Ukrainian soldiers, engineers add metal netting to US tanks and vehicles to protect against Russian drones
A U.S.-made Abrams tank is seen with a metal additions in this photo supplied by Ukraine’s Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front, which blurred the background to hide the location. — Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front in Ukraine
(KYIV, Ukraine) — As Russia wages a protracted war of attrition, the Ukrainian military says it has made the most of the U.S. supplied Abrams tanks and Bradley armored vehicles.
As the vast use of drones has become a feature of the Ukrainian-Russian war, soldiers and engineers said they have found a new way to make their most precious vehicles even more protected and efficient on the battlefield. Videos posted on social media appeared to demonstrate how the vehicles and their crews survived on densely mined fields.
“Bradley is the best vehicle I’ve ever driven,” Oleksandr Shyrshyn, a soldier with the elite 47th Mechanized Brigade, told ABC News. “It’s precise, it’s safe, it’s super cool. Given the number of impacts on the battlefields, if we were still using our old IFV-1 or IFV-2, the losses [would have been] two or three times higher.”
U.S. officials said in 2023 they would send 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. More than 100 Bradley vehicles have also been shipped to Ukraine to aid in its fight against Russia, the White House said.
But as the brigade’s soldiers continued fighting, they said, they understood they needed to upgrade the machine.
“Most injuries and damage happen during boarding and disembarking of the crew or from the FPV and other drones,” Shyrshyn said, referring to commonly used first-person-view drones. “We can’t do anything about the first factor, but we can offset the second one with a metal net.”
The latest additions are meant to protect against modern drone technology, but such modifications have long been common, said Mick Mulroy, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, retired CIA officer and U.S. Marine, and ABC News national security and defense analyst.
“Throughout history tanks and tankers have used add ons to try to defend against all of these anti-tank devices,” Mulroy said. “Mesh, reactive armor, even chain linked fences, have been used.”
The area where Shyrshyn’s unit is operating has been the hotspot of the eastern front-line in the past couple of weeks, according to the reports of the Ukrainian General Staff. In the past few days the Russian troops advanced by several kilometers. Shyrshyn said his soldiers are exhausted, needed more vehicles and were trying to keep those they have.
A Ukrainian steel manufacturer has designed specialized steel screens, which they said are installed on top of the active armor. According to Shyrshyn, the screens have raised the survival rate of the crew and saved the vehicle from first-person-view drones used by Russia.
It takes a week to produce one steel screen and around 12 hours to install it, said Oleksandr Myronenko, COO of Metinvest Group, a Ukrainian steel manufacturer. The non-commercial project is part of a Steel Front, a military initiative run by Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest businessman.
An engineer with 20 years of experience, Shyrshyn said he had to turn into a military goods specialist overnight.
“We started the project on day one of the invasion,” he said. “From Monday to Friday, I do my regular work. On weekends I go to the east to oversee what we do for the troops.”
Among the other non-commercial projects within the Steel Front military initiative are production of anti-tank hedgehogs, body armor and a few innovative things like fortifications built in the areas of the most intense fighting in the east, and even an underground field hospital.
While the Bradleys have just started testing their bespoke steel screens, Abrams tanks have been driving in it for a few months already. Ukrainian troops started using them in February this year near Stepove, Avdiivka and Berdychiv in the east.
”Near the latter we understood what was off. A very precise and cheap FPV drone can easily hit and block the tanks turret, for example, and that’s it, doesn’t matter how great the vehicle is,” Shyrshyn told ABC. “The drone threat is even bigger given that the tank is quite big and is not the easiest thing to camouflage.”
Besides, Shyrshyn said, Abrams tanks are best at defeating other vehicles, since they fire armor-piercing projectiles, not highly explosive ones. And most of the fighting Abrams were used in took place among the buildings and in the forests, places where usually infantry troops hide using the drones, he said.
”We basically took a NATO standards manual and adjusted it,” Myronenko, from Metivest, said.
“Now we see that we could have avoided losses we had suffered before,” Shyrshyn said. “I saw this tank during the training in Germany for the first time and I was really really excited. I wish at least one third of all our brigades had them. We really need more, otherwise we have to pull.”
Mulroy, the ABC News analyst and a former Tanker and Infantry Marine, said tanks and other armoured vehicles have long been targeted by less-expensive lethal countermeasures, like portable rockets and missiles — and now drones. The additions Ukrainians are making are similar to what he’s seen in the past.
“In my experience, these efforts are effective,” he said. “If is likely if they are emplacing them across their fleet of tanks, they have proven their worth.”
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of the southern village of Habbouch on September 23, 2024. (Photo by RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The Israeli military expanded its Lebanon campaign with hundreds of airstrikes on Monday, as the long-simmering border conflict with Hezbollah threatened to explode into a larger war.
Dozens of Israeli warplanes struck more than 1,300 targets in southern Lebanon on Monday morning, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
At least 492 people were killed and more than 1,600 wounded in the ongoing strikes, among them women, children and medical personnel, the Lebanon Ministry of Public Health said. Of those killed, 35 were children and 58 were women, the ministry said.
Israel also said it launched a targeted strike in Beirut. At least six people were injured in that airstrike on a residential building in Bir al-Abd, a southern suburb of Beirut, according to Lebanese state media.
Hezbollah officials said senior commander Ali Karaki — who Israeli sources confirmed was the target of the Beirut strike — survived the attack.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel was changing “the security balance, the balance of power in the North.”
“For those who have not yet understood, I want to clarify Israel’s policy — we do not wait for a threat, we anticipate it,” Netanyahu said. “Everywhere, in every arena, at any time. We eliminate senior officials, eliminate terrorists, eliminate missiles — and our hands are bent.”
“Whoever tries to hurt us, we hurt him even more,” he added.
The attacks coincided with a warning by from IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari of more planned Israeli strikes against Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure” in the border region and elsewhere.
Hagari said civilians in Lebanese villages used by Hezbollah for military purposes should “immediately move out of harm’s way for their own safety.”
Video and photos showed bumper-to-bumper traffic as people tried to flee southern cities.
Following the intense strikes in the south of the country on Monday morning, Hagari said the IDF would soon start hitting targets in the eastern Bekaa Valley — another Hezbollah stronghold. Hagari claimed that every house by Israeli munitions contained “rockets, missiles, UAVs that are intended to kill Israeli civilians.”
Hezbollah returned fire across the border with dozens of projectiles, the IDF said, with alarms sounding across the region. Some munitions were intercepted and some fell in open areas, the force wrote on social media.
There were about 250 launches from Lebanon into Israel on Monday, according to Israeli Emergency Officials. Hagari said there had been about 700 launches in the last week.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service reported at least one man injured by shrapnel in the Lower Galilee area and another lightly hurt while making his way to a shelter.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a social media post that Israel “will act with full force” to change the current situation in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Katz said, “has taken the people of Lebanon hostage, placing missiles and weapons in their homes and villages to threaten Israel’s civilians.”
“This is a clear war crime,” Katz said. “We will not accept this reality.”
“The people of Lebanon must evacuate any home turned into a Hezbollah outpost to avoid harm,” Katz continued. “We will not stop until the threat is removed from Israel’s citizens and the residents of the north return safely to their homes.”
Thousands of Lebanese cell phone users received a text message from the IDF on Monday, warning: “If you are in a building where Hezbollah weapons are located, stay away from the village until further notice.” Similar messages were issued over Lebanese radio.
The fresh Israeli warnings come after a weekend of intense cross-border fire, with rockets, missiles and drones launched into Israel by Hezbollah met by Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon.
Fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah has been constant since Oct. 8, when the Iranian-backed militant group began attacks into Israel in protest of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas. Hezbollah has said it will continue its attacks until Israeli forces withdraw from the Palestinian territory.
Tens of thousands of Israelis fled border regions under Hezbollah fire since the fighting began. Their return is a priority for Netanyahu and his government.
“We will take whatever action is necessary to restore security and to bring our people safe back to their homes,” Netanyahu said on Sunday.
Israeli leaders are also demanding that Hezbollah withdraw beyond the Litani River — some 18 miles north of the Israeli border — as stipulated in a 2006 United Nations Security Council resolution that sought to end the last major cross-border war.
“If the world does not withdraw Hezbollah north of Litani in accordance with Resolution 1701 — Israel will do so,” Katz said on Sunday.
The conflict intensified last week with Israel’s detonation of Hezbollah communication devices in Lebanon and Syria, which Nasrallah described as an “unprecedented blow” for the group.
Two consecutive days of explosions — which killed at least 37 people and wounded 2,931, according to Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad — were followed by the killing of Hezbollah operations chief Ibrahim Aqil and 14 other members in a Beirut airstrike.
The bombing in the Hezbollah-aligned Dahiya suburb killed at least 45 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The dead included at least three children — aged 4, 6 and 10 — and seven women, the ministry said. Dozens more people were wounded.
Hezbollah leaders said they would continue their operations despite last week’s setbacks.
Deputy Secretary General Naim Qasem spoke at Aqil’s funeral in Beirut on Sunday, telling hundreds of mourners that the conflict has now entered “a new phase” which he called an “open-ended battle of reckoning”.
“Threats won’t stop us, and we don’t fear the most dangerous possibilities,” he continued. “We are ready to face all military scenarios.”
Israeli communities in the north of the country are braced for further escalation. The IDF issued new security guidance on Sunday closing schools and beaches in the region, while the Rambam Hospital in Haifa transferred patients to an underground facility.
This weekend, the State Department reissued its level 4 “do not travel” warning for Lebanon, noting “recent explosions throughout Lebanon, including Beirut.”
The Department’s July warning for American citizens to “depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available” is unchanged. “At this time, commercial flights are available, but at reduced capacity,” the advisory said.
“If the security situation worsens, commercial options to depart may become unavailable.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself and stressed the importance of achieving a diplomatic solution to return citizens to their homes in the north” in a Sunday phone call with Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, per a Pentagon readout.
Austin also “emphasized his concern for the safety and security of U.S. citizens in the region,” the Pentagon said.
ABC News’ Dana Savir, Ghazi Balkiz, Joe Simonetti and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
(From L to R) Kenya’s Rosemary Wanjiru, Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, Uganda’s Rebecca Cheptegei and Kenya’s Selly Chepyego Kaptich compete in the women’s marathon final during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on August 26, 2023. (FERENC ISZA/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ugandan long-distance runner Rebecca Cheptegei has died four days after being doused in petrol and set on fire by her former partner, authorities have announced.
Cheptegei — who had been receiving treatment at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret City, Kenya — succumbed to her injuries after sustaining burns to almost 80% of her body in the attack which occurred on Sunday.
Cheptegei was doused with a can of gasoline before being set on fire during an argument over land, according to a police report. Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital announced Cheptegei had passed away at the age of 33 after her organs failed on Thursday, according to hospital spokesperson Owen Menach.
“We have learnt of the sad passing of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei following a vicious attack by her boyfriend,” Donald Rukare, head of Uganda’s Olympics Committee, announced on Thursday writing on X. “May her gentle soul rest in peace and we strongly condemn violence against women. This was a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete. Her legacy will continue to endure.”
The Ugandan marathon runner had recently competed in the women’s marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finishing in 44th place with a personal best time this season of 2:32:14, just a month before the fatal attack.
The Ugandan athlete had been living in northwestern Kenya, her father saying she recently bought land in Trans Nzoia County to build a home and be closer to Kenya’s athletics training centers.
Cheptegei’s Kenyan partner who carried out the attack — identified as Dickson Ndiema — is said to have sustained “serious burns” in the attack and is receiving treatment at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Uganda’s Athletics Federation said they are “deeply saddened” by the passing of Cheptegei.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our athlete, Rebecca Cheptegei early this morning who tragically fell victim to domestic violence,” the federation announced on Thursday. “As a federation, we condemn such acts and call for justice.”
The incident is the latest in a string of domestic violence cases against female athletes in Kenya.
In 2021, Kenyan distance runner Agnes Tirop was found stabbed to death in her home in Iten, in northwest Kenya. Just a few weeks earlier the rising athletics star had set a new women’s 10 kilometer road running record at the “Adizero: Road to Records” event in Herzogenaurach, Germany.
Tirop’s husband — Ibrahim Rotich — was subsequently arrested and charged with her murder. The case is currently ongoing.
Just a year later in 2022, Kenyan-Bahraini athlete Damaris Muthee Mutua, 28, was found murdered at her home in the same town, with Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations saying her cause of death was strangulation.
Kenyan police launched a manhunt for Mutua’s Ethiopian boyfriend — Eskinder Hailemaryam Folie — who is the main suspect in her murder and is alleged to have fled Kenya.
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:
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.
