Live: Hezbollah's new leader says he will uphold predecessor Nasrallah's 'war plan'
· France 2430/10/2024 - 14:28
- Hezbollah's new leader vows to uphold predecessor Nasrallah's 'war plan'
- Israel issues evacuation call for Lebanon's Nabatieh region
- Israeli military says it has killed deputy commander of Hezbollah's Radwan Force
30/10/2024 - 14:18
Hezbollah's new leader vows to uphold predecessor Nasrallah's 'war plan'
Hezbollah's new leader, Naim Qassem, said Wednesday he would stick to the war strategy laid out by his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by an Israeli strike last month after full-scale fighting broke out.
"My work programme is a continuation of the work programme of our leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah," Qassem said in his first remarks as Hezbollah leader, pledging to press on with "the war plan that he (Nasrallah) developed with the leadership" of the Iran-backed group.
30/10/2024 - 14:17
Israeli army says it has killed deputy head of elite Hezbollah force
The Israeli army said Wednesday it had killed the deputy head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, Mustafa Ahmad Shahadi, in a strike in the Nabatieh area of south Lebanon.
"In an intelligence-directed strike, the Israeli air force struck and eliminated Mustafa Ahmad Shahadi, deputy commander of Hezbollah's Radwan Forces, in the area of Nabatieh," the army said in a statement, adding that Shahadi had previously run Radwan operations in Syria and overseen "terror attacks in southern Lebanon".
30/10/2024 - 13:42
CIA director, other officials to visit Middle East for talks, US official says
US officials including CIA Director William Burns and envoys Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein will visit Egypt and Israel on Thursday to discuss issues involving Iran, Lebanon and the release of hostages in Gaza, a US official said as Washington seeks to de-escalate tensions in the region.
CENTCOM Commander General Erik Kurilla also is in the region and will visit Israel, the official said on Wednesday.
30/10/2024 - 13:35
France 'firmly condemns' deadly Israeli strike in north Gaza
France on Wednesday "firmly condemned" an Israeli strike in Gaza the previous day that rescuers said collapsed a building, killing at least 93 people including a large number of children.
"France firmly condemns the Israeli strike against a building in Beit Lahia in north Gaza on October 29 that killed almost 100 people, including women and children," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"France also condemns recent Israeli strikes on hospitals in the north" of the Palestinian territory, it added. "The siege imposed on north Gaza must be ended immediately."
30/10/2024 - 13:34
Israel issues evacuation call for Lebanon's Nabatieh region
The Israeli army urged residents of several villages in the Nabatieh area of south Lebanon to leave immediately on Wednesday, warning it was poised to attack Hezbollah targets.
"Hezbollah's terrorist activities force the (Israeli army) to act forcefully against it in these areas," military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, with Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reporting strikes had already begun on the city of Nabatieh.
30/10/2024 - 13:13
France condemns rocket strike, 'likely by Hezbollah', on peacekeeper HQ in Lebanon
France on Wednesday condemned a rocket strike that hit the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon a day earlier, which UNIFIL said was likely fired by militant group Hezbollah or an affiliate.
"France condemns the rocket fire, likely by Hezbollah, that hit the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon UNIFIL in Naqura" in south Lebanon on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said.
"Attacks against Blue Helmets constitute grave violations of international law."
30/10/2024 - 13:13
Israeli military says it has killed deputy commander of Hezbollah's Radwan Force
The Israeli army said Wednesday it had killed the deputy head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, Mustafa Ahmad Shahadi, in a strike in the Nabatieh area of south Lebanon.
"In an intelligence-directed strike, the Israeli air force struck and eliminated Mustafa Ahmad Shahadi, deputy commander of Hezbollah's Radwan Forces, in the area of Nabatieh," the army said in a statement, adding that Shahadi had previously run Radwan operations in Syria and overseen "terror attacks in southern Lebanon".
30/10/2024 - 13:03
Residents flee Lebanon's Baalbek after Israel evacuation warning
Residents of Baalbek rushed out of their homes Wednesday after the Israeli army ordered Lebanon's main eastern city and its outskirts evacuated for the first time in more than a month of war.
The Israeli army urged residents of Baalbek and surrounding villages to leave immediately, warning it was preparing attacks on Hezbollah targets.
The main roads out of the city were jammed with vehicles as civilians fled in panic, an AFP correspondent reported. Civil defence vehicles drove around the city urging everyone to leave immediately over loudspeaker.
"The city is almost empty," the correspondent said about an hour after the evacuation warning.
30/10/2024 - 12:49
Saudi Arabia to host meeting of new group pushing for Palestinian state
Saudi Arabia is on Wednesday expected to open the first meeting of a new "international alliance" to press for the establishment of a Palestinian state, state media said.
The "International Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution" was unveiled last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Saudi state media reported at the time, bringing together Arab and Islamic countries and European countries.
This week's meeting in Riyadh is expected to last for two days and feature sessions on humanitarian access, the embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees and incentives to promote a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, diplomats said.
30/10/2024 - 12:47
New Hezbollah leader to give first speech today
"A speech by the new secretary general of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, is scheduled for Wednesday," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
30/10/2024 - 11:30
Israel cabinet discussing Lebanon ceasefire framework, minister says
Israel's security cabinet is discussing the terms of a truce with Hezbollah in south Lebanon, where Israeli troops are conducting a ground offensive, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said Wednesday.
"There are discussions, I think it will still take time," Cohen told Israeli public radio.
According to Israeli media, US President Joe Biden's Middle East adviser and special envoy Amos Hochstein will head to the region Wednesday to meet Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials to discuss conditions for a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
30/10/2024 - 11:27
Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 43,163
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Wednesday that at least 43,163 people have been killed in the year-long war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
The toll includes 102 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 101,510 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
30/10/2024 - 11:05
Israel slams UN expert over 'eradication' of Palestinians claim
Israel's Geneva UN mission said on Wednesday UN rights expert Francesca Albanese is a "political activist" abusing her mandate "to hide her hatred for Israel”.
Albanese, an outspoken UN special rapporteur on rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, reiterated an allegation that Israel is committing "genocide" in Gaza, saying it is seeking the "eradication of Palestinians" from their land.
Albanese said the offensive Israel unleashed after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks was "part of a long-term international, systematic state-organised forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians".
"Francesca Albanese is nothing but a political activist who abuses an already discriminatory UN mandate. She is regularly spewing anti-Semitism, shielding and encouraging terrorism, and distorting the law,” Israel's Geneva UN mission said in a statement.
"This distorted reality is a smokescreen to hide her hatred for Israel,” it added.
30/10/2024 - 10:52
Iran's missile production not disrupted by Israeli strikes, state media says
Iran's missile production has not been disrupted following Israeli airstrikes on the Islamic Republic on October 26, Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was quoted as saying on Wednesday by state media.
30/10/2024 - 10:49
Gaza mediators to propose truce of 'less than a month', says source with knowledge of talks
Mediators for a ceasefire in Gaza are to propose a truce of "less than a month" to Hamas, a source with knowledge of the talks told AFP on Wednesday.
Meetings between Mossad head David Barnea, CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatar's prime minister in Doha, which concluded on Monday, discussed proposing a "short-term" truce of "less than a month", the source said on condition of anonymity because of the talks' sensitivity.
30/10/2024 - 10:45
Israeli strike kills eight Palestinians in northern Gaza, medics say
Eight Palestinians were killed and several wounded in an Israeli military strike in the north of the Gaza Strip, medics said on Wednesday.
30/10/2024 - 10:35
Israel issues evacuation warning to residents of Lebanese city of Baalbek
The Israeli army urged residents of the east Lebanon city of Baalbek and surrounding villages to leave immediately Wednesday, warning it was preparing attacks on Hezbollah targets.
"The (Israeli army) will act forcefully against Hezbollah interests within your city and villages", military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that included a map of the area in the eastern Bekaa Valley, where Iran-backed Hezbollah holds sway.
30/10/2024 - 10:24
Lebanon's Hezbollah says it struck Israel base south of Haifa
Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it launched drones at an Israeli base in the port city of Haifa on Wednesday, as clashes intensify more than a month into the war.
Hezbollah fighters "launched an air attack at 7:45am (05:45 GMT) ... with a squadron of attack drones" on a "base in southern Haifa", the group said in a statement.
30/10/2024 - 10:24
Lebanon security official says one dead in Israel strike on munitions van
A Lebanese security official told AFP that an Israeli strike on a van carrying munitions near Beirut killed the driver on Wednesday, the latest death in more than a month of Israel-Hezbollah war.
"A van was targeted in an Israeli strike on the Kahhale road and its driver killed," the official said, adding that the vehicle was carrying munitions. He requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Lebanese state media said the Kahhale road, which links Beirut to Damascus, had been "blocked in both directions due to a 'security incident'".
Yesterday's key developments:
- The US expressed concern over an Israeli strike that killed 93 people, including a large number of children, in a residential building in the northern Gaza district of Beit Lahiya.
- Austria said eight of its UNIFIL troops in Lebanon had been wounded in a rocket attack.
- Lebanon's Hezbollah movement announced Tuesday it had chosen deputy head Naim Qassem to succeed Hassan Nasrallah as leader after his death in an Israeli strike on south Beirut last month.
- At least 2,787 people have been killed and 12,772 injured in Lebanon due to Israeli attacks since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry reported.
- At least 43,061 Palestinians have been killed and 101,223 injured in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7, 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, and Reuters)