World
Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill nine civilians, sources say
Nine civilians including four children were killed in a barrage of Israeli strikes on villages across southern Lebanon on Wednesday, a hospital director and three Lebanese security sources said, as Israel said it responded to Hezbollah rockets that killed a soldier, Reuters reported.
Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire along the Israel-Lebanon border for more than four months, after the Lebanese armed group launched rockets across the disputed frontier in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
A woman and her two children were killed in an Israeli strike on the village of al-Sawana, two security sources said.
A strike on a building in Nabatieh killed two more children, three women and a man, according to the director of the town’s hospital, Hassan Wazni, and three other security sources. Seven others arrived at the hospital for treatment after the strike, Wazni told Reuters.
Four Hezbollah fighters were killed in separate strikes, according to the group and security sources.
Hezbollah did not announce any operations on Wednesday. The head of its executive council said that Israel’s attacks onto Lebanese territory on Wednesday “cannot pass without a response”.
An Israeli government spokesperson told journalists that rocket barrages from Lebanon on Wednesday morning had left one Israeli woman soldier dead and another eight hospitalized, read the report.
“As we have made clear time and time again, Israel is not interested in a war on two fronts. But if provoked, we will respond forcefully,” said spokesperson Ilana Stein.
“The current reality, where tens of thousands of Israelis are displaced and cannot return to their homes, is unbearable. They must be able to return home and live in peace and security.”
Stein and Israel’s military said the military had responded to cross-border rocket fire from Lebanon.
Israel’s military chief Herzi Halevi, who had been meeting the heads of local municipalities in northern Israel on Wednesday, said that despite what he described as achievements against Hezbollah, this was “not the time to stop.”
Hezbollah head Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address on Tuesday that his group would only stop its exchanges of fire if a full ceasefire was reached for Gaza.
“On that day, when the shooting stops in Gaza, we will stop the shooting in the south,” he said.
The cross-border shelling has already killed more than 200 people in Lebanon, including more than 170 Hezbollah fighters, as well as around a dozen Israeli troops and five Israeli civilians. It has also displaced tens of thousands of people in the border areas of each country.
World
Norway to give over $9 billion to Ukraine in 2027
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
Norway plans to give another 85 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.2 billion) in financial support to Ukraine in the 2027 fiscal year, in line with the amount given in 2026, the Nordic country’s government said in a statement on Sunday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
Norway plans to give another 85 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.2 billion) in financial support to Ukraine in the 2027 fiscal year, in line with the amount given in 2026, the Nordic country’s government said in a statement on Sunday.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and leaders from across the Nordic and Baltic region are visiting Kyiv on Sunday in a show of support for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
Russia and Ukraine are both ramping up drone campaigns aiming to cripple each other’s economic infrastructure, often striking targets far beyond the frontlines of the war started by Moscow, as fighting on the battlefield grinds toward the 4-1/2-year mark.
World
Israel strikes southern Syria; Damascus condemns attack
Israeli troops continue to operate in southern Syria, and Israel occupies territory in southwest Syria it seized after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
Israel said it targeted a “terrorist” in southern Syria on Saturday in what Syria’s foreign ministry said was a drone strike on a civilian vehicle on the outskirts of Damascus in a “blatant” violation of its territory.
The Syrian foreign ministry said the drone had hit a civilian car on a road near Beit Jinn village in the countryside west of the capital, which caused injuries amongst civilians.
Syrian state TV reported one person was injured.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it fired in southern Syria toward what it described as a terrorist, whose activity posed an immediate threat to its soldiers. It did not say how it fired.
Tensions between Israel and Syria flared up this week after Israel bombed an airbase in the northwest on Tuesday, an escalation U.S. special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, called “unnecessary.”
Syria’s foreign ministry said the strike was part of a pattern of repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, and was a “blatant violation” of its sovereignty. It held Israel accountable for the consequences of such actions.
Israeli troops continue to operate in southern Syria, and Israel occupies territory in southwest Syria it seized after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
World
Trump says Iran ‘Not Ready’ for the right deal as war nears six-month mark
The continuing US-Israeli strikes on Iran, along with Israeli attacks on Lebanon, have reportedly killed thousands of people and displaced millions across the region.
US President Donald Trump has said he does not believe Iran is ready to make what he described as the “right deal,” as the war between Tehran and Washington approaches its six-month mark, Reuters reported.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump said the United States was continuing to assess developments in the conflict when asked whether Washington’s military options against Iran had become limited.
“It just means that we’re seeing what happens,” Trump said.
Trump also claimed that the United States had “total control” over the region surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically vital waterway that previously carried around one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28.
“They would love to make a deal, but they’re not ready to make the right deal, in my opinion,” Trump said.
The remarks come after Washington pledged this week to impose what it described as the toughest financial penalties in history against Iran, with the stated aim of increasing pressure on the country’s leadership, read the report.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said further details of the planned sanctions would be announced on Monday, following Trump’s warning that any country providing “any type of lifeline” to Iran could face serious economic consequences.
Meanwhile, disruptions to energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have continued as Iran retains missile and drone capabilities that have affected oil tanker traffic in the waterway.
Iran responded to the initial attacks on February 28 with strikes on Israel and Gulf states hosting US military bases.
The continuing US-Israeli strikes on Iran, along with Israeli attacks on Lebanon, have reportedly killed thousands of people and displaced millions across the region.
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