Reported in Hareetz - bits of further news (I get articles emailed to me)
Israel cuts ties with UN Secretary-General over report accusing Israeli forces of sexual violence
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with soldiers from the IDF's 36 Armored Division in northern Israel, in a photo released Friday.
Israeli, Lebanese envoys meet in D.C. as Netanyahu says Israeli forces ‘also operating in Beirut'
Shortly after Israeli and Lebanese envoys met at the Pentagon on Friday in an effort to establish a U.S.-mediated security coordination mechanism, PM Netanyahu said during a visit to the Lebanon border that Israeli forces have crossed the Litani River, and are "also operating in Beirut." Speaking after a visit to an armored division, Netanyahu said the IDF has achieved "very impressive results" in its war with Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, IDF sources told Haaretz that the Lebanese army is not capable of disarming Hezbollah, adding that while it is unclear whether the direct talks between Israel and Lebanon will lead to the group's disarmament, the assumption is that they serve the interest of separating the Lebanese front from the Iranian one.
The IDF is operating in Lebanon under constraints imposed by U.S.-Iran negotiations, as well as the direct talks between Jerusalem and Beirut, the sources said. On Thursday, the Saudi-owned Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that the U.S. pressured Israel to halt strikes on the Qaraoun Dam in the Bekaa Valley, which supplies about 15 percent of Lebanon's electricity.
According to the sources, the IDF estimates that Hezbollah's ability to cope with its military campaign against it is limited, and that the group is struggling to coordinate its activities on the ground. As a result, the IDF believes Hezbollah is pressuring Iran to include the fighting in Lebanon within any potential agreement with the United States.
Also on Friday, UNICEF said that an average of eleven children have been killed or wounded every 24 hours over the past week in Lebanon
Trump apparently gave Netanyahu permission to carry out assassinations in the Lebanese capital, but not, in the meantime, a wider greenlight for attacking Hezbollah targets across the whole country - now happening.
