World Briefing: October 5, 2024
Israel said it had targeted the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut and was assessing the damage on Friday after a series of strikes on senior figures in the group that Iran's Supreme Leader dismissed as counterproductive. Israel has been weighing options in its response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on Tuesday, which Iran had carried out in response to Israel's military action in Lebanon. Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran's oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies in Gaza. The air attack on Beirut, part of a wider assault that has driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes, was reported to have targeted the potential successor to the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel a week ago. Hashem Safieddine's fate was unclear and neither Israel nor Hezbollah have offered any comment. A blast was heard and smoke was seen over Beirut’s southern suburbs early on Saturday, Reuters witnesses said, as the Israeli military issued three alerts for residents of the area to immediately evacuate. The first alert warned residents in a building in the Burj al-Barajneh neighbourhood and the second in a building in Choueifat district. The third alert mentioned buildings in Haret Hreik as well as Burj al-Barajneh. - Reuters
Nearly 40 medical centres in Lebanon have been forced to close amid Israel's air strikes, a UN agency said on X on Friday. Almost 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7 last year, with 1,000 of those coming in the last week. The Lebanese government estimates that around 1.2 million people have been displaced - France 24
The International Committee of the Red Cross says that, as violence intensifies across the Middle East, the region sits on the precipice of a region-wide armed conflict. It urgently reminds all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law, in particular the need to protect civilians and civilian objects. “The risks are massive. If the violence continues to escalate, the potential harm to civilians is incalculable," said Nicolas Von Arx, the ICRC’s regional director for the Near and Middle East. “All parties must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to reduce the suffering of civilians and pave the way for a more stable and peaceful future,” Von Arx said. “Dehumanization that fuels more cycles of violence must be shunned by all sides.”
Hurricane Helene’s path through the U.S. Southeast left a trail of power outages so large the darkness was visible from space. Tens of trillions of gallons of rain fell and more than 200 people were killed, making Helene the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. Hundreds of people are still unaccounted for, and search crews must trudge through knee-deep debris to learn whether residents are safe. It also damaged water utilities so severely and over such a wide inland area that one federal official said the toll “could be considered unprecedented.” As of Thursday, about 136,000 people in the Southeast were served by a nonoperational water provider and more than 1.8 million were living under a boil water advisory, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Western North Carolina was especially hard hit. Officials are facing a difficult rebuilding task made harder by the steep, narrow valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains that during a more typical October would attract throngs of fall tourists - AP
A Singapore court has sentenced a former minister to 12 months in prison for obstructing justice and receiving more than $300,000 worth of gifts, in the first jailing of a former cabinet member in a city-state famous for its clean governance. S. Iswaran, who was a cabinet member for 13 years and has held the trade, communications and transport portfolios, pleaded guilty last week to four counts of improperly receiving gifts and one of obstructing justice. In a statement posted on the prime minister's office website, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said he was disappointed and saddened by the case. He said that while it was painful to act against a colleague and a friend, "it is our duty to do so when necessary…Our system of government and politics must always stay clean and free from corruption," said Wong, who took over as Singapore's fourth premier in May this year. - Reuters
The Russian military is making heavy use of glide bombs, large Soviet-era weapons upgraded with new wings and navigation systems, in attacks on Ukrainian cities. A Ukrainian explosives team was able to defuse one 500-kilogram bomb that fell short of the city of Zaporizhzhya. But other bombs have reached their targets in recent days, including apartment buildings and other civilian infrastructure. - RFL/RE
