Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, visited the USS Lincoln in the Arabian Sea during a 10-day tour of the region that concluded Saturday, U.S. Central Command said. Israel said its attacks in southern Lebanon, which killed at least 11 people, targeted two Hezbollah commanders. And a Hamas delegation is in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egyptian officials related to the Gaza ceasefire. Here’s a look at Sunday’s latest developments in the Iran war and across the Middle East. Full coverage can be found here. U.S. Central Command chief visits aircraft carrier Adm. Cooper visited the USS Lincoln in the Arabian Sea as reports emerged of mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed aircraft carrier. The Lincoln arrived in the Middle East in January and has been supporting the US war against Iran, including the blockade of Iranian ports. Her deployment has included a record uninterrupted time at sea of more than 240 days. Prolonged aircraft carrier deployments, which can have more than 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard, have raised concerns about the impact not only on ships but also on service members. “History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,” Cooper said of the Lincoln Strike Group in a statement issued Saturday. Cooper also traveled to Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to meet with civilian and military leaders, according to the Central Command statement. strikes. About a fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas previously passed through the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Talks between the United States and Iran have stalled as Iran is in talks with Oman over how to manage the strait separating them that had been considered an international waterway. Israel targets two Hezbollah commanders in Saturday attacks Israel’s military said it targeted two Hezbollah commanders in attacks in southern Lebanon on Saturday, in the deadliest attacks since a truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah took effect in June. Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state news agency said at least 11 people were killed in two attacks. Israel’s military said early Sunday morning that the latest attack killed Abu Hassan Alaa, whom it described as a Hezbollah “senior commander” who had participated in attacks against Israel soldiers in southern Lebanon, as well as leading militants who attacked Israeli soldiers and civilians for several years. Subscribe to Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the day’s biggest headlines. Israel and the Lebanese government announced a “framework agreement” in late June, setting out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah. It foresees steps toward an eventual peace agreement between the countries, which are technically still at war almost 80 years after the establishment of Israel. Hezbollah has refused to hold direct talks and was not part of the US-brokered deal. A Hamas delegation, led by the group’s leader Khalil al-Hayya, is in Cairo on Sunday for talks related to the ceasefire in Gaza, the group said. Al-Hayya met with Major General Hassan Rashad, head of Egypt’s intelligence service, Egyptian state media reported. Al-Hayya reiterated Hamas’ commitment to implementing US President Donald Trump’s peace plan in Gaza to “end the suffering of the residents of the Gaza Strip and begin the reconstruction process,” Al-Qahera News television reported. of the area, in addition to handing over power to the Palestinian technocrats. Israel’s Netanyahu has rejected Trump’s latest plan to advance the stalled ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israel will not withdraw from any of the roughly 60% of territory it controls until Hamas has been completely disarmed, something the militant group that controls the other 40% has long resisted. It was not immediately clear whether al-Hayya would meet with Trump’s son-in-law and negotiator Jared Kushner and Peace Board senior representative Nickolay. Mladenov, or executive board member and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who are scheduled to travel to Israel and Egypt this week. Iran says Qatar has three of its pilots captured by the Qatari military and three Iranian pilots who went missing in March when their planes were shot down, the Missing Persons Committee of the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces said. Qatar, however, denied this. Iranian state television reported Sunday that the committee’s commander responded by urging Qatar to allow Iranian Air Force experts to conduct a field investigation. Saturday’s statement alleged that Qatar had not allowed the pilots to meet or communicate with the families or the Iranian officials handling their cases. A spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, Majed Al Ansari, denied the claims, stating in X that the pilots had been shot down and that Qatari search and rescue teams found the remains of one. This is the first known case in the war in which Iran has said that a country in the region is holding its fighters. Tehran has repeatedly attacked countries in the region with missiles and drones hosting US military bases.
