Hezbollah Pledges Strong Response to Israel over Killing of Military Chief, Alone or with Allies

29 July 2024, Lebanon, Qlayaa: Heavy smoke billow from the Lebanese southern border village of Kfar Kila after it was targeted by Israeli shelling. (dpa)
29 July 2024, Lebanon, Qlayaa: Heavy smoke billow from the Lebanese southern border village of Kfar Kila after it was targeted by Israeli shelling. (dpa)
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Hezbollah Pledges Strong Response to Israel over Killing of Military Chief, Alone or with Allies

29 July 2024, Lebanon, Qlayaa: Heavy smoke billow from the Lebanese southern border village of Kfar Kila after it was targeted by Israeli shelling. (dpa)
29 July 2024, Lebanon, Qlayaa: Heavy smoke billow from the Lebanese southern border village of Kfar Kila after it was targeted by Israeli shelling. (dpa)

The leader of Hezbollah on Tuesday pledged a "strong and effective" response to the killing of its military commander by Israel last week and said it would act either alone or with its regional allies.

Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah would wait for the right moment to respond but did not hint on its form or timing. All international attempts at persuading Hezbollah not to retaliate were futile, he said.

"Whatever the consequences, the resistance will not let these Israeli attacks pass by," he said in a televised address to mark one week since the assassination of Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

"Our response, God willing, will be strong, effective and impactful."

Members and supporters of Hezbollah gathered to watch the speech in a southern suburb of Beirut. Just before his speech began, Israeli warplanes swooped low over the Lebanese capital, setting off a series of sonic booms that rattled windows across the city and sent people ducking for cover.

There was no comment from the Israeli military.

Concern is rising that the Middle East could tip into full-blown war following Hezbollah's vows to avenge Shukr's killing, and Iran's anger over the assassination in Tehran last week of the head of Palestinian group Hamas.

The strike that killed Shukr on July 30 was the second time Israel had struck the southern suburbs in 10 months of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli that are taking place in parallel with the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.

Hezbollah earlier on Tuesday said it launched a swarm of attack drones at two military sites near Acre in northern Israel and attacked an Israeli military vehicle in another location.

The Israeli military said a number of hostile drones were identified crossing from Lebanon and one was intercepted.

Israeli medical officials said seven people were evacuated to hospital, to the south of the coastal city of Nahariya, one in critical condition.

The Israeli military said an initial investigation indicated the injuries were caused by an interceptor that "missed the target and hit the ground, injuring several civilians".

Reuters journalists saw one impact site near a bus stop on a main road outside Nahariya.

The Israeli military said in a statement sirens sounded around Acre, but that turned out to be a false alarm. It said its air force struck two Hezbollah facilities in south Lebanon.

Earlier on Tuesday, four Hezbollah fighters were killed in a strike on a home in the Lebanese town of Mayfadoun, nearly 30 km (19 miles) north of the border, medics and a security source said.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese caretaker government is trying to prevent a Hezbollah response against Israel that could start a wider war, Lebanon's foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday during a press conference with his Egyptian counterpart.



At Chad-Sudan Border, Aid Funding Crisis Leaves Displaced in Limbo

TOPSHOT - A general view of carts heading towards Chad at the Adré border post on June 8, 2026. (Photo by Joris Bolomey / AFP)
TOPSHOT - A general view of carts heading towards Chad at the Adré border post on June 8, 2026. (Photo by Joris Bolomey / AFP)
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At Chad-Sudan Border, Aid Funding Crisis Leaves Displaced in Limbo

TOPSHOT - A general view of carts heading towards Chad at the Adré border post on June 8, 2026. (Photo by Joris Bolomey / AFP)
TOPSHOT - A general view of carts heading towards Chad at the Adré border post on June 8, 2026. (Photo by Joris Bolomey / AFP)

Rising numbers of Chadians fleeing the Sudan war are arriving at the Adre border post in Chad, but funding shortages could force UN agencies on the ground to stop operating.

The civil conflict in Sudan has already cost tens of thousands of lives and forced more than 12 million people to flee their homes, more than a million of them Chadian, according to UN figures.

Government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting since April 2023.

A steady stream of horse-carts arrived at the Adre border post, under the region's scorching desert sun, during a recent visit by AFP.

In the swirling dust and the crack of whips, some of the makeshift wagons toppled under the weight of their loads, dragging the horses onto their backs, hooves in the air.

They leave loaded with cans of petrol and food for Sudan, and return to Chad, in some cases carrying people fleeing the war.

- Lack of resources -

Last week SungAh Lee, deputy director general of the UN's International Organization for Migration, visited Adre as part of a three-day visit to the Assoungha region.

She met Chadians who had been in Sudan and had fled the war to return home.

"When I go there and meet the beneficiaries and hear from them, then go back and meet ambassadors and the donor community, it is important for them to hear what I have seen in person," she told AFP.

In May, the number of Chadians returning from Sudan passed the 400,000 mark.

They had initially expected to reach that level by the end of June, Lee said, but the flow of returnees has accelerated.

Mahamat Issa Abakar, general secretary of the Assoungha region, confirmed the surge in returnees.

"There are more than 5,000 Chadians getting ready to return to Chad from Sudan in the coming days," said Abakar, himself a former aid worker.

"Their representatives came to ask me how they will be taken in here, but I don't know what to tell them," he added. "On our side, we lack the resources."

"The Chadians from Sudan returning to Chad have exactly the same needs as the refugees," he added.

And yet, he said, looking over at the IOM delegation, they were not as well cared for.

- No food, no work -

According to figures from the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 900,000 people have sought refuge in Chad since the start of the war in Sudan. They make up one in three people in the eastern provinces of Chad.

In Tongori camp, where the IOM says 13,000 people are packed in, Chadians who have fled Sudan speak of a sense of abandonment.

"We don't have food!" said 59-year-old Ahmat Mahamat Hassan. "It hasn't been handed out for six months."

"It's the IOM who led us here and it's for you to take responsibility for us," he added, addressing the UN delegation set up under sheets of metal in the middle of some 300 Chadian returnees.

Others among the returnees complained of a lack of work and being stuck in the camp with nothing to do.

"We have a lot of skills here among the women, but we can't put them into practice," said Saide Yaya Abderamanou.

"Most of us have a job in Sudan. Some of us make jewels, perfumes, shoes," she added.

Lee, for the IOM, acknowledged the problem.

"Continuously providing humanitarian aid is not a sustainable model," she told AFP.

"They all want to work, they all have skills. So it's about creating opportunities for them, and I think this is really the most difficult part."

But she also recognized the growing difficulties in helping the Chadians returning from Sudan.

The $21-million IOM response plan for eastern Chad in 2026 was only 19-percent financed, Lee said.

"After October 2026, we won't be able to provide humanitarian assistance if the finance doesn't arrive," she warned.


Trump Warns Israel and Iran Not to 'Blow It' after New Strikes Threaten Emerging Ceasefire Deal

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight back to Washington March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight back to Washington March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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Trump Warns Israel and Iran Not to 'Blow It' after New Strikes Threaten Emerging Ceasefire Deal

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight back to Washington March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on a flight back to Washington March 15, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged no further attacks by anyone after Israel's military said it launched strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut's southern suburbs, potentially complicating efforts to finalize a deal to end the US-Iran war.

The Public Health Emergency Operations Center said three people, including two women, were killed, and 16 were wounded.

Trump reacted on social media and said Israeli strikes on Beirut "should not have happened" as he vowed a regional peace deal was at hand, though he did not confirm reports it would be signed during the day.

"We are very close to a Deal that will bring peace to the region, including to Lebanon, and all sides should stand down," Trump said on social media.

"This could be the beginning of a long and beautiful peace -- Let's not blow it!"

The deal in its current form is a deep disappointment to Israel's government, which has been sidelined in negotiations led by Pakistan and others. The last time Israel struck the Beirut suburbs a week ago, it set off the most serious escalation of fighting between Iran and Israel since the tenuous ceasefire took hold April 7.

Trump, who had said the deal could be signed Sunday, has pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop hitting Lebanon hard while a deal is near, but the prime minister has defied him.

Netanyahu's office said the strikes were in response to Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel. Israel’s military said Hezbollah launched three projectiles, releasing footage where an audible boom was followed by rising smoke. There was no immediate comment from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

 


Trump to Meet Sisi at G7 Summit in France

US President Donald Trump holds a meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a summit on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump holds a meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a summit on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump to Meet Sisi at G7 Summit in France

US President Donald Trump holds a meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a summit on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025. (AFP)
US President Donald Trump holds a meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a summit on Gaza in Sharm el-Sheikh on October 13, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump is set to hold talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France this month, the Egyptian presidency said on Sunday.

In a statement, the presidency said Sisi is expected to hold a series of meetings with world leaders during the summit, "including a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump".

It added that Sisi's meetings would focus on "discussing ways to resolve international geopolitical crises and address their repercussions on trade, energy and supply chains".

The G7 summit will be one of the first major international gatherings since the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran in late February, upending the Middle East and widening transatlantic tensions.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting the summit in the city of Evian on June 15-17, said that leaders from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had been invited to discuss the Middle East war, according to the French presidency.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said he would not attend the summit due to "prior commitments", the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday.

The G7 brings together the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, along with invited leaders from several other countries, including Brazil and India.

Macron is due to arrive in Evian on Sunday evening, with other leaders, including Trump, expected on Monday.

Leaders are set to have a packed agenda of potentially explosive issues, including efforts to end the war in Iran and re-open the key Strait of Hormuz shipping bottleneck.