Israeli–Lebanese conflict

Hezbollah said it set off a bomb targeting Israeli forces at the Lebanese border on Jan. 4 in an apparent response to the killing in Syria last month of a prominent commander, triggering Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon.

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group said on Dec. 27 that Israel miscalculated by killing prominent militant Samir Qantar in Syria last week, saying that retaliation for his death was inevitable, whatever the consequences.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Burj al-Barajneh, a mainly Shia southern suburb and Hezbollah stronghold where Hezbollah forces are fighting IS in neighbouring Syria. The attack left 41 dead, in the deadliest bombing in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, cince the end of Lebanon’s civil war in 1990.

Lebanon observed a national day of mourning on Nov. 13 after two suicide bombs the day before killed 43 people in southern Beirut, in an act the United Nations condemned overnight as "despicable."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed on a plan to avoid "misunderstandings" in Syria amid an apparent military build-up by Moscow to support President Bashar al-Assad.

Israeli officials have clearly drawn a line between potential threats posed by Iran and jihadists against their country, putting at Tehran at the top of the list.

The Israeli government on Aug. 16 approved a major deal with a consortium including US firm Noble Energy on natural offshore gas production in the Mediterranean, the prime minister's office said.

The Turkish parliament approved on July 8 a motion authorizing the government to extend the mission of Turkey's troops in Lebanon under a United Nations' peacekeeping mission for one more year. 

Thousands of diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal how Saudi Arabia apparently uses its deep pockets to buy international support, but the kingdom insists it is doing nothing out of the ordinary.
 
The whistleblowing website has released about 70,000 documents it said were obtained from the Saudi foreign ministry, of more than half a million it says it received.

Cyprus police say a trial date has been set for a Lebanese-Canadian man who was arrested in connection with the seizure of more than five tons of a chemical compound that can be converted into an explosive.