Paris (France) (AFP) – Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war on Sunday:
– **Israel to expand Lebanon ground ops**
Israel’s military will expand its ground operations in Lebanon against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, its army chief said, warning that the offensive “has only (just) begun.” “We are now preparing to advance the targeted ground operations and strikes according to an organised plan,” Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement.
– **’Weeks’ more war**
Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said the country faces “weeks” more fighting against both Iran and Hezbollah, in a televised briefing.
– **Iraq strikes**
Three strikes targeted an influential pro-Iranian armed group in its stronghold south of Baghdad, Iraqi authorities said. The group is a former paramilitary coalition called Hashed al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). It is part of Iraq’s regular armed forces but also includes some pro-Iranian groups. The strikes came after an attack targeted a US diplomatic and logistics centre at Baghdad International Airport, Iraqi officials told AFP.
– **Israel probes civilian death**
Israel’s military said it was investigating whether its own fire killed an Israeli civilian near the Lebanese border, in an area where Hezbollah claimed an attack. Israeli emergency workers said earlier a man was killed in a “direct hit” on his car by a rocket from Lebanon, making him the first fatality in the country’s north since the latest round of fighting with Hezbollah broke out. But the Israeli army later said it was “conducting a comprehensive investigation”, including “the possibility that the incident involved fire originating from IDF soldiers.”
– **West Bank arson**
Palestinian residents said Israeli settlers had torched buildings and cars in attacks on several villages in the occupied West Bank, the latest violence after a spate of killings of Palestinians by Israelis in the area since the start of the war.
– **’Escalate to de-escalate’**
The United States may need to “escalate” its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press”, after President Donald Trump gave seemingly contradictory trajectories for the military campaign.
– **Lebanon condemns Israeli strikes**
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun slammed Israeli strikes on bridges and other infrastructure in the country’s south, calling such attacks a “prelude to a ground invasion.” Israel’s defence minister said he ordered bridges in the area to be hit after alleging they were used by Iran-backed Hezbollah.
– **Iran threatens Hormuz**
If Trump acts on his threats to target Iran’s power plants, the Strait of Hormuz “will be completely closed,” the Iranian military’s operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement on state television.
– **Netanyahu vow**
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to pursue senior commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards “personally” during a visit to an Israeli town struck by an Iranian missile the previous day. “We’re going after the regime. We’re going after the IRGC, this criminal gang,” Netanyahu said as he inspected the damage in the southern town of Arad.
– **WHO warning**
The World Health Organization warned that strikes around nuclear sites in Iran and Israel had pushed the Middle East war to a “perilous stage.” “I urgently call on all parties to exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
– **Infrastructure threat**
Iran’s powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf threatened to irreversibly destroy vital infrastructure across the region, which he said would cause oil prices to rise “for a long time,” if the United States and Israel attacked Tehran’s own infrastructure. “Vital infrastructure as well as energy and oil infrastructure across the entire region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed,” Ghalibaf said in a social media post.
– **Saudi, UAE targeted**
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said three ballistic missiles were detected around the capital Riyadh, while the UAE said it responded to Iranian missile and drone attacks.
© 2024 AFP
