Antoine Khoury

In the hills and valleys of southern Lebanon, in the districts of Bint Jbeil, Marjeyoun and Hasbaya, something unexpected is happening. 

One month into the resumption of open warfare between Hezbollah and Israel, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam delivered a frank admission: his government is intensifying diplomatic efforts to end the fighting, but the war goes on.

In a precise overnight strike, the Israeli Navy has eliminated Haj Youssef Ismail Hashem, commander of Hezbollah's Southern Front, in the Jnah neighbourhood of southern Beirut. 

Lebanon has formally notified the United Nations that its government considers all military activities by Hezbollah to be illegal.

Bahrain has arrested three individuals accused of forming a Hezbollah-linked cell involved in espionage, coordination with foreign actors, and financing operations threatening the kingdom's security, the latest in a wave of Gulf states dismantling Iran's proxy network on their soil.

The deadline has passed. Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Reza Shibani, is still there. Declared persona non grata, given until Sunday to leave, he hasn't moved. 

An Israeli drone strike on Saturday targeted a vehicle on the main Jezzine road in southern Lebanon, killing two individuals identified as Ali Choeib, from al-Manar television, and Fatima Ftouni, from al-Mayadeen. It marks the first Israeli strike on this road since the war began on March 2nd.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will receive Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the Chancellery in Berlin on Monday, a German government spokesman announced Friday.

Kuwait's Interior Ministry has announced the dismantling of a 20-member terrorist network linked to Hezbollah, including Kuwaiti, Iranian, Lebanese and other nationals. Six suspects have been arrested while 14 others fled abroad.

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem declared Wednesday in a televised speech that negotiating with Israel "under fire" amounted to imposed surrender, calling for unity and vowing his fighters were prepared to continue "without limits."

An Israeli precision strike hit a residential apartment building in Hazmieh - a predominantly Christian neighborhood east of Beirut - Monday afternoon, killing at least one person in what the IDF described as a targeted hit on a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Al-Quds Force.

Israeli fighter jets struck the Dalafa Bridge twice Monday afternoon, targeting one of South Lebanon's most strategically significant crossings, a span over the Litani River that connects the districts of Hasbaya and Marjeyoun in the eastern border zone to the regions of Jezzine, Western Bekaa, Chouf and Sidon.