Israel Strikes Tyre in South Lebanon After Evacuation Warnings

Damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, 04 April 2026. (EPA)
Damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, 04 April 2026. (EPA)
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Israel Strikes Tyre in South Lebanon After Evacuation Warnings

Damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, 04 April 2026. (EPA)
Damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, 04 April 2026. (EPA)

Israel's military renewed its strikes on the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Saturday after issuing evacuation warnings, following attacks on nearby buildings that damaged a hospital in the city. 

Israel has carried out strikes across Lebanon and launched a ground invasion in the south since March 2, when Hezbollah entered the war in the Middle East on the side of its backer Iran. 

The Israeli army struck three buildings it had warned people to evacuate, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA). 

An AFP correspondent said a missile hit an 11-storey building northeast of Tyre, completely destroying it and reducing it to a pile of rubble that covered a nearby gas station. 

A second raid on a five-storey building near the city levelled half of it, leaving the other half standing. 

The third strike was on the Burj al-Shamali Palestinian refugee camp, southeast of the city. 

Tens of thousands of people have left Tyre, but around 20,000 remain, including 15,000 displaced from surrounding villages, despite Israeli evacuation warnings covering most of the city and a broad swathe of the south. 

Saturday's Israeli warning followed strikes that wounded at least 11 people, including three civil defense members, and damaged a major hospital, the health ministry in Beirut said. 

The director of the Lebanese Italian Hospital told the NNA that it would "remain open to provide the necessary medical care" despite the damage. 

Overnight strikes destroyed two buildings nearby, an AFP correspondent saw, shattering windows and also causing suspended ceilings to collapse in the hospital, management said. 

A wave of attacks hit the Tyre area on Saturday, including one on its port that struck a small boat and damaged others moored nearby, the correspondent said. 

Another Israeli airstrike targeted and completely destroyed a mosque in the town of Baraashit in the Bint Jbeil district, the NNA reported. 

- 'Unacceptable' attacks - 

Dawn strikes also targeted Beirut's southern suburbs, a largely evacuated Hezbollah stronghold that has been attacked repeatedly during more than a month of war. 

In a statement on Saturday, Israel's military said it had "completed an additional wave of strikes targeting command centers belonging to the Quds Force Lebanon corps in Beirut", referring to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm, and "two headquarters of the (Palestinian Islamic Jihad)". 

After attacking a bridge in the West Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon on Friday "to prevent the transfer of reinforcements and military equipment", Israel hit it again on Saturday, destroying it completely, the NNA said. 

West Bekaa is right above Lebanon's south, where Israeli troops have been advancing on the ground. 

The NNA also reported that, in Shebaa near the eastern side of the Israeli border, Israeli forces abducted a man at around 3:00 am on Saturday. 

It was at least the third time Israeli forces have seized someone from south Lebanon after infiltrating their home since the war with Hezbollah began. 

The Iran-backed group claimed responsibility Saturday for a series of attacks on northern Israeli towns and Israeli troops in Lebanese border towns, particularly Mar0un al-Ras, H0ula and Ainata. 

The war has displaced upwards of a million people in Lebanon and killed more than 1,400 people in the country, including 54 medics and three Indonesian UN peacekeepers in the south. 

On Saturday, a strike on al-Hawsh near Tyre wounded 18 people, and a strike on Habboush in the Nabatiyeh district killed at least two children and wounded 22 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry. 

The United Nations force said on Friday that three peacekeepers were wounded in a blast inside a UN facility near Odaisseh, and were rushed to hospital. 

Jakarta slammed the incident as "unacceptable" after the UN office there confirmed the wounded were Indonesian. 

Indonesia's government said "these events underscore the urgent need to strengthen protection for UN peacekeeping forces amid an increasingly dangerous conflict situation". 

On Saturday, a UN security official told AFP that Israeli forces destroyed 17 surveillance cameras linked to UNIFIL's main headquarters in Naqoura. 

The UN peacekeeping force has been caught in the crossfire in southern Lebanon since the start of the war, with Hezbollah launching attacks on Israel and its troops, and Israeli forces pushing into border towns. 



Iraqi PM to Visit Tehran This Week

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi attends a meeting with US President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 14 July 2026. (EPA)
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi attends a meeting with US President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 14 July 2026. (EPA)
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Iraqi PM to Visit Tehran This Week

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi attends a meeting with US President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 14 July 2026. (EPA)
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi attends a meeting with US President Donald Trump (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 14 July 2026. (EPA)

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi will visit Tehran ‌within ‌the coming ‌week, ⁠the Iraqi state ⁠news agency reported on ⁠Sunday.

During ‌the visit, ‌the prime minister will ‌sign memoranda of ⁠understanding in ⁠Tehran in areas of cooperation.

Al-Zaidi had visited the United States earlier this week where he met with President Donald Trump.

Trump praised the new PM, saying the US is “going to have a long-term relationship with Iraq. We're going to have a long-term relationship with a man that will be a great leader.”

“It's a great honor to have the Prime Minister of Iraq with us. He's been a great fighter, and he's been a great fan of America,” he went on to say.

Iraq signed 48 agreements and partnerships with American companies, many in the oil sector, during al-Zaidi's visit.

Al-Zaidi, a businessman, came to power this year with US blessing after Trump vetoed another candidate.

He has vowed to boost Iraq's fragile economy and disarm pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq that have targeted US facilities.

Iraq has long walked a tightrope between the competing influences of allies the United States and neighboring Iran.


Rubio Hails Lebanon for Peace Efforts After Meeting Aoun

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a press conference, at the presidential palace, in Baabda, Lebanon January 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a press conference, at the presidential palace, in Baabda, Lebanon January 17, 2025. (Reuters)
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Rubio Hails Lebanon for Peace Efforts After Meeting Aoun

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a press conference, at the presidential palace, in Baabda, Lebanon January 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a press conference, at the presidential palace, in Baabda, Lebanon January 17, 2025. (Reuters)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Washington on Sunday, praising the country for its "move towards peace" after the latest round of Lebanon-Israel talks. 

It was the first trip to the US capital by a Lebanese head of state since Michel Suleiman was received by Barack Obama in 2009. 

Aoun and Rubio held talks at the State Department, and Lebanese officials said Aoun is due to meet with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. 

Rubio commended the Lebanese government for its "determined effort to reclaim Lebanon's sovereignty, disarm Hezbollah and dismantle its terrorist infrastructure, and move towards peace," the State Department said following the talks. 

Lebanon and Israel, which do not have formal diplomatic relations, began US-sponsored negotiations in April aimed at reaching a peace deal and permanently ending the Israel-Hezbollah war. 

On June 26, they reached a framework agreement in Washington under which the Israeli military is to withdraw from southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army is to deploy, starting with two "pilot zones." 

But the agreement is contingent on the disarmament of Iran-backed group Hezbollah, which has flatly rejected both the deal and the Israel-Lebanon negotiations that underpin it. 

Following the latest round of talks last week in Rome, Israel and Lebanon agreed on the structure and guidelines for implementing the pilot zones, according to the United States. 

Rubio said Washington was committed "to supporting the successful implementation of the Trilateral Framework and to backing the Government of Lebanon's efforts to deliver peace, economic recovery, and a better future for the Lebanese people." 

Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2, when it began striking Israel in support of its backer Iran. 

Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion, and despite a ceasefire it continues sporadic attacks and holds territory in the south in what it describes as a "security zone." 

While in Washington, Aoun planned talks "on the situation in Lebanon and ways to strengthen the ceasefire" as well as on "the withdrawal of Israel from the Lebanese regions it occupies," his office said earlier. 

The United States carried out airstrikes on Sunday to "punish" Iran after the first US military deaths since open hostilities rekindled the Middle East war. 


Jordan Summons Iranian Diplomat Over ‘Unjustified’ Attacks

The Jordanian capital, Amman. Petra file photo
The Jordanian capital, Amman. Petra file photo
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Jordan Summons Iranian Diplomat Over ‘Unjustified’ Attacks

The Jordanian capital, Amman. Petra file photo
The Jordanian capital, Amman. Petra file photo

Jordan has summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Amman over what it ‌called "unjustified ‌and blatant Iranian ‌attacks" ⁠and "provocative and inflammatory ⁠statements targeting the Kingdom's territory," Jordan's ministry of foreign affairs ⁠said in ‌a ‌statement on ‌Sunday. 

Over the ‌last week, Jordan has repeatedly said that ‌it has intercepted Iranian missiles flying ⁠over ⁠its territory, including three that it shot down on Sunday, according to the country's military.