Category 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.