JERUSALEM -- Air raid sirens sounded in central Israel, including Tel Aviv, before dawn on Friday, warning of a missile fired from Lebanon, the Israeli military said.
The Magen David Adom rescue service said no casualties had been reported. (Israel-Lebanon-Missile)
- - - -
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened Iran to stop charging fees to tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz if the country is doing so.
"There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait -- They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!" Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. (US-Iran-Hormuz Strait)
- - - -
UNITED NATIONS -- Israel extended the Beirut southern suburbs' evacuation order on Thursday to include the largest public hospital in Lebanon, refugee camps, displaced shelters, UN and NGO offices, UN humanitarians said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the displacement order was extended to the area that includes two Palestinian refugee camps, 13 collective shelters hosting more than 6,000 people, offices for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency and several national and international NGOs, as well as the Rafik Hariri Governmental Hospital, the biggest public hospital in the country. (UN-Lebanon-Evacuation)
- - - -
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein met with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty here on Thursday evening to discuss regional de-escalation and the upcoming U.S.-Iran negotiations.
Hussein praised Egypt's role in supporting de-escalation efforts in the region and its constructive engagement with all parties, read a statement by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry. (Iraq-Egypt-Meeting)
- - - -
TEHRAN -- Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that the Iranian people have achieved a "decisive victory" in the war against the United States and Israel, adding that Iran will move the management of the Strait of Hormuz into a new phase.
Khamenei made the remarks in a message carried by Iranian media on the 40th day after the death of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes at the start of the conflict. (Iran-Strait of Hormuz-Supreme Leader) ■
