
Israel carries on south Lebanon attacks, kills 3
BEIRUT: Israeli strikes killed three people in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire in force there, authorities said, with Lebanese Hezbollah suggesting its patience for the "ongoing aggression" was wearing thin. The Lebanese health ministry said an "Israeli enemy" drone strike on a car in Kunin, south Lebanon, killed one man and wounded another person.
The attacks came a day after Lebanon blamed Israel for strikes that killed a woman and wounded 25 others. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that the woman was killed in an Israeli drone strike on an apartment in the city of Nabatiyeh.
Israel has repeatedly bombed its northern neighbour despite the November ceasefire aimed at ending over a year of hostilities with Hezbollah. The group's leader, Naim Qassem, said in a televised speech on Saturday that the "ongoing aggression" by Israel "must not be allowed to continue". "The (Lebanese) state must exert pressure, and it must fulfil all of its duties," he said, insisting Hezbollah had held up its end of the ceasefire bargain. "Do you imagine we will remain silent forever? No. Everything has its limits." — AFP

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Observer
13 hours ago
- Observer
Fresh truce in Gaza likely
DOHA: Gaza mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from this week's ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in the Palestinian territory, Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al Ansari said. Israel and Iran on Tuesday agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Qatar just hours after the Islamic republic launched a salvo of missiles towards Doha, targeting the American military base hosted there. The unprecedented attack on Qatari soil followed Washington's intervention into a days-long war between Israel and Iran which saw US warplanes strike Iranian nuclear facilities, prompting promises of retaliation from Tehran. In an interview with AFP on Friday, Al Ansari said Doha — with fellow Gaza mediators in Washington and Cairo — was now "trying to use the momentum that was created by the ceasefire between Iran and Israel to restart the talks on Gaza". "If we don't utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it's an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don't want to see that again," the spokesman, who is also an adviser to Qatar's prime minister, said. US President Donald Trump voiced optimism on Friday about a new ceasefire in Gaza saying an agreement involving Israel and Hamas could come as early as next week. Mediators have been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations with the warring parties aimed at ending 20 months of war in Gaza, with Al Ansari explaining there were no current talks between the sides but that Qatar was "heavily involved in talking to every side separately". A two-month truce, which was agreed as Trump came into office in January, collapsed in March with Israel intensifying military operations in Gaza afterwards. "We have seen US pressure and what it can accomplish," Al Ansari said referring to the January truce which saw dozens of hostages held by Hamas released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The Qatari official said particularly in the context of US enforcement of the Israel-Iran truce, it was "not a far-fetched idea" that pressure from Washington would achieve a fresh truce in Gaza. "We are working with them very, very closely to make sure that the right pressure is applied from the international community as a whole, especially from the US, to see both parties at the negotiating table," Al Ansari said. As part of such an agreement, the remaining hostages from Israel in Gaza are expected to be released and many Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are to be freed. — Agencies


Observer
15 hours ago
- Observer
The connection: Supply chains and geopolitics
Over the decades, the supply chains have become a highly integrated web of interconnections driven by globalization. However, the global supply chain landscape is experiencing constant reorientation and stress in recent years due to the increasing strain of disruptions. The key events that have impacted the supply chain from all fronts are the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Palestine war, China-US Trade War 1, and Trade War 2, which was initiated by sweeping tariffs introduced by the trump administration in his current second term. Now, the US bombing of three of Iran's nuclear facilities, and the retaliatory response of Iran bombing the US air base in Doha, Qatar, has put the entire Middle East and the world in a state of heightened uncertainty and could trigger a significant disruption of supply chains and a probable spike in oil prices. Energy analysts fear a specter of panic buying in the international energy market if the situation escalates further. To get a perspective, the Strait of Hormuz is the world's most strategic and critical chokepoint, a narrow stretch of water with Iran to the north and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman to the south linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. It is a vital vein for the passage of Oil and gas shipments. The Strait of Hormuz is critical as 20% of the world's oil and a third of liquefied petroleum Gas (LNG) pass through this narrow strait. The Strait handles 20.3 million barrels of oil daily, making it crucial for global trade and supply. The Middle East region is experiencing protracted uncertainty that could affect the global energy markets. The recent US attack on key Iranian enrichment facilities to destroy Iran's nuclear ambitions could affect the movement of ships in this region. The Strait of Hormuz is also a primary export route of Qatari LNG, with a fifth of the global LNG supply passing through this strait last year. This handout natural-colour image acquired with MODIS on NASA's Terra satellite taken on February 5, 2025 shows the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. — AFP If Iran stops the movement of ships through this Strait, it would be economic suicide for the world. While they have not done it, they are taking actions to interfere with energy shipments by jamming the GPS signals of tankers in this region. According to maritime intelligence reports, 23% of the region's vessels, approximately 1600 ships, have experienced signal jamming. Many shipping giants have temporarily issued standby instructions to their vessels or rerouted them in anticipation and fear of further geopolitical escalations. The closure or any restrictions to this trade route will have far-reaching implications for the world. It could also strain diplomatic relationships, increase energy prices, sharply raise inflationary pressures, and cause shipment delays. Over the years, the US has been worried about the vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz and has gradually reduced its dependency on Middle East oil. It has grown to become one of the world's largest oil-producing nations. Now, the US imports only 10-11% of its oil requirement from Iraq and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East. However, 84% of Hormuz's shipped oil goes to Asia. The strait is 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, with shipping lanes only 2 miles across. A blockade could halt 20% of global oil instantly. Businesses exploring diversifying logistic pathways face significant operational, economic, and geopolitical hurdles. The Strait of Hormuz remains irreplaceable for bulk shipments; it is, in fact, the most viable option for global trade shipments. Given the geopolitical escalations, trade wars, regional instability, and unpredictability of political decisions, the Strait of Hormuz is more than a strategic trade gateway; it has become a geopolitical weapon, magnifying its significance for sustainable international trade and global supply chains.


Observer
15 hours ago
- Observer
Obfuscating on obliterating
Donald Trump has finally met his match. The Iranian Supreme Leader lies just as boldly, with just as much bombast, as the American Supreme Leader. On Thursday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei put out a video hailing Iran's victory over Israel and the United States. Trump was shocked, shocked at this blatant lie. 'As a man of great faith, he is not supposed to lie,' the president marvelled on Truth Social. Then Trump went on to his usual authoritarian etiquette lesson, complaining that the proper response by Khamenei to getting hit with 14 30,000-pound bombs should have been: 'THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!' Trump said that he deserved gratitude because he knew where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was hiding and stopped Israeli and US forces from killing him. He said that he made Israel recall a group of planes headed for Tehran that were, perhaps, looking for 'the final knockout!' 'I wish the leadership of Iran would realize,' he tut-tutted, 'that you often get more with HONEY than you do with VINEGAR. PEACE!!!' Half an hour later, Mr Honey put out a typically vinegary post abruptly cutting off 'ALL' trade talks with Canada. Before Trump did it, with an assist from the Supreme Court on Friday, it was Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld who worked to erode checks and balances and hoover all the power into the executive branch. With the malleable George W Bush in the Oval, Cheney and Rumsfeld were able to create an alternate universe where they were never wrong — because they conjured up information to prove they were right. The two malevolent regents had a fever about getting rid of Saddam, so they hyped up intelligence, redirecting Americans' vengeful emotions about Osama bin Laden and 9/11 into that pet project. Tony Blair scaremongered that it would take only 45 minutes for Saddam to send his WMDs westward. But there were no WMDs. When it comes to the Middle East, presidents can't resist indulging in a gasconade. Unlike Iraq, Iran was actually making progress on its nuclear programme. Trump did not need to warp intelligence to justify his decision. But he did anyway, to satisfy his unquenchable ego. He bragged that the strikes had 'OBLITERATED' Iran's nuclear capabilities. 'I just don't think the president was telling the truth,' Sen Chris Murphy, D-Conn, told reporters. He believes Iran still has 'significant remaining capability.' When CNN's Natasha Bertrand and her colleagues broke the story that a preliminary classified US report suggested that the strikes had set back Iran by only a few months, Trump, Pete Hegseth and Karoline Leavitt smeared her and The New York Times, which confirmed her scoop, as inaccurate, unpatriotic and disrespectful to our military. On Friday afternoon, CNN revealed that the military did not even use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's largest nuclear targets because it was too deep. Though Trump likes to hug the flag — and just raised two huge ones on the White House North and South Lawns — he ignores a basic tenet of patriotism: It is patriotic to tell the public the truth on life-or-death matters, and for the press to challenge power. It is unpatriotic to mislead the public in order to control it and suppress dissent, or as a way of puffing up your own ego. Although he was dubbed the 'Daddy' of NATO in The Hague on Wednesday, Trump clearly has daddy issues. (Pass the tissues!) He did not get the affirmation from his father that could have prevented this vainglorious vamping. For Trump, it was not enough for the strikes to damage Iran's nuclear capabilities; they had to 'obliterate' them. It could not simply be an impressive mission; it had to be, as Hegseth said, 'the most complex and secretive military operation in history.' (Move over, D-Day and crossing the Delaware.) The president was so eager to magnify the mission that he eerily compared it to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Trump has always believed in 'truthful hyperbole", as he called it in 'The Art of the Deal". But now it's untruthful hyperbole. He has falsely claimed that an election was stolen and falsely claimed that $1.7 trillion in cuts to the social safety net in his Big, Unpopular Bill 'won't affect anybody; it is just fraud, waste and abuse.' 'So many Americans still have questions about the 2020 election,' a reporter told Trump at the news conference on Friday, wondering if he would appoint someone at the Justice Department to investigate judges 'for the political persecution of you, your family and your supporters during the Biden administration?' Trump beamed.