Israel imposes curfew in Lebanon at last minute as Hezbollah ceasefire begins

Published

6 months ago

November 27, 2024

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Israel has imposed a last-minute curfew forbidding any Lebanese from crossing into the south of the country.

Starting in the early hours of this morning, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a 60-day pause halting a conflict that has killed thousands in Lebanon and displaced many more.

At 2.30pm UK time (4.30pm locally), Israel’s Arab spokesperson warned movement south of the Litani River in Lebanon is “absolutely forbidden” – starting in half an hour.

Middle East latest as ceasefire begins

“Whoever is north of the Litani River is prohibited from moving south. Whoever is south of the Litani River must remain where he is,” the statement added.

“We remind you that the IDF is still deployed in its positions in southern Lebanon in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire agreement, and our forces will deal firmly with any movement that violates this agreement.”

The ceasefire deal, published by Lebanon’s cabinet, marks an area delineated by a red line labelled “New 2024 line” running east-west across the country.

This area – mostly along the Litani River before diverging slightly north and covering the south of the country – must remain free of Hezbollah weapons, according to the deal.

The terms stipulate only “official military and security forces” in Lebanon are authorised to carry arms, with the foreign minister saying it could deploy at least 5,000 troops.

If Israel believes Hezbollah has violated the terms, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they have the right to attack, though Lebanese and Hezbollah officials reportedly claim otherwise.

The deal expects Hezbollah forces to leave their positions in southern Lebanon and retreat north of the Litani River, US President Joe Biden said.

Israel will withdraw its forces from Lebanon over a period of 60 days, he added, as the Lebanese army takes control of the area to ensure Hezbollah does not rebuild there.

Around an hour after the truce started, Reuters reported streams of cars were already heading to south Lebanon.

Within Israel, there was significant opposition to the ceasefire, with a poll conducted by Israel’s Channel 12 TV station finding 37% were in favour of the ceasefire and 32% against.

In Lebanon, people cheered on the streets as the truce was confirmed.

Gunfire was also heard in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Beirut after the ceasefire began – it was not clear if it was celebratory.

Dark clouds hang over Middle East

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has been agreed, to celebrations in Lebanon but scepticism in Israel.

Lebanese people are finally looking forward to some calm after months of heavy bombardment in the capital Beirut and across the country.

An estimated 1.2 million people have been displaced and many towns and villages heavily damaged.

But a snap poll for one Israeli news channel found only 37% of Israelis are in favour of the deal. Not everyone in the Israeli cabinet was supportive either.

Itamar Ben-Gvir describes it as “a historic mistake” but did not threaten to withdraw his party from government. He was the one person who voted against the truce.

So what have those critics extracted from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in return for their support? Some have recently been pushing for Israeli occupation of Gaza or annexation of the West Bank.

The concern in Israel largely centres on enforcement and doubts that Hezbollah will stay true to the terms of the deal.

As long as the hostages remain in Gaza, however, and the humanitarian crisis there worsens with the onset of winter rains and lack of aid, the dark clouds will continue to hang over the Middle East.

On Wednesday morning, IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee had urged people not to return to their homes in south Lebanon, saying Israeli forces were still deployed there.

He claimed they were “prohibited” from going back to areas the IDF had asked people to evacuate previously.

The ceasefire will be monitored by an international panel led by the US, along with thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers deployed around the border.

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At least 100 people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza – ‘complete families wiped out’ says health ministry

Published

1 hour ago

May 18, 2025

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At least 100 people killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza - 'complete families wiped out' says health ministry

At least 100 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza overnight and into Sunday, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Local medics also report that women and children were among the dead – as Israel launches an escalation of its war in Gaza to ramp up pressure on Hamas.

“Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment,” Khalil Al-Deqran, Gaza health ministry spokesperson, told the Reuters news agency.

Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, said it received the bodies of 20 people killed in strikes that hit houses and tents in the Muwasi area. Hamas described that as a “new brutal crime”.

In central Gaza, at least 10 people were killed in two separate strikes, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al Balah.

Meanwhile, first responders from the health ministry and the civil defence reported at least 36 people were killed in multiple strikes in Jabalia, northern Gaza.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the latest strikes.

Israel has blocked the entry of medical, food and fuel supplies into Gaza since the start of March. It is attempting to pressurise Hamas into freeing Israeli hostages and has approved plans that could involve seizing the whole of Gaza and controlling aid.

It comes as peace talks between Israel and Hamas take place in Qatar this weekend, although sources told Reuters there had been no breakthrough.

Sky News Arabia reported that Hamas had proposed freeing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

A Palestinian official close to the talks said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”

Earlier on Sunday, Gaza’s health ministry issued a statement accusing Israel of “intensifying its systematic campaign to target hospitals”.

“After putting the European Gaza Hospital out of service a few days ago, the Israeli occupation has intensified its targeting and siege of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip since dawn today,” it added.

Israel has previously denied deliberately targeting civilians and accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes.

This week, Israel said it had bombed the European Hospital because it was home to an underground Hamas base, but Sky News analysis has cast doubt on its evidence.

Separately, the Israeli military said on Sunday it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen toward Israel.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they had targeted Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with two ballistic missiles.

The Houthis have fired at Israel because of the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, while Israel has carried out airstrikes in response, including one on 6 May that damaged Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa and killed several people.

The conflict began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.

Israel’s military response has seen the deaths of more than 53,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

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Donald Trump says he has call with Putin planned – as Ukraine condemns Russia over bus attack

Published

10 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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Donald Trump says he has call with Putin planned - as Ukraine condemns Russia over bus attack

Donald Trump has said he will speak to Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately on Monday in a bid to secure a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The US president made the announcement on Truth Social – shortly after the Ukrainian president condemned Russia for the “deliberate killing of civilians” after a drone hit a bus in north-eastern Ukraine.

Mr Trump said he will speak to Mr Putin over the phone. He will then talk with Mr Zelenskyy and “various members of NATO”, he wrote.

In an all-caps post, he said: “HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END. GOD BLESS US ALL!!!”

The Ukrainian town of Bilopillia today declared a period of mourning lasting until Monday after nine people were killed in a Russian drone attack – which occurred just hours after Kyiv and Moscow held peace talks.

Seven others were injured, Ukrainian authorities said. The bus was evacuating civilians from a frontline area when the drone hit, the country’s national police said.

A “father, mother and daughter” were among the dead, Mr Zelenskyy said, writing on Telegram: “All the deceased were civilians. And the Russians could not have failed to understand what kind of vehicle they were targeting.”

The attack has also been condemned by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said he was “appalled”.

“If Putin is serious about peace, Russia must agree to a full and immediate ceasefire, as Ukraine has done,” he wrote on X.

Representatives for Kyiv and Moscow met for direct peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey, just hours before the drone attack.

While the discussions – which were not attended by the Mr Putin or Mr Zelenskyy – did not result in a truce, both countries agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners in their biggest swap yet.

Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said on national television the exchange could happen as early as next week.

Russia ‘threatened eternal war’ at peace talks

After a Ukrainian official yesterday said Russia made “unacceptable” demands during the discussions, a source from the Kyiv delegation has now told Sky News that Moscow threatened “eternal war”.

Separately, a senior Kyiv official said Russia’s proposed ceasefire terms included the full withdrawal of troops from four regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Luhansk.

Moscow also called for international recognition that those regions and Crimea – annexed in 2014 – are Russian and for Ukraine to become a neutral state, with no allied troops stationed there, they said.

The Kremlin declined to comment on the matter.

Ukraine has rallied support from its allies following the talks, and a number have spoken out.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “Today, what do we have? Nothing. And so I tell you, faced with President Putin’s cynicism, I am sure that President Trump, mindful of the credibility of the United States, will react.”

The EU is working on a new package of sanctions against Moscow, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

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The chilling moment in Russia-Ukraine peace talks – as Putin makes mockery of Trump’s efforts to end war

Published

13 hours ago

May 17, 2025

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The chilling moment in Russia-Ukraine peace talks - as Putin makes mockery of Trump's efforts to end war

Vladimir Putin made a mockery this week of Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Far from punishing him for it, the US president went out of his way to dodge calls to get tough with the Russian leader.

Follow latest updates on Ukraine war

On Sunday, President Trump called on leaders of both Russia and Ukraine to meet.

He posted: “President Putin of Russia wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH. Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY.”

That post let the Russian leader off the hook. Only the day before, Putin had been ordered by Ukraine’s allies, including America, to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.

The Russian president had swerved that demand, suggesting talks instead.

“If the ceasefire is not respected, the US and its partners will impose further sanctions,” Trump posted before swivelling and backing Putin’s proposals for talks instead.

Undeterred, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted the call.

Putin though refused to go, sending officials instead.

And yet there was no reprimand from the US president. Instead, he chose to undermine the talks he had himself called for.

“Look, nothing is going to happen until Putin and I get together,” he told reporters on Air Force One. So much for that then.

It is what happened in those talks though that should give the US president the greatest pause for thought about Putin’s intentions – as it does in Kyiv.

The message they brought was blunt and belligerent, threatening eternal war.

“We don’t want war, but we’re ready to fight for a year, two, three – however long it takes,” lead Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky is reported to have said. “We fought Sweden for 21 years. How long are you ready to fight?”

Far from offering a compromise, they are reported to have demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the four regions they have partially seized by force and the capitulation of another two, just for good measure.

And there was a chilling moment when the Russians are reported to have threatened their interlocutors like gangsters.

“Maybe some of those sitting here at this table will lose more of their loved ones,” Mednisky said. Russia is prepared to fight forever.

For Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, that was personal.

Max, his 23-year-old nephew, lost his life fighting the Russians in 2022 not long after their illegal and unprovoked invasion began.

At the end of this week, Putin appears scornful of Western efforts to end this war through a ceasefire and negotiations and Trump seems happy to let him get away with it.

Even Fox News, normally slavishly subservient to Trump, is wondering what gives.

Its anchor Bret Baier is no Jeremy Paxman, but in an interview last night asked Donald Trump 10 times if he might finally now put pressure on Putin.

The US president ducked and dived, talking about the money he had made in his Gulf tour, Zelenskyy’s shortcomings, Biden, and Iran instead. But he did not give a straight answer to the question.

With performances like that, Putin has nothing to worry about. Trump’s position though seems increasingly untenable.

Ukraine’s European allies though should be alarmed. They threatened Russia with sanctions and retaliation last weekend if he rejected a ceasefire. He now has.

With or without America, will they be good to their word?