Jerusalem, Sep 2: Israel struck southern Lebanon on Wednesday after Hezbollah launched two explosive drones at Israeli troops, in the latest test of the June ceasefire.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported Israeli shelling and airstrikes on Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Arab Salim and the Ali al-Taher Ridge, as well as machine-gun fire towards Zawtar al-Sharqiyah.

The Israeli military said in a statement that Hezbollah launched the drones overnight towards its troops in the Ali al-Taher Ridge. The Israeli army shot down one drone with no casualties immediately reported, the statement said, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Israeli military said it had targetted Hezbollah infrastructure in the Nabatieh area and sites it said were used to plan and direct attacks against Israeli troops.

Israeli attacks have killed 4,353 people in Lebanon in the latest round of fighting that began in March, according to a report issued by the Lebanese Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday.

A US-brokered ceasefire in June reduced fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, but Israeli strikes in Lebanon have continued. Israeli troops also remain in the territory seized during the latest war.

Israeli military operations continue across southern Lebanon with airstrikes, ground incursions, artillery bombardments, and demolition work, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

On Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck an area between Zawtar al-Sharqiyah and Mayfadoun at around 7 pm, and later another area between Zawtar and Arnoun, while Israeli forces carried out large explosions in Arnoun al-Shaqif and on the outskirts of Yahmar al-Shaqif, NNA said.

It added that Israeli forces conducted a machine-gun sweep from Haddatha toward the outskirts of Aita al-Jabal, while a drone hit the outskirts of Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

In response to the escalating situation, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam vowed Sunday that residents displaced from southern Lebanon would return “safely and with dignity.”

Salam said in a statement that the south should not remain an open arena for wars and conflicts decided outside Lebanon, and the state must have sole authority over decisions of war and peace in Lebanon.

Kathmandu, Sep 2: Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Wednesday called for stronger international attention to growing climate-related risks in the Himalayan region as the death toll from devastating floods in the Bhotekoshi River crossed 1,100.

Addressing the House of Representatives, Shah said Nepal must highlight more forcefully the disasters it is facing due to climate change.

At least 1,114 bodies swept away by last week’s floods had been recovered by 9 am Wednesday, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA). Around 3,916 people remain out of contact.

Experts said an avalanche blocked the Lengde Khola, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi River near the Nepal-China border. The accumulated water later breached the natural barrier, triggering a massive flood that swept downstream towards the Trishuli River and devastated settlements and infrastructure.

Shah said the disaster had raised questions about how such an event occurred and what it meant for Nepal’s future.

“The huge disaster, whose impacts of climate change we have suddenly experienced, has kept us working around the clock to manage the damage. At the same time, another profound question has arisen in our minds: How did this disaster come upon us?” he said.

Referring to expert assessments, Shah said the incident was a serious warning that climate change was increasing risks in the Himalayan region.

“We must make the international community aware of the disasters we are experiencing as a result of climate change. Climate change is a global challenge. Its impacts and efforts to mitigate and manage them are the shared responsibility of the global community,” he said.

Shah also defended the government’s response to questions over whether timely warnings were issued to the public.

“As soon as we received information that the flood was approaching, our security personnel were deployed to alert residents. However, they themselves went missing during the operation,” he said.

Some media reports had suggested that the Nepali government was reluctant to accept international assistance for the rescue and relief of flood victims.

Seven days after the disaster, Shah told Parliament that the government had never adopted a policy of refusing international assistance during major disasters.

“We had been coordinating with international countries from the very beginning to seek assistance as needed in the affected areas. We had also tried to expedite the process of receiving international assistance,” Shah said.

“Our friendly neighbours, India and China, had already sent technical experts. They had been conducting reconnaissance from the very first day, including on the first and second days,” he said.

Shah told Parliament that the flood was accompanied by huge amounts of mud and debris, making it impossible for even foreign rescue teams that arrived at the outset to land at the affected sites.

“After conducting reconnaissance and monitoring to determine whether they could reach the sites, they concluded that it was not immediately possible to land there. The Indian and Chinese technicians, along with Nepali technicians and the Army, could reach the sites only after conditions became suitable for them to do so,” Shah said. “This was an exceptional situation.”

The Prime Minister also said excavators could not be deployed initially because of the heavy mud and debris.

“There was no stable ground not only for excavators but also for personnel from the Army and Armed Police Force. That is why they tried to reach the sites by crawling as much as possible,” Shah said.“Rescue operations began only after stable ground was available for excavators and suitable places were available for helicopters to land.”

Shah also thanked countries and international organisations for supporting Nepal’s flood response, naming India, China, the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the UAE, Qatar, Switzerland, Singapore, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, as well as the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, European Union and United Nations.

Several other friendly countries and international organisations have also pledged further assistance, he said.

Tehran, Sep 2: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that it has started strikes against US bases and assets in the region in retaliation for US attacks against southern Iranian provinces earlier in the day, which killed at least five and wounded over 50 others.

In a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News Tuesday night (local time), the IRGC said its “regret-inducing response against the aggressors” has begun, noting its air defence had shot down a “hostile” US MQ-9 Reaper drone.

Its aerospace forces also launched ballistic missile and drone strikes on Camp Titin in Jordan and Shaikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, reportedly killing “a large number of” US troops and destroying several key facilities and combat helicopters.

It stressed that the US strikes will only protract the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and make the Iranian armed forces more determined to “suppress the foreign forces interfering in the waterway.”

The IRGC said the attacks began after the United States bombed a number of civilian places on Iran’s southern coasts “out of desperation” and in retaliation for the US “criminal” and deadly attack on a wedding ceremony in Hormozgan province, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) said later that the country’s air defence systems on Tuesday evening intercepted and destroyed 10 of 13 ballistic missiles that entered the country’s airspace from Iran in the past hours.

Three other missiles fell in remote areas away from population centres, with no casualties or loss of life reported, according to a JAF statement.

The semi-official Fars news agency cited Ahmad Nafisi, Hormozgan’s deputy governor for political and security affairs, as saying that at least five people, including a four-year-old child and a woman, were killed and over 50 others wounded in the US attack targeting the wedding ceremony in Sirik county.

Multiple explosions were heard Tuesday evening in several southern Iranian provinces as US Central Command, in a post on social media platform X, announced the start of strikes against IRGC targets.

The explosions were heard in the counties of Sirik, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm and Jask in Hormozgan, Konarak and Chabahar in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Jiroft in Kerman province, and Asaluyeh in Bushehr province, Iranian media reported.

Iran’s main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in a statement that in response to the US “air aggression,” the Iranian armed forces will deal “crushing and shattering” blows to the United States.