Ali al-Taher ridge key battleground in southern Lebanon

The Ali al-Taher ridge, which overlooks a wide part of southern Lebanon, has become one of the main flashpoints in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is believed to have built an underground command center and weapons storage facilities inside the ridge, Lebanese security sources told Reuters in July. At about 600 meters (1970 ft) above sea level, the position gave the group an advantage in launching short-range missiles and drones towards northern Israel, according to analysts cited by the agency.

In June, Hezbollah said its fighters confronted Israeli troops trying to move towards the northern slopes of the hills.

Military analyst Elias Hanna said that Ali al-Taher is strategically linked to the Beaufort Castle heights and overlooks the Khiam area, making it important for surveillance and directing fire across nearby positions.

Its significance now extends beyond the battlefield. Reuters reported in July that the ridge had become a sticking point in efforts to expand US-backed “pilot zones”, under which Israeli troops would withdraw as the Lebanese army deploys and Hezbollah’s military infrastructure is removed.

Israeli forces conduct morning detonations in south Lebanon towns

Israeli forces have conducted detonations this morning in the towns of Haddatha and Baraachit in southern Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) has reported.

Israeli drones were also recorded at dawn over the Tyre region, NNA added.

Israeli forces shell southern Lebanon town of al-Mansouri

Israeli artillery targeted the town of al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon, the official National News Agency reports.

Israeli military vehicles simultaneously moved explosive-rigged fuel canisters towards the town as a Merkava tank and a D9 armoured bulldozer pushed into al-Mansouri.

Lebanon’s border villages and towns have witnessed a relentless Israeli policy of systematically wiping out civilian homes, residential neighbourhoods, and vital public infrastructure since the latest invasion and occupation in March.

Legal experts, analysts and local officials say Israel’s ultimate objective is the “emptying of residential geography” and carving out a depopulated “buffer zone”.

Israeli drones drop stun grenades on southern Lebanon

An unmanned aerial vehicle dropped two stun grenades on the al-Aziyeh-al-Mansouri road near Tyre in southern Lebanon.

The National News Agency reported Israeli drones flying at dawn over the Tyre region. It said Israeli forces later conducted detonations in the towns of Haddatha and Baraachit in southern Lebanon.

Although a US-mediated ceasefire aimed at halting the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began on April 17, Israeli forces have continued their attacks and occupy dozens of villages across southern Lebanon, with no timeline set for a full withdrawal.

Israeli forces enter south Lebanon village of Halta, surround homes

Israeli forces have advanced into Halta village in Lebanon’s southeastern Hasbaiyya district, near the border with the occupied Golan Heights, and surrounded a number of homes, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported.

NNA said the incursion followed a call from Israeli forces to a local municipal council member and the village mayor, and that a number of residents had been prevented from leaving their homes.

Lebanese army to receive citizen detained by Israeli forces

The Lebanese army will receive, via the Red Cross, a citizen detained by Israeli forces.

Israel to release 5 Lebanese prisoners of war in ‘goodwill gesture’

Israel is expected to release five Lebanese prisoners of war in a US-coordinated goodwill gesture as part of ongoing negotiations with Beirut, Israeli media report.

The move comes after talks between the two sides held in Italy in August, where the issue of detainees and missing people was formally on the agenda and initial lists were exchanged, according to Israeli Channel 12 news.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said after the Rome talks that “positive progress” had been made on border and prisoner issues, though no final agreement on further releases had been announced at that stage.

The release echoes a similar gesture in March 2025 when Israel freed five Lebanese detainees, including a Lebanese army soldier, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office described as a “gesture to the Lebanese president” coordinated with Washington.

Lebanon has been seeking the release of 34 documented Lebanese prisoners held by Israel.

Kuwait condemns Iranian attacks

Kuwait’s foreign ministry has condemned repeated Iranian attacks – the latest was before dawn – describing them as a flagrant violation of its sovereignty and a direct threat to its security and stability.

The ministry said the attacks on Thursday targeted the safety of citizens and residents and constituted a grave breach of international law.

“The continuation of these brazen assaults reflects a hostile approach and constitutes a dangerous escalation that threatens the security and stability of the region,” the ministry said in a statement. It added that the attacks represented a systematic undermining of diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalation and calm.

The ministry stressed that Kuwait reserved its full right to take all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty, protect its security and defend its territory and vital facilities against any aggression or threat.

Iran waiting on US midterms as Gulf states bear economic cost of prolonged standoff

Iran is banking on the outcome of the US midterms to shift Washington’s approach, says Sultan Barakat, Professor of Public Policy at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar.

“I think Iran is just holding their breath to see what happens with the midterm elections in the United States”, Barakat said. “If that election goes against what Trump wishes, then you could see the president being impeached. I think the Democrats will probably ask for a halt on the war and go back to negotiation.”

Barakat said this is “major gambling on the Iranian side,” since “Trump has nothing to lose now. He can actually take actions that were not anticipated in the past, or maybe were far-fetched in the past”.

He said “the ultimate losers, really, are still the Gulf States”, now “past six months” into the economic strain, with no unified push yet “to talk directly to the Iranians to come with a solution to the current problem”.

Hezbollah criticizes Lebanese president’s push to end ‘enmity’ with Israel

Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc says Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s pursuit of an end to “enmity” with Israel disregards the National Covenant.

The group’s leader Naim Qassem has previously rejected direct talks between Lebanon and Israel. Lebanon’s leadership has pledged to extend its authority across all its territory, but has so far avoided acting against Hezbollah, despite calling on them to disarm.

Netanyahu’s office confirms release of Lebanese detainees

Netanyahu’s office said five Lebanese citizens who were detained in southern Lebanon would be released after it was discovered that they had no links to militant groups.

His office added that the decision came amid negotiations with Lebanon to recover the remains of Jewish community leaders killed there in the 1980s.

Education crisis in Lebanon

Hundreds of thousands of people have returned to their homes in southern Lebanon after a ceasefire was agreed in June.

But many more remain displaced because of Israel’s occupation and ongoing strikes.

With the school year about to start, the education minister says Beirut is determined to ensure every child has a seat in a classroom.

Israel releases Lebanese civilian, is set to free four more

A Lebanese man who had been held prisoner in Israel was released today, the first such handover since the outbreak of renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah six months ago.

Malek Ghazi was handed over to the Lebanese army via the International Committee of the Red Cross, marking the first of five Lebanese civilians detained by Israeli forces set to be released this week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Israel had agreed to release five Lebanese civilians detained in southern Lebanon after Beirut provided assistance in searching for the bodies of Lebanese Jewish leaders who were “abducted and murdered by terrorist organizations” in the 1980s, during Lebanon’s civil war. The remaining four are set to be released tomorrow.

The US mediated the prisoners’ release, following a meeting earlier this week between Netanyahu and Washington’s ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon in Jerusalem. The US State Department said that Washington will continue assistance to maintain a “daily dialogue” between Israel and Lebanon.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam thanked US Ambassador to Lebanon Michael Issa for assisting in the release, in a post on social media.

Netanyahu’s statement said the five Lebanese captives, after interrogation, were found not to be “members of a terrorist organization” or “involved in terrorism”.

Dozens of Lebanese citizens are believed to be held in Israeli detention centres, including civilians as well as Hezbollah militants captured during fighting in southern Lebanon.

Israeli attacks continue

• Israeli forces conducted bombing operations in the village of Hula, near the Israeli border. No casualties have yet been reported.
• The Israeli army blew up homes in neighbourhoods between the towns of al-Mansouri and Majdal Zoun, in the Tyre district.
• An Israeli drone carried out two waves of attacks on the Ali al-Taher heights.
• Earlier, Israeli forces raided the village of Halta and arrested three men. The reasons for their arrest are unclear.
• Israeli forces carried out a large detonation in the town of Kfar Tebnit, sending plumes of smoke across the area.

Israel army says alleged Hezbollah centre located under strategic hill ‘cleared’

The Israeli army has said it “completed the clearing” of infrastructure from an alleged Hezbollah underground command centre beneath the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge near Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

In a statement, the army said it killed people inside the alleged centre, but did not reveal a figure. Others, the army said, fled.

Israel has focused multiple attacks on the high ground that provides sweeping views of much of southern Lebanon since it occupied swathes of the region in March.

Israeli military reportedly plans more Lebanon attacks this evening, Israeli media says

The Israeli military is potentially planning to carry out attacks on Lebanon on Thursday evening, the Israeli news outlet Channel 7 reports.

No instructions have been provided for the public but attacks are expected in the northern Golan Heights, Western Galilee, the Hula Valley and the Ramim Range.

If carried out, the attacks would follow a series of bombings, explosions and drone attacks in different parts of Lebanon earlier today.

Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon continue

The Israeli military has attacked Wadi al-Salouki in the Bint Jbeil district, which sits south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon, reports the Lebanese government’s National News Agency.

The agency also reported that the Israeli military has been bombing al-Mansouri, a municipality in the coastal Tyre district, in addition to bombarding the outskirts of Nabatieh district’s al-Fawqa and Doha Kfar Remman with artillery shelling.