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Israel begins ground offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

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  • Opinion - Is the day of reckoning for the Islamic Republic of Iran finally here?

    Unlike the Israeli response in April, this response will probably not be aimed at sending a message to Iranian leadership; rather, at removing it.

  • Vancouver Police probe Oct. 7 rally where 'death to Canada' cry went up

    VANCOUVER — Vancouver Police say they are conducting an investigation into a pro-Palestinian protest marking the Oct. 7 anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel where they say speakers expressed "solidarity with terrorist groups."

  • Saudi Crown Prince meets Iran foreign minister in Riyadh, Saudi agency says

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi discussed developments in the region at a meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday, the Saudi state news agency (SPA) reported. Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has had a political rapprochement with Tehran in recent years, which has helped ease regional tensions, but relations remain difficult.

  • Hezbollah officials drop Gaza truce as condition for Lebanon ceasefire

    Hezbollah officials are no longer demanding a truce in Gaza as a condition for reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon, rowing back from an oft-repeated promise to keep fighting until Israel halts its offensive against Hezbollah's Iran-backed ally Hamas. Ever since Hezbollah began launching missiles across Lebanon's border a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel, Hezbollah officials have consistently said they would not stop until Israel ended the war in Gaza.

  • Netanyahu says Israel has 'taken out' Nasrallah's successors

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli forces have killed the would-be successors of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, without naming them. Netanyahu did not identify by name Nasrallah's replacement that he claimed Israel had killed.

  • Hezbollah steps up rocket fire as Israel sends more troops into Lebanon

    BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah fired another barrage of rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and the militant group’s acting leader vowed to keep up pressure that has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said it sent more ground troops into southern Lebanon and that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an airstrike.

  • Middle East latest: Netanyahu says Israel has killed the successor to the head of Hezbollah

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel has killed the successor to the head of Hezbollah while the militant group's acting leader promised more fighting in southern Lebanon.

  • UN agency for Palestinians warns Gaza aid work may 'disintegrate' if Israeli legislation passes

    UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees warned Wednesday that if pending Israeli legislation is adopted, all humanitarian operations in Gaza and the West Bank may “disintegrate,” leaving hundreds of thousands of people in dire need as war rages.

  • US calls out Israel at UN for 'catastrophic conditions' in Gaza

    Israel needs to address urgently "catastrophic conditions" among Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip and stop "intensifying suffering" by limiting aid deliveries, its ally the United States told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. "We call on Israel to take urgent steps to do so," she said in a blunt statement.

  • Ukraine says it struck a Russian ammo depot where North Korean weapons and devastating glide bombs were stored

    The attack overnight marks the latest in a string of Ukrainian drone strikes on key Russian arsenals.

  • Russia declares local emergency in region where Ukraine says it hit weapons arsenal

    Authorities declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in a western region of Russia where Ukraine said it had struck a weapons arsenal overnight. The local branch of the Emergencies Ministry said an emergency had been declared in one district of the Bryansk region following "detonations of explosive objects". Ukraine's military said it had struck an arsenal storing ammunition for missiles and artillery weapons, including those delivered from North Korea, as well as guided aerial bombs.

  • Ukraine's military says it hit base storing drones in southern Russia

    A statement by the General Staff said the attack was carried out jointly by naval forces and the SBU intelligence service. "According to available information, nearly 400 strike drones were stored there," the statement said. Emergency services in Krasnodar region reported a fire extending over 1,600 square metres (17,200 square feet) had been brought under control in a storage area near Oktyabrsky.

  • Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah discuss post-Gaza plans

    CAIRO (Reuters) -Leaders from Islamist group Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement discussed plans for cooperation after the war in Gaza in a new round of talks in Cairo on Wednesday, a Hamas official told Reuters. The talks are the first since the two groups met in China in July and agreed steps to form a Palestinian unity government for Gaza and the occupied West Bank. They are also part of long-running and previously unsuccessful efforts to heal a schism that hardened when Hamas seized control of Gaza in a brief conflict with Fatah in 2007.

  • What to know about Israel's ground invasion in southern Lebanon

    JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s ground invasion in Lebanon stretched into its second week, as the Hezbollah militant group fired hundreds of rockets deep into Israel — with no end in sight to the escalating conflict.

  • Israel Warns Its Retaliation Against Iran Will Be ‘Significant’

    (Bloomberg) -- Israel’s defense minister is set to travel to Washington as the country vowed what one leader called a “significant” response to an Iranian missile attack a week ago and stepped up its military operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Most Read from BloombergUrban Heat Stress Is Another Disparity in the World’s Most Unequal NationFrom Cleveland to Chicago, NFL Teams Dream of Domed StadiumsSingapore Ends 181 Years of Horse Racing to Make Way for HomesChicago’s $1 Billion Budget Hole

  • Opinion - What Netanyahu should have conveyed to the international community at the UN

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the UN was criticized for its lack of strategic vision and its focus on the hostage situation in Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of 51 people and the kidnapping of 79 others.

  • Biden, Netanyahu speak, Israel vows lethal retaliation against Iran

    WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a call on Wednesday amid tensions with Iran, while Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant promised an Israeli strike against Iran will be "lethal, precise and surprising." The 30-minute call was the first known chat for Biden and Netanyahu since August and coincides with a sharp escalation of Israel's conflict with Iran and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, but with no sign of an imminent ceasefire to end the conflict with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.

  • UN chief tells Israel that draft law blocking aid agency UNRWA would be 'catastrophe'

    UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Draft Israeli legislation that would stop the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency working in the Gaza Strip and West Bank would be a "catastrophe" if enacted, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday, adding he raised his concerns with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli parliament in July gave preliminary approval to a bill that would declare UNRWA a terrorist organization. Israeli leaders have accused UNRWA staff of collaborating with Hamas militants in Gaza.

  • China's security agency vows to boost intelligence sharing after deadly attack in Pakistan

    China's top anti-espionage agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), has pledged to step up early warning and anti-terrorism intelligence cooperation following a deadly attack against Chinese nationals in Pakistan at the weekend. In an editorial published on Wednesday, the ministry emphasised that combating terrorism was a "shared responsibility of the international community and a pressing priority". Pakistan has been plagued by terrorism and extreme nationalism and has faced frequent attac

  • Who is Naim Kassem, the acting leader of Hezbollah?

    BEIRUT (AP) — Sheikh Naim Kassem has been the acting head of Hezbollah since its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed as part of an Israeli offensive that has taken out many of the Lebanese militant group’s senior officials.