A reported confrontation between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu coincided with fresh claims of a Hezbollah ceasefire proposal and renewed uncertainty around US-Iran diplomacy.
Sirens sounded across northern Israel before the military launched retaliatory strikes in Beirut, signalling a dangerous new phase in the region’s spiralling confrontation.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said Tabatabai served as Hezbollah’s de facto chief of staff, ranking just below Secretary-General Naim Qassem in the Iran-backed organisation’s command structure.
Contacts among Lebanese authorities are underway to reduce tensions in Khaldeh while the Lebanese army units were deployed in the area
The chemical had been lying unattended for years and was a disaster waiting to happen.
The huge blast damaged buildings in a radius of several kilometres in Beirut, leaving more than 200,000 homeless or living in homes with no windows or doors.
President Michel Aoun has asked the government to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is formed.
During his trip to Beirut on Thursday, Macron had announced that France would organize an international aid conference to raise funds for emergency relief.
The instruction comes just days after the massive blasts in the port of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, killing more than 137 people and injuring over 5,000.
The explosions hit a country already reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades which has left nearly half of the population in poverty, as well as from the coronavirus pandemic.
