International

Inside Israel’s combat zone in southern Lebanon

Published

2 years ago

October 13, 2024

Inside Israel’s combat zone in southern Lebanon

Israeli army vehicles had already pounded the dirt road into dust where we crossed into Lebanon, breaking through a hole in the fence that marks the ceasefire line drawn between the two countries a generation ago.

The ceasefire itself is already in tatters.

Israel’s ground invasion along this border last week was launched, it said, to destroy Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure in “limited, localised, targeted raids”.

Ten days on, the army was taking us to a village a couple of miles into Lebanese territory, where it had just established “some level of control”.

We were told not to reveal where it is, for military reasons, and our movements were restricted.

Israeli artillery was blasting through the air as we arrived. The brigade commander, Col Yaniv Malka, told us the area was still not clear of Hezbollah fighters.

Bursts of small-arms fire were from fighting that was taking place 500m away, he said, describing “face-to-face combat” with Hezbollah fighters inside the village just a couple of days before – meaning, he said, “my troops seeing in their eyes, and fighting them in the streets”.

All along the central path through the village, houses lay demolished; piles of rubble leaching glimpses of family life. Buildings left standing were shot through with artillery, missing corners or walls and peppered with gunshot and shrapnel holes.

Two tanks sat in churned up earth near what was once a village square. The level of destruction around them is reminiscent of Gaza.

Our movements on the ground were restricted by the army to a limited area of the village, but neighbouring buildings and communities appeared, from a distance, to be untouched.

These incursions seem – so far – to be more “limited and targeted” geographically than militarily.

The graffiti on a building commandeered by troops read: “We wanted peace, you wanted war”.

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“Most of the terrorists ran away,” Col Malka told me. “[But] dozens of houses were booby-trapped. When we went house to house, we discovered booby-traps and weapons. We had no choice but to destroy them.”

We only have the army’s account of what happened here.

I asked an army spokesman whether any women or children were present when the operation here began. He replied that all civilians had been given ample warning to leave.

The human rights group Amnesty International this week described Israel’s evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon as inadequate and overly general, and said they did not absolve the country of its obligations under international law.

We were also shown three caches of weapons it said were found inside civilian homes here, including boxes of brand-new mortars, new anti-tank missiles and mines, as well as sophisticated shoulder launched rockets and night-scopes.

One anti-tank missile we saw was already semi-assembled.

The chief of staff for the 91st Division, Roy Russo, also showed us a garage he said had been used as an equipment warehouse, with sleeping bags, body armour, rifles and ammunition hidden in a large barrel.

“This is what we call an exchange zone,” he said. “They’re morphing from civilians into combatants. All this gear is designed to manoeuvre into [Israel] and conduct operations on the Israeli side. This is not defensive equipment.”

This, Israel says, is why it launched its invasion of southern Lebanon; that Hezbollah’s stockpiles of weapons and equipment along this border were planning for a cross-border attack similar to last year’s 7 October attacks by Hamas in southern Israel.

At the start of this invasion, the army revealed that Israeli special forces had been operating across the Lebanese border in small tactical units for almost a year, conducting more than 70 raids to find and destroy Hezbollah infrastructure, including underground tunnels – one of which, it said, stopped 30m (100ft) before the ceasefire line with Israel and was unfinished.

Col Malka showed me some of the weapons he said the army found on the day we arrived. They include a large IED, an anti-personnel mine, and a high-tech night-scope.

He said troops were finding “two to three times” the number of weapons they found in Gaza, with “thousands” of weapons and thousands of pieces of ammunition found in this village alone.

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“We don’t want to hold these places,” he told me. “We want to take all the ammunition and fighting equipment out. After that, we expect the people will come back, and understand that peace is better for them, and terrorist control over them in a bad thing.”

“But I’ll leave that to the diplomats to solve,” he smiled.

After the last ground war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, the UN ruled that Hezbollah must pull back north of the Litani River. A previous resolution also ordered its disarmament. Neither decision has been enforced.

That ground war in 2006 was a wake-up call for Israel. The Iran-backed militia fought its army to standstill. For almost 20 years, both sides have been avoiding – and preparing for – the next one.

Col Malka fought in Lebanon during that war. “This one is different,” he said.

When I asked why, he replied: “Because of 7th October.”

As we were speaking, the sound of small-arms fire grew louder. He gestured towards it. “That’s my guys fighting in the casbah,” he said.

Israel’s ground invasion is part of a dramatic escalation against Hezbollah over the past three weeks that has also seen it intensify air strikes on southern Lebanon and parts of Beirut.

Lebanon says more than 2,200 people have been killed, mainly during the recent escalation, and more than a million people displaced.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on 8 October last year, the day after Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel. The Iran-backed group says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and has said it will stop firing if there is a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields. One commander described the ground war as an offensive operation to defend Israeli citizens – an invasion to stop an invasion, in other words.

But the speed with which Israel’s forces have been moving through villages along this border may only be the first chapter in this story.

Hezbollah tactics have shifted since the ground invasion began, with Israeli towns like Metula – surrounded on three sides by Lebanon – reporting a drop in direct fire from anti-tank missiles, and a rise in rockets fired out of sight from further away.

The assessment of many is that Hezbollah fighters have not run away, but simply withdrawn further back into Lebanon.

Israel already has four divisions lined up at this border – and a growing chorus of voices inside the country who say this is the moment, not just to push back Hezbollah, but to remake the Middle East.

As the fighting near the village intensified, we were told to leave immediately, hurried out to the waiting convoy.

Under the shadow of a growing conflict with Iran, Israel’s small successes along this frontier don’t change one key fact: this is not actually a border war, it’s a regional war being fought along a border.

Inside Israel’s combat zone in southern Lebanon

BBC

Related Topics:combat zone Israel Lebanon

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Fiji Declares National HIV Emergency as Diagnoses Surge Sixteenfold

Published

20 hours ago

September 17, 2026

Hamdalat Bisiriyu

Fiji Declares National HIV Emergency as Diagnoses Surge Sixteenfold

Authorities launch a multi-agency public health campaign to expand free testing, treatment, and harm-reduction services

Fiji has announced a nationwide health response to address a significant rise in HIV cases and ensure that all residents can access essential medical care.

On Wednesday, Health Minister Dr. Atonio Lalabalavu shared the emergency declaration, explaining that national agencies are joining forces to provide rapid medical support, expand testing, and protect community well-being across the islands.

Official reports indicate that about one in every 60 adults in Fiji currently lives with HIV, following an increase in new infections over recent years. Health specialists explain that the virus spreads primarily through intimate sexual contact and shared needles among individuals using illicit substances.

Additionally, routine screenings revealed that two out of every 100 expecting mothers carry the virus, highlighting an urgent need for early maternal healthcare to protect newborns from infection.

To safeguard public health, authorities are delivering free daily treatments, distributing protective preventive medications, and setting up clean needle programs to stop infections before they start.

Furthermore, global partners, including Australia, New Zealand, India, and United Nations health bodies are providing financial resources and medical supplies to back the local effort.

By encouraging open community conversations and delivering accessible healthcare without judgment, health workers aim to ensure that everyone receives the care and dignity they deserve.

Fiji Declares National HIV Emergency as Diagnoses Surge Sixteenfold

International

Kim Yo-jong: Only ‘Idiots’ Think North Korea Will Give Up Nuclear Weapons

Published

20 hours ago

September 17, 2026

Trends Admin

Kim Yo-jong: Only ‘Idiots’ Think North Korea Will Give Up Nuclear Weapons

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has declared that her country’s status as a nuclear weapons state is “absolute” and can never be reversed — dismissing international hopes for denuclearisation as the delusions of “idiots.”

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Thursday, Kim rejected the recent International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference’s demand for North Korea’s “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation” (CVID) as “familiar nonsense” . “The DPRK’s position as a nuclear weapons state is absolute, which cannot be reversed by anything,” she said, using the acronym for the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea .

Kim, who serves as Director of the General Affairs Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, compared the international community’s repeated calls for denuclearisation to “noise that is neither surprising nor new, heard constantly around this time every year like a sound ringing day and night from an answering machine” . She went on to assert that no amount of diplomatic pressure could alter Pyongyang’s position. “No matter how desperately the IAEA and the West may hold periodic meetings and talk about denuclearisation according to the fixed scenario, they can have no effect on the will and ability of the DPRK to take all necessary measures to defend the supreme interests of the state” . She added: “Those humans sitting together and chattering to try and change our state’s current status must clearly realise what a pathetic delusion and futile waste of effort it is” .

Kim’s statement came during the 70th IAEA General Conference in Vienna, where South Korea and European nations urged North Korea to fulfil its international obligations and abandon its nuclear programme . A South Korean Unification Ministry official said the ministry was “taking note” of Kim’s remarks, assessing them as an attempt to make clear to Washington that denuclearisation is off the table for any potential summit . The timing is particularly noteworthy given recent signals from US President Donald Trump about resuming dialogue with Kim Jong Un. In August 2026, Trump told reporters he expected to meet the North Korean leader later in the year, saying: “Yeah, I will be. I get along with him very well” . Trump also stated that Pyongyang possesses 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons, marking the first time he had publicly cited a specific figure for North Korea’s arsenal .

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The disclosure sparked a rare public discussion of intelligence assessments. South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back told lawmakers that Seoul typically estimates North Korea has 80 to 120 nuclear weapons — a figure higher than Trump’s claim . Ahn noted that the estimates held by South Korea and the United States “appear to be slightly different,” though he later clarified that he was citing a private research institute’s assessment rather than an official military figure . Both Seoul and Washington have maintained they do not recognise North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. “We can never officially acknowledge that,” Ahn said when asked whether Seoul accepts Pyongyang’s nuclear possession . Independent estimates vary. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has estimated that North Korea possessed approximately 60 nuclear warheads as of January 2026, with sufficient fissile material for roughly 30 more .

Ahead of the General Conference, the IAEA released its annual report detailing North Korea’s expanding nuclear capabilities. The agency observed that a new uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon — identified as the site’s second enrichment facility — could accommodate up to 28 centrifuge cascades, the largest scale among North Korea’s known enrichment sites . The IAEA identified the facility by comparing satellite imagery with photographs of Kim Jong Un’s June 2026 visit to a “newly inaugurated nuclear materials production factory,” which state media reported at the time. The photographs indicated gas centrifuge cascades installed on both the upper and lower floors of the two-storey building . The report also noted indications that operations began in January 2026 at a uranium enrichment facility in Kangson, near Pyongyang, within an annex constructed in 2024 . IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the developments were a “cause for serious concern,” adding: “The continuation and further development of the DPRK’s nuclear programme are clear violations of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and are deeply regrettable” . The European Union, in a statement to the IAEA Board of Governors, condemned North Korea’s “unlawful and destabilising actions” and urged it to abandon all nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes in a “complete, verifiable and irreversible manner” .

Kim’s remarks are consistent with North Korea’s long-standing position. Pyongyang has legally enshrined its status as a nuclear weapons state, declaring its arsenal permanent and irreversible. The country has repeatedly rejected denuclearisation as a precondition for dialogue . North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in Vienna said last September that the country’s status as a nuclear weapons state had become irreversible and the IAEA had “no legal right … to interfere in the internal affairs of a nuclear weapons state which exists outside the NPT” . Analysts note that North Korea has set high barriers for any renewed summit with Washington, including major changes to US policy and acceptance of its nuclear status — conditions the Trump administration has shown no sign of meeting . The US State Department has maintained that Washington “remains committed to the complete denuclearisation of North Korea” . For now, Kim’s message was unambiguous: “No one and nothing can ever reverse the crucial changes in the strength and position of the DPRK and prevent them in the future, too” .

Kim Yo-jong: Only ‘Idiots’ Think North Korea Will Give Up Nuclear Weapons

International

Gaza Building Collapse Kills 21, Including Eight Children

Published

22 hours ago

September 17, 2026

Trends Admin

Gaza Building Collapse Kills 21, Including Eight Children

At least 21 people have been killed, including eight children, after a war-damaged building collapsed in Gaza City overnight, rescuers and medics say. The tragedy has renewed concerns about the collapse risk facing hundreds of bomb-damaged structures across the Gaza Strip as winter approaches.

The six-storey residential building in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa area collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday. According to the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, Ramiz Alakbarov, an estimated 100 people, including 50 children, were living in the building when it came down. The Gaza Civil Defence agency confirmed that rescuers extracted 21 bodies and rescued 20 unharmed individuals from the rubble on al-Sinaa Street in Tal al-Hawa. Dozens remain missing or injured underneath the debris.

Witnesses told the BBC that the building had been left tilting dangerously to one side after an Israeli strike more than a year ago. Displaced families had moved inside because they were desperate, with nowhere else to go. The building had been hit multiple times in 2024 and March 2025, leading to warnings for Gazans not to return, according to Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Basal. More than 10 families, totalling around 80 people, lived in the building, according to residents, with dozens of them being children. Sherif, whose sister was killed, said: “They couldn’t find a tent or somewhere to live. This was the last place they could turn to, despite the danger. They were aware that it would likely end in tragedy. A lack of resources drove them towards certain death.“

A woman living in a tent nearby, Umm Mohammed Bakrun, said she had been talking to her son when the building collapsed suddenly. “It felt like an earthquake. There was a loud sound and I couldn’t stand up. Stones rained down on us and when I looked outside I saw a lot of dust,” she told the BBC. “Within minutes, there were screams everywhere.” Another witness, Mansour Abu Mohammed, said the building collapsed “in a few seconds”. “Every day, a stone or a few stones would fall from it, but the people inside couldn’t find anywhere else to live. I used to live next door to it and you could see that it was tilting to one side.”

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UN and Egyptian teams joined the search for survivors, which was slow due to a lack of heavy machinery. Initially, rescuers from the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency had to use their bare hands. Egypt provided heavy machinery for the rescue operation, while the United Arab Emirates and Qatar were set to deliver relief items. The Palestinian Civil Defence said rescue teams had been working continuously since the collapse, but lacked even the most basic tools. “In the first moments after the collapse, we had to ask neighbours and displaced people nearby to bring hammers, shovels and other tools because of the severe shortage of equipment,” said Abdullah al-Majdalawi, director of public relations at Gaza’s Civil Defence. The head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Gaza office, Alessandro Mrakic, told reporters at the scene that “the situation… is tragic because we don’t have the equipment and machinery that is needed”.

Mrakic warned that approximately 400 other war-damaged buildings across Gaza were at imminent risk of collapse, particularly as winter approaches. The Civil Defence agency has identified around 2,000 buildings across the territory at risk of collapse. “We need support, most importantly with machinery, equipment, among others. Our colleagues here don’t have [engine] oil and spare parts to continue to work with all the equipment that is still in Gaza.” The UN’s humanitarian relief coordinator, Ramiz Alakbarov, said he was “devastated” by the reports. “No-one should have to risk their life simply to find a safe place to shelter,” he said. He also urged Israeli authorities to approve deliveries to Gaza of heavy machinery for rescue operations, as well as tents, tarpaulins and other non-food items for displaced people ahead of the winter rains. Israel says its restrictions are meant to keep equipment out of the hands of Palestinian armed groups that could also have military uses.

An estimated 80% of all structures in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged during the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the UN. More than 1.9 million people — about 90% of the territory’s population — have been displaced, many of them multiple times, and 1.2 million of them are currently living in tents or makeshift shelters. The UN has warned that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire despite the ceasefire agreed last October, as Israeli air strikes and other attacks continue to hit populated areas, causing casualties and property damage and driving further displacement. According to Gaza’s health ministry, 1,369 Palestinians have been killed and 4,627 wounded since the fragile ceasefire took effect on 11 October 2025. The total death toll since the war began has reached 73,783, with 174,738 injured.

On Tuesday, Israeli air strikes killed at least five Palestinians, including two children and a Hamas commander, according to health officials and Hamas sources. The Israeli military said it killed a Hamas commander in southern Gaza and another fighter in the north. In both cases, a child was also reportedly killed. Separately, the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said that a patient was killed by an Israeli drone at a health centre it supports in Jabalia in northern Gaza. A spokesperson for the Israeli military told the BBC it was not aware of such an incident.

The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Since then, more than 73,790 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN. In a statement, the Gaza government media office under Hamas said it held “the Israeli occupation and the international community fully and directly responsible for this catastrophe befalling our Palestinian people“.