Looking at an AFP photo taken in the Lebanese border village of Mais al-Jabal, Khalil Hamdan recognised the ruins of his own house, overrun by Israeli forces carrying out systematic destruction.
"The work and toil of a lifetime, to see it collapse before your eyes, it hurts a lot," Hamdan, 59, said after looking at the picture of Israeli bulldozers next to his destroyed home.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hussein Hajj Hassan told AFP on Thursday that the Lebanese government's decision to hold direct negotiations with Israel was a "grave error", urging Beirut to stop making concessions to Israel and the United States.
Israel and Lebanon agreed on Tuesday to begin direct talks following a landmark meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States, weeks after Hezbollah pulled Lebanon into the Middle East war with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.
The militant group has strongly opposed direct negotiations.
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said in a post on Truth Social that Israeli and Lebanese leaders had agreed to begin a 10-day ceasefire at 5 p.m. EST. He did not specify which day it would begin.
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Bhargav Acharya; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Susan Heavey)
Near Singapore, thousands of miles from the Strait of Hormuz, ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil have continued during the Middle East war, helping Tehran evade sanctions and maintain trade with China.
Nearly 400 tankers are sanctioned by the United States, the European Union or Britain for their activities related to Iran -- which is now facing off against the United States during a tense ceasefire.
Near Singapore, thousands of miles from the Strait of Hormuz, ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil have continued during the Middle East war, helping Tehran evade sanctions and maintain trade with China.
Nearly 400 tankers are sanctioned by the United States, the European Union or Britain for their activities related to Iran -- which is now facing off against the United States during a tense ceasefire.
Iran was the top exporter of commodities through the Strait of Hormuz in March, as shipments from other countries fell off a cliff with Tehran's blockade of the vital waterway, data by analytics firm Kpler showed.
Iran is usually the fifth largest exporter of commodities -- goods such as crude oil and other petroleum products, liquified natural gas (LNG), and dry bulk including fertilisers -- through the strait.
Two sanctioned cargo vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, apparently bound for Iranian ports despite Washington's blockade in the Middle East war, tracking data indicated Thursday.
A trickle of ships has passed the crucial trade route over the past two days after the US imposed a counter-blockade following the failure of peace talks to end the nearly seven-week conflict.
The US military said on X on Thursday that "after 72 hours of enforcement, 14 vessels have turned around to comply with the blockade at the direction of American forces".
By Sarah Young and Andrew MacAskill
LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - The Iran war has left Britain's armed forces exposed, heaping pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to act on his promises to invest in defence, after years of warnings from military bosses about the UK's shrinking capabilities.
When a British military base in Cyprus was hit by a drone early on in the Iran conflict in March, Britain, whose navy was the largest in the world at the start of World War Two, took three weeks to deploy one warship to the eastern Mediterranean.
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. forces in the Middle East are postured to restart combat operations if Iran doesn't agree to a peace deal, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing on Thursday.
"You Iran, can choose a prosperous future, a golden bridge, and we hope that you do for the people of Iran," he said.
"But if Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power and energy."
By Nuha Sharaf and Yosri Al-Jamal
JERUSALEM, April 16 (Reuters) - Dozens of Palestinian children have been unable to go to school in the Israeli-occupied West Bank this week because of barbed wire erected by Jewish settlers across the path they normally use.
Dozens of children tried on Monday to get to school in the small village of Umm al-Khair near the city of Hebron for the first time since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began. They found their way blocked by barbed wire which villagers said had been placed there by Israelis from the nearby Carmel settlement.
