Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Israel simultaneously addressing threats from Lebanon and Iran, Ukraine bolstering its weapons production efforts, and storm destruction in the United States and Taiwan.
Israel’s War Priorities
At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, marking the deadliest Israeli military loss against Hezbollah this past year and the first reported ground clash since Israel invaded its northern neighbor the day before. Around 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli attacks, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday, as Israeli-issued evacuation orders expanded to cover a quarter of all Lebanese territory.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Israel simultaneously addressing threats from Lebanon and Iran, Ukraine bolstering its weapons production efforts, and storm destruction in the United States and Taiwan.
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Israel’s War Priorities
At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, marking the deadliest Israeli military loss against Hezbollah this past year and the first reported ground clash since Israel invaded its northern neighbor the day before. Around 1.2 million people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli attacks, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday, as Israeli-issued evacuation orders expanded to cover a quarter of all Lebanese territory.
Yet as the fighting in Lebanon intensifies, Israel is also continuing its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, killing at least 65 Palestinians overnight on Wednesday, and has vowed retaliation for Iran’s ballistic missile attack against Israel on Tuesday. Tehran “will pay” for its actions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned, with another Israeli official telling ABC News that “Israel’s response to Iran’s attack will be significant and come fast,” without specifying what that might look like.
The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency session on Wednesday to discuss Iran’s recent operation and how to prevent a wider Middle East war. Yet Israel is far from satisfied with the international body’s actions. On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres “persona non grata,” barring him from entering the country.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as almost every country in the world has done, does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil,” Katz wrote on X. He accused Guterres of not leading efforts to classify Hamas as a terrorist organization and failing to denounce Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, as well as its use of sexual violence against civilians. In April, a U.N. commission omitted Hamas from its blacklist of state and nonstate actors that were guilty of sexual violence in 2023, citing a lack of what it considered credible evidence.
Following Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Tuesday, Guterres urged for a cease-fire but did not specifically mention Tehran. He clarified his statement on Wednesday, saying, “As should have been obvious yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed, I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.” His past statements have largely centered on de-escalation to avoid “all-out war” in Lebanon and protect the country’s territorial integrity.
Israel has a fraught history with the U.N., as well as other international bodies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC). Israel has accused them of holding the country to double standards—ignoring other states’ human rights abuses while singling out Israel. In May, the ICC issued arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders, Netanyahu, and another Israeli senior official. And of the 195 cases submitted to the International Court of Justice since its creation in 1947, only two of those have been against Israel.
Israel has also failed to abide by U.N. resolutions numerous times since its founding.
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Kyiv’s military muscle. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky championed Kyiv’s ability to produce 4 million drones annually on Tuesday, while also announcing plans to boost production of other weapons. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reiterated this sentiment, saying Ukraine tripled its overall domestic weapons production in 2023 and doubled that volume again in the first eight months of 2024.
Prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, drone manufacturing in Ukraine was largely nonexistent. Now, Kyiv spends about half of its state budget—or around $40 billion—on defense. That does not include military and financial aid from other countries.
Yet Kyiv’s forces are still struggling on the battlefield. On Wednesday, the country ordered its troops to retreat from the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, which has served as a key defensive position for the Donetsk province throughout much of the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said one of his primary war goals is to take control of the entire Donbas region, which includes Donetsk.
Deadly storm fronts. Hurricane Helene has devastated much of the southeastern United States this week, with new figures on Wednesday reporting that at least 166 people have been killed across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The hurricane made landfall in Florida last Thursday as a Category 4 storm, severing water and electricity access and stranding families in remote mountain regions. More than 1 million people in the Carolinas still had no power as of Wednesday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has authorized 1,000 active-duty soldiers to help distribute supplies to survivors. “People are scared to death. This is urgent,” U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday while visiting the Carolinas. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper added that entire communities have been “wiped off the map.”
On the other side of the globe, Taiwan grounded hundreds of flights and closed schools and financial markets on Wednesday ahead of Typhoon Krathon, which is expected to make landfall early Thursday local time. Officials in Kaohsiung likened the storm’s intensity to that of Typhoon Thelma, which killed 37 people in 1977. Authorities have ordered residents to shelter at home. At least two people have been killed and around 70 others injured thus far due to heavy rain and wind from the approaching storm.
VPs at the podium. In a debate exuding “Midwestern nice,” the two U.S. vice presidential candidates—Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota—took the stage on Tuesday for the final major debate before the U.S. presidential election in November. Although much of the conversation focused on domestic issues, the first question of the night was about foreign policy: Israel, Iran, and the larger Middle East conflict.
Vance and Walz sparred over which of their running mates (former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, respectively) would better serve as a deterrent against all-out war and how to address Tehran’s nuclear development. Throughout the night, they also repeatedly mentioned U.S. trade relations with China—Vance advocated for an isolationist, Made in America approach while Walz pushed for strategic tariffs—and they tackled U.S. immigration policy, with both speakers criticizing the other ticket’s deportation record.
Despite a few fact-checking disagreements and Vance’s mic being muted after he alluded to a false, racist conspiracy theory, the two candidates remained largely cordial—even finding common ground at some points. The evening did not end that way, though, with Vance and Walz exchanging heated words over the state of U.S. democracy and the validity of the 2020 election. Still, Vance and Walz managed to shake hands at the end, something viewers were not expecting Trump and Harris to do during their tense debate in September.
Odds and Ends
What is believed to have been a World War II-era bombshell detonated near a regional airport in southwestern Japan on Wednesday, nearly 80 years after the war ended. The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force stated that the explosive appeared to be a U.S. bomb that was likely dropped in an effort to stop Japanese “kamikaze” attacks, as the airport used to be a Japanese navy base from which hundreds of kamikaze pilots took off on their final missions. No injuries were reported in the explosion but nearly 90 flights were canceled, as Miyazaki Airport now must determine how to fix the 23-foot-wide and nearly 3-foot-deep crater in the middle of its taxiway.
The post Israeli Soldiers Killed in First Ground Clashes With Hezbollah appeared first on Foreign Policy.
