Sept. 18: Iran says it reserves right to respond after envoy wounded in Lebanon blasts

Lebanese health ministry raises death toll in Wednesday’s explosions to 20

Lebanon’s health ministry now says that at least 20 people were killed and 450 others wounded Wednesday by exploding electronic devices in multiple regions of the country.

The explosions came a day after an apparent Israeli attack targeting pagers used by Hezbollah killed at least 12 and wounded nearly 3,000.

Hezbollah announces death of sixth and seventh operatives killed today

Hezbollah announces the death of another two members of the terror group, bringing its toll in the walkie-talkie explosions and IDF strikes in southern Lebanon today to seven so far.

Since October, Hezbollah has named 460 members killed by Israel, during the ongoing fighting.

Iran says it reserves right to respond after ambassador wounded in Lebanon blasts

Iranian security forces stand at the site of a memorial set up outside Lebanon's embassy in Tehran, Iran, on September 18, 2024. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will follow up on an attack targeting its ambassador in Lebanon, the Iranian envoy to the United Nations said in a letter, adding that it “reserves its rights under international law to take required measures deemed necessary to respond.”

Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was among the more than 1,000 people injured when the series of Hezbollah pagers exploded across Lebanon and in Syria yesterday.

Israel, which has been blamed for the attacks, has not commented.

Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York

Harvey Weinstein appears in criminal court in New York, September 18, 2024. (AP Photo/ Seth Wenig, Pool)

Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.

Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.

The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.

Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein was indicted on additional sex crime charges that were not part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.

Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.

But it is not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.

While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein is also awaiting retrial, after New York State’s highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin November 12.

US again distances itself from Lebanon attacks, says still committed to diplomatic solution

National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 18, 2024. (Jim WATSON / AFP)

As it did yesterday, the US stresses that it was not involved in today’s mass detonation of devices belonging to Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon.

“We were not involved in yesterday’s incidents or today’s in any way,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says during a press briefing, repeatedly declining to comment further on the matter.

Speaking more broadly, Kirby says the White House will continue its efforts to prevent the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah from broadening and thinks that diplomacy is the best path for doing so.

Asked whether the blasts targeting Hezbollah will harm the ongoing hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, the White House spokesperson says it is too early to tell, while lamenting that “we aren’t any closer to [a deal] now than we were even a week ago.”

Kirby announces that UAE President Mohammad bin Zayed will be visiting the White House next Monday, where he will meet with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Their meetings will include discussions regarding the war in Gaza, he says.

Hezbollah announces deaths of five operatives killed today

A Hezbollah poster announcing the death of one of its operatives on September 18, 2024.

The Hezbollah terror group announces the deaths of five members killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” its term for operatives slain in Israeli attacks.

Their deaths bring the terror group’s death toll during the ongoing skirmishes with Israel since October to at least 458.

The announcements come after Israel allegedly caused walkie-talkies used by the terror group to explode across Lebanon today, which, according to Lebanese health officials, killed 14 and wounded 450 others.

The IDF also carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon today.

Yesterday, Hezbollah named 12 members killed by Israel, including some who were killed after pagers used by the terror group exploded, and others in strikes in southern Lebanon.

Jets hit Hezbollah positions in south Lebanon after 40 rockets launched at Israel

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese village of Odaisseh near the border with Israel on September 18, 2024. (Rabih DAHER / AFP)

Israeli fighter jets struck buildings in southern Lebanon’s Jebbayn earlier today, where the IDF says it identified several Hezbollah operatives.

Separate airstrikes targeted a rocket launcher and other buildings used by the terror group in Halta, Kafr Kila, Odaisseh, and Chama, the military adds.

The IDF releases footage of the strikes.

כוחות אוגדה 146 זיהו מוקדם יותר היום מספר מחבלים מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה פועלים במספר מבנים צבאיים של הארגון במרחב אל ג'יבין שבדרום לבנון.
בסגירת מעגל מהאוויר, מטוסי קרב תקפו את המבנים בהם פעלו המחבלים>> pic.twitter.com/TsD6f1syI4

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 18, 2024

Additionally, a barrage of some 10 rockets was fired earlier this evening at the Mount Hermon area, impacting open areas, according to the IDF.

More than 40 rockets were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel today.

Israel said to believe Hezbollah toll from exploding devices much higher than official numbers

Members of the Hezbollah terror group salute during the funeral procession of four of their comrades who were killed the day before, when their handheld pagers exploded, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on September 18, 2024. (AP Photo/ Bilal Hussein)

Israel believes that Hezbollah’s toll from the exploding communications devices over the last two days in Lebanon is much higher than the official numbers released so far, a leading journalist reports.

Veteran Israeli investigative reporter and analyst Ronen Bergman, who works for the New York Times and Yedioth Ahronoth, writes that the toll is believed to be far greater than the 12 reported killed in the pager explosions yesterday and the 14 killed in the walkie-talkie explosions today.

“The estimation is that there are many dozens of dead, if not more,” he writes without naming his sources.

Bergman adds that Israel believes that the explosions caused “significant harm” to Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, which has lost much of its leadership.

Israel has not commented on the explosions, which have been widely attributed to the Jewish state.

Netanyahu’s office slams report accusing him of torpedoing hostage deal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands in front of a map of the Gaza Strip as he speaks during a press conference at the Government Press Office in Jerusalem on September 4, 2024. (ABIR SULTAN / POOL / AFP)

After Channel 12 airs a special report accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “torpedoing” potential hostage deals with Hamas, his office says the “false claims” in the media “echo the propaganda of the terrorist organization Hamas.

The Prime Minister’s Office argues that Netanyahu accepted all of the US proposals, which “completely refutes the claim that he sabotaged any deal for political reasons.”

The PMO points out that Netanyahu sent a proposal on April 27 that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called “very generous”; that he agreed to US President Joe Biden’s proposal on May 31; and that, on August 16, he accepted the US “final bridging proposal,” all of which were turned down by Hamas.

Netanyahu’s office also points out that US officials have said repeatedly that there is no deal because of Hamas — though they have also put some of the blame on Israel at certain times.

“Those who want to help in the effort to free our hostages should put pressure on the murderer [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar and not on the Prime Minister of Israel,” says the PMO.

Hamas blames Israel for Lebanon blasts, says move threatens regional stability

Mourners carry the coffins of Hezbollah members killed after hundreds of their paging devices exploded in a deadly wave across Lebanon the previous day, during a funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburbs on September 18, 2024. Israel has been blamed. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

The Hamas terror group issues a statement where it blames Israel for a wave of explosions targeting Hezbollah communications devices over the last two days, and says the move threatens regional stability.

“We strongly condemn the renewed and ongoing Zionist aggression against the brotherly Lebanese people,” Hamas says in a statement, adding that the attacks “now threaten the security and stability of the region.”

Israel has not commented on the blasts in Lebanon.

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support the Palestinians in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 assault on southern Israel in which the terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

Putin agrees to sign Russia-Iran strategic partnership agreement

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin greet each other during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, July 19, 2022. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted the Russian Foreign Ministry’s proposal to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Iran, according to Putin’s order published on the state website.

The document states that signing such an agreement would be “expedient,” but does not specify when it might be signed.

US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first rate reduction since 2020

The seal of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is seen ahead of a press conference by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting at the Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, on September 18, 2024. (Mandel NGAN / AFP)

The US Federal Reserve cut its key lending rate by half a percentage-point in its first reduction since the pandemic, sharply lowering borrowing costs shortly before November’s presidential election.

Policymakers voted 11-to-1 in favor of lowering the US central bank’s benchmark lending rate to between 4.75% and 5.00%, the Fed announced in a statement. They also penciled in an additional half-point of cuts before the end of the year.

Lebanon says death toll in today’s blasts rises to 14

Lebanese soldiers stand guard, as their comrades prepare to detonate a walkie-talkie that was found at the parking of the American University Hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 18, 2024. Hezbollah communications devices exploded for a second day, in attacks blamed on Israel. Israel has not commented. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanon’s health ministry says the death toll from today’s explosions of Hezbollah communications devices has risen to 14.

The ministry adds that more than 450 people were wounded.

Police say they ‘neutralized’ two Palestinians during East Jerusalem clashes

Police say they shot and “neutralized” two Palestinians after riots broke out during an arrest raid in East Jerusalem.

Police give no details on the condition of either Palestinian.

Police say that during a raid by Border Police and undercover officers in the Shuafat camp, dozens of masked people began throwing rocks and shooting fireworks at the officers.

Officers opened fire on one person shooting fireworks and another who threw an explosive device at them.

Three others were arrested, police say.

Musta'ribeen accompanied by the occupation army launch a large-scale attack on Shuafat

A martyr, arrests and injuries pic.twitter.com/YUrNXeD9fv

— Khalidalmaktari أبوعمرو (@Moonlight7oct) September 18, 2024

Senior Israeli official: Nasrallah can stop escalation if he accepts US proposal

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gives a televised address following an attack, largely thwarted by Israel, in retaliation for the killing of Fuad Shukr, August 25, 2024. (Screenshot)

A senior Israeli official tells the Ynet news site that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah can stop a descent to all-out war if he accepts an American proposal.

“The one who can stop the escalation is Nasrallah if he announces that he is willing to accept the US framework,” the official says. “If not, we are willing to go all the way.”

The US has been pushing for a diplomatic solution to restore calm to the Israel-Lebanon border, and special envoy Amos Hochstein was in Israel for talks on Monday.

Hezbollah began launching near-daily attacks on the north on October 8 in a show of support for the Hamas terror group following its October 7 massacre in southern Israel, but claims it is not interested in war and that it will stop firing once the war in Gaza ends.

Netanyahu vows to return evacuated northern residents to their homes

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to return the evacuated residents from the north to their homes in a video statement, September 18, 2024. (Screenshot via GPO)

As signs increasingly point toward an Israeli operation against Hezbollah — and Israeli leaders speak about changing the reality on the border with Lebanon — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu releases a cryptic 10-second video promising to get evacuated Israelis back to their homes.

“I’ve already said, we will return residents of the north safely to their homes,” he says. “And that is exactly what we will do.”

He makes no mention of the blasts targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon over the past two days, which have been blamed on Israel.

Iran condemns attacks in Lebanon involving exploding communications devices

A man places a poster of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah near bouquets of flowers in front of the Lebanese Embassy in Tehran, Iran, September 18, 2024. (AP Photo/ Vahid Salemi)

Iran condemns attacks in Lebanon yesterday and today that involved exploding communications devices, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani says in a post on the X social media platform, offering help to the wounded.

Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah detonated today across Lebanon killing at least nine people and more than 300 injured, further stoking tensions with Israel a day after similar explosions launched via the group’s pagers which caused 12 fatalities.

“The terrorism of the Zionist regime causes aversion and disgust. Iran strongly condemns yesterday’s criminal explosion of communication devices and today’s criminal explosion of walkie-talkies, which resulted in the death and injury of hundreds of Lebanese civilians,” Mohajerani says.

Israel has not commented on the attacks.

Earlier in the day, according to state media, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian had said: “The incident in Lebanon shows once again that Western countries and the United States, despite claiming to seek a ceasefire, fully support the crimes, massacres and blind terrorism of the Zionist regime in practice.”

New explosions reported in northern Lebanon

Lebanese media report new explosions in northeastern Lebanon’s Baalbek district.

Further details are not immediately available.

Germany has stopped approving war weapons exports to Israel, source says

An Israeli Dolphin submarine at the shipyards in Kiel, northern Germany (AP/ Philipp Guelland)

Germany has put a hold on new exports of weapons of war to Israel while it deals with legal challenges, according to a Reuters analysis of data and a source close to the Economy Ministry.

Last year, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth 326.5 million euros ($363.5 million), including military equipment and war weapons, a 10-fold increase from 2022, according to data from the Economy Ministry, which approves export licenses.

However, approvals have dropped this year, with only 14.5 million euros’ worth granted from January to August 21, according to data provided by the Economy Ministry in response to a parliamentary question.

Of this, the “weapons of war” category accounted for only 32,449 euros.

A source close to the ministry cites a senior government official as saying it had stopped work on approving export licenses for arms to Israel, pending a resolution of legal cases arguing that such exports from Germany breached humanitarian law.

The ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

In its defense of two cases, one before the International Court of Justice and one in Berlin brought by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), the government said no weapons of war have been exported under any license issued since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, apart from spares for long-term contracts, the source adds.

IDF chief says Israel has ‘many more capabilities’ to be used in war against Hezbollah

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi (left) meets with the chief of the Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, at the Northern Command HQ in Safed, September 18, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

During a visit to the Northern Command, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi warns that Israel has “many more capabilities” that have not been used yet in the fighting against Hezbollah.

“We are very determined to create the security conditions that will bring the residents [of the north] back to their homes, to the towns, with a high level of security, and we are ready to do whatever is required to enable this,” Halevi says in a video released by the IDF.

“We have many capabilities that we have not yet activated… we have seen some of these things, it seems to me that we are well prepared and we are preparing these plans going forward,” he continues.

“The rule is that every time we reach a certain stage, we have already prepared to move ahead forcefully with the next two steps. At each stage, the cost for Hezbollah should be high,” Halevi adds.

UN Security Council to meet Friday over Lebanon pager blasts

A Lebanese army soldier stands guard near fire trucks at the scene of an explosion in Saida in southern Lebanon on September 18, 2024. (Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Friday over the pager blasts in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, says Slovenia’s UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar, president of the 15-member council for September.

The meeting was requested by Algeria on behalf of Arab states, he says.

Earlier today, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the pager blasts targeting Hezbollah indicate “a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon and everything must be done to avoid that escalation.”

“Obviously, the logic of making all these devices explode is to do it as a pre-emptive strike before a major military operation,” he tells reporters ahead of the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly .

He also said that it was very important not to weaponize civilian objects.

Guterres “urges all concerned actors to exercise maximum restraint to avert any further escalation,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric later said in a statement.

The blasts have been blamed on Israel, which has not commented.

Fewer devices detonated in today’s attacks, but more explosives and larger impacts — leading Israeli reporter

Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman in an interview broadcast by Channel 12, December 4, 2020. (Screenshot/Channel 12)

Veteran Israeli investigative reporter and analyst Ronen Bergman, who works for the New York Times and Yedioth Ahronoth, tells Channel 12 that fewer Hezbollah communications devices were blown up today than yesterday, but that today’s targeted devices, which were larger, were primed with more explosives and thus the blasts caused stronger impacts.

“Anyone who was close to these devices would have had a much smaller chance of surviving,” Bergman says.

He says the devices targeted today were walkie-talkies used for military communications, and other components of these devices, and that the attacks were designed to underline the vulnerability of Hezbollah’s entire military communications networks.

He also suggests that whoever “pressed the buttons” to detonate today’s explosions may have assessed that, after yesterday, Hezbollah would be checking everything it bought from the same supplier, or indeed all supplies it ever purchased from external suppliers. Detonating the explosives in the devices now, therefore, might have been considered “the last chance” to do so.

Bergman says that these kinds of attacks are usually “last resort” efforts, of the kind that would be used in accompaniment with an initiated attack or to prevent a surprise attack by Hezbollah that cannot be stopped by other means. He notes that Israel, though blamed by Hezbollah for the attacks, has not acknowledged responsibility.

“The fact that someone pressed those buttons shows that whoever did so feels a great need to prove the deep damage [that is being done to Hezbollah],” he adds, somewhat ambiguously.

He also recalls that, late on Monday, he wrote an article in Yedioth quoting senior Israeli security sources warning of a misstep that could bring about an escalation on the northern front.

Putting it all together, Bergman says, it may be that senior Israeli security figures were worried that an imminent planned attack on Hezbollah, though richly deserved by the terror group, might not necessarily serve the newly designated formal war goal of enabling the secure return of residents of the north.

Exploding Hezbollah walkie-talkies appear to have been made in Japan

Images of the walkie-talkies that exploded today examined by Reuters showed an inside panel labeled “ICOM” and “made in Japan.”

According to its website, ICOM is a Japan-based radio communications and telephone company.

The company has said that production of several models of the ICOM hand-held radio have been discontinued, including the IC-V82, which appeared to closely match those in images from Lebanon on Wednesday and which was phased out in 2014.

There was no immediate reply from ICOM to a Reuters request for comment.

News ????#Lebanon A walkie-talkie explodes in #Hezbollah's #Beirut stronghold.

#Lebanon that a new wave of explosions has occurred involving various wireless devices and electrical equipment causing sever
several casualties, according to news.#LebanonExplosion #Beirut #Israel pic.twitter.com/rZDSXSpEJK

— Kuldeep soora (@soora_kuldeep) September 18, 2024

The hand-held radios were purchased by Hezbollah five months ago, around the same time that the pagers were bought, said a security source.

Thousands of pagers exploded yesterday.

A Taiwanese pager maker denied that it had produced the pager devices.

Gold Apollo said the devices were made under license by a company called BAC, based in Hungary’s capital Budapest.

However, the pager devices were never in Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government says in a statement.

Taiwanese pager firm Gold Apollo said the model of pagers used in the attack against Hezbollah were made by Budapest-based BAC Consulting, adding it had only licensed its brand to the company and was not involved in the production of the devices.

Reuters calls and emails to BAC on Wednesday were not answered.

“Hungarian authorities have established that the company in question is a trading-intermediary company, which has no manufacturing or other site of operation in Hungary,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs says on Facebook.

“It has one head of operations in Hungary on its listed address and the devices referenced have never been to Hungary.”

Hungarian national security authorities would cooperate with all involved international partner services and partner organizations in further investigations, Kovacs said, adding the issue did not represent a national security risk to Hungary.

Israel has been blamed for the blasts, but has not commented.

Gallant says Israel’s focus has moved to northern front as ‘new phase’ of war begins

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks to Israeli Air Force personnel at the Ramat David Airbase in northern Israel, September 18, 2024. (Ariel Heremoni/ Defense Ministry)

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel’s focus has moved to the northern front as a “new phase” of the war is beginning.

“The center of gravity is moving north. We are diverting forces, resources, and energy toward the north,” Gallant says to Israeli Air Force personnel at the Ramat David Airbase, in remarks published by his office.

Earlier today, the IDF’s 98th Division was deployed to northern Israel, after fighting for months in the Gaza Strip.

“I believe that we are at the onset of a new phase in this war, and we need to adapt,” Gallant says. “We will need consistency over time, this war requires great courage, determination, and perseverance.”

He says that Israel’s war goals in the north are “clear and simple: to return the residents of the towns in the north to their homes safely.”

“We have not forgotten the hostages and we have not forgotten our tasks in the south. This is our duty and we are performing it at the same time,” Gallant adds.

UN demands Israel end ‘unlawful’ presence in West Bank, East Jerusalem within 12 months

Palestinian representative Ryad Mansour is congratulated on the result of a vote during the emergency session on the legal consequences of Israel's actions in the Palestinian territories at United Nations Headquarters on September 18, 2024 in New York. (Photo by Bryan Smith / AFP)

The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution demanding that Israel “brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence” in what it calls “Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months, including all soldiers and civilians.

The resolution calls for Israel to adhere to the International Court of Justice ruling in July on Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and calls for a weapons embargo on Israel.

The measure was sponsored by the State of Palestine and 29 other countries, mostly Muslim nations. The UAE is the only Arab country that recognizes Israel to decline to add its name to the sponsors.

Some 124 countries support the measure, 14 oppose it, and 43 abstain. Israel, the US, Czechia, and Argentina are the largest countries opposing, along with Pacific island nations. Paraguay and Malawi also oppose the measure.

Many European nations abstain — including Ukraine, the UK, Germany and Italy — as do Canada and Australia.

The Foreign Ministry says the decision “encourages terrorism and harms the chances for peace.”

Israel charges that the decision ignores October 7 and strengthens Hamas, sending a message that “terrorism pays.” It also makes a hostage deal less likely, says the Foreign Ministry.

“Israel will respond accordingly,” the statement threatens, but does not lay out exactly how it will retaliate against the Palestinian Authority.

Lebanon says toll in latest blasts rises to 9 killed, more than 300 wounded

People react after a device explosion occurred during the funeral of people killed when hundreds of Hezbollah pagers exploded across Lebanon the previous day, in Beirut's southern suburbs on September 18, 2024. Israel has been blamed for the attacks (Photo by Fadel ITANI / AFP)

Lebanon’s health ministry says nine people have been killed and more than 300 are wounded in the walkie-talkie blasts across Lebanon this afternoon.

Saudi crown prince says no ties with Israel without a Palestinian state

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (not pictured) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on March 20, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein / Pool / AFP)

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday said the kingdom would not recognize Israel without a Palestinian state and strongly condemned the “crimes of the Israeli occupation” against the Palestinian people.

“The kingdom will not stop its tireless work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and we affirm that the kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that,” the crown prince, known as MBS, says.

After the eruption of war last October between Israel and Hamas, Saudi Arabia put on ice US-backed plans for the kingdom to normalize ties with Israel, two sources familiar with Riyadh’s thinking said earlier this year, in a swift reordering of its diplomatic priorities.

MBS, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, had said just weeks before the fighting broke out that Riyadh was getting closer to a deal.

The two sources told Reuters there would be some delay in the US-backed talks on normalization of Saudi-Israel ties, which is seen as a key step for the kingdom to secure what it considers the real prize of a US defense pact in exchange.

MBS makes the remarks at an annual speech to the advisory Shura Council, which he gave on behalf of his father, King Salman.

The council swore an oath of office before MBS before he addressed it.

Bernie Sanders preparing resolutions to block $20b in US arms sales to Israel

Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks during the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 20, 2024, in Chicago. (AP/Brynn Anderson)

US Sen. Bernie Sanders is preparing several resolutions that would stop more than $20 billion in US arms sales to Israel, a longshot effort but the most substantive pushback yet from Congress over the war in Gaza.

In a letter to Senate colleagues, Sanders said the US cannot be “complicit in this humanitarian disaster.” The action would force an eventual vote to block the arms sales to Israel, though majority passage is highly unlikely.

“Much of this carnage in Gaza has been carried out with US-provided military equipment,” Sanders, an Independent of Vermont, writes.

While it’s doubtful the politically split Senate would pass the measures, the move is designed to send a message to the Netanyahu government that its war effort is eroding the US’s longtime bipartisan support for Israel. Sanders says he is working with other colleagues on the measures.

Top Hezbollah official vows bloody revenge for attacks, says Nasrallah will reveal all tomorrow

File: Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine addresses mourners during the funeral of a Hezbollah commander, Taleb Abdallah, in Beirut's southern suburbs on June 12, 2024. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Speaking amid a second consecutive day’s wave of explosive attacks detonating Hezbollah communications devices, Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, publicly threatens unique and bloody vengeance.

Hezbollah has blamed the attacks on Israel, which is maintaining an official silence.

A cousin and close associate of the terror group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah, Safieddine vows: “These attacks will certainly be uniquely punished; there will be a bloodily unique revenge.”

He says he “won’t talk about this at length” because “tomorrow, the leader of Hezbollah will speak and all will be revealed. And we will be in a new situation and a new confrontation with this enemy.”

The enemy, he says, “should know that we are not beaten, that we will not break, that will not withdraw, and will not be influenced by what this enemy is doing.”

Virus causing Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever found in cattle in Israel for first time

A herd of cattle graze in the Golan Heights (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

For the first time in Israel, the virus causing Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) was discovered in grazing cattle in the Golan Heights, the eastern Jezreel Valley, and the southern Carmel region, the Agriculture Ministry says.

Ticks carrying the virus were also found.

CCHF is a viral disease that affects cattle, sheep, and humans. It is transmitted from animals to humans through ticks that feed on the blood of infected cattle or sheep or through contact with the animals’ bodily fluids.

The ministry emphasizes that the disease cannot be contracted through eating meat or drinking milk.

The virus has no symptoms in animals but can cause severe illness in humans. The World Health Organization says that the onset of symptoms is sudden, with fever, muscle aches, and nausea. About 30% of all diagnosed cases can result in death.

Although this is the first time the virus has been diagnosed in Israel, it is common in countries in the Middle East, Africa, Western Asia, and Southeast Europe.

The ministry emphasizes that only people who are in very close proximity to cattle or sheep can contract the disease and urges those who work near grazing cattle or sheep to take extra precautions to prevent infection.

Hezbollah fires 20 rockets at Kiryat Shmona, no injuries

Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defense system over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel on September 18, 2024. (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

A barrage of some 20 rockets was fired from Lebanon at Kiryat Shmona an hour ago.

The IDF says some of the rockets were intercepted.

There are no reports of injuries.

Hezbollah takes responsibility for the attack, claiming to have targeted an Israeli military base.

Security source says exploding handheld radios bought 5 months ago at same time as pagers

Lebanese security sources say the handheld radios that exploded this afternoon were purchased by the Hezbollah terror group about five months ago at the same time as the thousands of pagers that exploded yesterday.

Israel has been blamed for the attack, but has not commented.

At least three killed, hundreds said wounded by latest explosions in Lebanon

Hezbollah members carry the coffin of four fallen comrades who were killed Monday after their handheld pagers exploded, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. The attack was blamed on Israel (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Lebanon’s state news agency says at least three people have been killed in explosions in the Bekaa area, while security sources tell Reuters that hundreds of people have been wounded in a series of new explosions across Lebanon.

Hand-held radios used by the Hezbollah terror group detonated late this afternoon across the country’s south and in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, a security source and a witness said.

At least one of the blasts took place near a funeral organized by Iran-backed Hezbollah for those killed the previous day when thousands of pagers used by the group exploded across the country.

“A number of walkie-talkies exploded in Beirut’s southern suburbs,” the source says, with Hezbollah-affiliated rescuers confirming devices had exploded inside two cars in the area.

The initial attack has been blamed on Israel, which has not commented.

Timelapse of the last 15 minutes of the #Beirut skyline. Plumes of smokes can be seen all over the place #pager #hezbollah #israel pic.twitter.com/yh2LvD4ekO

— Don't Tell Gus! (@DontTellGus) September 18, 2024

Footage appears to show Hezbollah walkie-talkie exploding

Footage circulating on social media purports to show the moment a Hezbollah walkie-talkie exploded a short while ago, during a funeral in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut.

The funeral was reportedly for one of 12 people killed in the pager explosions yesterday.

لحظة انفجار جهاز لاسلكي أثناء تشييع في الضاحية الجنوبية pic.twitter.com/jNYyKHhzDq

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) September 18, 2024

Hungary says company linked to Hezbollah pagers has ‘no manufacturing’ site in country

A photo taken on September 18, 2024, in Beirut's southern suburbs shows the remains of exploded pagers on display at an undisclosed location. The pagers were used by Hezbollah and the attack has been blamed on Israel. (Photo by AFP)

A company linked to pagers that exploded while being used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon has “no manufacturing” site in Hungary and the devices have never been on the country’s soil, a government spokesman says.

“Authorities have confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary… The referenced devices have never been in Hungary,” government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs says on X, adding that the case “poses no national security risk.”

Fresh explosions reported in Lebanon, involving different Hezbollah communication devices

A car burns after fresh explosions are reported in Lebanon on September 18, 2024, a day after thousands of Hezbollah pagers exploded in an attack blamed on Israel (Screencapture X/ used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Explosions have been reported by Lebanese media in several other areas of Lebanon in the last few minutes, and not just in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut.

According to some of the reports, the blasts were caused by communication devices in use by Hezbollah.

Images circulating online purport to show the devices, which appear to be different from the pagers that exploded yesterday.

Images circulating online purport to show communication devices used by Hezbollah that exploded in Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/xV8tIFGDDh

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 18, 2024

Shlomo Artzi, Aviv Geffen to lead roster of musicians at October 7 memorial ceremony

Israeli singer Shlomo Artzi sings at rally in Tel Aviv calling for the release of Israelis held kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on November 11, 2023. (Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The artists participating in the October 7 memorial ceremony at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park will include Aviv Geffen, Shlomo Artzi, Shalom Hanoch, Gali Atari, HaYehudim, Zehava Ben, Yehuda Poliker, Miri Mesika, Korin Allal, Rita, Shuli Rand and others.

The event will be hosted by actress Rotem Sela and comic Hanoch Daum. Tens of thousands of Israelis are expected to attend, with a special seating section for some 6,000 members of bereaved families.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on Israeli television channels and streamed to international media outlets.

Yonatan Shamriz, brother of hostage Alon Shamriz, who was accidentally killed by IDF troops in Gaza in December 2023, is one of the event’s organizers.

“I never imagined that a memorial ceremony for our collective tragedy could also spark a sense of optimism,” says Shamriz.

“Israel’s most celebrated artists have volunteered to stand alongside the bereaved families of October 7 and the entire nation. These are unimaginably difficult times, but the support we’re receiving gives us hope for a different future. On behalf of the families, I thank all of Israel.”

The ceremony is not the controversial official state ceremony, but one organized by the bereaved families.

Several new explosions reported in Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood

Lebanese media outlets report that several explosions were heard a short while ago in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut.

Further details are not immediately known.

Dahiyeh is known as a Hezbollah stronghold.

The reported explosions come a day after thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah exploded in an alleged Israeli attack.

???????? | URGENTE: Se oyeron explosiones coincidiendo con el funeral del hijo del diputado de Hezbolá Ali Ammar en el suburbio del sur de Beirut.
pic.twitter.com/qQyrLruwTL

— Alerta News 24 (@AlertaNews24) September 18, 2024

UN rights chief demands accountability for Lebanon pager blasts

Lebanese Red Cross ambulance passes next of the families of victims who were injured on Monday by their exploding handheld pagers, in an attack on Hezbollah terror group members blamed on Israel, at the emergency entrance of the American University hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Those responsible for a deadly wave of explosions across Lebanon targeting paging devices used by members of Hezbollah “must be held to account,” the UN rights chief says.

“Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” Volker Turk says in a statement.

Finland’s president defends decisions to buy Israeli arms, not recognize Palestinian state

President of Finland Alexander Stubb speaks to the media as he arrives to attend the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, Thursday July 18, 2024. (Jacob King/Pool Photo via AP)

Finland’s President Alexander Stubb defends his country’s decision to buy arms from Israel despite the war in Gaza, saying it had no link to Finland’s unwillingness to recognize an independent Palestinian state at the present time.

Finland is acquiring David’s Sling, Israel’s ground-based, high-altitude missile defense system. Helsinki considers the system a high priority for its own defense due to neighboring Russia’s ongoing missile attacks on civilian and military targets in Ukraine.

Stubb, who took office in March, has defined his and Finland’s new foreign policy stance as “values-based realism,” which he has said was about “achieving things in the world as it is,” instead of “promoting only the world how I want to see it.”

In an interview with Reuters, Stubb says the time was not right to recognize a Palestinian state, even though its Nordic neighbors, Sweden, Iceland, and most recently Norway, have done so.

“In the case of Israel and Palestine, values-based realism is prevalent in our thinking on the recognition of Palestine in the sense that we want that recognition, not if, but when it happens, to have an impact towards a two-state solution and a peaceful solution,” he said.

Last month, Stubb told Finnish diplomats that Finland’s recognition of a Palestinian state was “a matter of time” and that the right time would be picked strategically to promote peace in the Middle East.

He said the decision had “nothing to do with” the arms deal with Israel.

“In that one, I only look at realism, in other words, the fact that we need those weapons. So that’s when I look at Finnish security.”

IRGC denies any of its members were killed in pager attack

Illustrative: This photo taken on September 22, 2018, shows members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) marching during the annual military parade that marks the anniversary of the outbreak of the devastating 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, in the capital Tehran. (Stringer/AFP)

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps denies that any of its members were killed in the pager attack that targeted Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“Some media reporting that members of the Revolutionary Guards were martyred in the terrorist attack with pagers in Lebanon is false,” an IRGC spokesman tells Iran’s Mizan news agency, which is affiliated to the judiciary.

The denial comes after a report from Saudi Arabian outlet Al-Hadath said that the attacks also killed 19 IRGC members in Syria.

According to that report, the deaths occurred in the Deir Ezzor region in eastern Syria and a further 150 IRGC members were injured.

Egypt says it won’t agree to security changes on Gaza border

Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, not pictured, in Tahrir Palace in Cairo, Egypt Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

Egypt will not accept any changes to the security arrangements that were in place on its border with Gaza before war broke out between Israel and Hamas last October, the Egyptian foreign minister says.

Security on the border, and whether Israel will maintain a troop presence along a 14-kilometer (9-mile) buffer zone known as the Philadelphi Corridor, have become a focal point of months-long talks aimed at securing a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.

Israeli troops entered the buffer zone in May as they pursued an offensive around Rafah.

Egypt, which is a mediator in ceasefire talks, says Israel must withdraw and that a Palestinian presence needs to be restored at the Rafah crossing between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Gaza.

“Egypt reiterates its position, it rejects any military presence along the opposite side of the border crossing and the aforementioned (Philadelphi) corridor,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty tells reporters during a press conference in Cairo with US counterpart Antony Blinken.

Abdelatty also said that any escalation, including blasts that wounded Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon on Tuesday, would create hurdles for the completion of a Gaza ceasefire deal.

‘Not the first time someone has tried to kill me’: Ya’alon reacts to Hezbollah attempt on his life

Former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon at a protest in Petah Tikva, June 26, 2023.(Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon reacts to the news that he was the intended target of a Hezbollah bombing attack in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park last year, saying it’s happened before.

“It’s not the first time someone has tried to kill me,” he tells Democrat TV. “My worldview is that of one who attacks, not one who is attacked, and I also take precautions, so I’m alive,” Ya’alon, 74, says.

The Shin Bet security agency announced yesterday that it had foiled another attempted bombing attack by the same Hezbollah network that was behind the intended assassination of Ya’alon.

10 rockets fired at northern Israel from Lebanon, no injuries

A barrage of 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Western Galilee around an hour ago.

According to the IDF, the rockets struck open areas, causing no injuries.

Blinken denies US had advance knowledge of Hezbollah pager blasts in Lebanon

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference in Tahrir Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Sept. 18, 2024 (Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

US Secretary Antony Blinken denies reports that the United States had any prior knowledge of the deadly attack in Lebanon that saw hundreds of Hezbollah members’ pagers explode.

“The United States did not know about, nor was it involved in, these incidents. We’re still gathering the information and gathering the facts,” Blinken says at a press conference in Cairo.

“Broadly speaking we’ve been very clear and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we’re trying to resolve in Gaza,” he says.

Blinken also says it is not yet clear what impact the explosions will have on the Iran-backed terror group’s operations.

According to the Axios news site, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin minutes before the attack to say that Israel was about to carry out an operation in Lebanon, but did not give specifics.

It cited a US official saying Gallant’s phone call was an attempt to avoid leaving the US completely in the dark.

Yesterday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also denied US involvement.

“The US was not involved in it. The US was not aware of this incident in advance, and at this point, we’re gathering information,” he said during a press briefing.

Twelve people were killed and some 2,750 more were injured when pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded yesterday in an alleged attack by Israel.

Northern Command chief: IDF determined to change situation on Lebanon border as soon as possible

Chief of the IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, attends a drill in northern Israel, in a handout photo published September 18, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

The chief of the IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, says that the military is determined to change the security situation on the Lebanon border as soon as possible, amid heightened tensions with Hezbollah.

“The mission is clear: We are determined to change the security reality as soon as possible. The commitment of the commanders and the troops here is complete, with peak readiness for any task that will be required,” Gordin says in remarks provided by the IDF.

Gordin today visited a drill carried out by reservists of the IDF’s 179th Brigade. Another drill was carried out this week by the 769th “Hiram” Regional Brigade, the IDF says.

Both brigade-level drills simulated fighting in Lebanon, including maneuvering in enemy territory and extracting wounded under fire, according to the military.

The drills are the latest in a series carried out by the IDF for a potential war in Lebanon.

Blinken: 15 out of 18 paragraphs in potential ceasefire-hostage deal have been agreed upon

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference in Tahrir Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Sept. 18, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says a ceasefire and hostage deal to halt the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza is the best way to contain violence across the Middle East, with some progress made in negotiations over the past month and a half.

“We all know that a ceasefire is the best chance to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to address risks to regional stability,” Blinken tells journalists at a joint press conference in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart.

Blinken says 15 paragraphs had been agreed out of 18 in the deal, but that remaining issues needed to be resolved.

Earlier this month, a US official told the Times of Israel that 14 paragraphs had been agreed upon.

The official said one of the four remaining paragraphs had a very technical fix on which a consensus would be needed, and another three paragraphs regarding the hostage swap were still being negotiated. It was unclear on which of the issues there had been progress.

High Court orders notorious Sde Teiman detention facility to abide by law, but doesn’t order its closure

This undated photo taken in winter 2023 and provided by Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, shows blindfolded Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip in a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP)

The High Court of Justice rules in favor of a petition demanding that the state abide by the law for detaining Palestinian terror suspects in the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility, but does not order the government to shut it down as the petitioners also demanded.

The petition was filed by several human rights organizations after allegations of severe abuse and human rights violations were made against the Sde Teiman facility and the IDF soldiers operating it.

The High Court says in its decision that conditions at the detention center have changed significantly since the petition was filed, including a large reduction in the number of detainees and alterations to the physical infrastructure at the base.

The court therefore suffices with an order instructing the state to abide by the laws for detaining such suspects.

“Protecting the rule of law, even during a difficult war, is the clear expression of the difference between a democratic state, which is fighting for its life, and a terrorist organization which wants to destroy it,” writes Acting Supreme Court President Uzi Vogelman.

Vogelman adds that allegations of criminal conduct at Sde Teiman should be investigated by the authorities, noting that such investigations have already begun. One soldier has been indicted for abuse at the facility, and five others are currently under investigation.

Allegations of severe human rights abuses at Sde Teiman against Palestinian detainees emerged earlier this year, with several media outlets and NGOs reporting the extreme use of physical restraints, amputations that were necessitated due to prolonged use of handcuffs, beatings, and neglect of medical problems the facility.

The five soldiers currently under investigation are suspected of aggravated sodomy (a charge equivalent to rape), as well as other forms of assault and abuse, against a detainee.

Netanyahu, Herzog meet for security briefing

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog attend a memorial ceremony for Ethiopians who died on their journey to Israel, Mount Herzl, on June 5, 2024 (Arie Leib Abrams/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog met this morning for a security briefing, Herzog’s office announces.

The meeting comes after an exploding pager attack against Hezbollah, attributed to Israel, in which thousands were wounded and at least 12 killed, according to Lebanese authorities.

Meeting Blinken, Egypt’s Sissi pledges to increase efforts toward hostage-ceasefire deal

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the presidential palace in Cairo on September 18, 2024 (Evelyn Hockstein / POOL / AFP)

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi pledges to step up efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal in the Gaza war during talks visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

During their meeting in Cairo, Sissi “exchanged views on ways to intensify joint efforts between Egypt, the US and Qatar to make progress on ceasefire negotiations and the exchange of hostages and detainees,” says a statement issued by his office.

Lebanese health minister: Death toll from Hezbollah pager blasts rises to 12, including 2 children

Pieces of an exploded pager in a picture circulating on social media, September 17, 2024 (via telegram)

The death toll from exploding pagers in Lebanon rose to 12 including two children, Lebanese health Minister Firass Abiad says.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have accused Israel of responsibility for the explosions of thousands of pagers. Israel has not commented on whether it was to blame.

Edelstein blasts protesters: ‘They turned the hostages into currency. They have picnics and do yoga’

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuli Edelstein in Jerusalem on September 18, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Launching a harsh critique of the protest movement while addressing representatives of the hostage families in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, chairman Yuli Edelstein claims that some of the demonstrators are coopting the hostages to promote what he says are unrelated goals.

“Nobody can reproach the families but I do not forgive people who turn the hostages into currency to promote goals that have nothing to do with them,” he says.

“No one tells the families what to do and no one preaches morals to them. My late wife also did things that were less widely accepted when I was arrested,” says Edelstein, who was a refusenik and prisoner of Zion in the Soviet Union before being allowed to emigrate to Israel in 1987.

“But when I see the same people near my house for four years — just changing shirts and signs — having picnics, yoga, Pilates, drinking beer and singing in public, I don’t forgive them,” he says.

The lawmaker is apparently referring to the practice by protesters to hold casual gatherings near his home after they were prevented from holding demonstrations by police. Yoga sessions have been held worldwide in honor of murdered hostage Carmel Gat, as part of protests calling for a deal.

Edelstein also appears to backtrack on his initial support for the police over the arrests of three women last week for placing flyers on the seats in his synagogue featuring the images of six hostages held in Gaza as well as an image of him as a young man, with the words “Let my people go” across the top.

“Regarding flyers and actions for the hostages, nobody will be arrested and I am the first to join this struggle,” he says.

The women’s detention is now the subject of an internal police investigation.

The lawmaker from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party on Sunday publicly backed the arrests and said he “completely understood” why “the people of my synagogue filed a complaint with police after they discovered the break-in that took place apparently in the evening hours or at night.”

Edelstein referred to the incident as a break-in, despite security footage showing that the synagogue was open when the women entered.

The warden of the synagogue has said that there was no break-in at the synagogue and that the arrests were “insane.”

IDF says it carried out strike on Hamas members operating out of former school in Gaza City

The IDF says it carried out an airstrike against a group of Hamas operatives at a command room embedded within a former school in Gaza City a short while ago.

According to the military, Hamas was using the Ibn Al-Haytham School to plan and carry out attacks against IDF troops and against Israel.

The school has been serving as a shelter for displaced Gazans, according to Palestinian media.

The IDF says it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, and accuses Hamas of “systematically” using civilian sites for terror.

Ex-defense minister Ya’alon was intended target of Hezbollah bomb attack in Tel Aviv last year

Moshe Ya'alon seen during a visit to the Vered Yeriho observation point, in the Judean Desert, January 21, 2020. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

The intended target of a Hezbollah bombing attack in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park last year was former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon, authorities permit for publication.

The blast on September 15, 2023, caused no injuries. Eight suspects were detained over the bombing, according to police.

Yesterday, the Shin Bet announced that it foiled another attempted bombing attack by the same Hezbollah network.

The attack was intended to have been carried out in the coming days, and target another former senior defense official, according to the Shin Bet.

The official in the latest incident has not yet been named.

Security forces at the scene where two suspects were arrested on the Route 431 highway, near Ramla, September 15, 2023. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

IDF postpones ceremony this evening set to feature speeches from Gallant, Northern Command chief

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant holds an assessment with the chief of the IDF Northern Command in Safed, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, and other top officers, April 24, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)

A ceremony commemorating the fallen soldiers of the IDF’s Golani Brigade that was supposed to be held this evening has been postponed amid heightened tensions on the northern front.

The IDF says it postponed the event “in accordance with an assessment of the situation,” and a new date will be set at a later time.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the chief of the IDF Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, were scheduled to speak at the ceremony.

Amid heightened tensions with Hezbollah, IDF deploys 98th Division to northern Israel

The IDF’s 98th Division is being deployed to northern Israel amid heightened tensions with Hezbollah, after months of operations in the Gaza Strip under the Southern Command.

The paratroopers and commando division will now join the 36th Division under the Northern Command.

The 98th Division, with approximately 10,000 to 20,000 troops, was withdrawn from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis in late August.

The move comes amid fears of a wider conflict in Lebanon after Israel allegedly caused thousands of Hezbollah pagers to explode yesterday, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000.

IDF troops with the 98th Division are seen operating in the Khan Younis area of the southern Gaza Strip in this undated handout photo published on August 30, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Drone intercepted near Sea of Galilee was launched from Iraq, says IDF

A drone intercepted by an Israeli fighter jet early this morning near the Sea of Galilee had been launched from Iraq, the IDF says.

Sirens had sounded in Tiberias and several other communities.

Separately, the IDF says a drone launched from Lebanon was shot down by air defenses over the sea near Rosh Hanikra.

Sirens this morning in Metula and Upper Galilee were false alarms, the military adds.

Russia ‘strongly condemns’ Hezbollah pager explosions

Russia says it strongly condemns a deadly attack that saw thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah simultaneously explode across Lebanon, calling for “all parties involved to exercise restraint.”

“We strongly condemn the unprecedented attack on friendly Lebanon and its citizens, which constitutes a flagrant violation of its sovereignty and a serious challenge to international law through the use of unconventional weapons,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says.

The attack has been widely blamed on Israel.

Iran sends ‘rescue teams, eye surgeons’ to Lebanon after Hezbollah pager blasts

The Iranian Red Crescent says it has dispatched “rescue teams and eye surgeons” to Lebanon to treat the wounded after yesterday’s detonation of pagers used by Hezbollah.

At least nine people were killed and thousands were injured when pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded yesterday in a coordinated attack widely attributed to Israel.

Among the injured was Iran’s envoy to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, with Iranian media reporting he suffered injuries “to the hand and the face.” The New York Times reported he had lost one eye and his second was severely injured.

According to the outlet, the pagers beeped for a number of seconds before exploding, meaning that users raised them toward their faces to read the message before the blasts.

Iran accuses Israel of ‘mass murder’ after detonation of Hezbollah pagers

Ambulances rush wounded people to a hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Saida on September 17, 2024. (Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

Iran accuses Israel of “mass murder” after paging devices belonging to the Tehran-aligned Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon exploded, killing at least nine people and wounding nearly 3,000.

Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani says in a statement he “condemned the terrorist act of the Zionist regime… as an example of mass murder.”

Rocket sirens sound in northern border towns

Sirens sound in a number of communities close to the northern border, warning of incoming rocket fire.

Second case of bird flu detected in Jezreel Valley

Illustrative -- Birds seen flying above a stack of hay in Nahalal in the Jezreel Valley, November 11, 2019 (Anat Hermony/Flash90)

Bird flu is detected at Moshav Ram-On, south of the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel, in the second case of the season.

The disease was traced to four poultry sheds housing some 34,000 hens used for breeding chickens for meat.

The first bird flu was identified earlier this month at Moshav Nahalal in the Jezreel Valley.

There, the disease was discovered in a nine-building poultry coop containing 8,700 14-week-old turkeys.

Agriculture Ministry practice is to quarantine the area within a 10- kilometer (six-mile) distance from the outbreak and to cull the poultry.

The ministry calls on all owners of pet and free-range birds to keep them indoors.

Bird flu outbreaks have been reported overseas in recent weeks, in countries including France, Germany, Poland and the US.

Between September and December last year, there were five cases of bird flu in Israel, starting in Moshav Sde Ya’akov in the north. Four kibbutzim were affected.

Since March 2006, when the first cases of bird flu were discovered in Israel, bird flu has been discovered almost every year during the bird migration season.

The Agriculture Ministry urges consumers to buy poultry meat and eggs only from regulated retailers and to cook the products well.

Blinken meets Sissi in Cairo for meeting focused on US-Egypt ties

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the presidential palace in Cairo on September 18, 2024 (Evelyn Hockstein / POOL / AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo for a visit billed as focused both on American-Egyptian relations and Gaza consultations with Egypt.

Unlike in recent mediating missions, America’s top diplomat this time is traveling without optimistic projections from the Biden administration of an expected breakthrough in the troubled negotiations for a potential ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.

Also unlike the earlier missions, Blinken has no public plans to go to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on this trip.

Senior Lebanese source: Mossad planted explosives inside 5,000 Hezbollah pagers

People gather around an ambulance carrying wounded people whose handheld pager exploded, at the emergency entrance of the American University hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 17, 2024, after an attack, blamed on Israel, targeting Hezbollah fighters. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before yesterday’s detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source tell Reuters.

The operation was an unprecedented Hezbollah security breach that saw thousands of pagers detonate across Lebanon, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000, including the Hezbollah fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut.

Taiwan’s Gold Apollo: Detonated Hezbollah pagers were manufactured by Hungarian partner

Hsu Ching-kuang (L), head of Taiwanese company Gold Apollo, speaks to the media outside the company's office in New Taipei City on September 18, 2024. (Yan ZHAO / AFP)

Taiwanese company Gold Apollo says that the pager model allegedly used by Hezbollah members that simultaneously exploded and killed at least nine people was made by its Hungarian partner.

Pieces of an exploded pager in a picture circulating on social media, September 17, 2024 (via telegram)

Gold Apollo has a “long-term partnership” with Budapest-based BAC Consulting KFT to use its trademark, and the model mentioned in media reports “is produced and sold by BAC,” the company says in a statement, after the New York Times reported that Gold Apollo pagers were involved in the blasts.

IDF says Hezbollah members hit in airstrike, Tiberias sirens triggered overnight by suspected drone attack

The IDF confirms carrying out an airstrike yesterday evening in southern Lebanon’s Majdal Selm, targeting a building where several Hezbollah operatives were identified.

Overnight, fighter jets also struck buildings used by the terror group in southern Lebanon’s Odaisseh, Markaba, Blida, Maroun al-Ras, and Chihine, the IDF says.

It releases footage of the strikes.

צה"ל תקף מטרות טרור של חיזבאללה במרחבים שונים בדרום לבנון:

אמש, כוחות צה"ל זיהו מספר מחבלים מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בעודם פועלים במבנה צבאי במרחב מג'דל סלם שבדרום לבנון.
בסגירת מעגל מהאוויר, מטוסי קרב תקפו את המבנה בו פעלו המחבלים.

בנוסף, מטוסי קרב תקפו מבנים צבאיים של הארגון… pic.twitter.com/Qzl6AiKIh0

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) September 18, 2024

The military adds that sirens that sounded in the Tiberias area overnight were activated due to a suspected drone that was intercepted.

Hezbollah’s Nasrallah to give speech tomorrow afternoon

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaks in a remote address on August 6, 2024. (Screen capture; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will give a speech at 5 p.m. tomorrow, the terror group says in a statement.

The speech comes in the wake of pager detonations targeting the group’s members across Lebanon yesterday. The attack, widely attributed to Israel, killed nine people and injured around 3,000.

28-year-old man shot and killed in Nazareth

A man has died after a shooting in Nazareth, police say in a statement.

The victim was 28 years old and the shooting had a criminal motive rather than terror, police say.

According to the Abraham Initiatives nonprofit, 172 members of the Arab community have been killed in homicides since the beginning of 2024, with 142 of them shot dead.

In its 2023 year-end report, the coexistence group pinned much of the blame for the high level of deadly violence on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The far-right minister, the organization said, had gutted a plan put in place by his predecessor, in cooperation with Arab municipal leaders, to stem the tide of crime in the Arab community.

IRGC member to NYT: Hezbollah pagers beeped for a few seconds so users would hold them up to read

Ambulances are surrounded by people at the entrance of the American University of Beirut Medical Center, in Lebanon, on September 17, 2024. (Anwar AMRO / AFP)

A member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tells the New York Times that the pagers distributed by Hezbollah beeped for a number of seconds before they exploded yesterday.

The IRGC member says the devices beeped for around 10 seconds, so that the users would hold them close to their eyes and face to read the message.

The unidentified member says the pager belonging to the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon had beeped for a few seconds before he raised it. According to the outlet, the envoy has lost one eye and the blast severely injured his second.

Israel reportedly carried out Hezbollah pager attack amid concerns plot would be uncovered: ‘Use it or lose it’

People gather outside the American University hospital after the arrival of several men who were wounded by exploded handheld pagers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 17, 2024, after an attack, blamed on Israel, targeting Hezbollah fighters. (AP Photo/Bassam Masri)

Israel activated a plan to explode pagers carried by Hezbollah members amid fears the plot was about to be uncovered by the Iran-backed terror group, three US officials tell Axios.

“It was a use it or lose it moment,” a US official tells the outlet when explaining Israel’s reasoning for carrying out the attack yesterday.

While the widescale, coordinated attack has been attributed to Israel, there has been no comment from Jerusalem.

A former Israeli official tells Axios that Israel had planned to use the exploding pagers as an opening blow in an all-out war with the terror group, but had become concerned in recent days that the booby-trapped devices could be discovered.

Axios says Al Monitor reported that two members of Hezbollah had recently raised concerns about the pagers.

According to Axios, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant updated the US a few minutes prior to the attack that an assault was about to take place, but did not give details.

At least nine people were killed and thousands were injured when pagers held by Hezbollah members across Lebanon exploded yesterday afternoon.

The unprecedented wave of explosions, which also reportedly killed and injured several people in Syria, as well as injuring the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, sparked chaos in a region already on high alert for the outbreak of full-scale hostilities.

Iran envoy to Lebanon lost eye in pager explosion, second eye severely injured – NYT

Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, center, walks in front of Iranian interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, left, and Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib, during a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2024 (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Mojtaba Amani, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, lost one eye and his other was seriously wounded when a pager he was carrying exploded yesterday, The New York Times reports.

Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tell the outlet that Amani’s injuries are more serious than initially reported, and he would be taken to Tehran for treatment.

Video on social media apparently showed Amani on a Lebanese street in the aftermath of the attack, with blood on the front of his shirt, the newspaper says.

The Saudi-owned Alhadath news channel, quoting Tehran’s embassy in Beirut, said yesterday that Amani was in “good general condition” and his injuries were only superficial.

At least nine people were killed and thousands were injured when pagers held by Hezbollah members across Lebanon exploded yesterday afternoon, in what appeared to be a widescale, coordinated attack attributed to Israel against the Iran-backed terror group.

IDF announces 4 troops killed, several hurt during fighting in southern Gaza’s Rafah

This composite image shows IDF soldiers (from left to right) Staff Sgt. Dotan Shimon, Staff Sgt. Agam Naim, Staff Sgt. Amit Bakri and Cpt. Daniel Mimon Toaff, who were killed fighting in southern Gaza on September 17, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Four Israeli soldiers were killed and several others were wounded during fighting in southern Gaza’s Rafah yesterday, the IDF announces.

The slain troops are named as:

Cpt. Daniel Mimon Toaff, 23, a deputy company commander in the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Moreshet.

Staff Sgt. Agam Naim, 20, a paramedic with the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion, from Mishmarot.

Staff Sgt. Amit Bakri, 21, of the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Yoshivia.

Staff Sgt. Dotan Shimon, 21, of the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion, from Elazar.

In the same incident in which the four soldiers were killed, an officer and two soldiers in the Shaked Battalion were seriously wounded, and another two soldiers of the battalion were moderately wounded.

Their deaths bring Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip to 348.

Naim is the first female soldier to have been killed during the IDF’s ground offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

In a separate incident, an officer in the Givati Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit was seriously hurt by RPG fire in Rafah yesterday, the military adds.

Blinken arrives in Cairo to push for Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on September 17, 2024, as he departs for Egypt. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Cairo on his 10th trip to the Middle East since Hamas’s October 7 attack sparked the war in Gaza.

In Cairo, Blinken will address efforts to broker a hostage-ceasefire deal with Egyptian officials, including leader Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, according to the US State Department.

Hezbollah announces deaths of 3 more operatives, bringing yesterday’s toll to 12

Overnight, Hezbollah announced the deaths of three more members, bringing its toll yesterday in the pager explosions and IDF strikes in southern Lebanon to 12.

Since October, Hezbollah has named 453 members killed by Israel amid the ongoing fighting.

US military acknowledges Houthis downed 2 Reaper drones in under a week

A US MQ-9 Reaper drone in an exercise over Texas, Nov. 3, 2019. (Air National Guard/Technical Sgt. Daniel J. Martinez)

Yemen’s Houthi rebels shot down two American MQ-9 Reaper drones in under a week, the United States military acknowledges,.

The US military says Houthis shot down the first Reaper on September 10, and the second on Monday. Online video showed the downing and the flaming wreckage on the ground afterward in Yemen’s Dhamar province.

General Atomics Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land. The aircraft have been flown by both the US military and the CIA over Yemen for years.

US Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, says authorities continue to investigate Monday’s downing, but declines to elaborate. He adds that a claim by the Houthis that they shot down 10 Reapers since the start of their campaign in November over the Israel-Hamas war is “not accurate.”

“For operation security reasons, I’m not going to be able to provide a specific number,” Ryder says.

Taiwanese pager manufacturer says the beepers that detonated were made by European licensee

Taiwan’s Gold Apollo didn’t make the pagers that were used in the detonations in Lebanon on Tuesday, the company’s founder Hsu Ching-Kuang tells reporters.

Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from the Taiwan-based Gold Apollo.

Hsu says the pagers used in the explosion were made by a company in Europe that has the right to use the Taiwanese firm’s brand.

“The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it,” he says.

Hsu doesn’t name the company which he says manufactured the pagers, adding Gold Apollo is also a victim of the incident.

“We are a responsible company. This is very embarrassing,” he says.

Tiberias mayor reports pair of interceptions following air raid sirens, no injuries

Yossi Nava, the mayor of Tiberias, is quoted telling the Ynet news site that there were “two interceptions” over the northern city, after sirens were activated due to suspected hostile aircraft.

He adds that there were no injuries.

יירוטים בשמי טבריה והכנרת בשל חדירת כטב"ם; עיריית טבריה: האירוע הסתיים | תיעוד@rubih67 pic.twitter.com/v5oFVkNomu

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 18, 2024

Sirens sound across north, including Tiberias, due to suspected hostile aircraft

Warning sirens are activated in Tiberias and other communities around the Sea of Galilee, the Upper Galilee and southern Golan Heights due to what the IDF Home Front Command says is the entry of “suspected hostile aircraft” to Israeli skies.

Incoming rocket alerts are also activated in two of the communities.

The sirens are the first to be activated since pagers belonging to Hezbollah operatives exploded across Lebanon yesterday, in an apparent attack that the Lebanese terror group blamed on Israel.

Poll: Most Israelis think politics behind reportedly pending firing of Gallant, appointment of Sa’ar

Over 60 percent of Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reportedly pending decision to fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and replace him with New Hope party chief Gideon Sa’ar is politically motivated, according to a television poll.

Asked whether the move was being done for political considerations or the good of the country, 63 percent of respondents in the Channel 13 news survey say the former and 24% the latter, with the remainder unsure.

In a separate poll from the Kan public broadcaster, 49% of respondents oppose firing Gallant while 26% are in favor, and 54% think it will harm Israel’s security versus 22% who believe axing incumbent the defense minister will improve it.

A fifth of respondents tell Kan they trust Sa’ar, compared to 59% who don’t and 21% who don’t know.

Both polls also forecast that a theoretical right-wing electoral list led by former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman would be the largest party if new elections were held.

Senior Lebanese security source: Mossad ‘injected’ explosive material into the pagers

BEIRUT — Israel’s Mossad spy agency planted a small amount of explosives inside 5,000 Taiwan-made pagers ordered by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah months before Tuesday’s detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source tell Reuters.

The plot appears to have been many months in the making, several sources tell Reuters.

The senior Lebanese security source says Hezbollah ordered 5,000 beepers made by Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, which several sources say were brought into the country in the spring.

The senior Lebanese security source identifies a photograph of the model of the pager, an AP924, which like other pagers wirelessly receive and display text messages but cannot make telephone calls.

But the senior Lebanese source says the devices had been modified by Israel’s spy service “at the production level.”

“The Mossad injected a board inside of the device that has explosive material that receives a code. It’s very hard to detect it through any means. Even with any device or scanner,” the source says.

The source says 3,000 of the pagers exploded when a coded message was sent to them, simultaneously activating the explosives.

Israel hid explosives inside batch of pagers that Hezbollah recently ordered — NYT

Lebanese soldiers block an entrance of a Beirut southern suburb on September 17, 2024, after explosions hit locations in several Hezbollah strongholds around the country. (Ibrahim Amro/AFP)

Israel hid explosive material inside pagers that Hezbollah recently ordered from a Taiwanese company, according to a New York Times report that follows the mass detonation of the beepers.

Citing American and other unidentified officials, the report says the explosives were placed in the made by Gold Apollo before they were delivered to Lebanon, along with a switch so they could be set off remotely.

Two of the officials say the blasts were triggered Tuesday afternoon by a message sent to the pagers that appeared to be from Hezbollah leaders, with the beepers meant to sound for several seconds before detonating.

Over 3,000 pagers were included in the recent order, with the US newspaper reporting some of the devices were given to Hezbollah’s allies in Syria and Iran, while adding that the attack only affected those that were turned on and receiving messages.

It’s unclear when exactly Hezbollah placed the order and received the pagers, but the report notes leader Hassan Nasrallah’s remarks earlier this year instructing members of the Iran-backed group to ditch their cellphones due to concerns of Israeli eavesdropping.