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prevent the conflict escalating into a regional war directly involving Iran. The US leader’s call with Netanyahu was their first in seven weeks, with Zionist entity’s response to last week’s missile attack by Iran expected to be high on the agenda.

There was no immediate readout of the meeting from the White House or from Netanyahu’s office. But Biden has cautioned Zionists against attempting to target Iran’s nuclear program, which would risk major retaliation, and is also against striking the country’s oil installations, which would send world crude prices spiking in the run-up to the US presidential election. A new book by veteran US journalist Bob Woodward details growing tensions between Biden and Netanyahu, with Biden telling the Zionist premier in July that “the perception of (Zionist entity) around the world increasingly is that you’re a rogue state, a rogue actor”, The New York Times reported.

A Lebanese government source said that Hezbollah had accepted a ceasefire the day a Zionist airstrike killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Prime Minister Najib Mikati was at the UN General Assembly in New York that day, when the United States and its allies put forward a proposal for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon. But Netanyahu said in his speech to world leaders the same day that there would be no let-up in battle against Hezbollah and shortly afterwards a huge air strike killed Nasrallah.

Zionist entity has intensified air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon since September 23, leaving more than 1,190 people dead and forcing more than a million to flee. Its ground forces crossed into Lebanon on September 30 in response to Hezbollah rocket and artillery attacks. Zionist military said on Wednesday that its troops had “eliminated terrorists during close-quarter encounters and in aerial strikes” over the previous 24 hours, adding that “100 Hezbollah terror targets were destroyed.”

Zionist operations have expanded from border areas in the interior to the southern section of Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast. According to a new toll from the army on Wednesday, 13 soldiers have died since ground operations inside Lebanon began. Zionist entity was also extending an ongoing military operation around Jabalia in the north of Gaza on Wednesday, where around 400,000 people are trapped, according to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Posting on X, Lazzarini said there was “no end to hell” in the area and that “recent evacuation orders from the authorities are forcing people to flee again & again”. The army surrounded the town of Jabalia and its refugee camp at the weekend and was shelling it on Wednesday, preventing the delivery of aid, the Palestinian territory’s civil defense agency said. Zionist offensive has killed at least 42,010 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations has described as reliable.

In Beirut, many people are sleeping out in the streets after airstrikes and dozens of displaced families were seen on Beirut’s seafront on Wednesday. Ahmad, a 77-year-old Beirut resident who did not want to give his second name for fear of reprisals, said he had a message for Hezbollah. “If you can’t continue to fight, announce you are withdrawing and that you have lost. There is no shame in losing,” he said. But Raed Ayyash, a displaced man from the south of the country, said he hoped Hezbollah would keep fighting. “We hope for victory and we will never give up,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for talks that were expected to cover efforts to end fighting between Zionist military and groups in Gaza and Lebanon. “I hope that these consultations can lead to better conditions for Palestine and Lebanon and establish peace in the region,” Araghchi told Iranian state television upon his arrival in Riyadh.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on X that Araghchi’s visit would focus on stopping “the (Zionist) regime’s genocide & aggression” and aimed to “alleviate the pain and suffering of our brothers and sisters in Gaza and Lebanon”. The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that Araghchi met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He also met his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, to discuss “developments in the region”, SPA said, without providing details.

Araghchi’s visit to Saudi Arabia comes as the region awaits Zionist response to an Iranian missile attack on its territory last week. “Saudi will confirm that it will not allow any party to use its airspace to attack the other and will also agree to any call for a ceasefire in Lebanon or Gaza,” Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the government, told AFP. In Beirut on Friday, Araghchi said Tehran supports efforts for a “simultaneous” ceasefire in Lebanon and the Palestinian territory. The Islamic republic called October 7, 2023 attack “a turning point in the history of the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people against (Zionists)”. — AFP