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      Israel-Hezbollah Cease-Fire Rests on a Wobbly Linchpin: Lebanon’s Army

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      The Lebanese Army is tasked with ensuring that Hezbollah abides by the cease-fire. It has failed at that task before.The fragile peace between Israel and Hezbollah largely hangs on 10,000 soldiers in the Lebanese Army.The last time it was tasked with enforcing a cease-fire, it plainly failed.The current cease-fire, which came into effect on Wednesday, calls for a 60-day truce between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, during which time Israeli forces gradually withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah moves away from Lebanon’s border with Israel.To ensure Hezbollah’s retreat, the agreement relies heavily upon the Lebanese Army, a national military strained under competing priorities and sectarian complexities that has long proved unable — or unwilling — to rein in Hezbollah.In a new buffer zone along the border — a strip of land ranging from a few miles to 18 miles wide — the Lebanese Army is responsible for destroying all Hezbollah military infrastructure, confiscating any unauthorized weapons and blocking the transfer or production of arms. United Nations peacekeeping forces will sometimes accompany the Lebanese soldiers in a supporting role. On Wednesday, the army began deploying more soldiers to the region.But that approach has been tried before — and it did not work.The Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire that ended the 2006 Lebanon War, known as Resolution 1701, also called on the Lebanese Army to keep Hezbollah away from the border, with U.N. peacekeepers assisting. Years later, Hezbollah emerged even stronger than before, with extensive weaponry, infrastructure and tunnels across the border region.Yet despite those past failures, the international community is once again banking on the Lebanese Army. In recent months, the United States and other nations revived an effort to train, equip and fund Lebanese forces.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trudeau Goes to Mar-a-Lago to See Trump Amid Tariff Concerns

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      Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada is the first G7 leader to visit President-elect Donald J. Trump in Florida since the election. He is under pressure to persuade Mr. Trump to back down from his tariff threat.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada on Friday night landed in Florida to see President-elect Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, two officials with direct knowledge of the visit said, after a threat by Mr. Trump to impose across-the-board tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico on Day 1.The visit makes Mr. Trudeau the first head of government from the Group of 7, a key forum of global coordination consisting of the world’s wealthiest democracies, to visit the president-elect.Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Trump were to dine together on Friday evening, one official said, along with a delegation of senior Trump allies poised for top trade and security positions in his new administration.Mr. Trudeau was accompanied on his visit by Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister of public safety. The Canadian prime minister was expected to stay in the area overnight, but not at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club and home in Palm Beach, Fla.The Trump transition team did not respond to requests for comment, and there was no information released about Mr. Trump’s schedule on Friday.Mr. Trudeau has been scrambling to formulate a plan to respond to the threat made this week by Mr. Trump to impose a 25 percent tariff unless Mexico and Canada take action to curb the arrival of undocumented migrants and drugs across their borders into the United States.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Protests Erupt in Georgia as It Pulls Back From Pro-Western Path

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      Thousands of people took to the streets after the government in the Caucasus nation said it had suspended talks on joining the European Union.Thousands of people protested overnight in front of the Parliament building in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, after the government announced on Thursday that it had suspended its bid to join the European Union for four years.The announcement has further deepened the conflict between the country’s opposition, which wants closer ties with the West, and the governing Georgian Dream party, which has been pivoting Georgia away from Europe toward Russia and China.The protests were prompted by an announcement on Thursday by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who said the country was putting the process of accession into the European Union on hold until 2028. Mr. Kobakhidze also said that Georgia would decline all grants from the European Union, which has allocated more than $500 million to the country since 2019.Demonstrators blocked the main avenue in Tbilisi, chanting “slaves” and “Russians,” before they were dispersed by riot police, whose officers used water cannons and tear gas to push the crowd away from the Parliament building.The Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement that its law enforcement officers had detained 43 protesters. The police also said that 32 officers were injured. The protests were expected to resume on Friday.A mountainous country of 3.7 million, Georgia has been at the crossroads of great power interests for centuries. The current political crisis was prompted by the disputed victory of the Georgian Dream in parliamentary elections in October.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Syrian Rebel Groups Launch Largest Offensive in Years

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      Scores of people were killed after forces opposed to the government of President Bashar al-Assad overtook a Syrian military base, a monitoring group reported.Syrian opposition forces have launched an offensive in western Aleppo district that has killed at least 89 people and overtaken a Syrian military base, a monitoring group based in Britain reported on Wednesday.The attacks are the most notable escalation in the Syrian conflict in years, expert say. Fighters from various rebel factions, including a group linked to Al Qaeda called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, had advanced by Wednesday to within about six miles of Aleppo and taken over weapons and vehicles previously held by forces loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad, according to the monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.Opposition factions announced on the Telegram messaging app that they had taken Base 46, the largest Syrian government base in the area, as well as tanks, and had captured members of the pro-government forces on Wednesday. They also announced that they had taken over a number of villages in the countryside west of Aleppo district.“In the matter of about 10 hours, a wide spectrum of armed opposition groups have managed to get to within about four or five kilometers now of Aleppo city, which is of gigantic significance,” Charles Lister, the director of Middle East Institute’s Syria and counterterrorism programs, said on Wednesday.The Syrian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The attacks are believed to be the first major effort since 2020 by the rebel groups to take territory, when Turkey, which sided with the opposition forces, and Russia, which is Syria’s ally, brokered a cease-fire to halt fighting in the Idlib region.The recent escalation is part of increasing volatility in the region, experts say.“Pro-regime militias have been upping their attacks in the area, trying to deter the rebels because Israel has been weakening the Syrian regime’s allies like Hezbollah and Iran,” said Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.The success of the offensive thus far shows the vulnerability of the Syrian government and the growing prowess of the various opposition factions, experts say.“Years ago, an offense of this size would have been pushed back by the regime,” Mr. Lister said. But opposition forces like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which traces its origins from the Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, have invested heavily in resources and training for night operations. “That basically levels the playing field,” he added.Dr. Mustafa Aledou, a pharmacist and program manager for MedGlobal, a Chicago-based nonprofit, lives in Idlib city and said he was less than 20 miles from the attacks.His family woke early in the morning to the sound of bombing, he said.“We can hear the explosions,” he said. “We can hear the attacks in the battle in the frontline between the fighting forces.”The local authorities announced the closure of schools and large markets because of the fighting.Milana Mazaeva More

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      Trump’s Tariff Threat Pits Canada Against Mexico

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      If President-elect Donald J. Trump’s threat of hefty tariffs on Canada and Mexico was intended as a divide-and-conquer strategy, early signs show that it might be working.After his missive on Monday, in which he said he planned to impose a 25 percent tariff on all imports from both of the United States’ neighbors, Ottawa and Mexico City followed starkly different approaches.Mexico took a tough stance, threatening to retaliate with its own tariffs on U.S. goods. Canada, instead, emphasized that it was much closer aligned to the United States than Mexico.The trade agreement between the three North American nations has been carefully maintained over the past three decades through a delicate balance between the United States and its two key allies.As Mr. Trump prepares to take office, his willingness to tear that up to pressure the two countries on migration could open the door to the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement being replaced by separate bilateral deals with the United States.Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s finance minister, has tried to show that Canada is aligned with Mr. Trump’s hawkish attitude toward China.Blair Gable/ReutersWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Trump’s Tariff Threat Roils Global Markets

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      The dollar gained and investors sold off stocks after the president-elect promised to levy new restrictions on the United States’ biggest trade partners. President-elect Donald Trump’s economic policy is already roiling global markets.Brendan McDermid/ReutersThe other Trump trade Investors and policymakers are getting a dose of Trumponomics déjà vu this morning.Global stocks are falling, and the dollar is climbing. The volatility comes after President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to impose tariffs on the United States’ biggest trading partners — Canada, China and Mexico — on Day 1 in office in an apparent effort to clamp down on the flow of cross-border drugs, like fentanyl, and migrants.The latest:Trump wants to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico “on ALL products coming into the United States,” he said on Truth Social. He also wants an “additional” 10 percent tariff on imports from China, which Trump blames for the fentanyl crisis, a charge that Beijing has repeatedly disputed.The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso fell sharply against the dollar. Europe, Japan and South Korea weren’t even mentioned in Trump’s announcement, but stocks have fallen there, too. That suggests rising fears that a new trade war could scramble global supply chains and dent profits.Automakers are some of the hardest hit stocks, with Volkswagen, Stellantis and Nissan, which run manufacturing operations in Mexico, all down.Today’s losses have reversed some of yesterday’s “Bessent bounce” rally. Investors were relieved after Trump picked Scott Bessent, the market-friendly hedge fund mogul, to run the Treasury Department.But the reverberations show that it’s Trump calling the shots. The president-elect has made no secret of his desire to use tariffs to further his America-first agenda, and he has yet to announce his pick to be U.S. Trade Representative. (Another tariff supporter, Robert Lighthizer, is in the running.)Trump’s latest threats may be just a negotiating tactic. That’s the belief of some Trump backers, including Bill Ackman, the billionaire financier. But they are a reminder of how Trump set off alarm bells across diplomatic channels and international markets during his first term often via social media posts. “Waking up to check the tweets for any policy announcements could become the norm,” Mohit Kumar, an economist at Jefferies, wrote in a note this morning.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada spoke to Trump about trade and border security after the president-elect’s announcement, The Times reported. China pushed back. “No one will win a trade war,” a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Israel Conducts Widespread Strikes Near Beirut

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      As negotiators inch toward a cease-fire deal, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has intensified.The Israeli military late on Sunday conducted a heavy barrage of airstrikes on the southern outskirts of Beirut where Hezbollah holds sway, with fighter jets racing across the skies above the Lebanese capital and deafening explosions ringing out for miles.Lebanon’s state-run news agency described the bombardment as a “ring of fire,” with thick, black plumes of smoke seen rising above the city’s skyline.The airstrikes followed a series of sweeping evacuation warnings on Sunday by the Israeli military for the area, known as the Dahiya — more warnings than in any other day this month. They also came as Hezbollah fired about 250 projectiles into Israel on Sunday, one of the group’s largest aerial attacks over the past year.Analysts said that Israel’s ramped up attacks in recent days were intended to pressure Hezbollah into accepting a cease-fire on favorable terms. Hezbollah, however, has shown few signs of backing down, and both sides have pledged to keep up their attacks while negotiations are taking place.There were no immediate reports of casualties from Israel’s strikes late on Sunday. The Dahiya, once a bustling cluster of neighborhoods that are home to hundreds of thousands of people, has been almost entirely emptied in recent weeks because of intense airstrikes.The Israeli military said in a statement late on Sunday that it had struck 12 “command centers” in the Dahiya that it described as belonging to Hezbollah.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      COP29 Climate Talks Get a Deal on Money, but Only After a Fight

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      The financing plan, which calls for $300 billion per year in support for developing nations, was immediately assailed as inadequate by a string of delegates.Negotiators at this year’s United Nations climate summit struck an agreement early on Sunday in Baku, Azerbaijan, to triple the flow of money to help developing countries adopt cleaner energy and cope with the effects of climate change. Under the deal, wealthy nations pledged to reach $300 billion per year in support by 2035, up from a current target of $100 billion.Independent experts, however, have placed the needs of developing countries much higher, at $1.3 trillion per year. That is the amount they say must be invested in the energy transitions of lower-income countries, in addition to what those countries already spend, to keep the planet’s average temperature rise under 1.5 degrees Celsius. Beyond that threshold, scientists say, global warming will become more dangerous and harder to reverse.The deal struck at the annual U.N.-sponsored climate talks calls on private companies and international lenders like the World Bank to cover the hundreds of billions in the shortfall. That was seen by some as a kind of escape clause for rich countries.As soon as the Azerbaijani hosts banged the gavel and declared the deal done, Chandni Raina, the representative from India, the world’s most populous country, tore into them, saying the process had been “stage managed.”“It is a paltry sum,” Ms. Raina said. “I am sorry to say that we cannot accept it. We seek a much higher ambition from developed countries.” She called the agreement “nothing more than an optical illusion.”Speakers from one developing country after another, from Bolivia to Nigeria to Fiji, echoed Ms. Raina’s remarks and assailed the document in furious statements.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More