Issued on: 09\/05\/2026 – 07:49Modified: 09\/05\/2026 – 22:32<\/p>\n
The Israeli military launched strikes across southern Lebanon on Saturday after issuing evacuation warnings for several villages in the area, saying it was targeting Hezbollah positions despite an existing ceasefire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This liveblog is no longer being updated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli strike on the southern town of Saksakiyeh killed at least seven people, including a girl, in the latest attack during a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the ministry said that "the Israeli enemy raid on the town of Saksakiyeh, in the Sidon district, resulted in an initial toll of seven martyrs, including a girl, and 15 wounded, including three children".<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz appeared calm on Monday, but recent confrontations between the United States and Iran have underscored how quickly tensions in the region can escalate. Over the past 72 hours, both sides have traded accusations following naval incidents and the reported disabling of two Iranian oil tankers by US forces, even as diplomatic efforts continue in the background. FRANCE 24's Reza Sayah reports.<\/p>\n
Hezbollah on Saturday said it targeted northern Israel with a drone in response to repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon despite an ongoing truce between the two sides.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the group said that it "targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy army soldiers near Misgav Am" with a drone in response to "the Israeli enemy's violation of the ceasefire".<\/p>\n
The UK will send a destroyer to the Middle East ahead of any international mission to help protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, its defence ministry said Saturday.<\/p>\n
"The pre-positioning of HMS Dragon is part of prudent planning that will ensure that the UK is ready, as part of a multinational coalition jointly led by the UK and France, to secure the strait, when conditions allow," a ministry spokesperson told AFP.<\/p>\n
Lebanese official media reported two strikes south of Beirut on Saturday despite a three-week-old ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.<\/p>\n
"The Israeli enemy launched two strikes on the Saadiyat highway," the state-run National News Agency said, referring to a location around 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Beirut and outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds.<\/p>\n
An AFP correspondent saw two stricken cars and emergency workers in attendance along the highway, which links Beirut with the country's south.<\/p>\n
Lebanon said at least one person was killed in Israeli strikes on the country's south despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah, after Israel's army issued an evacuation warning to several villages.<\/p>\n
Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah have traded fire daily, mostly in southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire agreement in effect since April 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Israel's military had called on residents of nine villages to evacuate, warning that it would act "forcefully" against Hezbollah after its "violation of the ceasefire agreement".<\/p>\n
The US \u200band Iran appeared no closer on Saturday to finding an end to their war after the two sides traded fire in the Gulf amid a tenuous ceasefire.<\/p>\n
\u2060Bahrain\u2019s \u200binterior \u200bministry said \u200bit \u200chad \u2060arrested \u200c41 \u2060people it said \u200bwere \u200clinked to Iran\u2019s \u200cRevolutionary \u200bGuards, the state news \u200bagency \u200breported.<\/p>\n
Iraeli military called on residents of more than half a dozen villages in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate ahead of expected attacks against Hezbollah despite a truce with Lebanon intended to halt the fighting.<\/p>\n
"In light of the terrorist Hezbollah's violation of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is compelled to act against it forcefully," the military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X, listing nine villages.<\/p>\n
"For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and stay away from the villages and towns by a distance of no less than 1,000 metres to open areas," he added.<\/p>\n
Isolated and traumatised by drones and missiles, seafarers in the Gulf face grave mental suffering after more than two months stuck on board in the Middle East war, maritime charities warn.<\/p>\n
From captains to cooks, engineers and other officers, the workers who keep global freight flowing have found themselves not just stranded but in some cases right in the firing line of the US-Israeli war with Iran.<\/p>\n
"We hear stories of how frightened they are. It's pretty scary," said Gavin Lim, head of the Crisis Response Network for the Sailors' Society, a UK-based seafarers' charity, who spoke with one crew whose vessel was hit. "They thought: 'We were going to die'."<\/p>\n
Trade vessels have been struck by projectiles and fired on by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in dozens of incidents, according to the British maritime security monitor UKMTO.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At least 11 seafarers have been killed, according to the International Maritime Organization.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he was expecting Iran's response to Washington's latest proposal on a deal to ending the Middle East war by "tonight."<\/p>\n
"I'm getting a letter supposedly tonight, so we'll see how that goes," Trump told reporters outside the White House.<\/p>\n
Satellite images appeared to show an oil slick spreading off the coast of Iran's Kharg Island, a key oil export terminal for the Islamic republic.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately clear what had caused the apparent spill, which was located off the small Gulf island's west coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orbital EOS, which monitors oil spills, told The New York Times that the spill appeared to cover more than 20 square miles (52 square kilometers) as of Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Conflict and Environment Observatory, a non-governmental organization, said on X that the "original source remains unclear, meanwhile it's drifting south and seems unlikely to be addressed appropriately."<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0Hezbollah said it had launched a swarm of drones at an airbase in northern Israel, after having claimed another attack targeting an Israeli base earlier in the day.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u2022 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio concluded a two-day visit to Rome on Friday, where he sought to ease tensions with Pope Leo and urged Europeans to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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