Middle East Archives

Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear sites and its top military leaders. Iran retaliates with drones

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel has attacked Iran’s capital in strikes that targeted the country’s nuclear program and raised the potential for an all-out war between the two bitter Middle East adversaries. It appeared to be the most significant attack Iran has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq. Multiple sites around the country were hit, including Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facility, where black smoke could be seen rising into the air. The leader of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami and chief of staff of Iranian armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, were also confirmed dead. Israeli security officials say the Mossad spy agency smuggled weapons into Iran ahead of the strikes.… Continue Reading

Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah start a ceasefire after nearly 14 months of fighting

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has approved a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Israeli warplanes meanwhile carried out the most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs since the start of the conflict and issued a record number of evacuation warnings. At least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities, as Israel signaled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah before the ceasefire is set to take hold at 4 a.m. local time on Wednesday. President Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza.… Continue Reading

A rare Israeli strike on central Beirut kills Hezbollah’s spokesman, official says

BEIRUT (AP) — A rare Israeli airstrike on central Beirut has killed Hezbollah’s chief spokesman. An official with the militant group confirmed that Mohammed Afif was killed on Sunday. The latest in targeted killings of senior Hezbollah officials came as Lebanese officials consider a United States-led cease-fire proposal. Israel also bombed several buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has long been headquartered. In Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least 12 people. And two flares fired overnight at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence have been blamed on domestic critics as frustrations over the war in Gaza remain high.… Continue Reading

Satellite images show damage from Israeli attack at 2 secretive Iranian military bases

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An Israeli attack on Iran damaged facilities at a secretive military base southeast of the Iranian capital that experts in the past have linked to Tehran’s onetime nuclear weapons program and at another base tied to its ballistic missile program. That’s according to satellite photos analyzed Sunday by The Associated Press. Some of the buildings damaged sat in Iran’s Parchin military base, where the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects Iran in the past conducted tests of high explosives that could trigger a nuclear weapon. The other damage could be seen at the nearby Khojir military base, which analysts believe hides an underground tunnel system and missile production sites. Iran’s military has not acknowledged damage at either Khojir or Parchin.… Continue Reading

Israel says it killed a Hezbollah official expected to be the group’s next leader

BEIRUT (AP) — The Israeli military says a top Hezbollah official who had been widely expected to be the group’s next leader was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut in early October. Earlier on Tuesday the Israeli military leveled a building in a suburb of Beirut that it said housed Hezbollah “facilities,” sending smoke and debris into the air a few hundred meters from where a spokesperson for the militant group had just briefed journalists about a weekend drone attack that damaged the Israeli prime minister’s house. Also on Tuesday U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Blinken aims to revive cease-fire efforts after last week’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.… Continue Reading

The US is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents on Israel’s attack plans

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran and note that Israel continues to move military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. Three U.S. officials told The Associated Press an investigation is ongoing, and it is still known if the documents were leaked or hacked. A fourth U.S. official said the documents appear to be legitimate. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the leak of the two documents that first appeared online Friday on the messaging app Telegram. The information appeared entirely gathered through the use of satellite image analysis.… Continue Reading

Netanyahu mulls plan to empty northern Gaza of civilians and cut off aid to those left inside

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is examining a plan to seal off humanitarian aid to northern Gaza in an attempt to starve out Hamas militants. If implemented, the plan could trap without food or water hundreds of thousands of Palestinians unwilling or unable to leave their homes. Israel has issued many evacuation orders for the north throughout the yearlong war. The plan proposed to Netanyahu by a group of retired generals would escalate the pressure, giving Palestinians a week to leave the northern third of the Gaza Strip. Those who remain would be denied food, water, medicine and fuel. The chief architect of the plan says it is the only way to break Hamas in the north and pressure it to release Israeli hostages.… Continue Reading

At least 22 killed in airstrikes in central Beirut, with Israel also firing on UN peacekeepers

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s health ministry says at least 22 people have been killed and 117 wounded in Israeli airstrikes that hit two areas in central Beirut. An Associated Press photographer who went to the scene Thursday evening said the first strike, in Ras al-Nabaa, appeared to have hit the lower half of an eight-story apartment building and explosions were ongoing inside the building. The second strike, in Burj Abi Haidar, collapsed an entire building, which was engulfed in flames. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported strikes. Earlier in the day, a strike on a central Gaza school-turned-shelter killed 27 people.… Continue Reading

Hezbollah steps up rocket fire into Israel, which sends more troops into Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets into Israel, and the militant group’s acting leader vowed to keep up pressure that has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said it sent more ground troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday, and that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an airstrike. Dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah were aimed as far south as Haifa, and the Israeli government warned residents to the north of the coastal city to limit activities, prompting the closure of more schools. The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched more than 170 rockets across the border.… Continue Reading

Vigils, protests around the world commemorate the anniversary of Hamas attack on Israel

NEW YORK (AP) — Commemorations and protests are being held across the world to mark a year since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Many world leaders are calling for an end to antisemitism and the release of Israeli hostages. Pro-Palestinian protesters are decrying the toll of death and destruction in Gaza from Israel’s military response last year’s cross-border attack. It killed about 1,200 people and left the world facing the prospect of another major conflict in the Middle East. Those divisions were visible in New York, where a crowd gathered for an evening remembrance ceremony in Central Park even as a blocks-long column of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through midtown Manhattan.… Continue Reading