Israel-Hamas War

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at tensions at the Israel-Lebanon border, another deadly earthquake in Afghanistan, and the Ukrainian president’s surprise NATO visit.

On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah militants exchanged fire across the Israel-Lebanon border. According to the Israeli military, Hezbollah launched anti-tank-guided missiles at Israeli forces in retaliation for Israeli troops killing three Hezbollah members in strikes on Monday following earlier border clashes. In response, Israel fired precision-guided missiles into Lebanon, injuring at least three people. Both Hezbollah and Hamas have claimed responsibility for various cross-border attacks from Lebanon in recent days.

Sporadic cross-border violence between Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel is nothing new, but it has taken on new relevance amid Israel’s war with Hamas. As Israel prepares to potentially launch a ground invasion of Gaza, many are watching the situation on the Israel-Lebanon border with unease, fearing Hezbollah—a much more powerful and capable group than Hamas—may decide to join the war.

As Daniel Byman wrote for Foreign Policy, “If the Lebanese group does more than fire a few missiles in solidarity, it would dramatically escalate the current conflict.” Because of this, a top priority among Israeli, U.S., and European officials has been to prevent Hezbollah from directly intervening.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department announced that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel on Thursday to underscore U.S. “solidarity and support.” U.S. President Joe Biden called Hamas’s attack “pure, unadulterated evil” and urged the U.S. Congress to provide Israel with military aid to replenish its Iron Dome air defense capabilities. And on Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered an aircraft carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean in a show of force to “bolster regional deterrence efforts.”

Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed an emergency unity government with opposition leader Benny Gantz on Wednesday. Along with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the party leaders established a “war management cabinet” to oversee all military decisions against Hamas. Israel’s strategic affairs minister and a former IDF chief will serve as observers. Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing coalition partners will continue to serve in the government.

• The Hamas Attack Has Changed Everything by Steven A. Cook
• Israel Could Win This Gaza Battle and Lose the War by Stephen M. Walt
• What You Need to Know About the Israel-Hamas War by Daniel Byman and Alexander Palmer

Three quakes in five days. Another devastating earthquake ripped through Herat province, Afghanistan, on Wednesday—marking the third 6.3-magnitude quake to hit the region since Saturday. At least one person was killed on Wednesday and another 120 injured, adding to the thousands of people killed by Afghanistan’s earlier earthquakes. The most recent quake’s epicenter lay just outside Herat City, Afghanistan’s third-largest city and a top economic hub.

More than 90 percent of people killed by this week’s disasters were women and children, according to UNICEF Afghanistan. And a Taliban spokesperson on Sunday said as many as 2,000 people were killed by the first round of earthquakes. Although many countries, such as Pakistan, have offered to send supplies, sanctions against the Taliban have made aid deliveries difficult.

Zelensky rallies NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid a surprise visit to Brussels on Wednesday for his first trip to NATO headquarters since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. There, he asked the alliance’s members to supply more weapons and equipment, specifically air defense technology, to prepare for another harsh winter of fighting. Top NATO officials reiterated their pledge of more than $2 billion in aid in the near future.

Following Zelensky’s plea, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a $200 million defense package for Ukraine on Wednesday to counter Russian drones. Austin promised key allies that Washington’s support for Ukraine would not sap U.S. military assistance to Israel, especially after Biden urged congressional lawmakers on Tuesday to boost armament deliveries to the IDF.

Heading home. After more than three years in Chinese custody, Australian journalist Cheng Lei returned home to Melbourne on Wednesday. The business TV anchor was working for a Chinese state broadcast network in August 2020 when she was detained for allegedly sharing state secrets with another country. According to China’s State Security Ministry, Cheng pleaded guilty and completed her sentence.

Beijing employs strict censorship laws and has used national security-related charges against foreign journalists and activists for reporting and writing that is critical of the state. Australian writer Yang Hengjun is another of those individuals. A democracy activist, he was detained in 2019 and charged with espionage; he remains in Chinese custody.

It’s off to the presses for Europe’s oldest student newspaper. Fearing closure, the University of Edinburgh’s the Student successfully crowdsourced more than $4,000 on Wednesday, saving it from permanently shuttering its newsroom. The biweekly Scottish publication will continue to publish its paper editions for the foreseeable future. As our favorite newsies said, “And the world will know that we’ve been here.”