France is focusing on raising hundreds of millions of dollars in aid at a conference for war-ravaged Lebanon on Thursday, but any prospect of a wider diplomatic breakthrough has been stymied by the absence of key players.
The French government nevertheless hopes that the gathering can keep diplomacy alive around the conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah, which has so far claimed more than 1,500 Lebanese lives and displaced 700,000 people.

Leaders of the BRICS group called on Wednesday for Israel to stop targeting U.N. staff after incidents of Israeli troops firing on U.N. peacekeepers stationed in Lebanon.
"We strongly condemn the attacks on U.N. staff and threats to their security and call on Israel to immediately cease such actions," the group said in a joint statement.

The U.S. has “not seen evidence” at this point that there is a Hezbollah bunker underneath al-Sahel hospital in southern Beirut, as Israel has alleged, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters traveling with him in Rome on Wednesday.

Since Israel began bombarding Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon's national air carrier has become a local icon simply by continuing to do its job.
Middle East Airlines is the only commercial airline still operating out of the Beirut airport, located on the coast next to the densely populated suburbs.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Arab counterparts in London on Friday on the Gaza and Lebanon wars, the State Department said.
Blinken will meet Arab foreign ministers in the British capital after talks Thursday in Qatar, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters as Blinken flew from Israel to Saudi Arabia.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
Baerbock, upon her arrival Wednesday in Beirut, said that “we must now work with our partners in the USA, Europe and the Arab world to find a viable diplomatic solution that safeguards the legitimate security interests of both Israel and Lebanon.”

Jordan’s Foreign Minister announced late Tuesday that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will postpone his visit to Jordan, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi spoke to Blinken by phone Tuesday and stressed the importance of a regional cease-fire and putting an end to Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon.

Nearly 16 hours after an Israeli airstrike hit across the street from Beirut's main public hospital, rescuers were still removing debris Tuesday from the overcrowded slum area. An excavator was digging at one of the destroyed buildings, picking out twisted metal and bricks in search for bodies.
Residents standing on mounds of debris said an entire family remained missing under the rubble.

German airline Lufthansa said Wednesday it was extending the suspension of flights to Beirut until the end of February amid intensifying fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Lufthansa flights to Beirut had already been suspended until November 30. It also said on Wednesday it would extend the suspension of services to the Iranian capital Tehran to the end of January. They had previously been halted until October 31.

Israeli jets struck multiple buildings in Lebanon's southern coastal city of Tyre on Wednesday, sending large clouds of black smoke into the air.
The state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike on the nearby town of Maarakeh killed three people. There were no reports of casualties in Tyre, where the Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings prior to the strikes.
