By Alexandra Sharp
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Israel’s strategy in Lebanon, the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, and the death of an Indian business icon.
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Armored vehicles with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon are seen patrolling southern Lebanon on Oct. 8.AFP via Getty Images
Israeli forces fired on several positions used by United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Wednesday and Thursday. According to the Lebanese mission, known as UNIFIL, Israeli soldiers targeted its headquarters at Ras Naqoura, “hitting the entrance to the bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, and damaging vehicles and a communications system.”
Two peacekeepers from Indonesia were injured. “Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” UNIFIL said, adding that it was following up with the Israeli military, which also “deliberately fired at and disabled” U.N.-operated perimeter-monitoring cameras. Israel has not commented on the incidents.
UNIFIL was established in 1978 and expanded following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. Its focus is to secure the Lebanese side of the 75-mile Blue Line, a de facto border between the two nations that U.N. Resolution 1701 says no one can fire or move across without permission from the Lebanese government. More than 10,000 peacekeepers from 50 countries are stationed in the area.
Israel has recently accused UNIFIL of failing in its mission by allowing Hezbollah to entrench itself along the Blue Line. The militant group has engaged in tit-for-tat operations against Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Beginning this month, Israel launched a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon in hopes of facilitating the return of tens of thousands of Israelis forced to evacuate their homes in Israel’s north due to Hezbollah rocket fire.
Some Israeli operations have hit near U.N. Post 6-52, where 30 Irish UNIFIL peacekeepers remain stationed despite Israel warning them to evacuate.
More than 2,100 people in Lebanon have been killed in the past year, the vast majority of them in recent weeks, and as many as 1.2 million others have been displaced. On the Israeli side, Hezbollah attacks have killed at least 53 people over the same period, more than half of whom were civilians.
“Too many lives have been lost, uprooted, and devastated, while civilians on both sides of the Blue Line are left wanting for security and stability,” said the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon and the head of UNIFIL on Tuesday in a joint statement calling for negotiations to end the conflict.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a 30-minute phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday to discuss Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran for its ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. This was the first time that the two allies spoke in almost two months, reflecting a fissure in their relationship. Tehran backs both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Biden “condemned unequivocally” Iran’s attack on Israel but urged Netanyahu not to hit Iranian nuclear or energy sites. The White House fears that such a response could lead to an escalating cycle of violence between Israel and Iran, pushing the region toward a wider war. It is unclear whether Netanyahu will heed Biden’s warnings. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that “our attack will be deadly, precise, and above all surprising.”
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Hurricane destruction in Florida. More than 3 million homes and businesses across Florida were without power on Thursday in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. The hurricane made landfall as a Category 3 storm on the state’s western coast late Wednesday, bringing as much as 18 inches of rain, 105 mile-per-hour winds, and more than 100 tornado warnings. At least 10 people have been killed, and more than 100 homes have been destroyed.
Ahead of the storm’s landfall, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued immediate evacuation warnings to dozens of counties. Nearly 25 percent of all gas stations in Florida ran out of fuel as residents fled. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has deployed more than 1,000 incident management staff alongside around 1,200 additional search-and-rescue personnel from other federal agencies to help survivors.
Earlier this week, Hurricane Milton intensified into a Category 5 storm, with the U.S. National Hurricane Center warning that it could be “one of the most destructive hurricanes on record” for the region. Its destruction comes just two weeks after the region was hit by a Category 4 hurricane, Helene, which killed more than 230 people from Florida to Virginia.
India remembers Tata. Hundreds of people attended a state funeral in Mumbai on Thursday for Indian business tycoon Ratan Tata. The industry icon, known for running the more than $165 billion Tata Group for more than 20 years, died on Wednesday at age 86. Authorities in the state of Maharashtra, where Tata is from, declared one day of mourning in his honor.
Tata was a “visionary business leader, a compassionate soul, and an extraordinary human being,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. In 2008, New Delhi awarded Tata the country’s second-highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan.
Under Tata’s leadership, the Tata Group conglomerate expanded to include nearly 100 companies, including India’s largest automaker, its largest private steel company, a major information technology center, and various businesses centered around basic household goods. Tata was also well known for his philanthropic work, regularly donating to organizations involving health care, education, and disaster relief through the Tata Trusts charitable center.
Mozambique’s presidential vote. Mozambique held general elections on Wednesday that will likely see the ruling Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) party extend its power beyond 50 years. If the party wins, Frelimo candidate Daniel Chapo will succeed President Filipe Nyusi. Frelimo has held power since Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975.
Chapo’s strongest challenger was independent Venâncio Mondlane, a former member of the main opposition Renamo party who appealed to younger voters disaffected by high unemployment and government corruption. Preliminary election results could be ready within days, and a final ruling must be delivered to the country’s Constitutional Court within 15 days to be ratified.
Local officials report that the election was largely peaceful; however, opposition candidates have accused Frelimo of voter manipulation and fraud. Frelimo has been accused of rigging elections before. Last year, landslide Frelimo victories in local elections sparked violent unrest, which killed at least five people and injured more than 25 others.
South Korean writer Han Kang won this year’s Nobel Prize for literature on Thursday. She is the first South Korean to take home the literature award and just the 18th woman to do so since 1901. Han “has become an innovator in contemporary prose,” the Swedish Academy said on Thursday, lauding her poetry, short stories, and novels for exploring human fragility and confronting historical trauma.
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