Netanyahu Says Israel Prepared for Strong Action in the North 

Black smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Kfar Hamam, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon, on May 17, 2024. (AP)
Black smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Kfar Hamam, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon, on May 17, 2024. (AP)
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Netanyahu Says Israel Prepared for Strong Action in the North 

Black smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Kfar Hamam, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon, on May 17, 2024. (AP)
Black smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Kfar Hamam, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon, on May 17, 2024. (AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday Israel was prepared for very strong action in northern Israel, saying it would restore security "one way or another" in an area targeted by the Iran-backed Hezbollah during months of hostilities.

The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, which has been fought in parallel to the Gaza war, has intensified in recent days, adding to concerns that an even wider confrontation could break out between the heavily armed adversaries.

"Whoever thinks that they can harm us and we will sit idly by is making a big mistake. We are prepared for a very strong action in the north," Netanyahu said during a tour of the area. "In one way or another we will restore security to the north."

The fighting - the worst hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel since they fought a war in 2006 - has forced tens of thousands of people to flee homes on both sides of the border.

Israeli strikes have killed some 300 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and around 80 civilians have been killed, according to a Reuters tally.

Attacks from Lebanon have killed 18 Israeli soldiers and 10 civilians, Israel says.

Israeli Military Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday the army was ready for an offensive along the northern border and that Israel was nearing a decision point.

The US State Department said on Tuesday that Washington does not want to see a full-blown war and that it is trying to pursue a diplomatic solution, adding that Israel had the right to defend itself from Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, deemed a terrorist organization by Washington, announced several operations on Wednesday, including a guided missile attack targeting Israel's Iron Dome air defense system in Ramot Naftali, some 3 km (2 miles) from the border.

Rockets fired from Lebanon set off wild fires this week, burning swathes of land across northern Israel.

Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem told broadcaster Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the group's decision was not to widen the war but that it would fight one if it was imposed on it.

Qassem said the Lebanon front would not stop until the Gaza war stops, Al Jazeera quoted him as saying.

Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian militant group Hamas, says it has been striking Israel in support of Palestinians under Israeli bombardment in Gaza. It has previously said it will cease fire when the Israeli offensive on Gaza stops.



Sudan's Army Launches Push to Retake Ground in Capital

Plumes of smoke rise during clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
Plumes of smoke rise during clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
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Sudan's Army Launches Push to Retake Ground in Capital

Plumes of smoke rise during clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
Plumes of smoke rise during clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan, September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer

Sudan's army launched artillery and air strikes in Sudan's capital on Thursday in its biggest operation to regain ground there since early in its 17-month war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), witnesses and military sources said.

The push by the army, which lost control of most of the capital at the start of the conflict, came ahead of an address by its commander, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York later in the day.

Witnesses reported heavy bombardments and clashes as army troops tried to cross bridges across the Nile connecting the three adjoining cities that make up the greater capital, Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri.

"The army is carrying out heavy artillery strikes and air strikes on Halfaya and Shambat," Ahmed Abdalla, a 48-year-old resident told Reuters by phone, referring to areas of Bahri close to the river. "The sounds of explosions are very loud."

Video footage showed black smoke rising above the capital and the booms of the battle could be heard in the background.

Army sources said their forces had crossed bridges in Khartoum and Bahri. The RSF told Reuters it had thwarted the army's attempt to cross two bridges to Khartoum. Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts.

Though the army retook some ground in Omdurman early this year, it depends mostly on artillery and airstrikes and has been unable to dislodge nimble RSF ground forces embedded in other parts of the capital.

The RSF has also continued to make advances in other parts of Sudan in recent months in a conflict that has caused a vast humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 10 million people and driving parts of the country to extreme hunger or famine.

This month the battle for control of al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state in the west of Sudan, has also intensified as the RSF has tried to advance from positions surrounding the city against the army and allied former rebel groups.