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Arab World

Lebanon's PM Visits Troops at the Country’s Tense Southern Border with Israel

This handout picture provided by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) shows Lebanon's caretaker PM Najib Mikati (R) shaking hands with Major General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, the head of mission and force commander at the peacekeeping force's headquarters in the southern Lebanese border town of Naqoura, on October 24, 2023. (Photo by UNIFIL / AFP)
This handout picture provided by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) shows Lebanon's caretaker PM Najib Mikati (R) shaking hands with Major General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, the head of mission and force commander at the peacekeeping force's headquarters in the southern Lebanese border town of Naqoura, on October 24, 2023. (Photo by UNIFIL / AFP)
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Lebanon's PM Visits Troops at the Country’s Tense Southern Border with Israel

This handout picture provided by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) shows Lebanon's caretaker PM Najib Mikati (R) shaking hands with Major General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, the head of mission and force commander at the peacekeeping force's headquarters in the southern Lebanese border town of Naqoura, on October 24, 2023. (Photo by UNIFIL / AFP)
This handout picture provided by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) shows Lebanon's caretaker PM Najib Mikati (R) shaking hands with Major General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz, the head of mission and force commander at the peacekeeping force's headquarters in the southern Lebanese border town of Naqoura, on October 24, 2023. (Photo by UNIFIL / AFP)

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Tuesday visited troops deployed near the border with Israel and UN peacekeepers, as Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops clash for a third week.

The visit by Prime Minister Najib Mikati to the tense southern province is his first since clashes erupted along the border following a surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7. It also came two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops along the border on Sunday.

Mikati and international governments have been scrambling to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding to Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah group warned Israel about a ground incursion into the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said the group is in the “heart” of the war to “defend Gaza and confront the occupation."

“Its finger is on the trigger to whatever extent it deems necessary for the confrontation,” Qassem tweeted.

Clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli military thus far have been mostly limited to several towns along the border.

Journalists from Hezbollah's Al-Manar television reported that an Israeli helicopter attack struck an empty position near the border town of Houla, after a missile fired from Lebanon hit an Israeli military position.

The Israeli military said the anti-missile attack hit a position in Manara with no casualties. They added that they struck a group of militants in the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory where the border of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's top Druze political leader Walid Jumblatt, said he along with Mikati and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri, who is Lebanon's parliamentary speaker, are in agreement that the war shouldn't further expand into the tiny Mediterranean country. Jumblatt said that he held calls with top Hezbollah security officials on the matter.

“But the matter is not up to Hezbollah alone ... Israel could have hostile intentions,” Jumblatt said after meeting with Druze religious officials and clergymen in Beirut. “We must expect the worst.”

Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006 that ended in a stalemate. Israel sees Hezbollah as its most serious threat, estimating it has around 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Israel on Tuesday, where he reaffirmed calls to prevent the war from expanding into Lebanon and the wider Arab world, and called for a “decisive” political process with the Palestinians for a viable peace.

Macron warned Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups against opening a new front in the ongoing war, and that Paris had expressed those concerns in direct communication with Hezbollah.

“To do so would be to open the door to a regional inferno from which everyone would come out the loser,” he said.

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Arab World

Aoun Says Future Deal Will Not Cede Lebanese Territory, Country No Longer ‘Arena for Anyone’s Wars’

A photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency on April 17, 2026, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivering a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of the capital Beirut. (Lebanese Presidency)
A photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency on April 17, 2026, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivering a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of the capital Beirut. (Lebanese Presidency)
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Aoun Says Future Deal Will Not Cede Lebanese Territory, Country No Longer ‘Arena for Anyone’s Wars’

A photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency on April 17, 2026, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivering a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of the capital Beirut. (Lebanese Presidency)
A photograph released by the Lebanese Presidency on April 17, 2026, shows Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun delivering a televised address to the Lebanese people from the Baabda Presidential Palace, east of the capital Beirut. (Lebanese Presidency)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that any future deal reached by the government would not cede any ‌territory or ‌undermine Lebanon's national ‌rights, ⁠without saying whether ⁠he was referring to prospective talks with Israel.

The televised address was ⁠his first speech ‌since ‌the US brokered a ‌ceasefire to ‌end fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah on Thursday. ‌

The text of the deal ⁠says ⁠Israel and Lebanon would hold direct talks to produce a "peace between the two countries".

Aoun said Lebanon was on the verge of a "new phase" of "permanent agreements."

"Now, we all stand before a new phase," he added, stressing "it is the phase of transition from working on a ceasefire to working on permanent agreements that preserve the rights of our people, the unity of our land, and the sovereignty of our nation."

He added that direct talks with Israel were "not a sign of weakness nor a concession... negotiations do not mean, and will never mean, giving up any right, conceding any principle, or compromising the sovereignty of this nation."

Moreover, Aoun stressed that Lebanon was no longer an "arena" for anyone's wars.

"We are confident that we will save Lebanon... we have reclaimed Lebanon and Lebanon's decision-making power for the first time in nearly half a century," he declared, adding that "today, we negotiate for ourselves... we are no longer a pawn in anyone's game, nor an arena for anyone's wars, and we never will be again."

"I hereby affirm... that there will be no agreement that infringes upon our national rights, diminishes the dignity of our steadfast people, or relinquishes an iota of this nation's soil."

Arab World

Hezbollah Tallies Its Dead from Israel War, Estimates Exceed 1,000

A woman walks next to an ambulance at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman walks next to an ambulance at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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Hezbollah Tallies Its Dead from Israel War, Estimates Exceed 1,000

A woman walks next to an ambulance at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman walks next to an ambulance at the site of an Israeli strike carried out before a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Hezbollah said its fighters would “keep their fingers on the trigger” hours after a ceasefire took effect between Lebanon and Israel, warning it would not stay silent over any Israeli violations and would not repeat its past restraint under the October 2024 ceasefire, when Israel continued attacks and assassinations against its members and commanders.

In recent hours, the Iran-backed party focused on helping large numbers of displaced people return to their homes, while tracking Israeli movements in occupied areas and preparing for a possible new confrontation at any moment.

Death toll unclear

People closely following Hezbollah said it was still counting its dead, with no final toll yet, as many fighters remain under rubble in villages and towns that saw fierce clashes, including the southern towns of Khiam and Bint Jbeil, where Israeli forces are deployed, complicating search efforts.

Some bodies are difficult to identify, while others have been taken captive.

Sources said Hezbollah would not, for now or in the near future, announce casualty figures, as it did in the previous war.

It stopped issuing official death notices after the toll passed 500 and is maintaining that approach, they said, with estimates suggesting the number is high and may exceed 1,000, particularly after heavy fighting in Khiam and Bint Jbeil.

Hezbollah statement

In a statement after the ceasefire, Hezbollah said it carried out 2,184 military operations during the 45-day battle from March 2 to April 16.

It said its drones and rocket fire struck Israeli settlements and cities from the Lebanese border to beyond Tel Aviv, up to 160 km deep.

It said its fighters conducted about 49 operations a day, adding: “The hands of these fighters will remain on the trigger, on guard against the enemy’s treachery and any violation of its commitments.”

Hezbollah lawmakers on Friday accompanied displaced residents returning to their towns and villages in the south, Bekaa Valley, and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group would accept no surrender or submission.

“This issue is settled for us. If the Americans want to give the Israeli enemy freedom of movement, and if some Lebanese officials submit and make concessions, that will have no application on the ground,” he said, warning that the ceasefire “must not become a tool for the enemy to blackmail the authorities.”

He added: “The Lebanese authorities must withdraw from direct negotiations that will only lead to submission to Israeli dictates. This threatens Lebanon’s future and fate.”

People check destruction behind posters of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem (bottom) and a killed Hezbollah member in Beirut's southern suburbs after a 10-day ceasefire with Israel came into effect on April 17, 2026. (AFP)

‘A major defeat’

While Hezbollah and its supporters frame the outcome as a victory, security and defense analyst Riad Kahwaji told Asharq al Awsat the battlefield suggests otherwise.

“When the war began, the Israelis were in five points, while Hezbollah fighters were active along axes such as Naqoura, Kfar Kila, and Aita al-Shaab. Today, Israeli forces are deeper inside Lebanese territory,” he said.

“Israeli control has reached 10 km, compared with around 2 or 3 km before. Hezbollah lost territory, was forced to retreat, its death toll is in the hundreds, its number of captives has risen, and the scale of destruction in the south, the southern suburbs and the Bekaa is many times greater,” Kahwaji added.

He said tens of thousands have been displaced after their homes were destroyed. “This is defeat, in every sense of the word.”

Kahwaji said that even if Israeli soldiers were killed, their numbers were not comparable to Hezbollah’s losses, and that the scale of damage in Lebanon versus Israel underscored the imbalance.

“Hezbollah considers its survival and ability to fire rockets a victory, even though it has again shown it acts as an Iranian tool and entered the war in support of Iran,” he stressed.

Ready for another round

Political writer Qassem Kassir, who is closely familiar with Hezbollah’s position, offered a sharply different view, saying the group had emerged stronger than after the 2024 war.

“If we do not say it won, what is certain is that Israel failed to achieve its military and security goals. Tel Aviv was unable to target Hezbollah’s leadership. Although some commanders were killed, the number is very small compared with the previous war,” he said.

Kassir said Hezbollah had “managed the battle with precision and success” and was preparing for a possible new confrontation, unless comprehensive solutions are reached, including a full Israeli withdrawal, the return of captives, an end to attacks and launch of reconstruction.

Arab World

Secret Israeli Ministerial Talks under US Pressure Discuss Vision of ‘New Gaza’

A satellite image of Gaza port. (Reuters file)
A satellite image of Gaza port. (Reuters file)
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Secret Israeli Ministerial Talks under US Pressure Discuss Vision of ‘New Gaza’

A satellite image of Gaza port. (Reuters file)
A satellite image of Gaza port. (Reuters file)

Israeli media sources said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered two secret meetings of senior officials across several ministries, under US pressure, to discuss the future of Gaza, including a possible commercial port and reconstruction plans.

Observers linked the meetings to a military escalation in which Israeli forces struck multiple areas on the margins of operations in Lebanon, in what they said was meant to divert attention from the talks, opposed by far-right ministers.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Thursday that a meeting this week was chaired by acting director general of the prime minister’s office, Drorit Steinmetz, with participation from the finance ministry, the National Security Council, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, and the energy, transport and environmental protection ministries.

Citing five unnamed sources, the channel said the meeting followed US pressure and requests from American officials at the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) in Kiryat Gat. It said this was the second government meeting on the issue held in complete secrecy.

Talks focused on managing US forces inside Gaza, as well as control of border crossings and the near-term flow of goods.

Ministries were asked to present positions on establishing a civilian port in Gaza. Israel’s vision was also reviewed alongside proposals from the CMCC, involving foreign representatives and aid groups.

These proposals fall under what US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have called a “new Gaza,” including high-rise buildings, industrial zones, desalination plants, a gas platform, and an airport, the report said.

Representatives from the electricity and water authorities and the transport ministry were asked to provide professional assessments.

The report said Israel’s leadership had issued clear guidance that no reconstruction would move forward unless Gaza is fully demilitarized and the Palestinian Hamas group is disarmed. Israel also said it would not fund any reconstruction.

Despite official statements, Channel 12 said Israel appears to be compelled to engage with external initiatives that contradict its stated position.

Netanyahu’s office said policy remains unchanged, no reconstruction before Hamas is disarmed and Gaza fully demilitarized, a condition it has not been met despite commitments to the US administration and mediators.

It added that professional-level discussions are not meant to advance reconstruction, but to assess international proposals and prevent the establishment of a status quo on the ground that could harm Israel’s interests.