Israeli Strike Kills One in Lebanon's South
One person was killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on a village in southern Lebanon, the health ministry reported, the latest deadly attack despite a November ceasefire.
"The raid carried out by an enemy Israeli drone on the town of Beit Lif, in the Bint Jbeil district, resulted in one martyr and three people injured," read a statement from the ministry.
The official National News Agency said the strike targeted a house's courtyard in the town, adding that a missile hit the homeowner's car.
Israel has regularly bombed its northern neighbor since the November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with armed group Hezbollah including two months of full-blown war.
The agreement required Hezbollah fighters to withdraw north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle all military infrastructure to its south.
It also required Israel to withdraw all of its troops from Lebanon, but it has kept them in five positions it deems "strategic".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Lebanon risks losing US support over delays on Hezbollah, economic reforms
The Trump administration remains hopeful that Lebanon's government will fulfill its commitments to the international community—chiefly disarming Hezbollah and implementing key economic and financial reforms. But without tangible progress, Beirut risks losing US support, American officials and sources familiar with internal deliberations told Al Arabiya English. Several US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, pushed back on speculation that Washington is shifting its Lebanon policy. However, they stressed that patience within the administration is wearing thin. Among the rumors circulating is that the US and Israel have agreed not to renew the mandate for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which comes up for a vote in August. A State Department official rejected the claim, calling it inaccurate, although US officials are considering changes to the mandate's language, citing the need for more effective enforcement. A delegation from the State Department's Bureau of International Organization Affairs is set to visit Beirut this week as part of ongoing policy discussions in the lead-up to the UN vote. Meanwhile, Lebanon's defense minister has called for an unconditional renewal of UNIFIL's mandate. In a separate development, Tom Barrack—US ambassador to Turkey and recently appointed special envoy for Syria—will travel to Lebanon next week, according to officials familiar with his plans. Barrack, a close ally of President Donald Trump who previously held Lebanese citizenship, is expected to assess progress on disarmament and reform. He will also explore the possibility of initiating border demarcation talks between Lebanon and Syria following his meetings with Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. Focus on Hezbollah's weapons Deputy Special Envoy for Middle East Peace Morgan Ortagus recently underscored the Lebanese government's responsibility to disarm Hezbollah. Despite unconfirmed reports that she had been removed from her post, Ortagus remains in her role, according to the State Department website. While the LAF has deployed to areas it previously was unwilling or incapable of deploying to, 'there's a lot more to go,' Ortagus said. She said Lebanese authorities had done 'more in the last six months than they probably have in the last 15 years.' Under a ceasefire agreement reached last November, Hezbollah was to withdraw its fighters north of the Litani River while Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon. Yet Hezbollah says it will not discuss its remaining weapons until the Israeli occupation of five border points ends. Washington maintains that Hezbollah must fully disarm and dismantle its military infrastructure throughout Lebanon, not just the south. Officials welcomed Beirut's recent decision to enter and demilitarize Palestinian refugee camps—long governed by the 1969 Cairo Agreement—but remain wary that this move could be a diversion from the more pressing Hezbollah file. 'We need to see more than declarations,' a US official said. 'The issue of Hezbollah's arms must be addressed swiftly.' Economic reform and foreign aid The Trump administration also continues to press Lebanon to enact long-awaited economic reforms following its financial collapse, the recent Hezbollah-Israel war, and decades of systemic corruption. US officials noted a broad consensus among Washington, Gulf allies, and international financial institutions that aid will only increase once Lebanon enacts clearly defined reforms. The US is clear-eyed about the challenges due to, among other things, the fact that Parliament is run by Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri, who has long been seen as a face of corruption in Lebanon. Berri's control over the finance ministry has enabled him to block key reform efforts. Still, the US expects concrete movement on reform measures in the near term. 'We want to see results, and we want to see them quickly,' another US official said.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
37 months in prison for ex-CIA analyst Asif Rahman who leaked docs on Israeli strike
WASHINGTON: A former CIA analyst who leaked top secret US intelligence documents about Israeli military plans for a retaliatory strike on Iran was sentenced to 37 months in prison this week, the Justice Department said. Asif Rahman, 34, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency since 2016 and held a top secret security clearance, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia in November last year. In January, Rahman pleaded guilty at a federal courthouse in Virginia to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. He faced a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Iran unleashed a wave of close to 200 ballistic missiles on Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killings of senior figures in the Tehran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups. Israel responded with a wave of strikes on military targets in Iran in late October. According to a court filing, on October 17 Rahman printed out two top secret documents 'regarding a United States foreign ally and its planned kinetic actions against a foreign adversary.' He photographed the documents and used a computer program to edit the images in 'an attempt to conceal their source and delete his activity,' it said. Rahman then transmitted the documents to 'multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them' before shredding them at work. The documents, circulated on the Telegram app by an account called Middle East Spectator, described Israeli preparations for a possible strike on Iran but did not identify any actual targets. According to The Washington Post, the documents, generated by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, described aviation exercises and movements of munitions at an Israeli airfield. The leak led Israeli officials to delay their retaliatory strike.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Syria condemns ‘blatant violation' of sovereignty after Israeli incursion
DAMASCUS: Syria's Interior Ministry condemned an Israeli incursion in southern Syria, saying Israeli forces killed one person and abducted seven others, calling it a 'blatant violation' of the country's sovereignty. 'We affirm that these repeated provocations constitute a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic,' the ministry said in a statement, adding that 'these practices cannot lead the region to stability and will only result in further tension and turmoil.' The Israeli military said those detained during the pre-dawn raid on Beit Jin were suspected of planning attacks against Israel, and that weapons also were found in the area. They were taken back to Israel for questioning, the military said. One person was killed and seven captured in the operation, Syria's Interior Ministry said, while the father of the young man killed said he had a history of mental illness. Since the fall of President Bashar Assad's government in early December, Israeli forces have moved into several areas in southern Syria and conducted hundreds of airstrikes throughout the country, destroying much of the assets of the Syrian army. Local broadcaster Syria TV described Thursday's raid as being carried out by about 100 Israeli troops who stormed Beit Jin, near the border with Lebanon, and called out the names of several people targeted for arrest through loudspeakers. Syria's Interior Ministry said such incursions spike tensions in the region. 'Such repeated provocative acts are a flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty,' the ministry said in a statement. Village official Walid Okasha said that Israeli troops had entered the outskirts of Beit Jin in recent months, but that this was the first time they entered the center of the village. He added that Thursday's operation came four days after an Israeli drone strike hit a car in the village, inflicting casualties. 'They came targeting specific people,' said Okasha, who denied that Hamas members were in the village. He said the seven people taken to Israel were all Syrians and that two of them were members of the country's new security forces. He said the man who was killed suffered from mental illness. Ahmad Hammadi identified the victim as his son and told the AP that he had a history of schizophrenia. He said his son was shot dead in front of his home, and that he had no links to Hamas. He said two of the captured men were his nephews. Hussein Safadi said his two sons, Ahmad, 32, and Mohammed, 34, were captured, adding that his younger son, who raises goats, had lived in Lebanon for years until recently. He said his younger son was a member of the armed opposition against Assad and recently joined the security forces of the new authorities. As for why Israeli forces seized his sons, 'we don't know the reasons,' Safadi said. During a visit to France last month, Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa said that his country is holding indirect talks with Israel to prevent hostilities from getting out of control.
