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Israel Warns Hezbollah of “Severe Blow” as Group Condemns U.S.-Israeli Strikes on Iran

Israel has issued a direct warning to Hezbollah, threatening a “severe and impactful blow” if the Lebanese group joins the escalating confrontation following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, while Hezbollah issued a statement formally condemning the attacks and declared full solidarity with Tehran after maintaining silence since the ...

Iraq Asks Iran for Oil Tanker Passage through Strait of Hormuz

Iraq was in contact with Iran to try to arrange passage for some of its oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, the country's oil minister told local media. A founding member of the OPEC cartel, crude oil sales make up 90 percent of Iraq's budget revenues. Before the outbreak of war on February 28, Iraq mainly shipped its ...

UNIFIL Voices ‘Grave Concern’ Over Escalation Between Hezbollah and Israel

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) expressed “grave concern” on Thursday over the dangerous escalation of hostilities along the Blue Line overnight on Wednesday. In a press release, UNIFIL said it had observed “more than 120 projectiles fired from Lebanese territory into Israel, as well as seven Israeli ...

U.S. Treasury Sanctions Global Network Funding Hezbollah

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced Friday the designation of a network of 16 individuals and entities led by Hezbollah financier Alaa Hassan Hamieh. According to Treasury, the network, operating across Lebanon, Syria, Poland, Slovenia, Qatar, and Canada, has laundered and diverted over ...

Hezbollah Calls for Mass Mobilization in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs, Vows Continued 'Resistance'

Hezbollah has formally responded to the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling for a mass public mobilization in Beirut’s southern suburbs while pledging to “fulfill its duty in confronting the aggression.” In an official statement issued Sunday morning, the group invited supporters to gather at 4:00 p.m. in Ashoura ...

Limited Passage Resumes at Gaza-Egypt Border Crossing

Gaza's border crossing with Egypt reopened on Thursday for a limited number of people, Palestinian and Egyptian officials told AFP, for the first time since Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran. An Egyptian Red Crescent official, speaking anonymously to AFP, said the Rafah crossing had reopened in both directions to allow a ...

Israel Cuts Bridge Over Litani River

Israel expanded its strikes in Lebanon on Friday, targeting multiple areas including a bridge over the Litani river that it said Hezbollah had been using as a passageway for its fighters. The raids came after Israel threatened to also carry out a ground operation to disarm Hezbollah if the Lebanese government does not do so. The Lebanon-based ...

UNICEF: Dozens of Children Killed as Israel-Hezbollah War Intensifies

At least 83 children have been killed and 254 others wounded since the outbreak of the March 2 war between Israel and Hezbollah, according to a statement issued Monday by UNICEF. The agency’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder, said the figures highlight the growing toll of the conflict on children ...

Army Withdrawal Sparks Anxiety in Southern Border Villages

Residents of the predominantly Christian southern villages of Rmeish, Debel, and Ain Ebel are experiencing growing anxiety following the sudden withdrawal of security forces and the closure of local police stations on Tuesday, according to local officials and community leaders. Concerns intensified after units of the Lebanese Army redeployed from ...

Fresh Explosions Erupt in the Gulf As Larijani Announces Iran "Will Not Negotiate"

Fresh explosions were being heard in Doha, Bahrain, Dubai, and Manama on Monday, marking the third day of Iranian attacks in the Gulf.  The round of explosions being heard across the region come as Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani said Tehran would not negotiate with the United States, hardening the country’s stance ...

Iran's Ambassador Won't Leave Lebanon Despite Expulsion: Diplomatic Source

Iran's ambassador will not leave Lebanon despite being declared persona non grata and ordered to leave the country by Sunday, an Iranian diplomatic source told AFP. "The ambassador will not leave Lebanon, in accordance with the wishes of the speaker of parliament Nabih Berri and of Hezbollah," the source said, speaking on condition ...

Has Iran Been Militarily Exposed?

More than 2,000 bombs dropped in just thirty hours. That is the estimate cited by several Israeli and American security sources to illustrate the scale of the opening wave of strikes against Iran — a level of firepower rarely directed at a country of 88 million people and home to the Middle East’s largest ballistic missile arsenal. In less ...

The End of an Era: Power Reconfigured in the Islamic Republic

A red flag symbolizing justice and revenge was raised Sunday morning above the golden dome of the Jamkaran Mosque in Qom, a potent Shiite emblem of bloodshed and a call for retribution, just hours after Iranian authorities confirmed the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in strikes attributed to Israel and the United States. With ...

Netanyahu Issues Directive Allowing Strikes Without Prior Authorization

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a change in operational directives to the IDF and Mossad, granting advance authorization to carry out targeted killings of senior Iranian and Hezbollah officials without prior political approval when time-sensitive intelligence emerges, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News. The directive aims to ...

Gulf Countries Respond to Regional Escalation

United Arab Emirates In an official statement, the UAE said, “The Iranian attack on our territory is a serious escalation and a cowardly act.” The UAE added that it reserves the right to respond to the missile attack in accordance with international law after Iranian ballistic missiles targeted U.S. military bases in the Gulf. The ...

U.S. Defense Secretary Warns of Intensified Strikes Against Iran

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth held a press conference Tuesday at the Pentagon alongside Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, providing an update on the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military operations against Iran. Hegseth described the campaign as a “laser-focused, maximum authority mission” employing overwhelming ...

U.S. Senator Blumenthal: ‘There Ought to be the Lebanese and the Israelis Working Together Against Hezbollah’

This is Beirut spoke with U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and John Cornyn on Thursday about Hezbollah and Iran, both urging stronger action in the region. Blumenthal commented that “I think we need more aggressive action against Hezbollah, which seems to be regaining strength in Lebanon, and the United States needs to work more closely ...

Iran Arrests Alleged 'Monarchist' Networks, Suspected Spies as War Rages

Iranian authorities said on Wednesday they had arrested more than 100 alleged "monarchist cells" plotting against the Islamic Republic, along with suspected spies and individuals accused of cooperating with an outlawed television channel. Forces from the Intelligence Ministry "have identified and arrested 111 monarchist cells across 26 provinces ...

France, Germany, and U.K. to Work with U.S. as EU High Commissioner Issues Statement

Leaders of the U.K., France, and Germany issued a joint statement stating that they have “agreed to work together with the U.S. and allies in the region on this matter.” The statement reads that “the Leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom are appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportionate missile attacks launched ...

Lebanon Launches Legal Action Against 4 Hezbollah Members Over Arms

A Lebanese judge has begun legal proceedings against four Hezbollah members for weapons offences, a judicial official told AFP on Monday, after authorities recently banned the Iran-backed group's military and security activities. Lebanese authorities have been seeking to pressure Hezbollah after Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on ...

Kuwait Says Arrested Six People Planning 'Assassinations' Linked to Hezbollah

Kuwait arrested six people linked to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group who were planning "assassinations" in the Gulf state, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. Those arrested were planning "assassinations targeting symbols and leaders of the state and recruited people to carry out these missions," the ministry ...

Israeli Army Strikes Central Beirut, Oil Depots in Tehran

The IDF targeted Iranian commanders in the Ramada hotel in Beirut’s central Rauoche neighborhood early on Sunday, killing four and injuring ten others.  The attack, described by the Israeli Army as a targeting “Quds Force's Lebanon Corps,” represents the first Israeli strike to hit the heart of Beirut since hostilities ...

Israel Approves Emergency Military Funding as Iran War Rages

Israel has approved an $827 million emergency budget allocation for military purchases, Israeli media reported Sunday, as the war with Iran entered its third week. The 2.6 billion-shekel package was approved over the weekend by cabinet ministers during a telephone meeting, Haaretz reported. It will be used for "security purchases" and to address ...

Hezbollah Operations Endanger Christian Villages

Displaced people sheltering in Rmeish, a Christian-majority town in southern Lebanon, were escorted out by the Lebanese army on Tuesday after Israel warned local authorities that individuals linked to Hezbollah could be targeted. “We did not have shelters in Rmeish,” Mayor Hanna al-Amil told the daily An Nahar. “We hosted the ...

Iran Guards Say Targeted U.S. Base in UAE Over School Strike

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Friday they had targeted a US base in the UAE that they alleged had been used as a launchpad for a strike on a school. According to Iranian authorities, a strike had hit a girls' elementary school on Saturday in Minab county in the south of the country, killing more than 150 people including students. AFP ...

Huckabee Authorizes Embassy Staff to Leave Israel “Today” as U.S. Deploys USS Gerald Ford

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee instructed American embassy staff on Friday that anyone wishing to leave Israel should do so “TODAY,” according to a report by The New York Times. The message warned that the embassy’s call for non-emergency personnel to leave would “likely result in high demand for ...