September 27, 2024 11:17 AM

US diplomacy in Mideast falters as clock ticks down for Biden

U.S. efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire remain stalled after nearly a year of fighting. Iran-backed Houthi rebels continue to attack Red Sea shipping. And now, despite intense U.S.-led diplomacy, the Israel-Hezbollah conflict threatens to flare into an all-out regional war. With the clock ticking on his administration, U.S. President Joe Biden faces an arc of Middle East crises likely to defy solution before he leaves office in January and which look all but certain to tarnish his foreign polic...

September 26, 2024 9:24 PM

Iran, Hezbollah enabled Houthis’ rise, says UN report

Yemen's Houthi rebels have grown "from a localised armed group with limited capabilities to a powerful military organization" with the help of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iraqi specialists, according to a confidential report by U.N. sanctions monitors. The independent panel of experts, who report annually to the U.N. Security Council, said Houthi fighters had been receiving tactical and technical training outside Yemen, traveling on fake passports to I...

September 26, 2024 4:40 PM

Israeli foreign minister rejects ceasefire proposal, Lebanon on edge

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday rejected proposals for a ceasefire with Hezbollah after the United States and France called for a 21-day halt in the fighting that has alarmed Lebanon and raised fears of a ground invasion. "There will be no ceasefire in the north. We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organization with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes," he said in a statement on the social media p...

September 26, 2024 9:40 AM

US and allies call for 21-day ceasefire along Israel-Lebanon border after UN talks

The United States, France and several allies called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border while also expressing support for a ceasefire in Gaza following intense discussions at the United Nations on Wednesday. The ceasefire would apply to the Israel-Lebanon "Blue Line," the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel, and would allow the parties to negotiate towards a potential diplomatic resolution of the conflict, a senior Biden administration official said. "We ...

September 25, 2024 5:40 PM

Israeli warplanes hit Lebanon again as Hezbollah takes aim at central Israel

Israel unleashed more airstrikes on Lebanon on Wednesday and Hezbollah militants fired salvoes of rockets into Israel in the heaviest exchanges between the arch-foes in a year. Hezbollah claimed to have targeted the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency in Tel Aviv, Israel's economic capital. World leaders meanwhile expressed concern that the conflict - running in parallel to Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas - was rapidly intensifying as the death toll in Lebanon rose. The Israeli military ...

September 25, 2024 10:49 AM

Israel kills senior Hezbollah commander; Lebanon says only US can stop fighting

An Israeli airstrike on Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah commander on Tuesday as cross-border rocket attacks by both sides increased fears of a full-fledged war in the Middle East and Lebanon said only Washington could help end the fighting. Hezbollah early on Wednesday confirmed senior commander Ibrahim Qubaisi was killed by Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday on the Lebanese capital as Israel announced earlier.Israel said Qubaisi headedthe group's missile and rocket force. Israel's offensive...

September 24, 2024 4:52 PM

Israel and Hezbollah launch new attacks after deadly day in Lebanon

Israel struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and the Iran-backed group attacked military facilities in northern Israel on Tuesday, increasing fears of a full-blown conflict after Lebanon suffered its deadliest day in decades. Israel's military said it hit dozens of Hezbollah targets overnight, a day after carrying out airstrikes against the armed group which Lebanese authorities said killed nearly 500 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety. Hezbollah said it targeted sever...

September 24, 2024 9:38 AM

Netanyahu accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields as Israeli airstrikes kill at least 492 in Lebanon

Israel's military said it launched airstrikes against Hezbollah sites in Lebanon on Monday, which Lebanese authorities said had killed 492 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for safety in the country's deadliest day in decades. After some of the heaviest cross-border exchanges of fire since hostilities flared in October, Israel warned people in Lebanon to evacuate areas where it said the armed movement was storing weapons. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a short video sta...

September 22, 2024 2:57 AM

Israel’s strike on Beirut killed 37, Lebanon says

Rescuers in Beirut hunted on Saturday for people still missing in rubble after an Israeli airstrike targeting Hezbollah commanders the previous day killed at least 37 people in a suburb of the Lebanese capital, according to authorities. Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed group, said that 16 members including senior leader Ibrahim Aqil and another commander, Ahmed Wahbi, were among those killed in the deadliest strike in nearly a year of conflict with Israel. Israel's army said it hit an undergr...

September 20, 2024 12:40 PM

Israel unleashes heavy strikes on Lebanon as US, UK urge restraint

Israeli warplanes carried out late on Thursday their most intense strikes on southern Lebanon in nearly a year of war, heightening the conflict between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah amid calls for restraint. The White House said a diplomatic solution was achievable and urgent, and Britain called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The U.S. is "afraid and concerned about potential escalation," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing. The ...