Tag Archives: Middle East

The Washington Post reports: The Israel Defense Forces said Friday that it launched a strike on the Lebanese capital, although the target was unclear. Images from a southern Beirut suburb, where support for Hezbollah is strong, showed rubble in the streets and extensive damage to buildings and cars. Earlier, Israel’s military said it had launched airstrikes targeting what it described …

Reuters reports: Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated late on Wednesday afternoon across Lebanon’s south and in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a security source and a witness said, further hiking tensions with Israel a day after similar explosions launched via the group’s pagers. At least one of the blasts took place near a funeral organized by Iran-backed Hezbollah for those killed …

The New York Times reports: Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon, according to American and other officials briefed on the operation. The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some …

The Associated Press reports: Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously in parts of Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people — including members of the militant group Hezbollah and a young girl — and wounding several thousand, officials said. They pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack. Among those …

CBS News reports: Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, along with the country’s foreign minister and others, were found dead Monday morning hours after their helicopter crashed in dense fog in a mountainous region of the country’s northwest, state media reported. Raisi was 63. The crash comes at hugely a tumultuous time for the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war, during which …

The Associated Press reports: A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating. Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian …

The New York Times reports: The Israeli military struck Iran early on Friday, according to two Israeli and three Iranian officials, in what appeared to be Israel’s first military response to Iran’s attack last weekend but one whose scope, at least initially, appeared to be limited. The Iranian officials said that a strike had hit a military air base near …

The Hill reports: “We have condemned, we have intervened, we will do everything to avoid an escalation, an inferno,” French President Emmanuel Macron said to French media BFMTV and RMC. Macron added that France will try to “convince Israel that we must not respond by escalating,” and, instead of attacking Tehran, work to “isolate Iran, increase sanctions and find a …

The New York Times reports: Israel’s war cabinet was set to meet on Sunday afternoon, officials said, hours after Iran fired hundreds of exploding drones and missiles in what was believed to be its first direct attack on Israel after years of a shadow war. Nearly all of the volleys were intercepted, and those that made impact caused only minor …

The Jerusalem Post reports: The IDF announced on Saturday night that Iran has launched dozens of drones directly from its territory against Israel, in a radical change from its usual use of proxies. The military said that it is ready to shoot them down, though air defense is not hermetic. The IDF’s shoot-down capabilities include aircraft, Iron Dome, David’s Sling, …

The New York Times reports: Air defenses failed to stop a deadly attack on a U.S. military outpost in Jordan on Sunday because the hostile drone homed in on its target at the same time an American drone was returning to the base, two U.S. officials said Monday. The return of the American surveillance drone to the remote resupply base …

The Stars & Stripes reports: Three U.S. service members were killed and 25 injured Sunday in a one-way drone attack at a small U.S. base in northeast Jordan, near the Syria border, U.S. Central Command announced. The attack is another escalation of the hostilities between the U.S. and enemies in the Middle East following the Hamas attack on Israel on …

Reuters reports: A group of relatives of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian gunmen in Gaza stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem on Monday, demanding that the lawmakers do more to try to free their loved ones. The action by about 20 people signaled growing domestic dissent in the fourth month of the Gaza war against Hamas. One woman held …

Reuters reports: Pakistan used killer drones and rockets to strike separatist Baloch militants inside Iran on Thursday, Pakistani authorities said, two days after Tehran said it had attacked the bases of another group within Pakistani territory. Iranian media said several missiles hit a village in the Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders Pakistan, killing at least nine people. Earlier reports said three …

The Times Of Israel reports: The “voluntary” resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza is slowly becoming a key official policy of the government, with a senior official saying that Israel has held talks with several countries for their potential absorption. Zman Israel, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site, has learned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition is conducting secret contacts …

The New York Times reports: The Israeli military announced on Monday that it will begin withdrawing several thousand troops from Gaza at least temporarily, in what would be the most significant publicly announced pullback since the war began. The military cited a growing toll on the Israeli economy following nearly three months of wartime mobilization with little end in sight …

The Hill reports: Israel expects the war in Gaza will go on for “many more months,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said. “The war will continue for many more months, and we will operate in various ways – so that the achievement will be preserved over time,” Halevi said in a press conference Tuesday. …

Axios reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed to continue waging war against Hamas in Gaza, despite a growing number of international calls for a ceasefire. While visiting Israeli troops in northern Gaza, Netanyahu said: “Whoever talks about stopping, there is no such thing.” He also posted a video to X on Monday with the comment: “With our …

CNN Business reports: BP said Monday that it would pause all shipments through the Red Sea because of increased attacks on vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen. “In light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping in the Red Sea, BP has decided to temporarily pause all transits through the Red Sea,” the company said in a statement. “We will …

The Associated Press reports: An American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said. Yemen’s Houthi rebels later claimed attacks on two ships they described as being linked to Israel, but did not acknowledge targeting a U.S. Navy vessel. The attack potentially marked a major escalation in a series of maritime attacks …