New Miss Universe crowned amid organization turmoil
Hillary Levey Friedman, author of “Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America,” says that a “reckoning” is happening in pageantry; ABC News
(LONDON) — The magic and drama of beauty pageants have long captivated global audiences. However, one of the most prominent pageants in the world, Miss Universe, historically a springboard to opportunities for women, is now in turmoil amid the organization’s legal troubles and brand backlash.
Victoria Kjær Theilvig, a 21-year-old animal rights activist and aspiring lawyer who competed as Miss Denmark, earned the crown at the 73rd Miss Universe pageant on Nov. 16.
“She has been on everybody’s favorite list. She’s unique,” pageant coach and blogger Rafa Delfin, who attended the event in Mexico City, told “Impact x Nightline.” “Miss Universe has not had a blond queen since 2004.”
For the first time in more than a decade, Miss USA did not place among the semi-finalists at the pageant. Representing the country was West Point graduate and current Stanford graduate student Alma Cooper, the first active-duty soldier to ever win Miss USA.
In the latest episode of ABC News’ “Impact x Nightline” — titled “Cracks in the Crown: Miss Universe in Crisis?” — which premiered on Thursday, Nov. 21, pageant insiders pull back the curtain on allegations of disarray within the Miss Universe Organization (MUO).
These range from restrictive contracts that contestants have to sign to compete, to the co-owners’ legal troubles and the declining quality of the pageant production itself.
“There’s a reckoning happening in pageantry,” Hilary Levey Friedman, the author of “Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America,” told “Impact x Nightline.” “It really truly may be the end of Miss USA or Miss Universe.”
Rafa Delfin, a dedicated fan who covers various pageants for his blog “Critical Beauty,” complained in a video posted on social media that the pageant’s preliminaries, which took place on Nov. 14, were “a total disaster.”
He noted the brief on-screen time that the record number of candidates — 41 more than the 84 seen in 2023 — were given in this year’s evening gown round.
“This is a business, OK? The more countries you invite, obviously, the more money you make,” Delfin said, noting the result was quantity over quality.
Questions also surfaced about the ethics of the current leadership. Just weeks before the competition, the Miss Universe co-owner, Thai media mogul Anne Jakrajutatip, and former Miss Venezuela Organization President Osmel Sousa went live on a since-deleted TikTok revealing their personal favorites.
The duo also mocked Miss Lebanon, Nada Koussa, in a separate video that surfaced on Instagram. In response, Koussa withdrew from the pageant.
The Lebanese Ministry of Tourism demanded an apology from MUO. Once that was issued, Koussa returned to the pageant and the video was taken down.
“It’s a fragile ecosystem and it’s a very trust-based ecosystem,” said Annemarie Pisano, former Miss Universe Organization press manager. “If you do lose that trust, that’s definitely going to be a problem for a lot of women.”
Under the leadership of Jakrajutatip and Mexican businessman Raul Rocha Cantu, who acquired 50% stake in Miss Universe Organization in January, the pageant company made changes like removing age limits and allowing mothers and women who are married, divorced or pregnant to compete.
However, Jakrajutatip, the first transgender woman to own the organization and a self-proclaimed trans rights activist, seemed to contradict the brand’s public statement in an October 2023 business meeting involving the organization’s leaders that surfaced online a few months ago.
“The trans women, the women with husbands, divorced women …” she said during the meeting. “They can compete but they cannot win. But we just put the policy out there, so you have that social inclusion.”
Jakrajutatip responded to the video in a social media post.
“The malicious edited video was out of context and used to manipulate other people which led to the public confusion, misunderstanding, misinterpretation and wrong conclusion,” she wrote.
Omar Castorino Montanaro, a Paraguayan business tycoon and TV host who was involved in the organization, highlighted the competition’s fading relevance.
“Women, young women, are losing interest in the brand and being or trying to be part of that dream of becoming a Miss Universe,” he told “Impact x Nightline.”
The Miss USA Organization, a franchise under parent company MUO, has faced its own struggles since Laylah Rose took over Miss USA management in 2023. After Miss USA Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava gave up their crowns in May 2024, state directors representing nine states and Washington, D.C., have since stepped away from the organization.
In interviews, some directors cited “abusive management” and the “unprofessionalism” of the new leadership as reasons for leaving.
ABC News has exclusively learned that the current Miss USA, Alma Cooper, has retained an attorney in connection with her role as Miss USA. The organization declined to comment. ABC News reached out to Rose for an interview and comment, but did not receive a response.
“The people that have the ability to produce these pageants and direct these girls, we need to hold them more accountable,” Claudia Englehardt, the former Social Media Director of Miss USA Organization, told “Impact x Nightline.” “It’s never the girl that is the problem. More often than not, it’s the people that are managing these young women in these positions.”
The Miss Universe Organization’s leadership has faced allegations as well. Rodrigo Goytortua, former CEO of Miss Universe Mexico, filed a lawsuit against MUO co-owner Raul Rocha Cantu, alleging that Rocha Cantu did not pay him for seven months of his work. ABC News reached out to Rocha Cantu for an interview and comment, but did not receive a response.
Paula Shugart, former president of the Miss Universe Organization who resigned in 2023, has also given power of attorney for a lawyer in Thailand to file a criminal claim on her behalf against Jakrajutatip for defamation. Jakrajutatip denied any wrongdoing.
Omar Castorino Montanaro, who said that MUO promised him a hosting role for Miss Universe 2025 in Paraguay, alleged that the organization stopped responding to him after he made a $500,000 deposit and spent months in preparation. The host country of the next Miss Universe pageant has yet to be announced.
ABC News also reached out to The Miss Universe Organization and Jakrajutatip for an interview and comment, but did not receive a response.
After ABC News’ “Impact x Nightline” episode “Cracks in the Crown: Miss Universe in Crisis?” premiered, the Miss Universe Organization issued a press release statement on its website.
“We ardently refute these allegations that underscore our dedication to maintaining a supportive, ethical environment for all participants. Our authenticity and dedication to promoting cultural interactions, social activism, and personal development go beyond conjecture, grounded in decades of positive impact around the globe, ” it said in part.
“Miss Universe remains unwavering in its mission to foster unity, celebrate diversity, and champion women’s empowerment.”
Now, some wonder what the future holds for MUO.
“Women today are not as willing to sit back and say, ‘I’m going to let someone in a position of power abuse their position,'” author Hillary Levey Friedman told “Impact x Nightline.”
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese village of Al-Mahmoudiye on September 24, 2024. (RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Israel and Hezbollah are exchanging hundreds of cross-border strikes in the wake of the shocking explosions of wireless devices across Lebanon last week.
Here’s how the news is developing:
IDF continues deadly strikes as ground offensive looms
At least 23 more people were killed as Israeli warplanes continued airstrikes in Lebanon through Thursday morning.
The Israel Defense Forces said its aircraft struck approximately 75 Hezbollah targets in the south of the country and the eastern Bekaa region overnight. The force said it is continuing operations “to dismantle and degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities.”
Since Monday, Israel’s intensified air campaign killed nearly 700 people and wounded more than 1,700 others, per data from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The IDF said Hezbollah fired approximately 45 projectiles into Israel from Lebanon on Thursday morning, some of which were intercepted with the rest falling in open areas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, dismissed hopes of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that would forestall Israel’s planned ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu “instructed the IDF to continue the fighting with full force and according to the plans presented to him,” according to a statement published on his official X page on Thursday.
Netanyahu says cease-fire news ‘incorrect,’ vows to continue fight in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said news about a potential cease-fire deal between Hezbollah and Israel being discussed is “incorrect.”
“This is an American-French proposal, to which the prime minister did not even respond,” he said in a statement posted on social media on Thursday.
He added, “The news about the supposed directive to moderate the fighting in the north is also the opposite of the truth. The Prime Minister instructed the IDF to continue the fighting with full force, and according to the plans presented to him. Also, the fighting in Gaza will continue until all the goals of the war are achieved.”
Biden says ‘significant support’ for Israel-Lebanon cease-fire plan
President Joe Biden told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday night that the U.S. was “able to generate significant support from Europe, as well as the Arab nations” for a 21-day cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to head off a full-scale war in Lebanon.
“It’s important this war not widen,” the president said. “I’ll have more to say about it tomorrow.”
In a call with reporters just before the president landed, senior administration officials described the proposal as a “breakthrough” they hoped would produce momentum in Lebanon and in stalled talks between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip
“This is an important breakthrough on the Lebanon side, given all that has gone on there, particularly over the last few weeks,” a senior administration official said. “But you know, we will try to use the space that provides wisely on all on all fronts.”
The officials indicated that a response is expected over the next several hours.
“I guess the parties are going to respond for themselves to the call, but I can share that we have had this conversation with the parties and felt this was the right moment, based on the call, based on our discussion, they are familiar with the text and again, we’ll let them speak to their actions of accepting the deal in the coming hours,” a senior administration official said.
Officials said they’d been negotiating with Lebanon nonstop for the past 48 hours, and that its leaders there were aware they speak for “everything that happens on that side of the border,” indicating that they will accept the deal on behalf of Hezbollah.
“So our expectation is when the government of Lebanon or when the government of Israel both accept this, this will carry and be implemented as a ceasefire on both sides, on both sides of the blue line, for the period of the 21 days,” an official said.
US troops in Cyprus preparing for Lebanon evacuations, official confirms
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that the small number of additional American military personnel deployed to the Middle East are on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where they are planning for “non-combatant evacuation operations” in Lebanon.
The planning remains a precautionary measure, the official said. ABC News understands that between 12 and 24 American troops are involved in the preparations, not all of whom are special operations personnel.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said Wednesday she could not confirm the exact number of personnel deployed.
“What I can tell you is that we are sending a small number of additional U.S. military personnel forward to augment forces that are already in the region,” she told reporters.
“I’m just not going to be able to provide you more specifics,” she added. “I know it’s frustrating, but I’m just not going to be able to confirm more.”
Israel to use ‘all means’ in Lebanon if diplomacy fails, diplomat says
Danny Danon, Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told reporters on Wednesday that his nation would “prefer a diplomatic solution” to its unfolding conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, but that “if it fails to return our residents to their homes, then we will use all means at our disposal.”
“We are entirely focused on achieving our objectives, which in the north is the return of our displaced citizens who have become refugees in their own country,” Dannon said.
“Do not mistake a peaceful nation for a defenseless one. We have the means, we have the capabilities to achieve this goal,” he said.
Danon again expressed that Israel was “open to ideas” to avoid a full-scale war.
“But you know, we are very honest about it. Our goal is to push Hezbollah from the fence, allow the residents to come back to the communities, and I hope we’ll be able to achieve it without using our military capabilities,” he said.
Israel is already conducting an extensive airstrike campaign across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, as well as limited airstrikes in the capital Beirut and elsewhere.
Israeli actions have killed more than 650 people — including at least 50 children — and wounded more than 1,700 others since Monday, according to Lebanese authorities.
Danon declined to weigh in on whether progress had been made towards a pause, but said negotiators “know exactly what we expect.”
Iran will not be ‘indifferent’ if Israel invades Lebanon, minister says
Iran “will not remain indifferent in case of a full-scale war in Lebanon,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
Araghchi also warned that Israel’s “crimes will not go unpunished,” and said the Middle East region “risks full-scale conflict” if the U.N. Security Council does not “act now to halt Israel’s war and enforce an immediate ceasefire.”
“The path to de-escalation is clear,” Araghchi said. “Israel must immediately stop its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. Without a ceasefire in Gaza, there will be no guarantee of peace in the region.”
“The Security Council must act now to halt Israel’s war and enforce an immediate ceasefire, and by that, to save innocent lives. If not, the region risks full-scale conflict and history will hold Israel’s enablers, especially the United States, responsible,” Araghchi continued.
“Iran will not remain indifferent in case of a full-scale war in Lebanon,” the diplomat added. “We stand with the people of Lebanon with all means.”
81 dead and 403 wounded in Lebanon today: Ministry of Public Health
On Wednesday, at least 81 people were killed and 403 were wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
In total, more than 650 people — including at least 50 children — have been killed and over 1,700 others injured since Monday, according to the ministry.
US in ‘active discussions’ to secure cease-fire between Israel, Hezbollah
The U.S. is currently “in active discussions” with Israel and other countries to try to secure a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, according to a U.S. official.
The Biden administration has floated at least one draft proposal aimed at temporarily halting the conflict, but Israel has signaled it intends to move forward with battle plans aimed at ending months of tit-for-tat exchanges with Hezbollah across its northern border by decimating the militant group, two officials told ABC News.
Negotiations are still ongoing, but at this hour officials said they are growing increasingly resigned to full-blown warfare on a second front in the Middle East.
The U.S. also has little leverage over Hezbollah, so it’s unclear whether the group would abide by any such agreement to pause the fighting, officials said.
The administration could potentially rely on partners with direct ties to Hezbollah to contain the group, but all of its efforts to halt its attacks on Israel over the last year have been unsuccessful, officials said.
The U.S. is still pursuing “concrete options” for de-escalation, and Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday that Israeli leadership remained “open-minded,” officials said.
The Biden administration is also still fervently focused on keeping Iran — a chief military and financial supporter of Hezbollah — on the sidelines through indirect diplomacy. Multiple conversations between countries that communicate directly with Iran are taking place on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly, officials said.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston and Michelle Stoddart
Netanyahu says operation in Lebanon will continue
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation in Lebanon will continue, despite international calls for a diplomatic resolution to Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah.
“I cannot detail everything we are doing, but I can tell you one thing, we are determined to return our residents in the north safely to their homes. We are inflicting blows on Hezbollah that [the group] did not imagine. We do it with power, we do it with guile. I promise you one thing — we will not rest until they come home,” Netanyahu said.
Biden says ‘all-out war’ is possible in the Middle East
When asked about how real the threat of a wider war in the Middle East really is, President Joe Biden said “an all-out war is possible,” but added that there’s still the opportunity for a resolution contingent on Israel changing “some policies.”
“We’re still in play to have a settlement that can fundamentally change the whole region,” Biden said, in an interview on “The View,” which covered a range of topics.
“The Arab world very much wants to have a settlement, because they know what it does for them. They’re willing to make arrangements with Israel and alliances with Israel, if Israel changes some policies.”
Biden said he has a strong relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he said that there “needs” to be a two-state solution.
“I don’t agree with his position. There needs to be a two-state solution. Ultimately, it needs to happen. There’s a way to do it, and they have a possibility,” Biden said.
Biden added that if a cease-fire agreement is reached in Lebanon, then they’ll have to deal with Gaza, but he insisted that he and his team are “using every bit of energy” to
Israel preparing a ground operation into Lebanon
Israel is preparing a ground invasion into Lebanon, according to Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the chief of the General Staff for the Israel Defense Forces.
“We will continue, we are not stopping; we keep striking and hitting them everywhere. The goal is very clear — to safely return the residents of the north,” Halevi said Wednesday, while visiting Israeli troops at the northern border.
“To achieve that, we are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launchpads into our territory and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians,” Halevi said.
Full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war ‘wouldn’t solve the problem,’ Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Wednesday that the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon “needs to be contained.”
“We’re working to make sure this doesn’t get into a full-scale war,” Blinken said.
Asked if he believes such escalation can be prevented, Blinken responded: “I do.”
“Israel has a legitimate problem it has to solve,” Blinken said, noting Hezbollah’s near-constant cross-border strikes since Oct. 8 and the subsequent evacuation of parts of northern Israel.
Blinken also acknowledged those fleeing their homes amid Israeli retaliation in southern Lebanon.
The “best way” to address Israel’s problems in the north, Blinken continued, “is through diplomacy.”
There were “a number of times” where full-scale war at the shared Israel-Lebanon border seemed imminent since Oct. 7, Blinken said.
“Diplomacy by the United States prevented that from happening,” he said.
“But if there were to be a full-scale war, that wouldn’t solve the problem,” Blinken said.
President Joe Biden and his top administration officials say they are working hard to de-escalate the situation in Lebanon.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden condemned Hezbollah’s “unprovoked” attacks into Israel since Oct. 8.
“Almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remain displaced,” the president said.
“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” he added. “Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes on the border safely.”
“That’s what we’re working tirelessly to achieve,” Biden said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a series of posts to X on Wednesday that Hezbollah would survive Israel’s ongoing airstrike campaign in Lebanon.
Khamenei touted the “organizational and human strength and the authority and ability” of Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran and coordinates closely with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israeli attacks “martyred some of the effective and valuable elements of Hezbollah,” Khamenei wrote.
“This was definitely a loss for Hezbollah, but it is not to the extent that it destroys Hezbollah,” he added.
27,000 people in Lebanon displaced by Israeli bombing, UN says
More than 27,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli military action over the past 48 hours, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday — citing Lebanese authorities.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday that the country already had around 110,000 people displaced before the intensification of Israeli strikes beginning on Monday.
“Now probably they’re approaching half a million” Habib said.
Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees, said the “bloodshed is extracting a terrible toll, driving tens of thousands from their homes.”
“It is yet another ordeal for families who previously fled war in Syria only now to be bombed in the country where they sought shelter. We must avoid replaying these scenes of despair and devastation. The Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis. Let us not create one by forcing more people to abandon their homes. Protecting civilian lives must be the priority,” Grandi said.
Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees and over 11,000 refugees from other countries, per UNHCR’s count.
IDF in third day of ‘extensive strikes’ in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it was again “conducting extensive strikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa area” to the east of Beirut.
Almost 600 people — including at least 50 children — have been killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon since Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Hezbollah targets Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv
Hezbollah claimed the launch of a Qadir-1 ballistic missile targeting the Mossad intelligence agency’s headquarters on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning.
“It is the headquarters responsible for the assassination of leaders and the bombing of pagers and hand-held radios,” the militant group said in a statement, referring to last week’s communication device explosions in Lebanon and Syria.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv amid the attack.
“One surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing from Lebanon and was intercepted,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
The IDF later said in a social media post that it destroyed the launcher from which the missile was fired in southern Lebanon.
The launch at Tel Aviv is the first time Hezbollah has attacked the city in central Israel since the war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7.
Hezbollah confirms death of division commander
Hezbollah has confirmed the death of rocket and missile division commander Ibrahim Qubaisi in a post on their Telegram channel.
Hezbollah said he was killed in southern Lebanon.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said an Israeli air attack in Da’ahia in Beirut killed Qubaisi.
52 killed in Gaza in past 24 hours, officials say
Israeli forces targeted eight residential homes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, killing at least 52 people, spokesperson Major Mahmoud Basal of the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense said Tuesday.
At least five of those people were killed after a house in the town of Al-Nasr, northeast of Rafah, was targeted, the civil defense spokesperson added.
The IDF said they were conducting “precise, intelligence-based operations in the Rafah area” in a statement Tuesday.
Nearly 500,000 displaced in Lebanon, foreign minister says
The number of people displaced in southern Lebanon as a result of Israeli airstrikes may be approaching half a million, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib, who stressed that “the war in Lebanon will not help the Israelis return to their homes, and negotiations are the only way to do so.”
Habib spoke at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Tuesday while attending the United Nations General Assembly.
He expressed his “disappointment” over U.S. President Joe Biden’s speech at the U.N., saying it was “neither strong nor promising and will not solve this problem,” but said he “hopes that Washington can intervene to help.”
“Lebanon cannot end the fighting alone and needs America’s help, despite past disappointments,” Habib said, adding that the U.S. is “the only country that can truly make a difference in the Middle East and with regard to Lebanon.”
Mediators as far from a cease-fire deal as ever, US officials say
Mediators between Israel and Hamas are as far away from a cease-fire deal as they have ever been, with both sides impeding negotiations, multiple senior U.S. officials told ABC News.
Many officials have long been skeptical that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar would ever sign off on an agreement that involves ceding rule of Gaza, and in recent weeks Hamas has deeply frustrated the Israeli government by adding demands related to Palestinian prisoners that would be released in an exchange.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also become increasingly intractable, according to U.S. officials. While high-level engagements between the U.S. and Israel often moved the needle at the beginning of the conflict, those meetings are now unproductive, officials said — a major reason Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn’t stop in Israel during his last visit to Middle East.
When it comes to these negotiations, the ball is actually in the Biden administration’s court. Blinken promised during the first week of September that the U.S. would present a new, final proposal to both Israel and Hamas “in the coming days,” but almost three weeks later, there’s no indication that has happened yet.
The reason for the delay is the struggle to devise an arrangement both sides might agree to — but that’s just one more factor contributing to the gridlock, according to U.S. officials.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Shannon K. Kingston and Martha Raddatz
Israel has ‘additional strikes prepared,’ Gallant says
Israel has “additional strikes prepared” against Hezbollah, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, in a discussion with troops on Tuesday.
“Hezbollah, today, is different from the organization we knew a week ago – and we have additional strikes prepared. Any Hezbollah force that you may encounter, will be destroyed. They are worried about the combat experience you have gained,” Gallant said.
G7 warns escalation could lead to ‘unimaginable consequences’ in the Middle East
The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 said they have “deep concern” over “the trend of escalatory violence” in the Middle East, in a joint statement Tuesday.
The statement doesn’t call out Israel by name, it does call for “a stop to the current destructive cycle,” warning “no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”
“Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences,” it reads, while calling for the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that implemented a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
Additionally, the statement reaffirms the G7’s “strong support” for the ongoing efforts to broker a hostage release and cease-fire deal in Gaza.
Israel claims it killed top Hezbollah commander
Israel claimed it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Tuesday’s strike on Beirut, which killed at least six people and injured 15 others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The IDF said it targeted and killed Ibrahim Muhammad Kabisi, a commander of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket array.
“Kabisi commanded the various missile units of Hezbollah, including the precision missile units. Over the years and during the war, he was responsible for the launches towards the Israeli home front. Kabisi was a central center of knowledge in the field of missiles and was close to the senior military leadership of Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF also claimed he was responsible for the planning and execution of many terrorist plots against IDF forces and Israeli citizens.
At least six dead in Israeli strike on Ghobeiry neighborhood in Beirut
At least six people were killed and 15 others were wounded after Israel carried out a strike on the Ghobeiry neighborhood of Beirut on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
It appears the top floor of a concrete apartment building took the brunt of the strike.
US continues to urge Israel to avoid ‘all-out war’ with Lebanon as tensions remain high
The U.S. is continuing to urge Israel to avoid an “all-out war” with Lebanon as tensions between the two countries remain high, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview on “Good Morning America” Tuesday.
“I think we don’t believe it’s in Israel’s interest for this to escalate, for there to be an all-out war there on the north on that blue line between Israel and Lebanon. If the goal is to get families back to their homes, we think there’s a better way to do that than an all-out conflict,” Kirby said.
“The Israelis will tell you, yesterday, that they had to take some of these strikes because they were about to be imminently attacked by Hezbollah. They do have a right to defend themselves, but what we’re going to keep doing is talking to them about trying to find a diplomatic solution here, a way to de-escalate the tensions so that the families can go back in a sustainable way,” Kirby added.
Given the State Department’s warning to Americans to get out of Lebanon while commercial travel is still available on if he believes Israel may target airports in Lebanon as they have in the past.
“We want to make sure that there are still commercial options available for Americans to leave, and they should be leaving now while those options are available. But I won’t get ahead of operations,” Kirby said.
Kirby also dodged questions on what we might see from Hezbollah’s response to Israel, telling GMA he “won’t get into the intelligence assessment.”
“It’s obviously going to be something we’ll monitor very, very closely. I will just tell you that while we won’t get involved in the conflict itself there, around that blue line, because we don’t want to see a conflict at all. We’ll do what we have to continue to do to make sure Israel can defend itself.”
Lebanon death toll rises to 558 people, ministry says
At least 558 people have been killed — including 50 children and 95 women — and another 1,853 people wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday, according to the latest data from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Officials released the updated figures during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Israeli bombing prompts exodus from southern Lebanon
Thousands of people fled their homes in southern Lebanon after Israel killed hundreds in intensified airstrikes through Monday and Tuesday.
The mass movement of people — encouraged by the Israel Defense Forces before and during its expanding bombing campaign — prompted gridlock on highways running north toward the capital Beirut.
A journey that usually takes 90 minutes took up to 13 hours.
Authorities are working to turn schools and other educational institutions into makeshift shelters to house displaced people.
IDF, Hezbollah begin new day of cross-border fire
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday its warplanes struck “dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon,” with artillery and tanks also conducting fire missions in the area.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired at least 125 rockets overnight into Tuesday morning. Sirens were sounding through the early morning in northern Israel.
At least nine people suffered minor injuries as a result of rockets fired into the Western Galilee region of northern Israel on Tuesday morning, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service.
At least 492 people were killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes on Monday, according to Lebanese authorities. At least 1,645 people were reported injured.
The IDF said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Blinken seeks ‘off ramp’ as Israel pounds Lebanon, official says
A senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration told ABC News the U.S. cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli invasion into Lebanon following the escalation of its airstrike campaign on Monday.
“I think it is important for everyone to take Israeli preparations seriously,” the senior administration official said.
The U.S. is putting its hope in engagements on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly this week, said the senior administration official, who expressed hope that the informal meetings could lead to “illusive solutions” or “at least make some progress” toward resolving the crisis in the Middle East.
The official said Secretary of State Antony Blinken would discuss “the increasing challenges” across the so-called “Blue Line” dividing Israel and Lebanon at a meeting with his G7 counterparts.
At that engagement and through the week, the a key U.S. focus will be “finding an off ramp,” they said.
“We’ve got some concrete ideas with allies and partners we are going to be discussing,” the official added.
New details emerge over US troops being sent to Middle East
A U.S. official tells ABC News that the “small number of additional U.S. military personnel being sent to the Middle East,” announced this morning by the Pentagon is a small special operations team that will work in planning for a non-combatant evacuation operation should it be needed.
Lebanon warns UN its citizens face ‘serious danger’ amid Israel-Hezbollah conflict
A Lebanese parliament member addressed the United Nations General Assembly Monday sharing a warning that the country’s citizens are in danger as tensions between Israeli forces and Hezbollah intensify.
Member Bahia El Hariri attended the U.N. meeting in place of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
“The people of Lebanon are in serious danger after the destruction of large areas of agricultural land and the targeting of residential buildings in the majority of the regions of Lebanon,” Hariri said.
“This has damaged the economy of our country and threatened our social order, especially since several countries have asked their nationals to leave our country,” she added.
Separately, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the escalating situation between northern Israel and southern Lebanon and the “large number of civilian casualties, including children and women, being reported by Lebanese authorities, as well as thousands of displaced persons, amidst the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October,” in a statement issued by his spokesperson Monday.
“The Secretary-General is also gravely alarmed” by the continued Hezbollah strikes on Israel, the statement added.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets attacked “1,600 terrorist targets of Hezbollah” in parts of southern Lebanon in “several attack waves,” on Monday, the IDF said in a post on X.
US Embassy in Jerusalem issues travel restriction for government employees
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued a security alert “temporarily” restricting travel for U.S. government employees and their family members to parts of northern and northeastern Israel.
“U.S. government employees and their family members have been temporarily restricted from any personal travel north of highway 65 toward Afula and north/northeast of highway 71 from Afula to the Jordanian border. Any official travel in this area will require approval. Approved travel will take place only in armored vehicles. This is provided for your information as you make your own security plans,” the U.S. Embassy alert said.
Afula is a city in northern Israel.
“US citizens should take this into consideration when planning their own activities,” the alert read.
APRIL 2024: Demonstrators marched on the Northrop Mall before setting up tents on the lawn. A few hundred people gathered outside Coffman Memorial Union to call for a cease fire in Gaza before marching on the Northrop Mall and setting up an encampment on the lawn Monday afternoon, April 29, 2024 on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. Israel/Hamas war protest. (Photo by Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — A demonstration at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Monday led to 11 arrests after pro-Palestinian protesters barricaded an administrative hall on campus, locking staff members inside the building.
The protesters blocked the entrance and exit of Morrill Hall, which houses the offices of the university president, Rebecca Cunningham.
According to a statement from the university issued Monday night, the protest began with a peaceful assembly on a lawn in front of the campus’ Coffman Memorial Union at about 3 p.m. local time.
However, “A group of these individuals quickly moved north, up the Northrop Mall, and entered Morrill Hall,” according to the university.
“Once inside the building, protesters began spray painting, including covering lenses of all internal security cameras, breaking interior windows, and barricading the building’s entrance and exit points,” the statement said.
The protest’s escalation was first announced as a SAFE-U Emergency Alert at 4:34 p.m., advising students, “If you are currently in Morrill Hall and able to safely exit the building, please do so immediately. Others are advised to avoid this area until further notice.”
The university has said that “a number” of staff were present, and many were unable to exit the building “for an extended period of time.”
Police officers arrived on the scene and began to detain protestors around one hour after the first alert was issued, according to the university’s statement.
“With necessary support from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, UMPD entered the building at approximately 5:40 p.m. and arrested 11 people,” it said.
By 9:10 p.m. there was another SAFE-U Emergency Alert stating that the University of Minnesota Police Department had cleared Morrill Hall and “the situation has been resolved for this evening.”
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities stated that as of Monday night, “The full extent of the damage is unknown.”
No additional information is currently available, but the university has clarified that an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
(LONDON) — On the streets of Alfafar on Wednesday, cars and caravans were strewn like toys in the muddy aftermath of the floodwater that had rushed through the Spanish town.
Emergency crews descended on Wednesday on that town and others surrounding Valencia, wading through washed-out neighborhoods, searching homes and looking for missing people following devastating flooding, according to emergency officials.
More than 1,000 troops had been deployed to the province to help with the emergency response, the Military Emergencies Unit, a branch of the Spanish military, said on social media on Wednesday.
The flash floods were caused by heavy rain, which by Wednesday morning had begun “easing off,” according to the country’s meteorological agency
“[B]ut there is still an orange warning in inland Castellón until 2:00 p.m.,” the agency said. “Caution in the northeast of the peninsula and western Andalusia: very heavy showers are possible. Stay informed!”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
