Latest news with #Lebanese
9 News
6 hours ago
- Politics
- 9 News
One killed and 11 wounded in intense Israeli strikes on south Lebanon
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Israel's air force carried out intense airstrikes on mountains overlooking a southern city in Lebanon on Friday (local time), in an attack that the Israeli military said targeted underground assets of the Hezbollah militant group. Shortly afterwards, an apartment building in the nearby city of Nabatieh was struck, killing one woman, wounding 11 and knocking out the building's top floor, according to Lebanon's state news agency. The state-run National News Agency reported that the woman killed lived in Germany and had come back to Lebanon less than a month earlier to visit family. People gather next to a car that was damaged in an Israeli airstrike in Nabatieh town, south Lebanon. (AP) It wasn't immediately clear if she was a German citizen. The woman's apartment was hit by an Israeli drone strike, according to the report. The Israeli army, in a statement posted on X, denied targeting a civilian building. The statement said the building was hit by a Hezbollah rocket that had been stored at another location that was targeted by an airstrike and "launched, and exploded as a result." It blamed Hezbollah for storing weapons near residential areas. Since the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war ended with a US-brokered ceasefire in November, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes on southern Lebanon. Lebanese army soldiers inspect a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Nabatieh town. (AP) Friday's strikes were more intense than usual. "We are steadfast no matter how much you bomb us with your fighter jets and drones," Hassan Ghandour, a Shiite cleric from Nabatieh, told The Associated Press at the scene of the building. Lebanon's president and prime minister condemned the Israeli strikes on south Lebanon, saying they violated the ceasefire deal. The airstrikes on the mountains overlooking Nabatieh came in two waves, and bunker busters were used, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said that four people were slightly wounded in the airstrikes outside the city. A bulldozer clears rubble near a destroyed building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Nabatieh town. (AP) The Israeli military said in a statement that its fighter jets struck a site used by Hezbollah to manage its fire and defence array in the area and is part of a significant underground project that was completely taken out of use. The Israeli army said that it identified rehabilitation attempts by Hezbollah beforehand and struck infrastructure sites in the area. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah. Hezbollah suffered significant losses on the battlefield during the war, which left more than 4000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction amounting to $11 billion. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers. A man checks his destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Nabatieh town. (AP) As part of the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was pushed away from areas bordering Israel in south Lebanon and isn't allowed to have an armed presence south of the Litani River. Friday's airstrikes were north of the river. CONTACT US
Ya Libnan
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Ya Libnan
Israel strikes Lebanon in one of biggest attacks since November ceasefire
One person died and 21 others were injured, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. Israel said it was targeting an underground Hezbollah site. By Rachel Chason , Suzan Haidamous , Mohamad El Chamaa and Lior Soroka BEIRUT — Israel pounded southern Lebanon with a series of airstrikes Friday in what analysts and officials on the ground said were some of the most significant strikes since Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in November. Video showed massive plumes of gray smoke rising above a hilltop, and Lebanon's official National News Agency reported an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Nabatieh. The Washington Post was unable to immediately verify who or what struck the residential building in Nabatieh; neither the Israel Defense Forces nor Lebanon's government responded to requests for comment. Lebanon's Health Ministry said one person was killed and 21 were injured during the strikes. The National News Agency reported there were more than 20 hits in under 15 minutes. The Israel Defense Forces said Israeli air force fighter jets targeted a 'significant underground project' used by Hezbollah in the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon. The site was 'completely taken out of use' following the strikes, the IDF said. Beaufort Ridge is about five miles from Nabatieh. In a separate Arabic-language statement , spokesman Avichay Adraee said the IDF did not target a civilian building. Instead, he said, a rocket, stored by Hezbollah inside the building, 'was launched and hit the civilian building' as a result of Israel's strike. Adraee accused Hezbollah of endangering civilians by not giving up its arsenal to the Lebanese government, saying he expected the Lebanese military to confiscateHezbollah's weapons. Lebanon's government, which has pledged to implement the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, condemned the attacks, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam saying they represented 'a blatant violation of national sovereignty … and pose a threat to the stability we are keen to preserve.' Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Israel 'continues to flout regional and international resolutions' and called on the international community to intervene. The Trump administration argues a ceasefire between Israel and Iran could help secure peace on Israel's other fronts , including Gaza, as well as lead to normalization agreements with some of Israel's Arab neighbors. But in southern Lebanon, even since the two sides agreed to a ceasefire seven months ago, Israeli strikes have remained a near-daily occurrence, analysts say. In its Friday statement, Israel said Hezbollah had been making 'rehabilitation attempts' in southern Lebanon; the November ceasefire deal required Lebanese forces to ensure that all Hezbollah infrastructure is removed from the area. Between Nov. 27 — the day after the deal was announced — and June 9, 172 Lebanese deaths and 409 injuries have been reported as a result of Israeli attacks, said Hussein Chaabane, a Beirut-based investigative journalist with Legal Agenda who has been tracking the strikes. Chaabane's toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Despite a mid-February deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw, the IDF has remained in five strategic positions in southern Lebanon close to the border. And entire areas in the south have become 'unofficial buffer zones,' where residents who dare to travel face sniper fire and drone strikes by the IDF, Chaabane said. He said the strikes on Friday were significant — and caused fear in the surrounding community — because of the size of the explosions. 'What is happening is more than just the ceasefire being violated,' Chaabane said. 'It is the transformation of the south of Lebanon. … It has become a de facto security strip.' The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Chaabane's report. Hassan Wazni, the director of Nabih Berri Governmental Hospital, said the strikes were so strong that they shook the ground, reminding him of the period of heavy strikes last year David Wood, a Lebanon analyst with the International Crisis Group, said that while some people in other parts of the country feel the war has ended, 'that has never been the case in southern Lebanon.' 'There is a feeling that the ceasefire doesn't protect them, that Israel is doing whatever it pleases in a military sense, and that the United States — which is the chair of the monitoring committee — is allowing them to do so,' he said. He referred to a committee including representatives from Lebanon, Israel, France, the United States and the United Nations that is charged with monitoring violations of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. Wood added that the longer the strikes continue and civilians are killed, the more frustration in southern Lebanon could grow, including with the new government for failing to protect its residents. 'The longer this goes on and the state can't protect them,' he warned, 'the more likely people are to turn to Hezbollah and groups like it that could emerge.' WASHINGTON POST
Economic Times
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Economic Times
IDF's massive blow
Israel launches strike on Hezbollah's underground project in Lebanon; watch (ET Online) IDF's massive blow 02:10 Min | June 27, 2025, 11:08 PM IST Smoke billowed from Nabatieh district in southern Lebanon on Friday (June 27) following Israeli strikes. According to a post on X written by the Israeli army's spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted a site used by Hezbollah to manage fire control and defence systems. 'This site is part of an underground project that was taken out of service as a result of IDF raids in the area', he said, adding that the IDF detected attempts to rebuild it. Lebanese president Joseph Aoun condemned the strikes in a statement published on his X account, denouncing what he called 'Israel's continued violation of Lebanon's sovereignty and the November ceasefire agreement.' A US-brokered truce in November ended a year-long war between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah.
Sydney Morning Herald
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
I detest Trump and Netanyahu, but on some things they're actually right
Like a lot of people of center-right/center-left political leanings, I've spent the past few decades detesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, especially as he has grown increasingly authoritarian, bellicose and inhumane. And yet those of us in the Bibi critics' club do have to confront an uncomfortable fact: especially over the past 10 months, Netanyahu has impressively followed through on his aim to remake the face of the Middle East. He's degraded Hamas and Hezbollah, two of the vilest terror regimes on the planet. He has made the Iranian theocracy look pathetic and decrepit. Israel has demonstrated its vast military and intelligence supremacy over its enemies, establishing total freedom of the skies over much of Iran. It has shown that its agents can penetrate enemy organisations and find and kill their militant leaders. Netanyahu's actions have contributed to the toppling of the Assad regime in Syria and have helped the legitimate Lebanese government regain control of its own territory. The Axis of Terror is in shambles. This includes the Israeli-US assault on Iran's nuclear program. We don't yet know how much damage that assault has done. An early Pentagon report found that the attacks set the Iranian project back only a few months, which was picked up big-time on one side of the internet. But several other reports, including one from the Institute for Science and International Security, found that the attack 'effectively destroyed' Iran's enrichment program. We may know in time what the bombings accomplished. In the meantime, we do know that Israel and the US have the will and capacity to attack Iran anytime and any place. We do know that if Iran reconstitutes its nuclear program, Israel and the US have the capacity to deliver a much more devastating and regime-threatening blow. We also know that Iran and its proxies have made some insanely self-destructive miscalculations since October 7, 2023, and they must know that, too. These are ominous omens for the theocrats in Tehran. No, I am not saying I support all the ways Netanyahu has responded to the October 7 attack. I supported the aim of the war in the Gaza Strip – to degrade Hamas – but the way Israel has done this has often been uncivilised and barbaric, exercising a callous disregard for human life. And I'm not saying Netanyahu and his settler allies have any sensible vision for how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute in the years ahead, beyond bullying, bigotry and cruelty. Loading But I am saying that people like Netanyahu and Donald Trump, who I generally regard as forces for ill in the world, turn out to be, at least on the broader issue of the Iranian threat, forces for good. I am saying that those of us who detest Bibi and Trump should show a little humility and do some rethinking. What do those guys know that led to their success? What can we learn from what just happened? I think Netanyahu was right to be obsessed with Iran over the past several decades. The 1979 Iranian Revolution was a signature event in world history. Iran has been the central source of instability in the Middle East ever since. Other issues in that region are secondary.
The Age
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Age
I detest Trump and Netanyahu, but on some things they're actually right
Like a lot of people of center-right/center-left political leanings, I've spent the past few decades detesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, especially as he has grown increasingly authoritarian, bellicose and inhumane. And yet those of us in the Bibi critics' club do have to confront an uncomfortable fact: especially over the past 10 months, Netanyahu has impressively followed through on his aim to remake the face of the Middle East. He's degraded Hamas and Hezbollah, two of the vilest terror regimes on the planet. He has made the Iranian theocracy look pathetic and decrepit. Israel has demonstrated its vast military and intelligence supremacy over its enemies, establishing total freedom of the skies over much of Iran. It has shown that its agents can penetrate enemy organisations and find and kill their militant leaders. Netanyahu's actions have contributed to the toppling of the Assad regime in Syria and have helped the legitimate Lebanese government regain control of its own territory. The Axis of Terror is in shambles. This includes the Israeli-US assault on Iran's nuclear program. We don't yet know how much damage that assault has done. An early Pentagon report found that the attacks set the Iranian project back only a few months, which was picked up big-time on one side of the internet. But several other reports, including one from the Institute for Science and International Security, found that the attack 'effectively destroyed' Iran's enrichment program. We may know in time what the bombings accomplished. In the meantime, we do know that Israel and the US have the will and capacity to attack Iran anytime and any place. We do know that if Iran reconstitutes its nuclear program, Israel and the US have the capacity to deliver a much more devastating and regime-threatening blow. We also know that Iran and its proxies have made some insanely self-destructive miscalculations since October 7, 2023, and they must know that, too. These are ominous omens for the theocrats in Tehran. No, I am not saying I support all the ways Netanyahu has responded to the October 7 attack. I supported the aim of the war in the Gaza Strip – to degrade Hamas – but the way Israel has done this has often been uncivilised and barbaric, exercising a callous disregard for human life. And I'm not saying Netanyahu and his settler allies have any sensible vision for how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute in the years ahead, beyond bullying, bigotry and cruelty. Loading But I am saying that people like Netanyahu and Donald Trump, who I generally regard as forces for ill in the world, turn out to be, at least on the broader issue of the Iranian threat, forces for good. I am saying that those of us who detest Bibi and Trump should show a little humility and do some rethinking. What do those guys know that led to their success? What can we learn from what just happened? I think Netanyahu was right to be obsessed with Iran over the past several decades. The 1979 Iranian Revolution was a signature event in world history. Iran has been the central source of instability in the Middle East ever since. Other issues in that region are secondary.
