Israeli Raid in the West Bank Sparks Clashes, Killing One

Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during a raid in the village of Deir al-Hatab near the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP)
Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during a raid in the village of Deir al-Hatab near the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP)
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Israeli Raid in the West Bank Sparks Clashes, Killing One

Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during a raid in the village of Deir al-Hatab near the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP)
Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during a raid in the village of Deir al-Hatab near the West Bank city of Nablus, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP)

A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli army fire Wednesday, as troops raided a village in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The ministry said Alaa Zaghal, 21, died from a gunshot wound to the head in Deir al-Hatab, east of Nablus.

The army said it would comment on the incident after the Yom Kippur holiday.

Local media reported that an armored convoy surrounded the home of Salman Omran, who posted an unverified video online calling for support. An Associated Press journalist saw heavy gunfire and rock-throwing between young Palestinian men clashing with Israeli soldiers.

The WAFA news agency said Omran surrendered after an Israeli bulldozer approached his home. It was unclear why he was wanted by Israeli forces.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said seven people were wounded, including three journalists, during the clashes and that one of its ambulances had been hit by tear gas.

Israel has carried out similar incursions almost every night in the West Bank since spring after a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis killed 19 people.

Israel says its operations aim to dismantle militant infrastructure and prevent future attacks, and that it has been forced to act because of ineffectiveness on the part of Palestinian security forces.

For Palestinians, the nightly raids into their cities, villages and towns have undermined the Palestinian security forces and strengthened Israel's control over lands Palestinians want for their hoped-for state.

The Israeli raids have killed some 100 Palestinians, making this year the deadliest since 2015.

Most of those killed are said by Israel to have been gunmen, but local youths protesting the incursions as well as some civilians have also been killed in the violence. Hundreds have been rounded up, with many placed in so-called administrative detention, which allows Israel to hold them without trial or charge.

The raids have increased tensions in the West Bank, with a recent uptick in Palestinian shooting attacks against Israelis. They have also drawn into focus the growing disillusionment amongst young Palestinians over the tight security coordination between Israeli and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, who work together to apprehend gunmen.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and 500,000 Jewish settlers now live in some 130 settlements and other outposts among nearly 3 million Palestinians. The Palestinians want that territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for their future state.



Lebanon Launches Rehabilitation of its Second Airport

An aerial view from the window of a Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) airplane shows smoke rising, after Israeli strikes following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, March 12, 2026. (Reuters)
An aerial view from the window of a Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) airplane shows smoke rising, after Israeli strikes following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, March 12, 2026. (Reuters)
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Lebanon Launches Rehabilitation of its Second Airport

An aerial view from the window of a Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) airplane shows smoke rising, after Israeli strikes following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, March 12, 2026. (Reuters)
An aerial view from the window of a Lebanese Middle East Airlines (MEA) airplane shows smoke rising, after Israeli strikes following an escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, March 12, 2026. (Reuters)

Lebanon launched the rehabilitation of its second airport on Saturday, in preparation for an opening within months, at a time when the country faces constant fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Lebanon currently has one international airport, in Beirut next to the capital's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been subjected to heavy Israeli bombardment during successive wars.

The new airport, in the town of Qlayaat in Lebanon's northernmost province of Akkar, near the border with Syria, has been used as a military base by the Lebanese army for decades, according to AFP.

Lebanese Minister of Transport and Public Works Fayez Rasamny inaugurated the airport on Saturday "after more than fifty years of promises, delays and waiting".

"Today we are moving from promise to execution," Rasamny said, adding that the goal is for the airport to be "operational in a few weeks" to serve travellers to Mersin, Istanbul and Dubai, adding there are plans to expand the destinations to Saudi Arabia, Cairo and Athens at a later stage.

Lebanon is also in contact with low-cost airlines, such as Ryanair and Pegasus, he said.

Rehabilitation is due to begin next week and will take at least three months, going through a pilot phase before the airport is put into full service in November 2026, according to local media.

The work is being carried out by the Lebanese company Sky Lounge, which on Saturday posted on its Instagram page a video of a test flight between Beirut airport and Qlayaat airport.

In a speech during the opening ceremony, the company's chairman, Ziad Munla, said, the passenger terminal will be completed "within 90 days after completing the required approvals and licenses".

The airport will be able to handle about 114,000 passengers in its first year, rising to more than 600,000 by its fourth year, he said.

The opening of the airport aims to create jobs in Akkar, one of Lebanon's poorest governorates with a high unemployment rate.

Rene Mouawad Airport, named after a former Lebanese president who was elected in the 1980s, was built by the French army as an airstrip in the 1930s.

It was used for civilian purposes in the 1960s and was bombed by Israel during an earlier war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Beirut airport has continued to operate despite during the Israel-Hezbollah war that began on March 2, and an earlier war in 2023 and 2024.

Lebanon has been forced to repeatedly pursue international guarantees that Israel will not target Beirut airport, which it has previously accused Hezbollah of using to transport money and weapons.

Lebanese authorities have repeatedly denied the Israeli allegations.


Araghchi Urges Lebanon President to Save Country From 'Real Foe'

FILED - 27 April 2026, Russia, Saint Petersburg: FILE PHOTO - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrives for a meeting in Saint Petersburg. Photo: -/Kremlin/dpa
FILED - 27 April 2026, Russia, Saint Petersburg: FILE PHOTO - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrives for a meeting in Saint Petersburg. Photo: -/Kremlin/dpa
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Araghchi Urges Lebanon President to Save Country From 'Real Foe'

FILED - 27 April 2026, Russia, Saint Petersburg: FILE PHOTO - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrives for a meeting in Saint Petersburg. Photo: -/Kremlin/dpa
FILED - 27 April 2026, Russia, Saint Petersburg: FILE PHOTO - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrives for a meeting in Saint Petersburg. Photo: -/Kremlin/dpa

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Saturday urged Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to save Lebanon from its "real foe," Israel, a day after Aoun called on Tehran to stop interfering in his country's affairs.

"Based on Mr. Aoun's comments, one would think it's Iran that has occupied one-fifth of Lebanon, displaced one-quarter of its population and is bombing the country on a daily basis," Araghchi wrote on X.

"If Lebanon were a bargaining chip for Iran, we would have reached an agreement long ago. Save Lebanon from your real foe, Mr. President," he added.

Aoun, in an interview broadcast Friday by CNN, called on Iran to stop "interfering" in Lebanon's affairs following the collapse of a new truce announced by Washington between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

"This is not your country. It is our country, our responsibility, and your role is not to interfere in our affairs," Aoun said.

"It is our people who are being killed, and our homes that are being destroyed," he added.

The Lebanese president has faced opposition from Hezbollah and segments of Lebanese public opinion since the launch of direct negotiations with Israel, the first such talks between the two countries in decades. Lebanon and Israel do not maintain diplomatic relations.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also urged Iran to stop using Lebanon as a "card" to improve its negotiating position in talks with the United States.

Tehran has demanded that any agreement with Washington to end the war that began on Feb. 28 with a US-Israeli bombing campaign include a ceasefire on the Lebanese front and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The conflict in Lebanon erupted on March 2 after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in response to the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in the initial US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Israel responded with a broad campaign of air strikes and ground incursions in southern Lebanon.

According to the latest official figures cited by AFP, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed more than 3,560 people since the conflict began. On the Israeli side, 27 soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed in Lebanon.


Two Lebanese Officers, One Soldier Killed in Israeli Strike

Lebanese army soldiers stand in front of a house that was destroyed in the recent clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops in Dibbine village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, June 5, 2026, a day after Israeli forces withdrew. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese army soldiers stand in front of a house that was destroyed in the recent clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops in Dibbine village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, June 5, 2026, a day after Israeli forces withdrew. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Two Lebanese Officers, One Soldier Killed in Israeli Strike

Lebanese army soldiers stand in front of a house that was destroyed in the recent clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops in Dibbine village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, June 5, 2026, a day after Israeli forces withdrew. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese army soldiers stand in front of a house that was destroyed in the recent clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops in Dibbine village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, June 5, 2026, a day after Israeli forces withdrew. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Two Lebanese officers and one ​soldier were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in south Lebanon, the Lebanese military said Saturday, days after the two countries announced a conditional truce following talks in the United States.

Later, ​the ‌Israeli ⁠military ​said it ⁠targeted the vehicle after identifying what it described as a threat to its forces and receiving indications ⁠that Hezbollah was ‌preparing ‌to fire on Israeli ​troops ‌from the area.

It ‌said an initial inquiry showed that two Lebanese army officers and a soldier ‌were inside the vehicle and that ⁠the incident ⁠was under review.

A ceasefire that was supposed to end the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on April 17, but has not been respected.

Hezbollah and Israel have frequently exchanged accusations of violating the truce, with each side justifying its attacks with alleged violations committed by the other side.

A further conditional truce was announced by Lebanese and Israeli envoys this week in Washington.

It would require Hezbollah to stop firing, withdraw from near the Israeli border and would see Lebanon's army deploy to new "pilot zones" in the area, where it will exercise exclusive control.

But Hezbollah has rejected the agreement, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.

On Saturday, Israel renewed evacuation orders for five villages in Lebanon's south and east, telling residents to move north of the Zahrani River.

"In light of the terrorist Hezbollah's violation of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force," the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on Telegram.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in an interview with CNN that aired on Friday that Iran must stop interfering in Lebanon.

"It's not your country, it's our country," he said. "It's not your job to interfere into our country."

"They are using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in their negotiation with the United States. It's unacceptable," he added.

"Hezbollah must understand that (there is) no other way but to sit and talk, no other way to solve this problem and to save what's left except through negotiation and diplomacy," Aoun added.

 

"The majority of the Lebanese people are fed up with war."