President Donald Trump's top diplomat Marco Rubio will fly to Israel this weekend amid tensions among fellow U.S. allies in the Middle East over Israel's strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Marco Rubio © Mena Today
President Donald Trump's top diplomat Marco Rubio will fly to Israel this weekend amid tensions among fellow U.S. allies in the Middle East over Israel's strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar and expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
State Department Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement that Rubio would depart on Saturday to visit Israel before joining up with President Donald Trump's planned visit to Britain next week.
Rubio in Israel will emphasize Washington and Israel's shared goals of ensuring Hamas never rules Gaza again and returning hostages taken in the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel that sparked Israel's war in Gaza, Pigott said.
Rubio and Israeli leaders will also discuss "our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism, and lawfare at the ICC and ICJ," Pigott said.
Reporting by Simon Lewis
Lebanon's embassy in Washington said in a statement on Monday that Hezbollah had accepted a U.S. proposal for a mutual cessation of hostilities that would be extended to encompass all Lebanese territory.
Israel's defence ministry said on Monday France had banned Israeli government officials from a major weapons show in Paris, and had imposed restrictions on companies from the country exhibiting there.
The medieval Beaufort Castle's stone ramparts tower so far above south Lebanon that Israel could hail their capture as a strategic victory, even as it evoked the miseries of a previous occupation.
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