Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at deadly Israeli operations in Lebanon, efforts to counter terror threats in Turkey and Sri Lanka, and a G-7 loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets.
Preventing a Protracted War
An Israeli strike killed three Lebanese soldiers on Thursday while they were reportedly trying to evacuate wounded civilians from Yater village, near the two countries’ embattled border. This is the second time that Israel has killed Lebanese soldiers this week.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at deadly Israeli operations in Lebanon, efforts to counter terror threats in Turkey and Sri Lanka, and a G-7 loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets.
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Preventing a Protracted War
An Israeli strike killed three Lebanese soldiers on Thursday while they were reportedly trying to evacuate wounded civilians from Yater village, near the two countries’ embattled border. This is the second time that Israel has killed Lebanese soldiers this week.
“Israel must take the necessary steps to avoid civilian casualties and not endanger [United Nations] peacekeepers or Lebanese Armed Forces,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Thursday, adding that the United States does not wish to see the conflict become a protracted campaign. The United Nations has accused Israel of deliberately targeting its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
More than 2,000 people have been killed since Israeli operations in southern Lebanon intensified last month, displacing more than 1 million others and spawning a devastating humanitarian crisis. Israel has issued evacuation orders for much of the region, including the ancient port city of Tyre, where Israeli attacks on Wednesday injured at least 16 people. Until recently, Tyre was a hub for people fleeing Israeli bombardments in other parts of southern Lebanon. Israel’s bombing campaign has caused more damage to buildings between Oct. 2 to 14 than an entire year of cross-border fighting with Hezbollah, according to satellite-based radar data seen by the BBC.
According to the U.N., Lebanon requires $426 million in humanitarian aid to support its displaced people. Paris reiterated this plea with a Lebanon-focused conference this week, during which French President Emmanuel Macron pledged $100 million to support Lebanon and promised to support a plan to help recruit at least 6,000 Lebanese soldiers and deploy another 8,000 Lebanese troops to the southern region.
“In the immediate term, massive aid is needed for the Lebanese population, both for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war and for the communities hosting them,” Macron said on Thursday. This week, Germany offered around $103.9 million in assistance to Lebanon and neighboring Syria, and Italy announced an additional $10.8 million for Lebanon.
Blinken traveled to the Middle East this week to discuss ending hostilities along the Israel-Lebanon border, as well as a possible cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza. At a joint press conference with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Thursday, Blinken announced that negotiators were planning to convene in the coming days to discuss a truce in Gaza. Israeli officials have expressed interest in an Egyptian proposal that would offer a two-week pause in fighting for the release of just six Israeli captives. However, Blinken said it is unclear whether Hamas is “prepared to engage” with mediators following the death of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, last week.
Later on Thursday, Israel’s military chief said in a video statement that “there’s a possibility of reaching a sharp conclusion” to the fighting in Lebanon now that the military has “thoroughly dismantled Hezbollah’s senior chain of command.”
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Terror threats. Turkey launched airstrikes on Wednesday against suspected Kurdish separatists in Iraq and Syria to retaliate for a terrorist attack hours earlier that targeted Ankara’s largest aerospace manufacturer. At least five people were killed and around 20 others injured in the attack near Turkey’s capital. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident, but Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya suggested that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was behind it. Ankara considers the PKK to be a terrorist organization and has fought a decadeslong insurgency against it.
Wednesday’s counter-operation hit “strategic locations” allegedly used by the PKK, including ammunition depots and other military, intelligence, energy, and infrastructure facilities. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Thursday that at least 12 civilians were killed and 25 others were wounded from the airstrikes.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan police arrested three locals on Thursday over possible threats to tourists, specifically those from Israel, in the Arugam Bay area. The U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka and Israel’s National Security Council urged travelers on Wednesday to avoid the popular surfing destination, with Israel telling its nationals to avoid wearing clothing with Hebrew writing or religious symbols and to stay away from crowded places.
Paying for damages. The G-7 finalized a plan on Wednesday to give Ukraine a $50 billion loan using frozen Russian assets. In essence, the announcement represents a way for Western nations to force the Kremlin to pay for its war against Kyiv. “Never before has a multilateral coalition frozen the assets of an aggressor country and then harnessed the value of those assets to fund the defense of the aggrieved party,” said Daleep Singh, a White House deputy national security advisor.
The United States will contribute $20 billion of the loan to Ukraine, with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan providing the rest. Washington and Brussels enacted a slew of sanctions against Moscow’s central bank assets following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and have since spent months debating whether and how to use the roughly $300 billion of frozen assets.
Taking out the trash. A North Korean trash balloon landed inside South Korea’s presidential compound in Seoul on Thursday, the second time it has done so in recent months. Although the contraption did not carry any dangerous or contagious material, the incident signaled both countries’ stark animosity toward each other.
Since late May, Pyongyang has sent thousands of balloons carrying plastic, paper waste, and excrement into South Korea, resuming a Cold War-style psychological campaign. Hostilities have recently extended past the Korean Peninsula into Europe, where North Korea has deployed troops to Russia to help fight Ukraine. South Korea promised on Thursday to address Pyongyang’s actions there and has even suggested that it might supply offensive weapons to Kyiv in response.
Odds and Ends
Be careful what you order. At one pizzeria in the western German city of Düsseldorf, customers asking for “No. 40” on the menu got not just slices of cheesy goodness but also a side of cocaine. German police first became suspicious of the restaurant in March before officers later busted the joint, local media reported on Monday. When police buzzed the apartment of the pizzeria’s manager, the suspect threw a bag of drugs out of the window “right into the arms of the police officers,” Düsseldorf police said. It’s unclear how much a No. 40 costs.
The post 3 Lebanese Soldiers Killed in Israeli Strike appeared first on Foreign Policy.
