Israel asserts presence in five strategically significant high points in southern Lebanon

Special Israel asserts presence in five strategically significant high points in southern Lebanon
Nabih Berri, Joseph Aoun and Nawaf Salam at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Feb. 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 13 February 2025
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Israel asserts presence in five strategically significant high points in southern Lebanon

Israel asserts presence in five strategically significant high points in southern Lebanon
  • Lebanon rejects any extension of Israeli forces’ presence in the border areas
  • Egyptian foreign minister: Resolution 1701 must be implemented by all parties

BEIRUT: Ahead of the scheduled Friday meeting of the five-member committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in southern Lebanon, Israel preemptively announced its decision to maintain a military presence in five strategic points overlooking the southern sectors.

The Israeli announcement — through both its officials and Israeli media — came four days before the extended deadline for withdrawing its forces, which have advanced into Lebanese territory.

On Wednesday night, Israeli warplanes conducted low-altitude flights, breaking the sound barrier over Beirut and several other regions, including the Bekaa Valley.

The maneuver came only hours after Lebanon rejected any extension of Israeli forces’ presence in the border areas, which they had advanced into since Oct. 1.

Political analysts interpreted the aerial incursion as “an act of intimidation designed to pressure Lebanon into accepting the situation.”

Lebanon has rejected any extension of the Israeli occupation of its territory. On Thursday, President Joseph Aoun reaffirmed that “Lebanon is intensifying diplomatic efforts to ensure Israel’s withdrawal by February 18.”

He said that the country was actively engaging with influential global powers, particularly the US and France, to secure a sustainable resolution.

During his meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji in the newly formed government, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty underscored the need to enforce the ceasefire agreement in southern Lebanon and demanded the immediate, full withdrawal of Israeli forces. He also stressed the importance of enforcing Resolution 1701, ensuring that all parties complied without exception.

On Thursday, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer announced that Israel would retain control over five strategic high points inside Lebanon following the expiry of the ceasefire next Tuesday. He emphasized that while the Israeli army would redeploy, it would maintain its presence in these key positions until Lebanon met its commitments under the agreement.

“Lebanon’s obligations do not entail removing Hezbollah from the border, but rather disarming it,” Dermer told Bloomberg.

While the Israeli minister did not specify how long the Israeli army would remain in the strategic high points, he said: “The army will not withdraw in the near future.”

On Wednesday, Ori Gordin, the chief of the Israeli army’s Northern Command, made a call “to solidify Israel’s presence in these positions under American cover and with international support.”

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority quoted senior officials in the Security Cabinet of Israel as saying that “the US has granted Israeli forces permission to remain in several locations in Lebanon long-term beyond Feb. 18.”

Israeli media reported that “the Israeli army has received US approval to establish observation points to monitor Hezbollah’s activities, while the US side rejected postponing the Israeli withdrawal from the villages where it is still carrying out incursions.”

These Israeli positions coincided with a round of talks conducted by US Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, representative of the US in the committee monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, with Israeli officials on Thursday. As a result, the committee’s meeting in Ras Naqoura was postponed to Friday after originally being scheduled for Thursday.

Lebanon has rejected a joint US-French proposal to take control of these five strategic positions along the border, insisting instead that UN peacekeeping forces — UNIFIL — assume control of these points in coordination with the Lebanese army.

The disputed hills, which the Israeli military refuses to evacuate, include Jabal Blat, Labouneh, Aziziyah, Awida and Hamames. All these positions are strategically located but uninhabited.

According to local media reports in Beirut, Israeli forces have begun constructing prefabricated structures with guard posts along the Markaba-Houla road, adjacent to an existing UNIFIL position near the border. 


At least 70 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, health authorities say

At least 70 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, health authorities say
Updated 53 min ago
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At least 70 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, health authorities say

At least 70 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza, health authorities say
  • Medics say Israeli strikes targeted several houses in northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip
  • Since Tuesday, airstrikes have killed 510 Palestinians, with more than half of them women and children

GAZA/CAIRO: At least 70 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday, after Israel resumed its bombing campaign on the enclave, a Gaza health official said.

Medics said Israeli strikes targeted several houses in northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said its forces had resumed ground operations in central and southern Gaza, after a ceasefire that had broadly held since January collapsed.

The renewed ground operations came a day after more than 400 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in one of the deadliest episodes since the beginning of the conflict in October 2023.

Since Tuesday, airstrikes have killed 510 Palestinians, with more than half of them women and children, the health official said.

The Israeli military said its operations extended Israel’s control over the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza, and were a “focused” maneuver aimed at creating a partial buffer zone between the north and the south of the enclave.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said the ground operation and the incursion into the Netzarim Corridor were a “new and dangerous violation” of the two-month-old ceasefire agreement. In a statement, the group reaffirmed its commitment to the deal and called on mediators to “assume their responsibilities.”

Palestinian mourners pray over the bodies of victims of overnight Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip at Al-Ahli Arab hospital, also known as the Baptist hospital, in Gaza City ahead of their burial on March 18, 2025. (AFP)

Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, a Hamas official said mediators had stepped up their efforts with the two warring sides but added that “no breakthrough has yet been made.”

The group has made no clear threats to retaliate.

The war started after Hamas militants attacked Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages, by Israeli tallies.

Activists gather on Wall Street in front of a property owned by President Donald Trump following renewed attacks on Gaza by Israel on March 19, 2025 in New York City. (Getty Images via AFP)

More than 49,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ensuing conflict, according to Gaza’s health authorities, with the enclave reduced to rubble.


Sudan TV says army close to taking control of Presidential Palace from paramilitary RSF group

Sudan TV says army close to taking control of Presidential Palace from paramilitary RSF group
Updated 36 sec ago
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Sudan TV says army close to taking control of Presidential Palace from paramilitary RSF group

Sudan TV says army close to taking control of Presidential Palace from paramilitary RSF group
  • Marks a significant shift in the two-year-old conflict that threatens to fracture the country
  • The war has led to what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis

DUBAI: Sudan’s state TV said on Thursday that the army is close to taking control of the Presidential Palace in Khartoum from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, marking a significant shift in the two-year-old conflict that threatens to fracture the country.
Late on Wednesday, heavy clashes erupted near the palace, with explosions heard and airstrikes by the army targeting central Khartoum, witnesses and military sources said.
After nearly two years of war, the RSF controls most of the west of Sudan and parts of the capital Khartoum, but has been losing ground in central Sudan to the army.
The two military factions staged a coup in 2021, derailing a transition to civilian rule, and warfare broke out in April 2023 after plans for a new transition triggered violent conflict.
The war has led to what the UN calls the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with both the RSF and the army accused of widespread human rights abuses.


Israel launches a ground operation to retake part of a key corridor in northern Gaza

Israel launches a ground operation to retake part of a key corridor in northern Gaza
Updated 20 March 2025
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Israel launches a ground operation to retake part of a key corridor in northern Gaza

Israel launches a ground operation to retake part of a key corridor in northern Gaza
  • Israel used the Netzarim corridor as a military zone which bisected northern Gaza from the south.

DEIR AL-BALAH: Israel said Wednesday it launched a “limited ground operation” in northern Gaza to retake part of a corridor that bisects the territory, and the country’s defense minister warned that the army plans to step up the attacks that shattered a two-month ceasefire “with an intensity that you have not seen.”
The military said it had retaken part of the Netzarim corridor, which bisects northern Gaza from the south and from where it had withdrawn as part of the ceasefire with Hamas that began in January.
Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Palestinians in Gaza that the army would again order evacuations from combat zones soon, and that its attacks against Hamas would become more fierce if dozens of hostages held for more than 17 months weren’t freed.
The move appeared to deepen a renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza, which shattered a ceasefire with Hamas.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 436 people, including 183 children and 94 women, have been killed since Israel launched the strikes early Tuesday. It said another 678 people have been wounded.
The military says it only strikes militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas. Gaza’s Health Ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The military said in a statement that as part of the new offensive, it struck dozens of militants and militant sites on Wednesday, including the command center of a Hamas battalion.
The war in Gaza, which was paused in January by an internationally-mediated ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, has been among the deadliest conflicts ever for humanitarian workers, according to the UN.
The resumption of fighting launched by Israel early Tuesday risks plunging the region back into all-out war. It came weeks after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire, during which Israel and Hamas exchanged hostages for prisoners and were set to negotiate an extension to the truce that was meant to bring about an eventual end to the war.
But those negotiations never got off the ground. Hamas has demanded that Israel stick to the terms of the initial ceasefire deal, including a full withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Israel, which has vowed to defeat Hamas, has put forward a new proposal that would extend the truce and free more hostages held by Hamas, without a commitment to end the war.


Israel says it intercepted missile launched from Yemen

Israel says it intercepted missile launched from Yemen
Updated 20 March 2025
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Israel says it intercepted missile launched from Yemen

Israel says it intercepted missile launched from Yemen
  • Israel’s ambulance service said no serious injuries were reported

Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen early on Thursday as hostilities with the Houthis intensified, amid US President Donald Trump’s threats to punish Iran over its perceived support for the Yemeni militant group.
Sirens sounded across several areas in Israel after the projectile was fired, the military said. The Israeli police said sirens were heard in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
“A missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF prior to crossing into Israeli territory. Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol,” the Israeli military said in a statement, referring to its air force.
Israel’s ambulance service said no serious injuries were reported.
Yemen’s Houthi militants, undeterred by waves of US strikes since Saturday, fired a ballistic missile toward Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, the group’s military spokesperson said in a televised statement.
The group has recently vowed to escalate their attacks, including those targeting Israel, in response to the US campaign.
US strikes which began on Saturday over the Houthis’ attacks against Red Sea shipping are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. The US attacks have killed at least 31 people.
Trump also threatened on Monday to hold Iran accountable for any future Houthi attacks, warning of severe consequences. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the Houthis were independent and took their own strategic and operational decisions.
On Tuesday, the Houthis said they had fired a ballistic missile toward Israel and would expand their range of targets in that country in coming days in retaliation for renewed Israeli airstrikes in Gaza after weeks of relative calm.
The Houthis have carried out over 100 attacks on shipping since Israel’s war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians.
The attacks have disrupted global commerce and prompted the US military to launch a costly campaign to intercept missiles.
The Houthis are part of what has been called the “Axis of Resistance” — an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias including Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and armed groups in Iraq, all backed by Iran.


UK demands transparent probe of Israel strike on Gaza UN building

UK demands transparent probe of Israel strike on Gaza UN building
Updated 20 March 2025
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UK demands transparent probe of Israel strike on Gaza UN building

UK demands transparent probe of Israel strike on Gaza UN building
  • “Appalled a UN compound in Gaza was hit this morning,” Lammy wrote on X

LONDON: Britain’s foreign minister David Lammy on Wednesday called for a transparent investigation into an Israeli air strike on a UN building in Gaza.
“Appalled a UN compound in Gaza was hit this morning,” Lammy wrote on X. “This incident must be investigated transparently and those responsible held to account.”