(AFP) – The latest developments in the Middle East war:
– **Iran says negotiations far from final**
Progress had been made in negotiations with the United States to end the war, Iran’s parliamentary speaker said on Saturday night, but added the sides were still far from an agreement. “We are still far from the final discussion,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also one of Iran’s negotiators, said in a national televised address, adding “we made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain.”
– **Iran’s death toll**
Iran’s state-run Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying Saturday that the war with the United States and Israel had killed 3,468 people in the Islamic republic.
– **Israeli military says soldier killed in Lebanon**
The Israeli military said on Saturday that a soldier was killed the day before in southern Lebanon, where a ceasefire came into effect earlier this week. Command Sergeant Barak Kalfon, 48, died after being wounded on Friday in an incident that also injured three other soldiers, the military said.
– **UN chief condemns peacekeeper death**
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned on Saturday an attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon that left a French soldier dead and three wounded. France blamed the attack on Hezbollah and Guterres said, in a statement issued by his spokesman, that an initial assessment by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was that it was carried out by the Iranian-backed group. Hezbollah had denied France’s accusations that it was involved in the attack. “Hezbollah denies any connection to the incident that occurred with UNIFIL forces in the Ghandouriyeh-Bint Jbeil area, and calls for caution in making judgements and assigning responsibilities regarding the incident pending the Lebanese army’s investigations to determine the full circumstances of the incident,” the group said.
– **Israel demolishes buildings in south Lebanon**
Israeli forces on Saturday carried out demolitions in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil — about five kilometers from the border — the scene of intense fighting with Hezbollah prior to the recently agreed 10-day truce, Lebanese state media reported. “The Israeli enemy is repeating its house detonating operations in the town of Bint Jbeil,” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said, also reporting demolitions in other border towns where Israeli troops are present.
– **Iran navy warning**
“We warn that no ship, of any kind, should leave its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Any attempt to approach the Strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted,” the navy of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on its official Sepah News website.
– **No one-sided truce**
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the ongoing 10-day truce with Israel cannot be one-sided, vowing that his fighters would respond to Israeli attacks on Lebanon. “Because we do not trust this enemy, the resistance fighters will remain in the field with their hands on the trigger, and they will respond to violations accordingly,” Qassem said in a statement read out on TV. “There is no ceasefire from the side of the resistance only, it must be from both sides.”
– **Israel hits Lebanon**
The Israeli military said its air force had eliminated a “terrorist cell” operating near its troops in southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire there. “The IDF eliminated a terrorist cell operating in proximity to IDF soldiers in southern Lebanon, in the area of the forward defence line dedicated to preventing imminent threats to Israel’s northern communities,” it said, without specifying how many suspected militants were killed.
– **Trump warns against ‘blackmail’**
US President Donald Trump warned Iran not to “blackmail” Washington with the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran declared the strategic waterway once again closed. “We’re talking to them. They wanted to close up the strait again — you know, as they’ve been doing for years — and they can’t blackmail us,” Trump said at a White House event.
© 2024 AFP
