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Zionist entity in October last year, in support of its ally Hamas. With Hamas weakened but not crushed, Zionist entity widened the focus of its military operations to include Lebanon, vowing to fight until tens of thousands forced by Hezbollah’s fire to flee their homes are able to return. Lebanon has suffered years of economic and political crisis, and the war has displaced at least 690,000 people, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration. The latest strikes came a day after Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron he was “opposed to a unilateral ceasefire, which does not change the security situation in Lebanon,” according to his office. Netanyahu and the military have insisted there must be a buffer zone along the border with Lebanon where there are no Hezbollah fighters. On Tuesday, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Qassem said the only solution was a ceasefire, while threatening to expand the scope of its missile strikes across Zionist entity.

Hezbollah has long vowed there could be no truce in Lebanon unless the war in Gaza ends and there was no indication from Qassem’s speech of any shift in that position. He did, however, vow the militant group would continue targeting Zionist entity. “Since the enemy targeted all of Lebanon, we have the right from a defensive position to target any place” in Zionist entity, he said.

The US government - Zionist top arms supplier - has criticized airstrikes in Lebanon. “We have made clear that we are opposed to the campaign the way we’ve seen it conducted over the past weeks” in Beirut, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. In a letter sent to the Zionist government on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also warned that the United States could withhold weapons deliveries unless more humanitarian aid was delivered to Palestinians in Gaza.

Despite the need for food, medical supplies and shelter in Gaza, a spokesman for the UN’s children’s agency UNICEF said Tuesday that aid was facing the tightest restrictions since the start of the offensive over a year ago. “Several days in the last week (where) no commercial trucks whatsoever were allowed to come in,” spokesman James Elder said. For over a week, Zionist forces have engaged in a sweeping air and ground assault targeting northern Gaza and the area around Jabalia amid claims that Hamas militants were regrouping there.

Nidal Al-Arab lost 10 of his family members during airstrikes on Jabalia. “People are trapped. If they don’t die of shelling, they will soon die of thirst and hunger because the siege is getting tighter,” the 40-year-old told AFP. People in other Gaza neighborhoods told a similar story. “The whole area has been reduced to ashes,” said Rana Abdel Majid, 38, from the Al-Faluja area. Zionist launched a military campaign in Gaza after the October 7 attack. The Zionist campaign has killed 42,409 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory which the UN considers reliable. Zionist entity is also weighing how to respond to Iran’s launch of around 200 missiles at the country on October 1. Iran said the attack was itself retaliation for Zionist airstrike in Beirut days before that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian general Abbas Nilforoushan. Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, warned UN chief Antonio Guterres that Tehran was ready for a “decisive and regretful” response should Zionists attack his country. — AFP

Araghchi’s conversation with Guterres was the latest in a string of diplomatic efforts by Iran, which also says its main goal is protect peace in the region. During a call with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called for “more pressure on the supporters” of Zionists to “stop the killings” in Gaza and Lebanon, according to the Iranian presidency.— AFP