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Diplomats Sought Guarantees from Hezbollah That It Will Hold Fire if Iran Is Attacked, Source Says

Mourners hold anti-US and anti-Israeli placards during a funeral ceremony for security personnel killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
Mourners hold anti-US and anti-Israeli placards during a funeral ceremony for security personnel killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
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Diplomats Sought Guarantees from Hezbollah That It Will Hold Fire if Iran Is Attacked, Source Says

Mourners hold anti-US and anti-Israeli placards during a funeral ceremony for security personnel killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran, 14 January 2026. (EPA)
Mourners hold anti-US and anti-Israeli placards during a funeral ceremony for security personnel killed during anti-government protests, in Tehran, Iran, 14 January 2026. (EPA)

Diplomats have sought guarantees from Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that it would not take military action if the United ‌States ‌or ‌Israel ⁠carried out on ‌an attack on Iran, a Lebanese source familiar with the group's thinking told ⁠Reuters on Wednesday.

The ‌source said ‍the ‍Iran-backed group was ‍approached through diplomatic channels last week.

Hezbollah did not offer explicit guarantees but has no ⁠plans to act if the strike on Iran is not "existential" for Iran's leadership, the source added.

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Arab World

Lebanese Government Bans All Activity by Iran Guards in Lebanon

A general view shows the parliament building, ahead of the parliamentary election, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon May 12, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A general view shows the parliament building, ahead of the parliamentary election, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon May 12, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Lebanese Government Bans All Activity by Iran Guards in Lebanon

A general view shows the parliament building, ahead of the parliamentary election, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon May 12, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A general view shows the parliament building, ahead of the parliamentary election, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon May 12, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The Lebanese government said on Thursday it would ban any activity by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps -- a main backer of the militant group Hezbollah -- and seek to deport its members from Lebanon, AFP reported.

Information Minister Paul Morcos said the country's cabinet had decided to "prevent any activity" that members of the Iran Guards "may carry out from Lebanese territory... and to have them detained by the competent judiciary to deport them".

He added that Iranians would now require a visa to enter Lebanon.

Arab World

Residents Flee Beirut's Southern Suburbs after Israeli Evacuation Warning

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut (Reuters)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut (Reuters)
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Residents Flee Beirut's Southern Suburbs after Israeli Evacuation Warning

Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut (Reuters)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut (Reuters)

Residents of Beirut's southern suburbs fled en masse on Thursday afternoon after an evacuation warning from the Israeli army covering an area home to hundreds of thousands of people, AFP journalists reported.

Residents fired into the air shortly after the Israeli warning to urge locals to leave as quickly as possible.

Massive traffic jams formed on the outskirts of the southern suburbs, which has a strong Hezbollah presence, leaving people unable to evacuate quickly.

Arab World

Iraqi Kataeb Hezbollah Say Commander Killed in Strike in Southern Iraq

Members of the Iraqi armed group Kataeb Hezbollah attend the funeral of their members, who were killed in an airstrike that targeted a Hashd al‑Shaabi headquarters near the western al‑Qaim district on the Syrian border, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Baghdad, Iraq, March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Suda
Members of the Iraqi armed group Kataeb Hezbollah attend the funeral of their members, who were killed in an airstrike that targeted a Hashd al‑Shaabi headquarters near the western al‑Qaim district on the Syrian border, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Baghdad, Iraq, March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Suda
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Iraqi Kataeb Hezbollah Say Commander Killed in Strike in Southern Iraq

Members of the Iraqi armed group Kataeb Hezbollah attend the funeral of their members, who were killed in an airstrike that targeted a Hashd al‑Shaabi headquarters near the western al‑Qaim district on the Syrian border, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Baghdad, Iraq, March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Suda
Members of the Iraqi armed group Kataeb Hezbollah attend the funeral of their members, who were killed in an airstrike that targeted a Hashd al‑Shaabi headquarters near the western al‑Qaim district on the Syrian border, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Baghdad, Iraq, March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Suda

The Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq said on Thursday that one of its leaders was killed in a strike on southern Iraq a day earlier.

The Secretary-General of the group, Al-Hajj Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, mourned in a statement “the great leader, brother, Ali Hassan al-Furayji," who carried out "his duties... for more than two decades."

Two sources from the armed faction told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that a strike targeted a car near the Jurf al-Nasr base, where the faction is deployed in southern Iraq, resulting in the death of two members.

The death toll rose to three after the death of the leader was confirmed.

One of the sources described the attack as a "Zionist-American strike."

The Jurf al-Nasr base, also known as Jurf al-Sakhar, in southern Iraq, was the first Iraqi target of strikes attributed to Israel and the United States, which later extended to other areas.