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The Israeli military launched strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese state media reported, after warning it would hit what it called Hezbollah and Hamas targets in four villages.It was the first such warning issued by the Israeli military this year, as Israel continues to strike targets in Lebanon despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah.An AFP photographer in Kfar Hatta, one of the targeted villages in south Lebanon, saw dozens of families flee the village after the warning was issued, amid drone activity in the area, adding that ambulances and fire trucks were on standby.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on the four villages.It later reported a new series of strikes near the southern towns of Saksakiyeh and Sarafand, without prior warning.According to the NNA, the strike on Al-Manara in eastern Lebanon caused “the complete destruction of a house and serious damage to surrounding houses, cars and commercial establishments”.The Israeli military said in a statement it “began striking Hezbollah and Hamas terror targets in Lebanon”.In two separate posts on X, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the villages were Kfar Hatta and Annan in south Lebanon, and Al-Manara and Ain al-Tineh in eastern Lebanon.Adraee said the military would hit Hezbollah sites in Kfar Hatta and Ain al-Tinah, and Hamas sites in Annan and Al-Manara.The NNA said the home targeted in Al-Manara belonged to Sharhabil Sayed, a Hamas leader in Lebanon who was killed by Israel in 2024.- Repeated attacks -Despite a year-old ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel carries out regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is bombing Hezbollah sites and operatives, and occasionally Hamas targets.Two people were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a vehicle on Sunday, around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border, the Lebanese health ministry said.In November, an Israeli strike on south Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp killed 13 people.Israel said it targeted a Hamas compound, with the group rejecting the claim.It has also hit Hamas’ ally in Lebanon, the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, which claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel before the ceasefire.Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Beirut has committed to disarming Hezbollah, which was badly weakened after more than a year of hostilities with Israel including two months of open war that ended with the November 2024 ceasefire.Lebanon’s army was expected to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometres from the border with Israel — by the end of 2025, before tackling the rest of the country.All four of Monday’s targeted villages are located north of the river.Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday called the disarmament efforts far from sufficient.Lebanon’s cabinet is to meet on Thursday to discuss the army’s progress, while the ceasefire monitoring committee — comprising Lebanon, Israel, the United States, France and UN peacekeepers — is also set to meet this week.At least 350 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.

The Israeli military launched strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese state media reported, after warning it would hit what it called Hezbollah and Hamas targets in four villages.It was the first such warning issued by the Israeli military this year, as Israel continues to strike targets in Lebanon despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah.An AFP photographer in Kfar Hatta, one of the targeted villages in south Lebanon, saw dozens of families flee the village after the warning was issued, amid drone activity in the area, adding that ambulances and fire trucks were on standby.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on the four villages.According to the NNA, the strike on Al-Manara in eastern Lebanon caused “the complete destruction of a house and serious damage to surrounding houses, cars and commercial establishments”.The Israeli military said in a statement it “began striking Hezbollah and Hamas terror targets in Lebanon”.In two separate posts on X, the military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the villages were Kfar Hatta and Annan in south Lebanon, and Al-Manara and Ain al-Tineh in eastern Lebanon.Adraee said the military would hit Hezbollah sites in Kfar Hatta and Ain al-Tinah, and Hamas sites in Annan and Al-Manara.The NNA said the home targeted in Al-Manara belonged to Sharhabil Sayed, a Hamas leader in Lebanon who was killed by Israel in 2024.- Repeated attacks -Despite a year-old ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel carries out regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is bombing Hezbollah sites and operatives, and occasionally Hamas targets.Two people were killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a vehicle on Sunday, around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border, the Lebanese health ministry said.In November, an Israeli strike on south Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp killed 13 people.Israel said it targeted a Hamas compound, with the group rejecting the claim.It has also hit Hamas’ ally in Lebanon, the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya, which claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel before the ceasefire.Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Beirut has committed to disarming Hezbollah, which was badly weakened after more than a year of hostilities with Israel including two months of open war that ended with the November 2024 ceasefire.Lebanon’s army was expected to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometres from the border with Israel — by the end of 2025, before tackling the rest of the country.All four of Monday’s targeted villages are located north of the river.Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Sunday called the disarmament efforts far from sufficient.Lebanon’s cabinet is to meet on Thursday to discuss the army’s progress, while the ceasefire monitoring committee — comprising Lebanon, Israel, the United States, France and UN peacekeepers — is also set to meet this week.At least 350 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.

Destroyed and looted in the early months of Sudan’s war, the national museum in Khartoum is now welcoming virtual visitors after months of painstaking effort to digitally recreate its collection.At the museum itself, almost nothing remains of the 100,000 artefacts it had stored since its construction in the 1950s. Only pieces too heavy for looters to haul off, like the massive granite statue of the Kush Pharaoh Taharqa and frescoes relocated from temples during the building of the Aswan Dam, are still present on site.”The virtual museum is the only viable option to ensure continuity,” government antiquities official Ikhlass Abdel Latif said, during a recent presentation of the project carried out by the French Archaeological Unit for Sudanese Antiquities (SFDAS) with support from the Louvre and Britain’s Durham University.When the museum was plundered following the outbreak of the war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, satellite images showed trucks loaded with relics heading towards Darfur, the western region now totally controlled by the RSF.Since then, searches for the missing artefacts aided by Interpol have only yielded meagre results.”The Khartoum museum was the cornerstone of Sudanese cultural preservation — the damage is astronomical,” said SFDAS researcher Faiza Drici, but “the virtual version lets us recreate the lost collections and keep a clear record”. Drici worked for more than a year to reconstruct the lost holdings in a database, working from fragments of official lists, studies published by researchers and photos taken during excavation missions.Then graphic designer Marcel Perrin created a computer model that mimicked the museum’s atmosphere — its architecture, its lighting and the arrangement of its displays.Online since January 1, the virtual museum now gives visitors a facsimile of the experience of walking through the institution’s galleries — reconstructed from photographs and the original plans — and viewing more than 1,000 pieces inherited from the ancient Kingdom of Kush.It will take until the end of 2026, however, for the project to upload its recreation of the museum’s famed “Gold Room”, which had housed solid-gold royal jewellery, figurines and ceremonial objects stolen by looters.In addition to the virtual museum’s documentary value, the catalogue reconstructed by SFDAS is expected to bolster Interpol’s efforts to thwart the trafficking of Sudan’s stolen heritage.The war in Sudan has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe, killing tens of thousands and forcing more than 11 million people to flee their homes, with many seeking shelter in underdeveloped areas with scarce food and medicine.

Australia’s defending Dakar Rally motorbike champion Daniel Sanders moved into the overall lead after winning Monday’s second stage in Saudi Arabia.The 31-year-old covered the 518km route from Yanbu to Al Ula in 4hrs 13mins 37 seconds to cross the line 1min 35s clear of KTM teammate Edgar Canet, who lost time with a couple of minor crashes.American Ricky Brabec, the 2024 winner, completed the day’s podium for Honda.With this 10th stage win in motorsport’s toughest challenge, Sanders climbed to the top of the bike standings by half a minute from Canet, winner of the prologue and opening stage, with Brabec 2min 18s back in third.”The navigation was really tricky in some places but we fixed a couple of mistakes quickly and didn’t lose too much time,” said Sanders, who has been competing in the Dakar since 2021.The rider, who lists bee-keeping as one of his hobbies and is known as ‘Chucky’, added: “I caught Edgar after around one hundred kilometres. It was so hard to catch him and pass him before.”After that, there was some really tricky stuff and he (Canet) just sat behind and watched, followed and learned.”Canet was thankful to complete an eventful stage unharmed.”Well, the stage is completed,” said the 20-year-old Spaniard.”The truth is that it has been a long stage, 400 km opening the track for the first time. “I had a few crashes, as you can see, but hey, these things happen. There are some rocks that you can’t see when you’re looking at the roadbook,” he added.In the car category, American Seth Quintero beat his South African Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Henk Lategan by 1:42 with Saudi’s reigning champion Yazeed Al Rajhi in third.Qatar’s five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah heads the standings driving for Dacia by just seven seconds from Quintero after coming in eighth in the stage.Tuesday’s third stage is a 422km special starting and ending in Al Ula.