BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Switzerland striker Breel Embolo received a visa Thursday and is headed to the World Cup, following a two-day delay in the authorization of his travel to the United States.
“We have just been informed that Breel Embolo’s visa has been approved,” the Swiss soccer federation said in a statement about the case that involved a criminal conviction for an incident in 2018.
“He will therefore be able to travel to the United States tomorrow, Friday,” the federation said. “He is expected to join the team on Friday evening (local U.S. time).”
The Switzerland squad based in San Diego has a warmup game Saturday against Australia and starts its World Cup program one week later playing Qatar in Santa Clara.
Embolo was denied boarding of the team's flight Tuesday from Zurich to Los Angeles because his authorization to travel was blocked by U.S. authorities who wanted to verify that the incident was non-violent.
He had been prosecuted after a verbal altercation in Basel city center. The verdict was finalized, after an appeal, only in April.
The 29-year-old Embolo is going to his third World Cup as Switzerland’s first-choice striker.
Switzerland is favored in Group B that includes playing Bosnia-Herzegovina in Inglewood, California then tournament co-host Canada in Vancouver on June 24.
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Switzerland's Breel Embolo celebrates scoring during the international friendly soccer match between Switzerland and Jordan in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Sunday, May 31, 2026. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)
DIBBINE, Lebanon (AP) — Israel’s air force struck different parts of southern Lebanon on Friday as the military issued evacuation warnings for nine villages, including one that has been spared much of the destruction and was sheltering thousands of people displaced by the three-month war.
Six people were killed, Lebanon's state news agency reported. The warnings forced hundreds of families to flee the village of Anqoun and the area of Aarnaya, on the edge of the predominantly Christian village of Maghdoucheh, near the southern port city of Sidon.
The strikes came a day after the Hezbollah militant group rejected the latest ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government, and demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
The war in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south since March 2, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, wants to press ahead with Israel’s offensive until Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.
Nearly three hours after the evacuation warnings were issued by the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson, Israeli warplanes struck the villages, including Anqoun. About 2,500 people displaced by the fighting were sheltering in Anqoun, the Lebanese news agency NNA reported.
On Friday, U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops were seen at an entrance of the village of Dibbine, near the town of Marjayoun, after Israeli forces withdrew following intense clashes with Hezbollah fighters.
The ceasefire agreement calls for Lebanon’s armed forces to take control of security zones in Lebanon from which the militants would be banned.
It was the first time Israeli troops pulled out from an area in southern Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began three months ago. At the entrance of the village, dozens of homes were seen destroyed as a result of the clashes and airstrikes. A bulldozer for the peacekeeping force was opening the main road leading to Dibbine.
Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon, pushing further into the country’s south than at any time since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation. The latest declared ceasefire came about through U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities.
On Thursday night, an airstrike in the southern city of Tyre killed three and wounded seven people, including three children and two women, the Health Ministry said.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war began. The fighting has killed at least 29 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
People swim on a public beach as smoke, background, rises from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Qlaileh village, seen from the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
An Israeli flag hangs on a destroyed building in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Thursday June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
