The Trump administration is reportedly withholding $105 million in military aid from Lebanon, a move that comes after Israel called on Western countries to make assistance conditional on the Lebanese government clamping down on Hezbollah’s attempts to acquire precision-guided missiles.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed the protests in Iraq and Lebanon on the United States, Israel and some Western countries.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday applauded the US and six Gulf states for announcing sanctions on 25 entities associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror organization.
Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, has announced his resignation, in a move set to spark further uncertainty in a country paralyzed by political dysfunction and nationwide protests.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday warned that ongoing massive anti-government protests in Lebanon could plunge the country into civil war, and accused Israel and other countries of working to take advantage of the demonstrations to fuel unrest.
Demonstrators in Lebanon blocked roads and trickled into streets across the country for a tenth consecutive day Saturday, defying what they said were attempts by Hezbollah to defuse their movement.
A small IDF drone crashed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday morning, apparently after it was shot down.
Protests continued to rage throughout Lebanon on Saturday as politicians attempt to find a way to end a crisis that has many calling for the current government to step down.
US President Donald Trump’s newly announced withdrawal of nearly all US troops from northern Syria has cemented Russia’s status as the predominant global military power actively engaged in the Middle East.
Not long after the defeat of the Islamic State in the area, Syrian Christians warn that US military withdrawal from the Kurdish-controlled region, announced yesterday by President Donald Trump, will expose them to danger.
The Iranian military says it has produced a new conversion kit to upgrade artillery rockets to surface-to-surface missiles, technology that Israel has accused Tehran of attempting to deliver to the Hezbollah terror group.
The leader of the Lebanese-based terror group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, claimed over the weekend that his organization was in possession of a large amount of military intelligence on Israel and warned that his forces were prepared to enter ‘occupied Palestine’ at any time.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah warned Saudi Arabia on Friday against betting on a war against Iran because it would destroy the kingdom and said Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates should halt the conflict in Yemen to protect themselves.
President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday cautioned the Lebanese government that if it doesn’t stop Hezbollah’s aggression against Israel, the terror group will drag both countries into war.
Hezbollah has set up a production and conversion site for precision missiles near the town of Al-Nabi Sheeth in Lebanon’s Bekaa, Israel’s military announced on Tuesday, saying the facility was established in recent years as a site for the production of weapons led by Iran and Hezbollah.
An Israeli drone was downed in Lebanon Sunday night simultaneous to a bevy of rockets fired at Israel from Syria.
A Syrian security official blamed Israel and the US for an attack on a base belonging to a pro-Iranian Shiite militia in Syria near the border with Iraq on Monday.
Sources told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a warning letter to Lebanese President Michel Aoun, urging him to dismantle a factory set up by Hezbollah in the Bekaa region of Lebanon to develop and modernize the missiles before Israel attacks it.
The United States blocked a statement about the recent tensions between Israel and Hezbollah by the United Nations Security Council, the AFP reported on Thursday.
The Israeli military has uncovered further evidence of Iranian entrenchment in Syria and Lebanon.