Kuwait blames Iran for drone strikes despite ceasefire
US President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the two-week ceasefire over Iran’s continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, while Kuwait accused Iran and its proxies of launching drone attacks despite the ceasefire.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard denied launching attacks Thursday night on Persian Gulf states.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a potential boost to ceasefire efforts in the region when he said he had approved direct talks with Lebanon. The Lebanese Government has not responded as of Friday morning. The announcement came after Israel pounded Beirut on Wednesday, killing more than 300 people. The negotiations are expected next week in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Questions remained over what will happen to Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium at the heart of tensions, how and when normal traffic will resume through the Strait of Hormuz, and what happens to Iran’s ability to launch future missile attacks and support armed proxies in the region.
Talks between the United States and Iran on a resolution to the conflict are expected to start Saturday in Islamabad, with the White House saying Vice President JD Vance would lead the US delegation.
Beirut residents sift through the wreckage of their homes. In the Ain al-Mraisseh neighbourhood along Beirut’s coastal corniche, where an Israeli strike on Thursday wiped out the bottom floors of a multi-story building, causing a partial collapse, stunned residents tried to salvage whatever furniture and personal mementoes they could find in the rubble.
Although now homeless, some men at the scene expressed gratitude that they lost only their apartments, not their loved ones. The strikes killed more than 300 people and wounded over 1,800, authorities said.
“There is no substitute for family,” said Wissam Tabila, 35. “Everything else can be replaced. The house and other things can be replaced, but parents, children, or a wife, this is the most important.”
The NNA news agency reported that Israeli warplanes on Friday struck near a State Security agency office in the southern town of Nabatieh, causing extensive damage at the Government building. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the specific strike. Its Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, claimed that Israel had hit more than 120 Hezbollah militant sites in the past 24 hours.
