JBAA:&nbsp;Israeli raids hit south Lebanon on Thursday as its military said it was striking Hezbollah weapons storage facilities, a day after Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held their first direct talks in decades. Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has also maintained troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic. The visit from Sunday to Tuesday of Pope Leo XIV had provided Lebanon with a window of reprieve from Israeli air strikes, which had intensified in recent weeks, and the pontiff urged an end to hostilities during his visit. But on Thursday, the Israeli army said it &quot;began conducting strikes on Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon,&quot; after warning it would strike buildings in south Lebanon&#39;s Mahrouna and Jbaa. It subsequently issued warnings that it would strike further Hezbollah &quot;military infrastructure&quot; in Majadal and Baraasheet, also in the south. Lebanon&#39;s official National News Agency said &quot;Israeli warplanes launched a strike on the town of Mahrouna&quot; while other raids targeted buildings in Jbaa, Majadal, and Baraasheet. An AFP photographer saw smoke rising from the site of the strike in the town of Jbaa. &#39;Living in shock&#39;&nbsp;&quot;It&#39;s a completely civilian area. We&#39;re used to Israeli threats from time to time,&quot; local official Yassir Madi told journalists, including AFP. &quot;As for the damage, there&#39;s not a window within 300 metres that didn&#39;t break. Everyone is living in shock,&quot; he added. Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it struck &quot;weapons storage facilities belonging to Hezbollah&quot; located in the &quot;heart of the civilian population&quot;. &quot;This is yet another example of Hezbollah&#39;s cynical use of Lebanese civilians as human shields, and continued operations from within civilian areas,&quot; it said. Lebanon&#39;s government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, but the group has rejected the idea, and many in the country fear a return to expanded Israeli military operations. Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives held surprise talks on Wednesday under the auspices of the ceasefire monitoring mechanism at the UN peacekeeping force&#39;s headquarters in Lebanon&#39;s Naqura near the border with Israel. Representatives of the ceasefire monitoring committee &mdash; the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel, and the UN force &mdash; regularly convene in Naqura. On Thursday, Lebanon&#39;s President Joseph Aoun said another round of talks with Israel will begin on December 19. Information Minister Paul Morcos quoted Aoun as calling the initial negotiations &quot;positive&quot; and stressing &quot;the need for the language of negotiation &mdash; not the language of war &mdash; to prevail.&quot; Lebanon and Israel have technically been at war since 1948, and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam cautioned that the new diplomatic contact did not amount to broader peace discussions. The United States has been piling pressure on Lebanon to rapidly disarm Hezbollah, and has pushed for direct talks between the two neighbors. Limited discussions&nbsp;Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu&#39;s office said the atmosphere at the talks was &quot;positive,&quot; and that there had been agreement &quot;to develop ideas to promote potential economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon.&quot; Israel also made it clear it was &quot;essential&quot; that Lebanese group Hezbollah disarm regardless of any progress in economic cooperation, the premier&#39;s office added. Salam said the new discussions were strictly limited to fully implementing last year&#39;s truce. &quot;We are not yet at peace talks,&quot; he told journalists, including AFP, on Wednesday. He said the talks only sought &quot;the cessation of hostilities,&quot; the &quot;release of Lebanese hostages,&quot; and &quot;the complete Israeli withdrawal&quot; from Lebanon. A spokesperson for the French foreign ministry, meanwhile, said France &quot;welcomes the holding of these discussions&quot; that allow &quot;all parties to come to the table.&quot; &quot;We are fully committed to ensuring that this mechanism remains the framework to promote de-escalation and enable a lasting return to stability in the region,&quot; he said. Until now, Israel and Lebanon, which have no formal diplomatic relations, have insisted on limiting participation in the ceasefire mechanism to military officers. The US embassy in Beirut said US envoy Morgan Ortagus also attended. Ortagus was in Jerusalem a day earlier and met with Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.

Middle East

Lebanon's government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, but the group has rejected the idea, and many in the country fear a return to expanded Israeli military operations.


Israel launches fresh strikes on south Lebanon 

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday strongly condemned the recent attacks by Israeli forces across Gaza, which have reportedly claimed the lives of several Palestinian civilians, including women and children, and left many others injured.&nbsp;The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that these attacks represent a blatant violation of international law, relevant UN resolutions, and the recently signed Sharm el-Sheikh peace agreement. The statement added that such actions undermine global efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region.&nbsp;Pakistan reiterated its call on the international community to take immediate steps to end Israeli impunity, stop ceasefire violations, and ensure adherence to international human rights and humanitarian law.&nbsp;The government reaffirmed its long-standing support for the creation of an independent, sovereign, and contiguous State of Palestine based on pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.&nbsp;The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the statement from Islamabad on November 23, 2025.

Foreign Affairs

FO says these attacks represent a blatant violation of international law, relevant UN resolutions, and the recently signed Sharm el-Sheikh peace agreement.

Pakistan strongly condemns Israeli attacks in Gaza

JERUSALEM: Israel&#39;s military said it had hit Hezbollah launchers and weapons storage facilities in Lebanon on Saturday.&nbsp;&quot;The IDF struck launchers and military sites belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation in the Bekaa area and in southern Lebanon,&quot; Israel&#39;s military said in a statement.&nbsp;&quot;The presence of the launchers and the military activity at these sites constitutes a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.&quot;

Israeli military announces new strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon

BEIRUT:&nbsp;An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed one person on Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said, in the latest attack on the area despite a nearly year-long ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. In a statement, the ministry said that &ldquo;an Israeli enemy strike&rdquo; on a vehicle in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah, south Lebanon, killed one person. The ministry also said that a grenade launched by an Israeli drone in the southern town of Shaqra wounded five people. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incidents. Israeli strike kills man&nbsp;Lebanon&rsquo;s state-run National News Agency identified the killed man as Kamel Reda Qarnabash, saying he was driving his vehicle in Zawtar al-Sharqiyah when the strike hit. The Israeli army said earlier on Saturday that it killed a Hezbollah member in a strike the day before on Froun, southern Lebanon. &ldquo;In a targeted strike the (Israeli army) eliminated a Hezbollah terrorist in the Froun area in southern Lebanon&rdquo; on Friday, the military said in a statement. It alleged the Hezbollah member had &ldquo;advanced terror attacks against the State of Israel&rdquo; and its forces. The Lebanese health ministry said on Friday that an &ldquo;Israeli enemy strike&rdquo; on a vehicle in Froun killed one person. Ceasefire violation&nbsp;Lebanon has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024 -- which sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah -- by continuing its strikes and maintaining forces inside its territory. Israel has said Hezbollah is working to rebuild its military capabilities, accusing the group of breaking the ceasefire terms. According to the health ministry, more than 330 people have been killed in Lebanon and 945 wounded since the ceasefire. An Israeli strike Tuesday night on the Ain al-Hilweh camp for Palestinian refugees in southern Lebanon killed 13 people. On Friday, Israel said it had targeted &ldquo;terrorists&rdquo; from the Palestinian group Hamas, allied with Hezbollah, in the strike on the camp, located on the outskirts of the coastal city of Sidon. Two students killed&nbsp;Israel&rsquo;s military &quot;is operating against Hamas&#39;s establishment in Lebanon, and will continue to operate against Hamas terrorists wherever they operate&quot;, it said in Friday&#39;s statement. A secondary school in the camp said in a statement on its Facebook page on Thursday that two of its students were killed, publishing an image of two adolescent boys. The United States has sought to exert pressure on the Lebanese government to make Hezbollah hand over its weapons, which the group has so far refused to do.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency identified the killed man as Kamel Reda Qarnabash; according to the health ministry, more than 330 people have been killed in Lebanon and 945 wounded since the ceasefire.

Lebanon says fresh Israeli strike on south kills one

TEHRAN: Iran on Friday condemned strikes by Israel on southern Lebanon. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the strikes were a &quot;blatant violation of Lebanon&#39;s sovereignty and territorial integrity,&quot; in a statement. Lebanon said on Thursday that Israel had killed one person and wounded seven, while the Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah and allied groups. &lsquo;Breach of ceasefire&rsquo;&nbsp;Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the attacks had struck civilian facilities and denounced what he described as a breach of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel negotiated last year. Tehran was also hit by Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities during a 12-day war with Israel this year. Hezbollah and Israel agreed a truce in November, after more than a year of hostilities that culminated in two months of open war. Israel has nevertheless repeatedly bombed Lebanese territory. Baqaei also accused France and the United States -- who are guarantors of the truce -- of &quot;continued inaction and appeasement&quot; toward Israel over what he called the &quot;repeated violation&quot; of the agreement.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the strikes were a "blatant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity"; Lebanon said on Thursday that Israel had killed one person and wounded seven.

Articles tagged with "Israeli strikes"

Israel launches fresh strikes on south Lebanon

Pakistan strongly condemns Israeli attacks in Gaza

Israeli military announces new strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon

Lebanon says fresh Israeli strike on south kills one

Iran slams Israeli strikes in Lebanon as 'ceasefire violation'

Israel launches fresh strikes on south Lebanon