Israel, Hezbollah trade claims over Lebanon truce

April 27, 2026

Summary

Israeli strikes killed 14 in south Lebanon as Israel and Hezbollah accused each other of breaching the ceasefire.

Why this matters

The developments point to continued instability along the Israel-Lebanon border despite a ceasefire extension. Iran’s diplomacy with Russia, Pakistan, Oman, and the U.S. also signals broader regional efforts to contain the conflict.

Israel and Hezbollah accused each other of violating the ceasefire in Lebanon on Sunday, as Israeli strikes in the south killed 14 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

The ministry said the dead included two women and two children, and that 37 other people were wounded. Lebanese state media said Israeli warplanes struck Kfar Tibnit after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for seven locations in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military has carried out repeated strikes in Lebanon since the truce took effect on April 17, and troops are operating inside an Israeli-declared “yellow line” near the border, where Lebanese residents have been warned not to return.

The Israeli military said Sgt. Idan Fooks, 19, was killed “during combat” in southern Lebanon. It said an officer and three other soldiers were severely injured, one soldier was moderately injured, and one was lightly injured.

Hezbollah said it rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s accusations that the group was threatening the ceasefire. In a statement, the Iran-backed group said its attacks on Israeli troops inside Lebanon were a “legitimate response to ceasefire violations.”

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The vote followed months of public criticism of Powell by President Donald Trump over interest rates.

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Kevin Warsh moved closer Wednesday to becoming Federal Reserve chair after the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs voted 13-11 along party lines to advance his nomination to the full Senate.

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis cast the deciding vote after the Trump administration said Friday it would end a Department of Justice investigation into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

“It’s no secret that the reason that Mr. Warsh’s nomination could have been held up is because of my concern with the investigation. I want to thank the Department of Justice for the assurances that they gave me,” Tillis, a Republican, said after the brief committee meeting.

“The fact of the matter is, this was based on two minutes of testimony. It was not criminal,” Tillis said of the DOJ review of Powell’s June 2025 testimony to Congress about a $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s Washington headquarters.

A federal judge last month blocked administration subpoenas seeking records from the Fed and Powell, citing “a mountain of evidence” that Trump was using the investigation to pressure Powell.

The Fed was scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon on interest rates, possibly its last meeting under Powell, whose term expires May 15.
US Politics

House adopts budget plan to advance ICE funding

In a memo to lawmakers Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget warned that Homeland Security “will soon run out of critical operating funds, placing essential personnel and operations at risk.”

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The House on Wednesday adopted a Senate-approved budget plan, the first step in a Republican strategy to fund federal immigration agencies through the rest of President Donald Trump’s term without Democratic votes.

The resolution passed 215-211. It directed the committees that oversee Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to draft legislation providing about $70 billion for those agencies. Both chambers would still need to approve that legislation.

Senate Republicans unveiled and adopted the budget blueprint last week as they sought to meet Trump’s June deadline to fund ICE and Border Patrol and end the funding lapse that has shut down the Department of Homeland Security since February. Republicans planned to fund other parts of the department separately.

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In late March, the Senate passed a measure to fund most of the department, excluding ICE and Border Patrol, with plans to fund immigration enforcement through budget reconciliation, which allows the Senate to pass some budget bills by simple majority. House Democrats said they would support that bill, but House Republican leaders did not bring it up for a vote. Instead, the House passed a 60-day funding measure for the entire department, sending the issue back to the Senate.
World Politics

Trump says Putin discussed possible Ukraine ceasefire

A Kremlin aide said the friendly, businesslike call lasted more than 1.5 hours and that Trump said he believed a deal to end the Ukraine war was close.

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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he discussed a possible ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump spoke after the Kremlin said the two leaders discussed a temporary ceasefire next month to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II.

“We had a good talk, I’ve known him a long time,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with astronauts from the Artemis II mission.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced sharp questions from Democrats on Wednesday over the Trump administration’s war in Iran, including its cost, legal authority, and personnel decisions, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the 2027 military budget.

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Democrats focused on the war’s costs, the use of U.S. munitions, a school bombing that killed children, and President Donald Trump’s shifting rationale for the conflict. Republicans largely backed the administration and focused on budget issues.

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A ceasefire is in place. House and Senate Democrats failed to pass war powers resolutions that would have required Trump to halt the conflict unless Congress authorized further action.

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The special passports will be issued only in Washington. They will feature Trump’s portrait on the inside cover, surrounded by the text of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. flag, with his signature in gold underneath.

Current U.S. passports depict historical scenes, including the moon landing, and symbols such as the Liberty Bell and Statue of Liberty.

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President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that the United States was reviewing a possible reduction of troops in Germany and expected a decision soon.

“The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

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A filing Wednesday evening in the District of Massachusetts showed the administration was appealing U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy’s March 16 order. Murphy put on hold decisions made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee, ruling that Kennedy had replaced the committee “unlawfully.”

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The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday it had approved a plan to recruit, retain, and train artificial intelligence professionals as part of a broader Defense Department push to strengthen the military’s AI capabilities.

The AI Hiring and Talent Development Plan, approved this month, aimed to help the Department of the Air Force maintain an edge over U.S. adversaries and become an “AI-first force,” according to the strategy document.

“This Al strategy is fundamental to leveraging our people as a strategic asset, strengthening readiness and lethality, and modernizing our Air and Space Forces to ensure our nation’s competitive advantage,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said in the document.

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“AI is not a niche technology of the future; it is now an indispensable capability that must be integrated across our platforms and mission sets now as foundational to our readiness, to enhancing lethality and reestablishing deterrence, and as a cornerstone of our modernization efforts,” Meink said.

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