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☆ Israel Strikes Near Beirut as U.S. Envoy Pushes Ahead on Cease-Fire Talks
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-21 | by ( Euan Ward | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel resumed its bombing campaign on Thursday in the Hezbollah-controlled area south of Beirut, as a top U.S. envoy visited Israel to talk to officials there and try to nail down the terms of a cease-fire between the two warring sides. Amos Hochstein, the senior Biden administration official, was expected to meet on Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Omer Dostri, the prime minister’s spokesman. A day earlier, Mr. Hochstein wrapped up two days of talks with Lebanese officials and spoke of having made “additional progress” in the quest to end Israel’s yearlong conflict with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Speaking to reporters in Beirut on Wednesday, Mr. Hochstein said he would go to Israel “to try to bring this to a close if we can.”After days of tense calm in the Lebanese capital, Israel issued new evacuation orders early on Thursday for the Dahiya, the densely packed area south of the city where Hezbollah holds sway. That was soon followed by airstrikes, which the Israeli military said had targeted the group’s command headquarters and military infrastructure.

Persons: Israel, Amos Hochstein, Benjamin Netanyahu, Omer Dostri, Hochstein, Israel “, ” Organizations: Biden Locations: Beirut, U.S, Israel, Lebanese

Israel is also heavily backed by the United States, which has supplied more than 29,000 guided bombs, artillery rockets and assorted missiles since 2009. A spiraling conflict between Iran and Israel, one of the United States’ closest allies, could pull U.S. forces positioned throughout the region into the fray. Israel has told the United States that it will not attack Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities in its expected attack. Though highly unlikely, an Israeli strike on Iran’s oil facilities could prompt Iran or its proxies to target refineries in Saudi Arabia or the U.A.E. This April, Iran’s attack involving more than 300 drones and missiles, in retaliation for Israel’s killing of seven Iranian officials in Syria, shattered that supposition.

Persons: Arash Khamooshi, Abbas Araghchi, Biden, emboldening Israel, Chang W, Lee, Yahya Sinwar, Israel Organizations: Iranian Revolutionary Guard, The New York Times, International Institute for Strategic Studies, United, Senior Pentagon, The Defense Department, Area Defense, Defense, New York Times, United Arab, United Nations Locations: Israel, Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Iran, United States, Tehran, U.S, Gulf States, Guam, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Hormuz, Persian, Palestine Square, Gaza . Credit, Syria

ISRAEL LEBANON Israeli armored vehicles crossed the border Vehicle tracks Israeli vehicles in a bulldozed area Vehicle tracks Israeli vehicles in a bulldozed area Flattened buildings Israeli armored vehicles YAROUN YAROUN Israeli vehicles in a bulldozed area LEBANON ISRAEL Flattened buildings Vehicle tracks Israeli armored vehicles crossed the border Vehicle tracks Israeli vehicles in a bulldozed area ISRAEL Israeli armored vehicles crossed the border LEBANON Vehicle tracks Israeli vehicles in a bulldozed area Vehicle tracks Israeli vehicles in a bulldozed area Flattened buildings Israeli armored vehicles YAROUN ISRAEL LEBANON Israeli armored vehicles crossed the border Vehicle tracks Israeli vehicles in a bulldozed area Vehicle tracks Israeli vehicles in a bulldozed area Flattened buildings Israeli armored vehicles YAROUN Source: Satellite image by Planet Labs, Oct. 5Tank tracks leading from Israel across the border to the Lebanese village of Yaroun are visible in satellite images taken on Saturday by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite provider. So are newly constructed banks of earth where the Israeli military set up positions for tanks and other military vehicles. Over the past week, the Israeli military has flattened large parts of two border villages: Maroun al-Ras and Yaroun, seen in the video above that was filmed by the Israeli military and verified by The Times. Aug. 28, 2024 Rubble YAROUN Destroyed buildings Rubble YAROUN Destroyed buildings Oct. 5, 2024 YAROUN Area flattened YAROUN Area flattened Oct. 5, 2024 Newly destroyed buildings Appears burned YAROUN Appears burned Newly destroyed buildings Appears burned YAROUN Appears burned Even before the ground invasion, months of rocket strikes had damaged Yaroun, this satellite imagery from the summer shows. Aug. 28 MAROUN AL-RAS Destroyed building MAROUN AL-RAS Destroyed building Oct. 5 Israeli military vehicles Vehicle tracks Israeli military vehicles MAROUN AL-RAS Vehicle tracks Vehicle tracks Israeli military vehicles Vehicle tracks MAROUN AL-RAS Oct. 5 Newly destroyed buildings MAROUN AL-RAS Destroyed mosque Flattened area Newly destroyed buildings Destroyed mosque MAROUN AL-RAS Flattened area Maroun al-Ras has seen fighting before: It was the scene of a major battle during Israel’s 2006 invasion of Lebanon.

Persons: Israel, Israel Maroun, Ras, Ras Naqoura, Maroun, Ali Qassem Tafeh, Hassan Awada, MAROUN, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, ”, ” Mr, Rajagopal, Tafeh, Hussein Jaafar, Yaroun's, “ Organizations: Hezbollah, The New York Times, Planet Labs, The Times, United Nations Interim Force, New York Times, Times, United Nations, Hague Convention, National News Agency Locations: Yaroun, Lebanon, ISRAEL LEBANON Israeli, LEBANON ISRAEL, Israeli, LEBANON Israeli, Israel, Lebanese, Lebanon Israel Nabatieh, Litani, Deir Aames, Area, Gaza, Maroun, Jerusalem, Geneva

Immediately after Oct. 7, Hezbollah began carrying out strikes in northern Israel in a show of solidarity with Hamas. Isolated and in hiding in Gaza, Mr. Sinwar’s communication with his organization has become strained. Image A poster of Mr. Sinwar at a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, in August. The failure of Hezbollah or Iran to meaningfully damage Israel is a telling sign of Mr. Sinwar’s miscalculation, American officials said. On Sept. 13, Hezbollah released a letter that Mr. Sinwar sent in support of Mr. Nasrallah.

Persons: Yahya Sinwar, Sinwar, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Mohammed Saber, Hassan Nasrallah, Mr, Nasrallah, Alkis Konstantinidis, Netanyahu, Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Arash Khamooshi, Yoav Gallant, ” Mr, Gallant, ”, Scott D, ” Julian E, Barnes, Adam Goldman, Edward Wong, Adam Rasgon, Aaron Boxerman, Ronen Bergman Organizations: Israel, U.S, Hezbollah, Hamas, Mr, Credit, The New York Times, U.S . Defense Intelligence Agency Locations: Gaza, Israel, U.S, Deir al, Lebanon, Iran, Palestinian, Beirut, Egypt, Qatar, Tehran, Rafah, Tel Sultan, Washington, New York, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv

War death tolls are estimates, and exact comparisons between conflicts are difficult. “Prior to the Gaza war, munitions deployed with this intensity and with this frequency would have been almost unheard-of,” Ms. Tripp said. The Lebanese health ministry said that 94 women and 50 children were killed on Monday, or just over 25 percent of the total death toll. Those numbers suggest that the number of civilian men killed in Lebanon on Monday exceeded the combined number of slain women and children. And it is far higher than the average daily toll during the Syrian war in 2014, the deadliest year of that decade-long conflict.

Persons: Israel, Emily Tripp, “, ” Ms, Tripp, Firass Abiad, we’ve Organizations: Hamas, Islamic, Department of Defense Locations: Lebanon, Gaza, British, Israel, U.S, Islamic State, Iraq, Syria, Western, ”

Hezbollah fighters at the funeral of a commander in August, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. By 2000, Israel had withdrawn from Lebanon, making Hezbollah a hero to many Lebanese. In that war, Israel rained bombs on southern Lebanon and Beirut, the capital; the fighting killed more than 1,000 Lebanese. Even some of Hezbollah’s traditionally loyal Shiite Muslim constituents in southern Lebanon are questioning the price of the current fighting. Estimates vary about just how many missiles Hezbollah has and just how sophisticated its systems are.

Persons: Israel hasn’t, Israel, Hassan Nasrallah, Nasrallah, Diego Ibarra Sánchez, Bashar al, Assad, Euan Ward Organizations: Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestine Liberation Organization, Credit, The New York Times, Central Intelligence Locations: Beirut, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel, Iran, Lebanese, United States, Syria

Top NewsPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel a “bloodsucking vampire” because of his approach to the war in Gaza. Mr. Erdogan knew Mr. Haniyeh personally. He didn’t name them, but the United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel. United States officials have suggested that the authority — a fierce rival of Hamas — could help govern Gaza after the war, an idea Mr. Netanyahu has rejected. Mr. Flake said that despite Mr. Haniyeh’s death, Turkey and the United States still shared the same goal.

Persons: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Abbas, Erdogan, Erdogan’s, Mr, Haniyeh, Hakan Fidan, Jeffry, Fidan, “, ”, Abbas, —, Netanyahu, Haniyeh’s, Flake, Turkey’s Organizations: Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Development Party, West Bank, Israel Locations: Turkey, Gaza, ”, Israel, Ankara, United States, Montenegro, reining, Qatar, Egypt

October 23 Lebanon Image location Israel Aita al-Shaab Lebanon Image location Israel Aita al-Shaab Lebanon Image location Israel Aita al-Shaab July 13 Lebanon Image location Damaged buildings Israel Aita al-Shaab Lebanon Image location Israel Damaged buildings Aita al-Shaab Lebanon Image location Damaged buildings Israel Aita al-Shaab July 13 Lebanon Image location Damaged buildings Israel Aita al-Shaab Lebanon Image location Israel Damaged buildings Aita al-Shaab Lebanon Image location Damaged buildings Israel Aita al-Shaab Source: Planet LabsIsraeli forces and Hezbollah militants, who are backed by Iran, have been fighting off and on for years. May 23 Lebanon Image location Israel Malkiya Lebanon Israel 0.5 miles Dishon Lebanon Image location Israel Malkiya Lebanon Israel Dishon 0.5 miles Lebanon Image location Israel Malkiya Lebanon Israel Dishon 0.5 miles May 29 Lebanon Image location Israel Burned Area Malkiya Lebanon Israel 0.5 miles Dishon Lebanon Image location Israel Burned Area Malkiya Lebanon Israel Dishon 0.5 miles Lebanon Image location Israel Burned Area Malkiya Lebanon Israel Dishon 0.5 miles May 29 Lebanon Image location Israel Burned Area Malkiya Lebanon Israel 0.5 miles Dishon Lebanon Image location Israel Burned Area Malkiya Lebanon Israel Dishon 0.5 miles Lebanon Image location Israel Burned Area Malkiya Lebanon Israel Dishon 0.5 miles Sources: Planet Labs, OpenStreetMapIt is not only Israel that is burning. Lebanon Beirut Israel killed a Hezbollah commander near Beirut Golan Heights A rocket from Lebanon killed 12 civilians in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Jerusalem Gaza Israel Lebanon Beirut Israel killed a Hezbollah commander near Beirut. Golan Heights A rocket from Lebanon killed 12 civilians in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

Persons: Israel Aita, Corey Scher, Israel, Diego Ibarra Sánchez Organizations: Planet Labs, Hezbollah, CUNY, Lebanon Israel Dishon, Labs, Hamas, The New York Times Locations: Israel, Lebanon, Lebanon Golan, Lebanon Israel Golan, Aita, Iran, Gaza, Lebanon Israel, Syria Majdal Shams Israel Lebanon, Galilee Haifa Lebanon, Area Israel Syria, Galilee Haifa Nazareth Jordan, Detections, Golan, Beirut’s, Lebanon Beirut Israel, Beirut Golan, Jerusalem Gaza Israel Lebanon Beirut Israel, Beirut, Jerusalem Gaza Israel Lebanon's, Lebanese, Yarine

Hamas has chosen Yahya Sinwar, one of the architects of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, to lead the militant group’s political wing, it announced on Tuesday, consolidating his power over Hamas as it continues to fight Israel in the Gaza Strip. Mr. Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza since 2017, has long been considered a planner of Hamas’s military strategy there. Now, he will also replace Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s previous political leader and a key liaison in the indirect cease-fire talks with Israel. Mr. Haniyeh, who had been living in Qatar, was killed in an explosion in Iran last week that has been widely attributed to Israel. A hard-line figure born in Gaza, Mr. Sinwar, 61, is a prime target for Israeli forces and is widely believed to be hiding out in tunnels underneath the enclave to avoid Israeli attack.

Persons: Yahya Sinwar, Israel, Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Fuad Shukr Locations: Israel, Gaza, Qatar, Iran, Lebanon, Yemen

But although Mr. Nasrallah promised that Hezbollah would respond, he equivocated on the scope and nature of that retaliation. “We have entered a new phase,” he said, speaking in a televised address during the funeral for Mr. Shukr. “You do not realize the red lines you have crossed,” warned Mr. Nasrallah, addressing Israel directly. “The only things lying between us and you are the days, the nights and the battlefield,” said Mr. Nasrallah, again addressing Israel. Credit... Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York TimesAfter Mr. Nasrallah finished his speech, Mr. Shukr’s coffin was carried onto the street outside and met a sea of mourners.

Persons: Hassan Nasrallah, Fuad Shukr, Nasrallah, ”, Shukr, Mr, Diego Ibarra Sanchez, Fatima Nizan al, “, ” Aaron Boxerman, Hwaida Saad Organizations: The New York Locations: Lebanese, Beirut, Lebanon, Israel, Lebanon’s, Iran, Credit, Beirut’s, Jerusalem

☆ Hezbollah Leader Threatens Retaliation Against Israel, Saying Conflict Is in ‘New Phase’
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( Euan Ward | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said on Thursday that its conflict with Israel had entered a new phase after an Israeli strike in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, this week. But although Mr. Nasrallah promised that Hezbollah would respond, he equivocated on the scope and nature of that retaliation. “We have entered a new phase,” he said, speaking in a televised address during the funeral for Mr. Shukr. “You do not realize the red lines you have crossed,” warned Mr. Nasrallah, addressing Israel directly. The speech by Mr. Nasrallah on Thursday appeared to straddle that line.

Persons: Hassan Nasrallah, Fuad Shukr, Nasrallah, ”, Shukr, Mr Locations: Lebanese, Israel, Lebanon’s, Beirut, Iran

The Israeli announcement confirming the death of Mr. Deif, the leader of Hamas’s military wing, came as thousands of mourners attended the funerals of another Hamas leader and a Hezbollah commander whose assassinations this week have amplified fears of a wider regional war. Mr. Deif was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a compound in southern Gaza on July 13, according to the Israeli military. It said his death had been confirmed by an intelligence assessment, but did not provide further details. 2 Hamas leader in Gaza, he would be the group’s most senior military leader slain by Israeli forces during the offensive in Gaza that has also killed more than 38,000 people, according to the territory’s health officials. Israel began its campaign in the enclave after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, during which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 abducted to Gaza.

Persons: Muhammad Deif, Deif, Israel Organizations: Hamas Locations: Israel, Iranian, Gaza

As Hamas’s political leader, he was central to the group’s high-stakes negotiations and diplomacy, including the stalled cease-fire deal negotiations with Israel. Here is what we know:Leader of Hamas in GazaMr. Haniyeh was named the leader of Hamas in Gaza in 2006. Mr. Haniyeh led Hamas from Qatar and Turkey in recent years. He was arrested by the Israeli military and served several sentences in Israeli jails in the 1980s and 1990s. The two were targets of an attempted Israeli assassination attempt in 2003; the next year, Mr. Yassin was killed by the Israeli military.

Persons: Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh, Yemen —, Iran’s, Sheik Yassin, Yassin, Mr, Haniyeh’s, “, ” Mr, he’d Organizations: United Nations, UNRWA, Islamic, of Gaza, Mr, International Locations: Qatar, Iran, Gaza, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Yemen, Israel, Palestinian, Turkey, Egypt, United States, Gaza City, Ashkelon, Shifa

Image A photo of Fuad Shukr, from a wanted poster released by the U.S. State Department. Rewards for Justice, via Associated PressIt was not immediately clear whether Mr. Shukr, also known by his nom de guerre al-Hajj Mohsin, survived the Israeli assassination attempt. Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli brigadier general, described Mr. Shukr as “an experienced veteran” who had worked intensively to develop Hezbollah’s precision-guided missile apparatus. Analysts say the munitions are a particular concern for Israeli military planners. “It’s kind of run by committee, but Fuad Shukr is more or less first among equals,” he said, adding that Mr. Shukr reported directly to Mr. Nasrallah.

Persons: Fuad Shukr, Shukr, guerre, Hajj Mohsin, ”, Hassan Nasrallah, Mustafa Badreddine, Assaf, Matthew Levitt, Mohanad Hage Ali, Mr, Levitt, “, Nasrallah, Ronen Bergman Organizations: U.S, U.S . State Department . Credit, Justice, Associated, The State Department, Hezbollah, Washington Institute for Near, Carnegie Middle East, Israel Locations: Beirut, Golan, Syria, American, Israeli, Lebanon

Israel launched a deadly strike in a densely populated Beirut suburb on Tuesday in retaliation for a rocket attack in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that it blamed Hezbollah for and that killed 12 children and teenagers on a soccer field. The target of the Israeli strike in a southern suburb of Lebanon’s capital was Fuad Shukr, a senior official who serves as a close adviser to Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, according to three Israeli security officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. The Israel Defense Forces later said in a statement that its fighter jets had “eliminated” Mr. Shukr, but there was no confirmation from Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed group, and the claim could not be independently verified. Hezbollah has denied carrying out the attack in the Golan Heights on Saturday. The latest strikes were likely to fuel concerns that Israel’s long-running conflict with the group could escalate into a full-blown war even as Israel wages a military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after that group led a deadly assault in Israel on Oct. 7.

Persons: Israel, Fuad Shukr, Hassan Nasrallah, ” Mr, Shukr Organizations: Israel Defense Forces, Hamas Locations: Beirut, Golan, Lebanon’s, Iran, Israel, Gaza

Palestinians returned to the eastern side of Khan Younis in Gaza on Tuesday after Israeli forces pulled out of the area. The Israeli military has designated just one area of the Gaza Strip as a “humanitarian zone” for displaced people — and that area keeps shrinking. In the latest downsizing, the military on Saturday ordered the evacuation of two more parts of central Gaza that had been part of the humanitarian zone. Since last week, Israel has evacuated more than a fifth of the area that it had previously declared a humanitarian zone. There is no more place for any tents at the beach or in Mawasi,” he added, referring to the humanitarian zone.

Persons: Khan Younis, Philippe Lazzarini, Mr, Lazzarini, Mohammed Harbi, Harbi, Duaa, ”, Fura, “, Osama, Sammak, Abu Bakr Bashir, Ameera Harouda Organizations: Saturday, United Nations, New York Times, Hamas, “, Sunday Locations: Gaza, Israel, Deir al, ISRAEL, Rafah EGYPT Rafah, Kerem Shalom, Rafah EGYPT, Shalom, Rafah, Khan, Nuseirat, Bureij, Deir, Mawasi, London, Doha, Qatar, Istanbul

☆ Netanyahu Vows ‘Severe’ Response to Deadly Rocket Attack Tied to Hezbollah
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-29 | by ( Isabel Kershner | Euan Ward | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tensions were high on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border on Monday as Israeli leaders vowed to deliver a significant military blow against the armed group Hezbollah in response to a deadly rocket attack over the weekend. The attack on Saturday killed 12 children and teenagers in the Druse Arab village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia that dominates southern Lebanon and that has been firing rockets into Israel for months, denied responsibility for the strike. But Israel and the United States blamed the group, saying it was Hezbollah’s rocket that had been fired from territory it controls. Hezbollah began firing rockets, antitank missiles and drones into Israel in solidarity with Hamas after that group, which is also backed by Iran, led the deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

Persons: Majdal Shams, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Organizations: Saturday Locations: Lebanese, Majdal, Golan, Iran, Lebanon, Israel, United States, ”

Tensions were running high on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday in anticipation of an escalation in hostilities, after Israel’s security cabinet authorized its leaders to decide on the nature and timing of an Israeli military response to a deadly rocket attack from Lebanon last weekend. The Israeli military said overnight that its aerial defense systems successfully intercepted an unmanned aircraft that crossed from Lebanon into northwestern Israel. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on those attacks. Hezbollah has denied responsibility for the rocket attack Saturday that struck a soccer field in Majdal Shams. But the Israeli military said the type of rocket used in the attack is Iranian-made and carries more than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of explosives.

Persons: Majdal Shams, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Antony J, Blinken, Isaac Herzog, “, Matthew Miller, Adrienne Watson, Gallant, ”, Mohamed Awada, Hwaida Saad, Edward Wong, Gabby Sobelman, Myra Noveck Organizations: Hezbollah, Israel’s, United, State Department, U.S . National Security Council, Lufthansa Group, East Airlines, Lebanon’s Locations: Lebanon, Majdal, Golan, Israel, Iran, United States, Gaza, Tokyo, Majdal Shams, Iranian, Beirut’s, Beirut, Jerusalem

☆ Israel Risks All-Out War With Hezbollah. A Truce in Gaza May Reduce That Threat.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | Euan Ward | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For nine months, Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia that dominates southern Lebanon, have fought a low-level conflict that has edged closer to an all-out war. An ally of Hamas, Hezbollah has said it will stop firing rockets if Israel halts its war with Hamas in Gaza. If that happens, both Israel and Hezbollah have signaled to interlocutors that they would be prepared to begin negotiations for a formal truce, according to three Western officials briefed on the sides’ positions and an Israeli official. The officials all spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak more freely. Those negotiations would focus on the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters from the southernmost areas of Lebanon and the deployment of more soldiers from Lebanon’s official military, according to the officials.

Organizations: Hezbollah Locations: Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Gaza

☆ Israel Kills a Top Commander of Hezbollah, Which Replies With a Rocket Barrage
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-03 | by ( Euan Ward | Thomas Fuller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israeli forces killed a senior Hezbollah commander on Wednesday in a drone strike in southern Lebanon, prompting the Lebanese militia to retaliate with a heavy rocket barrage across the border. The flare-up came as Western diplomats worked to avoid a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah, a danger that appears to have grown in recent weeks. Cross-border exchanges of fire have intensified, and Israeli officials have publicly spoken of shifting their military focus from Hamas in the Gaza Strip to Hezbollah, a far more advanced and potent threat. Jean-Yves Le Drian, President Emmanuel Macron’s special envoy to Lebanon, was among the people with whom he met, according to a person close to the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy. He said Mr. Nasser had led Hezbollah’s Aziz unit, one of the group’s main fighting forces along the Lebanese border.

Persons: Amos Hochstein, Jean, Yves Le Drian, Emmanuel Macron’s, Mohammad Naameh Nasser, Abu Naameh, Mr, Nasser, Hezbollah’s Aziz Organizations: Hezbollah, White, U.S, French Locations: Lebanon, Western, Israel, Gaza, tamping, Paris, Lebanese

Israel’s defense minister on Friday rejected a diplomatic effort by France aimed at ending months of cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah that have been intensifying this week and raising fears of a full-blown war. More than 150,000 people on both sides of the border have been displaced by the fighting. And Israel has warned that it is prepared to take stronger action to dislodge Hezbollah militants from southern Lebanon. On Thursday, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said France and the United States had agreed in principle to establish a trilateral group with Israel to “make progress” on a French proposal to end the violence. But Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who has called for Israel to take a harsher tack against Hezbollah, rebuffed Mr. Macron’s overture on Friday.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Yoav Gallant, Mr, Gallant Organizations: Hezbollah, Hamas Locations: France, Israel, United States, Iran, Lebanon, Gaza

It was not immediately clear how many weapons Hezbollah, a powerful militia and political faction backed by Iran, launched into Israel on Thursday. The assault included a number of drones aimed at Israel’s northern military headquarters, Hezbollah said. Israel’s military said in the afternoon that Hezbollah had sent more than 40 rockets across the border, but the barrage continued well into the evening. Hours later, Israel had not updated that number, but a military spokesman called it Hezbollah’s most serious attack since October. At least four people were injured in the assault on Thursday, according to Israel’s military and its emergency service, Magen David Adom.

Persons: Israel, Magen David Adom Organizations: Hamas Locations: Lebanon, ramped, Gaza, Iran, Israel

☆ Hezbollah Says Commander Was Killed in an Israeli Strike in Southern Lebanon
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Ephrat Livni | More About Ephrat Livni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Hezbollah said on Tuesday that Israeli forces killed one of its commanders in a strike in southern Lebanon, stoking concerns about escalating the conflict on another Israeli front. But the group has not referred to a dead fighter as a “commander” since January, when Wissam Hassan al-Tawil, a commander in the group’s Radwan unit, was killed in a strike. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike. On Tuesday, the Israeli military said that Hezbollah had fired about 50 rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon. Answering calls by Hamas to open a second front a day after its deadly assault on Israel, Hezbollah launched attacks into Israel on Oct. 8.

Persons: Taleb Abdallah, Abu Taleb, ”, Wissam Hassan, Abdallah’s, Benjamin Netanyahu, Hassan Nasrallah, Euan Ward, Matthew Mpoke Bigg Organizations: Tuesday, Israel, The United Nations Locations: Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Iran, ”

☆ Netanyahu Threatened ‘Very Intense Action’ at the Lebanon Border. What Is Happening There?
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-07 | by ( Euan Ward | Matthew Mpoke Bigg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanese border since the start of the war in Gaza, with more than 150,000 people on both sides of the boundary forced to flee their homes. But the intensity of the attacks has increased in recent days, leading to fears of a full-scale war on another front. This week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel threatened further military action to ensure the return of civilians to communities in northern Israel. Here are some key questions about the conflict and where it might be heading:Why are the two sides fighting? Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has said that his group is trying to pin Israel’s troops along the border and limit its capacity to attack Hamas in Gaza.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Hassan Nasrallah Locations: Israel, Lebanese, Gaza, Iran, Lebanon

Set to a peppy electronic soundtrack, a recent video clip showed what the Hezbollah militia said was a missile-firing drone, a new weapon in its arsenal as it ratchets up its strikes on Israel. Flaunting a new weapon is the type of muscle flexing that Hassan Nasrallah, the organization’s elusive leader, crows about. Israel, too, is hitting targets farther into Lebanon. The latest surge by Hezbollah came this week, with a series of daily drone strikes by the militia hitting some civilian targets well into Israel. Senior officials starting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stoked their rhetorical threats against Hezbollah, suggesting that a day of reckoning was close at hand.

Persons: Flaunting, Hassan Nasrallah, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu stoked Organizations: Senior, Israeli Locations: Israel, Gaza, Lebanon

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