Latest news with #Lebanon


Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
1 dead, 20 wounded after Israeli forces attack south Lebanon
Lebanese soldiers inspect a house that was hit by an Israeli strike in Nabatiyeh today. (AP pic) BEIRUT : Lebanon's health ministry said a woman was killed and 20 other people were wounded in Israeli strikes today in the country's south, as Israel's military said some raids targeted Hezbollah sites. Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, particularly in the south, since a Nov 27 ceasefire meant to end over a year of hostilities, including two months of all-out war that left Hezbollah severely weakened. 'The Israel enemy strike on an apartment in Nabatiyeh led to a preliminary toll of one woman killed' and 13 other people wounded, the ministry said in an updated statement carried by the official National News Agency. The NNA said an Israeli drone targeted the apartment. The agency earlier reported 'a wave of successive heavy strikes' in several other areas in the Nabatiyeh region that the health ministry said wounded seven people. An Israeli army statement said fighter jets struck a site that Hezbollah used 'to manage its fire and defence array in the area of the Beaufort Ridge', near Nabatiyeh and the Israel border. It said the site was 'part of a significant underground project that was completely taken out of use' by the raids. The military said it 'identified rehabilitation attempts made by Hezbollah beforehand and struck terror infrastructure sites in the area', calling the actions 'a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon'. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a statement condemned the strikes and said Israel continued 'to disregard regional and international resolutions and calls to stop the violence and escalation in the region', urging 'effective action from the international community'. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in a statement called the strikes 'a blatant violation of national sovereignty and the cessation of hostilities arrangements' and a threat to stability. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, some 30km from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the area. Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country but has kept them in five locations in south Lebanon that it deems strategic. In a letter to the United Nations requesting a one-year renewal of the mandate of the United Nations interim force in Lebanon which expires in August, the foreign ministry demanded 'Israel's withdrawal from all Lebanese territory it occupies and a stop to its ongoing violations'. Yesterday, Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed two people, with the Israeli military saying it targeted Hezbollah operatives.


Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Lebanon says 1 killed, 6 wounded in Israeli strikes
Israel has warned that it will keep striking Lebanon until Hezbollah has been disarmed. (AP pic) BEIRUT : Lebanon said one person was killed and six wounded today in a series of Israeli strikes in the south despite a ceasefire between Israel and rebel group Hezbollah. An 'Israeli enemy drone strike on a vehicle' in the town of Bint Jbeil 'killed one person and wounded two', Lebanon's health ministry said in a statement carried by the official National News Agency. The ministry later reported one person wounded in a drone strike on another car in the same town, and two others seriously wounded in a similar raid on a vehicle in nearby Shaqra. Earlier today, the ministry reported that a separate Israeli drone strike wounded one person in Shebaa, elsewhere in the south, with NNA reporting that a house was targeted. Israel has kept up its bombardment of Lebanon since a November 27 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including two months of all-out war that left the Iran-backed group severely weakened. On Thursday, an Israeli strike on a vehicle at the southern entrance of Beirut killed a man and wounded three other people, Lebanon said, as the Israeli army said it hit a 'terrorist' working for Iran. Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, about 30km from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region. Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country, but has kept them in five places it deems strategic. Israel has warned that it will keep striking Lebanon until Hezbollah has been disarmed.


Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Israeli strike on south Lebanon home kills 1
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire. (AP pic) BEIRUT : Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on south Lebanon on Saturday killed one person, the latest attack despite a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah. In a statement, the ministry said that an 'Israeli enemy strike' on a home in Wata al-Khiam killed one person. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the incident. Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite a November ceasefire that sought to end over a year of hostilities between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. Under the agreement, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani River, around 30km from the border with Israel. Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from Lebanon but has kept them deployed in five border points it deemed strategic. On Friday, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that while he was open to peaceful relations with Israel, normalisation of ties was 'not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy'.


Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Hezbollah chief says will not surrender under threat from Israel
Israel has continued to strike Lebanon despite a November ceasefire, accusing Beirut of not doing enough to disarm Hezbollah. (EPA Images pic) BEIRUT : Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said today his group would not surrender or lay down its weapons in response to Israeli threats, despite pressure on the Lebanese rebels to disarm. 'This threat will not make us accept surrender,' Qassem said in a televised speech to thousands of his supporters in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, during the Shiite Muslim religious commemoration of Ashura. Lebanese leaders who took office in the aftermath of a war between Israel and Hezbollah last year have repeatedly vowed a state monopoly on bearing arms while demanding Israel comply with a November ceasefire that ended the fighting. Qassem, who succeeded longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah after Israel killed him in September, said the group's fighters would not abandon their arms and asserted that Israel's 'aggression' must first stop. His speech came as US envoy Tom Barrack was expected in Beirut on Monday. Lebanese authorities are due to deliver a response to Barrack's request for Iran-backed Hezbollah to be disarmed by the end of the year, according to a Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Lebanese authorities say they have been dismantling Hezbollah's military infrastructure in the south, near the Israeli border. Israel has continued to strike Lebanon despite the November ceasefire, claiming to hit Hezbollah targets and accusing Beirut of not doing enough to disarm the group. According to the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah is to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, some 30km from the Israeli frontier. Israel was to withdraw its troops from all of Lebanon, but has kept them deployed in five points it deemed strategic. Qassem said Israel must abide by the ceasefire agreement, 'withdraw from the occupied territories, stop its aggression… release the prisoners' detained during last year's war, and that reconstruction in Lebanon must begin. Only then, according to the Hezbollah chief, 'will we be ready for the second stage, which is to discuss national security and defence strategy'. Supporters dressed in black for Ashura marched through Beirut's southern suburbs before his speech, waving Hezbollah banners as well as national Lebanese, Palestinian and Iranian flags. Some also carried posters of the slain leader Nasrallah. In his remarks, Qassem said that his movement 'will not accept normalisation… with the Israeli enemy', after Israel's top diplomat said his government was 'interested' in such a move. Lebanon, which is technically still at war with Israel, did not comment. Syria, which was also mentioned by Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar, said it was 'premature' to discuss normalisation.


Free Malaysia Today
an hour ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Lebanese president rules out normalisation with Israel
The November ceasefire sought to end Israel's war with the Lebanese group Hezbollah. (AP pic) BEIRUT : Lebanese President Joseph Aoun ruled out normalisation between his country and Israel today, while expressing hope for peaceful relations with Beirut's southern neighbour, which still occupies parts of southern Lebanon. Aoun's statement is the first official reaction to Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar's statement last week in which he expressed his country's interest in normalising ties with Lebanon and Syria. Aoun 'distinguished between peace and normalisation', according to a statement shared by the presidency. 'Peace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment. As for the issue of normalisation, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy,' the president said in front of a delegation from an Arab think tank. Lebanon and Syria have technically been in a state of war with Israel since 1948, with Damascus saying that talks of normalisation were 'premature'. The president called on Israel to withdraw from the five points near the border it still occupies. Israel was required to fully withdraw from southern Lebanon under a November ceasefire seeking to end its war with Iran-backed Hezbollah. Aoun said that Israeli troops in Lebanon 'obstruct the complete deployment of the army up to the internationally recognised borders'. According to the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah must pull its fighters north of the Litani River, around 30km from the border with Israel, leaving the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the area. The US has been calling on Lebanon to fully disarm Hezbollah, and Lebanese authorities sent their response to Washington's demand this week. The response was not made public, but Aoun stated that Beirut was determined to 'hold the monopoly over weapons in the country'. The implementation of this move 'will take into account the interest of the state and its security stability to preserve civil peace on one hand, and national unity on the other', hinting that Hezbollah's disarmament will not be done through force. Hezbollah, a powerful political force in Lebanon, is the only non-state actor to have officially retained its weaponry after the end of Lebanon's 15-year civil war in 1990, as parts of southern Lebanon were still under Israeli occupation at the time. The Lebanese group was heavily weakened following its year-long hostilities with Israel, which escalated into a two-month war in September.