Israel captures historic fortress, Trump says Iran giving up nuclear

• Israeli forces have seized the historic Beaufort fortress in Lebanon, marking the military's furthest advance into the country in over two decades. The move comes a day after Lebanon’s prime minister Nawaf Salam denounced Israel’s incursions into the country’s south as a “scorched earth” policy. READ MORE BELOW.

• US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the US is ready to restart strikes on Iran if no deal is made, stressing that President Trump remains patient and will only accept a “great deal.”

• The Israeli army announces the death of one soldier from a Hezbollah drone strike in southern Lebanon. Four other soldiers were lightly wounded in the incident. 

• Beachgoers in the northern city of Nahariya in Israel flee in panic as a barrage of Hezbollah rockets come down - the first fired at the coastal city in three weeks.

• US President Donald Trump says he has secured guarantees from Iran that it will not develop nuclear weapons, as reports emerge that he has sent a tougher peace proposal back to Tehran. READ MORE BELOW.

• US military forces struck a cargo vessel on Saturday after it allegedly attempted to break through the American naval blockade of Iran. US Central Command said the Gambia-flagged Lian Star disregarded more than 20 warnings before a missile disabled its engine room, leaving the ship stranded in the Gulf of Oman.

• ChatGPT and Gemini are being used by Iran to dramatically accelerate its cyber attacks, producing perfect Hebrew phishing lures and malware at unprecedented speed, cyber experts and tech firms tell the Financial Times.

• Egypt's foreign minister Badr Abdelatty has reaffirmed Cairo's solidarity with Lebanon, calling for Israel's complete withdrawal from Lebanese territory and declaring that any infringement on Lebanon's sovereignty constitutes a violation of international law, in a phone call with Lebanese prime minister Nawaf Salam.

• Speaking during a virtual parliamentary session, Mohammad Bagher-Ghalibaf, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and newly re-sworn parliamentary speaker, has said that Tehran will not fulfil any commitments to the US until the Iranian people's rights are guaranteed in full.

• New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that he will skip the city’s annual parade celebrating Israel today. He also promised a robust police presence to make sure the event goes “seamlessly and peacefully.” READ MORE BELOW.

900-year-old Lebanese fortress seized by Israeli forces, deepest incursion in two decades

Israeli forces have seized Beaufort Castle (Qal'at al-Shaqif in Arabic) in southern Lebanon, the military announced on Sunday, marking the deepest ground advance into Lebanese territory in 26 years and a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict with Hezbollah.

The UNESCO-protected Crusader-era castle built some nine centuries ago on a cliff overlooking Lebanon’s Litani River, sits roughly nine miles from the Israeli border near the city of Nabatiyeh. 

The operation involved several forces, including from the Golani and Givati Brigades, units who are associated with the founding of the state of Israel nearly eighty years ago, and who have received international criticism for their frequent allegations of aggression and war crimes. 

The IDF said it sought to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure in both areas, adding that "from Beaufort Ridge, Hezbollah terrorists managed military and combat activities and carried out numerous attacks." The IDF's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted pictures of troops at the fortress on X, calling the capture “a new shattering of the symbolism of the arrogance of the terrorist Hezbollah party”.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said that Israeli troops would remain at the castle as part of Israel's "security zone" in Lebanon. Israel's first long-term security zone in southern Lebanon was maintained from 1985 until its withdrawal on May 24, 2000. Speaking at a memorial ceremony for fallen soldiers of the 1982 First Lebanon War, Katz said that “the Israeli flag is once again flying over the peaks overlooking the Galilee communities.”

The fortress, which has a strategically significant position overlooking the Litani Valley, has changed hands between Crusaders, Muslims, Ottomans, and modern military forces over its 900-year history. In 1976, it was held by Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters, and subsequently faced repeated attacks from Israeli forces in the years that followed. 

At the start of Operation Peace for Galilee in 1982, a major Israeli military invasion of Lebanon triggered by the attempted assassination of Israel's ambassador to the UK, capturing the fortress became one of the IDF's first and most symbolic objectives - a mission that was assigned to the Golani Brigade. Israel forces achieved their goal on June 6 1982, in the Battle of the Beaufort against the PLO. 

While the castle sustained significant damage during Israel's 18-year occupation, it was recognised by UNESCO as “one of the best-preserved examples of medieval castles in the Near East.” In late 2024, it was granted enhanced protection status under the Hague Convention.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has condemned the advance, describing Israel's approach as a “scorched-earth” policy and calling the escalation “dangerous and unprecedented”. As tensions rise, one Israeli soldier has been killed and four lightly wounded in southern Lebanon. In the coastal Israeli city of Nahariya in northern Israel, beachgoers fled in panic as a barrage of Hezbollah rockets came down this morning. 

This escalation comes as the US-mediated ceasefire between the Israeli and Lebanese governments agreed in April continues to unravel, with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing the “intensification of operations” earlier this week.

Trump says Iran agrees to not develop nuclear weapons 

In an interview on Fox News, US President Donald Trump has said that Iran has agreed to “no nuclear weapons” as part of a peace deal between the US, Israel and Iran. 

Speaking with his daughter-in-law Lara Trump on her program on ‘My View’ on Saturday night, President Trump described the guarantee as “very interesting.”

“They originally said we will not develop a nuclear weapon. I said well, what happens if you buy a nuclear weapon? So now it says we will not develop or in any way purchase a military weapon,” Trump continued.

According to US media, Trump is continuing to “toughen” the terms of a peace deal, with the US having sent back a framework to Tehran on Saturday; US officials say it could be days before Tehran responds.

The US position on Iran’s nuclear capabilities stems from concerns that Iran will use a nuclear program for a defensive agenda. Iran meanwhile has maintained that any nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. In June 2025, the US and Israel joined forces to bomb key nuclear facilities across Iran, which killed several high-level nuclear scientists.

Trump’s comments come as negotiations between Iran and the US continue to stall over a peace deal, with the two sides remaining far apart on several key priorities. Last week, Iran publicly said it requires the release of $12 billion in frozen assets held by Qatar as a pre-condition to substantive talks on issues such as its nuclear program.

Tehran has also repeatedly pushed back on Trump's public characterisations of the state of negotiations: when Trump told reporters that Iran had agreed to abandon nuclear weapons back in March, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf flatly denied that any talks had taken place, taking to X to call the statements “fake news aimed at influencing financial and oil markets.” 

Tehran is yet to issue a statement regarding Trump’s latest comments.

NYC Mayor to skip annual Israel parade

Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, has re-stated that he will not be attending the city’s annual ‘Israel Day on 5th’ parade on Sunday.

The event, which aims to promote America’s relationship with Israel and celebrate the founding of the state in 1948, walks north along the famous Fifth Avenue on the perimeter of Central Park. 

Mamdani, who announced he would not attend the march back during his campaign trail, will break with decades of tradition, being the first mayor to skip the parade since 1964. 

“While I will not be attending, our administration has been preparing for weeks to ensure the parade is safe for all those who take part,” Mamdani said to reporters in a news conference on Thursday.

In an open letter to Mamdani, Eric Goldstein, head of the leading Jewish organization UJA-Federation of New York, said that the mayor’s boycott was rooted in a “refusal to acknowledge the right of the Jewish people to self-determination”, and that the his absence will be “long-remembered.”

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers are expected to attend this year's parade, which will be the 59th march.