Israel Strikes South Lebanon Ahead of Nasrallah Funeral

People hold pictures of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes last year, as they walk together to attend his public funeral ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
People hold pictures of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes last year, as they walk together to attend his public funeral ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
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Israel Strikes South Lebanon Ahead of Nasrallah Funeral

People hold pictures of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes last year, as they walk together to attend his public funeral ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
People hold pictures of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes last year, as they walk together to attend his public funeral ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon February 23, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Lebanese state media reported Israeli strikes Sunday about 10 kilometers from the southern border as mourners converged in Beirut for the massive funeral of the group's slain leader Hassan Nasrallah.

"Hostile aircraft launched two raids targeting the area between Qleileh and Sammaaiyah in the Tyre district," the official National News Agency said.

Israel's military said it struck rocket launchers in southern Lebanon which it said threatened civilians

"A short while ago, the IDF (military) conducted a precise intelligence-based strike on a military site containing rocket launchers and weapons in Lebanese territory, in which Hezbollah activity was identified," a military statement said. "Additionally, several rocket launchers that posed an imminent threat to Israeli civilians were struck in southern Lebanon."

Nasrallah was killed by Israel nearly five months ago in a huge strike on south Beirut, at the start of the all-out war.

An Israeli military statement on Saturday said Israeli forces "conducted a strike on border crossings on the Syria-Lebanon border through which the Hezbollah terrorist organization has attempted to smuggle weapons into Lebanon."

"These smuggling attempts are a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon," the statement said, referring to the November truce that ended more than a year of hostilities including two months of war.

Saturday's army statement said Israeli forces "will operate to prevent any attempt by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to rebuild its forces."



Syria’s Sharaa Says New Authorities Can't Satisfy Everyone

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa delivers a speech in Damascus on March 29, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa delivers a speech in Damascus on March 29, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
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Syria’s Sharaa Says New Authorities Can't Satisfy Everyone

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa delivers a speech in Damascus on March 29, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa delivers a speech in Damascus on March 29, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Monday a new transitional government would aim for consensus in rebuilding the war-torn country but acknowledged it would be unable to satisfy everyone.

The transitional 23-member cabinet -- without a prime minister -- was announced Saturday, more than three months after Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led an offensive that toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad.

The autonomous Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria has rejected the government's legitimacy, saying it "does not reflect the country's diversity".

Sharaa said the new government's goal was rebuilding the country but warned that "will not be able to satisfy everyone".

"Any steps we take will not reach consensus -- this is normal -- but we must reach a consensus" as much as possible, he told a gathering at the presidential palace broadcast on Syrian television after prayers for the Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday.

Authorities are seeking to reunite and rebuild the country and its institutions after nearly 14 years of civil war.

Sharaa said the ministers were chosen for their competence and expertise, "without particular ideological or political orientations".