South Lebanon
The Israeli army carried out a powerful explosion in Mais al-Jabal, in the Marjayoun district, reports our correspondent.
Gaza
Israel will release 183 prisoners on Saturday in exchange for three hostages, according to a Palestinian NGO quoted by AFP.
Lebanese-Syrian border
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun contacted acting Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, with whom he discussed the clashes taking place on the Lebanese-Syrian border. “They agreed to coordinate efforts to control the situation and prevent attacks on civilians,” said the Lebanese presidency on its X account. Aoun also took the opportunity to congratulate Ahmad al-Sharaa on his accession to the presidency.
Earlier, families, clans and inhabitants of northern Bekaa called on the Lebanese state in a statement to intervene and deal with the Syrian president in order to “protect Lebanon's sovereignty” and resolve tensions at the border between the two countries, following two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and Lebanese clans in the region. The clans said they were “dismayed by the total and unjustified abandonment” of the state towards them, which left them no choice, they said, but to “defend Lebanon.”
Gaza
The armed wing of Hamas published on Friday the names of three Israeli hostages to be released on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, the fifth exchange since the truce came into effect on Jan. 19.
“The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades have decided to release [the hostages] tomorrow, Saturday,” said their spokesperson, Abu Obeida, on Telegram, before declaring their identities. These must be confirmed by the Israeli Hostage Families Forum before they can be revealed publicly.
Gaza/Trump
In a statement, Hezbollah condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's call to move Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip to neighboring countries such as Jordan and Egypt, calling it a “clear expression and translation of a racist, abolitionist and fascist ideology.”
“What the enemy failed to achieve during the war will not be granted in peacetime,” the group declared, adding that "just as genocide was thwarted, the racist war of displacement will also be defeated."
Hezbollah also called on Arab and Islamic countries to adopt “practical positions to confront this occupation project."
Hezbollah also warned that “any let-up in confrontation will pave the way for the organized expulsion of all the inhabitants of the West Bank and, later, of all the Palestinians of the 48 occupied territories.”
South Lebanon
The Israeli army dynamited three houses in Kfar Kila, in Marjayoun, reports our correspondent in South Lebanon. Earlier in the day, it had set fire to other houses, the few still standing, and blown up several buildings.
In addition, the outskirts of Kfar Shuba, in Hasbaya, were targeted by machine-gun fire from Roueissat al-Alam, in the disputed Kfar Shuba heights.
Lebanese-Syrian border
Clashes between Lebanese clans and forces of the new Syrian administration on the Lebanese-Syrian border have left four clansmen dead and 10 injured, according to our correspondent in the Bekaa.
Lebanese-Syrian border
At least two clan members and a member of the Syrian security forces have been killed in ongoing clashes between the two sides on the Lebanese-Syrian border, according to our correspondent in the Bekaa. Several other members of the clans were injured.
In addition, our correspondent reported that the Jaafar clan captured three members of the Syrian forces.
Gaza
The Israeli authorities said they were “waiting” for the list of new hostages to be released on Saturday in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, as doubts began to hang over a possible deadlock in talks with Hamas.
Asked by AFP whether this fifth exchange since the beginning of the truce in Gaza would actually take place, Omer Dostri, the Prime Minister's spokesperson, replied: “That's the plan.” Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that he would follow the process from the United States, where he is visiting.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of the goal of a Syria that is "free and safe for all sections of the population" during an hour-long phone call with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, his spokesperson said, quoted by AFP.
The two leaders "agreed that it was now necessary to initiate a political process" including "all Syrians, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation," the chancellery added in a statement.
General Michael Kurilla, head of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), spoke this week with the Israeli general staff about the "strategic regional situation," according to the Israeli army quoted by AFP.
As head of the body overseeing U.S. military operations from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia, General Kurilla discussed ways to "address threats in the Middle East" and "various possible scenarios on near and far fronts," according to a military statement.
Israel's defense minister ordered the military not to criticize Donald Trump's plan for a U.S. takeover of Gaza and the displacement of its Palestinian population, prompting embarrassed explanations from the head of Israeli military intelligence, AFP reports.
"It is out of the question for IDF officers to speak out against U.S. President Trump's major plan regarding Gaza and against the directives of political leaders," Katz said. His statement said he had ordered the chief of staff to reprimand the head of the Israeli military intelligence (AMAN), General Shlomi Binder, "for the remarks attributed to him" on the subject.
General Binder assured in return that he had not "expressed opposition to the Trump plan" and that he remained, like every soldier, "subordinate to the political leaders" of the country.
Families, clans and residents of northern Bekaa in a statement called on the Lebanese state to intervene and deal with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in order to "protect Lebanon's sovereignty" and intervene to resolve tensions on the border between the two countries, after two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and Lebanese clans in the region.
The clans said they were "dismayed by the state's total and unjustified abandonment" of them, which left them with no choice, according to them, but "to defend Lebanon."
The al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in Lebanon, announced the death of three of its fighters killed in southern Lebanon “while participating in the fight against the Zionist aggression.” Their names are Ahmad Ali, Alaa Hashem and Mohammad Jaber, members of the “martyr Ali al-Assouad” battalion.
The statement did not specify the date and place of their deaths. Since the beginning of the cease-fire in south Lebanon, bodies have been regularly found under the rubble in villages previously occupied by the Israeli army. At least 20 al-Quds Brigades fighters were killed during the war against Israel in Lebanon.
According to L'Orient Today's correspondent, three people were injured following the entry of the new Syrian security forces into the border town of Qanafed, located in Lebanese territory, where clashes are taking place with Lebanese residents.
In addition, two rockets sent from Syrian territory fell successively on the outskirts of the Lebanese village of Kouakh (Hermel).
The explosion in Tyr Harfa, which killed four people, was caused by a mine placed in an armchair, according to a mukhtar of the village contacted by L'Orient Today's correspondent. This explosive was placed during the Israeli occupation of the village. One of the victims, Abbas Haidar, was clearing the rubble of his house, partially destroyed by an Israeli strike before the ceasefire, and was carrying the booby-trapped armchair with one of his friends, when the explosion took place. Two of his daughters who were present at the scene, aged seven and eight, were killed, as was the adult who was helping him carry furniture. His third daughter was injured.
According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in Bekaa, members of the new Syrian security forces are deployed near Qanafed, on the border between Lebanon and Syria. Faced with this mobilization, members of Lebanese clans in this area and families from the Hermel region have called for people to go to the region to "defend their territories."
The Forum of Families of Israeli Hostages in the Gaza Strip has put pressure on the government to hasten their release, on the eve of a planned exchange between hostages and Palestinian prisoners, of which no details have been released.
Several Israeli hostages, kidnapped during the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on Oct. 7, 2023, are supposed to be released on Saturday in exchange for a large number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, under the truce agreement between Israel and the Palestinian movement. But no information is coming out about this fifth exchange, neither from one side nor the other.
“We support you and we are with you. Do not miss this opportunity,” the Families Forum said in a statement, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Send the negotiating delegation to Qatar with a clear mandate to complete the agreement and bring all the hostages home.”
The Israeli army set fire to houses in Kfar Kila, the few still standing in this border town in the Marjayoun district, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent. It previously blew up other buildings, in two phases, in the village.
The head of the Tyr Harfa municipality, Qassem Haidar, told L'Orient Today that the explosion, the causes of which are still unknown, occurred in a house in the village and left four dead: A man, his two sons and a fourth person.
Israeli aircraft bombed the area known as Tebna, between Teffahta and Baissarieh, south of Saida, according to residents quoted by L'Orient Today's correspondent in southern Lebanon. This region was targeted several times since the cease-fire came into effect on Nov. 27, 2024. According to local residents, ambulances headed to the scene.
Another explosion, the cause of which is not yet known, also caused casualties in a house in Tyr Harfa (Sour).
An artillery strike by the new Syrian security forces targeted the Jarmash region, on the border between Lebanon and Syria, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in the Bekaa. The strike comes after deadly clashes between Lebanese clans and the new Syrian army in Syrian territory on Thursday.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech that experience had proven that talks with the United States were "neither intelligent, nor wise, nor honorable," according to Reuters. The comments came in response to those made by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, who appeared to open the door to a resumption of negotiations with Tehran, saying he would like to seal a "nuclear peace deal with verifiable guarantees."
A senior Iranian official also told Reuters that Iran was ready to give the United States a chance to resolve their differences over the nuclear issue.
During his previous term in 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 nuclear pact Tehran struck with world powers and reimposed sanctions that crippled the country’s economy. Those tough measures had prompted Tehran to violate the pact’s nuclear limitations.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) called on the international community and "all donors" to help feed millions of Gazans and rebuild areas devastated by the war between Hamas and Israel.
"We call on the international community and all donors at this crucial time to continue supporting WFP to save lives," WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau said after a visit to the country. The U.N. agency said it had provided more than 15,000 metric tons of food since the fragile cease-fire on Jan. 19, supporting 525,000 people, but stressed that more needed to be done.
The Israeli foreign minister "congratulated" the American President, Donald Trump, for the sanctions imposed on the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose actions he described as "immoral" and illegitimate.
"I highly commend President Trump," Gideon Saar said on the social network X. "The ICC is aggressively pursuing the elected leaders of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East," arguing that it had no legitimacy since "Israel and the United States are not parties to the Rome Statute and are not members of the ICC."
These sanctions by Trump against the ICC "threaten the independence of the Court and undermine the international criminal justice system as a whole," reacted the President of the European Council, António Costa.
Iran this morning condemned new “illegal” and “unjustified” U.S. financial sanctions targeting entities accused of selling Iranian crude oil to China.
"The decision of the new U.S. administration to exert pressure on the Iranian nation by preventing Iran's legal trade with its economic partners is an illegitimate, illegal and violent measure," Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement, deeming the measure "completely unjustified and contrary to international rules."
An incident on Thursday between the new Syrian security forces (formerly Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham) and Lebanese from the Zeaiter and Jaafar clans, in border villages in Syria inhabited by Lebanese, took on increasingly serious proportions as the day went on, according to several sources contacted by L'Orient Today's correspondent in the Bekaa and local media. These clashes left at least two dead.
In the evening, several members of the Syrian security forces who had been kidnapped by Lebanese clans were released.
The United States also announced sanctions, the first since the new administration took office, against an "international network" accused of delivering Iranian oil to China to finance Tehran's military activities.
The sanctions target an "international network that facilitates the delivery of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to China," the Treasury Department said in a statement. "This network generates illicit revenue for the Iranian military" that allows it to "fund terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah," the State Department said in a separate statement.
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The Israeli army claimed overnight that it struck, on Lebanese territory, "two military sites that contained Hezbollah weapons, in violation of the cease-fire agreement." In its statement broadcast on X, it added that it "continues to operate to eliminate any threat against the State of Israel."
At around 11 p.m., at least one Israeli strike targeted a valley in the Nabatieh region in south Lebanon, according to local media, while the Israeli air force carried out four strikes in the Baalbeck-Hermel region, on the border with Syria, according to information from L'Orient Today's correspondent. These strikes notably targeted the region of Nabi Sheet, Janta and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Israel and several Arab countries in mid-February, the State Department said overnight. It will be the new diplomat's first trip to the region since Donald Trump's statements on the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Rubio will attend the Munich Security Conference in Germany and then travel to Israel, the Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia from Feb. 13 to 18, according to a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. President Donald Trump yesterday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court, which it accuses of "taking unlawful and baseless actions against America and our close ally Israel."
The order, released by the White House, bars entry into the United States to ICC officials, employees and agents, as well as their immediate family members and anyone deemed to have assisted the ICC’s investigative work. The order also provides for freezing all assets held in the United States by these same individuals. The names of the individuals targeted were not immediately made public. Previous sanctions imposed by the previous Trump administration in 2020 targeted Fatou Bensouda, then the court’s prosecutor.
The ICC is investigating alleged war crimes by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Israeli military personnel in the Gaza Strip.
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