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A new wave of deadly Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon on Sunday left at least 15 people dead, one day after Israeli threats targeting the Masnaa crossing—Lebanon’s primary land gateway to Syria—forced the vital trade and transit point to shut down.

The escalation marks an intensification of months of open conflict that began on March 2, when the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah joined the broader Middle East war in support of its principal backer, Iran. Since that date, Israel has conducted sustained airstrikes across Lebanese territory and launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon. On Sunday, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visited frontline troops stationed in southern Lebanon and publicly reaffirmed his commitment to ramp up offensive operations against Hezbollah.

The Lebanese Ministry of Health confirmed that Sunday’s strikes spread far beyond the contested southern border zone, reaching population centers near the capital Beirut. A strike on Beirut’s Jnah neighborhood killed at least five people and wounded 52 others, while an attack on an apartment building in Ain Saadeh, a town just east of the capital, left three dead and three more injured. In the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Hatta, located far from the Israeli border, a Sunday strike killed seven people, including a four-year-old girl.

In a rare offensive claim Sunday, Hezbollah announced it had launched a cruise missile against an Israeli warship patrolling off the Lebanese coast. But the Israeli military told Agence France-Presse (AFP) it had no record of such an incident occurring.

According to official Lebanese data, more than 1,400 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Lebanon since the outbreak of the latest conflict, 126 of whom are children. Over one million Lebanese have been displaced by the violence.

Medical sources told AFP that the Jnah neighborhood strike landed just 100 meters from Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Lebanon’s largest public medical facility. Zakaria Tawbeh, the hospital’s deputy head, said the facility received four fatal casualties – three Sudanese nationals and a 15-year-old girl – plus 31 wounded patients. “Lots of glass was broken, and some of our patients had panic attacks,” Tawbeh told reporters.

For local residents, the strikes represent a repeated cycle of trauma. Nancy Hassan, a 53-year-old Jnah resident, said she believed she would be safe in her home after the first strike of the day. “Shortly after, the planes were flying overhead, and we heard a huge bang, then stones rained down on us,” she recalled. Hassan already lost her 23-year-old daughter to an Israeli strike on the same neighborhood during the 2024 Hezbollah-Israel war, and four of her daughter’s friends were killed in Sunday’s attack. “Every time, they bomb us in the neighbourhood without warning,” she added.

Israel also carried out multiple strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been almost entirely evacuated in recent months. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has issued a warning that exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah near UN peacekeeping positions raise the risk of accidental retaliatory attacks on UN personnel.

The closure of the Masnaa border crossing followed explicit Israeli threats made Saturday. Israeli military Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said the crossing would be targeted because Hezbollah uses it for military activity and to smuggle weapons and combat equipment, urging all civilians to evacuate the area immediately. The Lebanese side of the crossing was evacuated within hours. While Syrian border and customs director Mazen Aloush emphasized the crossing is used exclusively for civilian travel and trade, it was temporarily shuttered in response to the imminent threat.

Masnaa is a critical economic artery for both Lebanon and Syria, and a key travel hub for Lebanese residents seeking access to the broader Middle East. Military analyst Hassan Jouni told AFP that Israel’s threat to target the crossing is not rooted in legitimate security concerns, but instead is intended to pressure the Lebanese government to take action to disarm Hezbollah.

With Masnaa closed, travelers have flooded alternative border crossings. At the northern Qaa crossing, an AFP correspondent on Sunday observed long lines of cars and vans waiting to cross into Syria, as people sought alternate routes to reach their destinations.

As Israeli forces push deeper into southern Lebanese border areas, destroying entire villages in their advance, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has repeated his call for diplomatic negotiations with Israel to avert full-scale destruction similar to that seen in the Gaza Strip. “Why don’t we negotiate… until we can at least save the homes that have not yet been destroyed?” Aoun said in a televised address to the nation.

The fragile stability of the Middle East has crumbled further in the past 48 hours, with a cascade of military strikes, conflicting claims over a high-stakes rescue mission, and shifting energy policy roiling the already volatile region. What began as long-simmering cross-border clashes has erupted into broader confrontations that threaten to draw global powers into open conflict, with multiple interconnected developments unfolding across Iran, Israel, Lebanon and the Persian Gulf.

One of the most high-profile rifts opened between the United States and Iran, centered on control of the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s most critical chokepoint for global oil shipments. Former President Donald Trump, in a profanity-laced social media post, issued an extreme threat to Tehran, promising “hell” and pledging targeted strikes on Iranian bridges and power plants if Iran did not reopen the strategic waterway by his self-imposed Monday deadline. Speaking to Fox News shortly after the post, Trump softened his tone slightly, saying he believed a negotiated deal with Iran remained achievable, but added that he was prepared to “blow everything up and take over the oil” if no agreement was reached.

Parallel to the Hormuz standoff, a contentious cross-border rescue operation deep inside Iranian territory has deepened mistrust between Washington and Tehran. The U.S. says a rescue mission conducted by American commandos recovered a missing airman whose F-15 fighter jet had crashed in Iranian territory, with Trump hailing the operation as “daring” and “miraculous”. Trump added that dozens of U.S. aircraft participated in the mission, and that the recovered airman had been seriously wounded. Iranian military officials have issued a starkly contradictory account, claiming the entire U.S. operation was “completely foiled”. Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari claimed two U.S. C-130 transport planes and two helicopters were destroyed during the incursion. U.S. mainstream outlets including The New York Times and CBS later corroborated parts of the Iranian account, reporting that two U.S. aircraft that became stranded at an abandoned airport in Iran’s southern Isfahan province were destroyed by American forces to prevent them from falling into Iranian custody.

Military strikes have targeted key infrastructure across multiple countries in the region. A joint U.S.-Israeli airstrike hit the Qasem Soleimani International Airport in southwestern Iran, according to Iranian state media. Across the border in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces launched a new wave of strikes on the capital Beirut and its southern suburbs, targeting what it described as key infrastructure sites belonging to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Lebanese official data confirms the strikes killed at least four people and wounded 39 more. Further south in Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike on the town of Kfar Hatta — which Israeli officials previously ordered residents to evacuate — killed seven people, including an entire family of six who were waiting on the street for a relative to pick them up, Lebanese civil defense sources told Agence France-Presse. Following an Iranian attack on energy and civilian infrastructure across the Gulf, damage has been reported in three Gulf states: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. Kuwait’s state petroleum company reported “severe” damage to the country’s oil and petrochemical facilities caused by Iranian drones, while Abu Dhabi officials confirmed they were working to extinguish fires at a petrochemical plant sparked by falling drone debris.

On the energy front, the OPEC+ alliance of major oil-producing nations announced a policy shift, agreeing to raise collective production quotas by 206,000 barrels per day starting in May. The cartel issued a stark warning alongside the quota hike, noting that repairing energy infrastructure damaged by recent regional attacks is both extremely costly and time-consuming, meaning disruptions to global oil supplies could persist for months or even years. OPEC+ also emphasized the “critical importance” of keeping global maritime trade routes open to ensure the uninterrupted flow of global energy supplies. Even as military tensions climb, limited diplomatic outreach continues: Oman’s state news agency confirmed that Omani and Iranian officials held talks focused on easing shipping restrictions through the Strait of Hormuz, with technical experts from both sides putting forward a range of proposals to de-escalate the standoff over the waterway.

International voices have begun calling for de-escalation, with Pope Leo XIV issuing a urgent plea for peace in his first Easter blessing as pontiff, addressing thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square. The pope condemned growing global indifference to the violence, saying “We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people.” He called directly on leaders with the power to authorize military action to “choose peace” over conflict. The shadow of war has even fallen over one of Christianity’s holiest sites: Israeli security forces imposed new access restrictions on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in annexed East Jerusalem, the site where Christian tradition holds Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. On what is normally one of the busiest days of the year for the Old City, the usually crowded alleyways were silent on Easter Sunday, the holiday overshadowed by ongoing regional conflict.

In his inaugural Easter Sunday address as the supreme leader of the global Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV delivered a urgent, impassioned call for global actors to prioritize peace amid the raging, region-spanning war that has reshaped life across the Middle East just months after his election to the papacy. Speaking to thousands of worshippers and pilgrims gathered in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Square, the pontiff, who was chosen to succeed the late Pope Francis in May 2025, called out the growing global complacency toward violence that has settled over communities worldwide.

“We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people,” Pope Leo told the assembled crowd. The conflict, which erupted on February 28 following joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran, has since escalated to draw in actors across the entire Middle East, sending shockwaves through global energy and commodity markets and severely disrupting economic activity worldwide. This year’s Easter celebrations, one of the holiest observances on the Christian calendar for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, have been overshadowed by the conflict from the Vatican to the Holy Land.

Pope Leo, who has already established himself as one of the most prominent global voices calling for an immediate de-escalation of the conflict, revealed plans Sunday for a special prayer vigil to be held at the Vatican on April 11 focused on peace in the region. He also used the holiday address to pay tribute to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who made his final public appearance exactly one year prior on Easter Sunday, passing away just hours later. In a move that amplified his diplomatic pressure, the pontiff confirmed this week he had personally reached out to U.S. President Donald Trump to urge the administration to seek a diplomatic off-ramp to end the hostilities. Reflecting on the moral weight of the ongoing conflict, he added, “We live in a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil.”

Thousands of kilometers away in Jerusalem, the heart of Christian worship, the holiday unfolded against a backdrop of eerie emptiness. The narrow, usually bustling alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City stood silent, the area all but abandoned amid the expanding regional conflict that follows months of fighting in Gaza. Israeli security authorities have implemented harsh new restrictions on access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site where Christian tradition holds Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected, citing ongoing security concerns. Only a small fraction of the usual number of worshippers were permitted to approach the sacred site, with police checkpoints deployed along all access routes to screen visitors. Every shop and business in the surrounding area shuttered for the holiday, deepening the pervasive sense of loss and disruption.

For pilgrims who traveled thousands of miles to mark the holiday at the holy site, the restrictions have been devastating. “It’s very hard for all of us because it’s our holiday… It’s really hard to want to pray but to come here and find nothing. Everything is closed,” 44-year-old Romanian pilgrim Christina Toderas told reporters. Otmar Wassermann, a 65-year-old visitor who was turned away from the church, shared that he left the site feeling deeply frustrated by the disruption to the centuries-old tradition of open Easter worship.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, addressed the grim reality in his Easter Vigil homily delivered at the restricted site. “The doors are still closed,” he stated, referencing an incident just one week prior when Israeli police blocked him from holding a scheduled mass at the church, a move that sparked widespread international condemnation. In published excerpts of his sermon released by his office, he added, “The silence is almost absolute, broken perhaps by the distant sound of what war continues to sow in this holy and torn land.”

The conflict has upended Easter celebrations across every corner of the Middle East, home to some of the world’s oldest and most vulnerable Christian communities. In southern Lebanon, majority-Christian towns along the border with Israel are trapped between ongoing crossfire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement. In the small border village of Debel, residents marked the holiday to the constant roar of artillery bombardment surrounding their community. The village is now almost completely cut off from basic services, with residents relying entirely on humanitarian aid deliveries to survive. “The situation is tragic,” local community leader Joseph Attieh told AFP via phone. “People are terrified, and the sound of shelling and gunfire has not stopped for a moment since last night. We haven’t been able to sleep. We are putting our trust in God, because this is the only glimmer of hope we will not give up on.”

Further afield, the security risks of the conflict have forced Christian leaders to cancel or scale back traditional Easter observances. In Dubai, all public Easter masses have been suspended indefinitely as a security precaution. In Damascus, the capital of Syria, Catholic officials confirmed Easter celebrations would be limited to small, private masses following a recent deadly attack on a majority-Christian town in central Syria, leaving communities reeling.

The ongoing conflict across the Middle East has entered a new phase of widespread escalation, with fresh violence, diplomatic overtures, and global calls for peace unfolding across multiple nations over the past 24 hours.

In his inaugural Easter address to thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square, Pope Francis delivered a stark rebuke of rising global violence, urging leaders holding the power to initiate conflict to prioritize peaceful resolution. “We have slowly grown numb to bloodshed, accepting violence as an unchangeable reality and becoming desensitized to the deaths of thousands of innocent people,” the Pope stated, a message that comes as regional casualty counts continue to climb.

One of the deadliest recent incidents occurred in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Hatta, where an Israeli airstrike took the lives of seven people, including an entire family of six. Lebanese civil defense sources confirm the family had gathered in the town, located 45 miles from the Israeli-Lebanese border, to await evacuation after Israeli orders to clear the area. This strike comes amid a broadening Israeli offensive against Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, including the capital Beirut. The Israeli military confirmed it launched a new wave of strikes on Beirut targeting what it calls Hezbollah infrastructure sites, with eyewitnesses on the ground reporting low-flying Israeli warplanes and missile impacts on residential buildings in the city’s southern districts.

Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have also spiked following a high-stakes rescue mission for a downed U.S. fighter jet crew. U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the recovery of the missing airman in what he called a “daring” special operations mission, noting the service member was injured but expected to make a full recovery. A second crew member was rescued a day earlier. However, Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari rejected Trump’s account, claiming the operation was “completely foiled” by Iranian forces, who he says destroyed two U.S. C-130 transport planes and two helicopters during the confrontation.

Iran has also launched a widespread aerial campaign against Gulf nations aligned with Israel and the U.S., causing widespread disruption to critical energy and infrastructure facilities. In Bahrain, an Iranian drone strike ignited a large blaze at a storage tank operated by state energy giant Bapco Energies. While the fire has been fully contained and no injuries have been reported, the company confirmed assessments of structural damage are still ongoing. Across the border in the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi emergency crews battled fires at a major petrochemical plant caused by falling debris from Iranian attacks. The facility has suspended all operations pending damage assessments, with no casualties reported to date. Iranian forces specifically targeted UAE aluminum production facilities, according to statements from the UAE’s defense ministry, which confirmed its air defense systems are actively intercepting incoming missile and drone threats. Further north, two of Kuwait’s power and water desalination plants were damaged in an Iranian drone strike, forcing the shutdown of two major electricity generating units. No casualties have been reported in the Kuwaiti attack.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, announced it had conducted its first cruise missile strike on an Israeli warship off the Lebanese coast, a significant escalation of cross-border hostilities. The Israeli military however said it had no confirmation of the attack taking place.

On the Iranian domestic front, a record-breaking national internet shutdown has entered its 37th day, making it the longest sustained nationwide internet blackout ever recorded globally, according to internet monitoring group NetBlocks. In a separate development, U.S.-Israeli joint strikes killed five members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the country’s northwestern Ardabil province, Iranian state news agency IRNA confirmed.

Amid the escalating violence, diplomatic efforts are still underway to de-escalate key flashpoints. Oman and Iran held bilateral talks focused on securing safer freedom of navigation through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for nearly 20% of the world’s daily oil supplies, Omani state media reported Sunday. Both sides’ technical experts put forward a series of proposals to ease tensions around the strait, according to the agency. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has also reiterated his call for urgent negotiations with Israel, saying he seeks to prevent southern Lebanon from suffering the same level of widespread destruction that Gaza has endured. “It is an open secret that Israel intends to replicate the Gaza campaign in southern Lebanon,” Aoun said in a national televised address following the launch of expanded Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in southern Lebanon.