Israel’s military launched precision airstrikes on two apartment buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, hours after intercepting rockets fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel. The rare strike on the densely populated area, a Hezbollah stronghold, escalates a monthslong conflict that has drawn in Iran and complicated ceasefire efforts.
China, Iran and Israel have emerged as relative beneficiaries in a conflict that has rattled energy markets, devastated Lebanon and eroded U.S. influence in the Middle East.
Iran’s foreign minister acknowledged stalled negotiations with the U.S., while Hezbollah dismissed a new Lebanon-Israel truce, raising fears of a broader conflict.
The Iran-backed militant group's refusal to accept the truce—coupled with continued cross-border fire—threatens to derail broader U.S.-Iran negotiations and deepen Lebanon's humanitarian crisis.
Iran-backed Hezbollah rejected a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon on Thursday, while Israel refused to pull troops from the south, dealing a blow to President Trump’s diplomatic push for a broader deal with Tehran. The standoff underscores the fragile interplay between regional ceasefires and the larger Iran conflict.
The U.S.-brokered agreement, announced by the State Department, requires a full cessation of fire from Hezbollah and the withdrawal of its operatives from southern Lebanon. Both sides are set to resume talks in June.
A senior Iranian commander declares war with the United States is unavoidable as negotiations stall, while Israel and Hezbollah continue to clash despite a claimed ceasefire. The widening conflict, economic turmoil in Iran, and renewed maritime tensions deepen the crisis.
A 26-year-old Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces Sunday while attempting to cross the separation barrier near Jerusalem, the Palestinian Health Ministry reports. The fatal incident underscores growing economic desperation in the occupied West Bank as work permits remain sharply restricted since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023.
Israel confirmed Wednesday it killed Mohammed Odeh, the recently installed head of Hamas's armed wing in Gaza, marking the fourth time in months it has eliminated the group's top military commander despite a fragile ceasefire. The strike also killed his wife and children, drawing condemnation and signaling Israel's unrelenting pursuit of October 7 attack architects.
The Trump administration reinstated financial sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a lower court ruling that had prohibited the penalties.
The Israeli military on Wednesday designated a vast new area of southern Lebanon as an active combat zone, warning civilians to flee north of the Zahrani River or face intense operations against Hezbollah. The order, the broadest evacuation directive since the April ceasefire, signals a further escalation even as diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict remain fragile.
The latest escalation, according to regional analysts, is driven by concerns that a potential US-Iran agreement could limit Israel's ability to target its adversaries.
About a third of Palestinians killed by Israel since an October ceasefire died near the armistice boundary with Hamas, according to U.N. figures shared exclusively with Reuters. The U.N. human rights office says the pattern suggests troops may be targeting civilians simply for approaching the line, which would constitute war crimes.
Israel issued a sweeping evacuation order for Nabatieh on Tuesday, pushing deeper into southern Lebanon. What makes this city a strategic and symbolic target?
Iran launched a deadly missile and drone attack on Kuwait International Airport early Wednesday, killing one person and wounding dozens, in what Tehran called retaliation for the latest U.S. airstrikes. The assault came hours after President Trump insisted talks were ongoing, but the fragile ceasefire appeared increasingly strained as regional tensions escalated.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, declared Thursday that the United States and Israel had suffered a “decisive blow” in the ongoing Middle East war, even as his government acknowledged “no tangible progress” in negotiations to end the conflict.
As fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues, Tehran insists on a halt to those hostilities before any US-Iran peace deal can move forward. The situation remains fluid, with rejected truces, rising casualties, and competing narratives from all sides.
The U.S. and Iran appear closer to a de-escalation agreement, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and pausing hostilities, but Israel has ramped up deadly strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon, warning that a premature deal could leave Tehran emboldened. Oil prices tumbled on optimism, while more than 30 people were killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon on Tuesday alone.
An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon killed three soldiers on Saturday, the Lebanese military said, as the country's army chief traveled to Pakistan to meet a key mediator in U.S.-Iran talks. The attack threatens to derail fragile cease-fire efforts and deepens tensions between Hezbollah and the Lebanese state.
Britain’s Home Office revoked the travel permits of American streamer Hasan Piker and his uncle Cenk Uygur, citing they “may not be conducive to the public good.” The move has sparked fresh criticism from free speech advocates who see it as part of a broader crackdown on dissent over Israel’s war in Gaza.
