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Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to achieve victory and said his country's military "completely transformed reality" in the year since Hamas's October 7 attack, which has left the country fighting two wars.

Netanyahu told troops Israel "will win" as it battles militants in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and prepares to strike Iran, almost a year since the unprecedented attack by Palestinian Hamas militants sparked the Gaza war.

Israel's army chief, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said that, one year on, "we have defeated the military wing of Hamas".

Smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike near the ruins of the ancient Roman Temple of Baachus in Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley

Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election

Tunisia holds a presidential election Sunday with no real opposition to incumbent Kais Saied, widely tipped to win as his most prominent critics, including a key contender, are behind bars.

Three years after a sweeping power grab by Saied, the election is seen as a closing chapter in Tunisia's experiment with democracy.

The North African country had prided itself for more than a decade for being the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings against dictatorship.

Tunisian soldiers deliver ballot boxes to a polling station in Ariana near Tunis a day before the vote

Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night

Roasted by summer temperatures too hot for the beach, Dubai has turned to an innovative solution: opening them at night, complete with floodlights and lifeguards carrying night-vision binoculars.

The idea, in one of the world's hottest regions, with temperatures climbing ever higher through climate change, has proved popular -- more than one million people have visited the night beaches since last year, an official said.

Floodlights illuminate the Umm Suqeim beach in Dubai to make it safer for beachgoers at night when the scorching heat of the Gulf has abated

Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut

Official Lebanese media said Israeli strikes hit south Beirut Saturday night into Sunday, some of them "very violent", with AFP correspondents hearing explosions for over two hours in one of the most intense barrages yet.

"Israeli enemy warplanes carried out four very violent strikes on (Beirut's) southern suburbs, and one strike on the Chweifat" area, with ambulances rushing to the site, Lebanon's National News Agency said.

AFP correspondents heard explosions in south Beirut and its outskirts for more than two hours following the NNA's statement.

AFP footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the targeted areas

Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations

French President Emmanuel Macron called Saturday for a halt on arms deliveries to Israel for use in Gaza, provoking a sharp response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Macron also criticised Netanyahu's decision to send troops into ground operations in Lebanon.

"I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza," Macron told French broadcaster France Inter.

"France is not delivering any," he added during the interview, which was recorded Tuesday.

In a pre-recorded interview and in a speech on Saturday, Macron criticised Israel's operations in Gaza and Lebanon

Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in cities around the world over the weekend calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the war in the Palestinian territory neared the one-year mark.

In Washington, a man set himself on fire as more than 1,000 people demonstrated outside the White House demanding an end to US military aid to Israel, AFP journalists said.

In Morocco Sunday, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the capital, Rabat, waving Palestinian flags and calling to break off diplomatic ties with Israel, which the kingdom normalised in 2020.

Protesters wave Palestian flags during a rally at the Uskudar Square in Istanbul, Turkey

Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7

Thousands of protesters marched through central London on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the war in the Palestinian territory neared the one-year mark.

Pro-Palestinian supporters from across the country began the march from Russell Square to Downing Street demanding an end to the conflict, which has killed nearly 42,000 people in Gaza;

Pro-ceasefire supporters from across the UK marched from Russell Square to Downing Street

Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon

The head of the United Nations refugee agency arrived in Lebanon on Saturday on a "solidarity" visit for the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese affected by Israeli bombardment and needing international support.

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said on social network X that "Lebanon faces a terrible crisis" as "hundreds of thousands of people are left destitute or displaced by Israeli air strikes".

"I have come here in solidarity with those affected, to support the humanitarian effort and to ask for more international help," he said.

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi, pictured in September 2024, says Lebanon is facing 'a terrible crisis'

Iran FM threatens 'even stronger' retaliation to any attack

Tehran's top diplomat in Damascus on Saturday threatened an "even stronger" reaction to any aggression, as Israel readied its response to an Iranian missile attack earlier this week.

"Our reaction to any attack by the Zionist regime is completely clear," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in the Syrian capital, where he met top officials including Tehran's ally President Bashar al-Assad.

"For every action, there will be a proportional and similar reaction from Iran, and even stronger," he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks to reporters at Tehran's embassy in Damascus

Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads

Israel marks the first anniversary Monday of the devastating October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war and has now engulfed neighbouring Lebanon, creating a perilous regional crisis.

President Isaac Herzog will lead a memorial service at Sderot, one of the cities hardest hit during the onslaught by Palestinian militants.

A rally calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will be held at Beeri, a kibbutz community where more than 100 people were killed last October 7.

A file picture from May 13 of a memorial at the site of the Nova music festival where at least 370 people were killed