Series of Israeli airstrikes targeting Jabal al-Rihan in Jezzine and Iqlim al-Touffah in Nabatieh | LIVE

Netanyahu has authorized Israeli negotiators to continue discussions in Doha regarding the hostages, according to a statement from his office relayed by AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that the September raid in Syria demonstrates Israel's "boldness to act anywhere," AFP reports.

Gaza

"Israeli negotiators will travel to Doha on Friday for a final effort to achieve a breakthrough in negotiations on the cease-fire and hostage agreement in Gaza before Trump takes office," Israeli officials told Axios journalist Barak Ravid.  

South Lebanon

The areas targeted by the Israeli army this evening are located north of the Litani River, relatively far from the Lebanese-Israeli border.

South Lebanon

The Israeli army has attacked Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon, reports the Israeli channel Kann news.

A series of Israeli airstrikes are hitting Jabal al-Rihan (Jezzine) and Iqlim al-Touffah (Nabatieh), our correspondent reports.

South Lebanon

Israeli warplanes carried out an airstrike targeting an area between the villages of Sejoud and Rihan, according to our correspondent.

Southern Lebanon

Two Israeli airstrikes targeted Iqlim al-Touffah in Nabatieh, according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

The first strike occurred near the village of Jbaa.

Gaza

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for the cancellation of the Palestinian Authority's decision to suspend the broadcasting and activities of the Qatari channel Al Jazeera in the Palestinian Territories.

“We are deeply concerned” and "urge the Palestinian Authority to reverse its decision and respect its obligations under international law," said the Office on X.

Syria

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal ben Farhan and his counterpart in the new Syrian authority Asaad al-Shaibani hold talks in Riyadh, local and regional media report. 

Israel

Twenty-eight suspects in Israel are implicated in 12 espionage cases linked to Tehran, reports Israeli media outlet Ynet News.

Allegations include photographing bases, burning cars, tracking down officials for assassination and passing intelligence to hostile entities. According to Ynet News, one suspect even traveled to Iran on several occasions.

Gaza

Several members of the Israeli parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee have asked Defense Minister Israel Katz to reconsider the operational plan for the Israeli army's ongoing ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, Haaretz reports.

In a letter to Katz, the lawmakers argued that the Israeli army's actions in the enclave “do not achieve the objectives of the war as defined by the government, namely the dismantling of Hamas's governmental and military capabilities,” the media outlet continues. The legislators added that the objectives of the war are not being achieved, despite the fact that Gaza is “a small area” and that the enemy “does not possess the tools and capabilities of a modern army.” 

Syria

“We are preparing to resume diplomatic relations with Syria and cooperation in international organizations,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, quoted by Reuters. A statement made after a visit to Damascus last week by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister. 

The latest developments in South Lebanon, according to our correspondent, Mountasser Abdallah:

- Israeli army fires heavy machine-gun salvos in the direction of Maroun al-Ras (Bint Jbeil)

- An Israeli drone fired two missiles in the vicinity of Mohammad Kaddouh's farm on the outskirts of Yater (Bint Jbeil).

- The bodies of three dead people were recovered from the rubble of a building destroyed by the Israeli army in the Jalaliye neighborhood of Khiam, Marjayoun.

Gaza

The Health Ministry in Gaza has announced that at least 28 people have been killed in the last 24 hours in the Palestinian territory, the scene of almost 15 months of war with Israel, reports AFP.

This brings the total death toll to 45,581, it said in a statement, adding that 108,438 people had also been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Gaza

The Israeli army has claimed to have killed the head of Hamas internal security in the humanitarian zone near Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, Haaretz reports.

The strike left eleven people dead, Gaza's Civil Defense reported this morning, including the enclave's police chief. 

Syria

Syrian security forces have launched a “sweep operation” in Homs, a city in central Syria, an official media outlet announced, targeting neighborhoods of the Alawite minority from which the Assad clan is descended, according to an NGO, reports AFP.

“The Interior Ministry, in cooperation with the military operations department, is beginning a large-scale sweep operation in neighborhoods in the city of Homs,” the Sana news agency quoted a security official as saying. The statement said the targets were “war criminals and people involved in crimes, who have refused to hand over their weapons and go to regularization centers” but also “fugitives, ammunition and hidden weapons.”

“The Ministry of the Interior calls on the residents of the Wadi al-Dhahab and Akrama neighborhoods ... to remain in their homes and cooperate fully with our forces,” the statement said.

Israel

Israel's Attorney General's Office has charged Alexander Gernovsky, a 29-year-old Israeli citizen from Petah Tikva, arrested last week on suspicion of spying for Iran, Haaretz reports.

He is accused of setting fire to eight cars, gathering information on the infrastructure and residence of former Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and painting graffiti. According to the police and Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence service, he also gathered information on arms prices and sent videos to contacts in Iran.

A police source said the suspect, who has a criminal record, expressed his willingness to perform many tasks, including shooting at vehicles, but told his contacts he had no intention of killing anyone and even hesitated to set fire to a police car, Israeli media reported. 

Syria

Syria's new Foreign Minister, Assaad al-Shaibani, said he hoped to open “a new and brilliant page” with Saudi Arabia on his arrival in the kingdom yesterday, on his first foreign visit.

“I have just arrived in the brotherly kingdom of Saudi Arabia, accompanied by Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Intelligence Chief Anas Khattab,” he posted on X. “This first visit in the history of free Syria allows us to open a new page in Syrian-Saudi relations, befitting the long shared history between our two countries,” added the head of Syrian diplomacy.

Qatar's Al Jazeera has denounced the Palestinian Authority's decision to suspend its broadcasting and operations in the Palestinian Territories, saying it was an “attempt to conceal reality” in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority announced the decision last night, accusing the channel of “inciting sedition” and “interfering” in its affairs.

Southern Lebanon

Israeli troops mobilized in southern Lebanon have retreated in the Sour district, in the western sector of the border strip, from Naqoura, four kilometers from the Blue Line, towards Ras Naqoura, directly on the border, and Alma Shaab.

Israeli soldiers combed the area with machine guns during this withdrawal, firing on several neighborhoods in Naqoura and its outskirts, according to a security source of our correspondent in the South, Mountasser Abdallah. The Israeli army also fired machine guns at Beit Lif, in the Bint Jbeil district. 

Gaza

Gaza's Civil Defense reported that at least 11 people, including the head of the now disbanded Hamas police force, had been killed in an Israeli air strike.

“Eleven people died as martyrs, including three children and two women, and 15 were wounded after a tent sheltering displaced persons was bombed in the Al-Mawassi area, west of the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip,” the Civil Defense said in a statement.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East, including the war in Gaza, which has entered its 454th day, and its repercussions in the region, notably in Lebanon and Yemen. We'll also be following the latest developments in Syria, more than three weeks after the fall of the Assad regime.