Hezbollah Threatens Israel, Intensifies Attack on US

 London-based Energean’s drill ship begins drilling at the Karish natural gas field offshore Israel in the east Mediterranean May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ari Rabinovitch
London-based Energean’s drill ship begins drilling at the Karish natural gas field offshore Israel in the east Mediterranean May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ari Rabinovitch
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Hezbollah Threatens Israel, Intensifies Attack on US

 London-based Energean’s drill ship begins drilling at the Karish natural gas field offshore Israel in the east Mediterranean May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ari Rabinovitch
London-based Energean’s drill ship begins drilling at the Karish natural gas field offshore Israel in the east Mediterranean May 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ari Rabinovitch

Hezbollah intensified its attack on the United States, accusing it of “working to weaken and blackmail Lebanon to subject it to Israeli conditions.”

The party has also threatened Israel over the border dispute and the oil and gas exploration in the Mediterranean.

With the arrival in June of the Energean vessel to the coast of Haifa to begin gas extraction from the Karish field, Hezbollah officials repeated their threats, saying that the party would not allow Israel to produce gas without Lebanon obtaining its rights to explore energy in its territorial waters. They set September 2022 as a deadline to reach a border settlement mediated by the United States.

Deputy head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council Sheikh Ali Damoush said that the US was seeking to “weaken and blackmail Lebanon to subject it to Israeli conditions,” adding that the party, in return, “was working to impose power equations that Lebanon possesses to achieve its demands and rights.”

“The resistance in Lebanon is no longer just an option for liberation and defense; with the equations it imposes on the enemy, it has become a means to restore wealth and rights and save Lebanon from its economic and living crises,” he stated.

A Lebanese newspaper close to Hezbollah published reports on Friday, saying that the party’s missile capabilities had developed “to reach areas exceeding 450 kilometers.”

It quoted a military leader in the party as saying: “The resistance in Lebanon has capabilities that match its needs, capabilities that do not exist even in Iran.”



Pro-Palestinian Protest Prompts Scuffle onstage at Royal Opera House in London

A detained demonstrator sits inside a police van, following a protest in support of the Palestine Action group in Parliament Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
A detained demonstrator sits inside a police van, following a protest in support of the Palestine Action group in Parliament Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
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Pro-Palestinian Protest Prompts Scuffle onstage at Royal Opera House in London

A detained demonstrator sits inside a police van, following a protest in support of the Palestine Action group in Parliament Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes
A detained demonstrator sits inside a police van, following a protest in support of the Palestine Action group in Parliament Square in London, Britain, July 19, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

A performer holding a Palestinian flag touched off a brief scuffle on stage at the Royal Opera House in London on Saturday night as cast members were taking their bows following the season's final performance of “Il Trovatore.”

Images posted on social media show what appears to be a member of the chorus holding the unfurled flag in front of his chest while the lead singers bask in the audience's applause, Reuters reported.

After a few moments, someone backstage attempts to grab the flag, but the performer holds onto the banner and snaps back into place.

Singers were taking their bows after the end of the opera by Giuseppe Verdi. Director Adele Thomas’ production reinterprets the story of desire and an all-consuming curse, the opera said.

"The display of the flag was spontaneous and unauthorized action by the artist,'' the opera company told the BBC.

"It was not approved by the Royal Ballet & Opera and is not in line with our commitment to political impartiality.”