Israel attacks Gaza; US and Iran exchange warnings amid economic war

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Lebanon's state media NNA reports Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling on Nabatiyeh El Faouqa and Kfar Roummane in southern Lebanon.

Sudan's armed forces claim to have destroyed a Rapid Support Forces convoy in the country's Blue Nile State, killing four personnel killed, including a major.

An Israeli strike targeted a tent sheltering displaced people south of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, according to Palestinian media.

At least two people were killed and several other civilians were injured.

Armed groups from the "National Guard" militia affiliated with the Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri blocked the Damascus-Sweida road on Sunday, at the um al-Zaytoun checkpoint in the northern countryside of Sweida governorate, preventing civilians from heading towards the capital, before reopening the road later.

Qutaiba Azzam, director of media relations in Sweida province, told The New Arab that "armed groups outside the law" blocked the road since the morning, attacked the cars of civilians heading to Damascus, and prevented them from crossing, before reopening the road later.

Israeli forces have released a Syrian citizen who was kidnapped during an incursion in the town of Al-Rafid in the southern countryside of Quneitra governorate in southwestern Syria, while he was grazing sheep west of the town.

The troops set up a temporary checkpoint in the village of um Al-Azam in the central countryside of the governorate, during which they searched passers-by in the evening.

The US special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey on Sunday walked back his comments from two days ago that Israel "still" occupies the Golan Heights in violation of UN resolutions, remarks that went against US President Donald Trump 's position on the Syrian territory.

Ambassador Tom Barrack on Friday said that Israel "still" occupies the territory in an interview with Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur Mario Nawfal.

Barrack now says that was a description of the territory’s historical status, "not an endorsement of the United Nations’ position" on the Golan.

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Syria and Israel held high-level, US-mediated talks in Jordan on Sunday aimed at easing tensions following recent Israeli strikes on Syrian territory, Syria's state news agency SANA reported, citing a diplomatic source at the foreign ministry.

Earlier, two sources told AFP that Syria's foreign minister met the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency in Jordan on Sunday, days after an Israeli attack on an airbase in Syria's northwest.

Requesting anonymity to discuss the matter, a diplomatic source and a Syrian government source said that Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani and Mossad chief Roman Gofman discussed issues such as establishing "a special operations room" in Jordan under US supervision to prevent any confrontations in Syria, including involving Turkey.

Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers has reportedly asked the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) not to campaign on his behalf, fearing the group’s involvement could damage his prospects in the November election following progressive rival Abdul El-Sayed’s landmark Democratic primary victory in Michigan. 

According to a Saturday report by Axios, Rogers spoke with AIPAC chair Michael Tuchin in Los Angeles last week, after which the organisation shelved an already-produced video advert targeting El-Sayed.

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Kuwait's emir on Sunday approved a decree banning naturalised citizens from voting, two years after dissolving parliament and embarking on a mass nationality stripping campaign.

Previously, naturalised Kuwaitis were able to vote 30 years after acquiring the nationality, but were banned from running for office or being appointed.

Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah issued a decree "amending certain provisions of the Kuwaiti Nationality Law", Kuwait's official KUNA news agency reported.

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Iraq has deployed three army brigades along its border with Saudi Arabia under a newly established Desert Operations Command, seeking to stop militias from using Iraqi territory to launch attacks against the kingdom, senior military officials told The New Arab.

The move follows drone attacks on Saudi energy facilities in late July, which Riyadh and Washington said were launched from Iraq by Iran-aligned armed groups. The factions have denied responsibility.

The force, led by Major General Imad Ubaid al-Maliki, has been deployed across the Al-Salman, Basiyah, and Shabaka areas in the Najaf desert, where its aim is to secure desert roads and routes leading to the Jumaimah border crossing, backed by Iraqi reconnaissance aircraft.

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Israel warned Hamas it would intensify strikes in Gaza and order civilians to evacuate areas if the launching of drones, balloons and kites from the Gaza Strip toward Israel does not stop immediately, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Sunday.

The Israeli army said Sunday evening it had detained a person suspected of carrying out the stabbing attack against an Israeli man near the Palestinian village of al-Auja in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli media said that a 16-year-old was arrested.

An Israeli drone opened fire on civilians north of Khan Younis on Sunday afternoon, injuring four people, according to WAFA.

Three people were killed - including a child - in airstrikes in central Gaza earlier today, according to medics.

A child was killed and six others were injured on Sunday after Israel bombed a warehouse in the town of Al-Zawaida in central Gaza, WAFA is reporting, citing medical sources.

In a separate attack, Israeli forces struck a shelter in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

The Gaza health ministry on Sunday increased the overall death toll from Israel's genocide in Gaza to 73,420 killed, with 174,369 others injured.

Fourteen-year-old boy Islam Ahmad Ajjouri was killed on Sunday afternoon after being shot by Israeli forces during a raid on Askar Al-Jadid refugee camp, east of Nablus, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Iran has discovered over 7.5 trillion cubic feet of gas in a field south of its Fars Province, Iran's oil minister Mohsen Paknejad said in comments carried by state media on Sunday.

Israel has shown no willingness to sign a security agreement with Syria despite the two countries agreeing on "almost everything", Syria's foreign minister has said.

Speaking to Reuters days after Israel bombed a military base in northern Syria, Asaad al-Shaibani said Damascus' priority is to halt Israeli attacks and that it was prepared to walk away from further talks.

"We believe there should be contact, especially with a party that constantly threatens the security of Syria. But if this contact doesn’t bring results, then we don’t need it," Shaibani said. "We do not trust Israel currently."

Washington has been trying to broker a security pact between President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government and Israel, which has occupied swathes of southern Syria and repeatedly bombed the country following the overthrow of the Assad regime.

He said that around the beginning of the year, the sides had "agreed on paper to almost everything" regarding a security deal that would require Israel to stop attacking Syria and was tied to its withdrawal from territory seized after Assad fell.

An Israeli settler was stabbed near the village of Al-Auja in the Jordan Valley on Sunday morning.

Medics are treating the 24-year-old man for his injuries while Israeli troops are searching for the attacker.

Residents of Al-Auja were forced to abandon the village earlier this year under threat from constant settler attacks.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian defended a recent memorandum of understanding as the best way for the country to move beyond what he described as a situation of "neither war nor peace".

In a speech published by state-run IRNA on Sunday, he said members of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council believed the memorandum represented the best possible agreement based on what he described as dignity, wisdom and the national interest.

"There is not a single provision in this agreement that amounts to capitulation," Pezeshkian said. "The supreme leader sets the policies, and we will follow that path."

The deal signed by the two countries in June set an ambitious 60-day deadline for ending the war and reaching an accord on its nuclear program. That period ended last week, but the two sides remain far apart, with no signs of compromise on the crucial issue of reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Pakistan's powerful army chief Asim Munir will visit Tehran on Monday, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Sunday.

Baghaei said the visit was in continuation of Pakistan's efforts to strengthen peace and security in the region.

Pakistan has led international efforts to broker a peace deal between Iran and the US.

At least one person was killed and two others injured in an Israeli strike near Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza, Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting.

Lebanon's state-run news agency is reporting that Israel carried out a new round of airstrikes and shelling around the Ali al-Taher ridge, east of Nabatieh in south Lebanon.

Israel claims that a major Hezbollah base is located under the ridge and has been attempting to seize the control of the area. 

Iran on Sunday executed a man convicted of acting as an agent of Israel and the United States during January anti-government protests.

The judiciary said Majid Adineh had been convicted of "operational action in favour of hostile groups" in nationwide rallies that broke out late last year.

Adineh is one of a string of people put to death over the protests, which were sparked by economic hardships in Iran.

He was accused of "deliberate arson, gathering and collusion with the intention of committing crimes against the country's internal security", the judiciary's Mizan Online website said in a report Sunday.

"Based on numerous documents and evidence in the case and the defendant's statements, the Karaj Revolutionary Court sentenced him to death and confiscation of all his property."

An appeal by Adineh was unsuccessful and the Supreme Court upheld the verdict, with his execution carried out Sunday morning, Mizan said.

Iran on Saturday warned countries against participating in the United States' economic war against the Islamic Republic, saying they would be considered enemies.

Washington has pushed its allies to back its new campaign to isolate the Iranian economy, as the President Trump's unpopular war drags toward the six-month mark.

"We declare to all countries... do not join the economic war waged by the United States," said Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran's supreme national security council, on state television.

"Any country participating in the imposition of economic restrictions against us is considered an enemy," he added.

If the countries concerned refused to "distance themselves" from the United States, Iran would "harm" their interests, he added.

Rezaei also said that the Islamic Republic had more cards to play in the war, claiming that "we have not yet attacked any American economic interests".

"So far, we have only targeted military bases, but if they want to impose economic sanctions on us, the United States has oil and economic companies around Iran and elsewhere, and we will strike them," he said.

Should Trump "take action, our confrontation will be like an earthquake", he added.