Source: Agence France Presse
Security & Justice
Captured Hezbollah Operative May Have Been Israeli Double Agent, Report Suggests
The alleged senior Hezbollah operative abducted by Israeli special forces last week in Batroun may have been operating as a double agent, according to a report by The Telegraph.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Lebanon’s Probe into Israeli Raid Expected to Take Days as Security Officials Weigh Theories
Lebanese authorities are ramping up investigations into an Israeli commando raid last week in the northern coastal city of Batroun, during which Imad Amhaz, a Hezbollah official, was snatched.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Monday 5 August 2024 19:06:27
Biden to Meet National Security Team Over Expected Iranian Retaliation Against Israel
US President Joe Biden was to hold crisis talks with his national security team Monday as fears grow of an Iranian attack on Israel in retaliation for the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran.
Biden will also call Jordan’s King Abdullah II as part of a flurry of diplomacy aimed at preventing the situation in the Middle East from spiraling into an all-out war.
The United States has deployed extra fighter jets and warplanes to the region to support Israel, as reports suggested Iran could respond as soon as Monday to the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
Biden was due to meet his national security team in the Situation Room in the White House “to discuss developments in the Middle East” after flying back from a weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House said.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to announce her running mate for the 2024 election within the next couple of days, will be among those in attendance.
The meeting is set for 2:15 p.m. Washington time (1815 GMT) – after nightfall in the region, where it will be 9:15 p.m. in Tel Aviv and 9:45 p.m. in Tehran.
Biden was calling King Abdullah before leaving Wilmington, the White House said.
Iran has blamed the Haniyeh assassination on Israel, which has not directly commented on the attack, and sworn revenge. The killing came hours after an Israeli strike on Beirut left Hezbollah military chief Fuad Shukr dead.
‘Maximum restraint’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told his counterparts from the G7 nations in a conference call on Sunday that any attack, which he expected to be a joint undertaking between Hezbollah and Iran, could happen within 24 to 48 hours, as early as Monday, US news site Axios reported.
Blinken asked his counterparts to place diplomatic pressure on Tehran, Hezbollah and Israel to “maintain maximum restraint,” it added.
Blinken also emphasized the need to calm regional tensions in a call with Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani of Iraq, where some Iran-aligned groups targeted US troops earlier in the Gaza war, the State Department said.
White House Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said on Sunday that the United States was “doing everything possible to make sure that this situation does not boil over.”
The tensions also appeared to have torpedoed US hopes of any immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza
Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appear increasingly at odds on the issue, despite a meeting at the White House less than two weeks ago.
Biden said on Thursday that he had a “very direct” phone conversation with Netanyahu pushing him to reach a ceasefire deal.
He told reporters that the assassination of Haniyeh had “not helped” with the situation.
The conversation became heated, with Netanyahu pushing back against suggestions that he was deliberately trying to sabotage efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal, the New York Times and Axios said.