20:30 Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem declared a "great victory" against Israel in his first speech since a 60-day truce between Israel and Lebanon went into effect on Wednesday morning.
"I have decided to declare... officially and clearly that we are facing a great victory that surpasses that of July 2006," Qassem said.
He added: "We won because we prevented the enemy from destroying Hezbollah... (and) from annihilating or weakening the resistance."
The truce deal, brokered by the US and France, stipulates Hezbollah move its forces north of the Litani River and the invading Israeli army withdrawing from south Lebanon.
It also stipulates that the Lebanese National Army deploy across the south of the country alongside United Nations peacekeepers.
The implementation of the truce will be monitored by a five-member committee representing the US, France, UNIFIL, Israel and Lebanon.
Qassem added that Hezbollah was ready to cooperate with the Lebanese army to help build the country's defensive capacities.
"We will work to... strengthen Lebanon's defensive capacities," said Qassem.
"The resistance will be ready along with our partners, first and foremost the army, to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of Lebanon's weakness," he added in a televised speech.
"The coordination between the resistance and the Lebanese army will be at a high level to implement the commitments of the agreement," Qassem continued, adding that "no one is betting on problems or disagreements" with the army.
The Hezbollah chief added that his group's "support for Palestine will not stop and will continue through different means."
An image grab taken from Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV on November 29, 2024, shows Hezbollah chief Naim Qasem delivering a televised speech from an undisclosed location. Qassem on November 29 2024. AFP
19:30 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated on Friday that the situation near Aleppo was an infringement on Syria's sovereignty and expressed hope that the Syrian government would "quickly restore order" in the city.
"We are for the government of Syria to quickly restore order in this district and restore the constitutional order," Peskov stated.
Iran, another key ally of Syria, reaffirmed its support for Damascus amid the renewed jihadist insurgency.
In a phone call with his Syrian counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pledged continued support for the Syrian government and its military. "We will continue to support the government, nation, and army of Syria," Araghchi said, reflecting Tehran's longstanding commitment to the country's government.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah received a phone call from Syria's Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh, during which they discussed the latest developments in the region, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
Turkey demanded on Friday an end to "attacks" on Idlib in Syria, where Syrian and Russian warplanes reportedly launched airstrikes.
The Turkish foreign ministry said in a message on X, "We have emphasized that these attacks must end," adding that "the recent fighting has caused "an undesirable escalation of tensions."
"The recent clashes have resulted in an undesirable escalation of tensions in the region."
Earlier, a senior Turkish defence ministry official told Reuters a day prior that Turkey is closely monitoring developments in northern Syria and has taken precautions to safeguard its troops stationed there.
Some Islamist groups in Iraq who are allied with Iran have accused Israel of fueling recent Jihadist activities in Syria, Kurdish-Iraqi news website Shafaq News reported.
These groups pledged to retaliate against what they say are Israeli attempts to destabilize the region, it added.
19:00 The Israeli army said Friday it had struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher in southern Lebanon after "detecting militant activity in the area" two days after the start of a ceasefire.
"A short while ago, terrorist activity and movement of a Hezbollah portable rocket launcher were identified in southern Lebanon. The threat was thwarted in an (Israeli Air Force) strike," the army claimed in a statement that featured a video of the airstrike on a slowly moving truck.
It was the latest in a series of Israeli violations of the three-day-old truce between Israel and Lebanon.
Earlier in the day, the Israeli army warned the residents of 10 border villages not to approach their homesteads.
The warning comes as tens of thousands of Lebanese residents of the south made their way back toward their homes in the south of the country immediately after the ceasefire took effect on Wednesday morning.
People mourn over the coffins of six Hezbollah fighters in the southern Lebanese village of Maarake east of Tyre during their funeral on November 29, 2024.The fighters were killed by an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village a few days before a ceasefire took effect on November 27. AFP
18:30 70 Palestinians, most of them women and children, were killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings in Beit Lahia on Friday.
It was another bloody day for tens of thousands of Palestinians who have refused to leave northern Gaza amid an eight-week-old Israeli military campaign to cleanse the area ethnically.
PHOTO GALLERY: The spectre of hunger haunts Palestinians under siege in Gaza.
17:30 The Syrian Armed Forces stated on Friday that its forces are repelling the large-scale assault launched by the "terrorist Nusra Front, backed by a large number of foreign terrorists," on Idlib and Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city.
The Syrian army said it was actively engaged on all fronts in both Aleppo and Idlib "to repel the offensive by terrorist organizations affiliated with the so-called Al-Nusra Front, using heavy weaponry and drones, and backed by a large number of armed foreign terrorists."
According to the statement, the Syrian armed forces inflicted heavy losses on the attackers, killing and wounding hundreds while also destroying dozens of vehicles and armoured units.
It added that 17 drones were shot down and destroyed.
The army said it continues to reinforce positions along the frontlines with additional troops and equipment to prevent further violations and repel the terrorists' assaults.
It added that its forces have regained control of positions that had been breached in recent hours and vowed to continue combat operations until the terrorists are pushed back.
In a final note, the army urged citizens to disregard misinformation being spread by "terrorist organizations" on affiliated platforms and to rely on national media and official platforms for accurate news.
File Photo: Syrian Armed Forces
16:45 The Israeli army has confirmed that four soldiers were among nine wounded in a gun attack by a Palestinian man on a bus near Ariel settlement in the occupied West Bank on Friday morning.
Shortly after the operation, the head of the Israeli settlements council in the occupied West Bank called on the Israeli army to carry out raids in every single town and home in the territories to search and seize arms.
The Israeli government has settled more than 500,000 of its citizens in hundreds of heavily-fortified settlements across the occupied West Bank in a bid to choke out the indigenous Palestinian population, thus rendering a two-state solution more difficult to realize.
16:30 Medical sources say Israeli attacks have killed at least 45 people across the strip so far on Friday, with 21 of the victims in the northern parts of the strip.
Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks killed 24 Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday morning.
The strikes on Nuseirat come as the Israeli army intensified a military operation against various towns and refugee camps in the central and southern parts of the strip in the last few days.
Palestinians returned to Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip after Israeli shelling of the camp stopped. AFP
16:00 Four Israeli tanks have entered the western side of the Lebanese border village of Khiyam, Lebanon's official news agency said on Friday.
The Israeli army has violated the terms of a ceasefire that took effect on Wednesday on several occasions in the past 48 hours, according to the Lebanese government.
Khiyam, a strategic town on the border between Israel and Lebanon, was the site of fierce battles between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in the days before the start of the ceasefire.
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicles patrol a road in the southern Lebanese city of Marjayoun, near the border with Israel on November 29, 2024. AFP
15:10 The Israeli army said the Palestinian man who opened fire on a bus carrying soldiers in Ariel settlement in the West Bank was Samer Hussein from the Einabus village near Nablus.
Hussein, 46, had spent several years in Israeli jails on suspicion of anti-Israeli activities.
Samer Hussein
14:30 Ezzeddine Al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas, has claimed the attack on a bus carrying Israelis, including settlers and soldiers, in the Ariel settlement on Friday morning.
In a statement, Al-Qassam said: "The extremist Zionist government will pay the price for its decisions targeting the West Bank with the blood of its soldiers."
"One of our fighters surprised several Zionist soldiers inside a bus in Ariel, wounding nine people, 3 of them critically," it explained.
Israeli security forces surround a bullet-riddled bus following a reported attack at an intersection close to the settlement of Ariel, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. AFP
13:30 The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a message for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, observed on November 29 2024.
"Every year on this day, the international community stands in solidarity for the dignity, rights, justice and self-determination of the Palestinian people. This year's commemoration is especially painful as those fundamental goals are as distant as ever.
"Nothing justifies the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas and the taking of hostages. And nothing justifies the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
"Yet, more than a year later, Gaza is in ruins, more than 43,000 Palestinians – primarily women and children – have been reportedly killed, and the humanitarian crisis is getting worse by the day. This is appalling and inexcusable.
"Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli military operations, settlement expansion, evictions, demolitions, settler violence and threats of annexation are inflicting further pain and injustice.
"It is past time for an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages; an end to the unlawful occupation of the Palestinian Territory – as confirmed by the International Court of Justice and the General Assembly; and irreversible progress towards a two-State solution, in line with international law and relevant UN resolutions – with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security, and Jerusalem as the capital of both States.
"As a matter of urgency, I appeal for full support of lifesaving humanitarian relief for the Palestinian people – in particular through the work of UNRWA, which represents an irreplaceable lifeline for millions of Palestinians.
"The United Nations will continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights to live in peace, security and dignity."
13:00 Israel assassinated Dr. Ahmad Ziad Kahlout, the head of the ICU unit at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, on his way to work on Friday morning.
Last week, Israel killed several members of Dr. Kahlout's family in an airstrike on their home in Beit Lahia.
The hospital has been under bombardment since the Israeli army intensified its military operations to cleanse northern Gaza ethnically in early October.
For 55 days, doctors at Kamal Adwan have issued multiple appeals to international organisations to pressure Tel Aviv to stop its attacks on the hospital as they try to treat hundreds of civilians wounded in round-the-clock airstrikes.
Last week, Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan who has refused Israeli orders to evacuate the hospital, was injured in Israeli shelling of the facilities.
12:30 A Palestinian man opened fire on a bus carrying Israelis near Ariel settlement in the occupied West Bank, wounding nine, with three in critical condition, according to media reports.
Israeli media said the incident took place as the bus, which was travelling from Tel Aviv to the West Bank, made a stop near Ariel settlement, one of the largest Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, which is near the Palestinian town of Salfit.
The Israeli army said the gunman was a Palestinian man, and he was killed in a shootout with an Israeli police patrol after the incident.
Israeli media reported that the wounded in the incident included Israeli soldiers.
The attack on the Israeli bus is the latest in a series of attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and inside Israel proper, which killed and wounded dozens of Israelis.
It comes as the Israeli army forges ahead with two-year-old a deadly crackdown on Palestinian struggle in the occupied territories, which escalated after October 7 2023.
The Israeli army has killed more than 796 Palestinians, including more than 150 children and teenagers, and arrested more than 11,000 others in this campaign.
Israeli bulldozers have also destroyed homes and infrastructure on a massive scale in various towns and refugee camps across the West Bank.
Meanwhile, Israeli settlers in the occupied territories, backed by the army, have intensified deadly attacks on Palestinian residents and torched agricultural land, homes, and vehicles on a massive scale.
Last week, the Israeli government lifted all provisions of sanctioning Israeli settlers who carry out attacks against the Palestinians in the occupied territories as various extremist Israeli politicians ratchet up calls for annexing the West Bank.
12:00 Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks killed 24 Palestinians in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday morning.
The strikes on Nuseirat come as the Israeli army intensified a military operation against various towns and refugee camps in the central and southern parts of the strip in the last few days.
Medical sources say Israeli attacks have killed at least 32 people across the strip in the early hours of the day.
Palestinians returned to Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip after Israeli shelling of the camp stopped. AFP
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