Monday Briefing: A deadly strike on the Israel-Lebanon border

July 29, 2024

	By Whet Moser

Good morning. We’re covering a deadly attack on the Israel-Lebanon border, Venezuela’s presidential election and the Paris Olympics.

Plus, Melinda French Gates enters the political fray.

A child looks on from a concrete bomb shelter at a crowd of people and charred scooters next to a soccer field.

The site of a rocket strike at a soccer field in the Golan Heights yesterday. Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York Times

Fears of war between Israel and Lebanon after a deadly strike

Western diplomats were scrambling to prevent a surge of fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border after a rocket from Lebanon killed at least 12 children and teenagers at a soccer field in an Israeli-controlled town on Saturday.

It was the deadliest assault on Israeli-controlled territory since Israel and Hezbollah began exchanging missile and rocket fire in October, and Israel retaliated early yesterday with strikes across Lebanon. The Israeli response was short of a major escalation, but fears remained that the fallout from the rocket launch would lead to all-out war.

A spokeswoman for the National Security Council said in a statement that Hezbollah had organized the attack. U.S. officials asked Lebanon’s government to relay a message to Hezbollah to show restraint in the face of a further Israeli response, according to Lebanon’s foreign minister. Hezbollah denied that it was responsible.

For now, Israeli officials say that they are still open to a diplomatic resolution. A spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday that a full-scale war could still be averted through the enforcement of a never-implemented U.N. resolution from 2006 that would create a demilitarized zone in southern Lebanon.

Related: Negotiators from Israel, Qatar and the U.S. met in Rome to resume talks over a cease-fire in Gaza that had stalled over key issues, particularly the extent to which Israeli forces would remain in Gaza during a truce.

People inside a polling station in Caracas, Venezuela.

A polling station in Caracas yesterday. Alejandro Cegarra for The New York Times

Venezuelans vote in a pivotal election

Over a generation, the Venezuelan socialist movement known as Chavismo has shattered the country’s democracy, decimated the economy and created one of the largest migrant crises in the world. In an election yesterday, the movement faced a robust challenge.

Nicolás Maduro, the president and the successor to the movement’s founder, Hugo Chávez, has a long history of crafting elections in his favor. His opponent is a former diplomat, Edmundo González, who is essentially the surrogate candidate for María Corina Machado, a hard-charging former lawmaker who was barred from the election.

Campaign events held by Machado have taken on the feeling of mass pilgrimages, and polls show high enthusiasm for González. But the outcome of the election is anyone’s guess, and the entire nation is on edge. Results could come as soon as this morning, but probably much later.

Men in black uniforms stand on a roof next to sniper rifles.

Secret Service snipers at Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa. Eric Lee/The New York Times

Texts show when officers spotted Trump’s would-be assassin

At 4:26 p.m., nearly 100 minutes before former President Donald Trump was almost assassinated on July 13, a local countersniper who was leaving his security detail shift texted his colleagues about a young man sitting on a picnic table: “He knows you guys are up there.”

The message, obtained exclusively by The Times, revealed that law enforcement was aware of the would-be assassin about half an hour earlier than previously known.

At 5:38 p.m., pictures of the man, Thomas Crooks, were shared in a group chat, and another text went out among the officers: “I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out. I lost sight of him.”

MORE TOP NEWS

Firefighters spraying water in the rubble of a destroyed building.

The aftermath of a strike on Kyiv’s main children’s hospital this month. Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times

Ukraine: The military is preparing to deploy F-16 jets for the first time this summer.
Russia: Its forces have made rapid gains in the eastern Donetsk region and have gotten better at identifying weak spots in Ukraine’s front line.
Bangladesh: A digital yearbook of the dead has put names and faces to those killed in recent protests.
Japan: A joint force with the U.S. will answer to the American commander in the Indo-Pacific, top officials said.
Health: A blood test accurately diagnosed Alzheimer’s 90 percent of the time, more accurately than primary care doctors using cognitive tests and CT scans.
X: Linda Yaccarino, the social media site’s chief executive, has worked hard to bring back advertisers. Elon Musk keeps undoing her work.

U.S. Politics

Fund-raising: Kamala Harris’s campaign said that it had raised $200 million in less than a week and that she was closing in on a running mate.
Culture: If elected, Harris would be the first Asian American president, a milestone for a complex identity.
Trump: In a speech in Minnesota on Saturday, the former president jettisoned his appeal for national unity and called Harris “evil,” “unhinged” and “sick.”
JD Vance: His past comments deriding “childless cat ladies” and other stumbles have put Trump’s running mate on the defensive.

Olympics

Ariarne Titmus raising her arm and smiling in the pool lane next to Katie Ledecky.

Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky, who won bronze, after the 400-meter freestyle final. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Swimming: Australia’s Ariarne Titmus won gold in the 400-meter freestyle, a race she hasn’t lost since 2019.
Gymnastics: Sunisa Lee may debut a difficult new element in her uneven bars routine. If she does, it will be named after her.
Men’s basketball: South Sudan, the event’s fairy-tale team, came back from 19 points down to beat Puerto Rico.
Opening ceremony: Check out the best looks and our critic’s history of the Parade of Nations as the world’s costume party.

MORNING READ

Simone Biles in midair, upside-down, doing a high front flip with her arms spread, in front of a crowd.

Simone Biles during her floor exercise in Paris yesterday. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Simone Biles sacrificed mind and body for gymnastics, competing under psychological torment as a sexual assault survivor and with physical pain that made her feel as if she would need a wheelchair by the time she turned 30.

It all culminated with a mental block that largely drove her out of the 2021 Olympics. But at 27, after much contemplation and weekly therapy, she’s back in the Olympics and confident in herself. Yesterday, she had an injury scare but posted a superb all-around score.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Talking apes: After analyzing decades-old videos of captive chimpanzees, scientists concluded that they could say the word “mama.”
Transported: To make a children’s book about a school bus, the illustrator Loren Long built a little world for it.
Learning process: Google taught an A.I. program to do math at a medal-winning level.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

An animation of Melinda French Gates in a white blouse, lowering her gaze to the camera and then smiling.

Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times

Melinda French Gates’s new urgency around giving

Melinda French Gates shocked the philanthropic world in May when she left the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has given away $80 billion since 2000. She also entered the political fray, saying she would focus her resources on supporting women’s rights, including abortion rights.

French Gates told us that she didn’t realize that she could bring a woman’s perspective to the foundation’s work until 2010, as a result of years of conversations she’d had with women in the field when men weren’t around.

“I realized, if they’re willing to have these courageous conversations with me, I need to bring that deeply into the work,” she said. Convincing the men she worked with, however, took time. Read more in our interview.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A white plate with rice, tomatoes, peanuts and herbs.

Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.

Cook: Creamy coconut-lime rice with peanuts is easy, light and hearty.

Read: These three steamy historical romances are vacation-ready.

Watch: “Only the River Flows” is an existential Chinese police procedural.

Travel: Four locals gave us recommendations for Tasmania.

Wear: The high-horology brand Girard-Perregaux recreated its sleek ’70s LED watch.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Whet

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