Spotlight
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Middle East
Iran strikes Gulf neighbors after new US attacks
Tehran announced it was closing the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and launched missiles and drones at its Gulf neighbours, in retaliation fo...
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Lebanon
US delegation in Lebanon to discuss Israel 'pilot zone' withdrawal
A U.S. military delegation met with Lebanon's army in Beirut to discuss the implementation of Israel's withdrawal from a "pilot zone" in ...
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The United States will oversee the withdrawal of Israeli forces from "pilot zones" in the south, with the first to get underway within days, Lebanese and U.S. officials said Thursday.
A U.S. official said that new talks between Israel and Lebanon would go ahead next week, after a diplomatic source earlier told AFP that Lebanon had demanded an Israeli pullout from the zones before taking part.
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Sirens blared in Jordan on Thursday, an AFP correspondent reported, hours after Iran's military said it had targeted sites in Gulf countries in retaliation for U.S. strikes.
State broadcaster Al-Mamlaka added: "Alarm sirens sounded in Jordan on Thursday to alert citizens and urge them to follow instructions."
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Italy and Israel announced this week that a new round of talks between Lebanon and Israel will take place in Rome in mid-July.
The two sides had previously met for five rounds of U.S.-sponsored talks in Washington aimed at ending the war between Israel and Hezbollah and paving the way for peace.
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A U.S. military delegation will arrive in Beirut in the coming days to coordinate the ground implementation of a framework agreement that calls for Hezbollah's disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory.
U.S. Ambassador Michel Issa said Thursday that preparations were underway to implement the Israeli withdrawal from the pilot zones, as he met with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri, ahead of a new round of talks between Lebanon and Israel this month in Rome.
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Lebanon demands Israel's withdrawal from two "pilot zones" in the south as a condition for participating in the next round of direct negotiations in Rome next week, a diplomatic source familiar with the talks told AFP on Wednesday.
The two sides had previously met for five rounds of U.S.-sponsored talks in Washington aimed at ending the war between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and paving the way for peace.
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The Israeli military on Wednesday said its troops had seized a Hezbollah militant during an encounter in southern Lebanon a day earlier and transferred him to Israel for questioning.
The militant was captured in the Bint Jbeil area on Tuesday, where Israeli troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters.
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Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said, in a statement on Thursday, that the Israeli military's operations in Lebanon were a response to attacks by Hezbollah.
"The terrorist organization Hezbollah has attacked Israel twice on its own initiative," Katz said.
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Amnesty International on Thursday accused Israel of wiping out families in its strikes on Lebanon during its war with Hezbollah, calling for these attacks to be investigated as war crimes.
Amnesty analyzed three strikes on civilian homes between March 6 and 13, in which 24 civilians were killed, 12 of them children.
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An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed two people on Wednesday, Lebanese state media reported, the latest attack despite a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
"Two young men were martyred after being targeted by an enemy drone... while they were walking in the vicinity of Ghandour Hospital in Nabatieh al-Fawqa," Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said, two days after a strike on the same town killed four civilians including a school principal.
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The United States launched new strikes against Iran on Wednesday in a bid to curb Tehran's ability to target shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. military said.
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