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SvennoJ on 18 April 2026
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Israel launches new strikes in southern Lebanon despite ceasefire

The Israeli army has confirmed it has carried out new attacks against what it calls threats south of the new “yellow line” in Lebanon.

Our Beirut-based correspondent Heidi Pett said that in addition to today’s continued artillery, shelling, and machine gun fire on several villages, Israel has confirmed launching two air strikes.

One, she said, targeted a group of Hezbollah fighters that Israel said were approaching the yellow line, rather than past it.

“So that actually indicates that they were to the north of it and not inside it,” Pett noted.

The second attacj, she said, targeted a man who was approaching a tunnel entrance south of the yellow line.

Israel says it has “carried out a strike on him and destroyed that tunnel entrance,” Pett added, noting that the Israeli military spokesman said this was not a violation of the ceasefire.

“If you read carefully, the text of it, which was released by the US State Department shortly after it was announced, allows Israel to act in what it defines as self-defence, in addition to allowing it to continue to occupy 55 Lebanese villages,” Pett said.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, however, has called the document an insult to Lebanon and said the group will not allow for continued Israeli attack while waiting for diplomatic negotiations.

As a result, Pett said, the situation on the ground is much the same as it was yesterday.

“There are still many, many people in south Lebanon on the roads heading back to their villages,” she said, but many roads are also jammed with people heading back to displacement shelters because they do not trust that the ceasefire will hold.



Iran blames Trump’s loose talk as it reimposes blockade of Strait of Hormuz


Angered by US President Donald Trump's false claims and his subsequent comments on Iran, the IRGC today announced the reimposition of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. This means that no commercial ships would be able to pass through this waterway unless approved by the Iranian military. Rifat Jawaid presents the chronology of events to highlight how Trump's social media posts and his comments made to the media were responsible for Iran's latest action.

Iran says ‘fiction’ of ‘unconditional transit passage’ in Hormuz ‘sailed’ after US-Israeli aggression

Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, has issued a statement on social media in response to a post by the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas that said transit through waterways such as the Strait of Hormuz “must remain open and free of charge” under international law.

“No rule of international law forbids Iran, the coastal State, from taking necessary measures to stop the Strait of Hormuz being used for waging military aggression against Iran,” Baghaei wrote.

“And ‘unconditional transit passage’ in Hormuz? That fiction sailed the moment U.S./Israeli aggression brought U.S. military assets into the strait’s backyard.”