PARIS: The latest developments in the Middle East war.
Israel strikes southern Lebanon
Lebanese state media reported a series of new Israeli strikes in at least four different locations in the country’s south late Saturday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his military to attack Hezbollah following alleged ceasefire breaches. Attacks earlier in the day reportedly killed six people, despite a recently extended ceasefire.
Iran FM back to Pakistan
With US-Iran peace talks called off, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will head back to Pakistan after visiting Oman, state media reported Saturday. The IRNA news agency, citing Iran’s foreign ministry, reported that Araghchi, who had left Islamabad earlier in the day, “is scheduled to visit Pakistan again after completing his trip to Oman and before travelling to Russia.”
Pakistan ‘committed’ to role
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he had spoken by phone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian after US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad were called off. “Pakistan remains committed to serve as an honest and sincere facilitator – working tirelessly to advance durable peace and lasting stability in the region,” Sharif wrote on X.
US ‘truly serious’?
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said it remained to be seen whether the United States was “truly serious about diplomacy.”
Trump cancels envoys’ Pakistan trip
US President Donald Trump ordered his envoys not to travel to Pakistan for talks with Iranian officials on ending the war. In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said: “There is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’ Nobody knows who is in charge, including them.” Trump said the move did not mean a restart of the war.
German minesweeper
Germany will soon send a minesweeper to the Mediterranean for a possible mission in the Strait of Hormuz after the end of the US-Iran war, a defence ministry spokeswoman told AFP.
US ‘quagmire’
The United States “is looking for a face-saving way to escape the war quagmire it has become trapped in”, a spokesman for Iran’s defence ministry said. Iran’s military also warned it would respond if the US maintained its blockade of Iranian ports, calling it “banditry.”
Iran execution
Iran extended its long series of executions carried out during the war with the capital punishment of a man its judiciary said had carried out a “mission” on behalf of Israel’s spy agency during mass protests in January.
Kuwait frees journalist
An American-Kuwaiti journalist has been released after being held for weeks in Kuwait during a crackdown on sharing footage of the US-Iran war, a US State Department official said. Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, who has contributed to The New York Times, PBS, and Al Jazeera English, was arrested on March 3 for allegedly spreading false information, harming national security and misusing his mobile phone.
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