Israel Determined to ‘Change Security Reality’ with Lebanon

An Israeli artillery battery stationed near the border with Lebanon (AP)
An Israeli artillery battery stationed near the border with Lebanon (AP)
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Israel Determined to ‘Change Security Reality’ with Lebanon

An Israeli artillery battery stationed near the border with Lebanon (AP)
An Israeli artillery battery stationed near the border with Lebanon (AP)

Amid continuous violations of the rules of engagement, Israeli drones on Friday, and for the second day in a row, targeted the vicinity of the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh.
Meanwhile, the commander of the northern region in the Israeli army, Ori Gordin, announced that Israel aims to change the security situation in the north, near the border with Lebanon, in a way that allows “the safe return of residents.”
Army spokesman Avichay Adraee, on his account on X platform, quoted Gordin as saying that Israel was determined to change the security reality, as it continues “to prepare to expand the scope of the war.”
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that on Friday, an Israeli drone launched a raid on a deserted house in the Al-Sokra neighborhood at the northern entrance to the town of Yahmar Al-Shaqif in Nabatieh, and fired two missiles in two batches that penetrated the roof of the house, causing significant damage.
Later on Friday, Lebanese media reported a second raid targeting a site between the towns of Arnoun and Yahmar in Nabatieh.
Yahmar, which is about 8 km away from the city of Nabatieh, was subjected, for the first time on Thursday, to an Israeli drone strike that hit a car in what Israeli media claimed was an assassination attempt of a Hezbollah military official.
Artillery shelling also hit the town of Kafr Kila, located in the Marjayoun District, while Israeli warplanes carried out a raid on the Hamul area in Naqoura, south of Tyre. The bombing targeted the outskirts of the town of Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil District and the vicinity of Ali Al-Taher Hill.
Hezbollah, for its part, announced the targeting of spying equipment in Israel’s Dovev Barracks, as well as in the vicinity of the Al-Malikiyah site and the Ramta site.
The head of Hezbollah’s Sharia Committee, Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek, said that the “Islamic Resistance on our front in the south has recorded successive achievements in striking the Zionist enemy.”
Yazbek said during the Friday prayers: “The envoys will only hear one word; the beginning of the solution starts from Gaza, and threats will not work.”

 

 

 

 

 

 



Arab Leaders Promise to Work on Gaza Reconstruction, Press for Ceasefire

Arab leaders attend the opening session of the 34th Arab League summit in Baghdad on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Hadi Mizban / POOL / AFP)
Arab leaders attend the opening session of the 34th Arab League summit in Baghdad on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Hadi Mizban / POOL / AFP)
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Arab Leaders Promise to Work on Gaza Reconstruction, Press for Ceasefire

Arab leaders attend the opening session of the 34th Arab League summit in Baghdad on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Hadi Mizban / POOL / AFP)
Arab leaders attend the opening session of the 34th Arab League summit in Baghdad on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Hadi Mizban / POOL / AFP)

Arab leaders meeting in Baghdad said Saturday that they were trying to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and promised to contribute to the reconstruction of the Palestinian’s enclave once the war stops.

In March, an emergency Arab League summit in Cairo endorsed a plan for Gaza's reconstruction without displacing its roughly 2 million residents.

Among the guests at Saturday’s summit were Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who called for the flow of aid into the besieged territory. He said that the UN rejects any “forced displacement” of Palestinians.

The “genocide” in Gaza “has reached levels of ugliness not seen in all conflicts throughout history,” Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a speech that called for allowing aid to flow into Gaza. Al-Sudani added that Iraq will work on setting up an Arab fund for the reconstruction of the region in which Baghdad will pay $20 million for Gaza and a similar amount for Lebanon.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that Egypt, in coordination with Qatar and the US, is “exerting intense efforts to reach a ceasefire” in Gaza, adding that the efforts led to the release of Israel-American hostage Edan Alexander. He said that Egypt plans to hold an international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza “once the aggression stops.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Hamas to abandon power in Gaza and along with other militant groups to hand over weapons to the Palestinian Authority.