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Arab World

Lebanese President Says Ban on Hezbollah’s Military Activity ‘Irreversible’

President Aoun meets with members of the Quintet at the presidential palace on Tuesday. (Lebanese Presidency)
President Aoun meets with members of the Quintet at the presidential palace on Tuesday. (Lebanese Presidency)
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Lebanese President Says Ban on Hezbollah’s Military Activity ‘Irreversible’

President Aoun meets with members of the Quintet at the presidential palace on Tuesday. (Lebanese Presidency)
President Aoun meets with members of the Quintet at the presidential palace on Tuesday. (Lebanese Presidency)

Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said Tuesday that the decision to ban Hezbollah's military activities is "irreversible", as the Iran-backed movement claimed responsibility for new attacks targeting Israeli positions.

Speaking to members of the Quintet -- a committee made up of the French, US, Qatari, Saudi Arabian, and Egyptian ambassadors -- the president called the decision "final," after a Hezbollah statement on Monday night lambasted the state's "impotence in the face of the brutal Zionist enemy".

Aoun urged the Quintet members to "pressure Israel to stop its aggressions against Lebanon" as Israel continued launching intense strikes and authorized its troops to "take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon".

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Arab World

Katz: Israel to Continue Operations in Lebanon for Now Despite Ceasefire

(2L/R) Israel's Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, State Department Chief of Staff Daniel Holler, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh attend a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese delegations hosted by the United States at the State Department in Washington, DC, on June 3, 2026. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP)
(2L/R) Israel's Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, State Department Chief of Staff Daniel Holler, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh attend a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese delegations hosted by the United States at the State Department in Washington, DC, on June 3, 2026. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP)
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Katz: Israel to Continue Operations in Lebanon for Now Despite Ceasefire

(2L/R) Israel's Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, State Department Chief of Staff Daniel Holler, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh attend a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese delegations hosted by the United States at the State Department in Washington, DC, on June 3, 2026. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP)
(2L/R) Israel's Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter, State Department Chief of Staff Daniel Holler, US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa and Lebanese Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh attend a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese delegations hosted by the United States at the State Department in Washington, DC, on June 3, 2026. (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP)

Israel will continue its operations on the ground in southern Lebanon for the time being and Lebanese residents forced from their homes by Israel would not be able to return, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday.

His comments came a day after Lebanon and Israel said they had ⁠agreed to implement ⁠a ceasefire during talks in Washington. The deal is contingent on a cessation of fire from Hezbollah.

In a statement, Katz said troops ⁠would remain in its so-called security zone in southern Lebanon, including in the area of Beaufort Castle, a 900-year-old fortress captured by Israel on Saturday.

According to Reuters, he said Israel would continue to "dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area" while Israel had "freedom of action, backed by the United States, ⁠to ⁠strike in Beirut in response to attacks on Israeli communities and territory."

Lebanon and Israel agreed on Wednesday to a new US-backed ceasefire in Lebanon. They had previously agreed to a cessation of hostilities in April that was then extended in May, but violence has continued.

Arab World

Civil Defense: Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 8 in Gaza

A Palestinian man stands at the site of an Israeli strike on an apartment in Gaza City, June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian man stands at the site of an Israeli strike on an apartment in Gaza City, June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Civil Defense: Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 8 in Gaza

A Palestinian man stands at the site of an Israeli strike on an apartment in Gaza City, June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian man stands at the site of an Israeli strike on an apartment in Gaza City, June 4, 2026. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Israeli attacks on Gaza killed at least eight people on Thursday, a spokesman for the civil defense agency in the Palestinian territory told AFP.

"At least eight martyrs as a result of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City at dawn," with seven killed in strikes on residential buildings and one in the Al-Shati refugee camp to the west of Gaza City, said spokesman Mahmoud Bassal.

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City also reported 15 people wounded in the strikes, he added.

Despite a truce technically in effect since October, daily violence has rocked the Gaza Strip, over half of which is under Israeli military control in defiance of the ceasefire's terms.

Israel has killed at least 936 people since the ceasefire began, according to Gaza's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

Both Hamas and Israel accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.

The first phase of the truce involved the release of the last Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.

A transition to the second phase of the ceasefire, which was supposed to involve Hamas's disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army, has been stalled for months.

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to take control of 70 percent of the Gaza Strip.

The latest head of Hamas's armed wing in Gaza, Mohammed Odeh, was killed in an Israeli strike last week, a month after his predecessor was also killed.

Arab World

Lebanon State Media Reports Israeli Strikes after Conditional Truce Announcement

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjayoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Kfar Tibnit on June 3, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjayoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Kfar Tibnit on June 3, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
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Lebanon State Media Reports Israeli Strikes after Conditional Truce Announcement

This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjayoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Kfar Tibnit on June 3, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
This photograph taken from the southern Lebanese area of Marjayoun shows smoke rising from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the village of Kfar Tibnit on June 3, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

Lebanese official media reported Israeli strikes on the country's south on Thursday morning, hours after an announcement that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to implement a conditional ceasefire following talks in Washington.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli drone strikes along roads at several south Lebanon locations, saying at least one caused casualties.

Israel and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to implement a ceasefire but said it would require a "complete cessation" of fire by Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to a joint statement after US-led talks in Washington.