World
Israel bombards areas across southern Lebanon in latest truce violation
Strikes hit hills and valleys as Israeli military keeps up pressure, it says, to force Hezbollah to disarm.
Israeli warplanes have carried out at least a dozen attacks across southern Lebanon, targeting what the military claims are Hezbollah training facilities in the latest flagrant near-daily violations that have further undermined a year-old ceasefire.
The raids hit hills and valleys in the Jezzine and Zahrani areas, including locations near al-Aaichiyeh, between al-Zrariyeh and Ansar, and around Jabal al-Rafie and the outskirts of several towns, according to Lebanon’s state news agency.
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Israel’s military said it struck a compound used by Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force for weapons training, claiming the facilities were being used to plan attacks against Israeli forces and civilians.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut described the ceasefire in Lebanon as “a one-sided truce, since Israel has continued near-daily attacks on the country.”
Khodr said the latest attacks avoided densely populated areas. “The locations were in hills and valleys, not population centres,” she said, noting this marked a repeated pattern.
“In fact, just a few days ago, in the middle of the night, they did the same thing.”
The Israeli military said it also hit what it said were rocket-launching sites and other infrastructure, describing the operations as necessary to counter what it deemed violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.
However, the continued bombardment has drawn sharp criticism from the United Nations, which reported in November that at least 127 civilians, including children, have been killed in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect in late 2024. UN officials have warned the attacks amount to “war crimes”.
Khodr explained that the attacks form part of a sustained military pressure campaign.
“This is all part of military pressure on Hezbollah to force it to disarm,” she said. Israel wants the group “to give up its strategic weapons, its long-range weapons, its precision-guided missiles, its drones” which the Israeli military believes are stored in the Bekaa Valley and further inland.
But Hezbollah has sharply refused to relinquish its arsenal as long as Israel bombards and occupies parts of Lebanon. The group “doesn’t want to give up its weapons because it would view that as surrender”, Khodr added, noting that “Hezbollah and Lebanon do not have the upper hand. Israel enjoys air superiority.”
Tensions escalated further two weeks ago when Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing Hezbollah’s top military commander, Haytham Ali Tabatabai. The group has yet to respond, but said it will do so at the right time.
The attacks come as Lebanon and Israel recently dispatched civilian envoys to a committee monitoring their ceasefire for the first time in decades, a move aimed at expanding diplomatic engagement.
However, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem criticised Lebanon’s decision to send former Ambassador Simon Karam to the talks, calling it a “free concession” to Israel.
Lebanese officials have expressed frustration over Israel’s near-daily attacks.
“It is one of the reasons why Lebanon agreed to sit down for face-to-face talks with the Israelis,” Khodr said, “engaging in diplomatic talks that are seen as very sensitive in Lebanon, in the hopes that it would avoid war.”
President Joseph Aoun said last week that Lebanon “has adopted the option of negotiations with Israel” aimed at stopping the continued attacks, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called for a more robust verification mechanism to monitor both Israeli violations and Lebanese army efforts to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure.
“But the US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, made it clear a few days ago that even though Lebanon is sitting down in a room with a longtime enemy, it does not mean that the Israeli attacks will stop,” Khodr said.
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Investors brace for a bigger backlash from Middle East war
World
Tel Aviv analyst shelters from 30 missile sirens in 48 hours, says Iran ‘won’t recover’
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The past 48 hours in Tel Aviv have been unlike anything seen before, a leading security analyst has said, as sirens blared amid missile threats following Operation Epic Fury and U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran.
“We are facing a biblical event — nothing less,” Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, told Fox News Digital, speaking from his shelter in the city.
Like many Israelis, Michael said he had spent hours in reinforced rooms during the ongoing barrage, adding that he was “very experienced in this.”
“But this all requires time and determination, and I do hope that Trump will also have them both,” he said, speaking shortly after the president released a video message stating that the military operation would continue “until all of our objectives are achieved.”
Explosions from projectile interceptions by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system over Tel Aviv. (JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images)
“Trump is the only one who can make the change — and that change will impact the entire region and the international order for years to come,” Michael added.
As of Sunday, Tel Aviv remained under a state of emergency following Iranian missile attacks that caused casualties and widespread damage.
According to The Associated Press, Iranian missile and drone strikes have killed approximately 11 Israeli civilians and wounded dozens more in retaliation for the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran.
Shrapnel from missile impacts damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, and authorities reported at least one death in the area from falling debris.
The Philippine Embassy in Israel confirmed the death of a Filipino national after a missile strike hit Tel Aviv on Saturday.
TOMAHAWKS, B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS AND ATTACK DRONES POUND OVER 1,000 IRANIAN TARGETS IN 24-HOUR BLITZ
People take shelter as Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel following the US-Israeli attacks. ( Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“We enter our shelter once the siren is heard and stay there until the Home Front Command announces that we can leave,” Michael said.
“Usually, it is about 20 to 30 minutes — unless there are further sirens during our stay. Since yesterday morning, it has happened around 30 times.”
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also visited an impact site in Tel Aviv Sunday, delivering a message of resilience.
“The people of Israel and the people of Iran can live in peace. The region can live in peace. But what undermines peace time and again is terror instigated by this Iranian regime,” Herzog said.
EXILED IRANIAN CROWN PRINCE SAYS US STRIKES MARK ‘BEGINNING OF THE VERY END’ FOR REGIME
Israeli emergency service officer walks past building debris at the scene of a Iranian missile attack. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP via Getty Images)
Following the reported killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian officials, Iran formed a provisional leadership council.
Iran named Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, President Masoud Pezeshkian and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i to lead roles.
“The Supreme Leader did not complete the necessary groundwork regarding his own succession,” Michael added.
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“Pezeshkian will face very troubling challenges due to their heavy losses, severe disruptions to control and command systems, and the massive bombing and attacks across Iran, including Tehran,” he said.
“Even if this regime doesn’t collapse, it will never be able to reconstitute itself, recover or return to its previous position,” Michael added.
World
Israel FM says Europe too divided, slams Spanish PM
Israeli minister Gideon Sa’ar said Europe “does not have unified position” on what role it should play in Iran as European ministers sought to establish a joint approach Sunday.
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As Israel and the United States conducted a joint military strike on Iran, leading to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Europe was kept on the sidelines.
EU member states did not participate in the operation and, in some cases, they were not informed prior as it is customary among strategic allies.
Asked whether Israel sought to keep Europe on the margins, Sa’ar said internal divisions within EU member states had kept them out of critical exchanges of operational details, unlike the United States, which the minister described as his country’s greatest ally.
“In Europe, you have all kinds of approaches,” he told Euronews. “You have countries like the Czech Republic which is strongly supporting this operation and then you have Spain, which is standing with all the tyrants of the world.”
On Saturday, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez was among the most critical voices in Europe, suggesting the US-Israeli strikes on Iran risk plunging the region into total war.
“We reject the unilateral military action of the United States and Israel, which represents an escalation and contributes to a more uncertain and hostile international order,” Sánchez said Saturday. The Spanish PM reiterated that message on Sunday.
“We urge for de-escalation and call to respect international law in all conflicts,” Sánchez added. “You can be against a heinous regime, like the Iranian regime, while also rejecting a military intervention that is unjustified, dangerous and outside of international law.”
Sa’aar said Israel considers the operation “fully justified” citing the right to self-defense from a regime that “has called for the destruction of Israel” and lashed at the Spanish prime minister for sending an “anti-Israeli, anti-American message.”
“Read the statement, they are standing with Iran!” he added.
When asked if any of his European counterparts had manifested an interest in joining the military operation or provide support on the ground, Sa’ar said he held multiple exchanges with European ministers over the weekend and suggested that “if others want to join, they will know have to convey the message.”
On Sunday, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared to back regime change in Iran in line with Israel and the US, saying that the “risk of further escalation is real. This is why a credible transition in Iran is urgently needed” in comments on Sunday.
Sa’ar told Euronews said the strategic strikes and the elimination of Khamenei alongside top regime commanders could “create the conditions to weaken the regime enough to allow the Iranians to take their future into their own hands”.
“The future leadership of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people through free elections. Our only requirement is that whoever comes to power in Iran must not pursue the destruction of Israel,” he said.
Watch the full interview on Euronews from 8pm CET
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