Lebanon on Friday condemned an Israeli attack that it said wounded United Nations peacekeepers in the country's south, after state media reported a second such attack in as many days.
Full StoryCaretaker 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.
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The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Thursday two of its members were wounded when its positions came under fire in the country’s south, where Israel and Hezbollah are fighting.
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Israel's representative to the U.N. Security Council, Gilad Erdan, has said that Israel has "no desire to remain in Lebanon and the forces capable of doing so are the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL.”
Full StoryCaretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati revealed Thursday that "diplomatic contacts intensified over the past hours, ahead of the U.N. Security Council session, with the aim of seeking a ceasefire again and thus exerting more pressure to stop the Israeli aggression on Lebanon."
"There are contacts taking place between the United States and France, which had requested the Security Council meeting, with the aim of reviving the ceasefire declaration for a specific period of time in order to resume the search for political solutions," Mikati told his visitors.
Full StoryU.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday emphasized "the need for a diplomatic arrangement to safely return both Lebanese and Israeli civilians to their homes on both sides of the Blue Line," during a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said.
"The President affirmed Israel’s right to protect its citizens from Hezbollah, which has fired thousands of missiles and rockets into Israel over the past year alone, while emphasizing the need to minimize harm to civilians, in particular in the densely populated areas of Beirut," the White House added.
Full StoryThere is no positive progress regarding a ceasefire in Lebanon, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, in remarks published Wednesday.
Hezbollah's acting leader Naim Qassem had said in a defiant televised speech earlier this week that Hezbollah backs efforts by Berri to reach a ceasefire.
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Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday announced that “the Arab and international efforts are still ongoing to halt the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.”
Full StoryIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Tuesday that Israel assassinated the projected new Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, who was targeted in a massive airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, claiming also that Israel has killed Safieddine’s replacement, without saying who this would be.
In an English-language video message to the Lebanese public, Netanyahu said that Israel has “degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities; we took out thousands of terrorists, including [longtime Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan] Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement.”
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