Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Friday that an Israeli airstrike has cut a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria.
The agency gave no further details about Friday’s airstrike that led to the closure of a road near the Masnaa Border Crossing, from where tens of thousands of people fleeing war in Lebanon have crossed into Syria over the past two weeks. It’s the first time this major border crossing has been cut off since the beginning of the war.
Full StoryIran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi landed in Lebanon's capital Friday, official media said, as Israel intensifies its air strikes against the Tehran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
"An Iranian plane has landed at the Rafik Hariri International Airport with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on board," the Lebanese National News Agency said of the first visit by a top Iranian official since an Israeli strike killed Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week.
Full StoryA source close to Hezbollah said Israel had conducted 11 consecutive strikes on the group's south Beirut stronghold late Thursday, in one of the most violent raids since Israel intensified its bombardment campaign last week.
Three Israeli officials told U.S. news portal Axios that Hezbollah senior official Sayyed Hashem Safieddine was the target of the strike.
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An Israeli strike on the town of al-Maaysra in Keserwan targeted the house of Sheikh Mahmoud Amr, the National News Agency said.
Full StoryThe Lebanese army said an Israeli strike killed one of its soldiers during a rescue operation with the Red Cross in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
"A soldier was killed and another was wounded as a result of an aggression by the Israeli enemy during an evacuation and rescue operation with the Lebanese Red Cross in Taybeh village," the army said.
Full StoryHezbollah said it fired a barrage of rockets at the Israeli city of Tiberias on Thursday, while more than three Israeli air strikes hit south Beirut, following a night of intense bombardment.
Hezbollah said it "fired a salvo of rockets at the city of Tiberias," it said, in response to the Israeli bombardment of Lebanese "towns, villages and civilians".
Full StoryThe European Union on Thursday said it was giving an extra 30 million euros ($33 million) of humanitarian aid to Lebanon as fighting raged between Israel and Hezbollah.
"Today, we are stepping up our humanitarian aid to the people of Lebanon," said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Full StoryJapan on Thursday dispatched two Self Defense Force planes to prepare for a possible airlift of Japanese citizens from Lebanon.
Two C-2 transport aircraft are expected to arrive in Jordan and Greece on Friday, Japan NHK national television reported.
Full StoryThe Israeli military said Thursday it conducted an air strike that killed 15 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.
The air force "precisely struck the Bint Jbeil municipality building in which Hezbollah terrorists were operating, alongside large quantities of Hezbollah weapons stored in the building. As part of the strike, approximately 15 Hezbollah terrorists were eliminated," said the statement.
Full StoryThe son-in-law of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah - who was killed last week in a massive Israeli strike in south Beirut - was killed in an Israeli raid in Damascus Wednesday, an NGO said.
"Hassan Jaafar Qassir, the son-in-law of Hassan Nasrallah, was among two Lebanese victims of the Israeli raid which targeted an apartment in a residential building in the Mazze district of Damascus," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a claim a source close to Hezbollah confirmed to AFP.
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