Hezbollah decides to give Gaza dialogue a chance

Hezbollah’s strike on Israel in retaliation for to the killing of the movement’s armed wing Fuad Skukr has been postponed due to several reasons, with the Gaza ceasefire talks being one of them, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said.

According to him, the movement was ready to retaliate immediately after Fuad Shukr’s killing, but they understood that Israel and the U.S. were getting prepared for our response back then and any haste in such circumstances would mean a defeat.

The Hezbollah leader added that apart from that, they wanted to give the Gaza talks a chance, the Al Manar television channel reported.

"When we planned our retaliation, we decided that we will not target civilian facilities and civilian population but military targets near Tel Aviv and linked with the killing of Fuad Shukr. We decided it would be the Glilot base," Nasrallah said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed deep concern over the escalating conflict in the Middle East, highlighting the severe risks it poses both regionally and globally.

"The situation in the Middle East has reached a critical level of dangerosity, for the region and beyond," the EU’s top diplomat said on X.

He also echoed the call made by Lebanon for the immediate implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which aims to halt hostilities and stabilize the region.

Borrell further stressed the importance of a "cease-fire in Gaza" as an essential step to mitigate the risk of the conflict spiraling into "a full-blown war."