Mena Today

Britain has imposed sanctions against Iranian individuals and organisations after Iran's attack on Israel on Oct. 1, Britain's Foreign Office said on Monday.

Millions of Israelis rushed to shelters on Monday as sirens sounded across central Israel in response to projectiles fired from Lebanon, the military said.

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Monday threatened Tehran "will use all its options" to respond to the assassination of senior Revolutionary Guards officer Abbas Nilforoushan, who was killed alongside former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut last month. 

Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen on Monday accused the United Nations' UNIFIL peacekeepers in south Lebanon of being a "useless" force that failed to protect Israelis from Hezbollah attacks and called on it to withdraw as fighting ramps up.

French President Emmanuel Macron continues to advocate for a "general de-escalation" in the Middle East, recently urging Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to support efforts to reduce tensions in the region.

Since 2006, the United Nations has been unable to enforce the terms of Resolution 1701 on Hezbollah and the Lebanese government. 

 The United States said on Sunday it will send U.S. troops to Israel along with an advanced U.S. anti-missile system, in a highly unusual deployment meant to bolster the country's air defenses following missile attacks by Iran.

The United Nations said on Sunday Israeli tanks had burst through the gates of a base of its peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, the latest accusation of Israeli violations and attacks that have been denounced by Israel's own allies.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz reiterated on Sunday that the country considers U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres persona non grata due to his failure to condemn Iran's missile attack and what Katz described as antisemitic and anti-Israel conduct.

An Iranian court cleared two jailed journalists of collaborating with the United States, and reduced their sentences over reports about a woman's death that had helped trigger protests in 2022, Iran's worst domestic unrest for decades.

Lebanon, once hailed as the "Switzerland of the Middle East," stands today as a country full of contradictions. It is a nation that prides itself on its rich history, cultural diversity, and cosmopolitan cities, yet it is plagued by deep-rooted inequalities, systemic failures, and human rights abuses that have eroded its democratic ideals. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assured his American counterpart, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, that Israel would continue to take measures to protect UN peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon, according to a statement from the Israeli Ministry of Defense published on Sunday.