Lebanon

Speaking to mediapersons in a briefing on Tuesday, Hanegbi said the Israeli army is taking a defensive posture in Lebanon not to over stretch its forces as it is in the middle of a waging a war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Is the Lebanese state really willing to jeopardise what is left of Lebanese prosperity and Lebanese sovereignty for the sake of terrorists in Gaza?" Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus wrote on X on Sunday.  

In a statement, the Shia militant group said on Wednesday that it targeted three Israeli sites with missiles, including a centre for Israeli soldiers and a surveillance and reconnaissance system south of Al-Manara in northern Israel, "causing several casualties."

According to unnamed military sources, a thick plume of black smoke rose from the targetted area while Israeli military and reconnaissance aircraft were still flying over Lebanon's airspace.

The Israeli military reported in a statement "a suspected infiltration from Lebanon into Israeli airspace", but did not specify which kind of aircraft, Xinhua news agency reported.

Further, it has in a de-facto manner, forced Lebanon to accept Israel as a sovereign nation, which it has refused to do so till now, as it maintains no diplomatic relations with Israel. The disputed 860 sq.km area of the Mediterranean Sea potentially holds billions of dollars' worth of oil and gas. Tensions between Israel and Lebanon worsened earlier this year when, in June, a London-based vessel arrived to develop a gas field for Israel.

The Interior Ministry declared the parliamentary elections on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported. Hezbollah and its allies secured 59 seats, down from 71 in the previous elections in 2018, which are fewer than the 65 seats needed to secure a majority in the 128-seat parliament.

Lebanon's Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami on Tuesday, has declared bankruptcy of the cash-strapped nation. He added that the negotiations to sign a preliminary deal between Lebanon and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a package to exit a deep financial crisis in the country are currently underway.

"Wheat warehouses were destroyed in the Beirut port blasts in 2020, and the war in Ukraine further impacted our access to this commodity," Aoun was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. Aoun's remarks came on Monday during his meeting in Italy with David Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Programme, who said the WFP will continue supporting Lebanon despite the increasingly difficult global situation.