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Arab World

Israel Steps up Gaza City Bombing After Netanyahu Vows to Expand the Offensive 

Palestinians carry the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Steps up Gaza City Bombing After Netanyahu Vows to Expand the Offensive 

Palestinians carry the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the bodies of journalists, including Al Jazeera correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, during their funeral outside Gaza City's Shifa hospital complex, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP)

Palestinians reported the heaviest bombardments in weeks on Monday in areas east of Gaza City, just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected to complete a new expanded offensive in the enclave "fairly quickly".

An airstrike also killed six journalists, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, in a tent at the Al Shifa Hospital compound.

Witnesses said Israeli tanks and planes pounded Sabra, Zeitoun, and Shejaia, three eastern suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the territory, on Monday, pushing many families out of their homes westwards.

Some Gaza City residents said it was one of the worst nights in weeks, raising fears of military preparations for a deeper offensive into their city, which according to Palestinian group Hamas is now sheltering about 1 million people after the displacement of residents from the enclave's northern edges.

The Israeli military said its forces fired artillery at Hamas fighters in the area. There was no sign on the ground of forces moving deeper into Gaza City as part of the newly approved Israeli offensive, which is not expected to begin in the coming weeks.

"It sounded like the war was restarting," said Amr Salah, 25. "Tanks fired shells at houses, and several houses were hit, and the planes carried what we call fire rings, whereby several missiles landed on some roads in eastern Gaza," he told Reuters via a chat app.

The Israeli military said its forces on Sunday dismantled a launch site east of Gaza City, which Hamas used to fire rockets towards Israeli communities across the border.

Netanyahu on Sunday said he had instructed the Israeli military to speed up its plans for the new offensive.

"I want to end the war as quickly as possible, and that is why I have instructed the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to shorten the schedule for seizing control of Gaza City," he said.

Netanyahu on Sunday said the new offensive will focus on Gaza City, which he described as Hamas' "capital of terrorism". He also pointed to a map and indicated that the coastal area of central Gaza may be next, saying Hamas fighters have been pushed there too.

The new plans have raised alarm abroad. On Friday, Germany, a key European ally, announced it would halt exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza. Britain and other European allies urged Israel to reconsider its decision to escalate the Gaza military campaign.

Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, told Reuters that some countries appeared to be putting pressure on Israel rather than on Hamas, whose deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, ignited the war.

JOURNALISTS KILLED

The airstrike that killed Al Jazeera's Anas Al-Sharif and four of his colleagues at Al Shifa Hospital was the deadliest for journalists in the conflict so far and was condemned by journalists and rights groups.

Medics at the hospital said on Monday that local freelancer Mohammad Al-Khaldi had also died in the attack, raising the number of dead journalists from the same strike to six.

Al-Sharif had previously been threatened by Israel, which confirmed it had targeted and killed him, alleging he had headed a Hamas cell and was involved in rocket attacks against Israel. Al Jazeera rejected the claim, and before his death, Al-Sharif had also rejected Israeli allegations that he had links to Hamas.

Hamas, which runs Gaza, linked his killing to the new planned offensive.

"The assassination of journalists and the intimidation of those who remain pave the way for a major crime that the occupation is planning to commit in Gaza City," it said.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said 238 journalists have been killed in almost two years of war. The Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 186 journalists have been killed.

Hamas-led fighters triggered the war in October 2023, when they stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. About 50 hostages are still in Gaza, but only around 20 are thought to be alive.

More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed by Israel's campaign, according to Gaza health officials. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced multiple times and its residents are facing a humanitarian crisis, with swaths of the territory reduced to rubble.

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Arab World

Aoun from Nabatieh: No New Negotiations with Israel at Present

Smoke rises in Mansouri following Israeli strikes as seen from Naqoura, Lebanon, September 11, 2026. REUTERS/Raghed Waked
Smoke rises in Mansouri following Israeli strikes as seen from Naqoura, Lebanon, September 11, 2026. REUTERS/Raghed Waked
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Aoun from Nabatieh: No New Negotiations with Israel at Present

Smoke rises in Mansouri following Israeli strikes as seen from Naqoura, Lebanon, September 11, 2026. REUTERS/Raghed Waked
Smoke rises in Mansouri following Israeli strikes as seen from Naqoura, Lebanon, September 11, 2026. REUTERS/Raghed Waked

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun visited the country's south on Saturday, in a surprise trip to Nabatieh, a city close to the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge captured from Hezbollah and blown up by Israel.

Official Lebanese media said he arrived in Nabatieh unannounced and accompanied by security officials.

The National News Agency (NNA) quoted Aoun as saying that there would be no new negotiations with Israel at present, stressing that the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the return of prisoners and displaced people, and reconstruction remain national principles that Lebanon is committed to upholding.

Aoun expressed solidarity with locals who greeted him, according to footage broadcast by Lebanese media.

He praised staff at Nabatieh Governmental Hospital, saying they were risking their lives to provide medical services in the area, which most people have fled.

He spoke a day after a senior US diplomatic official said a new round of US-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon, initially scheduled for next week, had been pushed back to October.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had eased off between late June and last week, thanks to a US-sponsored framework agreement between the two countries as well as a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran in the wider Middle East war.

But the Israeli army has in recent days stepped up attacks again, particularly in the Nabatieh region.

On Thursday it blew up underground fortifications on Ali al-Taher ridge after seizing the site, which lies a few kilometers from Nabatieh city.

The explosion was large enough to trigger a tremor detected by seismic monitoring agencies.

Israeli strikes in the area have killed at least 29 people in the last few days, including 12 members of the same family.

The Lebanese army, which has deployed in Nabatieh city, warned on Wednesday that Israel's actions threatened the implementation of the framework agreement.

The agreement involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon's south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as "pilot zones.”

Arab World

Lebanon Moves to Protect Land Ownership in Occupied South

Smoke rises after Israeli demolition operations targeted the occupied southern Lebanese town of Khiam (AFP)
Smoke rises after Israeli demolition operations targeted the occupied southern Lebanese town of Khiam (AFP)
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Lebanon Moves to Protect Land Ownership in Occupied South

Smoke rises after Israeli demolition operations targeted the occupied southern Lebanese town of Khiam (AFP)
Smoke rises after Israeli demolition operations targeted the occupied southern Lebanese town of Khiam (AFP)

Lebanon’s government has approved a draft law banning property sales in Israeli-occupied parts of the south, seeking to prevent wartime displacement and destruction from being exploited to transfer land through intermediaries, front companies, or fictitious buyers.

The cabinet approved on Thursday, at the Finance Ministry’s request, “a ban on real estate sales in areas occupied by the Israeli army.”

Lebanese Finance Minister Yassine Jaber told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government’s decision to ban land sales in occupied southern areas was intended to protect property rights and prevent any attempt to transfer ownership to parties linked to the occupation.

He said the preventive measure would protect the land from sales conducted through indirect or deceptive means.

“The government was keen to take a clear measure in light of the concerns raised about this issue, preventing any sales that could effectively lead to land ownership being transferred indirectly to undisclosed parties,” Jaber said.

The aim, he added, was to prevent sales “to fictitious individuals or companies,” referring to the potential use of names or corporate entities as fronts for indirect purchases.

Jaber linked the decision to efforts to preserve and protect land ownership in the south, saying it was part of “strengthening the resilience of southern communities, preserving and protecting the land in every respect, and safeguarding coexistence.”

The draft law comes as southern areas face widespread destruction, while residents remain displaced and some are unable to return to their towns. The situation has raised concerns extending beyond physical damage to the future of property ownership and residents’ ability to return.

Lebanese MP Abdel Rahman al-Bizri said the protection of property ownership was part of an effort to prevent the destruction and displacement from becoming permanent.

“It is clear that the Israeli occupier is pursuing a scorched-earth policy and working to eliminate every possibility for people and communities to return to the occupied territories in southern Lebanon,” al-Bizri told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“The systematic destruction it is carrying out — whether of homes, infrastructure, crops, schools, clinics, shelters or hospitals — targets every element people need to live and build a functioning community.”

“This indicates a deliberate plan to ensure that these lands remain unfit for the residents’ return, even if the Israeli occupier withdraws from them,” he added, pointing to “repeated visits and tours of Lebanese territory by extremist groups from within Israeli society.”

“This recalls similar scenes in the Syrian Golan Heights and the West Bank,” al-Bizri said. “Despite the Israeli government’s denials, it raises concerns about possible parallel activity by the Israeli authorities and extremist movements.”

Al-Bizri said the Lebanese government had prohibited land sales as a pre-emptive and preventive measure, barring the sale of property in occupied areas to Lebanese and non-Lebanese buyers alike.

The measure was intended to prevent such transactions from becoming “an entry point for a broader process that could later be exploited,” he said, recalling “what happened historically in Palestine before the Nakba.”

“Sovereignty does not mean only the deployment of the Lebanese army and security forces. It also means the return of the state, with all its services, to those areas — from municipalities and schools to healthcare and social protection,” al-Bizri said, adding that a substantial part of the responsibility rested with the government itself.

“Preventing land sales is part of the confrontation and part of our insistence that this land is Lebanese and that we want to keep it Lebanese,” he said. “This must go hand in hand with the state’s return and presence across all Lebanese regions.”

Ayoub Hmayed, an MP from the Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government’s decision was a “precautionary measure” aimed at protecting the land and closing any loophole that Israel could exploit.

The measure “reinforces Lebanese sovereignty over Lebanese territory,” he said.

Hmayed said the decision’s importance stemmed, “as a matter of principle,” from the need to prevent sales or transfers of ownership that could be exploited under occupation.

On the demographic implications, Hmayed said the problem extended beyond land sales to the conditions created by the war and occupation, including residents’ displacement and the inability of some to return to their towns. If the situation persisted, he warned, it would “certainly produce a different reality” on the ground.

He said the ban provided additional protection to landowners even when their homes had been destroyed and they were unable to return.

“Preventing land sales protects these people, just as it reinforces Lebanese sovereignty over Lebanese territory,” Hmayed said.

Arab World

Iraqi Army Commander Sacked After Drone Attacks Targeted Saudi Arabia

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi (Reuters)
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Iraqi Army Commander Sacked After Drone Attacks Targeted Saudi Arabia

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi (Reuters)
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi (Reuters)

The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi announced on Saturday the dismissal of the commander in charge of the southern Maysan province after Saudi Arabia said drones launched from Iraq hit the East-West pipeline and led to its closure.

The commander was fired following the "confirmation that the attacks targeting our brethren in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia originated from a location within the governorate,” said al-Zaidi’s office.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry condemned "the targeting of the East-West pipeline in the Riyadh and Madinah regions by several drones coming from Iraq, which caused human injuries and damage.”

"The pipeline was stopped as a precaution, and the attacks resulted in some injuries," an Energy Ministry official told the SPA news agency earlier.

"At the request of the Iraqi Prime Minister... (Riyadh) has chosen not to respond at this stage and to support the efforts of the Iraqi government ... to prevent attacks launched from Iraq against the Kingdom and neighboring countries," the Foreign Ministry said.