Israel kills 12 in Lebanon, warns Hezbollah against reassembling

Heavy Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including five Hezbollah fighters, in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, in what Israel said was a warning to the Iran-backed group against trying to re-establish itself.

Meanwhile, Syria’s defence minister announced a ceasefire shortly after government forces entered a key city in Sweida province on Tuesday, a day after clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and the Druze community killed dozens, while neighbouring Israel again launched strikes in the area, in an attempt to ‘shield the Druze minority’.

On the Palestine front, the Israeli scheme to move hundreds of thousands of already uprooted Palestinians to a so-called “humanitarian city” in Gaza has led politicians to spar with the defence establishment, but officials say a practical plan has yet to be crafted.

Besides, one of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, said it was quitting PM Netanyahu’s ruling coalition due to a long-running dispute over failure to draft a Bill to exempt orthodox students from military service. That would leave him with a razor thin majority of 61 in the 120 seat parliament.