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Israel's military said an Iranian missile on Saturday struck the southern town of Dimona, home to a nuclear facility, after medics reported some 20 people injured by shrapnel.

All you need to know about Day 22 of US-Israeli war on Iran

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US President Donald Trump signs an executive order during a ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House on March 16, 2026, in Washington, DC (AFP)

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US President Donald Trump on Friday ruled out reaching a ceasefire agreement with Iran, saying Washington has the upper hand in the three-week-old war.

All you need to know about Day 21 of US-Israeli war on Iran

BEIRUT: UN peacekeepers said they were fired upon &quot;likely by non-state armed groups&quot; in south Lebanon on Sunday, while a Hamas source said an Israeli strike killed an official from the Palestinian group. Israel said no direct talks were planned with Lebanon to end the latest war with militant group Hezbollah, which has been raging for two weeks. The statement came a day after a Lebanese official said Beirut was preparing a delegation to negotiate with Israel. Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, with Israel launching air raids on the neighboring country and troop incursions into border areas. Lebanese authorities said the death toll in Israeli attacks rose to 850, while more than 830,000 people have registered as displaced, including some 130,000 staying in collective shelters. Driving rain on Sunday piled more misery on displaced people, hundreds of whom have been sleeping rough or in tents near central Beirut&#39;s seafront. Coffee shop owner Nader, 42, displaced from Beirut&#39;s southern suburbs, said he had rebuilt his home after the previous Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2024 and feared it had again been destroyed. &quot;Here we have nothing, and the situation is very bad with the heavy rains and wind -- it&#39;s very cold, lots of babies are sick, and we can&#39;t protect them,&quot; he told AFP. &#39;No&#39; talksThe United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said its peacekeepers were fired upon three times on Sunday, &quot;likely by non-state armed groups&quot; in the country&#39;s south, two days after a different position was hit by fire that Lebanon&#39;s official National News Agency (NNA) had blamed on Israel. The NNA reported Israeli strikes on the country&#39;s south and east on Sunday, while Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks on sites in Israel and on Israeli troops in south Lebanon. The group also said its fighters fired an &quot;advanced missile&quot; at the Palmachim air base south of Tel Aviv. The NNA said Israel struck &quot;an apartment in a residential building&quot; in a northern district of the coastal city of Sidon, killing one person and causing a fire. An AFP correspondent saw damage to an apartment building as the army cordoned off the area while rescue teams fought a blaze and residents rushed into the street, some carrying belongings. The Hamas source, requesting anonymity, said official Wissam Taha was killed. Israel has repeatedly struck Hamas targets in Lebanon in recent years, including during previous hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted over the Gaza war, and after a 2024 ceasefire. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has proposed direct negotiations with Israel, but Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday responded &quot;no&quot; when asked whether Israel was set to hold such talks. Maritime border deal&nbsp;Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen instead called for the cancellation of a US-brokered 2022 maritime border deal with Lebanon, adding that &quot;a vague promise&quot; of improved security for Israel under the deal &quot;was not fulfilled&quot;. A Lebanese official had told AFP on Saturday that the country was preparing to form a delegation to negotiate with Israel, but that there was no agenda, timing, or location yet decided for any talks. French President Emmanuel Macron has said the Lebanese government was ready to engage in &quot;direct talks&quot; with Israel, and he offered to host negotiations. Israel&#39;s military also renewed an evacuation warning for Beirut&#39;s southern suburbs, which it has repeatedly struck in the past fortnight. An AFP photographer in south Beirut saw empty streets covered with debris and buildings flattened, with smoke still rising in the area after strikes in previous days. Southeast of Sidon, Lebanon&#39;s health ministry said an overnight strike killed three people in the village of Al-Qatrani. While Israel&#39;s military said it hit &quot;several Hezbollah launch sites&quot; there. The Israeli army also said it had destroyed &quot;command centres&quot; belonging to Hezbollah&#39;s elite Radwan Force in Beirut.

An Israeli self-propelled howitzer artillery gun fires rounds towards southern Lebanon from a position in the upper Galilee in northern Israel near the border on March 15, 2026 (AFP)

Israeli strikes and Hezbollah attacks continued across Lebanon, with a Hamas official killed in Sidon; Authorities reported 850 deaths and more than 830,000 displaced, as Israel rejected direct negotiations with Lebanon to end the fighting.

UN force in Lebanon says peacekeepers fired upon

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said Lebanon was ready to engage in &quot;direct talks&quot; with Israel and offered to host negotiations in Paris. &quot;The Lebanese government has signalled its willingness to engage in direct talks with Israel,&quot; he said on X, adding that &quot;all sections of society must be represented in these talks.&quot; &quot;France is ready to facilitate these talks by hosting them in Paris,&quot; Macron said, adding he had spoken to the president and prime minister of Lebanon, a former French protectorate. &quot;Everything must be done to prevent Lebanon from descending into chaos,&quot; Macron added. &quot;Hezbollah must immediately halt its reckless course. Israel must abandon plans for a large-scale offensive and cease its massive air strikes.&quot; Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes. Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said on Friday his group was ready for a long confrontation with Israel.

French President Emmanuel Macron says Lebanon is ready for direct talks with Israel and offers Paris as a venue for negotiations, while urging Hezbollah to halt attacks and Israel to abandon plans for a large-scale offensive

Macron urges Israel to hold 'direct talks' with Lebanon

BEIRUT: Three UN peacekeepers were wounded when their base in southern Lebanon was hit on Friday, the UN force and the Ghanaian military said, with Lebanon&#39;s president accusing Israel of targeting them. The attack came as Israel and Iran&#39;s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah exchanged fire after the Middle East war expanded into the country on Monday. &quot;Amidst heavy firing this evening, three peacekeepers were injured inside their base in... Qawzah&quot; in southern Lebanon, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement. &quot;The most severely injured has been transferred to a hospital in Beirut for treatment.&quot; Ghana&#39;s military said that its UNIFIL battalion headquarters came under &quot;two missile attacks,&quot; adding that &quot;two soldiers are critically injured, while one other has been traumatized.&quot;&quot;The officers&#39; mess facility also got hit and has been burnt down completely.&quot; Neither UNIFIL nor the Ghanaian army specified the source of the attack, but the international force said it will investigate the circumstances of the incident. &quot;It is unacceptable that peacekeepers performing (UN) Security Council-mandated tasks are targeted,&quot; it added. In a statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned &quot;Israeli attacks on Lebanon,&quot; adding that they had &quot;even reached the point of a direct assault on UNIFIL.&quot; French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the &quot;unacceptable attack&quot; on UNIFIL after speaking with his Lebanese and Syrian counterparts. &quot;France is working with its partners to prevent the conflict from spreading further in the region,&quot; Macron said on X, highlighting the &quot;key stabilising role&quot; played by the UN force. In a post on X, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said that she was &quot;dismayed that our colleagues have suffered injuries and wishing them a full recovery&quot;. UNIFIL has acted as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon for decades and was assisting the Lebanese army while it was dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure near the Israeli border after the last war opposing the Iran-backed group and Israel in 2024. It plans to withdraw all troops from Lebanon by mid-2027.&nbsp;

Three UN peacekeepers were wounded when their base in southern Lebanon was hit on Friday, the UN force and the Ghanaian military said, with Lebanon's president accusing Israel of targeting them

UN peacekeepers from Ghana wounded in south Lebanon attack

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for dozens of locations in Lebanon on Tuesday, including a warning for residents in two southern Beirut neighbourhoods to stay away from several buildings ahead of imminent military action. &quot;Urgent warning to the residents of Lebanon, specifically in the villages which names are shown. For your safety you must evacuate your homes immediately,&quot; said a statement by the military&#39;s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee on Telegram, which listed 50 locations. Many of the locations were across the south of Lebanon, which Israel regularly targets with the aim of hitting Hezbollah infrastructure. &quot;You are located near Hezbollah facilities and interests, against which the IDF will operate in the near future,&quot; he told the residents of southern Beirut neighbourhoods Ghobeiry and Haret Hreik in another evacuation warning. Lebanon&#39;s government on Monday took the unprecedented step of banning Hezbollah&#39;s military and security activity, prompting the Iran-backed group to lash out at the decision. Hezbollah is represented in both the government and parliament, and the move came hours after it announced it had launched rockets and drones towards Israel early Monday to avenge the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli attacks. Israel bombarded Beirut&#39;s southern suburbs and dozens of villages in south Lebanon on Monday in response, vowing to make the group pay a &quot;heavy price&quot;. The Lebanese health ministry said the strikes killed at least 31 people and wounded at least 149.

Israeli army ordered new evacuation orders for multiple locations across Lebanon

Israel army issues new evacuation warnings in Lebanon 

BEIRUT: Attacks carried out by Israel on Friday in eastern Lebanon killed eight members of Hezbollah, an official from the group told AFP on Saturday. Lebanon&#39;s health ministry said Friday that a total of 10 people were killed in strikes that hit the eastern Bekaa region. The Israeli military said it targeted &quot;several terrorists of Hezbollah&#39;s missile array in three different command centres in the Baalbek area&quot;.

Israel killed eight members of Hezbollah in a strike on Lebanon's Baalbek area on Friday

Eight Hezbollah members killed in Israel's Friday strikes: Official to AFP

ISLAMABAD: In 2025, Israel launched an unprecedented series of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/the-bitter-relationship-between-israel-and-arab-states" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">military attacks across six countries in the Middle East</a>, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).&nbsp; The data analysis group&rsquo;s report, &ldquo;Israel recalibrates its military campaigns in a region still on edge,&rdquo; highlights the growing scope and intensity of Israel&rsquo;s actions in the region. ACLED, an independent global conflict monitor, reported that Israel launched military attacks in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, and Yemen throughout the year, marking the widest geographic reach of any military worldwide in 2025. &ldquo;In 2025, Israel launched attacks in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, and Yemen,&rdquo; ACLED states, noting that between January 1 and November 28 alone, Israel &ldquo;undertook more than 12,500 military actions across the Middle East.&rdquo; Deadliest zone: Palestine (Gaza Strip and West Bank)ACLED identified the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, as the deadliest theater of Israel&rsquo;s military activity in 2025. &ldquo;Gaza remained the deadliest arena; the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/gaza-civil-defense-says-7-killed-in-israeli-strikes" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">IDF killed thousands</a>&nbsp;&mdash; the majority civilians &mdash; in strikes,&rdquo; the report details. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strikes reportedly killed over 16,100 Palestinians in Gaza. The report further stated that Israel broke a ceasefire in January and, by October, had &ldquo;confined Palestinians in Gaza to less than 25% of the enclave and was pushing to establish full control over Gaza City.&rdquo; In the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/14-countries-condemn-israels-expansion-of-west-bank-settlements" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">West Bank</a>, ACLED documented intensified Israeli military operations: &ldquo;The IDF conducted its largest operations in decades, displacing tens of thousands from the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur al-Shams camps.&rdquo; Lebanon: ongoing air and artillery strikesDespite a ceasefire, ACLED recorded that Israel continued to carry out air and artillery strikes in Lebanon. &ldquo;The IDF conducted nearly 1,600 air- and artillery strikes, as well as shooting attacks, in Lebanon,&rdquo; the report said. Israeli forces withdrew ground troops in February but continued &ldquo;hundreds of near-daily strikes, mainly in the south but also in the Bekaa Valley and Beirut,&rdquo; killing hundreds of Hezbollah fighters, including nearly 25 commanders. Iran: strategic campaignACLED describes Israel&rsquo;s campaign in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/iran-says-missile-programme-defensive-nonnegotiable" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Iran</a>&nbsp;as the most strategically consequential foreign operation of 2025. &ldquo;Israel launched a 12-day military campaign consisting of over 350 airstrikes across 27 provinces, including in the capital Tehran,&rdquo; the report notes. Targets included missile sites, military bases, nuclear facilities, and government buildings, with assassinations of senior military leaders and nuclear scientists. Syria: expanded presence and strikesIsrael maintained and expanded its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/three-wounded-in-southern-syria-after-israeli-incursion-state-media" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">military presence in Syria</a>, according to ACLED. &ldquo;In Syria, the IDF targeted Syrian military assets despite al-Assad&rsquo;s ouster,&rdquo; the report says, noting that Israel &ldquo;established six additional outposts in the demilitarized buffer zone, deploying up to 15 kilometers inside Syria.&rdquo; Yemen: targeted operations against HouthisIn Yemen, Israel escalated its military campaign against Houthi forces. &ldquo;The IDF conducted operations on 16 separate days in 2025, killing over 120 people,&rdquo; ACLED states, highlighting strikes that decimated the Houthi de facto government and killed the military chief of staff. Qatar: Rare but significant targetACLED points out Israel&rsquo;s rare&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/qatar-says-us-claims-of-warnings-prior-to-doha-attack-are-%E2%80%98baseless%E2%80%99" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">military action in Qatar</a>, related to its pursuit of Hamas leaders. &ldquo;From Palestine to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and even Qatar, the Israel Defense Forces projected military power across the region in 2025,&rdquo; the report says. The strike in Qatar marked a diplomatic turning point affecting regional relations later in the year. ACLED concludes that Israel&rsquo;s 2025 military posture shifted from a status quo power to a more revisionist one, noting: &ldquo;Israel established or expanded buffer zones and military outposts in three countries.&rdquo; This data underscores the complex and far-reaching nature of Israel&rsquo;s military campaigns in the Middle East throughout 2025, marking one of the most active and geographically expansive years in recent regional history.

ACLED says Israel launched military attacks in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, and Yemen throughout the year.

Israel attacked six Muslim countries in 2025: Report

BEIRUT: Israel launched several strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Thursday, Lebanese state media reported, as the Israeli military said it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure including a military compound. Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has kept up strikes on Lebanon and has also maintained troops in five southern areas it deems strategic. &lsquo;Several strikes&rsquo;&nbsp;Lebanon&#39;s state-run National News Agency reported&nbsp;several strikes on mountainous areas in the south and east. The Israeli military claimed it targeted &ldquo;terror infrastructure sites in multiple areas across Lebanon&rdquo; including &ldquo;a military compound used by Hezbollah to conduct training and courses&rdquo; for the group&#39;s members. In another statement, the military also said: &ldquo;A short while ago, the IDF struck a Hezbollah terrorist in the area of Taybeh in southern Lebanon.&rdquo; Monitoring committee meeting&nbsp;The attacks come as the ceasefire monitoring committee, which includes the United States and France, are set to meet on Friday. On Tuesday, two people were killed in Israeli strikes, one of them 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Beirut. Around 340 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on Lebanon since the ceasefire agreement went into force, according to an AFP tally of health ministry reports.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported several strikes on mountainous areas in the south and east; attacks come as the ceasefire monitoring committee, which includes the United States and France, are set to meet on Friday. 

Israel launches series of strikes on Lebanon

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.

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.


Articles tagged with "Lebanon"

All you need to know about Day 22 of US-Israeli war on Iran

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UN force in Lebanon says peacekeepers fired upon

Macron urges Israel to hold 'direct talks' with Lebanon

UN peacekeepers from Ghana wounded in south Lebanon attack

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Eight Hezbollah members killed in Israel's Friday strikes: Official to AFP

Israel attacked six Muslim countries in 2025: Report

Israel launches series of strikes on Lebanon

Israel launches fresh strikes on south Lebanon

All you need to know about Day 22 of US-Israeli war on Iran