
Munitions blast in Hezbollah site kills 5 Lebanese troops: military source
'Five soldiers were killed in an explosion... inside a Hezbollah military facility,' the source said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media, adding that the incident took place as the troops were 'removing munitions and unexploded ordnance left over from the recent war' between Israel and Hezbollah.
The army did not immediately issue a statement, but President Joseph Aoun said he spoke to army commander Rodolphe Haykal about a 'painful incident' that led to a number of dead and wounded from the army as a result of a munitions explosion as an engineering unit 'was working to remove and disable' the ordnance, a presidency statement said.
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Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Head of Iran top security body heads to Iraq, Lebanon
TEHRAN: The head of Iran's top security body, Ali Larijani, will visit Iraq on Monday before heading to Lebanon, where the government has approved a plan to disarm Tehran's ally Hezbollah, state media said. 'Ali Larijani departs today (Monday) for Iraq and then Lebanon on a three-day visit, his first foreign trip since taking office last week,' state television reported Larijani will sign a bilateral security agreement in Iraq before heading to Lebanon, where he will meet senior Lebanese officials and figures. His trip to Lebanon comes after Tehran expressed strong opposition to a Lebanese government plan to disarm Tehran's ally Hezbollah, a stance condemned by Beirut as a 'flagrant and unacceptable interference.' 'Our cooperation with the Lebanese government is long and deep. We consult on various regional issues. In this particular context, we are talking to Lebanese officials and influential figures in Lebanon,' Larijani told state TV before departing. 'In Lebanon, our positions are already clear. Lebanese national unity is important and must be preserved in all circumstances. Lebanon's independence is still important to us and we will contribute to it.' On Saturday, Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader, described the plan to disarm Hezbollah as compliance 'to the will of the United States and Israel.' The disarmament push followed last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah, which left the group, once a powerful political and military force, weakened. It also comes amid pressure from the United States and anti-Hezbollah parties in Lebanon, as well as fears Israel could escalate its strikes if the group remains armed. Iran appointed 68-year-old Larijani to head the Supreme National Security Council, which is responsible for laying out Iran's defense and security strategy. Its decisions must be approved by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The appointment comes after a 12-day war with Israel, which began the conflict with an unprecedented attack on Iran in mid-June striking military, nuclear and residential sites.

Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Head of Iran top security body heads to Iraq, Lebanon
The head of Iran's top security body, Ali Larijani, will visit Iraq on Monday before heading to Lebanon, where the government has approved a plan to disarm Tehran's ally Hezbollah, state media said. 'Ali Larijani departs today (Monday) for Iraq and then Lebanon on a three-day visit, his first foreign trip since taking office last week,' state television reported. Larijani will sign a bilateral security agreement in Iraq before heading to Lebanon, where he will meet senior Lebanese officials and figures. His trip to Lebanon comes after Tehran expressed strong opposition to a Lebanese government plan to disarm Tehran's ally Hezbollah, a stance condemned by Beirut as a 'flagrant and unacceptable interference.' 'Our cooperation with the Lebanese government is long and deep. We consult on various regional issues. In this particular context, we are talking to Lebanese officials and influential figures in Lebanon,' Larijani told state TV before departing. 'In Lebanon, our positions are already clear. Lebanese national unity is important and must be preserved in all circumstances. Lebanon's independence is still important to us and we will contribute to it.' On Saturday, Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader, described the plan to disarm Hezbollah as compliance 'to the will of the United States and Israel.' The disarmament push followed last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah, which left the group, once a powerful political and military force, weakened. It also comes amid pressure from the United States and anti-Hezbollah parties in Lebanon, as well as fears Israel could escalate its strikes if the group remains armed. Iran appointed 68-year-old Larijani to head the Supreme National Security Council, which is responsible for laying out Iran's defense and security strategy. Its decisions must be approved by the country's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The appointment comes after a 12-day war with Israel, which began the conflict with an unprecedented attack on Iran in mid-June striking military, nuclear and residential sites.


Asharq Al-Awsat
3 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Detained Sailors Reveal Houthi Smuggling Routes from Iran to Yemen
Confessions by detained sailors have revealed the smuggling routes used by the Houthi militants in Yemen to smuggle weapons from Iran. Yemeni forces arrested in July seven people on board a ship they intercepted in the Red Sea. The sailors revealed the details of a significant smuggling network run by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that ran routes through Beirut, Damascus, Somalia and Djibouti to reach the Houthi-held ports of Hodeidah. The confessions were aired by al-Joumhouriya television that is run by the Yemeni national resistance that is based on the western Yemeni coast. Four sailors confessed to smuggling arms shipments from Iran's Bandar Abbas port to Hodeidah. They have been identified as Amer Masawa, Ali Qassir, Issa Qassir and Abdullah Afifi. Masawa revealed that a Houthi official in Hodeidah had tasked him back in 2023 to return a ship from Iran to Yemen. Masawa headed to Houthi-held Sanaa with others where they were granted passports. From there, they boarded a Yemenia Airways flight to the Jordanian capital Amman. From there, they continued on to the Lebanese capital Beirut where a man in his 60s escorted them to an apartment that was ready to receive them. They remained there for three days before being transported by car to the Syrian capital Damascus and from there they flew to Tehran, Iran. In Tehran, a man escorted the travelers to a Houthi camp run by leading Houthi member Mohammed al-Talebi. Yemeni authorities identify him as a Houthi representative of the smuggling network from Iran. After ten days in Tehran, they were flown to Bandar Abbas city where they stayed in a villa owned by Talebi who explained to them their mission. Soon after, they were joined by ten Somali sailors. Oman route The second sailor, Ali Qassir, recalled how he was recruited by people affiliated with a Houthi official at Hodeidah's al-Salif port, Hussein al-Attas, to bring a ship from Iran to Yemen. Ali Qassir and others were taken to the Jowf province east of Sanaa where they met with another smuggler who escorted them along a desert route through Jawf, Marib and Hadramawt to the al-Mahra province bordering Oman. At the Sarfait border crossing, a smuggler escorted them to Oman where another person took them to Salalah city. Three days later, they were transported to Muscat where they were flown to Bandar Abbas. They were taken to a camp run by the Houthis and where they joined their fellow sailors, as well as the ten Somalis. Talebi then set about explaining their missions. Issa Qassir, Ali's brother, said they were divided into two groups to sail with the illegal cargo back to Yemen. They were informed that they were transporting children's toys, power generators and boxes of cancer treatment, which they were instructed must remain refrigerated. As they sailed off the Omani coast, their vessel broke down. They contacted Omani authorities that transported them to Muscat, where they stayed for ten days until the ship was repaired, after which they headed to Yemen. A third sailor said the people on the ship were unaware of the true nature of the cargo they were carrying, assuming it was battering and construction equipment. The coastguard eventually stopped their vessel and boarded it to discover the illegal shipment that included rockets and other weapons. Further confessions revealed that the IRGC used three smuggling routes from Iran. The first was a direct route from Bandar Abbas to al-Salif, the second ran through Somalia and the third through Djibouti to al-Salif. The sailors revealed that international patrols in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea never intercepted their vessels. While sailing at night, they would cross the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and sail west of the international shipping route to avoid detection by Yemen's coastguard and national resistance.