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Iran to Propose Providing Air Defense System to Lebanese Army

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. (AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. (AP)
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Iran to Propose Providing Air Defense System to Lebanese Army

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. (AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. (AP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif is expected to pay a two-day visit to Lebanon later this week to meet with senior officials, as well as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The trip comes in wake of Nasrallah’s recent announcement that Tehran was ready to offer Lebanon arms and funds. He did not disclose further details about the proposal.

A diplomatic source said that Zarif would discuss with officials a proposal to provide the Lebanese army with an Iranian air defense system, which according to Nasrallah would make the military “the strongest in the region.”

The minister is scheduled to hold talks on Sunday and Monday with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil.

The source said that Zarif will also explain to officials Tehran’s stance on its conflict with the United States, saying that any American attack on Iranian positions will incur a violent retaliation.

Nasrallah had said: “We will be involved in any war on Iran.”

Asharq Al-Awsat approached Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab to comment on Nasrallah’s speech. He revealed that he had not yet had the time to address it because he had just returned to Lebanon from a trip to Washington.

“At any rate,” he added, “I support anyone who helps in arming the military if it is needed.”

Iran had originally officially proposed arming the military in 2014 during a trip by then Defense Minister Samir Moqbel to Tehran where he visited weapons factories.

Iranian officials had suggested that the minister list the needs of the Lebanese military so that they could be provided by Tehran.

Indeed, Moqbel presented a report on the matter to cabinet, but discussions over the issue came to halt after the US threatened to halt its armament and training to the Lebanese army.

An informed minister expected that Beirut will take its time in responding to Zarif’s proposal should he present it.

He may, on the other hand, renew his country’s offer to provide Lebanon will electrical power.

Nasrallah had addressed this issue during a speech Wednesday when he revealed that Tehran could provide Lebanon with its power needs in less than a year and at low costs.

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Arab World

Israeli Military Takes More Territory, Kills Two People in Gaza, Medics and Witnesses Say

Palestinians make their way past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive as displaced people shelter in tents, in Gaza City, June 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians make their way past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive as displaced people shelter in tents, in Gaza City, June 15, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israeli Military Takes More Territory, Kills Two People in Gaza, Medics and Witnesses Say

Palestinians make their way past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive as displaced people shelter in tents, in Gaza City, June 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians make their way past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive as displaced people shelter in tents, in Gaza City, June 15, 2026. (Reuters)

An Israeli ‌strike killed at least two Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip, health officials said, as residents of an area in the north of the enclave fled their homes after Israeli forces expanded their control in the territory.

Medics said an Israeli strike near a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the central Gaza Strip, killed two brothers, Ahmed and Mahmoud Abu Heen. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

An October 2025 truce brokered by US President Donald Trump has so far failed to halt Israeli attacks in Gaza or to secure the disarmament of the Hamas group.

The new deaths brought to nearly 1,000 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since October, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israel says four of its soldiers have been ‌killed by fighters ‌in that period.

The violence comes as Nickolay Mladenov, Trump's ‌Board ⁠of Peace envoy for ⁠Gaza, arrived in Cairo to pursue talks that mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye have held with Hamas leaders over implementing the second phase of Trump's Gaza plan, sources close to the talks said.

Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked over how to proceed with the next stage of Trump's Gaza plan, which involves Hamas laying down its arms and Israeli withdrawals.

ISRAEL TAKES MORE GAZA LAND

Israeli troops still control more than 60% of Gaza's territory, where they have ordered residents out ⁠and destroyed remaining buildings.

On May 28, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed ‌that he had directed Israel's military to expand its ‌hold and take control of 70% of the enclave.

Witnesses in southern Gaza have said Israeli forces ‌have in the past few days expanded the "Yellow Zone" - the areas they control - in eastern ‌Khan Younis and northern Rafah, where new markers and concrete blocks have been placed.

On Sunday, Israeli forces sent tanks further into the Al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City in the north, forcing several families to flee. Reuters footage, taken on Monday, showed two yellow blocks used as boundary markers that had been moved ‌closer to houses.

"I swear we don't know where to go," said Umm Muhammad Junaynah, a resident of Al-Tuffah, as she struggled ⁠to hold back tears. "We ⁠are getting our furniture out, we don't know where to go. We don't know where to go, we have nowhere to go."

Nearly the entire population of 2 million people, most of whom have been displaced several times, now live in a tiny strip of land along the coast, mainly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, under Hamas control.

"It was a night of terror, we were scared," said Nour Shabat, a 27-year-old woman, referring to events of Sunday night in Al-Tuffah.

The territory has been bombarded to ruins by Israel's two-year military assault that followed the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

"I'm tired of displacement, honestly I'm tired of displacement. What is our fault that this is happening to us?" said Shabat.

"Should I take my belongings, myself and go sleep in the street? I have slept in the streets many times and I have been displaced many times. I'm tired and can't handle anymore. Enough, I am tired."

Arab World

Israeli Drone Strikes Kill at Least 4 in Southern Lebanon

A photograph shows destroyed buildings in the southern village of Srifa on June 16, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows destroyed buildings in the southern village of Srifa on June 16, 2026. (AFP)
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Israeli Drone Strikes Kill at Least 4 in Southern Lebanon

A photograph shows destroyed buildings in the southern village of Srifa on June 16, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph shows destroyed buildings in the southern village of Srifa on June 16, 2026. (AFP)

Israeli drone strikes targeted three vehicles in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least four people and wounding ‌others, Lebanon's ‌National News ‌Agency reported.

Two ⁠people were killed ⁠in a double-tap strike, with a drone hitting a car ⁠in the village ‌of ‌Mayfadoun followed ‌by a second strike ‌after people had gathered at the scene.

Another drone ‌strike on the town of ⁠Shoukin ⁠killed two other people, the agency said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reported strikes.

Arab World

Türkiye Opposes Iraq Pipeline Deal Extension under Current Conditions, Official Says

A general view of oil tanks at Türkiye's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which is run by state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), some 70 km (43.5 miles) from Adana February 19, 2014. . REUTERS/Umit Bektas
A general view of oil tanks at Türkiye's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which is run by state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), some 70 km (43.5 miles) from Adana February 19, 2014. . REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Türkiye Opposes Iraq Pipeline Deal Extension under Current Conditions, Official Says

A general view of oil tanks at Türkiye's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which is run by state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), some 70 km (43.5 miles) from Adana February 19, 2014. . REUTERS/Umit Bektas
A general view of oil tanks at Türkiye's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which is run by state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), some 70 km (43.5 miles) from Adana February 19, 2014. . REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Türkiye does not want an extension of the existing Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline agreement under current conditions, a senior Turkish official said, after Baghdad asked Ankara to extend it for at least a year to allow time for more talks.

The decades-old Türkiye-Iraq Crude Oil Pipeline Agreement, which governs exports through the pipeline, is due to expire on July 27. Baghdad and Ankara are still discussing a new draft agreement.

"There is no point in extending an agreement that has been subject to arbitration," the Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said when asked about Iraq's extension request.

Ceyhan is a crucial export outlet for Iraqi oil, with the state's main export terminal in Basra suffering from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz since US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

Türkiye last year announced the end of the accord covering the pipeline and asked to renew it under new conditions. Türkiye's proposal included a mechanism to ensure the full use of the pipeline and options, such as extending the pipeline to the south of Iraq. The pipeline had remained offline for 2-1/2 years after an arbitration court ruled for Ankara to pay $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorized Iraqi exports Türkiye received between 2014 and 2018. Flows began late last year.

There is also a second arbitration case that covers a period from 2018 onwards and an award enforcement case running in a US court. The pipeline has a capacity of almost 1.5 million barrels per day but has been working significantly below capacity due to security and other issues. Crude exports from Kirkuk to Türkiye were at 177,000 barrels per day in April, according to shipping data reviewed by Reuters.