French Foreign Minister arrives in Lebanon

See you Monday morning for a new live. Good evening to everyone.

Lebanese Minister of Health Firass Abiad “thanked” Jean-Noël Barrot for “a donation of eleven and a half tons […] which will strengthen the medical stock to treat emergency situations” and praised “its efforts to deal with the repercussions of Israeli attacks”, according to a press release from his ministry.

Jean-Noël Barrot must deliver emergency health aid to the Lebanese Minister of Health in the evening, before a working meeting on the situation of French nationals.

Monday will be devoted to meetings, notably with Najib Mikati, the Prime Minister, General Joseph Aoun, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and Nabih Berri, President of the National Assembly.

Jean-Noël Barrot is also due to meet the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon and the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL).

Maintaining military pressure against Hezbollah, Israel said it attacked Sunday “dozens of terrorist targets” of the Shiite movement in Lebanon, including rocket launch sites and military installations. In the evening, it said it had carried out around 120 additional “large-scale” strikes in southern Lebanon and elsewhere in the country.

Raids targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut, where Hassan Nasrallah died Friday in a powerful Israeli strike that razed entire buildings.

In southern Lebanon, 32 people were killed in Israeli raids and in the east of the country at least 25 died, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. In the last 48 hours, 14 rescuers have died in Israeli strikes, according to him.

When asked by a journalist whether total war could be avoided in the Middle East, the American president replied: “It must be. It really should be avoided.”

He is the first senior foreign diplomat to go there since the intensification of Israeli strikes.

The brand new Minister of Foreign Affairs is due to hold several meetings on Monday with Lebanese and UN officials.

Four people were killed and around 30 injured in Israeli airstrikes on two ports and two power plants in western Yemen, controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, a channel affiliated with the insurgents said on Sunday.

Al-Massirah television announced the death of “four martyrs, including a port employee and three engineers”, as well as “33 injured, according to a preliminary assessment of the Israeli aggression”.

According to our colleagues from France Info, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs has been informed of the death of a second French national in Lebanon in Israeli bombings in recent days. It would be a man over 60 years old.

The Israeli army said on Sunday it had carried out around 120 additional strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the armed Islamist movement fires rockets into Israeli territory. “Recently”, the army carried out “large-scale strikes” targeting “Hezbollah agents”, in total “around 120 targets” in southern Lebanon and inside Lebanese territory, a- she indicated in a press release.

The body of the leader of Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was found on Saturday, the day after the violent Israeli strike which targeted him in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a source close to the movement told AFP on Sunday.

“His body was found on Saturday and was placed in a shroud after a funeral wash on Sunday,” added the source who requested anonymity, specifying that the date of “the funeral ceremony and his burial have not yet been announced. not yet been fixed.”

Moscow announced on Sunday that Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin would meet Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Monday, amid tensions in the Middle East following the death of the leader of pro-Iranian Hezbollah. This meeting will take place after Russia strongly condemned “the political assassination committed by Israel” of Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.

It is intended to “discuss all Russian-Iranian cooperation in the commercial, economic, cultural and humanitarian fields,” according to a press release from the Russian government. The discussions will focus in particular on “the realization of major joint projects in the fields of transport, energy, industry and agriculture”.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced the death of 21 people on Sunday in Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon, which has been subject to intense bombardment since Monday. “The Israeli enemy’s raids on Baalbeck-Hermel left 21 dead and 47 injured,” the ministry said in a provisional report. An AFP journalist noted violent raids in the Baalbeck region on Sunday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday that no place is too far for Israel after its army struck in Yemen in response to attacks by Houthi rebels targeting Israeli territory.

“Our message is clear: for us, no place is too far,” he said in a statement from his office, after monitoring the progress of strikes against the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeida in Yemen. , in an Air Force command and control room.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said 24 people were killed Sunday in an Israeli strike near Saida, the main city in southern Lebanon. “The attack by the Israeli enemy on Ain el-Delb left 24 dead and 29 injured,” the ministry announced in a provisional report. The official Lebanese news agency ANI reported a strike targeting a building in this area.

The Israeli army carried out strikes on Sunday against the port and power plants in Hodeida, a city in western Yemen under the control of Houthi rebels, said Al-Massirah television, reporting to these insurgents. The Israeli army, for its part, said it had struck “Houthi terrorist targets” in Yemen. The Houthis, allies of Iran like the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, have opened a front against Israel in “solidarity” with the Palestinians of Gaza. On Saturday, they claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Tel Aviv airport.

The United States assured on Sunday that it had a “very robust” military presence in the Middle East after sending reinforcements, in response to fears of escalation linked to Israel’s strikes in Lebanon. “We have deployed additional forces to the region,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on ABC on Sunday.

And “there are other options also available to strengthen and improve this system,” he added, saying he did not want to give more details. But “we already have a very robust military capability to defend ourselves and help defend Israel,” he said.

The head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot will be in Lebanon on Sunday evening, announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Israeli strikes continue, particularly on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs planned to “exchange with local authorities and provide French support, particularly humanitarian (…). Landing this evening,” added this source. According to his official program, in the evening he must deliver emergency health aid to the Lebanese Minister of Health, before a working meeting on the situation of French nationals.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health announced on Sunday that 14 rescue workers had been killed in Israeli raids against strongholds of the Islamist movement Hezbollah in Lebanon over the past two days, condemning them in the “utmost firmness”. In a statement, the ministry specified that Israel had “increased attacks against rescue workers and health centers”, denouncing “with the greatest firmness the repeated attacks by the Israeli enemy”.