Iranian airline refused landing in Beirut

As Hezbollah's war with Israel escalates and Lebanon descends deeper into crisis, one regional actor has made its position unmistakably clear: Syria under Ahmed al-Sharaa is not Bashar al-Assad's Syria, and Hezbollah should not mistake the two.

Israel has rebuffed a historic offer of direct talks from Lebanon, deeming it too little too late from a government that shares its goal of disarming Hezbollah but cannot act against the heavily armed Lebanese group without risking a civil war.

A French soldier was killed and six others wounded Thursday evening in a drone attack in the Erbil region of Iraqi Kurdistan, marking the first French military death since the outbreak of the Middle East war.