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Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Friday urged the United Nations to pass a resolution calling for an "immediate" ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
Mikati told reporters the foreign ministry would ask the U.N. Security Council to issue a resolution demanding a "full and immediate ceasefire" and that his government was committed to Resolution 1701 which was adopted in 2006 and called for the Lebanese army and peacekeepers to be the only armed forces deployed in the south of the country.
Full StoryHezbollah said it launched a drone attack Friday on a military base in north Israel's Haifa, a day after deadly strikes in the heart of Beirut and as the group battles Israeli forces on the border.
Hezbollah launched "an air attack with a group of explosive-laden drones" towards the "air defense command base" in Haifa, "responding to" Israeli attacks on "cities and villages and civilians," the group said in a statement.
Full StoryAn anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon killed a young man from Thailand in the north of Israel early Friday, Israel’s paramedic service said.
Magen David Adom, the paramedic service, said that the 27-year-old was killed by a missile that hit agricultural land.
Full StoryIsrael is recommending that the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon move 5 kilometers (3 miles) north to avoid intensified fighting between its forces and Hezbollah fighters.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Danny Danon, announced the recommendation in a statement following the wounding of two U.N. peacekeepers from the force known as UNIFIL as a result of Israeli tank fire. UNIFIL also reported that its headquarters and nearby positions “have repeatedly been hit” by Israeli forces.
Full StoryThe White House says it is “deeply concerned” about a report from the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon that Israeli forces opened fire on locations where peacekeepers were working and injured two of them.
“We are deeply concerned about reports that Israeli forces fired on two positions and a tower used by U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a statement Thursday. “We reached out immediately to our Israeli counterparts about it, and pressed them for more details.”
Full StoryThe U.N. peacekeeping chief says 300 peacekeepers in frontline positions on southern Lebanon’s border have been temporarily moved to larger bases, and plans to move another 200 will depend on security conditions as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that peacekeepers with the U.N. force, known as UNIFIL, are staying in their positions but because of air and ground attacks they cannot conduct patrols.
Full StoryLebanon’s U.N. ambassador is calling for an immediate cease-fire, but Israel’s envoy says its military operation will continue until Hezbollah’s control of the south is dismantled and it can’t attack Israelis across the border.
Lebanon’s U.N. Ambassador Hadi Hashem told an emergency meeting of the Security Council called by France that Israel’s bombings and invasion won’t provide security, safety and stability for its people.
Full StoryAsked about the latest airstrikes in Lebanon, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters in Las Vegas: “We have got to reach a cease-fire, both as it relates to what’s happening in Lebanon, and, of course, Gaza."
She added: "We are working around the clock in that regard, but we need these wars to end and we’ve got to definitely de-escalate what is happening in the region, and we’re working on that.”
Full StoryU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced hope Friday for a diplomatic solution in Lebanon and preventing a broader conflict, as he backed efforts by the fragile Lebanese state to "assert itself" against Hezbollah.
Blinken again said that Israel, which has been carrying out deadly strikes on Lebanon, "has a right to defend itself" against Hezbollah, but voiced alarm over the humanitarian situation.
Full StoryIsraeli airstrikes on central Beirut on Thursday left two neighborhoods smoldering, killed 22 people and wounded dozens, Lebanon's health ministry said, as well as further escalating Israel's bloody conflict with Hezbollah.
The air raid on central Beirut — the deadliest in over a year of war — apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighborhoods simultaneously, according to an AP photographer at the scene. It brought down one apartment building and wiped out the lower floors of the other.
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