World Briefing: September 26, 2024
Israel's military has carried out air strikes in Beirut, saying it killed a Hezbollah air unit commander. The Lebanese health ministry says two people were killed in the strikes and 15 injured. Earlier, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would fight with "full force" in Lebanon. The statement came after the US, UK and other allies called for a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The Lebanese government says Israeli strikes killed at least 26 people across the country on Thursday, with more than 550 killed since Monday. Since 8 October, there has been near-daily cross border fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah, backed by Iran, says it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians. Israel says it aims to remove Hezbollah's threat, and return displaced people back to northern Israel - BBC
The Israeli army "has been waiting for years for this opportunity to attack Hezbollah," IDF Chief of Staff Hertzl Halevi said on Thursday during a situation assessment meeting. He added that the IDF is "constantly working to reach achievements and continues to attack the organization in every region of Lebanon." Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said, "The unacceptable risk of broader regional escalation demands immediate action. Since Hizballah began its rocket attacks on Israel on October 8, round after round of strikes and counter strikes have driven people from their homes…Last night over a dozen countries joined in a call for an immediate 21 day cease fire across the Lebanon-Israel border. This is the best way for diplomacy to restore safety for citizens to return to their homes. Conditions in the north of Israel and the south of Lebanon must change to permit their safe return - Haaretz
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is heading into strong political headwinds as he visits Washington today to meet with US President Joe Biden. There’s a rising furor on Capitol Hill over the Ukrainian president among Republicans. In the House, GOP lawmakers are attempting to investigate what US taxpayer resources went toward supporting Zelensky’s security as he traveled to Pennsylvania while GOP senators are warning the Ukrainian to stay out of American politics after he called Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, “too radical” in an interview that published over the weekend, CNN reported.
Commenting on the difficulties in the U.S. faced by Zelensky team, a longtime Kyiv-based expatriate wrote: “Most comedians are good at ad libbing, but can't write a script for a comedy or even their own jokes. Which is why they hire writers. The problem comes when they fire their writers and decide to wing it rather than staying on script. The Ukrainian Washington fiasco may be a result of releasing a perfectly competent and respected Minister of Foreign Affairs and deciding to wing it. It may even be that the Minister was released because he disagreed with a plan that told allies what to do instead of first asking them.”
The Biden administration is concerned that the Ukrainian leader’s plan for winning the war against Russia lacks a comprehensive strategy and is little more than a repackaged request for more weapons and the lifting of restrictions on long-range missiles, U.S. officials said. For months, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has billed the plan as a framework to defeat Russia and he was set to brief President Joe Biden on the specifics Thursday during a high-profile White House meeting, the first time the administration will get to hear the framework in its entirety. But senior U.S. and European officials knowledgeable of the broad outlines of the plan said it offers no clear path to an Ukraine victory, particularly as Russian forces make slow but steady gains on the battlefield. “I’m unimpressed, there’s not much new there,” one of the senior officials said - WSJ
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized Volodymyr Zelensky and claimed the Ukrainian president “refuses to make a deal” amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, marking Trump’s most explicit criticism of Zelensky’s handling of the war to date. “Those cities are gone, they’re gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal, Zelensky. There was no deal that he could have made that wouldn’t have been better than the situation you have right now. You have a country that has been obliterated, not possible to be rebuilt,” Trump said during a campaign speech in Mint Hill, North Carolina. Trump blamed Biden and Harris for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and claimed they “caused this situation by the stupidity of what they said, by every move they make, but they caused the situation and now they’re locked in….They just don’t know what to do. They’re locked into a situation. It’s sad, they just don’t know what to do. Because Ukraine is gone, it’s not Ukraine anymore. You can never replace those cities and towns, and you can never replace the dead people, so many dead people.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been indicted on federal charges of bribery conspiracy, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations, according to a bombshell federal indictment unsealed by Manhattan prosecutors Thursday. The five-count indictment — the first against a sitting New York City mayor — details for the first time the charges against Hizzoner after he was indicted by a grand jury as part of a long-running federal probe that’s ensnared a number of his closest allies and aides. Prior to the indictment coming down, sources had revealed the charges were likely connected to allegations the Turkish government had illegally funneled money into Adams’ mayoral campaign in exchange for approval of the Turkish consulate in Manhattan. - NY Post
Hurricane Helene, now a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mile-per-hour winds, rumbled toward Florida’s Gulf Coast with an endless blanket of gray clouds. Even the most hardened of residents eyed the churning Gulf waters with distress, readying their homes and minds for a storm so large that officials said it may leave no part of the state untouched by wind, flood or storm surge. Several cruise lines operating out of Florida’s west coast and the Gulf of Mexico altered their itineraries on Wednesday to avoid Hurricane Helene’s path. Tampa International Airport, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport and Tallahassee International Airport are closed today. Hundreds of flights to and from Florida airports have been canceled - NYT
