Here's the latest
• USS Lincoln: US Central Command’s chief visited the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier amid rising concerns over the mental health challenges of its crew members’ long deployment, which he described as “operationally intense.”
• Expanding conflict: Yemeni government armed forces say they have carried out 181 attacks on the Iran-backed Houthi group in the past 24 hours. Yemen also suspended operations at a Red Sea port after Houthi attacks killed seven people, escalating a regional conflict sparked by the group’s blockade of Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.
• Hormuz stalemate: Traffic remains low as Iran and Oman remain in talks over reopening the critical waterway. The number of ships known to be transiting the strait varies from two to about a dozen on a daily basis.
• Iranian pilots: Qatar has rejected an Iranian military commander’s claim that it held three Iranian pilots for months after their planes were shot down early in the war. Iran wants to send an expert team to Qatar to investigate.
Yemeni government strikes Houthis, as Israel kills Hezbollah commander in Lebanon
Yemen’s internationally recognized government has carried out more than 180 attacks on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the past 24 hours, it said earlier today, as the conflict in the Middle East continues to expand.
Here’s the latest from the region:
- The chief of US Central Command visited the USS Abraham Lincoln as part of a recent trip to the Middle East, amid rising concerns over the mental health of crew members due to the ship’s long deployment.
- The Israeli military said it killed a senior Hezbollah commander named Abu Hassan Alaa, a day after Israeli forces launched deadly strikes in southern Lebanon.
- An Iranian military official said that Qatar has been delaying a probe into the fate of three pilots, whom Iran says have been held there for months, according to state media. Qatar has denied the Iranian allegations.
CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman, Tim Lister, Charlotte Reck, Chris Lau and Xiaoqian Lin contributed to this reporting.
Why the Strait of Hormuz is so vital amid the US-Iran war
The Strait of Hormuz has been a crucial bargaining chip throughout the US-Israeli war with Iran. It’s been effectively closed by Iran since the fighting began in late February.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump said that he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory after “we finish defeating Iran,” which he claimed would happen “pretty soon.”
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said later that the waterway “cannot be seized with a tweet, an aircraft carrier, an executive order, or a campaign speech.”
The Strait of Hormuz, passing between Iran and Oman, serves as the main route for shipping crude from oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait to the rest of the world.
Iran controls the strait’s northern side. About 20 million barrels of oil, or about one-fifth of daily global production, used to flow through the strait every day, according to the US Energy Information Administration, which calls the channel a “critical oil chokepoint.” According to the EIA, “very few alternative options exist to move oil out of the strait if it is closed.”
The strait also carries about one-fifth of global trade in liquefied natural gas.
Energy analysts have warned that oil and natural gas prices are likely to remain elevated until the strait is passable, even as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates seek to expand other routes to get their crude to market.
CENTCOM chief visits USS Abraham Lincoln for the second time amid concerns about morale
US Central Command Chief Adm. Brad Cooper visited the USS Abraham Lincoln as part of a recent trip to the Middle East that comes amid rising concerns over the mental health of crew members due to the ship’s long deployment.
“History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,” Cooper said of the aircraft carrier in a Saturday statement released by the US military.
Cooper also thanked the Lincoln crew for their “tremendous dedication and courage,” the statement added.
The aircraft carrier reached the Middle East in January and has since supported the US war against Iran including the blockade on Iranian ports. Its combat efforts have prevented it from making stops at friendly ports, where deployed vessels can typically renew supplies and sailors can rest.
The US Navy has increasingly had its aircraft carrier groups exceed the service’s recommended deployment duration of seven months, according to a CNN analysis of deployment announcements and the USNI News fleet tracker.
Reports from the Lincoln of low morale have worried families at home who question why action has not been taken sooner.
Cooper’s visit aboard the Lincoln was his second of the year, having previously visited the aircraft carrier in February with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The commander’s latest visit came during a 10-day trip to the Middle East where he met with senior civilian and military leaders in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
CNN’s Davis Winkie, Pamela Brown and Haley Britzky contributed reporting.
Here's more on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, as the Yemeni government carries out attacks
The armed forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government said a short while ago that it has carried out 181 attacks on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the past 24 hours, claiming that dozens of Houthi militants had been killed or wounded.
Both the Yemeni government and the Houthis have reported clashes and drone strikes in recent weeks, as tensions between the two have ramped up.
Here’s a closer look at the Houthis:
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), is one side of the Yemeni civil war. It emerged in the 1990s, when its leader, Hussein al-Houthi, launched “Believing Youth,” a religious revival movement for a centuries-old subsect of Shia Islam called Zaidism.
The Zaidis ruled Yemen for centuries but were marginalized under the Sunni regime that came to power after the 1962 civil war. Al-Houthi’s movement was founded to represent Zaidis and resist radical Sunnism, particularly Wahhabi ideas from Saudi Arabia. His closest followers became known as Houthis.
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when Houthi forces stormed the capital Sanaa and toppled the internationally recognized and Saudi-backed government. The conflict spiraled into a wider war in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an attempt to beat back the Houthis.
Nowadays, Sanaa is still under Houthi control, alongside much of the west of the country.
Who are they allied with?
The Houthis are backed by Iran, which began increasing its aid to the group in 2014 as the civil war escalated and as its rivalry with Saudi Arabia intensified. Iran has provided the group with weapons and technology for, among other things, sea mines, ballistic and cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a 2021 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Houthis form part of Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance” - an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias backed by the Islamic Republic.
How powerful is the group?
American officials have been tracking iterative improvements in the range, accuracy and lethality of the Houthis’ domestically produced missiles. Initially, home-grown Houthi weapons were largely assembled with Iranian components smuggled into Yemen in pieces, an official familiar with US intelligence told CNN previously.
They have previously used drones and anti-ship missiles to target commercial ships – some of which aren’t believed to be linked to Israel – prompting the USS Carney, a warship in the Red Sea, to respond to distress calls.
CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman and Tim Lister contributed to this reporting.
Yemeni government claims nearly 200 attacks on Houthis
The armed forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government say they have carried out nearly 200 attacks on the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in the past 24 hours.
Yemen’s military launched “181 military operations in the past 24 hours, using drones, artillery, and rocket launchers” according to spokesman Col. Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaili.
Al-Nuzaili claimed that dozens of Houthi militants had been killed or wounded.
CNN is unable to verify many of the claims made by either side, but the conflict has flared up in recent weeks after the Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia is the main backer of Yemeni government forces.
Both the government and the Houthis have reported clashes and drone strikes along many parts of the frontlines, which stretch several hundred miles from the Red Sea coast to Yemen’s border with Oman.
Analysts say the Houthis appear to be mobilizing for an offensive that would aim to take more of the Red Sea coastline.
Tracking what goes through the vital Strait of Hormuz is getting increasingly hard
It is getting harder to estimate the volume of shipping using the key Strait of Hormuz, as more vessels pass through with trackers off and ship-to-ship transfers disguise the amount of oil reaching global markets, analysts say.
Traffic through the waterway remains low and although Iran and Oman are negotiating over the waterway, there are no immediate signs of a deal.
The number of ships known to be transiting the Strait of Hormuz varies from a couple to about a dozen on a daily basis. Not all are tankers; many operators are still deterred from using the strait because of sporadic Iranian drone attacks.
Thirteen vessels transited on Thursday, according to maritime intelligence group Windward, with four of those inbound and nine outbound. Of the outbound traffic, four vessels — including a tanker laden with 2 million barrels of Saudi crude - sailed with their satellite trackers off.
On Friday, shipping data showed no visible crude-oil tanker transits.
That same day, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that between 8 and 9 million barrels a day were getting through Hormuz on a running average. Wright said the US had access to information that tracking agencies lacked.
More context: Many tankers and freighters with Saudi connections are avoiding both Hormuz and the Bab al Mandeb waterway at the southern end to the Red Sea, where the Iranian-backed Houthi militants have warned they will attack Saudi vessels.
Iran’s oil exports have been severely limited by the US naval blockade.
For the first time in almost a month, a large tanker last week began loading crude at the western terminal of Iran’s main export hub Kharg Island, Windward said. More than a dozen other tankers remain anchored in the area.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday that the lack of oil exports was hitting the state’s revenues.
The Strait of Hormuz was central to the breakdown of the previous US-Iran ceasefire
US President Donald Trump claimed on Friday that he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory after “we finish defeating Iran,” prompting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi to say that the waterway “cannot be seized with a tweet, an aircraft carrier, an executive order, or a campaign speech.”
The Strait of Hormuz has been at the centre of frequent clashes between Tehran and Washington since the start of the war itself.
The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in June, where they agreed to pause fighting while they negotiated a lasting end to the conflict, but this broke down following a series of disputes related to the waterway.
Here’s a look back at how fighting resumed last month:
- July 1: US and Iranian negotiators travel to Doha, Qatar, for indirect negotiations. The delegations make “positive progress,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari says.
- July 7: Iran fires on three commercial vessels in Oman’s territorial waters near the Strait of Hormuz, according to a US official. US Central Command says it launched strikes against Iran as “punishment.”
- July 8: Iran warns it will deliver a “crushing response” to the US strikes, and the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has launched attacks at 85 US military targets across Bahrain and Kuwait. Trump castigates Iran as “evil, sick people” at the NATO summit in Turkey, saying the memorandum of understanding “is over.” Hours later, the US launches more strikes against Iran.
- July 9: Tehran says the US military has struck a railway bridge in northern Iran. CENTCOM says the US has hit around 90 military targets in another round of strikes. A US official tells CNN that both countries are continuing to engage in technical negotiations on nuclear issues.
- July 10: Trump says the US has agreed to continue talks with Iran, but also that Washington has informed Tehran the ceasefire is no longer in effect. Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says Tehran is prepared for “all-out defense” if the US breaks the agreement. The Trump administration imposes fresh sanctions on Tehran.
- July 11: Iran’s foreign minister accuses the US of violating a clause on Tehran’s nuclear program in their agreement.
- July 12: The IRGC announces it has closed the Strait of Hormuz after firing a warning shot at a vessel attempting to use an unauthorized route to cross the waterway. The US military launches more strikes on Iran, and insists that the strait is still open.
- July 13: US attacks across Iran continue into the afternoon, killing at least two people, Iranian media reports. Trump says he will reinstate a blockade of Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US carries out more strikes on Iran overnight.
CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq, Hira Humayan, Pamela Brown, Lex Harvey, Zachery Cohen, Jessie Yeung, Kevin Liptak, David Winkie, Isaac Yee, Clay Voytek, Betsy Klein, Aida Karimi, Lauren Kent, Jennifer Hansler, Rhea Mogul, Dalia Abdelwahab, Aleena Fayaz, Izzy Lippolis, Aileen Graef and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this post.
What Trump and Iran have said about their claims to the Strait of Hormuz
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory after “we finish defeating Iran,” which he said would happen “pretty soon.”
The waterway has been effectively closed by Iran since the US and Israel began the war in February. Earlier this month, Tehran said it wouldn’t reopen the strait fully until the US meets its conditions.
Despite this, Trump has repeatedly insisted the strait — through which oil flows from countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq to the rest of the world — is under US control.
Responding to Trump’s apparent claim to the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that the waterway “cannot be seized with a tweet, an aircraft carrier, an executive order, or a campaign speech.”
“Iran neither fears threats nor is intimidated by displays of force,” Gharibabadi said.
CNN’s Julia Benbrook, Aida Karimi and Mitchell McCluskey contributed to this reporting.
The Trump administration's Iran war goals have shifted and been pared back
One of the Trump administration’s biggest problems in extracting itself from the Iran war is the list of very absolutist goals that President Donald Trump and his team laid out.
The goals have included complete Iranian surrender, regime change, Iran never getting a nuclear weapon and ending Tehran’s support for its Middle East proxy groups like Hezbollah.
As the war — now in its sixth month — has dragged on, this list of goals has conspicuously shifted and been pared back. And Vice President JD Vance appears to have pared it back recently in a remarkable way, offering the latest indication that the administration might be preparing to settle for less — maybe even a lot less.
Appearing on Fox News on Thursday, Vance was asked how the war might end. And he laid out two goals.
“It’s ensuring that the Gulf countries continue to send oil and gas to the world economy so that we have energy price stability,” he said, adding: “That’s goal number one: Keep oil and gas cheap for Americans all over our country.
“And then, obviously, goal number two is ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.”
This is not the administration’s old list of goals — and the order Vance placed them in is striking.
When asked about Vance’s comments on Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained that “both goals are equally as important to the president.”
The administration has almost always characterized Iran never getting a nuclear weapon as the overriding concern.
And even if the goals are truly equal in the administration’s mind, including oil and gas prices at all — and not other items — is a notable shift.
Iranian official says Qatar delaying probe into pilots, state-affiliated media reports
An Iranian military official said that Qatar has been delaying a probe into the fate of three pilots, whom Iran says have been held there for months, according to state media.
A team of Iranian air force experts have been waiting for months to enter Qatar and conduct a field investigation, the Iranian semi-official Tasnim news agency reported military commander Seyed Mohammad Bagherzadeh as saying today.
Due to “obstruction and delaying tactics by Qatari officials,” the pilots have not been able to return, he claimed. Bagherzadeh also said the Qatari government should allow an expert team to travel to the country, Tasnim reported.
Bagherzadeh, who leads Iran’s armed forces’ missing persons search committee, earlier claimed that Qatar had held the three crew members for months after their planes were shot down early in the war.
Qatar has denied holding the pilots. Its foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari previously said Qatari rescue teams searched for their remains and spoke to Iran to coordinate the handover of one of their bodies.
Ansari said Qatar had invited Iran to be briefed on the details of the operations in April but didn’t receive a response.
Mostafa Salem and Valey Arya contributed reporting.
Israeli military says senior Hezbollah commander killed in strike on southern Lebanon
The Israeli military said on Sunday it killed a senior Hezbollah commander, a day after it launched deadly strikes in southern Lebanon.
Abu Hassan Alaa “took part in advancing numerous terror attacks against IDF soldiers… including the launch of explosive drones toward IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said.
A wave of Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Saturday killed at least 11 people, including women and children, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
The Israeli prime minister’s office had accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire and said three Israeli soldiers were seriously injured in a Hezbollah attack in southern Lebanon.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it struck a headquarters of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in response, killing what they described as a battalion commander and several others.
What to know about the Yemeni militia that's disrupting shipping in the Red Sea
Mokha, a key Red Sea port in Yemen, has suspended operations this weekend after facing waves of missiles fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in recent days.
The port is not the Houthis’ first target in the wider Middle East conflict. The Yemeni militia has launched a spate of attacks on US allies and shipping in the region during the Iran war.
Who are the Houthis? One of the strongest Iran-backed militias in the Middle East, the Houthis entered the war in March, a month after Israel and the US attacked Iran, by firing missiles towards Israel.
The Houthis belong to Yemen’s Zaidi Shia Muslim minority and are formally known as Ansar Allah — “Partisans of God.” After the Arab Spring in 2011, they seized a northern province and later the capital Sanaa, which they still hold, along with much of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline.
The Houthis’ recent attacks raise the threat of an outbreak of another full-scale war in Yemen.
Oil topped $100 a barrel for the first time since May after Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted Saudi ships in the Red Sea, threatening to cut off another route for oil exports already choked by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. CNN's Nic Robertson explains who the Iran-backed rebel group is.
Why is there fighting in Yemen? The war in Yemen dates back over a decade, and is primarily a conflict between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognized government.
US-allied Saudi Arabia spent seven years trying and failing to dislodge the Houthis from northern Yemen, launching a large-scale offensive against the militant group in 2015. The ensuing conflict provoked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
A truce was arranged in 2022, but it never became a peace. In the same year, Yemen’s internationally recognized government, operating under the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), was established in Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has worked to prop up the government with air and naval operations, as well as limited troop deployment.
Since then, Saudi Arabia has maintained an economic and air blockade against Houthi-controlled areas, which the group has sought to break in recent weeks.
CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey contributed reporting.
Catch up: Yemen port operations suspended and fighting flares in Lebanon
It’s Sunday morning in the Middle East and we are tracking developments there, including conflicts involving Iranian-backed militant groups in Lebanon and Yemen, which have deepened instability in the region during the US-Iran war.
Here are the latest headlines:
- Houthi port attacks: Yemen’s Mokha port has suspended operations due to attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militant group, the port’s director said Saturday, according to Reuters. The port was hit by more than 25 missiles in recent days, the director said, in attacks that killed seven people and caused an estimated $16 million in losses.
- Fighting flares in Lebanon: Deadly Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people on Saturday, according to the country’s Health Ministry, including women and children. The strikes were prompted by a Hezbollah attack that seriously injured three Israeli soldiers, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s office, which said it targeted a Hezbollah headquarters in response. Fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed paramilitary group has served as another sticking point for regional peace efforts.
- Iranian pilots: The Qatari government has denied a claim that it is holding three captured Iranian airmen in the country. An Iranian military commander said earlier that pilots from two Iranian aircraft have been held by Qatar for months after getting shot down during an attack on the US ally early in the war.
- Ship strike: A vessel affiliated with the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company was attacked Friday night in the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE’s Foreign Ministry said, blaming Iran for the attack and describing it as a “flagrant violation” of international law.
- More on the strait: Iran and US President Donald Trump have traded barbs about control of the critical waterway in recent days. Trump claimed he would declare the strait US territory after the war ends. Tehran responded that the strait “cannot be seized with a tweet.” Control of the Strait of Hormuz is central to Iran’s leverage in negotiations with the US, as disruptions to oil shipping roil global markets. The Iranian foreign minister said the country hasn’t yet decided whether to resume talks with the US.
CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey, Dana Karni, Oren Liebermann, Mostafa Salem, Valey Arya and Catherine Nicholls contributed reporting.
Yemen suspends operations at Red Sea port after Houthi attacks
Yemen’s Mokha port has suspended operations after being hit by more than 25 missiles in recent attacks by the Houthi militant group, the port’s director said on Saturday.
The attacks killed seven people and caused an estimated $16 million in losses, the director said in a news conference, according to Reuters.
On Friday, the Houthis launched six ballistic missiles at Mokha, a strategic port city on the Red Sea, Yemen’s internationally recognized government said.
Houthi Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the attacks targeted “Saudi military concentrations and weapons, as well as military boats belonging to its proxies and mercenaries” in Mokha.
Some background: In recent weeks, the Houthi rebels have launched a spate of attacks on US allies and shipping in the region.
One of the strongest Iran-backed militias in the Middle East, the Houthis entered the war in March, a month after Israel and the US attacked Iran, by firing missiles towards Israel.
This month, the group has traded fire with Yemen’s internationally recognized government and struck Saudi Arabia after a four-year de facto ceasefire with the kingdom.
The escalation comes at a time of shaky maritime security in both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim and Anna Cooban contributed to this report.
Qatar denies Iranian commander's claim it detained 3 pilots for months
Qatar has rejected an Iranian military commander’s claim that it had held three Iranian pilots for months after their planes were shot down early in the war.
“We categorically deny the claims circulating regarding the detention of Iranian pilots and are surprised by these misleading statements at this particular time, amid the ongoing diplomatic efforts and initiatives aimed at de-escalating tensions in the region,” said Majed Al-Ansari, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The denial came after Iranian military commander Seyed Mohammad Bagherzadeh, who leads Iran’s armed forces’ missing persons search committee, claimed in a letter to the Red Cross that Qatar had held the three crew members for months, according to Iranian media.
Bagherzadeh said two Iranian Su-24 bombers were shot down after targeting the US military base in Qatar. Three Iranian pilots ejected and one was killed in action, according to Bagherzadeh, who did not provide evidence supporting the claim.
Al-Ansari also said Qatari search and rescue teams searched for the remains of the pilots and spoke to Iran to coordinate the handover of the remains of one of the pilots. He said Qatar had invited Iran to be briefed on the details of the operations in April but didn’t receive a response.
Bagherzadeh identified the missing crew members as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Beh Rowshia, and claimed they were captured by Qatari forces and have not been permitted visits or meetings despite “diplomatic efforts.”
This appears to be the first time Iran has accused Qatar of holding the pilots. Just two weeks ago, the Iranian military said they were still trying to determine their fate.
What has happened in Lebanon since the ceasefire agreement in June
Saturday marked the deadliest day of Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon since a tenuous truce between Israel and Lebanon renewed in late June, with at least 11 people reported killed in the attacks.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the strikes an “escalation” and a “matter of utmost gravity” in a post on X.
Israel and Lebanon agreed on the latest ceasefire nearly two months ago. The ceasefire agreement was mediated by the United States, with ongoing talks between the two governments intended to begin a withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. The agreement allowed Israel to continue operating in certain parts of southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah rejected the agreement only days after it agreed to its own renewed ceasefire with Israel following one of the deadliest days in Lebanon in which the Israeli military killed at least 47 people in Lebanon, after a Hezbollah attack that left four Israeli soldiers dead.
The agreement was backed by US President Donald Trump, whose efforts to neutralize tensions with Iran have long been imperiled by Israel and Hezbollah’s ongoing fighting.
Days later, Israel approved continued military operations in southern Lebanon, striking buildings in Nabatieh and Mayfadoun. The IDF called these “Hezbollah command centers,” while the militant group said they were residential.
But none of the multiple ceasefire agreements signed since April have successfully ended the fighting in Lebanon.
Earlier this month, Israel issued its first evacuation order in southern Lebanon since June, launching fresh strikes on the area as Lebanese and Israeli officials met for talks in Rome to cement the terms of the ceasefire.
The US-mediated talks ended earlier than expected after the attacks, but resumed the next day.
CNN’s Elise Hammond, Alejandra Jaramillo, Eyad Kourdi, Sana Noor Haq, Eugenia Yosef, Oren Liebermann, Hanna Ziady, Kara Fox, Dani Karni, Ibrahim Dahman and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting.
11 killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, health ministry says
The death toll from Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday morning rose to 11, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, with another 19 people wounded.
Children and women are among those killed, the ministry said in a statement.
In a Saturday statement, the Israeli prime minister’s office accused Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire by attacking Israeli soldiers. Three Israeli soldiers were seriously injured in a Hezbollah attack in southern Lebanon, it said.
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck a headquarters of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in response, killing what it described as a battalion commander and several others. The IDF said the commander’s family was with him at the time of the strike, alleging he “used his family as human shields.”
Hezbollah has condemned what it called “escalating aggression” and “a brutal massacre” carried out by the IDF against “innocent civilians.”
The escalation “reflects the desire and will of” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to escalate the war to bolster his domestic political standing, serve his electoral goals, and appease the extreme right wing,” it added, also accusing the US of sharing responsibility for the attacks by providing Israel with “support and cover.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam demanded a halt to the Israeli attacks.
“The responsibility for dealing with any military infrastructure, if it exists on Lebanese territory, rests exclusively with the Lebanese state, through the Lebanese Army and its legitimate institutions, and its presence does not give Israel the right to violate Lebanese territory or endanger civilians,” Salam said in a statement on X.
