Netanyahu Says Israel has ‘Surprising’ Plans for Lebanon

HANDOUT - 23 May 2024, Israel, Safed: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Israel's Northern Command Headquarters. Photo: Ma'ayan Toaf/GPO/dpa
HANDOUT - 23 May 2024, Israel, Safed: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Israel's Northern Command Headquarters. Photo: Ma'ayan Toaf/GPO/dpa
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Netanyahu Says Israel has ‘Surprising’ Plans for Lebanon

HANDOUT - 23 May 2024, Israel, Safed: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Israel's Northern Command Headquarters. Photo: Ma'ayan Toaf/GPO/dpa
HANDOUT - 23 May 2024, Israel, Safed: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Israel's Northern Command Headquarters. Photo: Ma'ayan Toaf/GPO/dpa

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he has “surprising” military plans for Lebanon, adding that Israel has been able to eliminate “hundreds” of Hezbollah militants.
"We are constantly in action on the northern front. As of now we have eliminated hundreds of Hezbollah militants and we are still poised – even today”, said Netanyahu as he visited the Israeli army Northern Command Headquarters.
“I just received a briefing from the head of Northern Command and I also spoke with the division commanders. We have detailed, important, and even surprising plans”, he added.
Netanyahu stated that he “will not share these plans – which are designed to do two things, 1) to restore security to the north, and 2) to restore the residents safely to their homes... We are determined to achieve both of them together”.
Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army since Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7 triggering war in Gaza.
On Thursday, Lebanese school children on a minibus had a narrow escape when an Israeli drone strike killed a Hezbollah fighter in the car ahead, blowing out the windscreen of their vehicle and wounding three pupils.



Sudan Army Says Retakes Khartoum-Area Market from RSF

 A burned military vehicle sits at Khartoum international airport a day after it was recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)
A burned military vehicle sits at Khartoum international airport a day after it was recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)
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Sudan Army Says Retakes Khartoum-Area Market from RSF

 A burned military vehicle sits at Khartoum international airport a day after it was recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)
A burned military vehicle sits at Khartoum international airport a day after it was recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP)

The Sudanese army said on Saturday it had taken control of a major market in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, long used by its rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a staging ground for attacks.

It is the latest conquest in the army's major offensive this month to wrest back control of the entire capital region, which includes Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri -- three cities split by branches of the River Nile.

The blitz saw the army recapture the presidential palace on March 21, followed by the war-damaged airport and other key sites in the city center.

In a statement, army spokesman Nabil Abdullah said forces extended "their control over Souq Libya in Omdurman" and seized "weapons and equipment left behind by" the RSF as they fled.

Souq Libya, one of the largest and busiest in the Khartoum area, had for months been an RSF stronghold and a launchpad for attacks on northern and central Omdurman since the war with the army began on April 15, 2023.

While the army already controls much of Omdurman, the RSF still holds ground in the city's west, particularly in Ombada district.

Late Thursday, the military spokesman said that the army had "cleansed" Khartoum itself from "the last pockets" of the RSF.

Sudan's war began almost two years ago during a power struggle between the army and the RSF, a paramilitary force that was once its ally.

Khartoum has seen more than 3.5 million of its people flee since the war began, according to the United Nations. Millions more, unable or unwilling to leave, live among abandoned buildings, wrecked vehicles and what the army says are hidden mass graves.

The war has carved Sudan in two: the army holds sway in the east and north while the RSF controls most of Darfur in the west, and parts of the south.