Lebanese militant group Hezbollah will halt its fire on Israel if its Palestinian ally Hamas agrees to a truce proposal in Gaza, except if Israeli forces continue to shell Lebanon, Reuters reported, citing sources. “The moment Hamas announces its approval of the truce, and the moment the truce is declared, Hezbollah will adhere to the truce and will stop operations in the south immediately, as happened the previous time,” sources said. However, if Israel continues to attack Lebanon, Hezbollah would not hesitate to fight, both sources added.
Indian Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane co-chaired the India-Germany High Defence Committee (HDC) meeting alongside Benedikt Zimmer, State Secretary, German Ministry of Defence in Berlin on Tuesday. Both parties discussed various bilateral security and defence issues, with a focus on growing defence cooperation as a major component of the India-Germany strategic partnership. “They exchanged views on the regional security situation, discussed likely joint exercises with Germany in the Indo-Pacific, and deliberated on potential defence industrial projects and proposals,” the statement read.
The Indian Navy announced on Tuesday that the sea phase of naval exercise MILAN concluded aboard INS Vikrant in Visakhapatnam. “This edition of MILAN witnessed participation of 35 units including ships, submarines and aircraft. 13 ships and one aircraft from Friendly Foreign Countries participated in the sea phase,” an official statement read. This was reportedly the first time that two navy aircraft carriers, INS Vikrant and INS Vikramaditya, participated in the exercise together. “All units undertook a series of complex and advanced exercises in the domains of surface, sub-surface and air warfare including exercises against asymmetric threats,” the Navy added.
Indian President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday expressed pride in India’s role as a friend and partner of Bangladesh, emphasising the enduring bond between New Delhi and Dhaka. “India is proud to have been a friend and partner in the liberation war of Bangladesh, and continues to share the development journey with Bangladesh,” she said, addressing a youth delegation from Bangladesh at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. “We must preserve and nurture this spirit,” which inspires the unique bond between our two countries, she added.
Since Indonesia’s presidential and legislative elections on 14 February, labelled as the world’s largest in a single day, 114 workers have lost their lives, and more than 15,000 have fallen ill. Although the number of deaths has significantly decreased from nearly 900 in 2019, when Indonesia first conducted both elections simultaneously, advocates for election reform and democracy are urging additional measures to minimise the impact on workers.
The arms control department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry has proposed that countries possessing the largest nuclear arsenals engage in negotiations for a treaty on the no-first-use of nuclear weapons among themselves. Sun Xiaobo, the director-general of the department, emphasised the importance of nuclear states fulfilling their “special and priority responsibilities” in nuclear disarmament in accordance with the UN Conference on Disarmament’s objective to prevent nuclear war.