30/04/2026

THURSDAY | APR 30, 2026

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Israeli strikes kill eight in south Lebanon

ANTANANARIVO: Madagascar has detained a former French serviceman accused of taking part in a plot to destabilise the Indian Ocean island, including by inciting security forces to mutiny and sabotaging infrastructure. Madagascar’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had declared an agent at the French embassy in Antananarivo persona non grata over acts deemed incompatible with diplomatic status. President Michael Randrianirina seized power in October last year, after a wave of youth-led protests against his predecessor, Andry Rajoelina. Deputy Prosecutor Nomenarinera Mihamintsoa Ramanantsoa said in a video statement that the former French national serviceman, Guy Baret, had been placed in pretrial detention at Tsiafahy maximum-security prison. A Malagasy army officer, Col Patrick Rakotomamonjy, and other alleged accomplices were also implicated, he added. According to Ramanantsoa, prosecutors have charged the suspects with spreading false information to disturb public order, plotting to sabotage infrastructure including power lines and thermal plants operated by state utility Jirama, harbouring wanted individuals and criminal conspiracy. Authorities said the group had planned actions initially set for April 18, including power cuts, traffic disruption, efforts to incite security forces to rebel against state institutions and the mobilisation of youths to create unrest. – Reuters Madagascar detains former soldier over plot PRISTINA: Kosovo is set for another snap election after parliament failed to elect a new president on Tuesday. Parliament had until midnight on Tuesday to choose a head of state after President Vjosa Osmani’s term ended in early April, but Prime Minister Albin Kurti failed to bring on board opposition parties to vote for his candidate. Two-thirds of the 120-seat parliament must be present for the vote to be valid. Failure to elect a new president triggers snap parliamentary elections. “Based on the (Constitutional Court) verdict, the parliament is considered dissolved,” said the speaker of the parliament and acting president Albulena Haxhiu at midnight. Haxhiu is expected to announce the election date soon. – Reuters RUSSIA CUTS BACK ON VICTORY PARADE MOSCOW: Russia will not deploy military hardware in this year’s parade commemorating 81 years since the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, the Defence Ministry said. The event is scheduled for May 9 in Moscow’s Red Square. Several military schools, cadet corps, “as well as the military hardware column, will not be taking part in this year’s parade due to the operational situation”, the ministry said. The parade is expected to include representatives of all branches of the armed forces and an aerial display is also planned. – Reuters KOSOVO SET FOR SNAP ELECTION

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Health Ministry said Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed eight people, including civil defence rescuers, and wounded two soldiers in the country’s south, despite a ceasefire. The Israeli military announced it had found and destroyed a large Hezbollah tunnel network. Israel has been fighting Hezbollah since early last monthh, sending troops into south Lebanon to battle the group, with the violence ongoing despite a shaky April 17 ceasefire. Both sides have traded blame over violations. The Health Ministry said “the air raid on the town of Majdal Zoun has killed five martyrs”. It said that included “three paramedics from the Lebanese civil defence who were trapped under the rubble after a strike that targeted them while they were carrying out a rescue mission”. The ministry later said another two people were killed and 13 injured in an Israeli strike in the town of Jebchit in south Lebanon. Lebanon’s army reported two of its troops were wounded “as a result of a hostile Israeli targeting of an army patrol”. The statement was the first time the Lebanese army had said its troops had been targeted since the truce began. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun denounced the attack on Majdal

projects on behalf of the Ministry of Defence was killed” in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. The military also announced that troops in Qantara found “two Hezbollah terror tunnels, constructed over a decade” that stretched 2km, using “over 450 tonnes of explosives” to demolish them. Lebanese state media said an Israeli detonation had left a “large crater” in Qantara, after earlier reporting a “major demolition operation” in the town. AFP images showed two large columns of smoke rising from the site, which was visible from miles away. An Israeli military source described it as a “massive underground military installation” comprising an 800m tunnel and a second that ran for 1.2km, that was used as “an assembly area” for Hezbollah’s Radwan forces. Running under civilian infrastructure, including a school and a mosque, the tunnels were equipped with sleeping quarters, showers, toilets, kitchenettes and five assembly halls, he said. – AFP

o Army claims large tunnel network destroyed

Zoun, saying “Israel continues to violate international laws and conventions that protect civilians”. The Health Ministry said one person was killed and 15 were hurt – among them five children and five women – in a separate Israeli strike on Jwaya. The strike came after Israel issued a fresh evacuation order aimed at residents in more than a dozen villages and towns, urging them to immediately head north. Despite the order, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had “no territorial ambitions in Lebanon” and would leave south Lebanon when “Hezbollah and other terror organisations are dismantled”. Tuesday’s evacuation warning urged residents to leave “immediately” and move “towards the Sidon District”, the army’s Arabic-language spokesman

Avichay Adraee wrote on X. Shortly afterwards, state media said Israel carried out airstrikes across the south, hitting targets including the named areas, all of which appear to be outside or on the border of the “yellow line”. On three separate occasions on Tuesday, the military said it sought to intercept “a suspicious aerial target” where troops were operating, without saying what it was. It also said Hezbollah had launched a number of explosive drones that detonated next to Israeli soldiers, without casualties. In a similar incident the day earlier, a soldier was severely wounded and another lightly hurt “as a result of an explosive drone impact”, it said. The Israeli military said “an employee working for an engineering company carrying out

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Smoke rises following explosions in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border on Tuesday. – REUTERSPIC

Hamas commander, son die in drone strike A Gazan security source identified two of the victims as Hamas commander Iyad al-Shanbari and his son Salah. He did not mention the other two people, and there was no immediate reaction from Hamas. The army said“a suspect in the area of the Yellow Line approached troops, posing an immediate threat” and entered a building, which was then hit by the air force.

TEL AVIV: Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed five people on Tuesday, including a Hamas commander and a nine-year-old boy. Despite an October ceasefire, the Palestinian territory remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue, with both the military and Hamas accusing each other of breaking the truce. Gaza’s civil defence agency said four people were killed and six others injured when a drone fired two missiles at a car in Gaza City’s western Al-Rimal neighbourhood.

northern Gaza had opened fire after they identified “a suspect posing an immediate threat”. The ceasefire has largely halted the Gaza war. But violence has persisted, with at least 818 Palestinians killed since the truce began, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. Over the same period, the Israeli military said five of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza. – AFP

But following a review, a spokesman said it became clear that “an uninvolved individual entered the structure and was likely injured as a result”. On Monday, Gaza medics said they received the body of 15-year-old Ayham al-Omari, who was shot dead in the northern town of Beit Lahiya. The Israeli military said soldiers in

The Israeli army briefly confirmed they “did strike a terrorist”, saying they would provide details later. In a separate incident, the civil defence agency said nine-year-old Adel al-Najjar was killed “when an Israeli drone strike took place alongside artillery shelling east of Khan Younis”.