Hezbollah fighters killed in strike, Joseph Aoun’s term extended, migrants rescued: Everything you need to know to start your Monday

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Catch up on our LIVE coverage of Day 70, Day 71 and Day 72 of the Israel-Hamas war.

Hezbollah announced new deaths in its ranks as Israeli strikes continued to damage homes in southern Lebanon.

• Majdal Zoun residents recovered a body from a destroyed home as Israeli strikes continue in residential areas. On Saturday, one body was recovered from the rubble in Majdal Zoun, while three other people were confirmed to have been injured. L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the south on Friday reported that Israeli shelling damaged houses in Houla and Mais al-Jabal. Israel on Friday dropped flyers over the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Shouba telling residents they were being endangered by Hezbollah’s presence in the area.

• Hezbollah casualties rose to 111; first SSNP member killed since Oct. 7: Israeli shelling continued across southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah also continued to announce attacks on military targets in Israel claiming to inflict injuries, deaths and direct hits. Hezbollah announced the death of six of its fighters, raising the number of party members killed since Oct. 8 to 111. The Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), an ally of Hezbollah, announced the first death of one of its fighters on Friday.

• US Officials warn Israel against hitting the Lebanese Army after 34 strikes on its positions: US officials told CNN that the Biden administration has warned Israel over strikes on the Lebanese Army, which one senior congressional aide described as “concerning and irresponsible.”

Parliament on Friday passed laws extending Lebanese Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun’s term by another year, revising mid-century commercial rent controls, and streamlining the preliminary phase of criminal proceedings.

• Army keeps its head: Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea and Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai welcomed the extension, while Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Bassil claimed it was part of an “international conspiracy” against Lebanon. A caretaker cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday, with the extension of Aoun’s term included in its 24-item agenda, was postponed to Tuesday after failing to reach a quorum.

• Frozen commercial rents to thaw: MPs also voted to re-align commercial rental rates, frozen since 1992, with current market prices.

• Code of Criminal Procedure amendments: The session also led to the amendment of Article 73 of the Lebanese Code of Criminal Procedure with the aim of speeding up pre-trial procedures, according to NGO Legal Agenda president Nizar Saghieh. Some 86 percent of incarcerated people in Lebanon have yet to be tried, while the country’s two dozen prisons are at nearly double their intake capacity, Human Rights Watch said in an August report.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is set to visit Beirut Monday after a flight malfunction foiled her scheduled arrival on Friday. Colonna yesterday visited Israel and the Palestinian territories during a trip aiming to “avoid a regional eruption,” AFP quoted foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine. “Too many civilians are being killed,” Colonna said, calling for an “immediate and durable” truce in Gaza. The French head of diplomacy is scheduled to meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, with whom she will call for “restraint" and "responsibility" to avoid a new front line on the Israeli-Lebanese border, Lemoine said.

The Lebanese Army announced yesterday the rescue of more than 50 people aboard a sinking makeshift migration vessel off the coast of Tripoli. Despite the risk of death or arrest associated with informal sea migration, irregular migrants are regularly intercepted off the coast of Lebanon amid worsening living conditions. Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil on Saturday said Lebanon should not keep its “sea strictly closed” and called against making Lebanese security services “responsible for the security of other countries” — in reference to the European destinations informal migrants attempt to reach.

At least 18,800 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the latest health ministry figures, while less than one-third of the enclave’s hospitals remain operational.

• New truce talks between Mossad and Qatar as Israeli troops recover bodies of hostages: Israeli news outlet Haaretz announced that the chief of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, and Qatar’s Prime Minister were meeting in Europe Saturday to discuss a new hostage exchange deal. On Friday, Israel announced it recovered the bodies of three hostages, abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, who were killed in Gaza, without specifying the cause of death. The Israeli army on Saturday expressed “deep sorrow” after its troops shot and killed three hostages who had been misidentified as a threat the day before. Hamas has repeatedly announced the killing of hostages by Israeli strikes on Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the campaign on Gaza would continue regardless of international support, after the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a ceasefire.

• Israeli strike kills Al Jazeera journalist after ambulance stalls behind blocked road: Israeli strikes hit two Al Jazeera journalists, leading to the death of camera operator Samer Abu Daqqa. Al Jazeera earlier said ambulances were unable to reach Abu Daqqa because the only road to him was blocked by debris from a destroyed house. The other injured journalist, Wael al-Dahdouh, had already lost his son, daughter, wife and grandson in an Israeli bombardment on Oct. 25.

• Houthi Red Sea attacks in support of Palestine interrupts shipping routes: Several shipping giants announced they would halt trips through the Red Sea after Yemen’s Houthi Rebels attacked vessels in support of Palestine. Mohamad Abdel-Salam, the spokesperson, reaffirmed that the Houthis would continue to target Israeli ships or ships heading for Israel until the aggression and siege of Gaza ended.

In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from over the weekend: “Anticipating the effects of climate change on winter tourism in Lebanon”

Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz