Category World News

The Lebanese government says it foiled an Israeli plot to carry out assassinations and bombing attacks in the country, as Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah.

The Lebanese General Security Directorate, a national intelligence agency, said on Friday that it dismantled “a network working for the Israeli enemy that was preparing terrorist attacks, bombings and assassinations” inside the country.

The statement appears to confirm earlier reports by several Lebanese media outlets that a group of Israel collaborators were working to place bombs inside cars and motorcycles at a commemoration ceremony for slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The reports said the foiled attacks aimed to cause as many casualties as possible.

The General Security Directorate said it arrested several people as part of the operation, including a Lebanese-Brazilian suspect and a Palestinian national.

“As a result of the investigation, one of the detainees admitted that this network was responsible for previous assassinations of party officials in al-Jamaa al-Islamiya,” it said.

Over the past two years, Israel has killed several officials from al-Jamaa al-Islamiya – a Lebanese group allied with Hamas.

Thwarting the alleged Israeli plot represents a rare counterintelligence success for Lebanon after Israel was able to penetrate Hezbollah, and identify, locate and kill many of its top political and military leaders, including Nasrallah, last year.

Israel also rigged thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah members last year with explosives, killing at least 12 people and injuring thousands of others, including children.

The news outlet Lebanon Debate reported on Thursday that the recently arrested suspects planned to use similar explosives as the ones used in the pager incident to carry out bombing attacks.

The Lebanese intelligence operation comes as Hezbollah faces growing pressure to disarm.

Earlier this year, the Lebanese government issued a decree to remove Hezbollah’s weapons, but the group said it will treat the decision “as if it does not exist”, arguing that its arms are needed to protect Lebanon against Israeli expansionism.

Tensions have been growing between Hezbollah and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who has been a vocal advocate of the disarmament push under a United States-sponsored plan.

Despite the ceasefire it reached with Lebanon in November of last year, Israel has been carrying out air strikes regularly across the country, killing hundreds of people.

Critics argue that the bombardment is aimed at preventing residents from border villages from returning and rebuilding their towns.

Last month, an Israeli strike on the southern town of Bint Jbeil killed five civilians, including three children from the same family.

United States President Donald Trump has suggested he may scrap a planned meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this month over questions of technology and trade.

Trump and Xi had been expected to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit at the end of this month, in an attempt to lower economic tensions.

But in a social media post on Friday, Trump criticised China over the new controls it announced on the export of rare earth metals. The US president also threatened China with the possibility of steep tariffs.

“I have not spoken to President Xi because there was no reason to do so. This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World,” Trump said. “I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so.”

The relationship between Trump and his Chinese counterpart has been rocky, and both have imposed new measures aimed at countering each other in areas where they are competing for influence, such as technological development.

Rare earth metals are vital for such development, and China leads the world in refining the metals for use in devices like computers, smart phones and military weaponry.

On Thursday, China unveiled a suite of new restrictions on the exports of those products. Out of the 17 elements considered rare earth metals, China will now require export licences for 12 of them.

Technologies involved in the processing of the metals will also face new licensing requirements. Among the measures is also a special approval process for foreign companies shipping metallic elements abroad.

China described the new rules as necessary to protect its national security interests. But in his lengthy post to Truth Social, Trump slammed the country for seeking to corner the rare-earths industry.

“They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that they want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China,” Trump wrote.

The Republican president warned he would counter with protectionist moves and seek to restrict China from accessing industries the US holds sway over.

“There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive,’ but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time, starting with the “Magnets” and, other Elements that they have quietly amassed into somewhat of a Monopoly position,” Trump said.

“But the U.S. has Monopoly positions also, much stronger and more far reaching than China’s. I have just not chosen to use them, there was never a reason for me to do so — UNTIL NOW!”

The Trump administration had previously imposed massive tariffs on China, one of the US’s largest trading partners.

But those tariffs were eventually eased after the two countries came to an agreement for a 90-day pause that is set to expire around November 9.

The US has previously taken aggressive steps aimed at hobbling China’s tech sector, which it views as a key competitor to its own.

Around four million people are now displaced across Africa’s Sahel region, the United Nations has said, with violence and insecurity driving a growing number of people from their homes.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for greater international support on Friday, saying the affected countries could not deal with the situation alone.

“About four million people are now displaced across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and neighbouring countries – around two-thirds more than five years ago – reflecting insecurity, limited access to services and livelihoods, and the effects of climate change,” said Abdouraouf Gnon-Konde, UNHCR’s regional director for West and Central Africa.

Do not forget about the Sahel.

About 4 million people are now displaced across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and neighbouring countries.

That’s 2/3 more than five years ago. pic.twitter.com/TO9u952dSG

While 75 percent of those displaced remain within their own countries, cross-border movements are on the rise, putting pressure on host communities with “scant assistance” available, he told reporters in Geneva.

Women and children represent 80 percent of forcibly displaced people in the Sahel, Gnon-Konde said, adding the number of people impacted by pervasive gender-based violence had “significantly increased” this year.

“The insecurity across the region is exposing people to violence, forced recruitment, movement restrictions and arbitrary detention,” he said.

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have been hit by violence from armed groups linked to al-Qaeda or the ISIL (ISIS) group for more than a decade.

Those three countries – all run by military governments – quit the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the beginning of the year, accusing the regional bloc of failing in the fight against armed groups.

They have formed their own Alliance of Sahel States (AES), turning away from former colonial power France and pivoting towards Russia.

Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have accused the fighters, the military and partner forces of Burkina Faso and Mali of possible atrocities.

Meanwhile, Gnon-Konde said food insecurity was increasingly pushing people to flee, while climate shocks were intensifying competition for scarce resources such as water, fuelling friction between communities.

Nearly 15,000 schools had closed in the region by mid-2025 as well as more than 900 health facilities.

UNHCR needs $409.7m to cover humanitarian needs in the Sahel, but has only received 32 percent of the total, Gnon-Konde said.

The lack of funds has “drastically impacted” activities such as refugee registration and documentation, and the provision of education, health and shelter, he added.

More than 212,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are not yet registered, limiting their access to services and heightening their risks of arbitrary detention, he said.

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is developing new strategic weapons, while noting that an arms race is already in progress.

Speaking to reporters at a summit in Tajikistan on Friday, the Russian leader said it would not be critical for Moscow if the United States declined to extend the warhead limits set out in a nuclear arms treaty that expires next year.

Putin said it would, however, be a shame if nothing remained of the arms control framework between the two countries, which have by far the world’s biggest nuclear arsenals.

Russia has said it is willing to voluntarily extend the warhead limits defined in the New START treaty, which expires in February, if the US is willing to do the same. Washington has not yet formally agreed to the proposal.

The pact limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.

“Will these few months be enough to make a decision on an extension? I think it will be enough if there is goodwill to extend these agreements. And if the Americans decide they don’t need it, that’s not a big deal for us,” Putin told reporters.

The New START Treaty, which came into force in February 2011, is the last major arms control agreement between Moscow and Washington.

The treaty was signed in 2010, limiting the number of strategic nuclear warheads the two countries can deploy.

Putin added that Russia was continuing to develop and test new-generation nuclear weapons.

“We’re ready to negotiate if it’s acceptable and useful for the Americans. If not, then no, but that would be a shame, because then there would be nothing left in terms of deterrence in the area of ​​strategic offensive weapons.”

‘Some countries’ thinking about conducting nuclear tests

For the second time in a week, Putin referred to the possibility that other countries, which he did not name, might carry out a nuclear test – something only North Korea has done this century.

He said Russia would also perform a test if this happens.

“There’s always a temptation to test the effectiveness of the same fuel that’s been in missiles for many, many years. All of this is being simulated on computers, and experts believe that is sufficient, but some of these same experts believe repeat tests are necessary,” Putin said.

“So some countries are thinking about it; as far as I know, they’re even preparing, and that’s why I said that if they do it, we’ll do the same.”

That would be good from a security perspective, but bad from the point of view of curbing the arms race, he said.

United States President Donald Trump is heading to the Middle East on Sunday as he looks to assert his perceived role as a peacemaker in the region after the Gaza ceasefire deal.

The visit would come days after the Nobel Peace Prize committee overlooked Trump’s public campaigning for the award and handed it to right-wing Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

The White House has bemoaned the snub, accusing the Norwegian Nobel Committee of putting “place politics over peace”.

But in the Middle East, Trump is likely to be showered with praise from his hosts and credited with securing an end to the war in Gaza and the release of Israeli captives in the territory.

The White House said on Friday that Trump will depart for the Middle East on Sunday night, according to Al Jazeera correspondent Alan Fisher. The US president will first arrive in Israel, where he will make an address on Monday, before continuing on to Egypt for an official signing ceremony on the Gaza deal, Fisher reported from Washington DC.

Israel and Hamas have already lauded Trump’s role in the negotiations.

But analysts stress that for the deal to turn into long-term peace in Gaza, rather than another brief truce, the US president must pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against restarting the bombardment after the Israeli captives are released.

“I think that Donald Trump wants to oversee this very closely, and I think he wants to continue to send the message to Netanyahu that this is it. At least, that’s what I’m hoping,” said Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

“I assume he’s going to go and say very nice things about Benjamin Netanyahu; that’s what he always does publicly. But let’s hope, let’s hope, that he’s going to apply pressure.”

While Trump is taking much of the credit for the deal, experts say other factors pushed the truce over the line, more than two years into the brutal Israeli assault that United Nations investigators have concluded is a genocide.

Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine/Israel programme at the Arab Center Washington DC, said after destroying more than 80 percent of the buildings in Gaza while failing to free the captives, Israel was getting “diminishing returns” from its campaign in the territory.

“Israel is facing growing isolation and costs for continuing down this road. And I think there are also Israeli domestic political factors that influenced the timing of this as well,” Munayyer told Al Jazeera.

Similar proposals to the Trump plan have been on the table for the past two years, but Netanyahu has insisted on continuing the war.

However, the latest ceasefire comes at a time when countries across the world, including some of Israel’s Western allies, are condemning its blockade on Gaza and belligerence across the region, including its attack on Qatar last month.

Despite the international outrage, Israel has continued to receive military and diplomatic support from the US.

Not only did the Trump administration fail to denounce Israel’s policy of imposed starvation in Gaza, it also backed the GHF aid scheme to militarise humanitarian assistance, which killed hundreds of aid seekers.

As Trump celebrates his version of peace in the Middle East, rights advocates say there can be no true stability in the region without ending the occupation and ensuring accountability for the genocide in Gaza.

Nancy Okail, head of the Center for International Policy (CIP) think tank, warned that normalising the horrific abuses in Gaza could lead to the collapse of international institutions.