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Why is Israel attacking Lebanon?

Why is Israel attacking Lebanon?

Over the last 24 hours, Israel has unleashed a series of air strikes across Lebanon. Hundreds of Lebanese people are dead, many are wounded and thousands are displaced as they scramble to try to figure out safe areas to get their families to. Calling this part of its “new phase” of the war on Gaza, the Israeli army said it struck more than 1,000 targets in Lebanon – claiming they were Hezbollah strongholds or military facilities placed in people’s homes. What happened and when? Israel has just killed at least 558 Lebanese people. Among the dead are 50 children and 94 women, while about 2,000 people were wounded, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said. More than 10,000 people have been forced from their homes in the most ferocious onslaught Lebanon has experienced since its civil war of 1975-1990. The first Israeli strikes on Lebanon were reported on Monday at 6:30am, hitting an uninhabited area near Byblos, north of Beirut. More than 1,300 strikes on what Israel claimed were Hezbollah military targets followed. The attacks are ongoing. Where in Lebanon is Israel attacking? Satellite mapping of the strikes by Al Jazeera shows attacks across Lebanon, with the highest concentration in the south and the Bekaa Valley, where Hezbollah’s influence is considered strongest. Before the attacks, some 80,000 phone calls from the Israeli army to Lebanese people – predominantly in the south – were reported, urging them to evacuate their homes and find “safety”. The result was panic, chaos and bottlenecks, with the main coastal road to the capital, Beirut, gridlocked for several kilometres as residents tried to flee an impending attack. Why is Israel attacking Lebanon? Israel says it is attacking Hezbollah so it can return its displaced citizens to the north. On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced the redeployment of “forces, resources and energy” towards the north and Hezbollah as the war entered a “new phase”, seeming to imply the war on Gaza was winding down. According to Gallant, this was part of a bid to return the 65,000 Israelis he had ordered evacuated in the early days of the conflict in anticipation of Hezbollah attacks on their homes near Lebanon’s border. That big Hezbollah attack never happened but Israel and Hezbollah have been maintaining a steady exchange of fire over Lebanon’s southern border since October 2023. Hezbollah has promised to keep up its attacks until Israel reaches a ceasefire agreement with the group’s ally Hamas in Gaza. In a news conference on Monday night, Israel’s military spokesperson did not rule out a land invasion of Lebanon, saying: “We will do whatever is necessary to bring back home all our citizens to the northern border safely.” It appears so. On September 17, a day before Gallant’s “new phase” announcement, hundreds of pagers belonging to Hezbollah members were detonated in an attack widely believed to have been undertaken by Israel. Israel did not comment. Volunteers carry an elderly displaced man on a chair displaced Lebanese people are received at an art institute transformed into a shelter in Beirut, on September 23, 2024 [Fadel Itani/AFP] The following day, another attack hit Hezbollah’s walkie-talkie radios. The two attacks killed 37 people, including two children, and wounded and maimed thousands more. The attacks compromised the group’s communications and, according to analysts, undermined its morale. Exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah have escalated since, with a devastating Israeli strike in southern Beirut on Saturday killing 45 people and wounding many more. How dangerous is this? Very. Israel and Hezbollah’s alliances could pull other countries in. Israel’s ally, the United States, announced it was deploying additional troops to the area, without specifying how many and for what purpose. The US currently has about 40,000 troops in the region. Hezbollah and Iran have worked in tandem since Hezbollah’s founding as a response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Israel has pitched its battles with groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as part of a wider battle against Iran. Israel, while it has never admitted to having nuclear weapons, is estimated to have an arsenal of 90 nuclear warheads. Mourners carry the coffin of Hezbollah member Ali Mohamed Chalbi, after hand-held radios and pagers detonated across Lebanon, at his funeral in Kfar Melki, on September 19, 2024 [Aziz Taher/Reuters] Iran, while not yet nuclear-armed, is considered to be close to it after an agreement to limit the country’s nuclear programme was dissolved by former US President Donald Trump in 2018. Regardless, Iran has one of the region’s largest and most powerful militaries as well as a network of alliances with groups including Yemen’s Houthis and Gaza’s Hamas. What would it take for other states to become involved? Both the US and Iran have repeatedly shown themselves to be aware of the risks any escalation might pose. Despite Israeli provocations – such as the April 2024 air strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, and the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July – Iran’s response to Israel has so far been tepid. Retaliation to the April air strike was telegraphed long in advance and was mostly intercepted. No response to Haniyeh’s killing has been forthcoming. The US, despite its unflagging support for Israel, has also shown itself to be aware of the risks of escalation. President Joe Biden, right, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 25, 2024 [Susan Walsh/AP Photo] US diplomats continue to facilitate indirect talks between Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire, with Biden even announcing a ceasefire deal in May, which at the time he attributed to Israel. However, it was subsequently rejected. What does Israel want? For many in Israel, after decades of tension, war with Hezbollah is inevitable. As the war on Gaza rumbles on and the death toll there soars past 41,455, many have accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of prolonging and escalating the conflict for his political ends.

Violent crimes have increased under Biden-Harris admin despite Dems’ denials: expert

Violent crimes have increased under Biden-Harris admin despite Dems’ denials: expert

Violent crimes have dramatically increased during the Biden-Harris administration, according to a recent Department of Justice study that appears to refute consistent claims by the Harris campaign – and some in the media – that serious offenses are on a downward trajectory. Crimes such as rape or sexual assault, aggravated assault, and robbery increased from 2020 to 2023, the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics revealed earlier this month as part of its National Crime Victimization Survey. Across the board, the survey found total instances of reported violent crimes increased from 5.6 per 1,000 individuals aged 12 and over in 2020, when Trump was still in office, to 8.7 per 1,000 in 2023.  The study found 9.8 instances of violent crime per 1,000 people aged 12 and over in 2022, which marks the highest rate during the 2020-2023 era.  Crime is once again a top concern this election cycle, with voters often listing crime behind the economy, ongoing inflation woes, immigration and foreign policy on their list of concerns ahead of voting on Nov. 5.  ‘WEAK-ON-CRIME LIBERAL’: TRUMP CAMPAIGN HITS BACK AFTER HARRIS BLAMES HIM FOR ‘VIOLENT CRIME WAVE’ During Trump’s debate against Vice President Harris on Sept. 10, the 45th president stated that crime is on the rise in the U.S., while linking the trend to the influx of illegal migrants who crossed the border since 2021.  “All over the world crime is down. All over the world except here,” Trump said. “Crime here is up and through the roof. Despite their fraudulent statements that they made. Crime in this country is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime. It’s called migrant crime. And it’s happening at levels that nobody thought possible.”  ABC News’ David Muir, who co-moderated the debate, interjected that FBI data shows crime is on a downward trajectory.  2ND AMENDMENT STEPS IN AFTER COPS STEP BACK IN WAKE OF DEFUND MOVEMENT IN CHICAGO “President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country,” Muir said, before Trump added that the FBI didn’t include data from the “worst cities.” The FBI released its quarterly crime report for 2024 in June, which found violent crime decreased by 15.2% between January-March 2024 compared to the same time period in 2023. The FBI data, however, does not include crimes that were not reported to the police.  On the other hand, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is one of the most comprehensive federal surveys, according to some experts, which includes interviewing 230,000 U.S. residents on whether they’ve been the victims of crimes, what the crime entailed and if the crime was reported to police.  BIDEN-HARRIS ADMIN SAYS CRIME IS DOWN, BUT INDEPENDENT DATA SHOWS VIOLENT CRIME UP ACROSS 66 CITIES “When David Muir goes and says the FBI shows that crime is down, that’s not what the FBI is measuring,” Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott told Fox News Digital in an interview this week. “What the FBI measures is that reported crime went down, and that’s a big difference between total and reported crime. We know most crimes aren’t reported to the police. And the rate that people report crimes to the police depends in part on things like whether they think the guys are going to be arrested or not.” Lott noted that arrest rates have dipped, with 2022 data showing only 20% of reported violent crimes resulted in an arrest in major cities.  “So, if people don’t think that the criminals are going to be caught and punished, it reduces the returns for some people reporting the crimes to the police to begin with,” he argued.  PUBLIC SAFETY GROUP FINDS FBI VIOLENT CRIME DATA IS HIGHER THAN INITIALLY REPORTED An opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal this week argued that the National Crime Victimization Survey is far more reliable than FBI crime data for five reasons: NCVS data is finalized before it’s published, unlike the FBI data that shows partial-year data; the FBI overhauled its reporting system in 2021 that makes year-to-year comparisons more difficult; the NCVS study represents data nationally via its surveys, while the FBI data does not include stats from some massive police departments such as the Los Angeles PD; the ​​FBI “isn’t considered a principal statistical agency” and so it is unable to compensate for missing data from agencies such as the LAPD; and the FBI data only includes crimes that were reported to police, while NCVS data includes surveys from individuals who did not report a crime.  GUN CRIME EXPERT BLASTS RED STATE ‘CHERRY-PICKING’ BY YALE PROFESSOR IN SENATE HEARING: ‘POLITICAL BIAS’ On Monday, the FBI did publish its crime report for 2023 and found violent crime declined an estimated 3% when compared to 2022. That FBI report is based only on reported crimes, and includes data from more than 85% of law enforcement agencies enrolled in the FBI’s program.  When asked for comment about NCVS data, the White House pointed to a Politifact article published this month that argued that while both the methodology for the FBI data and the NCVS “have value,” FBI data is typically more reliable. The article argued that while NCVS data may include unreported crimes, it might “also capture events that don’t rise to the level of a crime.” “As PolitiFact explained when they debunked this lie, ‘the FBI data tends to be more rigorous’ and ‘nongovernmental groups have released data’ that ‘aligns’ with those numbers – whereas ‘the victimization survey excludes murders.’ It would track that apologists for the Trump Administration, which oversaw the biggest murder rate increase in American history, would cherry pick a survey that excludes murders altogether,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.  “Here are the facts: every year in office, the Trump Administration and congressional Republicans attempted to defund the police by cutting the COPS program; then, in 2020, murders spiked more than ever. Now, after making an unprecedented federal investment in public safety, Joe Biden and Kamala

JD Vance debate prep strategy includes tapping prominent lawmaker to play Walz

JD Vance debate prep strategy includes tapping prominent lawmaker to play Walz

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has spent the last month reviewing plans, strategics and potential tough questions ahead of the Oct. 1 CBS Vice Presidential Debate against Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, according to a source familiar with the preparations by former President Trump’s running mate.  House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., was selected to play Walz during mock debates to prepare Vance for the Minnesota governor’s “folksy” Midwestern style, the source told Fox News Digital.  The source revealed that Vance has been doing most of his preparations at his home in Cincinnati or in online sessions with his team.  Members of Vance’s inner circle – including his wife Usha –  as well as Trump campaign strategist Jason Miller have been involved in prep sessions. The source said those helping Vance are immersing themselves in honing Walz’s debate style by watching videos of his past debates from his previous campaign runs. TRUMP-VANCE TICKET HAS DONE COMBINED 58 INTERVIEWS SINCE LAST MONTH COMPARED TO 18 FOR HARRIS-WALZ The source also pointed to Vance’s frequent media interviews as helping him prepare for the upcoming debate, set to take place in New York City. During regular appearances on Sunday shows, Vance has gained experience in engaging in debate often with contentious network hosts and responding to attacks, the source added.  VANCE SAYS HE WILL KEEP CALLING HAITIAN MIGRANTS ‘ILLEGAL ALIENS’ DESPITE PAROLE STATUS Meanwhile, Walz’s mock debates will feature U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acting as JD Vance’s doppelganger, the Associated Press reported, citing people with knowledge of the candidate’s preparations.  Trump already faced off against President Biden in a June 27 debate hosted by CNN, and Biden’s disastrous performance set into motion his eventual departure from the race and endorsement of Harris. After Trump and Harris took the stage in Philadelphia on Sept. 10 in the second presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle hosted by ABC News, Trump said on TRUTH Social there would be “no third debate.”  Meanwhile, Harris said in an X post over the weekend she would accept the terms of a debate on Oct. 23 hosted by CNN. During his campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday, Trump said Harris has done one debate, while, “I’ve done two. It’s too late to do another. I’d love to, in many ways, but it’s too late. The voting is cast.” Fox News’ Caroline Elliott and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Harris narrowly leads Trump in battleground Michigan, poll finds

Harris narrowly leads Trump in battleground Michigan, poll finds

Vice President Kamala Harris holds a narrow lead over former President Trump in the crucial battleground state of Michigan, a new poll finds.  With just 41 days until the presidential election on Nov. 5, Democratic candidate Harris is up three points over Republican Trump, 48% to 45%, according to a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll of 500 likely voters in the Great Lake State.  The poll was taken Sept. 16-19, after the first and possibly only debate between Harris and Trump, and after a second assassination attempt against Trump on Sept. 15. It has a 4.4% margin of error.  NEW POLL INDICATES WHETHER HARRIS OR TRUMP IS MAKING GAINS WITH YOUNGER VOTERS Six third-party candidates will also appear on the Michigan ballot, including independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who suspended his campaign last month and endorsed Trump. Though each polled under one percent, any of them could play spoiler if the margin between the two major party candidates tightens, according to David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. “If the Kamala Harris margin shrinks to a 1-point lead, the entire state hinges on the fringes of the Michigan ballot,” he told USA Today. “The behavior of third-party voters — people who are mocked for wasting their votes — could make the difference if they rotate to either Harris or Trump.” HARRIS-TRUMP SHOWDOWN: PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES HIT KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES AS ELECTION APPROACHES Kennedy has sought to remove his name from the ballot in several states since throwing his support behind Trump, including in Michigan. However, he is fighting to place his name on the ballot in New York, where he was disqualified, in an apparent attempt to pull support from Harris in the reliably blue state.  Last month, the Michigan Supreme Court, in a split decision, reversed a lower court order that would have removed Kennedy’s name from the ballot. The Michigan Secretary of State’s office has said minor party candidates cannot withdraw from the race once they have gained ballot access. Kennedy has appealed his case to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.  HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING IN THE 2024 ELECTION Michigan, along with fellow Rust Belt states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, are together known as the “Blue Wall.” The trio have voted for the same presidential candidate, usually a Democrat, in every election since 1988. The exception was in 2016, when Trump captured all three states in his upset victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Four years later, President Biden defeated Trump in Michigan and the other Blue Wall states, also winning battleground states Arizona, Georgia and Nevada in the 2020 presidential election.  The Trump and Harris campaigns have prioritized these Blue Wall states in campaign stops throughout the summer.   The USA Today/Suffolk University poll found that Harris leads Trump by three points, 48% to 45%, in bellwether Kent County, which is home to Grand Rapids and surrounding suburbs. Trump won the county in 2016, 48% to Hillary Clinton’s 45%, while Biden prevailed there in 2020, winning 52% of the vote to Trump’s 46%. There is a significant gender gap between the major party candidates, with Harris leading among women 56% to Trump’s 37% support. Men preter Trump over Harris by a margin of 54% to 39%, according to the survey. Trump leads slightly with independent voters, 42% to 41%. Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.