Israel-Lebanon live: Top Hezbollah commander among 14 killed in Beirut airstrike

After nearly a year of conflict, senior US officials reportedly have lost hope that Israel and Hamas will reach a ceasefire deal before Joe Biden leaves office.

“No deal is imminent,” an unnamed official toldThe Wall Street Journal. “I’m not sure it ever gets done.”

“There’s no chance now of it happening,” another official, from an Arab country, added in the same report. “Everyone is in a wait-and-see mode until after the election. The outcome will determine what can happen in the next administration.”

Read the full article here:

The particularly novel and surprising nature of the attack has led some to worry that it could represent a new front in warfare. And many have asked whether that might mean that all of our consumer devices could really be considered safe.

The simple answer is: yes, they are. There is nothing at all to indicate that the attacks suggest there is any danger to the smartphones and other technology that most people carry around every day.

Read the full article here:

Human rights advocates are calling for an independent investigation into the deadly explosions of pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon and Syria, suggesting the blasts may have violated international law if the devices were fashioned as booby traps.

The explosions that have been widely blamed on Israel killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000, including many members of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. Israel has not confirmed or denied involvement.

The United Nations human rights office and some advocacy groups have cried foul, arguing that the strikes were “indiscriminate” because it’s nearly impossible to know who was holding the devices, or where they were, when they went off. But some academics insist the explosions were precisely focused because the devices had been distributed to Hezbollah members.

Read the full article here:

The scale of the attacks, as well as their theatrical nature, can be seen as a bid by Israel’s military and intelligence forces to repair their reputation, left in tatters following the 7 October Hamas attacks.

It could also represent an attempt by Israel to address the problem of its northern border. Visiting the area this week, I have seen the effects of the continual exchanges of rocket and missile attacks, which have led to 60,000 people being evacuated from Israeli towns. According to reports, Lebanese villages have also been evacuated as a result of the fighting.

Read the full article here:

The Palestinian militant group Hamas have mourned Hezbollah’s top commander, Ibrahim Aqil, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Lebanese capital Beirut.

In a statement, they described it as a “crime” and “folly” that Israel will pay the price for.

A top United Nations official has urged all countries with influence over Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “to leverage it now” to avoid an escalation of Middle East violence.

UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo briefed the Security Council after attacks in which Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. The attacks were believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed or denied its involvement.

“We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far,” DiCarlo told the 15-member council. “I also strongly urge member states with influence over the parties to leverage it now.”

This week saw a dizzying escalation in the 11-month-old conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

First came two days of exploding pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah — deadly attacks pinned on Israel that also maimed civilians around Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s leader vowed to retaliate, and on Friday the militant group launched dozens of rockets into northern Israel. Later in the day, Israel said it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s most elite unit with a strike in Beirut that left at least 14 dead.

Read the full article here:

The UN’s human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territory has condemned footage showing what appeared to be bodies of Palestinians pushed by Israeli troops from a rooftop during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.

Posting to X, they said the videos appeared to show soldiers kicking or throwing the deceased for bulldozers to clear them away.

“Unnecessary or disrespectful treatment of human remains is not consistent with the protection of the basic human dignity of the dead and could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of the deceased men’s families,” they said.

Hezbollah has announced the death of a top military official in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut.

An official had previously confirmed that Ibrahim Akil was supposed to be in the building in the Dahiya district that was hit.

Akil has served on Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council, and has been sanctioned by the US for being involved in two terrorist attacks in 1983 that killed more than 300 people at the US Embassy in Beirut and the US Marine Corps barracks.