Hezbollah’s chief said Saturday that the group was using new weapons in attacks against Israel, as exchanges of fire on Lebanon’s southern border intensify while Israel battles Hamas militants in Gaza.

Over the past week, the Iran-backed group has “bolstered” its action “on the Lebanese front in terms of the number of operations, targets and the type of weapons”, Hassan Nasrallah said in his second televised address since the Hamas-Israel war began.

The Shiite Muslim movement has used “Burkan missiles”, for the first time, he said, adding that they could carry “a payload of 300-500 kilogrammes” (660-1,100 pounds).

The group has been using attack drones “for the first time in the history of the resistance” in Lebanon, he said, and has been flying “reconnaissance drones” deep into Israel daily, “some reaching Haifa, Acre and Safed” in the country’s north.

Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon’s southern border has seen intensifying tit-for-tat exchanges, mainly between Israel and Hezbollah, an ally of the Palestinian group, stoking fears of a broader conflagration.

Israeli fire has killed at least 68 Hezbollah fighters since last month, according to an AFP tally, as well as at least 11 civilians in Lebanon and 12 other combatants.

Six soldiers and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel.

Hezbollah fighters “are putting themselves on the front line to launch rockets” at Israeli targets, Nasrallah said, adding that Israeli drones were constantly flying over southern Lebanon.

Noting attacks on Israel and on US troops in the Middle East by other Iran-backed groups including from Iraq and Yemen, Nasrallah told Washington: “If you Americans want to stop these operations… you must stop the war on Gaza.”

He said “several” Hezbollah members were killed in Syria on Friday, where the group has long been deployed on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in his country’s civil war.

Hezbollah said Friday that Israeli fire killed seven of its fighters, without specifying where or when they died.

Israel’s military said it struck an organisation in Syria that was behind a drone crash into a school in southern Israel a day earlier.

Israeli officials say Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and took some 240 hostages in the October 7 attacks that triggered the war.

Israel’s subsequent aerial and ground offensive has killed more than 11,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.

Dr Ruth Westheimer, a well-known media figure and sex therapist, has been appointed as New York state’s honorary ambassador to loneliness, Governor Kathy Hochul announced Friday. According to a press release, this development is intended to assist an underserved mental health need. Dr Westheimer is aiming to help New Yorkers with social isolation, which is associated with physical and mental health issues such as cardiovascular disease, depression and premature death. 

“As New York works to fight the loneliness epidemic, some help from honorary Ambassador Ruth Westheimer may be just what the doctor ordered,” Governor Hochul said in a statement. “Studies show individuals experiencing loneliness had a 32 percent higher risk of dying early and we need leaders like Dr. Ruth to help address this critical component of our mental health crisis,” she added. 

As per the press note, Dr Westheimer is a survivor orphaned by the Holocaust. She rose to prominence as a sex therapist and syndicated talk show host on both radio and television during the 1980s and 1990s. It was last year, the 95-year-old suggested the idea of becoming an ‘ambassador’ for the state in a bid to provide fellow New Yorkers will advice on how to address loneliness and isolation, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“Hallelujah!” Dr Westheimer said in a news release. “I am deeply honored and promised the Governor that I will work day and night to help New Yorkers feel less lonely,” she added.

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Loneliness is defined as the feeling of being alone, regardless of the amount of social contact, while social isolation refers to a lack of social connections, as per the press release. More than a third of adults 45 or older experience loneliness, while nearly a quarter of adults 65 and older are considered socially isolated, a study by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine found. 

Therefore, under Ms Hochul’s leadership, New York is working to create “age-friendly communities and build a more robust system of mental health care,” according to the news release. Last year, Governor Hochul also signed an executive order to create the state’s first-ever Master Plan for Aging to ensure older New Yorkers can live healthy, fulfilling lives while ageing with dignity and independence.

Notably, Dr Westheimer’s honorary appointment underlines Ms Hochul’s recent emphasis on ageing and social needs. 

A Ukrainian special forces commander played a key role in sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September last year, reports said Saturday.

Mystery has surrounded who was behind the blasts that damaged the pipelines, cutting off a major route for Russian gas exports to Europe and fuelling already high tensions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Different theories have emerged pointing the finger at Ukraine, Russia or the United States. All have denied involvement.

A joint investigation by The Washington Post newspaper and German outlet Der Spiegel singles out Roman Chervinsky, a 48-year-old who served in Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces.

He was the “coordinator”, the reports said, citing officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people with knowledge of the operation, who spoke anonymously.

He oversaw logistics and support for a six-person team, which rented a sailing boat using false identities and diving equipment to place explosive charges on the pipelines, said the Post.

The blasts ruptured three of the four pipelines that make up Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, spewing gas into the Baltic Sea.

Chervinsky did not plan the operation or act alone, and took orders from more senior Ukrainian officials, the Post reported.

He denied any role in the sabotage through his lawyer.

“All speculations about my involvement in the attack on Nord Stream are being spread by Russian propaganda without any basis,” he said in a statement to the Post and Der Spiegel.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly denied his country was behind the sabotage.

“I would never do that,” he told Germany’s Bild newspaper in June, adding that he would “like to see proof”.

But the Nord Stream operation was designed to keep Zelensky in the dark, the Post reported.

The two media outlets said the Ukrainian government did not respond to requests for comment on their investigation.

Chervinsky is currently on trial in Kyiv, accused of having abused his power during an attempt to persuade a Russian pilot to defect.

He says his prosecution is political retribution for having criticised Zelensky, according to the reports.