Author: AFP
Lebanon’s Hezbollah said on Sunday it fired dozens of missiles and drones at Israel, as the Lebanese army announced it lost a soldier in an Israeli attack in the south. The Iran-backed resistance group said in a statement that it had “launched, for the first time, an aerial attack using a swarm of strike drones on the Ashdod naval base” in southern Israel. In a separate statement, it said it had also carried out an operation against a “military target” in Tel Aviv using “a barrage of advanced missiles and a swarm of strike drones”. The Israeli military did not…
Air raid sirens were activated in several areas of central and northern Israel on Sunday, the army said, adding that it had intercepted projectiles fired from Lebanon. The sirens sounded in “a number of areas in central Israel” and in different parts of the country’s north, the military said. It added in two separate statements that 18 projectiles crossed from Lebanon towards central Israel, while around 30 projectiles were “identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory” in the north. Some of the projectiles were intercepted, the army added.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it launched missiles at an Israeli army intelligence base in the Tel Aviv suburbs in the second such attack on and near the city on Sunday. Hezbollah fighters launched “a volley of qualitative missiles” at the “Glilot base (the headquarters of the 8200 Military Intelligence Unit)… in the Tel Aviv suburbs,” the group said in a statement.
Iran said on Sunday that it would hold nuclear talks in the coming days with the three European countries that initiated a censure resolution against it adopted by the UN’s atomic watchdog. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom would take place on Friday, without specifying a venue. “A range of regional and international issues and topics, including the issues of Palestine and Lebanon, as well as the nuclear issue, will be discussed,” the spokesman said in a foreign ministry statement. Baghaei described the upcoming meeting…
The Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it destroyed six Israeli Merkava tanks in Lebanon’s south on Sunday afternoon, five of them in the strategic coastal area of Bayada. Hezbollah fighters “destroyed” five Israeli tanks “on the eastern outskirts of the town of Bayada” including one that had “attempted to advance to withdraw one of the destroyed tanks”, also knocking out a sixth Merkava tank in the Deir Mimas area close to the border, the group said in separate statements.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed that the United States was dedicated to a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon and urged Israel to improve “dire” conditions in Gaza, in a call Saturday with his Israeli counterpart. Austin “reiterated US commitment to a diplomatic resolution in Lebanon that allows Israeli and Lebanese civilians to return safely to their homes on both sides of the border” in his call with Israel Katz, according to a Pentagon spokesperson. Austin also “urged the Government of Israel to continue to take steps to improve the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza and emphasized the US commitment to securing…
The largest party in Poland’s pro-European coalition government chose Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski on Saturday as its candidate for next year’s presidential election. Civic Platform, the party of prime minister Donald Tusk, is the dominant force in the government, which has testy relations with conservative President Andrzej Duda. Duda, who is close to the right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, has vetoed most of the government’s laws. “I have a strong mandate and lots of energy, determination and courage to beat the Law and Justice party,” Trzaskowski, 52, said after Civic Platform announced he had been selected. Trzaskowski won…
Sweden will not be intimidated by Russia’s provocations, Defence Minister Pal Jonson said Friday after President Vladimir Putin hinted at strikes on Western countries supplying weapons to Ukraine. The Swedish minister’s remarks came as he announced “substantial funding” to Ukraine for the procurement of long-range missiles and drones. “The Russian escalation and provocation that we’ve been noticing recently is an attempt to scare us from supporting Ukraine, and that will fail. This will not happen,” Jonson told reporters at a joint press conference in Stockholm with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov. “Supporting Ukraine is both the right thing to do…
Bitcoin touched a fresh record high on Friday, with its sights set firmly on the $100,000 barrier, in a stellar rally for the cryptocurrency sparked by expectations of a more friendly regulatory environment under a Donald Trump administration. It has more than doubled in value this year and is up about 45% since Trump’s sweeping election victory on Nov.5, which has also seen a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers being elected to Congress. The cryptocurrency was last up just over 1% on the day at $99,380, and is on track for its best monthly performance since February. Its surge has made…
The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday described the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former defence minister as the “end and political death” of Israel, in a speech. “This means the end and political death of the Zionist regime, a regime that today lives in absolute political isolation in the world and its officials can no longer travel to other countries,” Revolutionary Guards chief General Hossein Salami said in the speech aired on state TV.