Beirut Suffers Deadliest Israeli Attack This Year

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Israeli operations in Lebanon, a lack of resources for the Kenyan-led security mission in Haiti, and a deadly attack on miners in Pakistan.

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High Death Toll

Rescue workers searched for survivors on Friday after Israeli strikes on central Beirut the day before killed at least 22 people and injured around 117 others. The operation marked the deadliest attack on the Lebanese capital since Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah joined Hamas in its fight against Israel.

Thursday’s strikes reportedly targeted Wafiq Safa, the head of Hezbollah’s liaison and coordination unit, which is responsible for working with Lebanese government officials. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah have commented on Safa’s status, although reports suggest that he was severely wounded but survived.

“We continue to operate against the enemy and will not stop until we ensure that we can safely return” Israeli residents displaced by Hezbollah attacks to their homes along the northern border, said Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Friday after conducting a security assessment of the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) ground incursion in southern Lebanon. According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah fired around 190 projectiles into Israel on Thursday and another 65 by mid-afternoon on Friday, mere hours before Israeli Jews celebrated Kol Nidre, the eve of one of Judaism’s holiest days.

Israel’s offensive in southern Lebanon has drawn renewed international condemnation after an Israeli attack injured two United Nations peacekeepers, one seriously. The operation targeted an observation tower at the U.N. mission’s headquarters in Naqoura, where the Israeli military said there was an “immediate threat.” “The IDF takes every precaution to minimize harm to civilians and peacekeepers alike,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said, adding that Hezbollah operates close to the U.N. mission’s positions.

This was the second time in two days that an Israeli attack has injured U.N. peacekeepers. “Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” the U.N. mission in Lebanon warned. On Friday, Lebanon also accused Israel of killing two of its soldiers in the area, and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati appealed for a U.N. resolution that orders an “immediate” cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.

A separate U.N. commission accused Israel on Thursday of “relentless and deliberate attacks” on health care facilities, medical workers, and wounded civilians in Gaza. In a 24-page report by a commission focused on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, investigators said Israel has engaged in actions that amount to war crimes and extermination, which is considered a crime against humanity. These include preventing hospitals from receiving food, fuel, water, and medical supplies; limiting the number of patients allowed to leave Gaza for treatment; and arbitrarily detaining and abusing Palestinian prisoners, allegedly including with rape and sexual violence.

Israel is engaged in “collective punishment” of Palestinians for Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, the report argues. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, condemned the findings, saying the report “is detached from reality and includes baseless claims about Israel” and that it ignores how Hamas and other militant groups use medical facilities to conceal their operations and conduct attacks. Israel did not cooperate with the commission, and investigators have accused its government of obstructing their inquiry.

Israel “must immediately stop its unprecedented wanton destruction” in Gaza, the head of the commission, Navi Pillay, said. The report’s findings are not enforceable by law.

Today’s Most Read

What We’re Following

Seeking aid. Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille met with Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday to discuss the Nairobi-led, U.N.-authorized security mission in Port-au-Prince. The security force, which arrived in June, aims to tackle rampant gang violence in the Caribbean nation, where more than 3,600 people have been killed since January and another half a million have been displaced. Last month, the U.N. Security Council unanimously voted to extend the mission’s mandate for another year but rejected Haiti’s calls to turn it into a U.N. peacekeeping operation.

Ruto appealed on Friday for greater foreign aid to help sustain the police deployment. The mission requires an estimated $600 million to function but has only received around $85 million to date. The Kenyan president also committed on Friday to sending 600 more officers to Haiti next month. At least 10 countries have promised to deploy a total of roughly 2,900 troops to Port-au-Prince, but only 430 officers have been sent thus far—nearly 400 of them from Kenya.

Assault on miners. Dozens of attackers stormed several private coal mines in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 21 people and injuring six others. Among those killed were four Afghan nationals. The suspects—who reportedly used guns, rockets, and hand grenades—killed some miners while they slept. All 10 mines targeted were burnt down.

No group has claimed responsibility. However, the attack occurred in Pakistan’s turbulent Balochistan province, where extremist separatists with the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) have carried out several deadly terrorist attacks in recent months. Most recently, a BLA militant killed two Chinese nationals and injured 10 others on Monday near Jinnah International Airport. The separatists accuse Islamabad of exploiting Balochistan’s oil and critical minerals to the detriment of its local population.

To the ballot boxes. Lithuania’s opposition Social Democratic Party is expected to make major gains during Sunday’s legislative elections. Polling at 18 percent, it is fast outpacing the ruling conservative Homeland Union party, which is trailing in third place at only 9 percent.

Neither party will likely win a majority and will therefore need to negotiate a coalition government. However, both main parties have ruled out any alliance that includes the populist Nemunas Dawn, which is polling at 12 percent and whose leader has been accused of promoting antisemitism.

Soaring costs of living and threats from Russia may be the reason for Homeland Union’s declining popularity. Left-leaning parties have also criticized Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that she did not do enough to help businesses during lockdown. And whereas Simonyte’s government has raised excise duties to pay for additional defense spending to counter Russia, the Social Democrats have pledged to avoid hiking taxes by increasing the budget deficit instead.

What in the World?

National Day was celebrated where in East Asia on Thursday, Oct. 10?

A. JapanB. TaiwanC. South KoreaD. North Korea

Odds and Ends

Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization that advocates for a world free of nuclear weapons, won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Atomic bomb survivors founded the advocacy group in 1956—just 11 years after the United States dropped two nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War II’s Pacific theater. “At this moment in human history, it is worth reminding ourselves what nuclear weapons are: the most destructive weapon the world has ever seen,” Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said.

And the Answer Is…

B. Taiwan

China’s National Day was celebrated just last week. Balancing the two observances requires some cognitive dissonance among Washington’s diplomatic community each October, FP’s Lili Pike reports.

To take the rest of FP’s weekly international news quiz, click here, or sign up to be alerted when a new one is published.

The post Beirut Suffers Deadliest Israeli Attack This Year appeared first on Foreign Policy.