Hezbollah chief says group’s weapons not on table in Lebanon-Israel negotiations
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Tuesday that his Iran-backed group’s weapons stockpiles were not part of upcoming negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, and he vowed that Hezbollah fighters would turn the battlefield into “hell” for Israeli forces.
“Nobody outside Lebanon has anything to do with the weapons, the resistance … this is an internal Lebanese matter and not part of negotiations with the enemy,” Qassem said in a written statement ahead of a third round of talks in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli representatives this Thursday and Friday.
Hezbollah has condemned direct talks between Lebanon and Israel as “appeasement.”
“We face an Israeli-American aggression seeking to subjugate our country Lebanon and make it part of Greater Israel,” Qassem said.
“We will not surrender and we will continue to defend Lebanon and its people, however long it takes and however great the sacrifices… we will not abandon the battlefield and we will turn it into hell for Israel,” he added in the statement, which was addressed to the group’s fighters and broadcast on its Al-Manar television channel, as fighting continues in Lebanon despite a ceasefire.
CBS/AFP
U.S. ambassador to Israel says Israel sent Iron Dome batteries and personnel to UAE
Israel sent Iron Dome anti-missile batteries and personnel to operate them to the United Arab Emirates to defend the country during the Iran war, the U.S. ambassador to the country said Tuesday.
Mike Huckabee made the comment on stage at an event in Tel Aviv, Israel.
“I’d like to say a word of appreciation for United Arab Emirates, the first Abraham accord member,” Huckabee said at the Tel Aviv Conference. “Just look at the benefits. Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate them.”
The United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula, diplomatically recognized Israel in 2020.
The UAE didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment over the acknowledgment by Huckabee, though it underlined the growing defense relationship between the countries long suspicious of Iran.
Israeli strikes kill 6 in southern Lebanon, state media say
Israeli strikes on a town in southern Lebanon killed six people and wounded seven others, state media said Tuesday, as fighting continued despite a ceasefire agreement.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli strikes Monday night hit a house in Kfar Dounine, a town about 59 miles from Beirut.
The NNA reported the wounded were transported to hospitals in the coastal city of Tyre.
Israel has intensified its attacks in south Lebanon as it trades fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah despite an April 17 ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanon government that aimed to halt the fighting.
More than 2,800 people have been killed in Lebanon since the country was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2, according to health authorities.
Lebanese leaders recently urged the U.S. ambassador to Beirut to pressure Israel to halt its attacks during the truce, though Israel has also reported coming under fire.
Israel’s military said over the weekend that one of its soldiers was killed in fighting near the border with Lebanon, bringing its losses to 18 troops and a civilian contractor since the war began.
The NNA on Tuesday reported strikes near other southern Lebanese towns, and the Israeli military ordered an evacuation of multiple Lebanese towns.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said Tuesday that his Iran-backed group’s weapons were not part of upcoming negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, and vowed his fighters would turn the battlefield into “hell” for Israeli forces.
Iran ready to “teach a lesson” if attacked, parliament speaker says
The speaker of Iran’s parliament said his country’s military stood ready to “teach a lesson” to any aggressor on Monday, after President Trump warned the ceasefire in the Middle East was hanging by a thread.
“Our armed forces are ready to respond and to teach a lesson for any aggression,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on social media. “A bad strategy and bad decisions always lead to bad results — the world already understands this.”
Mediator Pakistan allowed Iran to park military aircraft on its airfields
As Pakistan positioned itself as a diplomatic conduit between Tehran and Washington, it quietly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields, potentially shielding them from American airstrikes, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.
Iran also sent civilian aircraft to park in neighboring Afghanistan. It was not clear if military aircraft were among those flights, two of the officials told CBS News.
Together, the movements reflected an apparent effort to insulate some of Iran’s remaining military and aviation assets from the expanding conflict, even as officials publicly served as brokers for de-escalation.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry told CBS News the reporting was “misleading and sensationalized.”
Read more here.
Trump says ceasefire is “on life support” after “garbage” Iranian response
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, President Trump said Monday that the Iran ceasefire is “on life support” after the “garbage” response Iran sent the U.S.
“It’s unbelievably weak, I would say,” the president responded when asked if the ceasefire remains in place.
“I would call it the weakest, right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn’t even finish reading it. I said, they’re going to waste my time reading it. I would say it’s one of the weakest, right now, it’s on life support.”