Israel Says it Targeted Hezbollah Sites in Lebanon, 2 Dead

People stand amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israel's ground and air offensive after returning to the southern Lebanese village of Aita al Shaab as on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Fadel ITANI / AFP)
People stand amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israel's ground and air offensive after returning to the southern Lebanese village of Aita al Shaab as on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Fadel ITANI / AFP)
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Israel Says it Targeted Hezbollah Sites in Lebanon, 2 Dead

People stand amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israel's ground and air offensive after returning to the southern Lebanese village of Aita al Shaab as on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Fadel ITANI / AFP)
People stand amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israel's ground and air offensive after returning to the southern Lebanese village of Aita al Shaab as on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Fadel ITANI / AFP)

The Israeli military said on Friday it struck several Hezbollah targets overnight in the Bekaa Valley and along the Syrian-Lebanese border.

The army said the targets include a facility used for underground weapons development and another associated with the smuggling of arms into Lebanon.

Two people were killed and 10 others were wounded in an Israeli strike on an unofficial border crossing in eastern Lebanon early Friday morning, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

Lebanon’s state news agency said Israel launched four strikes on the Janta border crossing in the eastern province of Baalbeck, while two other strikes targeted two illegal Syria-Lebanon border crossings in northern Lebanon late Thursday and early Friday.

On Thursday, Israel said it intercepted a surveillance drone launched by Hezbollah calling it "a breach of the ceasefire agreement" between Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah and Israel reached a ceasefire in late November, ending a deadly conflict that began with the Gaza war in 2023. The US confirmed on Sunday that the agreement, which includes a 60-day period for Israeli troop withdrawal, will remain in effect until Feb. 18, extending the original Jan. 26 deadline.

Israel has carried out multiple strikes on Lebanese territory since the ceasefire extension, killing and injuring more than 100 people.

In a statement, Hezbollah legislator Ibrahim Moussawi called Friday's strikes a very dangerous violation and a blatant and explicit aggression,” adding that “the Lebanese state, represented by the presidency, the government and the army, is required to take immediate action.”



US Aid Cut Threatens Thousands of Sudanese with Starvation and Death

Sudanese women from community kitchens, run by local volunteers, prepare meals for people who are affected by conflict and extreme hunger and are out of reach of international aid efforts. (Reuters)
Sudanese women from community kitchens, run by local volunteers, prepare meals for people who are affected by conflict and extreme hunger and are out of reach of international aid efforts. (Reuters)
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US Aid Cut Threatens Thousands of Sudanese with Starvation and Death

Sudanese women from community kitchens, run by local volunteers, prepare meals for people who are affected by conflict and extreme hunger and are out of reach of international aid efforts. (Reuters)
Sudanese women from community kitchens, run by local volunteers, prepare meals for people who are affected by conflict and extreme hunger and are out of reach of international aid efforts. (Reuters)

The freezing of US humanitarian assistance has forced the closure of almost 80% of the emergency food kitchens set up to help people left destitute by Sudan's civil war, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

Last month, the administration of US President Donald Trump administration abruptly suspended all US aid to determine whether it was “serving US interests,” and moved to begin dismantling the US government's development organization (USAID).

Aid volunteers said the impact of Trump's executive order halting contributions from USAID for 90 days meant more than 1,100 communal kitchens had shut.

The kitchens are run by groups known as emergency response rooms, a grassroots network of activists who stayed on the frontlines to respond to the crises in their neighborhoods.

“People are knocking on the volunteers' doors,” says Duaa Tariq, one of the emergency room organizers. “People are screaming from hunger in the streets.”

Most of the kitchens had closed, she said. Some are trying to get food on credit from local fishermen and farmers, but very soon “we expect to see a lot of people starving.”

It is estimated that nearly two million people struggling to survive have been affected by the US decision.

It is a “huge setback” says Andrea Tracy, a former USAID official who has set up a fund, the Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition, for private donations to the emergency rooms.

The Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition fund will do what it can to plug the gap left by USAID, Tracy said.

The conflict between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people, forced millions from their homes and left many facing famine since it erupted in April 2023.

More than 25 million Sudanese are facing high levels of acute food insecurity across the country, according to UN estimates.