WHO worries about West Bank violence, impact on health care

BEIRUT: Lebanese state media said that an Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed at least two people in the country’s east, where Israel has previously targeted Hezbollah militants.
“An enemy drone carried out an air strike on the town of Shaara... near the eastern Lebanon mountain range, killing two people and wounding two” others, said the state-run National News Agency.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel fought a war last year that ended in a late November ceasefire, which has largely held despite mutual accusations of violations.
Hezbollah was left weakened by a year of hostilities, including the two months of all-out war, in which its leadership was decimated.
Under the November 27 truce agreement, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon while Hezbollah was to remove its military infrastructure from the area. Troops remain in five points deemed “strategic” by the Israeli military.

TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday dismissed the possibility of direct negotiations with the US on his country’s nuclear program.
His remarks came a day after Washington announced fresh sanctions on Tehran targeting more than 30 vessels and people, including the head of the national oil company, accused of involvement in brokering the sale and shipment of Iranian oil.
The sanctions were the latest to be imposed since US President Donald Trump reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran, reprising his approach during his first term.

“There will be no possibility of direct talks between us and the US on the nuclear issue as long as the maximum pressure is applied in this way,” Araghchi said during a joint press conference with his visiting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
“Regarding the nuclear negotiations, the position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is very clear. We will not negotiate under pressure, threat or sanctions.”
Lavrov arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Araghchi and other senior officials on a range of topics including bilateral relations, regional developments and the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers.
During Trump’s first term, which ended in 2021, Washington withdrew from the landmark deal that had imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
On Monday, Iran held a new round of talks with Germany, France and Britain about its nuclear program after reviving engagement with the trio, known as the E3, late last year.
Araghchi said he had briefed Lavrov about the latest discussions.
“On the nuclear issue, we will move forward with the cooperation and coordination of our friends in Russia and China,” he added.
With Russia too facing sanctions over its war in Ukraine, Moscow and Tehran have stepped up their cooperation in recent years.
Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Iran of supplying Russia with weapons for use in the war — allegations Iran has repeatedly denied.
Araghchi said Iran and Russia’s positions on Syria remain “very close.”
“Iran wants peace, stability, preservation of territorial integrity and unity, and the progress of Syria based on the will of the people,” he said.
Lavrov, for his part, said “we will do our utmost to ensure that the situation calms down and does not pose a threat either to the Syrian people ... or to the people of neighboring states.”