Tuesday Briefing: Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon kill hundreds

September 24, 2024

	By Gaya Gupta

Good morning. We’re covering Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon and a new presidential election poll.

Plus, vintage soccer jerseys and the memories they preserve.

Huge clouds of smoke behind small explosions in the sky over a hill covered with homes.

Tyre, southern Lebanon, after Israeli airstrikes on Monday. Aziz Taher/Reuters

Israeli airstrikes kill hundreds in Lebanon

Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon killed nearly 500, including dozens of women and children, and injured more than 1,600 others, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. It was the deadliest day of Israeli attacks there since at least 2006, when Israel last fought a war with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group. Follow live updates.

The strikes yesterday were Israel’s latest attempt to break Hezbollah’s resolve. They followed clandestine operations last week that blew up Hezbollah members’ wireless devices and killed 37 people. Here’s a map of where Israel struck on Monday.

So far, Israel has failed to force Hezbollah pull back from the Lebanon-Israel border. Hezbollah launched its own barrage at Israel yesterday, most of which was intercepted by Israel’s antimissile defense system. And Hezbollah leaders have said they will continue their attacks on Israel until a cease-fire in Gaza is agreed to between Israel and Hamas, a Hezbollah ally.

Evacuations: Thousands of families were displaced, some of whose cars and vehicles were struck as they tried to flee, according to Lebanon’s health minister. Israeli strikes also hit ambulances and fire trucks as they raced to respond.

Gaza: Israeli forces struck a school building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in central Gaza yesterday, killing a couple and their daughter and wounding several other people, according to Palestinian officials.

U.S. response: The Pentagon announced it would send dozens of U.S. troops to the Middle East to protect the thousands of Americans stationed there.

Donald Trump at his campaign event in Mosinee, Wis., earlier this month. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times

New poll results are the best for Trump in weeks

The latest New York Times/Siena College polls of Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina find Donald Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris in all three states. It’s further evidence that in a sharply divided nation, the presidential election is shaping up to be one of the tightest in history.

“We’re getting to the point in the election cycle where we’re starting to get a lot of polls — enough that it will occasionally start to feel as if the polls are swinging from left to right and back, every day,” writes our chief political analyst, Nate Cohn. “This is one of those days.”

If Trump wins those states, he wouldn’t need many more. But in one sign of how these contests remain up for grabs, about 15 percent of the electorate in these states described themselves as undecided or not definitely decided. Read more of Nate’s analysis of Trump’s best poll results in weeks.

More on the U.S. election

Americans head to the polls in less than 50 days.

Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate in North Carolina’s governor’s race, insisted that he will remain in the race, even after most of his staff resigned following a report linking him to disturbing comments on a pornographic website.
Federal prosecutors will pursue a charge of attempted assassination against the man accused of lurking with a gun where Trump was golfing in Florida last week. They revealed he had reconnoitered the golf course for a month before his apparent attempt.

Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us, and we’ll find the answers.

A large hall with people siting at long tables and a person speaking at the front of the room. The United Nations crest is hung on the shiny gold back wall.

The general debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly will open on Tuesday. David Dee Delgado/Reuters

Pressure mounts on Biden before annual U.N. meeting

President Biden will be under increasing pressure this week to loosen restrictions on Ukraine’s use of weapons when global leaders meet today at the United Nations for their annual gathering.

Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, will come with what he calls a victory plan for Biden to examine. Key European leaders are pushing hard for Biden to allow him to use longer-range weapons supplied by NATO countries to hit farther inside Russia. Biden has been reluctant to give Ukraine permission to do so, careful not to escalate the war and risk a direct conflict between Moscow and the NATO alliance.

MORE TOP NEWS

Francis, in white, gestures from an open window, with a lectern and microphone in front of him.

Pope Francis leading prayer from his office overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday. Riccardo Antimiani/EPA, via Shutterstock

The Vatican: Pope Francis canceled appointments yesterday because of a mild flu before his travels to Belgium and Luxembourg later this week.
United Arab Emirates: The White House hosted Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the U.A.E.’s ruler, to discuss Gaza, the war in Sudan and artificial intelligence.
China: A U.S. Congress report argued that Beijing has exploited its ties with American universities to advance its military’s technology, and that further guardrails are needed.
Italy: A man smashed a porcelain sculpture by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at a new exhibition in Bologna.
California: The state’s attorney general sued Exxon Mobil, accusing the oil giant of overhyping the promise of recycling and spawning a plastic-pollution crisis.
Germany: The center-left party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany scored a narrow victory over the far-right ethnonationalist party, Alternative für Deutschland, in a state election.
Japan: A Russian military patrol plane breached airspace off the country’s northwestern coast three times, prompting Japan’s military to use a signal flare to deter it.
Australia: In a rare case of legal action tied to rising prices, the government sued Woolworths and Coles over what regulators described as fake discounts.

Sports

Multiple men are playing soccer in the rain, and they are fighting over a recent call by a referee who is also on the pitch. Out of focus behind the men is a crowd of fans and onlookers.

Leandro Trossard of Arsenal argues with Mateo Kovacic of Manchester City. Michael Regan/Getty Images

Premier League: The bad blood between Manchester City and Arsenal goes to the top of both clubs.
Highlights: Watch a brilliant backheel goal by Sunderland’s 17-year-old soccer wunderkind Chris Rigg.
Formula One: Max Verstappen protested being punished by the FIA for swearing.

MORNING READ

A man dressed in a black T-shirt holds a bright yellow Romania soccer team jersey from 1990.

Doug Bierton’s company, Classic Football Shirts, owns about a million soccer jerseys at any given time. Jack Roe for The New York Times

Vintage soccer jerseys have become a streetwear staple and a target of major investors. But their real value, a few obsessed collectors told Rory Smith, lies in the memories and the stories they conjure.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

Animal instinct: A 2-year-old Siamese cat who disappeared in Yellowstone made a 800-mile trek home to California. His owners have no idea how.
Superager shark: Scientists mapped the genome of the Greenland shark, hoping to learn how it can live for up to 400 years.
Food for thought: When the restaurant reviewer Keith Lee tastes takeout in his car, he sometimes offends whole cities in the process.

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

ARTS AND IDEAS

An island at sunset is depicted as a dark, hilly silhouette beneath a sky that is various shades of orange. Above the orange section of the sky are dark clouds. The sea is also dark, except for directly around the island, where the sea appears orange from reflected light.

Tourism is booming in Sifnos, a small island in the Greek Cyclades. Louisa Gouliamaki/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Tourism’s next battlefront: running water

As a prolonged heat wave scorched Greece in mid-June, residents in the small island of Sifnos faced a reality they long anticipated and feared: Their taps ran dry. For 10 days, homes and vacation rentals lacked fresh running water.

Water scarcity is becoming the next battleground in overtourism, as residents in popular vacation destinations grapple with the impacts of climate change and compete with tourists to get their share of a dwindling supply. The situation is particularly alarming on the Greek islands, many of which do not have the infrastructure to absorb tens of thousands of tourists.

But governments dependent on tourism dollars are fearful of deterring visitors, making them reluctant to impose restrictions on hotels and restaurants. In Sicily, for example, the local authorities have admitted to prioritizing water supply to hotels. Earlier this year in Barcelona, only residents, not tourists, faced water restrictions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Two white bowls of soup on a gray surface, each with metal spoons. The soup is a red broth filled with greens, white beans and bits of ground turkey.

Con Poulos for The New York Times

Cook: This lemony white bean soup is brightened by lemon and herbs, and is packed with hearty greens.

Read: Sally Rooney’s latest novel, “Intermezzo,” which comes out today, considers love in its various permutations.

Give: Wirecutter has pulled the best of its tested products for 25 gifts guaranteed to delight for years.

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

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

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