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Associated Press

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Israel will widen its invasion of southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu said Israel would expand what he called the “existing security strip” in Lebanon as Israeli forces continue to target the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.
“We are determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north,” he said on a visit to northern Israel, adding that “Hezbollah still has residual capability to fire rockets at us”.
There were no immediate details.
In Lebanon, officials say more than 1,100 people have been killed in the fighting since the Iran war began.
Also on Sunday, a top Iranian official warned the US against a ground invasion, saying its troops would be set “on fire”, as regional diplomats met in Pakistan in hopes of opening direct US-Iran talks and ending the month-long war.
Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever”, according to Iranian state media. He also dismissed the talks as a cover after some 2,500 US Marines trained in amphibious landings arrived in the Middle East.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday said Islamabad will soon host talks between the US and Iran.
Dar did not specify whether the talks would be direct or indirect. There was no immediate word from the United States or Iran.
“Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan’s facilitation” of the talks, which will happen in the “coming days”, Dar said in a televised speech after the Islamabad meeting.


The war has threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertiliser and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices, and now the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels’ entry into the war could threaten shipping on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb strait to the Red Sea.
“We don’t know at what moment our homes could be targeted,” said Razzak Saghir al-Mousawi, 71, describing relentless air strikes as Iranians crossing into Iraq urged the United States to end the war. “I am definitely afraid.”
Israel’s parliament, meanwhile, will vote overnight on the 2026 budget that provides for a massive rise in military spending with the country at war on more than one front.
The defence budget will rise by more than US$10 billion to more than US$45 billion – more than double the 2023 allocation before the Gaza war unleashed by Hamas’ attack on Israel that year.
Defence spending has risen steadily ever since.
The Israeli press reported on March 15 that the government had approved an advance of US$827 million for emergency military purchases related to the war.

The surge in defence spending will lead to a 3 per cent cut across all other ministries.
However, Netanyahu’s government, reliant on the support of its ultra-Orthodox and settler allies for its survival, has approved a significant increase in funds earmarked exclusively for them.
Ultra-Orthodox parties will receive more than US$750 million in additional budget funds for private schools they control.
In addition, despite the sweeping cuts imposed on all civilian budgets, funding for the settlements has remained unchanged, according to a report by the anti-settlement group Peace Now.
The Peace Now report denounced the measure as “daylight robbery of public funds” for the benefit of a small group within the government’s base.
On December 4, the government adopted a decision to invest more than US$875 million over the next five years in developing settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in the war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered Iranian attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf Arab states. Meanwhile, Israel has invaded Lebanon while targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. The war continues on the digital front as well.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


Netanyahu says Israel will widen its invasion of southern Lebanon

Israeli police prevent Catholic leaders from celebrating Palm Sunday mass in Jerusalem

Israel pounds south Beirut, says captured Hezbollah fighters

Trump approved Iran operation ‘after Netanyahu argued for joint killing of Khamenei’

Israel-Gaza war

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Reuters

An Israeli army soldier stands on a self-propelled Howitzer artillery gun positioned in upper Galilee in northern Israel, near the border with southern Lebanon on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Regional diplomats gather in Pakistan for talks to end Iran war

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (left) meets with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, as Pakistan hosts talks with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey to discuss regional de-escalation amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet during a United Nations meeting with Middle Eastern leaders in New York in September. Photo: Reuters

Debris at the Chehel Sotoun Palace in Isfahan, Iran, which was damaged amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, on March 9. Photo: Reuters

Israel launches strikes on Iran with no sign of diplomatic breakthrough

Iranian missiles in a park in Tehran, for show. Photo: West Asia News Agency

Rocket trails are seen in the sky amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya. Photo: AFP

Israel’s military to occupy swathe of southern Lebanon amid widening war

A plume of smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike on the eastern outskirts of Tyre, in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Heavy equipment accompanied by military vehicles cross from Israel into southern Lebanon on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

An Israeli strike on a bridge in southern Lebanon on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli strike in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs. Photo: AP

The aftermath of an Israeli strike on a flat in Hazmieh, on the eastern outskirts of Beirut. Photo: AFP

Israeli security forces take cover in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel on Monday. Photo: AP

An Israeli soldier jumps from a tank in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. Photo: AP

Iran rejects US ceasefire plan, has own demands to end fighting

Smoke plumes billowing in the vicinity of Kuwait International Airport on Wednesday after drones hit a fuel tank and sparked a fire. Photo: European Space Agency via AFP

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

A US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft refuels a B-52H Stratofortress bomber. Photo: US Air Force via Reuters

A projectile launched from Iran heads towards Israel on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Pro-government supporters rally in Tehran on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

News

World

Middle East

The PM said Israel would expand what he called the ‘existing security strip’ in Lebanon as Israeli forces continue to target Hezbollah


The PM said Israel would expand what he called the ‘existing security strip’ in Lebanon as Israeli forces continue to target Hezbollah.


Netanyahu says Israel will widen its invasion of southern Lebanon

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The PM said Israel would expand what he called the ‘existing security strip’ in Lebanon as Israeli forces continue to target Hezbollah

The PM said Israel would expand what he called the ‘existing security strip’ in Lebanon as Israeli forces continue to target Hezbollah