Lebanese returning home during a ceasefire in Israel-Hezbollah conflict witness destruction
Paris (France) (AFP) - The latest developments in the Middle East war:
- Lebanon reopens bridge -
Lebanon’s military said it has reopened a road and bridge damaged by Israeli strikes in the country’s south, as a fragile 10-day truce holds between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
In a statement, the military said it “fully reopened” a road linking the city of Nabatieh with the Khardali area, and had “partially reopened the Burj Rahal-Tyre bridge”.
- War spurs UK towards Europe -
Britain’s government is set to announce legislation next month to move the country closer to the European Union, as the Iran war sours the UK’s so-called special relationship with the United States.
President Donald Trump’s unpredictability and stream of insults towards America’s historic ally is adding impetus to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s bid to deepen ties with the 27-nation bloc, a decade after Britons narrowly voted to leave the EU.
- Israeli soldier killed -
Israel’s military said a soldier died during combat in southern Lebanon, where fighting has not stopped despite a temporary ceasefire.
It was the second death of a soldier announced by Israel since the start of the truce on Friday.
The total Israeli army death toll in the six-week war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is now 15, according to an AFP tally based on military figures.
- Hormuz closed -
The strategic Strait of Hormuz remained closed on Sunday, a day after Iran’s central military command announced a new closure in response to a US blockade of Iranian ports.
On Friday, Iran had declared the strait – where around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits – open after the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire announcement.
But Trump insisted the US naval blockade against Iran would continue until a deal to end the wider war was concluded, leading Tehran to again close the strait – a measure Trump called “blackmail”.
- Iran says deal is ‘far’ off -
Progress had been made in negotiations with the United States to end the war, Iran’s parliamentary speaker said late Saturday, but the two sides remain far from an agreement.
“We are still far from the final discussion,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of Iran’s negotiators, said in a televised address. “We made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain.”
- Iran’s death toll -
Iran’s state-run Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying the war with the United States and Israel had left 3,468 people dead in the country.
- UN chief condemns peacekeeper death -
French peacekeepers in Lebanon, as one of their number is killed in an ambush blamed on Hezbollah
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned an attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon that left a French soldier dead and three wounded.
France blamed the attack on Hezbollah and Guterres said, in a statement issued by his spokesman, that an initial assessment by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was that it was carried out by the Iran-backed group.
Hezbollah has denied accusations that it was involved.
- Israel hits Lebanon -
The Israeli military said Saturday its air force had eliminated a “terrorist cell” operating near its troops in southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire there.
Israeli forces also carried out demolitions in Lebanese towns near the border, including Bint Jbeil, the scene of intense fighting with Hezbollah prior to the ceasefire, Lebanese state media reported.
- Iran navy warning -
“We warn that no ship, of any kind, should leave its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy said in a statement on its official Sepah News website.
“Any attempt to approach the Strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted.”
- No one-sided truce -
A resident inspects the rubble of destroyed buildings on his return to the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Saturday the 10-day truce with Israel cannot be one-sided, vowing that his fighters would respond to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
“Because we do not trust this enemy, the resistance fighters will remain in the field with their hands on the trigger, and they will respond to violations accordingly,” Qassem said in a statement read out on TV.
“There is no ceasefire from the side of the resistance only, it must be from both sides.”
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