Nine Israeli air strikes hit a Hezbollah compound in response to the group’s prior downing of an Israeli drone; the attack killed three Hezbollah members and marked one of the deepest Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon (Times of Israel)
Hezbollah Claims to Shoot Down Israeli Drone
Lebanon’s Hezbollah claims to have struck down an Israeli attack drone over Lebanese territory, marking a continued increase in conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border this week (Reuters)
Gunman Shot and Captured After Firing Shots Outside U.S. Embassy in Beirut
No motive was immediately clear, and Lebanese authorities said they were investigating the incident (AP)
Yesterday the Israeli military’s chief of staff said Israeli forces will soon determine their response to ongoing attacks in northern Israel by the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah (Times of Israel)
Hezbollah Claims to Fire More Than Sixty Rockets at Israeli Military Targets
It is the second day of retaliation after Israel killed a Hezbollah commander on Tuesday night; Israel’s military said it intercepted several missiles launched from Lebanon and reported no casualties (Bloomberg)
EU Pledges More Than $1 Billion for Lebanon as Part of Migration Management Deal
In Beirut today, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the funding available through the year 2027 was part of European Union (EU) efforts to support Lebanon’s security and stability; she said that the EU is committed to keeping legal migration pathways open to Europe and counted on Lebanon to combat irregular migration and migrant smuggling (Politico)
Hezbollah Targets Site Ten Miles Inside Israel
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said that its drones had hit a barracks in northern Israel, while the Israeli military said three drones were intercepted and they had recorded no casualties or damage; the attack is Lebanon’s deepest inside Israel since last October (NYT)
Three Wounded From Hezbollah UAV Crashes in Northern Israel
Residents of northern Israel said that two explosive drones had crossed from Lebanese territory and fell in Beit Hillel in the Galilee on Tuesday, which lightly wounded three people, Israeli media reported (Jerusalem Post)
Four Israeli Soldiers Wounded by Border Blast in Lebanon, IDF Says
Several Israeli soldiers have been wounded in a blast in the Tel Ismail area in southern Lebanon, according to the Israeli military and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which claimed responsibility for the attack (Times of Israel)
It said its fighters detonated the devices when a patrol of Israeli soldiers crossed into Lebanon and arrived at the area where the devices were planted; this was the first time Hezbollah claimed such an attack in more than six months of near-daily cross-border fire with Israel (Al Jazeera).
Lebanese Man Sanctioned by the U.S. Over Hamas Links Found Dead
A Lebanese man sanctioned by the United States for his alleged links with the Palestinian group Hamas was found dead Wednesday after he went missing for a week (Reuters)
The body of Mohammad Surur was found on Tuesday in a villa in the mountain town of Beit Mery, with several gunshot wounds to his legs; the injuries, along with a large sum of money found on the body, led Lebanon’s security forces to conclude that Surur had been subject to a violent interrogation (The Guardian). Surur was sanctioned in 2019 by the U.S. Treasury, which said he had transferred “tens of millions of dollars a year” between the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ al-Quds Force and Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades (ABC).
Israel Kills Hezbollah Field Commander in Lebanon
Early on Monday, Israeli fighter jets hit the village of al-Sultaniyah and killed a field commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit and two other people, the Israeli military and two Lebanese security sources said; the Israeli military identified the commander as Ali Ahmed Hassin, and said he was responsible for planning and executing attacks against Israelis (Reuters)
Meanwhile, Pascal Sleiman, the leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) party in north Lebanon’s Jbeil district, was kidnapped and killed on Sunday, with officials expressing concerns the incident could exacerbate already heavy tensions between various religious factions in Lebanon (Al-Monitor)
After announcing the arrest of several Syrians involved in the kidnapping on Monday, the Lebanese army said that Sleiman was killed by his kidnappers while they were trying to steal his car, and his body was taken to Syria. (Jerusalem Post).
Hezbollah Downs Israeli Hermes 900 Drone in Lebanese Airspace
Hezbollah announced that it downed an Israeli Hermes 900 drone on Saturday, making it the second interception of an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Lebanese skies since the outbreak of the Gaza War, after a Hermes 450 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in February (Haaretz).
Lebanese PM Declares Agricultural Disaster in South Lebanon Due to Israeli Attacks
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said Israeli air strikes have turned southern Lebanon into a “devastated agricultural area,” burning tens of thousands of olive trees and torching farmland across southern Lebanon (Reuters)
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Mikati said 800 hectares of farmland had been severely damaged, 340,000 livestock had died, and about 75 percent of farmers in the south had lost their source of income (The National)
Anti-Corruption Groups File Complaint Against Lebanon’s PM in France
Two anti-corruption groups have filed a complaint in France against Lebanon’s billionaire caretaker premier Najib Mikati and his relatives, seeking an investigation into alleged financial crimes, including money laundering (Jerusalem Post). In a statement issued by his office, Mikati said he had not been formally notified of the complaint and that his family’s wealth was acquired transparently and legally; it said the accusations were part of a “media campaign” aimed at “insulting him and his family members” (AP).
Israeli Defense Minister Taking Steps to Prepare Public For War in Lebanon
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant directed his officials to explore how to prepare the public for a full-scale war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to Israeli media on Tuesday (Middle East Monitor)
On Wednesday, Gallant stated that a war with Hezbollah would prove “difficult” for Israel, but “it would be a catastrophe for Hezbollah and Lebanon” (Jerusalem Post).
Israel Strikes Several Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched simultaneous attacks on ten Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, including a weapons storage facility and several launch posts (Jerusalem Post).
IDF Kills High-Ranking Hezbollah Commander in Lebanon
The Israeli military announced the death of Ismail al-Zin, a senior commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces, after an Israeli warplane carried out a targeted strike on his vehicle in southern Lebanon (Al Jazeera)
Explosion in South Lebanon Injures Four UN Workers
The UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL said it is investigating the origins of a blast that injured three observers and one translator as they were carrying out a foot patrol in south Lebanon (Reuters)
Lebanon’s state news agency reported that the explosion was caused by an Israeli drone strike; the Israeli military denied responsibility (BBC)
Dozens Reported Killed in Israeli Air Strikes in Syria
Israeli air strikes in northern Syria today killed at least thirty-eight people, including five fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, three unnamed security sources told Reuters; Israel did not immediately comment on the strikes, which appeared to be its most deadly in Syria in months (Reuters)
Israel has recently targeted sites linked to Iran’s allies in Syria (BBC)
Cross-Border Strikes Kill Seven in Lebanon, One in Israel
The deadly strikes overnight followed a day of attacks between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah across the Israel-Lebanon border; the clash was one of the deadliest along the border since the start of the Israel-Hamas war (Al Jazeera)
A Lebanese paramedics association reported the deaths in Lebanon, while Israeli rescue services reported the death in Israel; in both cases, the attacking force said it was targeting a military facility (AP)
Lebanese PM Calls on Israel to Stop Attacking South After UN Vote
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said that countries should pressure Israel to stop attacking Lebanon following a UN Security Council decision calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza (Arab News)
Mikati told Reuters in February that a ceasefire in Gaza would trigger indirect talks between Lebanon and Israel to reach a halt to hostilities on the southern border and to delineate the disputed border between the two countries (Reuters)
Hezbollah has also said it would halt its fire into Israel if a Gaza ceasefire were reached; Israeli and U.S. officials, however, have said a ceasefire in Gaza would not automatically extend to Lebanon (Reuters).
Lebanon to Complain to UN, Saying Israel Disrupts Navigation Systems
Lebanon will file an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council over Israel’s violation of its sovereignty by disrupting its navigation systems; in a statement, the foreign ministry said Israel was affecting the safety of civil aviation in the airspace of Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport (Reuters)
Hezbollah Official Makes Landmark Visit to UAE
A senior official from the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah has made a landmark trip to the United Arab Emirates to facilitate the release of more than a dozen Lebanese nationals detained there (AP)
The visit at the invitation of the UAE could signal a significant shift away from the hostility that has long defined relations between Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah and the Sunni Muslim UAE, a strategic ally of the United States, analysts said (Reuters).
Beirut Says French Plan for Lebanon-Israel Truce Could Be “Step” to Stability
Lebanon considers a French proposal meant to end hostilities with Israel and settle a border dispute a “significant step” towards peace, according to a letter by Lebanon’s foreign ministry (I24 News)
The French plan was submitted to Lebanon last month and outlines three phases in which military operations would cease (Times of Israel). To succeed, any deal would need approval from Hezbollah, which holds significant sway over the Lebanese state; Hezbollah says it will not stop clashing with Israel until an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire is reached in Gaza (Reuters)
UN Investigation Finds Israeli Tank Killed “Clearly Identifiable” Reporter in Lebanon
An Israeli tank killed Reuters reporter Issam Abdallah in Lebanon last year by firing two 120mm rounds at a group of “clearly identifiable journalists” in violation of international law, a United Nations investigation into the October 13 incident has found (Jerusalem Post)
The investigation by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said its personnel did not record any exchange of fire across the border between Israel and Lebanon for more than forty minutes before the Israeli Merkava tank opened fire (Al Jazeera)
Israeli Air Strike Kills Hamas Member in Southern Lebanon
Israel said Hadi Ali Mustafa was a senior operative, while Hamas did not specify his role (NYT)