Lebanon
Former Deputy National Security Adviser Orna Mizrahi: Today, a soldier in the Lebanese army receives a quarter of the salary of a Hezbollah terrorist.
The U.S.-brokered agreement calls for pilot zones in Southern Lebanon where Hezbollah forces would be removed and the Lebanese Armed Forces would assume control ahead of an Israeli withdrawal.
“I talked to Bibi about that. I think they’re going to. I think they want to. I don’t think it’s a question,” the U.S. president told reporters. “They’ll leave.”
Basil Sweid, 32, a driver in the military’s 75th Battalion, was “a brave reservist fighter, filled with a sense of mission, who symbolized the unbreakable bond between the Druze community and the State of Israel,” said Israel’s prime minister.
“The Iranian regime, as always, is lying. Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, is the one that attacked Israel again this morning, completely unprovoked,” the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem posted to X.
“We promised security to the residents of the north, and we must deliver,” stated the Israeli finance minister.
“In practice, Hezbollah will only grow stronger, and instead of defeating it, Israel is coming to terms with its very existence,” said Israel’s national security minister.
“There will be ups and downs, but the potential for success is great,” wrote Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli envoy in Washington.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of Liem and share in their profound grief,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted to X.
The Israel Defense Forces fired an interceptor missile toward a “target that was launched from Lebanon,” but said it subsequently lost contact with the UAV.
