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The death toll from the fighting in northern Syria has risen to 602, including 104 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.
The dead also included 299 fighters from the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group and allied factions and 199 pro-government soldiers and fighters, added the NGO, which is based in the United Kingdom but has a vast network of sources in Syria.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he will co-chair a conference on the creation of a Palestinian state in June 2025 with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammad bin Salman, AFP reports.
"We have decided to co-chair for next June ... a conference for the two states (one Israeli, the other Palestinian) with the idea that in the coming months together we will multiply and federate our diplomatic initiatives to take everyone on this path," he told journalists on the second day of his state visit to Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi visited southern Lebanon on Monday, where he conducted a “situation assessment and a field tour,” army spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted on X.
“I expect that they [Hezbollah] will find out in the coming days that a large number of their members have been killed here in the last few weeks,” Halevi said. “This is what we are seeing in the villages deeper in. Here, in the villages close (to the border), they are not coming close. There is no element here.”
Halevi assured that the Israeli army “fully respects the cease-fire.” “Our mission is to ensure that this region does not become a place for terrorist infrastructure again, but a safe zone,” he added, assuring that “Hezbollah has suffered heavy blows.”
The Gaza Health Ministry announced that 36 people were killed and 96 wounded in the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours. According to the ministry, at least 44,502 Palestinians have been killed and 105,454 wounded since the start of the war. Thousands of people are still considered missing.
The U.S. military carried out at least one "self-defense" strike in Syria's Deir ez-Zor region overnight, a U.S. official was quoted by Reuters as saying. He said the operation was "not related to rebel advances" in the country. The official, who asked not to be named, did not reveal the specific target of the strike.
The United States maintains a small military contingent at a base in a gas field in Deir ez-Zor province and occasionally conducts strikes in the area, including against Iranian-backed forces. The area is also home to Islamic State militants, whom U.S. troops have been fighting since 2014.
The Israeli army carried out explosions in the village of Mhaibib (Marjayoun), L'Orient Today's correspondent reported. At least three detonations were heard by the inhabitants.
The Palestinian Health Ministry announced the death of two people after an Israeli strike targeting a car near the town of Tubas in the northern occupied West Bank.
The strike took place near the city of Aqaba, east of Tubas, according to the ministry, which reported two dead and one injured transferred to the public hospital in Tubas. The ministry also claimed that the Israeli army attacked the hospital, which the latter denied.
Iran says it is ready "to study" any request to send troops to Syria, an Iranian minister said, quoted by AFP.
The Israeli drone strike on Shebaa (Hasbaya) killed one person, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported. L'Orient Today's correspondent reported that the victim is a shepherd identified as Jamal Hassan Saab.
The Biden administration imposed a new round of Iran-related sanctions against dozens of entities, including oil tankers and shipping companies, Reuters reports, citing the U.S. Treasury Department.
An Israeli strike near Damascus killed a Hezbollah official responsible for liaison with the Syrian army, a security source told Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli government meeting in Nahariya, northern Israel: "We are in a cease-fire situation, not an end to the war. We will not tolerate violations," in remarks reported by Israeli Army Radio on X.
In south Lebanon, Israeli artillery hit Rashaya al-Foukhar (Hasbaya) and Khiam (Marjayoun), according to residents quoted by L'Orient Today's correspondent.
Israeli soldiers fired machine guns in the direction of Bint Jbeil, according to our correspondent.
At the same time, Israeli army vehicles advanced towards Burj al-Muluk, in the Marjayoun district.
An Israeli drone strike killed a person who was in a field in Shebaa, in the Hasbaya district, according to local sources of our correspondent. The victim is a shepherd identified as Jamal Hassan Saab.
An Israeli drone fired a missile at Deir Siryan, in the Marjayoun district, according to our correspondent's local sources.
Gaza's Health Ministry has announced a new death toll of 44,502 in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel nearly 14 months ago, reports AFP.
At least 36 people have been killed in the last 24 hours, it said in a statement, adding that 105,454 people had been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, triggered by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, said during a visit along the border with Lebanon that “the Lebanese government must ... allow the Lebanese Army” to keep Hezbollah away north of the Litani River, threatening to “no longer make a distinction” between the Shiite party and the Lebanese state should the war resume.
The death toll from last night's Israeli strike on Haris, in the southern Lebanese district Bint Jbeil, has risen to six, following a previous toll of five, according to the Health Ministry.
Since the cease-fire came into effect in Lebanon, 12 people have been killed according to our count, 11 of them yesterday alone.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich thanked U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his “refreshing” and “morally sound” statements after Trump said he would make the Middle East pay a high price if Israeli prisoners held in Gaza were not released before his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Smotrich said on X that Trump's statements “do not create a false equivalence and do not call for addressing both sides, but rather clarify who are the good guys and who are the bad guys” in the war in Gaza.
In southern Lebanon, an Israeli drone fired a missile at Beit Lif, in Bint Jbeil, while Israeli troop movements continued, notably in Khiam. In this locality, which saw heavy fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah before the cease-fire, tanks and military vehicles were once again positioned in the eastern quarter, from which they had withdrawn the previous day. Local sources contacted by our correspondent in the South also report a deployment of Israeli military vehicles in Aitaroun.
In southern Lebanon, a precarious calm reigned this morning, following yesterday evening's series of deadly strikes. At dawn, machine-gun fire and detonations were heard in Kfar Kila, in Marjayoun.
During the night, shortly after midnight, Israeli aircraft again targeted Jezzine, bombing the outskirts of Soujoud-Mlikh.
In Lebanon, Monday was one of the most tense days since the cease-fire came into effect a week ago.
For the first time since the cease-fire came into effect last Tuesday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a shell fired at the Roueissat al-Alam site in the disputed Kfar Shuba hills. According to a party statement, the attack was carried out “following repeated violations” of the agreement by Israel. The Israeli army retaliated, killing at least nine people.
The main news this morning concerns the situation in Gaza. According to Haaretz and Arab media, Hamas and Fatah have agreed to form a joint committee to manage the Gaza Strip, following an Egyptian-sponsored proposal. The agreement was reached during talks in Cairo between the two parties, which ended on Monday.
Under the agreement, the committee will manage the distribution of humanitarian aid, oversee Gaza's civil administration and coordinate reconstruction efforts. It will also supervise the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in line with the agreement reached in 2005.
As part of the agreement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to issue a decree ordering the creation of the Community Support Committee, which will be subordinate to the Palestinian government in administrative, financial, supervisory and legal matters, says Haaretz, to which a senior Palestinian official said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have always opposed any involvement of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip.
A senior Fatah official told Saudi channel Asharq News that the delegation was expected to discuss the offer with Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, adding that the Palestinian president approved of the initiative. Senior Hamas officials said they supported the offer because it “brings humanitarian support to the people of Gaza.”
Good morning ☀️
Thank you for joining our live coverage of day 424 of the Gaza war and day 7 of the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, after 14 months of strikes on both sides of the border and more than two months of Israel's deadly campaign on Lebanon.
To catch up on yesterday's key events and find out what to expect today, be sure to read the Morning Brief. 👈
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