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After two meetings with Speaker Nabih Berri and a night of intensive discussions at the U.S. embassy between Speaker Nabih Berri’s aide Ali Hamdan and members of the U.S. delegation, U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein announced that the reached agreements should be acceptable to Israel, Al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday.
Full StoryIsraeli first responders said a man was killed on Thursday after rocket fire from Lebanon hit the northern Galilee region.
"Emergency medical technicians and paramedics have reported a 30-year-old male with no signs of life and have declared him deceased," the Magen David Adom emergency medical service said.
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Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the atmosphere was “more positive” after his second meeting with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein on Wednesday and that Lebanon “did what it should do” to secure the success of the agreement.
Full StorySuccessive rounds of Israeli strikes hit southern Beirut Thursday after Israeli military evacuation warnings, while Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks including on a base near south Israel's Ashdod, its deepest so far.
Lebanon's official National News Agency reported three raids "within the third round of strikes on the southern suburbs today", saying they hit the Haret Hreik and Hadath areas.
Full StoryThe Israeli military said Wednesday three soldiers, including a 70-year-old, were killed in south Lebanon, where its troops have battled Hezbollah since late September after a year of cross-border exchanges of fire.
The army announced two soldiers were killed in the same incident including 70-year-old reservist Ze'ev 'Jabo' Hanoch Erlich, after it had said earlier Wednesday that a 22-year-old soldier from Jerusalem "fell during combat in southern Lebanon".
Full StoryIsraeli strikes killed 79 pro-Iran fighters, including from Iraq and Lebanon, in the Syrian city of Palmyra, a monitor said Thursday, updating the toll for the raids a day earlier.
The toll was "the highest due to Israeli raids on pro-Iran groups in Syria since the start of the conflict" in the country in 2011, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Full StoryThe UK Defense Senior Advisor to the Middle East and North Africa (DSAME) Vice Admiral Edward Ahlgren, met Wednesday with senior Lebanese and U.N. officials and reiterated the UK’s call for an immediate ceasefire, and a political solution in line with UNSC Resolution 1701. Ahlgren expressed condolences on the deaths of Lebanese Army soldiers and officers, and Lebanese civilians.
Ahlgren met with Nabih Berri, Speaker of Parliament, General Joseph Aoun, Chief of Defense for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon and held a virtual meeting with Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lázaro, UNIFIL Head of Mission. He was accompanied during his visits by British Ambassador to Lebanon Hamish Cowell and Defense Attaché Lt. Colonel Charles Smith.
Full StoryU.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, seeking to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war, will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, the premier's office said.
The announcement by spokesman Omer Dostri came after Israeli media outlets reported that Hochstein had arrived in Israel on Wednesday evening and held talks with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation described the Hochstein-Dermer talks as "constructive."
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Speaker Nabih Berri has told his visitors that U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein’s visits to Lebanon and Israel will be his last, noting that “the negotiations this time are based on something, pending the Israeli response.”
Full StoryIsrael’s defense minister said his country insists on the right to act militarily against Hezbollah in any agreement to end the fighting in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s government is likely to view any such demand as an infringement on its sovereignty, complicating efforts to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted into all-out war in September.
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