Israel-Hezbollah latest: Netanyahu says would-be Hezbollah leader Safieddine killed in airstrike
Israel has pushed into south-west Lebanon after days of fighting on the south eastern side of the country
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Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israeli forces have killed the would-be successor of the late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
In a pre-recorded video message, the Israeli prime minister said: “We’ve degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities. We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of the replacement.”
Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Hashem Safieddine, the man expected to replace the Nasrallah, had probably been “eliminated”.
Safieddine, a top Hezbollah official, has not been heard from publicly since an Israeli airstrike late last week. He has been a prime target for Israel, nurtured as an influential leader and potential heir.
The Israeli military also said on Tuesday that it had killed Suhail Husseini – who was responsible for overseeing Hezbollah logistics, budget and management – the night before.
The claims come as the Israeli military expanded its ground invasion of southern Lebanon by deploying another division of thousands of troops and Hezbollah launched barrages of rockets towards the northern Israeli port city of Haifa on Tuesday for the third consecutive day, injuring 12 people.
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Iran says Quds force commander is alive and well
Ismail Ghaani, the commander of the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, is alive and well, his Deputy Brigadier General Iraj Masjedi said, dismissing speculations about his death.
Mr Ghani, who leads the Guard’s overseas military service, has been missing from the public eye for more than a week amid speculations about his death in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.
His deputy told local reporters yesterday that there was no need for the Guards to release any official statement to shut down the rumours, according to the Financial Times.
“He’s healthy and well and doing his job,” Big Gen Masjedi said of Mr Ghaani, while declining to provide further details.
Watch: ‘This is a tense life’: Teenager speaks from bombed Gaza
A teenager from north Gaza has shared what her life is like living in a tent after she was displaced under Israeli bombardment.
Enas Tantesh is 17 years old and lives in the Al Mawasi so-called humanitarian zone.
“This is a tense life... You cannot set a routine, you cannot do whatever you want. You might be displaced or even die at any moment,” she said.
‘This is a tense life’: Teenager speaks from Gaza’s bombed humanitarian zone
A teenager from north Gaza has shared what her life is like living in a tent after she was displaced under Israeli bombardment. Enas Tantesh is 17 years old and lives in the Al Mawasi so-called humanitarian zone. “This is a tense life... You cannot set a routine, you cannot do whatever you want. You might be displaced or even die at any moment,” she said. Enas was displaced after Israel unleashed its heaviest-ever bombardment of Gaza and a siege last October after Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 as hostages, according to Israeli estimates. Since then, Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of Gaza has killed almost 42,000 people, the majority women and children, according to the Palestinian health ministry. A further 10,000 are thought to be under the rubble and an unknown number have been taken into Israeli detention.
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China to provide emergency medical supplies to Lebanon
China will provide emergency medical supplies to Lebanon, China’s official foreign aid agency said this morning.
Li Ming, the spokesperson for the China International Development Cooperation Agency, said in a statement that as the fighting escalated recently, explosions and air strikes “have occurred in many places in Lebanon, causing a large number of casualties”.
“At the request of the Lebanese government, the Chinese government has decided to provide emergency humanitarian medical supplies to Lebanon to help Lebanon carry out medical assistance,” the statement said.
No evidence Iran rushing to build a nuclear weapon, says CIA director
There is no evidence to suggest that Iran has decided to build a nuclear weapon, said CIA director William Burns, adding the US and its allies would be able to detect such a step.
Mr Burns said Iran has advanced its nuclear program by stockpiling uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels and could quickly secure enough fissile material for an atomic bomb.
“No, we do not see evidence today that the supreme leader has reversed the decision that he took at the end of 2003 to suspend the weaponisation program,” Mr Burns said at the Cipher Brief security conference in Sea Island.
Israel claims killing of Hezbollah HQ commander
The Israeli military today said it killed Suhail Hussein Husseini, the commander of Hezbollah’s headquarters in Beirut.
The military claimed Husseini was a partner in the weapons transfer agreements between Iran and Hezbollah and was responsible for the distribution of the smuggled weapons between the various units in Hezbollah.
US warns Israel not to attack Beirut airport
The US warned Israel not to attack the airport in Lebanon’s capital or the roads leading to it after Israel intensified its bombardment of southern Beirut around the one-year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack.
“We think it’s very important that not only the airport be open, but that the roads to the airport be open,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said yesterday.
He added the airport and the road around it needed to be spared so that the American and other foreign citizens “who want to leave can get out” of Lebanon safely.
The Israeli air force yesterday struck the southern suburbs of Beirut, near the international airport, security sources told AFP.
Mr Miller said some 8,500 Americans have contacted the state department to inquire about departure conditions, but this does not mean they all wish to leave.
Trump says Israel has ‘to get smart’ and back him
One year on from the Hamas terrorist attack that sparked 12 months of intense conflict in the Middle East, Donald Trump has said that Israel needs to “get smart” and support him.
The former president appeared to complain that he was not being backed by Israel, claiming in typical fashion that he had done more for the nation and Jewish people “than anybody.”
Trump phoned into conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show, and was asked if he thought Israel would be able to fully recover after its war. The former president replied that Israel “would be good.”
“I think that Israel has to do one thing. They have to get smart about Trump, because they don’t back me,” he said.
Mike Bedigan reports.
Trump says Israel has ‘to get smart’ and back him and whines they don’t support him
During an interview on Monday the former president complained that he had done more for the nation and Jewish people ‘than anybody’ but wasn’t getting the credit he thought he deserved
Over 100 Palestinian journalists detained by Israel in a year
Israel has detained at least 108 Palestinian journalists from Gaza and the occupied West Bank since it launched its war on Gaza a year ago, a rights group has said.
About 58 journalists still remain in Israeli custody, including six women journalists and 22 from Gaza, said the Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, also known as Addameer.
The group said at least 16 journalists were being held under administrative detention.
More than 9000 orders of administrative detention have been issued since 7 October last year, including orders against children and women, the group claimed.
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 21, including five children
At least 21 people, including five children and two women, were killed in Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza last night, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital.
The strikes took place on the anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attack in southern Israel.
Two strikes hit houses in the Bureij refugee camp as emergency responders said more people are thought to be under the rubble.
The Palestinian death toll in the war in Gaza is nearing 42,000, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Strip.
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