The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, who was injured in the exploding device attacks this week, has been transferred to Tehran, the Iranian Embassy said Thursday.
Ambassador Mojtaba Amani's general health is “very good," the embassy said in a statement. Amani along with some 90 injured Lebanese citizens were transferred to Tehran on Wednesday night, it added.
Full StorySpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday called for a de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, as Lebanon said 37 people had now been killed by booby-trapped hand-held devices.
"Today the risk of escalation is once more increasing in a dangerous way" in Lebanon, said Sanchez, at a news conference with visiting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Full StoryUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that civilian objects should not be weaponized, in the wake of a deadly wave of explosions across Lebanon targeting pagers used by Hezbollah.
"I think it's very important that there is an effective control of civilian objects, not to weaponize civilian objects -- that should be a rule that... governments should, be able to implement," Guterres said Wednesday at a briefing at U.N. headquarters.
Full StoryDoctors in Lebanon spoke of horrific eye injuries and finger amputations, a day after Hezbollah paging devices exploded across the country, killing 12 people and wounding up to 2,800.
"The injuries were mainly to the eyes and hands, with finger amputations, shrapnel in the eyes -- some people lost their sight," said doctor Joelle Khadra, who was working in emergency at Beirut's Hotel-Dieu hospital.
Full StoryThe simultaneous explosion of hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members has massively hindered the group's communications and could undermine its operations against Israel in Lebanon's south, analysts said.
The wireless devices used by Hezbollah combatants, health workers and administrative staff exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday killing 12 people and wounding around 2,800, according to official figures.
Full StoryBulgarian authorities rejected claims that exploding devices have been shipped through the territory of the Balkan country.
“No customs operations with communication equipment (pagers) have been carried out through the territory of Bulgaria,” the state agency for national security said in a statement on Thursday.
Full StoryWith Israel's defense minister announcing a "new phase" of the war and an apparent Israeli attack setting off explosions in electronic devices in Lebanon, the specter of all-out combat between Israel and Hezbollah seems closer than ever before.
Hopes for a diplomatic solution to the conflict appear to be fading quickly as Israel signals a desire to change the status quo in its north, where it has exchanged cross-border fire with Hezbollah since the Lebanese group began attacking on Oct. 8, a day after the war's opening salvo by Hamas.
Full StoryCaretaker Prime Minister called Thursday for the United Nations to oppose Israel's "technological war" on his country ahead of a Security Council meeting on exploding devices used by Hezbollah that killed 32 people.
Najib Mikati said in a statement the U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday should "take a firm stance to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and the technological war it is waging".
Full StoryIsraeli intelligence has suffered a blow after having failed to warn of Hamas' October 7 attack, but with this week's deadly pager blasts in Lebanon the fearsome Mossad agency appears to have hit back.
Israel has not commented on the unusual attack that turned communication devices used by Hezbollah members into explosives, killing 12 people including two children and wounding up to 2,800 others across Lebanon.
Full StoryPalestinian militant group Hamas blamed Israel for a new wave of device explosions in Lebanon Wednesday in which walkie-talkies exploded in Hezbollah strongholds killing 14 people and wounding more than 450.
"We strongly condemn the renewed and ongoing Zionist aggression against the brotherly Lebanese people," Hamas said in a statement, adding that the attack, a day after Hezbollah pagers blew up, killing 12 people and wounding 2,800, "now threatens the security and stability of the region".
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