U.S. embassy issues chilling warning for Americans in Middle East

"The U.S. State Department has issued a warning for all Americans to check their flights and travel as war spreads to airports across the region.
The advisory says, "Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions." The same advisory has been distributed to a number of Middle East countries, including Iraq, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates." msn

Trump Threatens To Assassinate IRGC Officials In Switzerland - IR Iran In Meltdown

"President Trump has once again trapped the Islamic Republic. The tables have turned the IRGC's main officials have stormed out of the building in Switzerland on day one of the negotiations, allowing the junior interns to have some technical talks.

And why? because President Trump threatened to assassinate them before they returned to Iran.
The narrative was the United States is trying to tell Israel to behave in southern Lebanon when it comes to defending themselves against Hezbollah terrorists. Well, today it's switched.
It's now the pressure from the United States on the IRGC and Hezbollah in Lebanon while the Israelis remain in the southern parts of the country.

If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take the Straight of Hormuz over by force. The United States will scontrol the Straight of Hormuz." TousiTV

First Round Of Iran Talks Concludes In Switzerland With Fireworks, Threats Of Renewed War: 'Be Careful'

"Round 1 ends: Vance cites "great progress" and says talks will continue.

Iran defiant: Ghalibaf rejects US threats and links talks to a Lebanon ceasefire.

Trump raises stakes via some typical Truth Social lashing out: Warns on Hormuz, Lebanon, and keeps military options on the table.
Nuclear progress?: Some reports say not addressed, others suggest framework already being worked on.
Trump is warning the Iranians on the sticking points of Hormuz closure and the Lebanon crisis. He has newly threatened on Sunday to hit Iran again if it can't constrain its proxies, namely Hezbollah, in Lebanon. In parallel, Tehran is demanding that Washington reign in Israel.
Trump warned Iranian officials that closing the Strait of Hormuz would be an existential mistake, reportedly telling Tehran that it "won't have a country" if it attempts to choke off global energy flows, in the segment above. Trump also issued a personal warning to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, saying he "better watch his mouth," while reports indicated the president used unusually blunt language during discussions with Iranian intermediaries over the strategic waterway." 

ZeroHedge

Israeli army captures strategic castle in Lebanon in deepest incursion in 26 years

"Israeli troops have captured a strategic mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon in the deepest incursion into the country in more than a quarter-century, the military said." Hindustan

Israel Intensifies Strikes on Lebanon

“We are not slowing down — quite the opposite, I have ordered an acceleration,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, according to L’Orient Today.
“We will intensify the strikes, increase their force, and we will crush Hezbollah,” Netanyahu added.
The IDF said it will tighten defensive guidelines in the Confrontation Line area and several northern communities from Tuesday morning through the evening, limiting gatherings to 50 people outdoors and 200 indoors." Sputnik

Lebanon on the brink as government moves against Hezbollah

"In an emergency session held at Baabda Palace on April 9, Lebanon’s Cabinet made a consequential decision: the immediate prohibition of all Hezbollah military and security activities on Lebanese soil.

The government in many times formally demanded that Hezbollah surrender its weapons and transition into a purely political party, ending its status as an armed non-state actor.
President Joseph Aoun delivered a pointed message in a speech on April 9 underscoring Lebanese sovereignty, insisting that 'the Lebanese State must negotiate for itself,' in a clear rejection of any regional power, particularly Iran, claiming authority to negotiate Lebanon’s future.
The Cabinet also ordered the Lebanese Army and security forces to impose full state authority across Beirut Governorate, declaring that only legitimate state institutions may possess weapons within the capital." msn

Israel to Begin Direct Talks with Lebanon to Disarm Hezbollah — Eyes ‘Historic’ Peace Deal

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will begin direct negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible,” aimed at disarming Hezbollah and advancing what he described as a “historic, sustainable peace agreement.” Breitbart

Iran Blocks Traffic in Strait of Hormuz over Israeli Strikes in Lebanon

"Iran reportedly violated the ceasefire agreement brokered by Pakistan in a matter of hours by

once again closing the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, ostensibly because Israel has refused to halt its operation against the Hezbollah terrorists of Lebanon.
Iran’s state-run Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Wednesday morning that two oil tankers were allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz “with permission from Iran” – but the strait was then closed again “in response to Israeli strikes in Lebanon.”
CBS News reported that Iran’s remaining naval forces are still warning ships in the Persian Gulf that they must obtain “permission” from Iran to transit the Strait of Hormuz." Breitbart

4.7-magnitude earthquake off Lebanon coast felt in northern Israel

"A 4.7-magnitude earthquake struck the eastern Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Lebanon
on Monday morning and was felt in parts of northern Israel, the Energy and Infrastructure Ministry said.
There were no reports of injuries or damage. Reports from northern Israel indicated that the earthquake was primarily felt from Haifa north to Nahariya." msn

Israel orders IDF to immediately destroy all Litani River bridges to curb Hezbollah terrorists

"Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, after an assessment of the situation in Lebanon with top-ranking Israel Defense Forces staff on Sunday, said he and the prime minister have ordered the IDF to “immediately destroy all the bridges over the Litani river” to prevent the movement of Hezbollah terrorists and weapons to the south." msn

UN force in Lebanon says peacekeepers fired upon

"UN peacekeepers said they were fired upon "likely by non-state armed groups" in south Lebanon on Sunday, while a Hamas source said an Israeli strike killed an official from the Palestinian militant group.
Israel said no direct talks were planned with Lebanon to end the latest war with militant group Hezbollah. which has been raging for two weeks. The statement came a day after a Lebanese official said Beirut was preparing a delegation to negotiate with Israel." msn

Tehran receives a "large-scale" attack from Israel

"The Israeli army has carried out "large-scale" attacks on the city of Tehran, marking what

military authorities have defined as a "new phase" of their offensive against the Iranian regime. This move has not only struck the heart of Iran but has quickly spread to Lebanon, where heavy bombings have been reported in the capital, Beirut. The Israeli military has officially communicated that the deployment's primary target is "the infrastructure of the Iranian terrorist regime in Tehran." ElMundo

Hezbollah launches missiles at Israel from Lebanon, Israeli military says

"Hezbollah fired several missiles from Lebanon towards Israel on Sunday, two days after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, the IDF said.
"Following the sirens that sounded in several areas in northern Israel, a projectile that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force, and several projectiles fell in open areas in accordance with standard protocols," the IDF said in a statement." msn

Armed militias fire heavy machine guns through Tehran streets in deadly night attacks

"Gunfire echoed through Tehran as heavily armed militias were deployed across the Iranian capital, transforming some districts into fortified zones under intense security.

Video footage showed bursts of automatic weapons after dark as government buildings, state media facilities and major intersections were reportedly placed under guard, with armored pickups and masked fighters patrolling the streets in Toyotas.
The trucks are seen mounted with heavy machine guns, moving in convoys with weapons firing into the darkness as armed men shout commands.
They are reportedly being used by elements linked to Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF),....Their commander speaks in Farsi and these fighters are Iraqi Hash al-Sha’bi, Popular Mobilization Force and Hezbollah fighters who have joined the IRGC. The IRGC are their commanders, and you can hear them shouting in Farsi." msn

With Maduro gone, the US sets its sights on driving Hezbollah from Venezuela

"Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s capture also marks an advance towards the US goal of uprooting Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah from Latin America, where the movement stands accused of criminal activities linked to drug trafficking, arms sales and money laundering. Washington has warned that it will no longer tolerate the presence of Hezbollah or its Iranian backers in Venezuela.

Washington has used Maduro’s abduction to send an unmistakable signal to the militant group’s leadership as well as its Iranian backers, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio directly threatening them the morning after the attack.

“It's very simple,” he told US broadcaster CBS. “In the 21st Century, under the Trump administration, we are not going to have a country like Venezuela in our own hemisphere in the sphere of control and the crossroads for Hezbollah, for Iran and for every other malign influence in the country, in the world. That's just not going to exist.”
Rubio later told NBC News that the new dispensation would mean the outright elimination of any Hezbollah or Iranian presence on Venezuelan soil, where they have been welcomed for the past three decades in the name of a shared antipathy to the United States. The US designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
Rubio called on the Venezuelan regime – now under the interim leadership of Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez – to break with both Iran and Hezbollah. The Islamic Republic, facing mounting protests first triggered by a cost-of-living crisis, has also found itself under pressure, with US President Donald Trump even threatening to intervene if Iranian security forces kill peaceful protesters.
The US has long been monitoring Hezbollah’s activities in the region. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has said since 2008 that the movement, then led by Hassan Nasrallah, had been financing itself through drug-trafficking, arms sales and money laundering across Latin America and beyond. According to DEA figures, these activities earned Hezbollah about $1 billion a year.
As for Venezuela in particular, US investigators say that Maduro was even more permissive than his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, and that Venezuela had become a safe haven for the Shiite movement, which reportedly set up command structures in the capital Caracas." France24

Israel Says It Assassinated A Founding Member Of Hezbollah In Fresh Beirut Strike

"The Israeli military launched a major attack on the capital of Beirut, in what later announced as another targeted strikes on top Hezbollah leadership.
The Israeli military (IDF) announced that it "eliminated" Hezbollah’s chief of staff Haytham Ali Tabatabai, after Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported that two missiles were fired at an apartment building on al-Arid Street in Haret Hreik neighbourhood of Dahiyeh." ZH

Israel Ramps Up Strikes In Lebanon

"Israel has been steadily ratcheting its aerial attacks in southern Lebanon, against Hezbollah and terror targets. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) having confirmed an airstrike in the al-Biyad area of southern Lebanon, which killed two Hezbollah operatives.
One of the operatives has been named by the IDF and in regional media as Hussein Ibrahim Suleiman, a member of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force. The IDF announced, "The terrorists were involved in advancing terror attacks toward the territory of the State of Israel and were eliminated while working to rebuild a terror infrastructure." ZH

Germany Says It Busted Up Hamas Terror Plot Targeting Jews

"German prosecutors announced in a statement Wednesday that authorities have apprehended three suspected Hamas members who were allegedly procuring weapons "for assassinations targeting Israeli or Jewish institutions."

The trio has been charged with membership in a foreign terrorist organization and preparing an act of violence endangering the state, in a somewhat rare case, given Hamas does not tend to operate transnationally - especially in moments of direct, intensified war with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
However, the three - so far only identified by the first names and last initials, are not Palestinian. Two are said to be German, while the third was born in Lebanon. They are set to appear before a judge on Thursday.
The men identified as Abed Al G, Wael F M and Ahmad I were arrested in Berlin, which notably came a day before Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
CNN has cited a prosecutor statement as saying, "Since at least the summer of 2025 the three have been involved in procuring firearms and ammunition" for Hamas.
Police found "various weapons, including an AK 47 assault rifle and several pistols, and a considerable amount of ammunition." during raids on their homes during the arrest." 

ZeroHedge

Battered Hezbollah Says It Will Stay Out Of Iran-Israel Fight

"Hezbollah is warning of grave escalation that "crosses all red lines" the day after Israel's major missile attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. But so far the Iran-backed group is indicating it doesn't plan to reopen a war front against Israel.

But as for Hezbollah, it's been battered and its leadership decimated since the Gaza war began, and after a prior flare-up of fighting in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah is reportedly pledging to stay out of the Iran-Israel fight thus far:
"Hezbollah is committed to the ceasefire agreement, even though Israel has not respected this commitment over the past period," the spokesperson said. "It continues to kill, assassinate, and attack areas, including entering border villages and remaining at the five points."
Reuters also cited a Hezbollah official on Friday as saying that the group "will not initiate its own attack on Israel in retaliation for Israel's strike."
This is very significant, given Israel will closely be watching its northern border. IDF reservists have reportedly been called up to bolster defenses all across Israel." ZH

Trump Meets with Syria’s Jihadi President… …Offers Dropped Sanctions and Normal Relations

"President Donald Trump met with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, one day after announcing the U.S. would drop sanctions against Syria.

Trump said after meeting Sharaa that he would explore “normalizing” relations with Damascus, while Syria would explore joining the Abraham Accords to normalize relations with Israel.
Trump’s outreach to Damascus, especially if he can get Syria into the Abraham Accords, could prove long-term beneficial to the United States. The move could go a long way toward diminishing Chinese influence in the Middle East and further isolating Iran, which sank a great deal of blood and treasure into supporting the regime of dictator Bashar Assad and may now have nothing to show for it. The political geography surrounding Israel would change dramatically if Syria became friendly, cutting Iran off from its terrorist proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon." 

Breitbart