Category World News

After rocket fire directed at Israel and led to counterstrikes, Lebanon’s top security body has warned the Palestinian organization Hamas against using the country’s territory for purposes that might threaten national security.

Following a 14-month conflict between Israel and the armed Lebanese group Hezbollah, an ally of  Hamas, the Higher Defence Council issued the warning on Friday as Lebanon was under growing US pressure to disarm organizations outside state control.

The country’s authorities are also attempting to establish their authority throughout, particularly in the south, close to Israel’s border.

According to Lebanese authorities, Israel has nearly daily violated the US-brokered November 2024 truce, including three airstrikes against Beirut as a result.

Lebanon should not be a launchpad for instability, the council’s president Joseph Aoun said in a statement, or it should be drawn into pointless wars.

The phrase “the utmost measures and necessary procedures will be put to end any act that violates Lebanese sovereignty” was added.

Aoun, who previously served as army commander, has pledged to bring all weapons under the state’s control, but he has acknowledged that the US has been pressing Lebanon to do, making it “diculous” to disarm it.

The council’s secretary-general, Mohammad al-Mustafa, told reporters on Friday that while Aoun emphasized the importance of Palestinian rights, he also emphasized that Lebanese stability should not be compromised.

Hamas has a long history in Lebanon, including in camps that house tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees who have been there for a long time and for whom Lebanese security forces have lacked authority.

After Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, when Israel launched a massive bombardment campaign in Gaza, Hamas fighters in Lebanon launched rockets across the southern border into Israel in solidarity with Palestinians.

In addition to the deputy chief of Hamas, an Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have since caused several Hamas commanders to lose their lives, including the group’s deputy chief in early 2024.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued to carry out deadly raids on Lebanon because of security concerns.

The Lebanese army detained Lebanese and Palestinian people accused of firing rockets at Israel on March 22 and 28 in an effort to address Israel’s and the US’s concerns, which brokered the ceasefire.

Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the attacks, despite the fact that no one has claimed responsibility for them.

A Lebanese security source confirmed to the AFP news agency that Hamas members had been detained.

Local authorities claimed that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which declared on Thursday that it had “liberated” al-Nahud from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), had looted the market, homes, and cars.

According to Al Jazeera, a doctor, a journalist, and a police officer have all been killed as paramilitaries have fought their way out of the city, which has been under the control of the SAF since the start of the conflict, which has resulted in the detention of more than 12 million people and the destitution of tens of thousands.

As fighting between the RSF and the SAF intensifies in Darfur, where 542 people have died in just three weeks, according to the UN, control over al-Nahud has gotten more important, according to the UN.

After losing Khartoum, the country’s capital, last month, in a bid to seize the region’s most populous city, el-Fasher, 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of al-Nahud, the RSF has been doubling down on Darfur in recent weeks.

Hunderte of thousands of people have reportedly fled the desert to the town of Tawila as a result of recent violence in El-Fasher and the nearby Zamzam&nbsp refugee camps.

The paramilitary group has been approving of Khartoum once more as it continues its campaign there, shelling the presidential palace in its second attack on the capital in less than a week.

The army’s General Command headquarters was bombarded by the RSF in Khartoum on Saturday.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, said on Thursday that the “horror unfolding in Sudan knows no bounds” in response to the death toll in Darfur and the extrajudicial executions carried out by both sides in Khartoum state.

An executive order that has radically altered the US government, the economy, and foreign policy has marked Trump’s first 100 days in office. His actions have sparked a significant political unrest.

Does his political opposition, however, have the necessary strength to oppose his policies?

After a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck off Chile and Argentina, the country’s authorities issued a tsunami warning and ordered evacuations.

Due to the risk of a tsunami, the Chilean National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response issued a “red alert” on Friday for the country’s Antarctic and southernmost Magallenas regions.

The organization claimed that hundreds of people had been forced to leave a number of communities, including Puerto Williams, in a post on its website.

The National Disaster Prevention and Response System, it continued, “is still assessing the damage to basic services and infrastructure, as well as the impact on people.”

Initial reports of no injuries or damage have been untrue.

The Drake Passage, which is located between Cape Horn and Antarctica, was only 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep when the earthquake struck, according to the US Geological Survey.

The most populous and largest region of Chile is located in Magallanes, which is also one of its least populated regions. Approximately 166, 000 people lived in 2017, according to government figures.

Gabriel Boric, president of Chile, stated that the earthquake’s aftermath had been accompanied by all available resources.

In a social media post, he wrote, “We call for the evacuation of the entire Magallanes region.” Our duty at this time is to be prepared and pay attention to the authorities.

Sirens blared in the background as people calmly evaded in social media videos.

In the upcoming hours, waves are expected to pass bases in Antarctica and cities in Chile’s extreme south, according to the hydrographic and oceanographic service (SHOA).

Local authorities in the Argentine city of Ushuaia, which is considered to be the southernmost nation in the world, temporarily suspended all water activities and navigation in the Beagle Channel.

Vance stated to Fox News on Thursday that the Ukraine war that was sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion was “not going to end any time soon.”

The comments were made a day after Ukraine signed a treaty that gave the US priority access to its minerals, which, despite failing to provide security guarantees, has sparked concerns in Kyiv and Europe that US support might be revived and Ukrainian security might increase.

According to Vance, “It will be up to them to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict” in the interview. Vance referred to Russia and Ukraine. It’s not going anywhere, and it won’t end soon, exactly.

The minerals deal will be ratified on May 8th, according to Ukrainian legislator Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who posted the news on Telegram on Friday.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, argued on Thursday that the agreement was “truly equal agreement,” which was almost derailed following a heated exchange with Vance and President Donald Trump in February.

The agreement relieves Ukraine of previous US demands that included paying for Washington’s billions in military aid since its February 2022 invasion.

As Ukraine sought, it doesn’t provide any specific US security guarantees. Washington contends that bolstering US business interests in Ukraine would help Russia avoid Russia.

Still very different

Trump has vowed to broker a ceasefire, but his administration has warned that it might step down if Russia and Ukraine continue to attack one another.

The two nations are “closer, but they’re still far apart,” according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke to Fox News on Thursday.

The conflict continues in the meantime. Russia launched 150 drones overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force on Friday.

According to regional governor Ivan Fedorov, who wrote on Telegram, the industrial city of Zaporizhzhia’s strikes injured 29 people.

According to Governor Sergiy Lysak on Telegram, two men were hurt in a drone attack in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, with fires erupting at two locations.