That concludes our live coverage of events in the region for today. Thanks for joining us, we'll be back again tomorrow morning. Goodnight!
South Lebanon
A Lebanese Army source told L'Orient Today that the fifth Lebanese detainee held by the Israeli army, due to be released tomorrow, is Lebanese soldier Ziad Chebli.
Two days ago, without naming him, the army indicated that contact had been lost with one of its soldiers on March 9 and that, after investigation, “it was established that elements of the Israeli forces opened fire on him while he was in civilian clothes in the vicinity of the village of Kfar Shuba.” The army claimed that he had been wounded and transported “inside the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Lebanon
The embassies of the United States, France and UNIFIL released a joint statement confirming today's events, starting with the cease-fire committee's meeting in Naqoura and ending with the release of four hostages. Notably missing from the statement is any mention of the border discussions that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced had been agreed upon during the meeting.
"The Cessation of Hostilities Monitoring Committee met today for the sixth time in Naqoura, with UNIFIL hosting the meeting under the chairmanship of the United States with representatives from France, the Lebanese Army and the Israeli Army," the joint American, French, and UNIFIL statement reads.
“Participants discussed ways to advance the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the full implementation of the Nov. 26, 2024, Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, and next steps to address outstanding issues between Israel and Lebanon,” the statement said. "Following the meeting, and at the request of the United States, Israel returned to Lebanon five Lebanese nationals it had detained."
Gaza
Hamas announced that negotiations on the continuation of the truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, in force since Jan. 19, have begun again in Doha following a tumultuous period during which the first phase had expired and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly "uninterested" in beginning talks on the second phase, which stipulates a permanent end to the war.
“A new round of cease-fire negotiations has begun” and "we hope that [it] will lead to tangible progress towards the launch of the second phase," senior Hamas official Abdel Rahamane Shadidd said in a statement.
Syria
The agreement in Syria between the new authorities in Damascus and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (FDS) will bring “peace,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
“The full implementation of yesterday's agreement will serve security and peace in Syria. All our Syrian brothers will benefit from it,” the head of state declared at a dinner to break the Ramadan fast, referring to the agreement which provides for the integration into the Syrian state of all civilian and military institutions belonging to the autonomous Kurdish administration in the north-east of the country.
Lebanon
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has been informed of the arrival of four Lebanese detainees freed by Israel, his office announced in a statement posted on X.
“The President of the Republic has been informed that, following negotiations conducted by the committee monitoring the implementation of the cease-fire agreement in the South, Lebanon has received four Lebanese prisoners who had been held by Israeli forces during the last conflict, and that a fifth detainee will be handed over tomorrow,” the statement reads.
South Lebanon
The Israeli army announced that it had killed “several” Hezbollah fighters in one of its air strikes against south Lebanon today. While such attacks are in violation of the cease-fire agreement, a side agreement made with the U.S. allows Israel to attack against perceived "threats" in southern Lebanon, outside of the truce's terms.
“Several terrorists were spotted at a site used by Hezbollah in the Froun region of southern Lebanon”, and "the air force carried out a strike against the suspects," the army said in a statement. Earlier, it had announced that it had “eliminated” an official of the Lebanese Islamist movement in a “precision strike” in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon/Israel
For context: While it's unknown how many Lebanese total are currently held by Israel, recent reporting paints a bit of a picture.
Israel freed nine Lebanese "prisoners of war" on Jan. 28, in a transfer facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as part of the cease-fire agreement.Then-Prime Minister Najib Mikati thanked the ICRC for its involvement while also appealing to the organization to help him secure the release of "nine other Lebanese still held in Israel."
AFP also reported at the time that, according to a source close to Hezbollah, seven of the party's fighters had been captured during the war.
Israeli troops also detained a number of residents attempting to return to their homes following the initial deadline for the army's withdrawal from the southern Lebanese villages. Some of the captives were released shortly after. On Feb. 2, a Lebanese fisherman, Mohammed Jahir, was abducted by the Israeli army off the coast of Naqoura and remains in captivity.
South Lebanon
🔴 According to our correspondent in the South, four of the five Lebanese captives set to be freed by Israel have arrived onto Lebanese territory and are being transported by the International Red Cross to the Italian Hospital in Naqoura for medical checks.
The captives Israel has agreed to free in exchange for Lebanon agreeing to land border negotiations include four civilians and one Hezbollah fighter. While the identity of the fighter is unknown, the four civilians are: Hussein Fares from Maroun al-Ras, Hussein Koteish from Houla, Sayyed Ahmad Shukor from Nabi Sheet, and Mohammad Najem from Nabatieh.
South Lebanon
The Israeli army announced having carried out an airstrike against the Nabatieh district in southern Lebanon that killed Hassan Abbas Izz al-Din, who it alleges headed Hezbollah's southern aerial defense unit, known as the Badr Unit. The Israeli army statement said he was working to reestablish the unit, supplying it with new weapons that could threaten Israeli aircraft. Hezbollah has not yet commented on the matter.
Lebanon/Israel
Earlier today, Morgan Ortagus, deputy special envoy for Middle East peace for the U.S., told Al-Jadeed news that she had launched “diplomatic working groups to resolve disputes between Lebanon and Israel over the Blue Line,” adding that she was “optimistic about an agreement around the five points,” which Israeli troops continue to occupy past the deadline, extended already once, before which, according to the cease-fire agreement, Israel was meant to have completely withdrawn from Lebanese territory.
“We are currently focusing on a diplomatic agreement around the five points and the release of Lebanese [detainees],” she said.
Lebanon/Israel
Following the meeting in Naqoura today between American, Israeli, Lebanese, and French officials, during which an agreement was made to begin border negotiations and release Lebanese detainees, the Trump Administration released a statement saying that all parties remain "committed to maintaining the cease-fire agreement and to fully implement all its terms."
"We look forward to quickly convening these diplomat-led working groups to resolve outstanding issues, along with our international partners," the statement reads. The U.S. chairs the cease-fire monitoring committee which was established as part of the truce agreement and tasked with ensuring both sides complied with the deal's terms. Since the cease-fire began, Israel has violated it hundreds of times, killing more than 60 people, systematically destroying villages, and bombing various areas in south Lebanon.
Lebanon
Nizar Zakka, president of the NGO Hostage Aid Worldwide, said that the five Lebanese detainees to be released by Israel are “four civilians and one Hezbollah member.” According to Zakka, this release comes “in exchange for Lebanon's acceptance to start negotiations on the land borders.”
A diplomatic source told L'Orient Today that the negotiations “remain within the framework of the cease-fire monitoring committee," adding that these contacts were "routine" and at a "military level."
The source also points out that “these are not political negotiations and the Lebanese government has not been informed.” However, the source did not rule out the possibility that “this information that is circulating is a form of pressure on the Lebanese state to push it towards political negotiations.”
Israel/Lebanon
Israeli officials met today with representatives of the United States, France and Lebanon to discuss negotiations on the land border between Israel and Lebanon, according to a statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
The officials agreed to set up three working groups, each focusing on a specific topic: “The five Israeli-controlled points in southern Lebanon; discussions on the Blue Line and disputed points; and Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.”
“In coordination with the United States and as a gesture to the new Lebanese prime minister, Israel has agreed to release five Lebanese prisoners,” the statement added.
The Israeli army announced that it had carried out an airstrike against a fighter who was "using surveillance devices" on troops in the southern Gaza Strip, where a truce between Israel and Hamas has been in effect since Jan. 19, AFP reports.
The aircraft "targeted a terrorist who was using surveillance devices and gathering information on troops" in the south of the Palestinian territory, the army said, adding that it carried out this strike "to eliminate the threat against" the military.
U.S. Deputy Middle East Envoy Morgan Ortagus said Israel will release five Lebanese prisoners.
The Israeli drone strike in the Froun Kfarsir valley (Nabatieh), shortly after 3 p.m., reportedly caused at least one casualty, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.
In an initial report, the Health Ministry also said that one person was killed in the strike.
International Red Cross vehicles are heading towards Naqoura (Sour) to recover Lebanese hostages kidnapped by Israeli forces, who will be handed over to them at the border, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.
France welcomed the agreement to integrate all Kurdish institutions into the Syrian state, seeing it as "a positive step towards a negotiated and peaceful solution for the unification of Syria" and a "guarantee" of Kurdish rights and interests, reported AFP.
France, which emphasized having "contributed in conjunction with its American partners," added that it "will continue its efforts to facilitate dialogue between the Syrian transitional authorities and its Kurdish partners in northeastern Syria," according to a statement from the spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"France reiterates its commitment to the implementation of a peaceful political transition process, which represents all components of Syrian society, with a view to building a free, united, stable, peaceful, sovereign Syria, fully integrated into its regional environment and the international community," said Christophe Lemoine.
The name of the person killed this morning in the Israeli drone attack on his car in Deir Zahrani (Saida) is Hassan Ezzeddine, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent. He is the alleged official in Hezbollah's air defense unit that local media and Israeli army radio were talking about.
The Israeli attacks come as the committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah is currently meeting in Ras al-Naqoura to discuss the possible release of Lebanese prisoners, according to local sources.
The number of detainees involved is believed to vary between four and six, including civilians and a recently abducted soldier. Israel is also holding seven Hezbollah fighters captured in October 2024 and 11 civilians arrested after residents returned to their southern villages after the end of the cease-fire.
According to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon, two new Israeli drone strikes were carried out against a vehicle, a car or minibus, in the Froun Kfarsir valley (Nabatieh), shortly after 3 p.m.
According to reports by local media outlets, the individual targeted by the Israeli drone attack this morning in Zahrani (Saida) is said to be H.A., a senior officer in Hezbollah's air defense unit. The news was also reported by the Israeli army on its radio station, quoting a security source according to which "the target of the drone attack in Lebanon is a senior officer in Hezbollah's air defense unit."
Israeli artillery shelling targeted Jabal al-Sadana on the outskirts of the town of Shebaa (Hasbaya), local residents reported.
Eurowings, one of the airlines of the German Lufthansa group, decided to resume its flights to Beirut from March 17, two sources within travel agencies in Lebanon said on Tuesday.
Israeli forces opened fire at the vicinity of the Manara settlement, opposite Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun).
According to new information relayed by L'Orient Today's correspondent, the Israeli soldiers did approach the town of Ramieh in the morning but did not search any houses, as previously reported. However, they fired machine guns in the area, as they passed by the village school square.
An Israeli airstrike killed five people near the Netzarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip, medical sources cited by Al-Jazeera. The attack comes after a drone strike killed a woman near the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
The Red Cross said in a statement that the suspension of humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, including the cutoff of power to the territory's only water desalination facility, "risks plunging Gaza further into an acute humanitarian emergency."
The Red Cross also said that the impact of this move is already being felt through price increases and shortages of basic goods.
"Gaza's humanitarian crisis is far from over," the Red Cross noted. "Aid deliveries had substantially increased during the cease-fire, but they remain a drop in the ocean compared to the immense needs on the ground."
The fact-finding commission mandated by the Syrian presidency to investigate the deadly violence in the west of the country is "determined" to guarantee justice and "prevent extrajudicial reprisals," its spokesperson said on Tuesday.
"New Syria is determined to guarantee justice, to uphold the rule of law, to protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens, to prevent any extrajudicial reprisals and to guarantee the absence of impunity," the commission's spokesperson, Yasser al-Farhan, said at a press conference in Damascus.
Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa called on the international community, in particular the EU, to pressure Israel to open Gaza's borders, which have been closed for nine days.
Israel must reopen Gaza's borders and "allow the unhindered entry of humanitarian aid, temporary shelters and reconstruction materials," Mustafa said in a meeting with Luxembourg's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, according to a statement from the PA chief executive's office.
Israel must also end its "aggression against the Palestinian people," Mustafa said, including Israeli military incursions into the northern occupied West Bank, where troops have destroyed civilian infrastructure, including homes, and forced the displacement of thousands of people.
The Gaza Health Ministry released its latest report on the number of people killed and injured in Israel's war on the territory.
In a statement, it said that a total of 36 deaths – four new deaths, 32 bodies recovered – were recorded and 14 wounded arrived at hospitals in the past 24 hours. This brings the confirmed number of people killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7 to at least 48,503, with another 111,927 people injured, the ministry added.
The Israeli strike on the Deir Zahrani-Houmin al-Faouqa road (Nabatieh) killed one person who was in the targeted vehicle, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon.
The Syrian government led by Ahmad al-Sharaa signed an agreement with a Druze delegation from Sweida province to integrate the Druze community into state institutions, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday, citing informed sources. Al-Arabiya also relayed the information.
(Photo relayed by L'Orient Today's correspondent Muntasser Abdallah)
An Israeli drone carried out a strike on a car on the Deir Zahrani-Houmin al-Faouqa road (Nabatieh), according to L'Orient Today's correspondent in south Lebanon. According to preliminary reports, the strike caused injuries.
Russia said it was "in contact" with other countries following recent violence in Syria that claimed the lives of more than a thousand civilians, according to a report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), AFP reported.
"We are ready and are in contact with other countries," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "We want a united, prosperous and friendly Syria."
The U.N. called for an end to "the suffering" of populations in western Syria, where more than 1,000 civilians, the overwhelming majority of whom are from the Alawite community, have been killed in recent days, according to an NGO, cited by AFP.
"People in Syria's coastal areas continue to suffer and this must stop," Thameen al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at the regular U.N. briefing in Geneva.
The High Commission gave a verified figure of 111 civilian deaths, but acknowledged that the real toll is certainly "significantly higher," said Kheetan, who declined to comment on the toll given by other organizations. Such discrepancies are common, as the High Commission follows a very strict verification procedure that takes a lot of time.
The Israeli army issued a statement saying its soldiers and special forces killed three Palestinian fighters. It said Israeli counterterrorism police killed two fighters and wounded another. In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers killed a fighter while destroying a vehicle loaded with weapons.
Separately, Israeli forces arrested 10 people in Jenin, one of whom was identified as a "senior official" of a local fighting group. The Israeli army's raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank is in its 50th day.
Today, at least three Palestinians, including an elderly woman, were killed during the operation, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. These deaths bring the total number of Palestinians killed in the campaign to 34, according to an official toll.
Palestinian factions condemned the killing of Abdel Rahman Abu al-Mouna, a commander of the Jenin Brigades, by Palestinian Authority security forces. Abu al-Mouna, an activist wanted by Israel, was a senior member of the group based in the occupied West Bank.
In an interview with public radio Reshet Bet, quoted by Haaretz, Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman (Likud) said that the Israeli government is "committed to the idea of encouraging the emigration" of Palestinians from Gaza.
She added that she believed that "God sent the American administration [to Israel]," adding that the latter "clearly tells them that it is time to inherit the land."
Israeli jets bombed the area around Khalkhala airport in the Sweida region in southwestern Syria, according to al-Mayadeen. This attack comes two days after an earlier Israeli bombing in the same area.
Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called on Syrian authorities to swiftly pursue those responsible for summary executions in the west of the country, where according to an NGO more than 1,000 civilians, the overwhelming majority of them from the Alawite community, have been killed in recent days.
"Serious abuses on a staggering scale are being reported against Syrians, the majority of whom are Alawites, in the coastal region and elsewhere in Syria," Adam Coogle, HRW's deputy Middle East director, said in a statement.
Lebanese MP Abdel Rahman Bizri (Saida-Independent) said that the recent clashes in Syria between supporters of the former regime of Bashar al-Assad and the new Syrian security forces, during which hundreds of civilians were killed, are "dangerous for Syria and Lebanon," noting however that the return to relative calm gives "reassuring" signs for the future.
He also deplored the impact of this situation on Lebanon with the entry of many Syrian refugees into the north of the country, which added to the tensions linked to the situation on the border between south Lebanon and Israel, whose army has still not withdrawn from the south of the country.
"We are counting on the ability of the Lebanese government and the Arab friends and brothers of Lebanon to work together to end this occupation which, if it continues with the persistence of the Israeli occupier in its aggression, could have negative repercussions on the situation in Lebanon," he said.
Overnight, the Israeli military said it shot down a drone flying from Israel toward the Gaza Strip and also targeted Palestinians who tried to retrieve it, Haaretz reported.
Good morning!
Thank you for joining us for our live coverage.
Be sure to read the Morning Brief so you are caught up with what has been happening.
Several Israeli airstrikes targeted the southern province of Daraa on Monday, the state-run SANA news agency reported. "Israeli occupation aircraft carried out several strikes on the surroundings of the towns of Jbab and Izraa in the north of Deraa province," SANA said, without giving further details on the locations hit.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israeli aircraft carried out 17 strikes and targeted several positions of the former Syrian army, including an observation post and tanks. Lebanese media reported a higher number of strikes over two hours in southern Syria and the suburbs of Damascus.
Since the overthrow of former President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 by a coalition of rebel groups led by radical Islamists, the Israeli army has carried out hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria, saying it wants to prevent the former regime's arsenal from falling into hostile hands.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded on Feb. 23 "the total demilitarization of southern Syria" and indicated that his country would not tolerate the forces of the new Syrian government deploying south of Damascus.
The Syrian presidency, which is seeking to unify a country divided by 13 years of civil war, announced on Monday an agreement to "integrate" into the state all civil and military institutions under the autonomous Kurdish administration of northern and eastern Syria.
The agreement reached between interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) represented "a real opportunity to build a new Syria," said SDF leader Mazloum Abdi on Tuesday.
"We are determined to build a better future that guarantees the rights of all Syrians" and "we consider this agreement as a real opportunity to build a new Syria that includes all its components and ensures good coexistence," he wrote on X shortly after the announcement on Monday of the upcoming integration into the Syrian state of all civil and military institutions under the Kurdish autonomous administration.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar on Tuesday condemned Israel's cutoff of electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip, calling on the international community to intervene.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry expressed "its condemnation in the strongest terms," while Qatar denounced "a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."
On Monday, an Israeli delegation arrived in the Qatari capital to resume talks on extending the Gaza cease-fire agreement.
In north Lebanon, more than 7,000 people who fled the Syrian coast, where violence and massacres between supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and the new security forces have left hundreds dead since last Thursday, have sought refuge in the Akkar governate, according to government figures published Monday.
Earlier in the day, the chairman of the Tal al-Bireh municipal council, Abdelhamid Sakr, reported to L'Orient Today's correspondent in north Lebanon, that 10,000 people had taken refuge in Akkar in north Lebanon, including 2,000 in his village.
In south Lebanon, Israeli soldiers entered the village of Ramieh (Bint Jbeil) and searched the prefabricated mobile homes prepared for returning residents, reported L'Orient Today's correspondent.
In the morning, the Israeli army claimed responsibility for the strikes via a message posted on X by its Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraae.
According to him, the Israeli air force "attacked last night radars and surveillance equipment used to develop aerial intelligence in southern Syria."
"The airstrikes were also carried out on command centers and military sites that contained combat equipment and military vehicles belonging to the Syrian regime in southern Syria," he added.
Informed sources in Hamas told Asharq Al-Awsat that "the movement has not committed to any party to accept its disarmament and considers this issue as a Palestinian matter," adding that "it can only be accepted in one case: A clear political path that allows the establishment of a Palestinian state."
The sources were responding to statements made in recent days by U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler, who met with Hamas officials in Doha. In an interview over the weekend with Israeli public broadcaster Kan, Boehler said Hamas had offered a five- to 10-year truce that would see it disarm and withdraw from politics.
Sources contacted by Asharq Al-Awsat also described as "positive" the recent talks between Hamas and Boehler, while saying that they need more time to be successful. They assured that these talks "took place at the request of the United States" and confirmed that it was the Hamas leaders who proposed the idea of a truce of at least five years, or even 10 years or more.
Protesters gathered at Federal Plaza in New York, where Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student and leading figure in the anti-Gaza war protests at Columbia, was arrested, Haaretz reported.
On the Columbia University campus, a separate rally of Jewish leaders and faculty members also took place. Khalil's detention marked a significant escalation in the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters, focusing its fight against anti-Semitism on campus protesters and the universities themselves, the newspaper said.
You have reached your article limit
Get the latest on Lebanon and the region.
Limited offer: $0.5/month for the first 3 months.
This article is only available to L’Orient Today subscribers.
Already have an account? Login here