Gaza’s health sector as it struggles to treat scores of patients wounded in daily bombardments. Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian structures to shield its fighters. On Wednesday, a doctor was lightly wounded when a drone opened fire on the upper stories of the hospital, he said. The Gaza Health Ministry said last week that Israeli snipers on surrounding buildings were preventing people from entering or leaving the hospital. Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which supports Hamas, have traded fire along the border nearly every day since the start of the war in Gaza.

Persons: —, Benjamin Netanyahu, Khan Younis, Khaled Alserr, ”, Netanyahu, Israel, ___ Mroue Organizations: Hezbollah, WARD Nasser Hospital, Associated Press, Nasser Hospital, AP, Gaza Health Ministry, Hamas, Health Ministry Locations: RAFAH, Gaza, Lebanon, Lebanese, WARD, Khan, Israel, Rafah, Safed, Wednesday, Beirut, ___, israel

☆ Oil prices rise as Israel launches strikes in Lebanon
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Smoke billows following Israeli bombardment in the village of Shihin in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on February 13, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Crude oil futures rose on Wednesday as Israel launched a wave of strikes in Lebanon. The moves came after Israel launched an extensive wave of attacks in Lebanon, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on social media Wednesday. The strikes were in reaction to rockets fired into northern Israel killed one person and injured at least seven more. CIA Director William Burns is in Cairo to facilitate negotiations involving Israel, Hamas, Qatar and Egypt aimed at securing a truce in the fighting in exchange for Hamas releasing hostages.

Persons: Brent, Daniel Hagari, William Burns Organizations: Israel, The West Texas Intermediate, Israel Defense Forces, CIA Locations: Shihin, Lebanon, Israel, Palestinian, Gaza, The, Cairo, Hamas, Qatar, Egypt

☆ Hezbollah Chief Says Shelling on Israel Will Stop Only When 'Aggression' on Gaza Ends
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah said on Tuesday that his armed group's cross-border shelling into Israel would only end when Israel's "aggression" on the Gaza Strip stops, saying diplomatic efforts so far to bring a halt to hostilities along Lebanon's border seemed to only benefit Israel. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his group would only stop its exchanges of fire if a full ceasefire was reached for Gaza. War in Israel and Gaza View All 206 Images"On that day, when the shooting stops in Gaza, we will stop the shooting in the south," he said in a televised address. The cross-border shelling has already killed around 200 people in Lebanon, including more than 170 Hezbollah fighters, as well as 10 Israeli troops and five Israeli civilians. Nasrallah said residents of northern Israel "will not return" to their homes, and threatened that even more would be displaced.

Persons: Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Nasrallah, Laila Bassam, Gebeily, Alex Richardson, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Gaza, Hamas, Reuters Locations: BEIRUT, Israel, Iran, Gaza, Beirut, Lebanon, France, Britain

☆ Iran Foreign Minister Says Iran, U.S. Have Exchanged Messages in Recent Weeks
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran and the United States have exchanged messages throughout Israel's four-month-old war on Hamas in Gaza, including about Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, the Iranian foreign minister said on Saturday. "During this war and in the recent weeks, there was an exchange of messages between Iran and America," Hossein Amirabdollahian said through a translator at a press conference capping a day-long visit to Beirut. He said the United States had asked Tehran to request Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, "not to get widely, fully involved in this war against" Israel. Amirabdollahian on Saturday warned Israel against taking any steps towards a broader war against Lebanon, saying that would be Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "last day." He also said Iran saw a political solution as the only way to end the Gaza war.

Persons: Hossein Amirabdollahian, Hamas, Amirabdollahian, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Abdallah Bou Habib, Netanyahu, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Hezbollah's Al, Nasrallah, Bashar al, Assad, Maya Gebeily, Andrew Cawthorne, Frances Kerry Organizations: Hezbollah, Israel, Saturday, Hamas, Revolutionary Guards Corps, Guards Locations: BEIRUT, Iran, United States, Gaza, America, Beirut, United, Tehran, Israel, Lebanese, Lebanon, Washington, Irag, Syria, Yemen, U.S, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Hamas

☆ French Minister Heads to Mideast With Post-War Gaza Plans in Mind
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By John IrishPARIS (Reuters) - France's foreign minister travels to the Middle East on Saturday to test ideas about reviving an Israeli-Palestinian political process after the Gaza war as Europe tries to play a role in a conflict that has deeply divided the European Union. He was referring to Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne's trip to Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon, where he will also continue French efforts to defuse tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. European Union member states are divided on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and their response has mostly been to try to ease the humanitarian situation in the enclave. The Gaza war was triggered by fighters from the Hamas militant group who stormed across the border fence into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 27,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, thousands more wounded, the enclave left in ruins and many more displaced.

Persons: John Irish PARIS, Christophe Lemoine, Stephane Sejourne's, Israel, Josep Borrell, John Irish, William Maclean Organizations: European Union, Union, EU Locations: Gaza, Europe, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Iran, EU, Paris

☆ Widening Mideast Crisis U.S. Blames Iran-Backed Militia for Deaths of 3 Soldiers in Jordan
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Eric Schmitt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

The attack happened at a remote logistics outpost in northeast Jordan called Tower 22 where the borders of Syria, Iraq and Jordan converge. The Pentagon declined to identify the service members who died or their units pending notification of family members. Central Command said it expected the number of injured to “fluctuate” as additional service members sought treatment. It was the latest in at least 164 strikes by Iran-backed militias against U.S. troops in Syria, Iraq and Jordan since the Oct. 7 attacks. It turned out to be a dud, but several service members would most likely have been injured or killed had it exploded, a senior military official said.

Persons: Biden, —, Mr, “, ”, Lloyd J, Austin III, ” Mr, Austin, Yemen —, Gen, Charles Q, Brown Jr, General Brown, Al, Charles Lister, Jordan, Al Tanf, Syria’s, Roger Wicker of Organizations: U.S, Hamas, ”, Pentagon, Command, Central Command, Resistance, Hezbollah, Joint Chiefs of Staff, ABC, Navy, Sunday, Army, Air Force, United, Operations, Middle East Institute, American, Troops, The Defense Department, Al Asad, Al Asad Air Base, Congressional Republicans, Republican, Armed Services Committee Locations: Jordan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, U.S, Israel, Columbia, United States, Lebanese, Yemen, Aden, Gaza, Erbil, Red, Al Tanf, Islamic State, Azraq, Washington, Jordanian, Baghdad, Damascus, Tehran, Lebanon, Al, Al Asad Air, Roger Wicker of Mississippi

Search resuls for: "Southern Lebanon"

25 mentions found